Continuing on in the same passage (John 8) as the last three posts, Jesus tells us that the kind of freedom He will bring is “out of this world” (my paraphrase). Like many of us, His hearers did not understand. In a culture where literal slavery was a reality, those in His audience thought they were free, because they were not literal slaves. But Jesus was talking about a different form of slavery, the kind I was talking about in last day's post.
For example, some of us are in prisons of our own making. I see many trapped in prisons of bitterness, or anger or greed, as well as a whole variety of more obvious addictions. On the other hand we can in fact be free even in prison. The apostle Paul was. Read the book of Philippians which He wrote from prison. It is full of rejoicing.
Our modern world has this view of freedom that consists of casting off restraint, and in particular casting off Biblical morality. “It's old fashioned and outmoded and narrow minded and restrictive. Who needs it?” But let me ask you, with its divorce rates and suicide rates and the occurrence of alcoholism, gambling additions and the like, would you say that our society's casting off restraint is bringing freedom? I mean is the phrase “free indeed” something that comes to mind when you think about our (post Christian) culture?
If God does not exist, or if He has left us to struggle on our own, then what I am saying is nonsense. On the other hand, if He is ready willing and able to come along side of us to help (and He is), and we are not availing ourselves of His help, then it is our attitudes and beliefs that are nonsense. One of the names of the Holy Spirit in the greek is 'Paraclete'. It's made up of two words 'para' (as in parallel) which means along side, and 'kaleo' called. So one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is that He is called along side to help and comfort us. Do we in the West need any of this?
At the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus identifies Himself as the One who would come to heal the broken hearted, to release the prisoners and to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4). Why would we not want His help? From what I can see we do want to be free, and we think that that is just doing what we want to do. Too often than brings bondage. Why would we not want to be “free indeed”? It does not make a lot of sense.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The freedom that enslaves
Many (most?) of us have to learn the hard way, that going for what we think will make us free, turns out very differently from what want or expect. The freedom to be bitter poisons us and those we love. The freedom to get drunk starts off with giving us a headache, but can finish up costing us our job, our marriage, our family or even our life (driving drunk etc.). Not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic of course, but we all have addictions, even if we don't like to acknowledge them.
Let me list a few common (hidden) addictions. We have for example, overeating, shopping, spending, television, internet, computer games, worry, obsessive thinking, etc., etc. You will notice I did not say coffee. Well I like it. Clearly some addictions are more harmful than others, and some are bad habits over which we don't yet want to admit we are loosing control. The picture I have of this is that it is can be rather like a whirlpool in which we are, many times, not even aware we are swimming. The ability to resist the pull towards the centre is manageable on the fringes. However the further we get into the whirlpool, the stronger that pull, so that when we really get into it, we come to the place where no matter how strong a swimmer we are, the current is stronger still.
Some additions are very destructive, but by the time our habit has become an addiction it is always destructive at one level or another. When we are addicted to something we are not free, the addiction is taking us to the places it wants to take us. Now we all have addictions hidden and not so hidden, but we don't all (yet) want to be free of them. It comes back to the post “Do you want to be made whole”. Or perhaps “How whole do you want to be?” There have been times in my life when my addiction to coffee had too big a hold on me. So I gave it up. I needed to know (experience) that with God's help I could do that. I do drink coffee now, but then periodically I fast from it, since I am determined it will not rule me. I need to be free. By the way, I am not saying coffee is the worst thing I have faced.
The point I am making is that the freedom not to drink coffee for me (and I am talking about me) is more important than the freedom to drink it. The freedom not to drink it will not enslave me, but the freedom to drink it could. The apostle Paul makes an interesting statement in I Corinthians 6:12. He says “... I will not be mastered by anything”. If we are mastered by an addiction, we are not free at all, certainly not "free indeed".
For me the habit of drinking coffee is relatively innocuous. But there are things that are much more destructive. In the same passage we have been looking at in the last two posts, Jesus says “He who sins is the slave of sin”. We can become slaves to anger, or jealousy, or sex, or greed, or gamboling etc., etc., and being trapped in these things things is like slavery. When the appetite or the circumstance says jump, we jump! We don't like to be told what we can or cannot do, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And as I keep on saying, it is smart to listen to the One who made us, who knows what is good and what is bad for us, what will fulfill us, and what will rob us of quality of life. It bears repeating that when He says “no”, it is for our protection, and it is for our provision. The Bible teaches that our sinful desires “war against” our soul (1 Peter 2:11). Like cancer is to the body, so are our lusts a cancer to the soul. But He is also the one who, when we repent, will help us to get free from the traps we fall into when we don't listen to Him. Like a father who has compassion on his children, so He has compassion on us. When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
And there are many traps, and for sure we don't see all of them all. I experienced this just the other day. I was listening to a teaching on forgiveness when the speaker shared an experience she had where the Lord had convicted her that while she had forgiven such and such a person, she continued to judge him for his behaviour. I was immediately convicted myself of doing the very same thing. Such times are crossroads. I could have complained “these Christians are always laying guilt trips” and been offended. On the other hand, I could do what I did, which was to bow my head and ask His forgiveness and cleansing. I was suddenly free from an unhealthy soul tie with one I was judging. I felt freer than I have for some time. If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed (also from John 8).
Let me list a few common (hidden) addictions. We have for example, overeating, shopping, spending, television, internet, computer games, worry, obsessive thinking, etc., etc. You will notice I did not say coffee. Well I like it. Clearly some addictions are more harmful than others, and some are bad habits over which we don't yet want to admit we are loosing control. The picture I have of this is that it is can be rather like a whirlpool in which we are, many times, not even aware we are swimming. The ability to resist the pull towards the centre is manageable on the fringes. However the further we get into the whirlpool, the stronger that pull, so that when we really get into it, we come to the place where no matter how strong a swimmer we are, the current is stronger still.
Some additions are very destructive, but by the time our habit has become an addiction it is always destructive at one level or another. When we are addicted to something we are not free, the addiction is taking us to the places it wants to take us. Now we all have addictions hidden and not so hidden, but we don't all (yet) want to be free of them. It comes back to the post “Do you want to be made whole”. Or perhaps “How whole do you want to be?” There have been times in my life when my addiction to coffee had too big a hold on me. So I gave it up. I needed to know (experience) that with God's help I could do that. I do drink coffee now, but then periodically I fast from it, since I am determined it will not rule me. I need to be free. By the way, I am not saying coffee is the worst thing I have faced.
The point I am making is that the freedom not to drink coffee for me (and I am talking about me) is more important than the freedom to drink it. The freedom not to drink it will not enslave me, but the freedom to drink it could. The apostle Paul makes an interesting statement in I Corinthians 6:12. He says “... I will not be mastered by anything”. If we are mastered by an addiction, we are not free at all, certainly not "free indeed".
For me the habit of drinking coffee is relatively innocuous. But there are things that are much more destructive. In the same passage we have been looking at in the last two posts, Jesus says “He who sins is the slave of sin”. We can become slaves to anger, or jealousy, or sex, or greed, or gamboling etc., etc., and being trapped in these things things is like slavery. When the appetite or the circumstance says jump, we jump! We don't like to be told what we can or cannot do, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And as I keep on saying, it is smart to listen to the One who made us, who knows what is good and what is bad for us, what will fulfill us, and what will rob us of quality of life. It bears repeating that when He says “no”, it is for our protection, and it is for our provision. The Bible teaches that our sinful desires “war against” our soul (1 Peter 2:11). Like cancer is to the body, so are our lusts a cancer to the soul. But He is also the one who, when we repent, will help us to get free from the traps we fall into when we don't listen to Him. Like a father who has compassion on his children, so He has compassion on us. When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
And there are many traps, and for sure we don't see all of them all. I experienced this just the other day. I was listening to a teaching on forgiveness when the speaker shared an experience she had where the Lord had convicted her that while she had forgiven such and such a person, she continued to judge him for his behaviour. I was immediately convicted myself of doing the very same thing. Such times are crossroads. I could have complained “these Christians are always laying guilt trips” and been offended. On the other hand, I could do what I did, which was to bow my head and ask His forgiveness and cleansing. I was suddenly free from an unhealthy soul tie with one I was judging. I felt freer than I have for some time. If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed (also from John 8).
