BOBLOG

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Our best year ever

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Wednesday, November 2

Introducing Belle Elise Albee

Monday, September 26, 2011

Blessed to Be a Blessing

Grace changes you inside.   I know.  The change began in my life many years ago with an amazed question: “why me?” Why would God choose to give his perfectly holy son to die a hideous death-- for me?  When I thought of the sin in my past and the lack of character in my present, I could list a dozen disgusting reasons why I was unworthy. The apostle Paul may have called himself the chief of sinners, but as far as I was concerned, that was hyperbole. He may have done some terrible things, but he thought he was doing the right thing. At least he acted on principle. Based on my own record of unprincipled and sometimes cowardly actions, I figured I had a much stronger claim to that title.  Yet the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the plain teaching of scripture made it plain that grace didn’t just apply to me. It was designed for me – for my kind of sin. Further, salvation was the infallible work of   an infallible God. It didn’t start with  me. Nor was it based on me in any way.  It started with God and is based solidly in his character. For a long  time I wondered why.

Eventually I began to grasp the biblical truth of I Timothy  1:16-17   But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of  sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for  those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

This was really humbling. I began to realize that grace is  not about me at all. It had been a stunning relief to realize that grace didn’t rest on any merit I could  produce. Now I realized that its ongoing  purpose lies far beyond any personal blessing I receive. God doesn’t intend for believers to merely revel in grace and let it go at that. It is  not merely for my own benefit that God has shown me mercy. It is so that I may be a trophy of grace for  others to see. God showers grace on one sinner to make grace obvious to  all sinners.

It is strange that today so many evangelical Christians  operate on a mistaken understanding of grace.  It is a subtle but deadly doctrinal error. It is the belief that grace is merely a  personal thing -- that it’s mostly about “me.”  One version of this error is the one I labored under for a long time; the belief that grace is based on some personal merit. It might be my good works, the amount of praying I do, or simply the quality of my faith.  In its extreme form, this error is the basis  of the prosperity gospel; the notion that my “seed giving” will result in much greater financial blessing from God.  Millions around the world are caught up in this particular lie. Millions more believe a more subtle version of this error and are trusting to their own merit to some extent as a basis for  God’s blessing. What does God say about  this? For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from  yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Far from the notion that “God helps those who  help themselves,” or that God’s blessing is completely dependent on the time I spend on my knees etc. this text says that even the very faith we exercise is a gift from God. Grace doesn’t begin with me. It begins with God. Only when we believe this, do we begin to  fully trust him and not ourselves. Only  then do we learn what it means that “The just shall live by faith.”

The other version of this doctrinal error suggests that grace has been  showered on us mostly for our own personal benefit. This thoughtless approach to Christian living  allows us to take a light view of our own sins since we can always confess and  be forgiven. This IS the age of grace after all. Unfortunately, this  self-serving error shows profound ingratitude.  It also disbelieves what God has said about our new nature as Christians  and it forgets that we are here to serve others, not ourselves. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians that even  their faith was a gift of God, he didn’t stop there: For we are God’s workmanship, created in  Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians  2:10) God has showered grace on sinners for a purpose. He has work for us to do! While that work varies from person to person,  the basic truth remains. Grace didn’t  begin with me and it doesn’t end with me.  As believers we have been greatly and graciously blessed. God did not bless us in response to our own “seed-blessing,” nor did he bless us merely to bless us. No.  Grace means that we have been blessed to be a blessing.

Tuesday, Sept 20, 2011

Introducing Elias Michael Rugen

Monday, August 15, 2011

Holy Is Who You Are.

Sunday at Mission Community Church in Gilbert, AZ, Pastor Marc Connoly preached from Daniel chapter 1 on what it means to "Purpose to keep yourself pure."  He stressed this truth:  "Holy is who you are in Christ.  Choosing holiness is choosing to live like who you are."  Think about that.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

30 years are past. An uncertain number of todays remain.

Monday, July 25, 2011

We Don't Have Forever

Wednesday, July 21, 2011

Torn Between Two Worlds

My friend is a man at peace.  He has advanced lymphoma and is very weak from the effects of chemotherapy. Yet his face radiates serenity and even a humourous joy.  He knows his chances of surviving the desease ravaging his body are slim.  He is not in denial.  Yet his joy is undeniable.

Paritally it comes from the knowledge that his destiny in heaven is settled because of his faith in Jesus Christ.  Partially it comes form the fact that his ministry has been flourishing in a way for which he has prayed for years.  It is ironic that now, in the midst of the weakness of its leader, his church ministry is succeeding more than ever before.

This fact seems to bring a small cloud to the good pastor's face.  He speaks of the irony of it and I can almost see a kind of Pauline conflict at work in his eyes.  He has a vision for the future of ministry in his area that includes many fine endeavors.  Yet he may not be here to be part of it.  He looks forward to heaven, yet he regrets leaving his ministry behind.  He has a desire to "depart and be with Christ which is far better" yet he desires to remain for the benefit of those to whom he ministers.  This conflict within the soul cannot be fully resolved nor does it need resolving.  The same God who has promised to build his church chooses the day his servants leave their stewardship behind to enjoy their heavenly reward.  Only then are all ambavalences at an end.

I have a much smaller, yet important conflict at work in my life.  I desire to give my full time effort to travelling to train pastors, yet I must devote more time to raising support.  This conflict is not unsolvable.  When God's people step up to partner with us in this vital work, I will be able to devote myself to the work entirely.  This is my prayer and I am looking forward to many years of productive ministry before my time is up.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Strategic Ministry Dollar

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Extraordinary Value of One Life

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Cause is Worth the Sacrifice

Each time I visit India, I am challenged by the example of men and women willing to suffer real hardship for the cause of Christ.  They lose their friends and their jobs for their faith in Jesus.  Some are beaten and some have lost their lives.  Yet they gladly suffer these things because the Good News of Jesus simply outweighs the price they must pay to spread it.  For our part, we have only suffered inconvenience and discomfort as we have sought to bring these wonderful believers some basic training.  We are novices at suffering for the gospel, but we consider it a privilege to learn. 

Around the world believers are gladly suffering for Jesus.  In light of this, here is a searching question:   What cost are you bearing for the gospel?  What inconvenience have you been willing to suffer?   Could it be that God is asking you to take the next step in your journey of faith?

Eileen and I are more than grateful for many who have given sacrificially and regularly to help us train pastors and church planters who are carrying the gospel to souls in desperate need.  But we are hindered by the fact that we still have only partial support.  You may be the answer to my prayer.  Could you sacrifice a small amount each month to support our work?   If a significant number of you chose to give even a small amount per month, we would find ourselves fully supported immediately.  We could nearly double the number of pastors, Church Planters, and Christian leaders we train this year and in years to come.  This training will reap a huge harvest just as it has already begun to do in the lives of our Timothy Students and their churches.  The cause is worth the sacrifice!

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Virtuous Weed vs. the Virtuous Wife

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Change is Coming. Are you Ready?

Monday, March 21, 2011

Keeping the Faith, and the Bees

Bee pollen is good for jet lag?   I was dubious, but also curious.  Why was my new friend talking so much about the virtues of bees and their byproducts?  I would eventually learn the story.  Camotes is one of the more beautiful of the Visayan Islands of the Philippines.  On Camotes Island, missionary, Brent Ralston has formed a partnership with AD and Hazel Alvarez.  AD (my new friend) is a successful businessman and his wife, Hazel has a media background. Together they are working to help pastors become more self sufficient by learning agricultural techniques including how to keep bees.

In the Philippines, one of the biggest factors driving men out of ministry is the relentless financial pressure common to pastors in much of the developing world.  Many of these pastors lead churches filled with new believers who are not yet well taught in the area of stewardship.  This, in combination with their limited means, often means that a pastor serves with little or no pay.  Many in the west have sought to alleviate this sort of problem by directly subsidizing pastors and ministries in developing countries.  Unfortunately, this well-intentioned generosity usually creates an unhealthy dependencies which ultimately hamper the work of the church.

On Camotes Island, things are different.  First this is an indigenous ministry, designed to be self sustaining without the need for outside subsidies.  Second, this ministry trains pastors in farming and business principles which enable them to greatly supplement their meager incomes.  Third, this training is bringing pastors together across denominational lines creating unity and a unified presence in the community.  All of this strengthens the ministry of the churches on Camotes.  Finally, this ministry has been launched with the help of micro-financing.  In this innovative approach, a small amount of money is loaned at a reasonable interest rate to enable a sustainable venture to launch.  Well-run micro-financed ventures have a very low default rate enabling money to be used again and again. Instead of creating unhealthy dependencies, micro-finance, along with a bit of training in business principles frequently enables pastors and their ministries to become self-sustaining and financially healthy.  This is the model we see developing on Camotes.

Brent and AD have a larger vision than aiding pastors financially.  They are looking forward to the day when the ministry on Camotes will include pastoral training and retreat center.  Training is at the heart of their larger vision.  The first building for the training center is already under construction

This brings me to my role?  At Global Training Network, we focus like a laser on pastoral training.  This is the task God has given us.  I rejoice in the kind of ministry I see developing on Camotes Island.  I pray for its success and look forward to partnering with Brent and AD to help bring the training that is essential to the development of Camotes Island as a Christian lighthouse in the Visayan Islands.  What a joy it is when  ministries of different focus are able to work together for a much greater effect.   

Monday, March 7, 2011

Living what we believe ON PURPOSE

As I travel to other countries to offer training to pastors and church planters, I am frequently struck by the courage of men and women who are living out their faith in the face of real sacrifice, pain, persecution, and even death.  I think of Pastor Lemuel who has been repeatedly beaten by radical Hindus for refusing to be silent about the gospel.  I think of Muqaddam, who leads a church planting movement in a country so hostile to Christianity that Muqaddam has carefully trained assistants to take over his work in case he is shot.  I think of A.D. a successful businessman  who has chosen not to pursue personal wealth, but is instead, using his considerable abilities to train poor pastors in ways that they can supplement their income, enabling them to remain in ministry.  These and other believers I have recently met are living out their values On Purpose.

All of us live out our values.  Its just that these values are often not the ones we claim.  Show me your checkbook, and I'll show you what you believe.  Show me your calendar, and I'll show you your priorities.  How we spend our money and our time reveal what we hold most dearly in our hearts.  But too often, there is a difference between our articulated values and those which guide our actual decisions.  Thus we are living our values But not on purpose.

I believe it is essential for us to ask ourselves the right questions.  The question is not "Why don't I live out my values?"  No.  The real questions are "What ARE my values?" and "Are my values biblical values?"  Forget for a moment what you agree that your values should be.  Examine what you do instead.  As stated above, it is how you spend your time and your money that reveal your real values.  We invest our lives a dollar at a time and an hour at a time.   This may not be as pretty a picture as you like, but it is honest.  Do your values align with a biblical world view?  If your actions and expenditures fall short of a biblical ideal, ask yourself, how can I begin to act on chosen biblical values On Purpose?

Many folks claim they believe in our kind of ministry but can't afford to support it financially.  I have no doubt of their sincerity when they make such statements.  Never-the-less, such assertions may not stand close scrutiny.  When you look at what you do spend money on,  you may find that there are many less worthy expenditures which occur without examination.  Values are being acted upon, but not on purpose.

We need to examine ourselves to see if every hour and every dollar is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  When we do, all our ministries will be adequately staffed and funded.  Believers will see to it on purpose.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Take The Leap

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The humility of God's messenger

I have been engaged in a course on Biblical preaching this week.  Although I have been preaching weekly for more than 25 years, I have been finding many of the concepts challenging.

One of the most challenging concepts has been the fact expressed by the Apostle Paul that we ought to consider ourselves ambassadors of God pleading with people to be reconciled to God.  It is humbling to recognize that when preaching, no preacher should have the temerity to preach his own ideas, to take credit for biblical ideas as if they were his own, or, in any way, to make himself the center of attention rather than God and his word.