Sunday, August 22, 2010
"If..continue in my Word ..." continued
The essence of being a Christian is having a relationship with God. All else follows from that. It is not first and foremost about being or doing good, it is about knowing Him. In John 17:3 Jesus tells us “This is eternal (and so abundant) life, to know the One True God..”. But He is not interested in a one night stand, He is interested in relationship. You can think of this as the feminine face of God if you like. This is His desire and, if we would but know it, our “exceedingly great reward”. This being the case, He has built into the fabric of the (fallen) universe aids to draw us into, and help us to stay in, relationship (see “ A cursed earth and the laws of sowing and reaping”). When we turn to our own way and find ourselves in bondage for example, He builds “process” into the part we must play in receiving His solution. So He makes freedom (our desire) contingent not simply on a one time decision to believe (though we do have to start the process), but on - on going continuation in His Word. So then the freedom He promises (see the last post), is also progressive. We don't get it all at once. It comes little by little as we enter into relationship with Him, and learn to claim and appropriate the "land" of His promises.
He knows us well enough to know that if freedom came instantly and fully, we would far too easily throw it away again and return to our bondage. The scripture pictures this as a dog, after being cleaned up, returning to its vomit. In fact for many of us, this is an accurate description of our journey. His solution is the process of allowing Him to “put to death the deeds and the desires” of our perverse fallen nature. In a wonderfully helpful book (Transformation of the inner man), John and Paula Sandford put it this way “We may need to fail over and over, until we can no longer stand not to die”. Part of this of course is that there are consequences to our choices, and they are usually extremely painful.
When we “continue in His Word” the way that He intends for us to do, we learn to come to Him quickly when we fall (it speeds up the process of becoming free). We discover that our God is gracious and full of mercy, and (when we confess and return to Him), He will not only forgive us but cleanse us from it all. This is not the form of “Christianity” that like much of the rest of the world, wears masks and pretends that everything is okay when it is not. It is the kind of Christianity where we are real with each other, where we find a safe place to “confess our faults one to another” and so receive the promise that when we do this, we will be (progressively) healed (James 5:16).
As we continue in this way, one of the things that will slowly but surely start to sink in, is that the Scriptures also bring us wisdom, encouragement and comfort. In and through the Scriptures, we learn how to stay connected to the One who is our “exceedingly great reward”. They show us the part that we need to play in tapping into the strength He wants to give us to live this difficult life in the here and now. Those of us who are seeking to follow and appropriate the promises of God will tell you that the ways of God are not only good and right and proper, they are smart. They do indeed lead us out of bondage and into freedom. But there is so much more. There is in relationship with Him, there is joy and peace and love and hope and grace and the wherewithal to be all that He created us to be. You even get to like yourself. All this if we will but set our hearts, with His help, to continue.
There is one last reason we need to set our hearts to continue, and that is, as Jesus puts it, we do not “immediately desire the new wine for we says the old is better”. In other words there are times when perversely we still want the old ways. It is a little bit like the devil we know is familiar, and at some level there is comfort in that (see “Do you want to be made whole”). It is like there is a barrier that we need to get through, that only persistence and time (and God) will take us through.
So these then are the reasons why it is important to set our hears and wills to continue. It is in many ways a battle. However, when with His help and Bible help we do continue we will become progressively free. It will be easier if we keep examples in our life of those who, in continuing, are escaping the corruption of the lusts of this world. Fellowship with His people is also important.
He knows us well enough to know that if freedom came instantly and fully, we would far too easily throw it away again and return to our bondage. The scripture pictures this as a dog, after being cleaned up, returning to its vomit. In fact for many of us, this is an accurate description of our journey. His solution is the process of allowing Him to “put to death the deeds and the desires” of our perverse fallen nature. In a wonderfully helpful book (Transformation of the inner man), John and Paula Sandford put it this way “We may need to fail over and over, until we can no longer stand not to die”. Part of this of course is that there are consequences to our choices, and they are usually extremely painful.
When we “continue in His Word” the way that He intends for us to do, we learn to come to Him quickly when we fall (it speeds up the process of becoming free). We discover that our God is gracious and full of mercy, and (when we confess and return to Him), He will not only forgive us but cleanse us from it all. This is not the form of “Christianity” that like much of the rest of the world, wears masks and pretends that everything is okay when it is not. It is the kind of Christianity where we are real with each other, where we find a safe place to “confess our faults one to another” and so receive the promise that when we do this, we will be (progressively) healed (James 5:16).
As we continue in this way, one of the things that will slowly but surely start to sink in, is that the Scriptures also bring us wisdom, encouragement and comfort. In and through the Scriptures, we learn how to stay connected to the One who is our “exceedingly great reward”. They show us the part that we need to play in tapping into the strength He wants to give us to live this difficult life in the here and now. Those of us who are seeking to follow and appropriate the promises of God will tell you that the ways of God are not only good and right and proper, they are smart. They do indeed lead us out of bondage and into freedom. But there is so much more. There is in relationship with Him, there is joy and peace and love and hope and grace and the wherewithal to be all that He created us to be. You even get to like yourself. All this if we will but set our hearts, with His help, to continue.
There is one last reason we need to set our hearts to continue, and that is, as Jesus puts it, we do not “immediately desire the new wine for we says the old is better”. In other words there are times when perversely we still want the old ways. It is a little bit like the devil we know is familiar, and at some level there is comfort in that (see “Do you want to be made whole”). It is like there is a barrier that we need to get through, that only persistence and time (and God) will take us through.
So these then are the reasons why it is important to set our hears and wills to continue. It is in many ways a battle. However, when with His help and Bible help we do continue we will become progressively free. It will be easier if we keep examples in our life of those who, in continuing, are escaping the corruption of the lusts of this world. Fellowship with His people is also important.
Friday, August 20, 2010
If you continue in my Word..., you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free
We tend to think we know what we want, and what we want is to be happy. The problem is that when go for the things that we think will make us happy, the happiness we so desperately seek, seems to allude us. We look back and see the times in our lives when, with 20/20 hindsight, we were the happiest, we did not even know it. It works the same way with fulfillment in life, and with freedom. When we pursue these things, they seems to allude us too. In this illustration of the trinity of helps from John chapter 8, Jesus points the way to true freedom. True freedom comes not as we seek it, but as a byproduct of something else. True freedom is not found in doing exactly what I want to do. When I do this, I finish up developing appetites that that demand attention. I finish up being in bondage to the very things I felt would make me free (see future post 'The freedom that enslaves'). True freedom is not the absence of restraint, it is the freedom to be all that we were created to be. Jesus tells us that He came to bring us abundant life, to fullness of life, but we need to do things His way. More often than not when I do it “my way” I finish up settling for mediocrity, or worse, for the quiet desperation that, according to the saying, is the lot of most of us.
The verses we are looking at today, illustrate well the trinity of helps that forms the basis of my blog and in my book. The first component of this trilogy of interconnected helps is Truth. Truth is found supremely in the Bible, properly understood (no small task). In Jesus' High Priestly prayer (John 17) He prays to the Father that He would sanctify us (make us holy) through the truth. He then says “Your Word is Truth”. This may not what be what you believe at this point in time, but it is surly worth considering that these words are spoken by the one who is widely regarded as the best teacher the World has ever known. We might want to ask ourselves why that is, before we too easily dismiss what He says. The first component then is Bible help, help from His Word. The second component has to do with our receiving the truth, our cooperation with it, and the third with the help God gives as us we do this. So then the next two components are self help (if we continue..) and God's help, “the truth shall set you free”. "Wait a minute", I hear you say, "isn’t that Bible help again?" But in the mystery of what He tells us, He is the living Truth (John 14:6), and according to orthodox Christianity (and Jesus Himself if we can see it), He is God, so yes God's help. These things are, as I say mystery. But we have banished mystery in the West. We will need to say more on this (see future posts).
In addition to being an illustration of the trinity of helps, these verses constitute one of the exceedingly great and precious promises of the Scripture. If you are looking at these things from the outside (not yet a Christian), you will find them hard to believe. The Scripture tells us that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. I can see it. If I did not know the truth of what I said in the last paragraph, I too would think of this as just so much mumbo jumbo. Perhaps this is you, but if it is, please do not tell me that Jesus was just a good teacher. If what Jesus is teaching here is mumbo jumbo, then Jesus was not even a good teacher, he was a teacher of mumbo jumbo (see future post Lunatic, Liar or Lord).
The things of the Spirit can only be verified from within. As one person put it “I believe, therefor I understand”. I cannot get there by logic. The understanding comes afterwards. If you do not believe that the human body (your human body) can float in water, the way to find out if it is true, is to jump in the water. This would be a scarey suggestion if you don't believe it can float. Some of us got desperate enough to take the plunge, and then found that it really is true. But you won't get there as a spectator staying at the side of the pool! But, to repeat myself, it is a promise. It can be verified by meeting the conditions of the promise “If you continue in my Word”, reading it, believing it, memorizing it, meditating on it, letting it sink into our innermost being, and most importantly, obeying it. The Bible makes it clear that the Word is like a seed that gestates. When it is planted deep within good soil (the soul who will continue) it germinates and brings forth fruit (Mark 4).