It is a temptation of preachers to make themselves the focus in a sermon rather than God.  This is done by being glib or by using clever organization, humor, self-congratulatory illustrations or newer and better multimedia presentations in such a way that the pastor and the the church are promoted more than the message of the Bible.  It's not that such things are wrong to use.  On the contrary, most of the above may be legitimate and useful teaching tools.  The temptation of which I speak has to do with the spirit with which preaching is done. 

It is easy for attention to focus on the messenger in any context.  For people who preach every week it is easy to forget that every week you are preaching from the most profound book ever written, that you have the awesome privilege to be a messenger for God, conveying his word to mortal man.  What should be divine moments  can subtly become a merely human conversation in which the preacher is the man with the answers.  People look for such men and honor them.  A preacher can enjoy and subtly encourage  that admiration and human focus.  To the extent that he does so, he makes himself an idol.  It is up to the messenger of God to ACTIVELY deflect any focus that comes to him in the direction of God and his word.  In effect, his actions and demeanor must say "do now worship me.  I am only the messenger."  The message is from God.

I often think of Moses public disobedience to God in striking a rock to bring water out of it for people to drink instead of speaking to the rock as God had commanded.  The miracle was from God, not from Moses.  It had happened before and then, God had instructed Moses to strike the rock with his staff.  God's instructions to approach the rock differently to initiate this second miracle may have been intended to demonstrate that there was no human formula involved.   In his anger at Israel, Moses spoke as if He were a partner in the miracle at least.  He struck the rock as before instead of obeying God's instructions carefully.  God saw it as a refusal to honor him publically and announced to Moses that as a consequence, he would not enter the promised land. 

Moses was a great man and I have no right to lecture him on anything, but I cannot help but wonder if an inner mental reminder that he was just the messenger not the miracle worker -just a man, not God might have changed things that day.  Many of us who preach the unsearchable riches of Christ need such reminders from time to time.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Indispensible Key: Indigenous leaders

Wednesdsy, December 28

On Lies, Lying, and a Principled Approach to Law

Recently a question came up during a Q&A at our church about lying.  afterward, I wrote to the pastor the following note.

Pastor,

Greetings.  My name is Bob Edmondson.  My wife and I are currently applying for membership at here.  I too am a pastor of about 25 years.  A little more than a year ago, I became a missionary trainer of pastors with Global Training Network.   

We were in the Question and Answer service recently.  Good job on some tough questions by the way. 

I was intrigued by the question about lying.  While not the most important topic of the day, it does touch on something a bit bigger.  This question came up a few years ago while I was teaching story of Jael and her penetrating encounter with Israel’s enemy, Sisera.  You will recall that she lured him into her tent as if to give him refuge and a much needed rest.  She gave him warm milk, lulled him to sleep, then drove a tent stake through his skull.  (Ouch!  That’s gonna leave a mark.)  Jael (a.k.a. “Peggy”) deceived Sisera and in so doing, saved Israel.  She was praised for her brave act. During the class, I was asked the same question about lying which you were asked.  Oddly, some in the class had no problem with Jael killing Sisera, but they did object to her deceiving him first(!)  I answered much as you did, that in some instances God condones lying.  That much is obvious from the text.  Some in the class countered that it is never right to do a wrong thing.  There was a friendly debate which ended inconclusively.  Afterward, my wife Eileen, who is very wise, suggested to me that there is a better answer based on scriptural principles.

Laws represent larger principles.  Jesus made that clear when he summed up the morality of the Old Testament law by saying, “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.”

So it’s important to understand the larger principle behind the law against lying.  That principle has to do with human relationships.  Truthfulness is one expression of the second part of Jesus’ summation:  “love your neighbor as yourself” Truthfulness is a way of demonstrating respect and honor for another human being created in God’s image.  It is also necessary for people to function together in any relationship or community. Truth-telling is basic to a civil society. 

However, when views in this context, the principle is more complex than the mere rule.  Specifically this principle of love and respect is not in play when one is confronted with an enemy in a time of war.   It is never right to do a wrong thing, but is it really a wrong thing to break a rule when the very purpose for the rule’s existence is obviated by a state of war?  There is no love, respect, or civil society in war.  What purpose is served by insisting on truthfulness toward an enemy you are trying to kill?  How can we accept that killing an enemy in time of war is not murder yet balk at the notion of deceiving that same enemy as part of the effort to kill him?

There are lots of examples of God condoning deception,  Jael and Sisera, Rahab and the spies, Some of David’s military victories (carried out at God’s specific command), Moses and Pharaoh, just to name a few.  In none of these instances did God violate the purpose behind his command against lying since in each instance he was dealing with an enemy of Israel and of God.  The law promoting civility and love didn’t apply to these situations.  God is NOT inconsistent, nor are we when we do as he does.

I believe this approach to the law helps explain other “violations” of the law which did not violate the principles behind it.  The primary principle behind Sabbath is rest.  The rule not to work on the Sabbath may be violated by rescuing your ox from the ditch but the principle of rest is not. On the contrary, to leave an animal in jeopardy because you must rest is absurd.  It violates a much more important principle than that of rest. Plenty of time for rest after the animal is safe.  Jesus’ healing a man on the Sabbath is similar.

This is not a situational ethic.  This is a principled ethic.  Situational ethics involve changing your belief system and standards for the sake of expedience.  A principled ethic seeks to understand the heart of God behind a rule and to ALWAYS follow that heart. 

In Galatians 3:24 it says that the law was “put in charge to lead us to Christ” NASB uses the word “tutor.”  KJV says “schoolmaster.”  There is a lot in this statement.  I see the law as very similar to the list of rules you give a small child when he is too young to understand the “why” behind the rule.  For example, one of a child’s rules is “Don’t run into the street.”  A child has many such rules.  As they grow up and come to understand the reasons behind those rules, they become self governing and can choose to disobey some of those rules when a situation calls for it.  The child grows into adulthood.  One day the young adult sees a boy playing in the street as a car approaches.  He runs into the street and rescues the boy from danger.  He broke the rule “don’t run into the street.”  But he acted in keeping with the principle behind the rule: namely “be safe.”  He also acted on a more important principle involving placing the welfare of others ahead of yourself.  This is what it means to be grown up. You understand more than the simple rule.  You understand what the rule stands for.  When it comes to truthfulness, you understand that it is about respect and love in a civil relationship or society.  This does not apply when you are in war where there is no purpose for truthfulness in a context where everyone is trying to kill one another.

This is not inconsequential.  The law gave us rules but the more full revelation of Jesus gave us the heart of God behind those rules.  The question about lying may be a small one, but the subject of how to apply the moral law of God in the age of grace is, I think you will agree, a bigger issue.  This question opens a window to the whole subject of Christian ethics.   As 21^st century believers, we desperately need to understand the heart of God and discern how best to apply his moral law in our individual circumstances.  The best way I know to accomplish that is to keep doing what you do every week.

Thank you for being a man of the book.  

Wednesday, December 22

Christmas: A Time for Being, not Doing

Wednesday, December 15

Keeping the grinch under lock and key

Thursday December 8

Its Christmas! Let's Celebrate!

            I love Christmas.  I can’t deny it. I have about 150 Christmas songs on my ipod.  I  own thousands of Christmas lights.  I love the tree, the stockings, the food, the Christmas cards, the food, the gatherings, the white elephant gifts, and the food.  I actually like the crowds at the shopping malls.  Now, I know what you’re thinking: “sick!” Right?    Nobody in their right mind likes the shopping mall crowds at Christmastime do they?  Well, yes.  I do.  

            You know, it’s funny.  I sort of expected to have some difficulty getting into the “Holiday Spirit” this year.  The economy is still down.  Our personal support is only coming along slowly, and I’ve found myself in some pretty intense ministry situations among persecuted believers in more than one country.           

But I have to tell you, I feel more like celebrating this year than ever before.   When Jesus came into the world, his birth represented far more than the pleasant and pacific nativity scene with which most of us grew up.  In truth, on that first Christmas, God invaded a world long dominated by the “prince of the power of the air.”  Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.  He came to build his church, a spiritual edifice composed of the redeemed souls of hundreds of millions previously lost and alienated from God.  On that day, a titanic battle was joined.  Satan would not take Jesus’ incarnation lying down.  He would do all that he could to thwart God’s purposes.  But his efforts would only play into God’s plan.  Just as Jesus promised the disciples, the gates of hell will never overcome the church the He is building. 

This year, I have been privileged to see the front lines of the battle first hand. In many Asian countries, I have been blessed to see Jesus’ words being fulfilled before my eyes. Satan is throwing everything he has against the church, but he cannot overcome the message of salvation in Jesus Christ which is winning tens of millions of hearts around the world each year.   I’ve even been privileged to have a small part in this harvest by training over 600 pastors this year.  Wherever I go, the story is the same.  Where persecution abounds, the strength of God’s people abounds more. Where they try to stamp out the gospel, the gospel spreads.   Where sin abounds, grace super-abounds. 

This is worth celebrating!  Sure, the economy is hurting.  Sure, many of us have difficult personal circumstances.  But our God IS God!  He has never yet failed.  The promise inherent in Christmas is being carried out around the globe today.  Jesus is building his church and we get to see it and even take part in it.  It puts things into a different perspective.  The evil so prevalent in the world WILL one day be a distant memory because Jesus came.  The painful circumstances of life whether mere annoyances or serious hardships WILL one day come to an end because Jesus came.  There IS hope in the gospel for every man, woman and child on earth because Jesus came.  Why, it’s enough to make you look at a crowd of people at a shopping mall…and celebrate.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Giving Wisely

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Church Cannot Be Stopped

In my most recent ministry trip, I visited the persecution-torn regions of Orrisa, India and Faisalabad Pakistan.  I heard horrific stories of persecution in both places.  People have been beaten, shot, and burned alive for their faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,  They are systematically denied access to jobs, and other opportunities.  They are continually pressured to re-convert to Hinduism or Islam.  Many of the pastors to whom I spoke bear in their bodies the scars of the beatings they have received for Christ. -- Yet they remain completely unintimidated.

They came by plane, by car, by bicycle, and by foot to receive the training we offered.  Some travelled for 20 hours or more and some spent as much as a month's salary to spend a few days with us. 

In Orissa, they came in spite of threats from Hindu's and Maoists.  In Pakistan they met in a church building a scant 2 blocks from where two believers were recently gunned down in broad day light by Muslim extremists.  Twice as many pastors came together as we expected.    They sang loud joyous praises in defiance of the indimidation aimed at them.

All together, we ministered to over 400 pastors in India and Pakistan.  The spirit they brought to our meetings is the same spirit with which they daily minister.  Sacrifice is a way of life for them.  They live with the threat of violence and death yet their enthusiasm is in no way diminished.  They continue to reach people, plant churches, and make disciples.  The church is growing much faster in these persecuted areas than in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

They give me hope, for they are living proof that Jesus Christ is building his church and that the gates of hell are not prevailinig against it.  It is His Church and it cannot be stopped!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

A Note from Eileen: My Dual Role

Monday, October 11, 2010

Stewardship in Stressful Times

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Shinta's Story

Her name is Shinta.  She has a ministry on South Sumatra Island, and her heart has been broken.  Bit by bit through a translator, she told me her story.  Born a Muslim, she became a Christian in her twenties.  Her family promptly disowned her.  Undaunted, she prospered in her newfound faith, eventually sensing that God wanted her to engage in full-time ministry.  She sacrificed a very good management job to become a missionary to her own nation.  Moving to South Sumatra, she began to speak to people about the gospel.  She eventually won 20 Muslim souls to Christ and gathered them together to study the bible hoping that a church could be established.  Her desire came to naught.  All 20 eventually abandoned her weekly meetings.  Many joined an established church while some renounced their faith under intense pressure from family and friends.  Bewildered, she never-the-less continued to share the gospel with others, albeit, with an aching heart for her spiritual children who abandoned her.  For reasons she couldn’t fully explain,  people stopped coming to Christ as they once had.  She entered a season of fruitlessness.  Her prayers seemed to go unheard and she began to doubt.  Time went by.  Shinta received conflicting counsel from Christian friends and leaders.  An offer of marriage from a Godly Christian man tempted her to abandon the ministry she felt called to carry out.  She didn’t know what to do or why God seemed to ignore her pleas for answers.  The tears flowing down her cheeks spoke more eloquently than the broken sentences of the interpreter.  Finally she confessed that she was looking for guidance and for some sign that God is still there.  Otherwise she would abandon her ministry and her faith and return to her family’s Islamic practices.  There it was --the bottom line.  And it was devastating.  I was speaking to a woman on the very brink of spiritual disaster.