And all this is nonsense if God is not there, or does not play His part. But He is there and He will play His part if you play yours. If you are not there yet (or you need to go deeper), please do not give up, because “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)”. “All very circular” you say. Perhaps, but it is a divine circularity, and that it is true, is the testimony of many who have tasted and seen that the Lord is Good. It is my testimony too. He is in the process of making me progressively more and more free.
The verses we are looking at today, illustrate well the trinity of helps that forms the basis of my blog and in my book. The first component of this trilogy of interconnected helps is Truth. Truth is found supremely in the Bible, properly understood (no small task). In Jesus' High Priestly prayer (John 17) He prays to the Father that He would sanctify us (make us holy) through the truth. He then says “Your Word is Truth”. This may not what be what you believe at this point in time, but it is surly worth considering that these words are spoken by the one who is widely regarded as the best teacher the World has ever known. We might want to ask ourselves why that is, before we too easily dismiss what He says. The first component then is Bible help, help from His Word. The second component has to do with our receiving the truth, our cooperation with it, and the third with the help God gives as us we do this. So then the next two components are self help (if we continue..) and God's help, “the truth shall set you free”. "Wait a minute", I hear you say, "isn’t that Bible help again?" But in the mystery of what He tells us, He is the living Truth (John 14:6), and according to orthodox Christianity (and Jesus Himself if we can see it), He is God, so yes God's help. These things are, as I say mystery. But we have banished mystery in the West. We will need to say more on this (see future posts).
In addition to being an illustration of the trinity of helps, these verses constitute one of the exceedingly great and precious promises of the Scripture. If you are looking at these things from the outside (not yet a Christian), you will find them hard to believe. The Scripture tells us that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. I can see it. If I did not know the truth of what I said in the last paragraph, I too would think of this as just so much mumbo jumbo. Perhaps this is you, but if it is, please do not tell me that Jesus was just a good teacher. If what Jesus is teaching here is mumbo jumbo, then Jesus was not even a good teacher, he was a teacher of mumbo jumbo (see future post Lunatic, Liar or Lord).
The things of the Spirit can only be verified from within. As one person put it “I believe, therefor I understand”. I cannot get there by logic. The understanding comes afterwards. If you do not believe that the human body (your human body) can float in water, the way to find out if it is true, is to jump in the water. This would be a scarey suggestion if you don't believe it can float. Some of us got desperate enough to take the plunge, and then found that it really is true. But you won't get there as a spectator staying at the side of the pool! But, to repeat myself, it is a promise. It can be verified by meeting the conditions of the promise “If you continue in my Word”, reading it, believing it, memorizing it, meditating on it, letting it sink into our innermost being, and most importantly, obeying it. The Bible makes it clear that the Word is like a seed that gestates. When it is planted deep within good soil (the soul who will continue) it germinates and brings forth fruit (Mark 4).
And all this is nonsense if God is not there, or does not play His part. But He is there and He will play His part if you play yours. If you are not there yet (or you need to go deeper), please do not give up, because “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)”. “All very circular” you say. Perhaps, but it is a divine circularity, and that it is true, is the testimony of many who have tasted and seen that the Lord is Good. It is my testimony too. He is in the process of making me progressively more and more free.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Unless you forgive from your heart …..
Jesus teaching on forgiveness is surely one of the hardest things He taught. Part of this of course is that forgiveness is no easy thing. What is the saying “To err is human, to forgive divine”? And to forgive to the point where our hearts agree with our decision to forgive is even harder. Of course He never commands what He does not, with His help, enable us to do. But it is still not easy.
And forgiving those who are closest to us, father, mother, spouse etc., when they have hurt us to the core, can seem at times, like giving approval for abuse, or betrayal. “They do not deserve to be forgiven”. If this is how you feel, then the last thing I am about to do is to try and persuade you that you are wrong. The point though is that in the final analysis, we don't deserve to be forgiven either. This is brought out clearly in the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18). This perspective of the desperate need of being forgiven by God is completely foreign to a society that does not admit that there is such a thing as right and wrong. We do need to be consistent though. If there is no such thing as right and wrong then the “wrong” done to us cannot be wrong either!
The main problem with unforgiveness, it that is it a prison that keeps us tied emotionally to the one who has offended us. I know of people who decades after their wounding, still hold a grudge. From their perspective the one who wounded them messed them up so badly, they are no longer able to function normally. Thus everything that goes wrong, every problem they encounter, is the fault of the other person. The Biblical principle that we need to embrace here, is that we are not responsible for the sins committed against us. We are however responsible for our response to them. To blame the other person for everything, is tantamount to giving away control of our lives. “I did this or that because he messed me up”. In doing so we fail to take charge of our lives. This leads to bad decisions which mess us up even more, but of course its his fault not mine. Right? Yeah right!
Nobody is saying that life is fair here, that forgiveness settles the justice issue. But the greatest injustice, the greatest unfairness that ever existed, is that we crucified the spotless Son of God. And yes, I do say we, because it was your sin and mine that necessitated His sacrifice to bring us home to the Father.
But forgiveness is so hard at times, that we cannot always handle the whole thing in one foul swoop. He knows this, He knows our weakness. Sometimes it has to start with, “I don't want to forgive this person, but I am willing to forgive”. Sometimes I have to go even one step further back than this. “I am not willing to forgive, but I am willing to be willing”. We need to give the Lord what we can. When we do this, He works in us to will and to do what He commands (Philippians 2:13). I have mentioned it before and will no doubt mention it again. When God commands something He does it for our provision and our protection. We do need His help here, many times. I need His help to keep my heart uncluttered from these things.
One final point for now, forgiving someone is not the same as saying that what they did was okay, it is not negating the harm that they caused us. Actually, the very fact that there is something to forgive says that is was not okay. And no they don't deserve it. So I choose to give them a gift that they do not deserve, and then I leave it to God to deal with them. It then becomes His problem not mine. This is the only way to start to get free from the harm done to us, and to break free from the 'ungodly soul tie' with that person. Forgiveness is an important key in healing life's hurts.
And forgiving those who are closest to us, father, mother, spouse etc., when they have hurt us to the core, can seem at times, like giving approval for abuse, or betrayal. “They do not deserve to be forgiven”. If this is how you feel, then the last thing I am about to do is to try and persuade you that you are wrong. The point though is that in the final analysis, we don't deserve to be forgiven either. This is brought out clearly in the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18). This perspective of the desperate need of being forgiven by God is completely foreign to a society that does not admit that there is such a thing as right and wrong. We do need to be consistent though. If there is no such thing as right and wrong then the “wrong” done to us cannot be wrong either!
The main problem with unforgiveness, it that is it a prison that keeps us tied emotionally to the one who has offended us. I know of people who decades after their wounding, still hold a grudge. From their perspective the one who wounded them messed them up so badly, they are no longer able to function normally. Thus everything that goes wrong, every problem they encounter, is the fault of the other person. The Biblical principle that we need to embrace here, is that we are not responsible for the sins committed against us. We are however responsible for our response to them. To blame the other person for everything, is tantamount to giving away control of our lives. “I did this or that because he messed me up”. In doing so we fail to take charge of our lives. This leads to bad decisions which mess us up even more, but of course its his fault not mine. Right? Yeah right!
Nobody is saying that life is fair here, that forgiveness settles the justice issue. But the greatest injustice, the greatest unfairness that ever existed, is that we crucified the spotless Son of God. And yes, I do say we, because it was your sin and mine that necessitated His sacrifice to bring us home to the Father.
But forgiveness is so hard at times, that we cannot always handle the whole thing in one foul swoop. He knows this, He knows our weakness. Sometimes it has to start with, “I don't want to forgive this person, but I am willing to forgive”. Sometimes I have to go even one step further back than this. “I am not willing to forgive, but I am willing to be willing”. We need to give the Lord what we can. When we do this, He works in us to will and to do what He commands (Philippians 2:13). I have mentioned it before and will no doubt mention it again. When God commands something He does it for our provision and our protection. We do need His help here, many times. I need His help to keep my heart uncluttered from these things.