Now I was in no condition to minister to this poor burned out soul.  I was near the end of an 18 hour day that had included travel, intensive pastoral training sessions and a great many one-on-one consultations.  She was the sixth person I’d counseled after the evening session.  I was also near the end of my endurance. My head was swimming with fatigue and my voice was all but gone from a blossoming virus.  I prayed for words that could help.  God prompted my heart.  I said, “Shinta, You don’t need guidance or a sign as much as you need to deal with your anger and disappointment with God.”  She stared at me for a moment, then with a renewed flow of tears she nodded and whispered “Yes. Yes.”  As we conversed, God helped her see that success in ministry cannot be measured in merely human terms.  She won people to Christ and helped to change their souls’ eternal destinies.  She taught the word to people faithfully and cannot possibly know all of the effect that teaching had.  Many prophets spoke the word of God to people who refused to listen.  No one considers them failures.  She served God with her whole heart and her reward has been kept in heaven and is undiminished by the fact that her dream didn’t come true.  “People may not be grateful, but God is.”  I said, “It sounds to me like leading those people to Christ was the task God had for you and you carried it out.  Eventually, they will lead others to Christ.  The numbers will multiply over time. Who knows what my come about in the future because of the souls you have won.  Well done!  Your dream of starting a new church there was apparently not God’s plan. But God is at work, just not in the way you envisioned.  The question isn’t ‘How can I finish the task you gave me?’  The question is ‘What is the next task?’  He still has work for you there or somewhere else and he will show you in time.  But first why don’t we talk to God about your doubts and disappointment.  Things are not right between you and God but that can change right now.” 

It is highly unusual for a Christian from Sumatra to have an opportunity to speak with a Pastor from half way round the world.  Our words were taken very seriously by pastors who tended to see us as sent to them by God.  Indeed, Shinta regarded my counsel as her sign from God.  Her countenance was transformed before my very eyes.  The light broke through the clouds and she began to smile through her tears.  We prayed together.  Shinta’s relationship with God was changed in those moments.  She thanked me repeatedly for giving her hope.

Now my colleague, Jim Baugh (“Pak Jim” as he is known among Indonesians), knew nothing of this.  But the next day he sensed God’s leading to depart from his prepared remarks to encourage the assembled pastors with the truths of Romans 8:31-39.  Nothing in heaven or on earth can separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus!  This resonated in hearts throughout the room.  But nowhere did it ring more strongly or sweetly than in Shinta’s soul which had been restored and renewed.  Tears of bitterness had turned to tears of joy.  She gladly raised her arms to worship the God of heaven whom she nearly abandoned less than 24 hours before.  When the conference ended, many participants gave us a traditional hug, touching their face first to one shoulder then to the other.  Shinta dispensed with that.  Rushing forward, she gave me a good old fashioned bear hug.  Hers were not the only tears of joy.

Monday, Sept 13, 2010

What was He Thinking?

Next week I travel to one of many countries governed by Sharia Law.  The Muslim majority there is highly outraged at the 9/11 "Koran Burning" controversy sparked by Rev. Terry Jones and picked up by others who, unlike Jones, actually carried out their threat.  Americans are inclined to view these events through a political lens, criticizing the response of the media and the double standards of politicians.  People on both sides of the political ruling classes have condemned Jones and others engaged in Koran desecration.  Most common Americans disapprove as well.  There are some, however, who support Jones for various reasons, one of which is simple defiance of our own leading politicians who are increasingly held in contempt by many Americans.  No doubt many candidates will use these events to seek a political advantage this fall.  It is, after all, an election year. (Sigh.)

Be all this as it may.  I still have to spend 10 days ministering in a less safe environment because of these acts.  This directly affects me.  More importantly, it directly affects millions around the world who face persecution for their faith on a good day.  For them today is NOT a good day.  Some have been attacked.  Many have been threatened, and how much is happening that we will never hear about?

All this leads me to a number of questions for Rev. Jones and others like him.

• Did you stop to consider the effect of your actions on Christians living in Muslim majority societies all over the world?  Many are suffering right now as a result of your inflamatory rhetoric. 
• Did it occur to you that there are Christian workers ministering in dangerous areas of the world that could be put at risk by your political statement?
• Why this particular form of protest?  Are there not other ways of making your sentiments about the Ground Zero Mosque heard which don't unnecessarily antagonize millions of Muslims and put good people at risk?
• Where in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, or New Testament Epistles do you find this kind of protest commanded, encouraged, or even justified?
• Did you expect it to create this much controversy?
• What did all of this accomplish in the end?
• As you examine your motives before God, was this a principled act or was it, at least partially, about your 15 minutes of fame?

I guess it all boils down to one simple question which only you can answer:  What were you thinking?

Tuesday, Sept 7, 2010

For the Love of Light: The Conclusion of the Matter

I have written the previous posts to give you a feel for what it means to brush up against truth and retreat, to be offered a glimpse of something more than you now know and refuse it out of fear, to take the blue pill of willful ignorance. It may seem more comforting at first to not deal with difficult or unpopular truths, but it leads to a diminishing of your life in ways that should be frightening. No one who chooses this path is choosing love for God. If you would love God with all your heart, you must choose differently. I could simply say, "do the opposite of all of the above," but I will instead dwell for a while on the positive effects of loving God by embracing truth.

Loving God means Loving Light

Loving God Means Loving the Light of "Big T" Truth

Earlier we saw that the word "light" is used often in scripture as a metaphor for revelation and its enlightening effects. "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). If you want to love God, learn to love his revelation. A key difference between those with a passionate love for God and those with a luke-warm spiritual life is one’s attitude toward what God has revealed.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I will take time to point out here that God’s complete revelation is contained in the 66 books of the old and new testaments. Many people speak of voices and visions. The phrase "God told me…" is often heard. Be suspicious of this. I’ve no doubt that the Holy Spirit is active and, in fact, prompts people in various ways. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that in places where the gospel is brand new, that dreams and visions leading people to come and hear the word of truth are not uncommon. However, such supernatural events lead people to hear the preaching of the word, and they diminish or disappear where the complete word of God is in plentiful supply. The Bible teaches us to test the spirits. The best test of any such "prompting" is to measure it by the word of God. This is the "more sure word of prophecy" (2 Peter 1:19). I hate to say it, but ours is a Post-Christian culture and when someone here says "God told me…" in my experience it is usually meaningless.

The Bible contains all that God intends for us to know with certainty about spiritual matters. It also hints at things we cannot yet understand. Its truths are of such a nature that one can obey them at many different levels. A newborn believer can obey a passage of scripture with whole hearted sincerity to the best of his ability and understanding. If he continues to grow in Christ, he may reach a point where obedience to that same passage will mean a different and deeper commitment. The passage doesn’t have two meanings, it’s just that the Holy Spirit ministers it to our hearts according to our current need and level of maturity. Thus our understanding of the same truths can grow deeper and deeper with time. In Hebrews 5:13-14 it says that there is milk and meat in the word of God and that the meat belongs to the mature believer, that is those who "by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." If I understand this correctly it means that experience in obedience to the scriptures and spiritual sensitivity bring about a discernment which enables deeper understanding of the scriptures. This doesn’t mean that suddenly portions of the scriptures which could not be previously understood are now unlocked to the mature. Rather, in my opinion, it means that an immature believer can only digest the milk in a given passage, while a more mature one reads that same passage and pulls forth some really meaty principles. You can test this theory by giving the same passage of scripture to two people of greatly different levels of maturity. Ask them both what principles they think it teaches. See if you don’t get greater meat from the more mature one.

I point this out to say that you need never be bored by scripture as you would get bored with any other book that you read repeatedly. Its unique nature combined with the ministry of the Holy Spirit enlightening us as we read it means that for your whole life you can find new (to you) and increasingly precious truth there. The key is maintaining your own sensitivity to light, your own taste for truth. I know of no better way to maintain that taste and sensitivity than by obeying the principles that you discover. Struggling to put the word of God into practice will create a hunger for the word as surely as working hard gives you an appetite for lunch. This leads me to talk about love for truth on a different level.

Loving God Means Loving the Light of "Small T" Truth

Not all truth comes to us directly from the scriptures. God ministers scriptural truths to our hearts through many other avenues. Loving God means loving his truth wherever it may be seen. Often it is seen in small ways or in small applications of big truths. I call this the light of "Small T" truth. Here are some of the places where it can be seen and loved.

Earlier we saw that light is used as a metaphor in scripture for character, the character of God being the most common example. Obviously this means that loving God means loving his character. But there is something more here. God has two kinds of attributes: transferable and non-transferable. His omnipresence (presence everywhere), omnipotence (total power), omniscience (perfect and complete knowledge), etc. are all non-transferable. As finite human beings we can never approach these capabilities. However, we ARE made in the image of God which means that God’s transferable attributes can be and are reflected in us. His transferable attributes all have to do with his character. His love, justice, righteousness, holiness, grace, and many more character traits summed up in the phrase "God is light" are all present in human nature. They have been darkened, diminished and layered over with sin to be sure, but God intended that we reflect them. The miracle of regeneration which occurs when a person is born again is that these godly traits come to life (Eph 2:8-10) and begin a slow march to dominance in our lives. We are being slowly conformed to the image of Christ.

Loving God means loving the light of his character where ever it is found. This is one reason I take your question about loving God so seriously. I see your question as an indication of spiritual thirst. A desire for light is a godly thing. Moreover, asking a question that goes straight to the heart of our spiritual lives indicates progress in your spiritual life already beyond that of many believers with much greater experience. I have learned to love all such indications of God’s character being reflected in those he loves. It is my joy to write to you on this subject and encourage your spiritual sensitivity.

I would like to encourage you to love and appreciate godliness wherever you see it. It is tough for us to get a handle on the character of God because God is, well… God. He is different than we are. How can we understand anything infinite. This is one reason he sent Jesus. We could see the glory of God in human form. We can also see the character of God reflected in human form when we see godly maturing believers. They can teach us about God in ways that we don’t even realize. Your aunt Eileen taught me about grace without words. Her human example early in our relationship enabled me to deal with truths I could not fathom except by a human example. There have been many others whose godly example has impacted my life. I am spiritually enriched by their influence in my life.

But you have to look for those traits. They will often exist in people with whom you disagree. I’ve met some very godly people with some very big holes in their theology. (no doubt they view my theology in the same way). But our disagreement doesn’t take away from the basic dynamic of God at work transforming our individual characters. Here’s something else. Sometimes godliness will exist in one area in a person’s life while another area is out of control. You have to be patient with people and look for the place where God is most strongly at work. Admire that. Encourage that. You will find in so doing, that an annoying person can become God’s gift to you and you can find it in yourself to be an encouragement to them as well. It greatly improves your life and lowers your stress when you develop eyes for where God is at work instead of stressing over all the areas where he seems absent. Love light wherever you see it shining. Love truth wherever you see it playing out. Love godly character wherever you see it starting to blossom. In this way, God will minister his "Big T" truth to you through many examples of "Small T" truth.

Light is a metaphor for influence in scripture as we have seen. Truth changes people wherever it is taught. God promised that his word will never return to him empty, but will always accomplish the purpose for which he sent it. A recurring theme in Proverbs is the counsel to get wisdom at any price. We know from history that the light of Christianity changed the course of history. "The entrance of your word brings light" (Psalm 119:130). God clearly loves the influence his truth has on people. When people respond positively to the truth he rejoices and the angels with him. This means that loving God involves taking similar delight when the teaching of truth produces change in people. I was about your age when God began to work strongly in my heart, prompting me to live a life of more careful obedience to him. It was not a smooth path. I tried to turn aside on several occasions. My brother, Bill, was there to encourage me, correct me, and on one memorable occasion, confront me with the words of Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever hates correction is stupid." The day I agreed to be baptized, he wept. That’s what I’m talking about. Loving God involves loving people and loving what God does in their hearts.

Now we come to the practical side of truth in your own life. You must make it your rule to deal with God’s truth truthfully. I’m not being glib. This is uncomfortable to say the least. When I was 18 I worked briefly for a company that manufactures steel forms for concrete construction. My job was to use a big hand-held grinder (a tool with a large spinning wheel that can cut through metal and that makes a lot of really neat sparks). I had a lot of fun at it until one day when the grinder took a bite out of my wrist requiring surgery, 21 stitches, and nearly costing me the use of my left hand. I can still recall being rolled into the operating theatre. I was black with the grime of the factory except where they had scrubbed my hand and wrist in preparation for the surgeon. In the operating theatre was the brightest light I had ever seen. I watched in fascination and growing disquiet as the light revealed the real nature of my wound which was a good deal worse than I had supposed. In the half second that grinder had touched my arm, it had chewed a sizable hole in the flesh causing nerve damage and even making a nick in the bone. The surgeon began to pull bits of shredded skin and flesh from the hole in my arm. One piece looked like piece of shrimp. No sooner had that thought floated through my mind than the surgeon gave me a quizzical look. Apparently something in my expression revealed that this spectacle was having an effect on me. "Well I wouldn’t be watching if I were you!" was all he said. I turned my head. I’m sorry to tell you this gruesome story, but it’s not unlike what happens when God’s word reveals some ugly nasty sin in your life. It’s disappointing, upsetting, and disheartening. Sometimes it is downright sickening. There is a very real temptation to turn away. If you love God, you won’t. He never shines his light on something he doesn’t intend for us to see. If you want to always honestly deal with what God reveals in your life through his word, there are some disciplines you should embrace.

Put your pride to death. One part of dying to yourself daily is learning to mortify your pride. I can’t emphasize this too strongly. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). Pride was the sin that started it all and pride is the most basic of all sins. I won’t dwell on the nature of pride here except to say that it is pride that will do more to rob you of spiritual victory than any other single problem. This is because it is pride which will prevent you from coming to the light of truth. Pride will stop you from obeying by inciting you to rebel. Pride will rear its ugly head when you do obey whispering in your ear about how much credit you deserve. Pride will breed misunderstanding and conflict. Pride will encourage alienation from people and then prevent you from reconciling with them. Pride will put distance between you and God and discourage you from ever repenting. Pride is the enemy of God’s truth. Pride is a self-deceptive attitude that prevents you from loving anything more than yourself. Pride is a vampire that will suck the vitality out of your spiritual life. That’s why you have to put a wooden stake through its heart daily. Stab it and slab it! Plug it and plant it! Kill it and grill it! Beat it and eat it! Come to God in humility with an open heart. Follow the attitude of Christ Jesus described in Philippians 2. Humble yourself and, in due course, He will lift you up. You won’t be sorry.

Don’t live in fantasyland. My meaning here is not mysterious our vague. I’m talking primarily about your intake of media. It is very easy today to spend many many hours watching television or movies, getting lost in novels, bathing your brain in music, getting revved up by talk radio, or exchanging inananities on social media websites. Such things may represent pleasant and amusing diversions, but they can and do become much more than that. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not crusading against any of these things in and of themselves. I’m simply suggesting that they all represent a break from the real world in that either they are fictional or mainly irrelevant. Even news radio (my own besetting sin) is irrelevant in that most of what I hear I can never affect in any way by any action I might take. So there is not much point in my hearing it. Oh it’s entertaining, but I must consider the cost of that entertainment: a spirit that is subtly influenced to think politically instead of spiritually about the issues of the day. Similarly, social networking websites are great ways to stay connected with family and friends, but you can overdo it pretty easily and find yourself caught up in a huge waste of time and possibly in things that influence your spirit in ways that are less than Godly. I would counsel you to monitor your own spirit and set limits on the amount of time you will spend living vicariously the world of media. Why is this important? It’s important because as we think in our hearts, so are we (Proverbs 23:7). What you choose to dwell on sets your real spiritual agenda. It’s also important because time is a limited resource and living a full life that expresses love for God means pursuing your dreams. It means serving. It means being involved with people. It means loving and being loved. It means having a cause greater than yourself for which you gladly sacrifice. You don’t have that much time to waste in fantasyland if you want to live a life that expresses love for God.

By "fantasyland" I mean primarily the above. But in a secondary sense, we can live in fantasyland by dreaming of things we never pursue. Dreaming is important. But the Proverbs teaches that the farmer who plows will have a harvest, but the one who chases fantasies his fill of poverty (Proverbs 12:11). These are good words to take to heart.

When I was a boy, I had to deal with some hard things. My parents didn’t get along. There was some abuse in our home. Later, there was alcoholism. I could never seem to cry myself to sleep. I’d cry but not sleep. By the second grade I learned to stop worrying by choosing more pleasant thoughts. I’d retreat into a daydream, a boyish fantasy of some kind. This helped me not be consumed with anxiety about school or home life. My tendency to retreat into a daydream became such a habit that it lasted well into college. People would often say hello to me on the sidewalk and think that I was rudely ignoring them when in fact I didn’t even notice them because I was lost in some day dream. I eventually learned that dreaming as an escape solves nothing (although it’s better than a sleeping pill). Someone who loves God must learn to deal with the real world. Loving God means dreaming and then dressing your dreams in denim. It means 1% is the dream and 99% is the effort that makes the dream come true. Fantasyland is like California It’s a nice place to visit, but don’t settle there.

When you see the light run to it.

The light of God’s truth shines all around us. His word brings light into our lives. The godly examples of others reflect the light of his truth on us. Even the criticism of others can shine light on us. A godly pastor of mine used to say that there is a kernel of truth in even the most unfair criticism. We’ve already talked about the tremendous temptation to ignore light when it shines uncomfortably on us or reveals something embarrassing. But if you are thinking correctly you’ll realize that such light is a gift from God more valuable than gold. The ability to correct what is untrue or unworthy in your life by comparing it to the truth is an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. When truth becomes apparent to you, develop a reflex that moves you toward it rather than away. This will take humility and a real thirst for godliness in your life, but it isn’t about you. Self-improvement isn’t an adequate motivation. This is about love for the glory of God. This is about recognizing his hand and character in truth wherever it is reflected. To love the light of truth in this way is to love the God of truth.

Insist on the whole truth. I grew up watching Perry Mason on T.V. It was in reruns then and it still is. In every show someone would be put under oath in a courtroom. They would swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I’ve come to appreciate the fullness of that definition of truthfulness. One of the delusional things that believers do to avoid the discomfort of full truthfulness is settle for half-truth. Someone has referred to this attitude as desiring "a nickel’s worth of God." Settling for half-truths is what happens when we grab a principle of scripture and apply it in one area of our lives but not in another. It sometimes involves learning and agreeing to a scriptural principle without driving that learning all the way through to its application in our lives. I once heard a pastor lament that Christians substitute agreement with truth for obedience to truth. This is to settle for half-truth, or at least a half-hearted embrace of truth.

This approach to truth can influence us relationally as well. It’s easy to be vague with people, never really dealing in detail with spiritual issues or their application. We exist relationally with a large number of people interacting on the level of clichés, bromides, and small talk. Its one of the ways people hide from one another. In a sense they are settling for half the truth about one another. Genuine relationships require greater depth. What I’m suggesting, is that you not skate over truth in your relationships with God or with other people. Learn to be genuine and specific. Apply whole truths to your life in specific ways. In so doing you are showing love for God, the giver of that truth. Be genuine with other people. Let trust develop and let there be whole truth between you. In so doing you are showing love for them and love for their creator.

Learn the difference between relevant and irrelevant. The nature of light is that it influences things. This means that the nature of darkness involves the absence of influence. This has important ramifications. I’ve heard many sermons warning of the dangers of "bad influences" in our lives. As a parent, I have often warned my kids about things that influence them negatively. Such warnings are legitimate but they ignore what may be a greater danger. Satan has a somewhat easier task than God. God wishes for you to believe and act on specific truth. Satan doesn’t really care what you believe or do as long as he can keep you from believing or acting on God’s truth. There is a whole universe of other things besides God’s truth. All Satan has to do is get you involved with something else; anything else. The danger of so much of what is attractive about our culture is not that it is overtly sinful (although much of it is). The real danger is that there are so many things which seem good and fun and even worthy, but which are, in fact, banal with no eternal significance at all. They merely take up our time and devotion.

I’m convinced that more people are initially tripped up in their spiritual lives by irrelevancy than evil. More people are distracted from truth by the meaningless than dissuaded from it by false teaching. The evil one is a master of making good the enemy of the best. He tempts us to give our time and attention in small but growing ways to things that don’t matter in eternity at all. If you want to love God with all your heart, learn to guard your heart by avoiding the obsessions that are so common today. Such obsessions can be seen everywhere: food, hobbies, movies, music, career advancement, politics, clothing, physical appearance, and many more. It’s not that these things are necessarily wrong in and of themselves. But to devote yourself to any of them is to devote yourself to something that is merely temporary and possibly irrelevant from the perspective of eternity or spirituality. Instead, learn to devote your time and attention, your heart, in increasing measure to things that are bigger than yourself and bigger than this life. In so doing, you show that you value a better kingdom. You are showing love for the king of that kingdom.

Embrace the transforming nature of light. Light influences things. Light doesn’t leave things alone. There is a saying in politics that the best disinfectant is daylight. Revealing things can have a cleansing effect. The light of truth always has an effect. People move where light shines. They move toward it or they move away from it, but they do move. For the person interested in the light of God’s truth, light means movement in their lives. The bible hints at this in the very language used to describe light. "Come into the light…" "Walk in the light as he is in the light…" Such phrases imply that we are moving. Indeed this is always the case for a lover of light. Consider I John 1:7-9 where we are encouraged to walk in the light as He is in the light. He promises that if we do so, we will have fellowship with him and the blood of Jesus, his son will cleanse us from all sin. It occurred to me some time ago that walking in the light "as he is in the light" is a pretty frightening concept. God dwells in unapproachable light. Moses had to be protected from seeing the full glory of God lest he die. To walk in the light as God is in the light seems to imply that we are walking in the overwhelming glory of God’s light. The apostle Paul had a taste of something approaching that light on the road to Damascus and it left him blinded. What is more, if that light shone on me in its full intensity, I would have to cease walking at all and fall to the ground begging him to move away because I am too sinful to endure it. No. The word picture here can’t be describing that. There is no way we could have close fellowship with God unless, he veiled his glory for our protection. On the contrary, God seems to progressively reveal to us our sin and cleanse it away from our lives over time. His light doesn’t shine on us all at once. He seems to aim a graciously muted spotlight on one area of our lives at a time, helping us to deal with that until it is made whole. Then he moves on to another area. We grow in holiness, knowledge, and discernment. We learn to draw meat from the word and not just milk. We remain unique individuals but in some mysterious way, become more and more like Jesus. Our love for God grows more and more precious.

This means that a lover of God’s truth must learn to grow and change through their whole life. There is no such thing as "arrival" in this life. Maturity is not a destination. If anything it is a place of even more intense hunger for God and a more intense understanding of how far I yet have to go. Complacency is the enemy of love for truth. Learn to be content without being complacent. Learn to be satisfied with your life yet insatiably yearning for more of God’s life in you. Learn what it means that "blessed are the hungry." Don’t ever think of any place in this world as a permanent home. You aren’t at home until heaven. For now, you are a pilgrim in an unholy place. It’s a world that is fully satisfied with less than truth.

You want to love God with all your heart, so love his truth. Love his light. Love his reality.

Loving God means dealing with the light of truth honestly

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Darkness vs. Light: The Choice and the Not-So-Obvious Consequences

Why Would Anyone Choose Darkness Over Light?

Answering the question "Why does the human race reject light?" is as simple as it is profound." It boils down to two main reasons:

People don’t want to have their sin revealed. 