One final point for now, forgiving someone is not the same as saying that what they did was okay, it is not negating the harm that they caused us. Actually, the very fact that there is something to forgive says that is was not okay. And no they don't deserve it. So I choose to give them a gift that they do not deserve, and then I leave it to God to deal with them. It then becomes His problem not mine. This is the only way to start to get free from the harm done to us, and to break free from the 'ungodly soul tie' with that person. Forgiveness is an important key in healing life's hurts.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Sins of the Fathers (and mothers) are visited on the Children to the third and fourth generation
Where I have found Psychology useful is when it has thrown light on Biblical laws and principles. Perhaps the clearest example has to do with how the sins of the fathers are visited 'on the children to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me'. Though it does not use this language, Psychology has embraced the “law” behind this statement (several thousand years after the Bible stated it, by the way). It is well know for example, that children of alcoholics are more likely to become alcoholics than in the general population. Or take suicide, it unfortunately tends to run in the family. These and other sins tend to act more like pressures and examples that tend to be followed, rather than absolute laws that will always hold. They can for example skip a generation, and appear in the grandchildren, or in the great grandchildren, unto “the third and fourth generation”.
Where Psychology is particularly useful here, is in the gathering of data that shows clearly that dysfunctional pattern do in fact get repeated over and over and over. Thus Psychology verifies that this is a kind of law. One of the tools that Psychology has employed is called the genogram. This is a kind of family tree where “unhelpful behaviour patterns” are also recorded. The point of course, is to recognize and acknowledge that such patterns to indeed tend to reoccur. The hope is that if we can predict the behaviour, we can prevent the recurrence. The principle I suppose, is that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Psychology sees the problem, the statistics relating to how Psychology has helped to prevent recurrence of these patterns though, are not encouraging.
As always, the Bible has the solution. The quotation of the title of this post is found in the middle of the ten commandments. It seems to be well known even by those who do not read the Bible. The verse that follows it is not so well known, but it contains a promise. It starts with a “But”, "but steadfast love and mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me, and obey my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). I thank God for the “buts” of the Bible. A “but” changes everything. For example “I won a million dollars on the lottery, but I lost the ticket”! The 'but' of Exodus 20:26, shows us how to change a curse into a blessing!
The Bible often puts things in stark terms to make a point (see unless you hate father and mother …). Hate of God and disobedience, and love of God and obedience are equated here and elsewhere in the Bible. For example “He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar”. Going through religious motions are not enough. God is neither mocked not fooled. These (inter-generational) curses and curses they are, are not broken just by turning to Him for salvation. They are broken by the costly obedience to His Laws and His Principles, for those who both love and obey Him!
No one is saying these things are easy. Supernatural intervention is needed in order to break the (known and unknown) patterns of sin which have been entrenched generation after generation. One of the helps is the motivation contained in the principle (law) itself. God knows our heart. You see most parents I know, when their children are ill, would rather be ill themselves than have their kids sick. What I am saying is that if and when we start to see that our being stuck keeps our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren stuck too (third and fourth generation), then this provides a great motivation for us to go forward with what we might not be otherwise willing to do. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, but God cannot steer a parked car. We need to move out in obedience. It is when we move in obedience that we hear the voice behind us saying 'this is the way walk in it'. It is as we obey that He gives us the strength to do and to carry through what we cannot do without Him.
I said above, that these things are curses, and these curses need to be broken by the power of the Cross. There are Biblical principles which show us the “what” and the “how” of this. One of the clearest expositions of these things can be found in the Kelstra's Restoring the Foundations workbook. Briefly we need to start by acknowledging the patterns. Confession of our families /countries/ethnic sins has strong Biblical warrant. This is not the same as taking the blame for them. We are not responsible for the sins of our ancestors, we are responsible for our response to them. Admitting a family fault though, can be difficult in and of itself. Often such admission breaks the unspoken and unwritten but strongly held family rules (don't think, don't feel, don't speak, don't rock the boat), but it is an important first step. Often there are lies associated with these sins. We confess and repent of our own involvement in these things, then we apply the provision of the cross. As the scripture puts it Jesus became a curse that we might receive the blessing of God. This provision of the Cross it one of many divine exchanges. He takes our curse, we take the blessing of His perfection. It just part of the good news of the gospel.
Where Psychology is particularly useful here, is in the gathering of data that shows clearly that dysfunctional pattern do in fact get repeated over and over and over. Thus Psychology verifies that this is a kind of law. One of the tools that Psychology has employed is called the genogram. This is a kind of family tree where “unhelpful behaviour patterns” are also recorded. The point of course, is to recognize and acknowledge that such patterns to indeed tend to reoccur. The hope is that if we can predict the behaviour, we can prevent the recurrence. The principle I suppose, is that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Psychology sees the problem, the statistics relating to how Psychology has helped to prevent recurrence of these patterns though, are not encouraging.
As always, the Bible has the solution. The quotation of the title of this post is found in the middle of the ten commandments. It seems to be well known even by those who do not read the Bible. The verse that follows it is not so well known, but it contains a promise. It starts with a “But”, "but steadfast love and mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me, and obey my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). I thank God for the “buts” of the Bible. A “but” changes everything. For example “I won a million dollars on the lottery, but I lost the ticket”! The 'but' of Exodus 20:26, shows us how to change a curse into a blessing!
The Bible often puts things in stark terms to make a point (see unless you hate father and mother …). Hate of God and disobedience, and love of God and obedience are equated here and elsewhere in the Bible. For example “He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar”. Going through religious motions are not enough. God is neither mocked not fooled. These (inter-generational) curses and curses they are, are not broken just by turning to Him for salvation. They are broken by the costly obedience to His Laws and His Principles, for those who both love and obey Him!
No one is saying these things are easy. Supernatural intervention is needed in order to break the (known and unknown) patterns of sin which have been entrenched generation after generation. One of the helps is the motivation contained in the principle (law) itself. God knows our heart. You see most parents I know, when their children are ill, would rather be ill themselves than have their kids sick. What I am saying is that if and when we start to see that our being stuck keeps our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren stuck too (third and fourth generation), then this provides a great motivation for us to go forward with what we might not be otherwise willing to do. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, but God cannot steer a parked car. We need to move out in obedience. It is when we move in obedience that we hear the voice behind us saying 'this is the way walk in it'. It is as we obey that He gives us the strength to do and to carry through what we cannot do without Him.
I said above, that these things are curses, and these curses need to be broken by the power of the Cross. There are Biblical principles which show us the “what” and the “how” of this. One of the clearest expositions of these things can be found in the Kelstra's Restoring the Foundations workbook. Briefly we need to start by acknowledging the patterns. Confession of our families /countries/ethnic sins has strong Biblical warrant. This is not the same as taking the blame for them. We are not responsible for the sins of our ancestors, we are responsible for our response to them. Admitting a family fault though, can be difficult in and of itself. Often such admission breaks the unspoken and unwritten but strongly held family rules (don't think, don't feel, don't speak, don't rock the boat), but it is an important first step. Often there are lies associated with these sins. We confess and repent of our own involvement in these things, then we apply the provision of the cross. As the scripture puts it Jesus became a curse that we might receive the blessing of God. This provision of the Cross it one of many divine exchanges. He takes our curse, we take the blessing of His perfection. It just part of the good news of the gospel.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Psychology without faith is lame.
Some of you may know that I am alluding to the well known statement by Einstein that “Faith without Science is blind, Science without faith is lame.” With respect to the first part of Einstein's quote, I know where he was coming from. But it is not just inside of the faith of some, where one finds the attitude, “Please do not confuse me with the facts, I know what I believe”. I suppose it is more obnoxious when it comes from one is claiming to be enlightened, but then atheists claim to be enlightened too, and some of them also have this attitude. I have met them. But not all atheists are like that, nor are all Christians like that. With respect to the quote, poor old Galileo for example, under tremendous pressure from the Church, was force to recant of his belief that the world went round the sun, rather than vice- versa.
But “Science” is not always right. As with all knowledge, we advance many times by two steps forward one step back. I have faith that the “assured (but often false) conclusions of our research” will eventually be corrected by new research. The advantage of age is that you can look back and see this happening. I have seen it over and over in a number of different areas, in Science, in Psychology, in Biblical studies etc. In each case I have seen that “findings” antithetical to Christian faith, which we were assured were true, have in retrospect been shown to be false. But these things can take a long time to correct, a very long time. There is a book “The nature of scientific revolution” which strongly suggests that the old guys (who invented this or that theory) have to die off, before their false theories can be discarded. In terms of inner healing, we need to be aware that confidently expressed Psychological solutions based on the wisdom of man, rather than on the wisdom of God, are not always correct. But I digress (slightly).