It’s too humiliating. The very first sin in the universe was not Adam’s. Nor was it Eve’s. It was Satan’s. A beautiful angel of God, he lifted himself up in pride and said, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isa 14:13-14). When he tempted Eve, his temptations awakened pride in the human heart. He assured Eve that should she eat the fruit, she would be "like God" knowing good from evil. Since that time, pride has characterized human relationships on every level from personal to political. To come to God’s light is to have things in your life seen for what they really are. This is uncomfortable to say the least. In fact listen to what scripture has to say about it. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed" (John 3:19-20). We hide from light because of pride. We reject truth rather than suffer a wound to that pride. It is astonishing, but true, and, as bad as this is, it hints at a second even darker truth (notice the "dark" metaphor).

People naturally rebel against God.

We exist naturally in a state of rebellion against authority which goes to the core of our being. It exists before and after reason. It is not merely emotional. It is a spiritual reality that is at the heart of our natures. Watch any small child and you will see the desire to be independent of authority assert itself in ugly ways. Someone has said that children are born savages. The job of parents is to civilize them. Parents who passively indulge or give way to their children’s rebellious impulses soon live to regret it. But that’s another topic. It is sad to say, but this state of rebellion against God remains present in adults. It lurks just beneath the surface and only requires a little prodding to rear its ugly head. Even David, whom God described as "A man after my own heart" rebelled against God on more than one occasion prompting the confession that "Surely I was sinful at birth" (Psalm 51:5). He is not alone.

The history of Israel makes me scratch my head every time I read it. Over and over again God demonstrated his power to the Israelites. Over and over again they refused to believe. Repeatedly, God made it clear that Moses was his man to lead Israel. Repeatedly, the people questioned this until the day when Moses, a man described as more meek than anyone else on earth, was so provoked that, in his intemperate anger at the grumbling hordes before him, he called them rebels and then disobeyed God himself by striking a rock with his staff to miraculously bring forth water instead of speaking to the rock as God had instructed him. This small act of disobedience before a large audience cost Moses the right to enter the promised land and demonstrated that even the meekest man on earth suffered from the same disease that afflicts us all: rebellion.

The human decision to reject God’s revelation speaks more about our rebellious nature than about any inadequacy in the truth God offers. Humans insist that we can find our own answers. We can do things our own way. We can discover our own path. We don’t need any help, thank you! It reminds me again of that two year old child saying "NO! I’ll do it myself!" Except the two year old is actually trying. Lots of folks give lip service to the idea that they are interested in truth. They just don’t accept any authoritative answers and certainly not from the bible. While some may have honest skepticism, most simply don’t want to deal with the subject at all. As a pastor, I have often encountered people who claimed to be engaged in some kind of religious search and have discovered by asking probing questions that the "search for truth" was often a very casual thing if it really existed at all. Nor has anyone ever welcomed my questioning them about this. One guy said it best, "None of your damn business." He rejected even the small amount of light to be gained by honestly admitting that he really isn’t interested in discovering any eternal truths at all.

So Where Does this Leave Us?

Consider what this adds up to: denial. In order for people with a natural consciousness of God (part of the image of God in mankind) to deal with the spiritual reality of their own rebellion, they are forced into a series of intellectual contradictions and non-sequiturs. For most people denial of reality means some version one or more of the following.

I believe in spirituality, but I prefer to cultivate a spiritual life on my own terms.

God may be viewed as sovereign, morally good, and even the ultimate judge of the world. But many who see him in this way, never-the-less see no connection between these truths and their own manner of life. Nor do they see any problem with this disconnect. Moreover, they occupy a self appointed position of authority by assuming that their own beliefs are validated by the mere fact that they hold them. Have you ever heard someone directly contradict the bible and claim no more authority for their belief than the mere statement, "Well, I believe that…"? The mere statement of an opinion, no matter how much it contradicts the time tested authority of Scripture, no matter how self-contradictory or delusional it may be is supposed to be beyond question merely because it is "my personal belief." This is creating God in our own image. The image may not be well thought out. It may be filled with contradictions. It may be shallow and self-serving. It may shift to suit the situation, but it’s considered sacrosanct because its "my personal belief." The only really consistent element here is that one’s spiritual life is conducted on his or her own terms.

I don’t’ want to deal with reality. 

This can be seen on many levels in human beings. People know smoking will kill them when they smoke their first cigarette. Yet they light up and continue to do so until they are addicted. Are they suicidal? Not usually. They just aren’t dealing with reality. People know that they will need to retire eventually, yet they don’t save. An amazing number of people responding to polls indicate that their financial future rests on some kind of hoped for windfall like a possible inheritance or winning the lottery. Most of them could save some money if they chose to do so. Statistics indicated that people born during the great depression saved a larger percentage of their money than the average baby-boomer, a generation with more money than any in history. Do boomers want to be stuck working under the golden arches during their golden years? Probably not. They just aren’t dealing with reality. Is there any more basic truth than the fact that we all eventually die? The statistics on death are stunning. It is universally agreed that today one out of every one person born eventually dies. Once again, with a natural awareness of the existence of God and of eternity, why wouldn’t we be interested in preparing in some fashion? Well, some argue that it isn’t necessary. Atheists and, to a lesser extent, agnostics argue that God isn’t there or can’t be discovered anyway. They deny the inner awareness built into all humans by arguments designed to convince mostly themselves. Others convince themselves that whatever standard they have lived up to is probably enough. "I’ve done more good than bad in my life." I’ve observed a curious view of God’s grace in this connection. One person said, "Well I believe (!) that if your good works more or less equal your bad works, God puts his thumb on the good side of the scale." These kinds of ignorant and delusional arguments are made by some, but the sad truth is that most make no argument at all. They just don’t think much about the subject or they don’t think enough about it to act. One way or the other it adds up to. "I don’t want to deal with the reality of eternity"

I prefer things hidden. 

Ephesians 5:12 says, "For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret." The secrecy to which this verse refers is characteristic of those who don’t wish to deal with reality. There are things in their life that they don’t wish everyone to know. Here are just a few examples. Perhaps there is a pattern of lying which leads a person to be ever evasive, lest they be caught in some contradiction or discovered to have been false. Perhaps there is behavior which one doesn’t wish known by people in general. Have you ever walked by a tavern or lounge in a mall or airport or within a restaurant? If you’ll notice, they are always dark! Why is that? My own guess is that most people in that environment prefer some level of anonymity. They prefer to be a little bit hidden while they drink and do whatever else they may do there. But it isn’t just in a tavern that people hide. A church on Sunday morning is usually full of people hiding. I can tell you that behind the smiles, handshakes and hugs, many are hiding some awful truth of addiction, adultery, violence, or relational failure. Church is one place where a person should be able to reveal their struggles to others and gain help and grace. Sadly, for many, it is the last place on earth where they would ever reveal the real nature of their struggles. A full discussion of this dynamic is a little beyond our subject here. Suffice it to say that part of the problem, a big part, is the simple truth that people prefer the comfort of hidden-ness over dealing with reality. Like Adam and Eve, our awareness that all is not well with us, causes us to hide.

I prefer illusion and fantasy.

One of the earliest vices in human history involves the use of opiates of some kind to deaden our sense of reality. It is amazing that in virtually every culture on earth, people invent new ways to self-medicate and thus insulate themselves from reality. Many of these self-medications involve the use of physical substances to deaden our brains. The result is a departure from reality that extends to denial about one’s own addictive behavior.

I recently encountered a man in church who said to me, "I want to thank you for what you did for me." I didn’t recognize the man and so was at a loss. I asked him frankly, "What did I do for you?" He explained that 17 years ago, I came to his house along with members of his family and insisted that he go to an alcohol detoxification center to "dry out" so that he could begin to deal with his alcoholism. It all came back to me then; the anger, the cursing, the denial that a problem existed. Apparently, after going unwillingly to the detox center, he continued with a twelve step program and hasn’t had a drop since that day. He is living proof of an axiomatic truth of alcoholism. Alcoholics won’t deal with their addiction until forced to do so. It may be family, friends, or a pastor who force the issue. It may be circumstances. It may be a "dead-end" experience or a crisis of some sort. But the denial lasts until something forces a change by making it more painful to continue the addiction than to change. Ironically, even in the moment of truth when alcoholics recognize their problem and the need for divine intervention to help them overcome it, they refer to God as "my higher power" They call out to a self-defined God to help them with their addiction but usually still don’t deal the true nature of God much less with the eternal realities of heaven and hell. The Alcoholics Anonymous "Blue Book" refers to God saying, "God, as you understand him." For them, salvation is "sanity and sobriety." That’s enough for them. Its also an illusion.

The same can be said of other substance abuse involving mind altering drugs or even food. There is always the same basic disconnect from reality. I recall seeing a 300 pound person in a restaurant order "a triple beef hamburger, large cheesy fries, side salad with Thousand Island dressing, chocolate cheesecake, oh, and a diet coke." I guess the diet coke made her feel like she was eating in moderation. I speak from personal experience on this, having practiced "weight-denial" myself. The scale tells the truth. When I’ve been overweight, I’ve avoided the thing. There are times when I don’t want reality making itself felt. I prefer hiding that truth. And the truth here is usually not just the number of pounds being packed on. The truth is that we often eat for reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. The food is just a way of comforting ourselves or creating a sense of well-being that we would otherwise lack. It’s a way of attacking a spiritual problem in a material way. That’s always a mistake. But that’s a reality that may be too uncomfortable to face.

It isn’t just substances that we use to fill our lives with something other than reality. Lets talk about television for a moment. No, I don’t want to rant about the evil behavior so commonly seen on television. That’s another conversation. I want to talk about the behavior TV prevents. Most people have dreams for their lives. They want to accomplish more, see more, learn more, be more. They have hobbies they wish they had time for, languages they would like to learn, books they would like to read, skills they would like to acquire, people they would like to see, dreams they would like to pursue. Then they come home from work, turn on the T.V. and spend their evening living vicariously through the characters appearing on an electronic screen. That’s just sad. The dreams remain just that: dreams. A person may say they are serious about a particular ambition, but as long as they choose the comforting fantasies they see on T.V. over actually pursuing that ambition, they are in fantasyland in more ways than one. Given the average number of hours spent in front of the TV by most Americans, it’s safe to say that, as a culture, we frequently prefer fantasy over reality

Nor does church attendance automatically constitute dealing seriously with reality. Don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not trying to paint a negative picture of church-going believers. Many or most church-goers are seriously engaged in a growing relationship with the creator and a pursuit of godliness. There are many however, who simply take comfort in religious behaviors, assuming that following a list of such behaviors makes things OK for them in the spiritual realm. Not much thought and even less self-examination are required. One man left a church I served angry with God because he had made certain his kids were in church "every time the doors were open" yet his daughter grew up to break his heart. He believed God had let him down. He seemed to feel that engaging in that one religious behavior constituted the entirety of his duty to guide his children’s spiritual lives. Further, he seemed to believe that, having engaged in this behavior consistently over the years, he could now consider God obligated to insure a vibrant spiritual life in his children (presumably also defined by their continuing attendance at church). This shows a stunningly shallow understanding of God, of human nature, of parenting, and of his kids. To think more deeply, however would have required him to face certain truths which are difficult and uncomfortable. Many would require change on his part. Instead he took refuge in a childish understanding of God that involved a tacit "deal" with the creator of the universe that required very little of him. This man is a brilliant engineer who spends his days designing systems for the department of defense, yet in matters of spirituality, he thinks no more deeply than a child. Unfortunately, churches have plenty of such folks. They take comfort in religious behaviors, assuming that such things constitute their main duty and having done them, they need not think about the realities of spiritual destiny or relationship with God. Their lists of duties vary and may include such things as having a "Church wedding." Or putting ten dollars in the offering plate from time to time. For some, duty involves the number of times they attend church each week. For others, spirituality is measured in how much "church work" you do. In some religious traditions great comfort is gained through a liturgy, or the blessing of a holy man, or the lighting of candles. I could go on and on. The common thread is that by engaging in some religious behavior, one escapes the hard work of thinking about spiritual things and submitting to spiritual authority. A little dutiful activity is a small price to pay to insulate one’s self from the discomfort of reality.

Let me give you one more way that many people prefer to hide in an illusion or fantasy. They live in another time usually the past. The old days were better than today. Prices were lower, people more wholesome, jobs more plentiful, families more healthy, laws more reasonable, the bible more believed, and churches more full. Speaking of church, the music was better, the sermons more powerful, the youth more respectful, the fellowship more sweet, the congregation more unified, the missionaries more sacrificial, the gospel more effective etc. This love of the past is one reason that churches lose the ability to connect with anyone. Then they grow old and eventually go out of existence. Love of the past also represents a way for individuals to rest comfortably instead of doing the uncomfortable work of figuring out how to minister effectively to the world as it really exists today. Living in the past is a popular pass-time for religious people. I’ve observed that we tend to justify living in the past by appealing to the changeless nature of scripture and its theology as if this justifies our adherence to methods which can’t be found anywhere in scripture. The truth is that living in the past is not really rooted in scripture, but in a real discomfort with change. It might surprise a lot of inflexible past-oriented Christians to realize that their unsaved counterparts are just as uncomfortable with change but have no need to cloak their discomfort in self-righteous religious language. My favorite humorist, Pat McManus writes about one of his hobbies as a youth: getting the old men in his life to yarn about the old days. One of his techniques was to prime the pump by saying something like "Gee Mr. Hooker, I’ll bet the fishing sure is a lot better today than when you were a kid." That bit of priming could get the old man started and keep him going for a couple of hours. Good humor is always based in some commonly perceived reality. In this case it is the basic tendency of people uncomfortable with change to prefer the way things used to be and thus to view the past through rose colored glasses. It’s easier than dealing with reality.

Of course there are also those who prefer to live in the future. They have dreams and plans, but they don’t ever seem to make them happen. Why? Because they always are dreaming of tomorrow and fail to realize that you can’t start anything tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes because tomorrow is always tomorrow. If you want to make something happen in your life, you have to start today. That’s hard because when you start to act on that dream, you meet all the difficulties and obstacles and the dream is no longer dream-like. Its more work-like, more stress-like. As someone said, "Tomorrow isn’t what it used to be." It is only in this struggle that we move forward at all. It is only in the difficult reality of today that we can make progress. Now don’t get me wrong. There is a definite place for dreaming. But dreaming is only useful if you eventually act to make the dream reality. If you merely dream, your dream is just an escape from reality.

The Not-So-Obvious Consequences

Rejecting light comes with consequences. The irony is that rejecting light means the consequences will not be obvious because those who have made that choice have, by definition, chosen to walk without light. They have rejected the gift of enlightenment and so are unenlightened, even about their own unenlightened state. For example, if a person refuses to learn or apply spiritual truths from the bible, they may never understand how much they have lost. If a person hears a sermon but ignores its obvious application in their life, they will never know how their obedience to the word of God could have enriched them or led to other decisions which might have had even bigger effects. They will never know how their obedience might have had multiplied benefits through their influence on others. James describes such a person, "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." (James 1:22-24). Similarly, when a person refuses to come to Jesus, He or she will never know the joy and peace of having one’s eternal destiny settled nor the ecstatic joy of meeting Jesus face to face. They are refusing more than they can possibly understand and the nature of spiritual darkness is such that they will never understand and will be increasingly disinclined to come to the light. This is the essence and effect of a refusing to love God. Jesus said, light has come but men love darkness.

Next week: The conclusion of the matter

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Natures of Light and Darkness

The Nature of Light

The very first references to light and darkness in the bible are in the creation account in Genesis 1:3-5: "And God said, let there be light God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." The passage hints at the basic characteristics of both by describing the creation of the day night pattern with which everyone is familiar. There are a few other intriguing hints as well. For instance:

• Darkness represents the absence of light. God separated light from darkness. Where light is absent, darkness pervades. This physical truth is at the core of the use of light and darkness as metaphors in the bible.

• In its first state, the created world existed in darkness. There is no specific mention of darkness having been separately created. Rather, it was part of the empty and formless world described in  Genesis 1:2.
• The creation of light was the first step in God’s creative processes which brought forth order from chaos.
• God described the light as good. While the absence of such an evaluation for darkness does not prove that darkness is evil (indeed the physical creation requires darkness as well as light to function), The description of light as "good" provides some background for understanding its use as a metaphor throughout the bible.

The Bible uses the term "light" in very a very positive way. James Orr comments in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "The word ‘light’ is divinely rich in its comprehensiveness and meaning. Its material splendor is used throughout the Scriptures as the symbol and synonym of all that is luminous and radiant in the mental moral and spiritual life of men and angels; while the eternal God, because of His holiness and moral perfection is pictured as ‘dwelling in light unapproachable; I Timothy 6:16." Orr goes on to describe no less than 9 distinct figurative uses of the word "light" in the bible. Light symbolizes…

• An attribute of holiness (I John 1:5)
• The eye (Matt 6:22)
• Watchfulness (Matt 25:1-13)
• Protection (Rom 13:12)
• The sphere of a Christian’s daily walk (Col 1:12)
• Heaven (based on the presence God’s glory and multiple references to physical light/glory coming from heaven, such as at the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth, the stoning of Stephen, the conversion of Saul and many others.)
• Prosperity (Esther 8:16)
• Joy and gladness (Job 3:20)
• God’s favor (Psalm 4:6)
• Life (Psalm 13:3)

Many of these uses of the word "light" are outside the scope of our subject. However, for our purposes, it’s important to recognize that there are three main usages of this term in the New Testament: Light mainly symbolizes character, revelation, or influence.

Light is a picture of character.

There is no better picture to look at than God himself. His character is flawless in every way. He possesses absolute power but no corruption. He has perfect knowledge of all things both actual and possible including the entire range of good and evil options. He uniformly rejects all that is evil and embraces all that is good. This moral excellence includes his perfect love for his creation. A lot of people wrestle with God’s gracious love for human beings as if it somehow competes with his holy nature. How can a holy God love sinful humans? I only know that the Bible affirms that he does. What is more, he has found a way to extend forgiveness and restoration to us by sacrificing his son in our place. In this way God’s demand for justice is met, his wrath over sin is appeased, and the objects of his love can be saved. By raising Jesus from the dead, he demonstrated his absolute victory over sin including its ultimate consequence, death. All of these perfections of God are summed up neatly, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (I John 1:5)

Light is a picture of revelation.

God reveals truth to us. And this is pictured with the word "light." This word describes the process of revealing truth or, in some contexts, the one who reveals truth. Jesus called himself "The light of the world." Indeed he is. He has all of the characteristics of moral perfection described above. But he is also a revealer. The gospel of John says "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." (John 1:18). This is also why he is called "the Word." Words are vehicles which carry ideas, meaning, revelation. Words reveal and enlighten. Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh. He is the light of the world, the one who reveals God the father.

Sometimes "light" also describes the truth itself. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (Psalm 119:105). As noted above, Jesus is both the revealer of truth and the truth itself. The Bible also represents the light of revelation since it is the word of God in written form. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," (II Tim 3:16).

While the most obvious examples of light of revealed truth in the New Testament involve God and his word, "light" is frequently used in cultures all over the world in reference to the revealing of all kinds of truths. When we learn something new, we sometimes refer to it as becoming enlightened on that subject. A new idea is pictured in cartoons as a light bulb over someone’s head. When we finally break through to someone with an idea that they have had difficulty grasping, we might say, with obvious relief, "Ah! The light is finally dawning!" Although less frequent, the history of human writing reveals many examples of light used in reference to beauty of truth itself. A simple Google search produces over 62,000 references to the light of truth and 147,000 references to the light of knowledge.

Light is a picture of influence.

So there you have it. Light is used to describe, not only everything good and praiseworthy about God, it describes the thing he offers to people struggling without answers: "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (Isa 9:2). One might ask simply, "What’s not to love about light?" Yet, the bible says people hate light and won’t come to it. Why?

The Nature of Darkness

In 1970, a rock group called "Three Dog Night" released their version of a Randy Newman tune entitled "Mama Told Me Not to Come." The song described a relatively innocent young man’s experience at his first "wild party" where almost everyone was drunk or stoned. Feeling overwhelmed he exclaims, "This is the craziest party there could ever be! Don’t turn on the lights. I don’t wanna see." Some things are so shocking that we would rather not see them. My wife closes her eyes during scary parts of movies. (Admittedly her definition of "scary" includes a 12 year old getting her ears pierced in "The Parent Trap," but the point remains.) We refuse to see what is unpleasant, frightening, or shocking to us. It’s a God given protective impulse.

The problem is that sometimes we exercise that that God-given impulse in decidedly ungodly ways: We shield ourselves from the knowledge of things that are unsavory about ourselves. We shield ourselves from spiritual truths which would require big (or sometimes even small) changes in our lives. Here is where we connect with the biblical metaphor of darkness.

When God created the heavens and the earth, his first step in organizing the empty, formless, and dark maelstrom was to create light (Gen 1:1-3). He then separated light from darkness and gave each their name. As we saw before, darkness was not a separately created phenomenon. Rather it was the natural state of things, absent light. This physical reality is the key to understanding the metaphor of darkness in scripture. Darkness exists where light doesn’t.

Throughout scripture, darkness is used as a picture of all of the negative effects and conditions occurring in the absence of light. According to James Orr, darkness is a picture of:

• Moral depravity and its punishment (Ps 82:5, Prov 2:13 Ps 107:10, Matt 8:12 et al)
• The mysterious or unexplainable (I Kings 8:12, Psalm 97:2)
• Trouble and affliction (2 Sam 22:29, Job 5:14, Prov 20:20 et al)
• Punishment (Lam 3:2, Job 10:32)
• Death (I Sam 2:9, Job 10:21, Ecc 11:8
• Nothingness (Job 3:4-6)
• Human ignorance (Job 19:8, I John 2:11)

Since darkness is the absence of light, it is possible to categorize darkness under the inverse of the same three headings as light:

Darkness is a picture of the absence of moral character.

I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Acts 26:17-18). Note the parallelism. Darkness is equated with the power of Satan while light is equated with that of God. Just as light is a picture of the nature of God and all he does, so darkness is a picture of Satan and all he does.

Darkness is a picture of the absence of revelation.

When the psalmist says "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105), he necessarily implies that the path is in need of light. This picture called to mind a familiar scene to all who lived in a day before electricity. Light was a precious commodity at night. Without it, one inevitably stumbled in the darkness. Proverbs 4:19 says, "The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." Note the connection here between the absence of the light of moral character and the absence of the light of revelation. John suggests that wicked ways are blinding to those who practice them (I John 2:19). This may be what the proverb implies as well. Certainly, there is an absence of clarity and therefore dangerous ignorance of the terrain. This is all pictured by darkness, the opposite of light.

Darkness is a picture of the lack of influence associated with light.

Could there be any simpler statement of this than the words of John about the coming of Jesus into the world? "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:5). We’ve already noted that darkness is associated in scripture with the mysterious and unknowable and that it is also used to describe human ignorance and even "nothingness." The influential characteristics of light as revelation and moral character are simply absent when there is no revelation or shining example of moral character. Thus darkness is the absence of moral influence. I find this telling. By way of application it means that Satan doesn’t particularly care what error or sin one embraces. He doesn’t seek to influence us to that degree of specificity. He merely wishes to nullify the influence of light. He doesn’t care where you end up as long as it isn’t in the light. I will have more to say on this later.

(Next Week: Darkness Vs Light: The Choice and its Not-So-Obvious Consequences.)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

For the Love of Darkness

    One of the bigger blockbusters of the new millennium has been "The Matrix." The movie begins with Neo, the eventual hero of the film, going through a process of revelation in which he discovers by degrees that nothing in his world is real. The experience of the entire human race is a complex series of digital fantasies created by a race of machines who have enslaved humankind. These sentient and soulless machines cultivate humans as an energy source because their bodies represent an efficient means of converting protein into electricity. To keep their bodies alive and actively producing energy, the machines have created a faux world in which the minds of slaves are taught to believe that they are really free and active. Although the digital world in which the human race exists is far from ideal, it is much more pleasant than the reality of a vast sea of cocoons, in which humans are hard wired to a vast cybernetic power plant.