Now Psychology research can give insight in our understanding of human nature in general, and the nature of our psychosis in particular. However (to come to the title of this post) Psychology without faith is lame. The problem is that understanding what is wrong, is not the same as fixing it. We may, for example know perfectly well what we aught to do, but the wherewithal to do it is more often than not, missing. Nicky Gumbel (of Alpha fame) says it over and over “Yes, but how?” Paul (to repeat an earlier post) complains that the good things he wants to do he does not do, and the bad things, he does not want to do, these are the very things that he does. He and we, need help. We cannot live the Christian life without God, and the vehicle we need to use to tap into the help we so desperately need, is our faith. We need His help to change, and we need Him in the healing process too. After all He is the One who “heals all your diseases”. I know that it is foolishness to the World, but the testimony of so many of His people is of tremendous help they received. It is my testimony too. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
Let me acknowledge here, that there are those who do not name the name of Christ (they obviously have a will power much stronger than mine), who do somehow manage to pull themselves up out of their addictions. Those I have spoken to though, tell me that they never loose the craving. The problem here, is that even when I can change the behaviour, it does not heal the wounds that drove me to the behaviour in the first place. I personally need God to work in my desires (Philippians 2:12) and I need His healing in the hurts I have sustained and continue to sustain in life.
These helps are more available than we have begun to imagine. It has to do with being vitally connected with God through prayer, godly council and His Word. There are many helpful resources that I believe God has raised up, and continues to raise up at this hour, in and for the increasingly sick society in which we live. Some of the keys He is showing us can be found, for example in “Healing Light” by Agnes Sanford, or Leanne Payne's “Healing prayer”, or “Healing of Memories” by David Seamands. Then there is “Transformation of the inner man” by the Sandfords (see Elijah house ministries), or the Restoring the Foundations network of the Kelstras (RTF), or Jack Frost's “Shiloh Place ministries”. All these and others (though they do not use the same language), seek to engage the trinity of helps that I am advocating. In particular there is an emphasis on discovering Biblical Keys to inner healing, as well as a heavy reliance on the intervention of God in the healing process. And it is a trinity. We need all three aspects of it, self help, Bible help and God's help. When we do not avail ourselves of, and learn how to tap into, the God's help part of this trinity we are, I am very much afraid, guilty of having a form of religion but denying its Power. If we really believe that with God all things are possible we will show it by our lives, and in the choices that we make. We must not, we cannot, be conformed to the World that gives up the moment there is 'pain in the offing'.
The things of which I am speaking are in fact quite controversial in the church. It is unfortunate but true that this has been true of every move of God (since Luther on). The move and provision of God for this hour, about which I will need to say more, is not of course perfect (well I am part of it, and I am far from perfect). I am however convinced that this move is very much what our sick society so desperately needs. I believe that it is the way forward for both for the church and for the “whosoever will come”s of this wicked and hurting World in which we live.
But “Science” is not always right. As with all knowledge, we advance many times by two steps forward one step back. I have faith that the “assured (but often false) conclusions of our research” will eventually be corrected by new research. The advantage of age is that you can look back and see this happening. I have seen it over and over in a number of different areas, in Science, in Psychology, in Biblical studies etc. In each case I have seen that “findings” antithetical to Christian faith, which we were assured were true, have in retrospect been shown to be false. But these things can take a long time to correct, a very long time. There is a book “The nature of scientific revolution” which strongly suggests that the old guys (who invented this or that theory) have to die off, before their false theories can be discarded. In terms of inner healing, we need to be aware that confidently expressed Psychological solutions based on the wisdom of man, rather than on the wisdom of God, are not always correct. But I digress (slightly).
Now Psychology research can give insight in our understanding of human nature in general, and the nature of our psychosis in particular. However (to come to the title of this post) Psychology without faith is lame. The problem is that understanding what is wrong, is not the same as fixing it. We may, for example know perfectly well what we aught to do, but the wherewithal to do it is more often than not, missing. Nicky Gumbel (of Alpha fame) says it over and over “Yes, but how?” Paul (to repeat an earlier post) complains that the good things he wants to do he does not do, and the bad things, he does not want to do, these are the very things that he does. He and we, need help. We cannot live the Christian life without God, and the vehicle we need to use to tap into the help we so desperately need, is our faith. We need His help to change, and we need Him in the healing process too. After all He is the One who “heals all your diseases”. I know that it is foolishness to the World, but the testimony of so many of His people is of tremendous help they received. It is my testimony too. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
Let me acknowledge here, that there are those who do not name the name of Christ (they obviously have a will power much stronger than mine), who do somehow manage to pull themselves up out of their addictions. Those I have spoken to though, tell me that they never loose the craving. The problem here, is that even when I can change the behaviour, it does not heal the wounds that drove me to the behaviour in the first place. I personally need God to work in my desires (Philippians 2:12) and I need His healing in the hurts I have sustained and continue to sustain in life.
These helps are more available than we have begun to imagine. It has to do with being vitally connected with God through prayer, godly council and His Word. There are many helpful resources that I believe God has raised up, and continues to raise up at this hour, in and for the increasingly sick society in which we live. Some of the keys He is showing us can be found, for example in “Healing Light” by Agnes Sanford, or Leanne Payne's “Healing prayer”, or “Healing of Memories” by David Seamands. Then there is “Transformation of the inner man” by the Sandfords (see Elijah house ministries), or the Restoring the Foundations network of the Kelstras (RTF), or Jack Frost's “Shiloh Place ministries”. All these and others (though they do not use the same language), seek to engage the trinity of helps that I am advocating. In particular there is an emphasis on discovering Biblical Keys to inner healing, as well as a heavy reliance on the intervention of God in the healing process. And it is a trinity. We need all three aspects of it, self help, Bible help and God's help. When we do not avail ourselves of, and learn how to tap into, the God's help part of this trinity we are, I am very much afraid, guilty of having a form of religion but denying its Power. If we really believe that with God all things are possible we will show it by our lives, and in the choices that we make. We must not, we cannot, be conformed to the World that gives up the moment there is 'pain in the offing'.
The things of which I am speaking are in fact quite controversial in the church. It is unfortunate but true that this has been true of every move of God (since Luther on). The move and provision of God for this hour, about which I will need to say more, is not of course perfect (well I am part of it, and I am far from perfect). I am however convinced that this move is very much what our sick society so desperately needs. I believe that it is the way forward for both for the church and for the “whosoever will come”s of this wicked and hurting World in which we live.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A cursed earth and the laws of sowing and reaping.
One of the objections to the gospel I hear is that its too easy. They say “If salvation is free, and it is not earned by being good, what is to stop people just doing just what they want, and still get to heaven?” The first thing I usually say in response, is that if somebody starts off with this as his intention, then he has only gone through the motions in turning to the Lord, and has not really repented (turned from his sin). And if he has not really repented he is not really saved. Jesus' death on the Cross is not a ticket to sin. It has a great deal to do with issues of the heart, and God knows the heart.
The second thing to say concerns the Biblical law of sowing and reaping. “Do not be deceived”, we are told, “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7) If a young (unmarried) girl gets pregnant, turns to the Lord in her troubles and gets saved, she will still be pregnant. We reap what we sow. If you plant potatoes, you will not get carrots, you will get potatoes. In the spiritual realm this works in both the positive and the negative senses. In terms of the positive, if you are generous in your giving, the Lord will reward you accordingly. The reaping of your generosity may or may not be in this life, but He is just and you will not loose your reward (unless you do it to be seen, in which case you already have your reward). If you are a loving person, others will love you too in the here and now, and you will also receive your reward in Heaven.
But the law of sowing and reaping works in the negative too. Do not be deceived (many are). If you are an angry person, this will affect your relationships. If you sow hate and bitterness, it will come back on you. If you think about it, you probably know (and have experienced) that this is the way that it works.
Just as we cannot break the law of gravity, we cannot break this type of law. If I try to break the law of gravity by jumping off the roof, I am likely to be broken by the law. Science has discovered many laws, but it has not yet discovered them all (you knew that right?). There are many spiritual laws, the law of sowing and reaping is just one of them. The Bible knows them all, but we will only discover them as we “continue in the Word”! We cannot break these laws, but we can be broken by them, even if we do not know them. Reality is the way it is, it just is. Since this is the case, it would seem wise to learn about the spiritual laws that govern the universe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I will say it again. This book knows us. It knows how reality works. The book of Proverbs stresses over and over the need to get understanding, and gives us lots and lots of sound advice. Wisdom is not a modern invention, in fact by and large it is not a modern virtue. But we neglect such proffered wisdom and advice to our detriment. We reap what we sew. If all else fails, read the instructions (Bible help).