    As Neo discovers this awful reality he reaches point of crisis. A decision must be made. Take the red pill or take the blue pill. The red pill will remove him from the Matrix and enable him to deal with reality. He will live in a world of struggle, hardship and probable defeat and death in a desperate war against the machines. The blue pill will enable him to forget his brief brush with the truth. To choose this path means a return to an agreeable but meaningless life immersed in digital deceit.

    Embrace enlightenment with all its painful consequences or avoid the light in favor of the opiate of comforting darkness. Deal with the awful reality or go back to the more pleasing and familiar illusion. Ultimately the question was, "Am I so inconsequential as to be satisfied with comforting untruth or was I meant for something more?"

    Ironically, although "The Matrix" is itself a mere fantasy on film, the question at its heart breaks through to the world of reality.  All through life, in a thousand different situations, the same choice presents itself to all of us every day. Complacency or challenge? The broad path or the narrow road? The easy way or the right way? Comfort or truth? Take the blue pill or take the red pill? This question is at the heart of what it means to love God. In fact, the choice to love God is really a series of choices made daily, choices which often involve doing the harder thing, embracing the less popular position, going against the flow. The choice to love God or not each day is at least, in part, a choice to face reality again and again and to pay whatever price reality exacts. It is not a choice most people make consistently.

    It is an astonishing theological truth that people tend to prefer darkness over light. Yet this truth is well-documented in scripture and in experience. The most quoted verse in all of the Bible is John 3:16. Small wonder. What an incredible statement of grace. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Imagine you were hearing this for the first time. What an incredible offer! Eternal life can be yours if you will only believe. And at such cost! God gave his one and only son for you! Its simple enough for a child to understand, yet more profound in its effects than any theologian can fully explain. God expands on this beautiful and concise statement of grace in John 3:17: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." This truth leads naturally to a choice: "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 

    There it is: the Choice.  It really is a no-brainer.  Believe and gain eternal life or don't believe and stand condemned by the creator of the universe.  it seems incredible that anyone would reject such an offer. 

    That's why next verses are absolutely confounding: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

    Just three verses after, the most gracious offer in history, we read, the ill-considered answer of humanity: "No Thanks. Go away!" Jesus, the light of the world, offers eternal life in the lieu our natural state of condemnation and the human race by and large rejects the offer. Why? Because to receive the gift Jesus offers means coming into a relationship with him and in so doing having one’s ways exposed for what they are. Most people seek desperately to avoid such exposure even before God. Its too humiliating. What’s more, leaving it behind means saying goodbye to some things they like a lot. So they make the most insane choice imaginable. They hide from a God who hasn’t come to condemn them or make them miserable but to forgive them, help them, and give them the greatest freedom and joy they have ever known. They choose the comfortable self deception of darkness over the truth and resulting exposure inherent in a relationship with a God of light. The world chooses the blue pill.

(Next week:  The Natures of Light and Darkness)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Show Me Your Faith Without Deeds...

James lays it on the line  "But someone will say, 'You have faith, I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds..."  That puts it succinctly. Its a challenge that can't be answered.  Faith cannot be demonstrated apart from deeds.  Real faith creates action.  If there is no change in how we act, faith hasn't demonstrated itself genuine.  Last week in the Philippines, I encountered young men and women whose faith can be measured by their actions.  They stand for Christ and serve him in ministry in the face of economic hardship and in some cases persecution.  They do so with joy and and enthusiasm.  They are a challenge to me.  The work I do is designed to help them do the work they do.  I msut be willing to sacrifice as they do and to do so enthusiastically.

Today in America we face economic downturn, but nothing like the ordinary economic trials of many around the world.  Yet this comparatively light trial challenges our faith.  Many speak about their faith in God but are hunkered down trying to hold on to all that they can until the economic storm is past. They fret and stew just as those who don't know the Savior.   I understand this attitude, but does it represent real faith in God and values based in eternity or does it represent faith in money and values based in this world?  In contrast, the more real our faith, the more inclined we are to sacrifice for eternity's values.  This tendency is not lessened by economic hardship.  Rather, it is increased as we recognize anew, the temporary nature of riches.  I am blessed by many who give to support the work we do in the face of an uncertain economic future.  They do so by faith.  I am burdened by many who could do so but don't.  Its not just the difficulty of moving forward with the ministry as we desire, Its the fact that you can't know the joy of watching God provide until you place your checkbook on the alter.

A friend recently told me that he lost a huge amount of money due to the collaps of the credit markets.  He said, "Now I regret not having given that amount away for God's work"  Amen.  That's the way God wants ust to view things. 

Once again, James nailed it:  "Show me your faith without deeds and I'll show you my faith by what I do."

Monday, July 19, 2010, Manila, Philippines

Affecting lives

I taught my first class today at the Conservative Baptist Seminary, Asia.  What a thrill!  We are dealing with the subject of pastoral disciplines.  The goal of the class is to give the students tools to enable them to survive and thrive in ministry, avoiding the traps that lead to exhaustion, unhealthy conflict, burnout or moral failure.  As I told the students, pastors don't wake up one morning and suddenly decide that today I will ruin my life and ministry by having an affair.  They don't simply and suddenly decide to quit the ministry for a different job, throwing away years of theological education and hard-won experience.  No.  These things happen because pastors make small unhealthy choices which result in their serving in ways that cannot be sustained.

There are three things about this morning's class that encourage me greatly!  First, there were many more students than I expected.  It seems that many students and pastors are greatly interested in this subject.  Many travelled 8 hours or more by bus to be present for the next five days for this class.  They have sacrificed greatly to learn something that will help them continue to be faithful in ministry.   Second, many of the graduate students who are part of the class are also trainers who help to run pastoral training centers in various parts of the philippines.  They will be taking the "It Only Hurts on Monday" material and reproducing it as they train pastors in their sphere of influence.  I love training trainers.  Third, there was at least one pastor in this morning's class on the verge of quitting.  Already he has asked significant questions and has (I hope) gained key insights which can help him cope with a very difficult ministry.  It is possible that this week of classes may help to save his ministry.

I am profoundly grateful to God to be entrusted with this ministry of helping leaders continue in ministry.  To know that God is using you to affect lives for the better is a thrill like no other.  God could use anyone or anything to accomplish his purposes.  In this case, he chose me.  I don't understand his thinking, but I am profoundly grateful and humbled.  May lives be changed and may God be glorified!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Meet Boimah Mason

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Thoughts on Heaven (compiled by Dr. Paul Madson)

“Life on earth is the preface to the book, the warm-up to the concert! Heaven is the main event!” (Randy Alcorn)

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2 NLT)

“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next… It is because Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.” (C. S. Lewis)

“We are to view the present in light of the future; we are to see time in light of eternity; we are to look beyond sacrifice to reward; we are to bear the cross in anticipation of the crown.” (Randy Alcorn)

“For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth.  But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere.” (Philippians 3:18-21 NLT)

“Let temporal things serve your use, but the eternal be the object of your desire.” (Thomas a Kempis)

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)

“When a Christian realizes his citizenship is in heaven, he begins acting as a responsible citizen of earth. He invests wisely in relationships because he knows they’re eternal. His conversations, goals, and motives become pure and honest because he realizes these will have a bearing on everlasting reward. He gives generously of time, money, and talent because he’s laying up treasures for eternity. He helps spread the good news of Christ because he longs to fill heaven’s ranks with his friends and neighbors.”     (Joni Eareckson Tada)

“Joy is the serious business of heaven….In heaven, we will be strong, radiant, wise, beautiful and drenched in joy!” (C. S. Lewis)

“And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” (1 Corinthians 15:19 NLT)

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim; in the light of his glory and grace.” – Lyrics to “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”

“For he [Abraham] was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God…having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth…But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:10, 13b, 16a)

“Heaven is our real home. Home is acceptance, security, rest, refuge, deep personal relationships, great memories. Home is where your treasure is. If heaven is your home, then your mind and heart and treasure will be there also.” (Randy Alcorn)

“You sympathized with those in prison and joyful accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions [in heaven]!” (Hebrews 10:34 NIV)

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

“Out of all the eternal ages of our existence as God’s children, these tiny years here on earth have a destiny that can never be repeated. The Bible tells us that in the stench of a sick and rotting world we are perfume bottles for the fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15). In the gathering darkness we shine as stars (Philippians 2:15). If only we could grasp the awesome implications of these few years!” (David Needham, from his book Birthright)

“This life is not forever, nor is it the best life that will ever be. The fact is that believers are headed for heaven. It is reality. And what we do here on earth has a direct bearing on how we will live there. Heaven may be as near as next year, or next week; so it makes good sense to spend some time here on earth thinking candid thoughts about that marvelous future reserved for us.”   (Joni Eareckson Tada)

“An elderly missionary couple arrived at their home port after years of faithful service. At the dock, an ambassador and his wife who had returned on the ship with them were surrounded by a crowd. Roses were bestowed on his wife as photographers’ flashes exploded, and an attentive, admiring press and public hung on every word as he spoke of the  joy of serving his government and coming home. As the missionary couple walked unnoticed through that crowd, the wife, with hot tears streaking down her face, wondered out loud to her husband, “Why is it that we have given our whole lives to Christ and yet there is no one here to honor us and welcome us home?” Her understanding husband, reaching beyond that lonely moment, said to her, “Honey, we’re not home yet.”

“When we live our lives as if this world is all that we have, life is very disappointing and even despairing. When we live our lives as if this world is all there is, questions have few answers and crisis becomes all-consuming. This present world only makes sense when we live here in light of there!” (Joseph Stowell)

“I [the Apostle Paul] am hard pressed between the two: My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” (Philippians 1:23-24)

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1, 3-5a)

Revelation 14:13 says in heaven “…we will rest from our labors”.

Scripture says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that “God has set eternity in the hearts of men.” God has placed within our hearts as humans the awareness of eternity…the internal awareness that there is something beyond this life. We are to see and interpret all of life through the grid of eternity. We are to live here in light of there!

*All Scripture quotations are taken from The English Standard Version Bible (ESV) unless otherwise noted

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Power of Compound Discipleship

Those who understand compound interest earn it.  Those who don't understand compound interest pay it.  That counsel was part of my financial training.  It referenced the awesome power of compound interest to either grow a nest-egg or to bury you in debt.  The power of compound interest is in the fact that it compounds.  Interest is added then new interest is added based on the new and larger balance.  Thus a constant rate of interest adds ever larger amounts to an ever larger balance creating an accelerating rate of growth.

The same thing can happen in discipleship.  2 Timothy 2:2 teaches us to entrust what we have learned to reliable men who will be qualified to teach others.  This is compound discipleship.  Train leaders who can themselves become trainers.  As this cycle is repeated, the rate of growth in the church accelerates.  In this way, training pastors, church platers, and other capable trainers is like compound interest in the area of discipleship.

However, unlike interest, in this case the benefits are not just numerical.  The church is made healthier.  The testimony of Christ is highlighted in positive ways, and believers learn more of what it means to live the abundant life Christ offers.  Thus, compound discipleship multiplies more than the number of disciples.

You could say that those who understand the power of compound discipleship multiply disciples.  Those who don't, merely add.  There's a huge difference.  Think about it.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Low Cost of Training Indigenous Leaders (revised)

I've been crunching some numbers.  My goal has been to figure out what it costs to for us to train one indigenous pastor and, by extension, one indigenous church.  The training we offer is basic theology, bible interpretation, bible study methods, discipleship, marriage, and family life.  We try to choose our subjects based on the needs of the people we teach.  One thing is nearly always the case.  Our listeners lack resources and training.  They receive training from us that they could get in no other way.  They often testify that the training they receive at a GTN training event changes their ministry, making it more effective, keeping it on track, protecting it from false teaching.  What is more, our students tend to pass on what we teach, using our outlines and materials in their own churches for weeks after one of our training events.  This means that our teaching is multiplied by perhaps 100 fold as congregations gather to hear what their pastors have learned in the GTN Training event.  What does that cost and what is it worth?