There are two more things I want to say about the law (parable) of sowing and reaping. The first is that, unlike the law of gravity, the effects of the law of sowing and reaping are not usually instantaneous. The process involves hidden incubation, sprouting of the seed, the growth of the plant, and only then the eventual fruit. Persistence both positively and negatively is “rewarded” accordingly. In terms of the negative, in the post “For your sakes I curse the earth” I suggested that part of this is that in His love for us, God cursed the earth so that the pains of life might draw us back to Him. As with Cain, this is often more than we can bear. The solution however is to return to Him, to receive His mercy and His help. Many times this comes in an ability to bear what we cannot bear without him. But the cross is important here too. The scripture tells us that “He became a curse for us (on the tree), that we might receive the blessings of God.” He has provided the Cross (the tree), as a way the break the vicious cycles that imprison us. This provision of the cross is not automatic, and needs to be applied. It is an important key to inner healing that the Lord has revealed to the Church in this hour. There are many things to say about it.
The final thing I want to say here about this parable/law of sowing and reaping, is that there is an associated law involved, namely the law of multiplication. If we plant one potato, we do not expect to reap just one potato, we expect multiplication. Positively we read that if we do so much as give a cup of cold water in His name we will not loose our reward. Negatively we find that in time the seeds of bitterness, for example, come back upon us in a measure that is way out of proportion to what we sewed. Bitterness is a poison that affects most the one who is bitter and next most, the ones the bitter one loves. Nursed bitterness just grows and grows and grows until it chokes out life. Again this is just the way it is, but Scripture does warns us about it (Hebrews 12:15).
The solution as always is to turn to the Lord, for He is merciful and will abundantly pardon. He has cursed the earth and in doing so placed the negative aspects of sowing and reaping in place so that the consequences of our rebellion and poor choices and ours and others sin will exert a pressure which He wants to use to bring us back to Himself. These things are small (but persistent) warnings of the wrath that is to come to all who reject His laws and His Law. The goodness and forbearance of God is designed to lead us to repentance, and we choose! Think about it, He has made us with such significance that we can, if we so desire, stand in defiance of One who is so powerful, that a single Word "spoke" worlds into being. We do of course reap what we sow whether in defiance, or in obedience!
The second thing to say concerns the Biblical law of sowing and reaping. “Do not be deceived”, we are told, “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7) If a young (unmarried) girl gets pregnant, turns to the Lord in her troubles and gets saved, she will still be pregnant. We reap what we sow. If you plant potatoes, you will not get carrots, you will get potatoes. In the spiritual realm this works in both the positive and the negative senses. In terms of the positive, if you are generous in your giving, the Lord will reward you accordingly. The reaping of your generosity may or may not be in this life, but He is just and you will not loose your reward (unless you do it to be seen, in which case you already have your reward). If you are a loving person, others will love you too in the here and now, and you will also receive your reward in Heaven.
But the law of sowing and reaping works in the negative too. Do not be deceived (many are). If you are an angry person, this will affect your relationships. If you sow hate and bitterness, it will come back on you. If you think about it, you probably know (and have experienced) that this is the way that it works.
Just as we cannot break the law of gravity, we cannot break this type of law. If I try to break the law of gravity by jumping off the roof, I am likely to be broken by the law. Science has discovered many laws, but it has not yet discovered them all (you knew that right?). There are many spiritual laws, the law of sowing and reaping is just one of them. The Bible knows them all, but we will only discover them as we “continue in the Word”! We cannot break these laws, but we can be broken by them, even if we do not know them. Reality is the way it is, it just is. Since this is the case, it would seem wise to learn about the spiritual laws that govern the universe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I will say it again. This book knows us. It knows how reality works. The book of Proverbs stresses over and over the need to get understanding, and gives us lots and lots of sound advice. Wisdom is not a modern invention, in fact by and large it is not a modern virtue. But we neglect such proffered wisdom and advice to our detriment. We reap what we sew. If all else fails, read the instructions (Bible help).
There are two more things I want to say about the law (parable) of sowing and reaping. The first is that, unlike the law of gravity, the effects of the law of sowing and reaping are not usually instantaneous. The process involves hidden incubation, sprouting of the seed, the growth of the plant, and only then the eventual fruit. Persistence both positively and negatively is “rewarded” accordingly. In terms of the negative, in the post “For your sakes I curse the earth” I suggested that part of this is that in His love for us, God cursed the earth so that the pains of life might draw us back to Him. As with Cain, this is often more than we can bear. The solution however is to return to Him, to receive His mercy and His help. Many times this comes in an ability to bear what we cannot bear without him. But the cross is important here too. The scripture tells us that “He became a curse for us (on the tree), that we might receive the blessings of God.” He has provided the Cross (the tree), as a way the break the vicious cycles that imprison us. This provision of the cross is not automatic, and needs to be applied. It is an important key to inner healing that the Lord has revealed to the Church in this hour. There are many things to say about it.
The final thing I want to say here about this parable/law of sowing and reaping, is that there is an associated law involved, namely the law of multiplication. If we plant one potato, we do not expect to reap just one potato, we expect multiplication. Positively we read that if we do so much as give a cup of cold water in His name we will not loose our reward. Negatively we find that in time the seeds of bitterness, for example, come back upon us in a measure that is way out of proportion to what we sewed. Bitterness is a poison that affects most the one who is bitter and next most, the ones the bitter one loves. Nursed bitterness just grows and grows and grows until it chokes out life. Again this is just the way it is, but Scripture does warns us about it (Hebrews 12:15).
The solution as always is to turn to the Lord, for He is merciful and will abundantly pardon. He has cursed the earth and in doing so placed the negative aspects of sowing and reaping in place so that the consequences of our rebellion and poor choices and ours and others sin will exert a pressure which He wants to use to bring us back to Himself. These things are small (but persistent) warnings of the wrath that is to come to all who reject His laws and His Law. The goodness and forbearance of God is designed to lead us to repentance, and we choose! Think about it, He has made us with such significance that we can, if we so desire, stand in defiance of One who is so powerful, that a single Word "spoke" worlds into being. We do of course reap what we sow whether in defiance, or in obedience!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The S- word sin, who says its wrong anyway?
The 's' word sin, has already come into a multitude of posts, and I am aware that many people have trouble with it. Many think of it as an outmoded, old fashioned, prudish, narrow minded concept, used only by judgmental, narrow minded, self righteous bigots. It is however a word that Jesus used over and over, and He was neither a bigot, nor was he judgmental (see below).
It is of course a Biblical concept and can be thought of roughly as simply falling short of God's glory (falling short of the perfection of God). Other definitions include lawlessness, wrong doing, the opposite of righteousness (purity, integrity etc.), or selfishness (and who is not selfish) and yes there are absolutes. God is an absolute and if He exists, and He is the one who spoke and stars were flung into space, then just perhaps He might have the right to say what is right and what is wrong.
By the way, nobody calls you judgmental when you tell your child that it is wrong to be selfish or to hit your sister, or to be mean to her, or fail to share. Even so Father God is not Judgmental. It is true that if in the end we refuse to repent, then He will need to judge us, but it is not His first thought. “Like a father has compassion, he knows our frame and knows we are but dust.” He does get a lot of bad press, but it is not His desire to condemn. This is brought out well in the lovely story of the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery from John 8. They bring her to Jesus testing Him. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, He tells them, and they leave from the oldest to the youngest. “Where are they who would condemn you?”, He asks Her. 'There are none'. Listen carefully now “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”. He does not condone sin, He does not say its alright, but He does not condemn her either. It is not His desire than any should perish, but that all should come to life (abundant and everlasting) in and through His name.
Coming back to what we do with our children. “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child”. Its true, they have not learned much yet from the school of hard knocks. “Mummy knows best”, we tell them, and most of the time she does, but many times the child does not understand. Hopefully he or she will understand as he or she grows and becomes parent themselves. God always knows what is best. But we may not yet understand. And we may not always like what He tells us, but when we come to know Him as He is, we also come to realize that when He says "No", it is for our Protection and for our Provision.
Casual sex for example, devalues the treasure and the wonder of that gift that He provided for our enjoyment, to bind together those who will keep themselves pure for their lifetime mate, and to produce fruit of the trinitarian oneness (body soul and spirit oneness). This cannot be found outside of Christian marriage. Please note I am not saying it cannot be good, many non-Christian marriages are better than many of the Christian marriages I have observed. What I am saying is that the unity He intends between a man and his wife has its highest potential inside of their mutual union with Christ. Only here can there be a unity of body, soul and spirit. After all the spirit is all but dead, outside of Christ (Ephesians 2:1). I need to keep saying this, righteousness is not only good and right and proper, it is smart!
Many would say this ideal is totally unrealistic, and possibly outside of a radical commitment to Him, and inside a culture where our pseudo, hyper sexuality is constantly being stirred, you might be right. But inside the radical commitment of which I speak I have seen it, and it brings a greater fulfillment not least because of the anticipation engendered by the waiting. We live in an instant society where instant gratification is the norm. We are however impoverished by it. The Bible talks about the “pleasures of sin for a season”. Nobody should say that (some) sin is not fun. The problem is it does not last. Only He can satisfy (provision and protection again).
The wonderful thing about God though, is that as long as we have breath, it is not too late. We can start over, and He has promised to restore the years the destructive locus have eaten. When we turn to Him, He makes all things beautiful in His time. Eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love and wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4/I Corinthians 2:9).
It is of course a Biblical concept and can be thought of roughly as simply falling short of God's glory (falling short of the perfection of God). Other definitions include lawlessness, wrong doing, the opposite of righteousness (purity, integrity etc.), or selfishness (and who is not selfish) and yes there are absolutes. God is an absolute and if He exists, and He is the one who spoke and stars were flung into space, then just perhaps He might have the right to say what is right and what is wrong.
By the way, nobody calls you judgmental when you tell your child that it is wrong to be selfish or to hit your sister, or to be mean to her, or fail to share. Even so Father God is not Judgmental. It is true that if in the end we refuse to repent, then He will need to judge us, but it is not His first thought. “Like a father has compassion, he knows our frame and knows we are but dust.” He does get a lot of bad press, but it is not His desire to condemn. This is brought out well in the lovely story of the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery from John 8. They bring her to Jesus testing Him. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, He tells them, and they leave from the oldest to the youngest. “Where are they who would condemn you?”, He asks Her. 'There are none'. Listen carefully now “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”. He does not condone sin, He does not say its alright, but He does not condemn her either. It is not His desire than any should perish, but that all should come to life (abundant and everlasting) in and through His name.
Coming back to what we do with our children. “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child”. Its true, they have not learned much yet from the school of hard knocks. “Mummy knows best”, we tell them, and most of the time she does, but many times the child does not understand. Hopefully he or she will understand as he or she grows and becomes parent themselves. God always knows what is best. But we may not yet understand. And we may not always like what He tells us, but when we come to know Him as He is, we also come to realize that when He says "No", it is for our Protection and for our Provision.
Casual sex for example, devalues the treasure and the wonder of that gift that He provided for our enjoyment, to bind together those who will keep themselves pure for their lifetime mate, and to produce fruit of the trinitarian oneness (body soul and spirit oneness). This cannot be found outside of Christian marriage. Please note I am not saying it cannot be good, many non-Christian marriages are better than many of the Christian marriages I have observed. What I am saying is that the unity He intends between a man and his wife has its highest potential inside of their mutual union with Christ. Only here can there be a unity of body, soul and spirit. After all the spirit is all but dead, outside of Christ (Ephesians 2:1). I need to keep saying this, righteousness is not only good and right and proper, it is smart!
Many would say this ideal is totally unrealistic, and possibly outside of a radical commitment to Him, and inside a culture where our pseudo, hyper sexuality is constantly being stirred, you might be right. But inside the radical commitment of which I speak I have seen it, and it brings a greater fulfillment not least because of the anticipation engendered by the waiting. We live in an instant society where instant gratification is the norm. We are however impoverished by it. The Bible talks about the “pleasures of sin for a season”. Nobody should say that (some) sin is not fun. The problem is it does not last. Only He can satisfy (provision and protection again).
The wonderful thing about God though, is that as long as we have breath, it is not too late. We can start over, and He has promised to restore the years the destructive locus have eaten. When we turn to Him, He makes all things beautiful in His time. Eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love and wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4/I Corinthians 2:9).
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Trinitarian recovery and the battle to believe.
What started me on writing my book “Biblical self help and the healing power of God's love” was a prophetic Word I received on visiting the International house of prayer (IHOP) in Kansas city three years ago now. “You have a book in your bowels”, I was told. You know its God when it reverberates with your soul, when you somehow know that it is Him, because you have learned to hear His voice (though that is not usually audible, and has never been audible with me).
In the blog title, I say “It is like giving birth to an elephant”. Its much longer than the mere nine months of human gestation, and its a lot harder coming out! I think that my biggest problem is that I listen. I am told that I am a good listener. Perhaps I listen too well. In any case my biggest difficulty has been that whenever I write anything at all, I can "hear" a whole bunch of objections, that I know need to be addressed before the person speaking them can hear what is being said. The problem when I wrote in response to what I was hearing (in my head), is that it had so many rabbit trails it was unreadable.
Suppose I quote the Bible saying “The soul that sins it shall die”. I immediately "hear" from my friend who, for the longest time, did not believe that we even have a soul (just chemicals). Another voice I would hear is “The 'S' word sin, who says its wrong anyway?” or “You Christians, always laying guilt trips on people” (see July 12th). Or “Who do you think you are to tell me I am a sinner” (I never said that). Or “The Bible, can't you make it say anything you want?” (well yes, but using the same rules of interpretation, I can make the dictionary say the same thing - so I stopped using the dictionary). Or “I don't accept the Bible” (I myself did not always believe what I now believe about the Bible). Or “How can anything that old be relevant for today? (well nobody uses the wheel any more right?). Or “You only believe in that stuff because your parents believed (actually my mother became a Christian after I did). Or “Christianity is a crutch” (for me it has been more like a brand new pair of legs).
I could go on, for example as soon as you start to talk about death it raises issues of heaven and hell, of Judgement, of how a God of love can “send” anyone to hell, etc., etc., etc. But..., well you get the point. For every statement, there are a hundred red flags that distract from what you are actually wanting to say. And you answer those objections and another one pops up. Its rather like the arcade game “wack a mole”, you hit one, and another one immediately pops up, the bull charges and you never get to finish. Its like an infinite maze (see July 18th). You would think we were in a war or something, a war to the death with the enemy of our souls! Well we are, and that is why it is such a battle to believe, why there are so many voices that we all hear which shout "No, don't believe". "Methinks the World doth protest too much".
I did not become a Christian until I was 28, and I have to say, it was something of a shock to discover it's all true. Well when I say 'It's all true', I do not mean that everything every Christian says is true. It can't be, we contradict each other all the time. And this is an issue in and of itself. Back when I was enthusiastic for apologetics (defence of the faith), I found it encouraging to note that the objections to Christianity that seem to make sense, were all of aspects of existing Christianity that are distortions of Biblical truth. I remember one battle over Church governance (how to run the church) where my defense to certain accusations was “I was naive enough to believe that you would prefer Biblical truth to tradition”. 'But we've always done it this way' - right? Perhaps the biggest problem is that we all come to the Bible with our cultural glasses, and with our generational and cultural baggage. “Is it Biblical Phil, or is it British?”. We all make many mistakes.
So here is another issue. If it is all so complicated how can anyone know the truth? Well we learn to listen to one another for a start (this is not done well either inside or outside the church). In the process we learn to distinguish between the non-negotiable essentials and the Denominational distinctives. I will not separate myself from my brothers and sisters in Christ over what are not non-negotiable essentials. The question “Did Adam have a navel?” admittedly has deep theological implications, but its answer is one example of a negotiable, non-essential.
The question of interpretation is a life long study, but we can start by realizing that the Bible has a central message, and it concerns how one gets right with God. Its called salvation. Part of my answer to the question “Do you take the Bible literally?” is 'I take the Bible seriously'. And I do take it literally when it talks about murder and adultery and heaven and hell, and the gift of salvation to all who believe. However, if we Christians took the Bible literally when it says “If your eye offend you pluck it out”, half of the Christian men would be walking round with just one eye, and the rest of us with none!
There is widespread agreement about how to get saved among those who also 'take the Bible seriously', and this should give us confidence about this and similar issues. It is wise however, the further we get from the central themes of the Bible, to be more tentative about imposing our views of what the Scripture means on others. I think it might have something to do with the Biblical virtue of humility, and it might have something to do with learning to discern where to apply the verse that talks about ever learning and never arriving at a knowledge of the truth (as for example in salvation), and when to apply the verse which tell us “let he who thinks he knows something acknowledge that he knows nothing yet as he aught to know”.
Obviously I cannot address every issue that arrises (nor do I have all the answers - I am still leaning). I do however, feel that I need to address some of the more common issues that clutter and mess up our minds and hearts, when we seek to come to the source of all healing (Psalm 103:3), and to the lover of our souls. So in the coming days (as He leads) there will be a mixture of apologetics (defence of the faith) and insights into trinitarian inner healing, into self help, Bible help and God's help.