In estimating costs, there are many variables, so I tried to include every possible expense, from my own salary, to travel costs, to mission administrative costs, to overhead for the conferences and even a small subsidy to help participants attend the conference.  I also tried to to estimate the number of participants in our training events on the low side.  Its better to overestimate the cost than to underestimate it.  Here is what I learned.

• Worst case scenario:  This involves less conferences with smaller participation than has been the norm for GTN.  In this scenario, the cost to offer 1 pastor 5 days of training would be about $175.  When you take into account the 100 people in each pastor's church(es) who will, in turn receive that same training, the cost for the training per person in a worse case scenario is $1.75
• Best case scenario:  This involves a maximum number of conferences with strong participation.  It also accounts for every resonable expense.  Under this scenario, the cost to train each pastor is $45.  Once the training is passed on to the churches, the cost per person is about 45 cents.
• Most reasonable estimate:  This scenario involves an average number of trips with average participation and every possible expense included.  Under this scenario, the cost to train each pastor is $60 and the final cost per person who receives this training through us or the pastors we train is 60 cents.

I must point out that GTN's track record of actual training has been achieved at a cost of $50 per pastor and by extension, 50 cents per person.  My own cost estimate is higher due to changing methods.  My approach to training will involve greater interaction with students than average.  This increases the cost per student, but is highly effective.

This means that a monthly gift of $60 can be reasonably expected to train twelve pastors and by extension, twelve hundered people  per year.  To put it another way, a $60 monthly gift to GTN in support of our ministry means that each month, one pastor receives several days of training in hugely important subjects like "how to interpret the bible" or "basic theology"  Then he trains his church(es) in these same priceless truths from the word of God.  Bottom line: each month, a $60 gift insures that one hundred people on average are recieve bible training.  60 cents each.  That's all it costs.  How much is it worth for one soul to receive sound training in the bible?  When veiwed from the standpoint of God's values, surely much more than 60 cents.

Coming next week:  The High Cost of NOT Training Leaders.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Giving yourself completely to God

I've been reading Andrew Murray during my daily quiet time with God recently.  This morning, he knocked my socks off with a thought so profound as to be revolutionary in anyone's life and yet so simple, I'm amazed at never having thought of it before.  He suggested that when we talk about giving ourselves completely to God, it is necessary to give up to him absolutely every part of our lives.  This is profound, but not new.  It is his application of this truth that caught me by surprise.  The part that I had never considered went beyond giving up sin or ambition to greatness or self-will.  Murray suggested that abiding in Christ means giving up to God even all our  God given talents and spiritual gifts.  Those tools with which we serve God must be first given up to him lest we use them in a fashion that is independent of his will and empowerment.  We give them up to him, then they are no longer ours, but merely on loan from their rightful owner.  We use them, but he owns them.  This adds a new dimension to our stewardship.  We are not the owners of our own talents or gifts but stewards of them.  This changes things in ways I don't yet fully understand.  So I can't comment further at this time.  I love it when truth has ramifications which can't be quickly grasped, but only bear their fruit with time and practice.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

When You Feel Alone

Serving God can be lonely.  Ask King David. 

The sweet psalmist of Israel and man after God's own heart knew full well what it was to feel alone.  It seems astonishing that the greatest king in Israel's history (Not counting the King of kings) could have experienced abandonment.  Yet the record is clear. David was alone when, as an exile from his own country, even the Philistines rejected him.  This loss was followed by news that his temporary home at Ziklag had been raided and burned, and that David's family had been captured along with all the families of all his 600 mighty men.  His men blamed him and were picking up rocks to stone him to death when, by an act of God-directed leadership, David brought about the recovery of their loved ones and the restoration of their faith. 

But you can't tell me he didn't feel the pain of loneliness.

Nor would it be the last time.  I am always moved when I read the account of Absalom's rebellion.  Not only did David's beautiful son plot to overthrow his father and take his life, many of David's trusted advisors also joined in the plot.  In Psalm 55 David pours out his pain:  After much study, I am convinced that he speaks of his abandonment by Ahitophel, his most trusted advisor and friend of many years: "If an enemy were insulting me, I could bear it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him.  But it is you, a man like myself, my comopanion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God." (Ps 55:12-14)  When the coup attempt was finally crushed, costing young Absalom his life at the hands of general Joab, David wept aloud, "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you--O Absalom, my son, my son!"  (2 Sam 18:13).

Now that is a heartbroken, desolate and lonely man.  Powerful, historic, triumphant, godly, but broken. 

Much has been written about David and his failures as husband and father as well as his great moral failure which resulted in a prediction by Nathan the prophet of the exact kind of tragedy represented by Absalom's coup.  However, it is apparent that whether his pain was ultimately self-inflicted as with Absalom's rebellion, or inflicted  by others, as with his early exile.  The plain fact is that one of the greatest figures in human history was well acquainted with betrayal, loneliness, and heartache. 

In what way do you feel alone today?

• Are you single and wish profoundly that you were married?
• Are you married and wonder why you still feel alone?
• Do you stand alone for Jesus Christ in your home or circle of friends?
• Do you maintain standards that others find silly or offensive?
• Has someone betrayed your trust?
• Have you found your secrets shared with others?
• Did someone leave after promising never to do so?
• Are those you love unsupportive of your ambitions?
• Is there no sympathetic ear or shoulder to cry on?

It sounds ironic, but you are not alone in your loneliness.  There is a kind of camaraderie of aloneness in the human race.  It has been so since the fall.  Everyone experiences it in some form from the greatest of us to the least. Unfortunately, the nature of this malady means that you suffer through it alone.  Even when others want to help, they often don't know how.  Everyone knows this kind of pain, but no one can quite understand YOUR pain. "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy."  (Proverbs 14:10). 

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Laboring to Enter His Rest

Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, and in us, and through us.  It is a work He does for us--the fruit and power of His redeeming love, Our part is simply to yield and to trust, and to wait for what He has engaged to perform.

Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ

We have a lot of trouble with this.  Somehow, the idea of "letting go and letting God" just seems too passive.  What is more, the bible speaks of the effort involved in striving after godliness.  Paul wrote extensively on the subject.  So did Peter.  So did John.  And James had no patience at all for inactive faith.  And yet, all these writers also wrote of the need to live by faith and not by sight.

Herein lies the paradox.  There is great effort involved in abiding in Christ.  It is the effort needed to believe.  It is the struggle involved in ceasing to trust one's own efforts.  It is the striving required to live actively for Christ from a motivation of simple trust rather than self reliance.  The writer to the Hebrews said "Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest..." He wasn't speaking of inactive living, but active obedience.  The rest of which he spoke is the completness that comes to our souls as a result of obedience motivated by trust in God. That is where we belong.  That is what we've been missing. That's the destination.  When we "abide" there, we may be working harder than ever, but we know things are right inour life.  Our souls....rest.

Monday, May 24, 2010

In It for the Long Haul

Yesterday, I saw a church set on fire. Not literally, but figuratively.  I well-presented service focusing on the needs poverty stricken orphans as well as the elderly and infirm in India moved the congregation greatly.  Many will give as a result and some will make the trek to India and will have a life changing experience there. 

Moving experiences are great.  Truth presented compellingly is awesome.  The excitement generated and the short term ministry that results is wonderful.

But I have come to yearn for more.

God doesn't want the change in our lives to begin and end with a moving experience in a church service or on a visit to strange place.  If we let it end with this, then we really are saying, "its all about me."  With respect, no its not.   The change God is looking for in our hearts is specifically a change AWAY FROM me-centered thinking.  God is continually looking for those who will step out of their comfort zone and stay there. He wants for us to shift our whole way of thinking to a place where its not about me, its about you.  Its about them.  Its about Him.  When that happens, faith takes on a whole new shape.  Its not just an emotional Sunday experience.  Its not even just an incredible mission trip.  Its a daily commitment to those things that now occasionally move us.  Its regularly serving.  Its a commitment of regular giving in support of important kingdom causes.  Its a habit of passionate prayer.  Its a way of treating people that suggests that you recognize the dignity and importance of everyone you meet.  Its a series of decisions that you follow through on.  Not just a series of intermittent good deeds based on the appeal of the moment.  There is an old phrase that deserves to be revived:  God is looking for those who are "In it for the long Haul."

Monday, May 17, 2010

Not Home Yet

My brother called today and we laughed together over the predicament of Arizona in the wake of the new illigal imigration law known as SB1070.  I commented to Bill that much of what is being said in the press is simply untrue.  It is amazing how the press can report as fact, something that is exactly opposite of fact.  Now, my purpose in thie post is not to debate Arizona's new law, nor any matter of politics.  Rather I want to point out that, in this world, when there is a hidden agenda, political or otherwise, truth matters little.  In news of our politics, such agendas abound.  That's why you can spill coffee on a newspaper and drown a lot of opinions but not be in danger of wetting too many facts.

As believers, we shouldn't expect to get a fair shake from such a world. A simple google search produces endless examples of media bias against Christianity.  In both information and entertainment media, misinformation, derision, and outright hostility to our faith are more the norm than the exception.  Why be surprised?  If the world can't read a 10 page law and form opinions based on accurate information, why would we expect them to get it right when describing Christians or Christianity?  For a variety of reasons, the agendas of this world are hostile to the gospel message and all that goes with it.  Even where the world does seem to embrace the values of Christianity, there are often hidden motives, such as the quest for political power or popularity among a still-significant demographic in our culture.

There is a silver lining to the false perceptions of Christianity that many hold and propogate:  Such unfair treatment serves to remind us that we are not home here.  This is not the place to settle down.  We are pilgrims on a journey through a land that is not ours.  Our efforts should not be directed at changing this culture which is not ours to change.  Our efforts should be directed instead at inviting others to come with us on our journey home.

Monday, May 10, 2010

For Such A Time As This

This weekend I found myself thinking once again how fortunate I am to be doing the work I was born to do!  People sometimes ask me if I find it stressful being out of the pastorate where there was a regular paycheck, an office, and a weekly routine, or if the financial uncertainties of missions work are difficult to bear.  I answer truthfully that I feel less stress right now than at any time in my adult life as far back as I can remember.

When I do feel stress, it is because the fantastic window of opportunity that now exists is not guaranteed to last.  Yet, I am not yet able to give full-time to the work of training pastors, church planters and other Christian leaders because of the need to raise support in a difficult economy.  I'm convinced that the work I am doing right now, is the most important ministry work I've ever done in my life.  Indeed, I believe that when God called me to ministry, he had such a time as this in mind.  My burden is that others would recognize that brilliant opportunities are not forever.  This window may close.  None of us knows how long we have on this planet.  Nor do any of us know the future.  One thing we do know:  we don't have any time to waste! Today is the day to do the work of God in the world.  This is the time to give our lives and our treasure to see that the life changing message of the gospel goes forward. 

It is not just missionaries and pastors who are called for such a time as this.  It is each of us and it is today.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Loving God more than these things

I've been reading St Augustine lately.  He describes a time in his boyhood when he stole pears from a neighbor's tree.  He stole not because he was hungry, nor even because he liked pears.  Neither was the case.  He stole from the sheer thrill of stealing.  Oh the perverse nature of the human heart!  We can find joy in wrongdoing!

I am frequently asked how to deal with temptation when it is so...well, tempting.   The discipline of self-denial is a fine place to begin.  However, self-denial does not change one's desires, which may continue to war against discipline.  No, what we need is a cure for the perverseness of our hearts.  We need a fundamental change of nature which causes us to love God more than any temporary thing.  We need what St Augustine needed, to love God more than stolen pears.   This is not something we can create in ourselves.  It is a work of God by his Holy Spirit.  It is the work of regeneration which results in our heart being progressively transformed until our passion for God burns hot enough to consume other passions.  This is the work God is carrying out all around the world today.  What a joy to participate in the transformation of lives through the Gospel!