In the blog title, I say “It is like giving birth to an elephant”. Its much longer than the mere nine months of human gestation, and its a lot harder coming out! I think that my biggest problem is that I listen. I am told that I am a good listener. Perhaps I listen too well. In any case my biggest difficulty has been that whenever I write anything at all, I can "hear" a whole bunch of objections, that I know need to be addressed before the person speaking them can hear what is being said. The problem when I wrote in response to what I was hearing (in my head), is that it had so many rabbit trails it was unreadable.
Suppose I quote the Bible saying “The soul that sins it shall die”. I immediately "hear" from my friend who, for the longest time, did not believe that we even have a soul (just chemicals). Another voice I would hear is “The 'S' word sin, who says its wrong anyway?” or “You Christians, always laying guilt trips on people” (see July 12th). Or “Who do you think you are to tell me I am a sinner” (I never said that). Or “The Bible, can't you make it say anything you want?” (well yes, but using the same rules of interpretation, I can make the dictionary say the same thing - so I stopped using the dictionary). Or “I don't accept the Bible” (I myself did not always believe what I now believe about the Bible). Or “How can anything that old be relevant for today? (well nobody uses the wheel any more right?). Or “You only believe in that stuff because your parents believed (actually my mother became a Christian after I did). Or “Christianity is a crutch” (for me it has been more like a brand new pair of legs).
I could go on, for example as soon as you start to talk about death it raises issues of heaven and hell, of Judgement, of how a God of love can “send” anyone to hell, etc., etc., etc. But..., well you get the point. For every statement, there are a hundred red flags that distract from what you are actually wanting to say. And you answer those objections and another one pops up. Its rather like the arcade game “wack a mole”, you hit one, and another one immediately pops up, the bull charges and you never get to finish. Its like an infinite maze (see July 18th). You would think we were in a war or something, a war to the death with the enemy of our souls! Well we are, and that is why it is such a battle to believe, why there are so many voices that we all hear which shout "No, don't believe". "Methinks the World doth protest too much".
I did not become a Christian until I was 28, and I have to say, it was something of a shock to discover it's all true. Well when I say 'It's all true', I do not mean that everything every Christian says is true. It can't be, we contradict each other all the time. And this is an issue in and of itself. Back when I was enthusiastic for apologetics (defence of the faith), I found it encouraging to note that the objections to Christianity that seem to make sense, were all of aspects of existing Christianity that are distortions of Biblical truth. I remember one battle over Church governance (how to run the church) where my defense to certain accusations was “I was naive enough to believe that you would prefer Biblical truth to tradition”. 'But we've always done it this way' - right? Perhaps the biggest problem is that we all come to the Bible with our cultural glasses, and with our generational and cultural baggage. “Is it Biblical Phil, or is it British?”. We all make many mistakes.
So here is another issue. If it is all so complicated how can anyone know the truth? Well we learn to listen to one another for a start (this is not done well either inside or outside the church). In the process we learn to distinguish between the non-negotiable essentials and the Denominational distinctives. I will not separate myself from my brothers and sisters in Christ over what are not non-negotiable essentials. The question “Did Adam have a navel?” admittedly has deep theological implications, but its answer is one example of a negotiable, non-essential.
The question of interpretation is a life long study, but we can start by realizing that the Bible has a central message, and it concerns how one gets right with God. Its called salvation. Part of my answer to the question “Do you take the Bible literally?” is 'I take the Bible seriously'. And I do take it literally when it talks about murder and adultery and heaven and hell, and the gift of salvation to all who believe. However, if we Christians took the Bible literally when it says “If your eye offend you pluck it out”, half of the Christian men would be walking round with just one eye, and the rest of us with none!
There is widespread agreement about how to get saved among those who also 'take the Bible seriously', and this should give us confidence about this and similar issues. It is wise however, the further we get from the central themes of the Bible, to be more tentative about imposing our views of what the Scripture means on others. I think it might have something to do with the Biblical virtue of humility, and it might have something to do with learning to discern where to apply the verse that talks about ever learning and never arriving at a knowledge of the truth (as for example in salvation), and when to apply the verse which tell us “let he who thinks he knows something acknowledge that he knows nothing yet as he aught to know”.
Obviously I cannot address every issue that arrises (nor do I have all the answers - I am still leaning). I do however, feel that I need to address some of the more common issues that clutter and mess up our minds and hearts, when we seek to come to the source of all healing (Psalm 103:3), and to the lover of our souls. So in the coming days (as He leads) there will be a mixture of apologetics (defence of the faith) and insights into trinitarian inner healing, into self help, Bible help and God's help.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A trinity of helps for trinitarian souls
I sometimes jokingly say that the sentence “Work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, because God does it all for you” is Philip's translation of Philippians 2:11-13. The first part is correct, the last part more correctly says “.... for God is at work in you both the will and to do, His good pleasure”. In other words when we fulfill the first part, God is at work in our desires and in the wherewithal to do what needs to be done. The Philip in “Philip's translation” is me, not the J.B. Phillip's (one “l”, two “p”s in Philip) of the well known Phillip's translation.
The type of thing involved in “working out your own salvation with fear and trembling” is expressed well in 12 step programs – admitting (confessing) our faults to one other, making fearless moral inventories and acting on them, making amends etc. etc..
“So what has this to do with the title of the post”? It is this, the passage illustrates the trinity of helps I am referring to. The trinity is Bible help, self help and God's help, the essential theme of the book I am writing (see blog heading). In terms of self help, we do have a part to play, namely the radical turning over of our lives to God, and the obedience to His agenda for our lives. But this is not just “God as we understand Him” (as the 12 steps would have it), but the God of the Hebrew Christian Scriptures as we progressively come to know Him in and through His Word. Thus the help the Bible brings us is through its “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:176). Then finally the help that God brings is not only the ability to do what we cannot do without Him, but also to work in us to want to do what is good and right and wholesome and profitable. This single verse however does not even begin to describe the fullness of the help that He brings to us in and through His extravagant healing love.
And this is a trinity, three interconnected helps that reenforce one another, draw us close to Him and bring peace and healing, purpose and fulfillment. In other words this trinity is a vehicle to bring us into the abundant life that Jesus promised to those radically connected to Him (John 10:10). This fullness is progressive, as we allow Him to heal our hurts, lead us into all truth, free us from the past and minimize and ultimately remove the diabolical influences that keep us stuck (see comment on this post). And the abundant life He promises will, if we have faith to believe it (Mark 9:23), permeate the whole trinity of who we are in Him (body, soul and spirit).
The type of thing involved in “working out your own salvation with fear and trembling” is expressed well in 12 step programs – admitting (confessing) our faults to one other, making fearless moral inventories and acting on them, making amends etc. etc..
“So what has this to do with the title of the post”? It is this, the passage illustrates the trinity of helps I am referring to. The trinity is Bible help, self help and God's help, the essential theme of the book I am writing (see blog heading). In terms of self help, we do have a part to play, namely the radical turning over of our lives to God, and the obedience to His agenda for our lives. But this is not just “God as we understand Him” (as the 12 steps would have it), but the God of the Hebrew Christian Scriptures as we progressively come to know Him in and through His Word. Thus the help the Bible brings us is through its “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:176). Then finally the help that God brings is not only the ability to do what we cannot do without Him, but also to work in us to want to do what is good and right and wholesome and profitable. This single verse however does not even begin to describe the fullness of the help that He brings to us in and through His extravagant healing love.
And this is a trinity, three interconnected helps that reenforce one another, draw us close to Him and bring peace and healing, purpose and fulfillment. In other words this trinity is a vehicle to bring us into the abundant life that Jesus promised to those radically connected to Him (John 10:10). This fullness is progressive, as we allow Him to heal our hurts, lead us into all truth, free us from the past and minimize and ultimately remove the diabolical influences that keep us stuck (see comment on this post). And the abundant life He promises will, if we have faith to believe it (Mark 9:23), permeate the whole trinity of who we are in Him (body, soul and spirit).
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Our trinitarian nature and wholeness
Now if what I say about us being trinity, is true (see Reflections of Trinity in the natural), we will need to be whole in body, soul and spirit. It is here where our one dimensional approaches to life are seen to be truly inadequate. If is it sickness of soul that is the root cause or our behaviour, then changing our behaviour will not bring the healing we so desperately need. Yet this type of one dimensionality is the sum total of what many secular sources advocate. Thus for example one branch of Psychology is behaviourism. I am not saying that our behaviours do not need to change, nor that Psychology cannot, at times, be useful and helpful (though it can also be misleading – see coming post Psychological and spiritual truth). What I am saying is that it is more that needs to change than simply behaviour. Another modern one dimensional approach is to try to handle everything through drugs independent even, of our desires let alone a decision to change.
Part (and just part) of what I am saying, in modern jargon, is that our approach to wholeness needs to a mixture of (the more balanced forms of) the holistic and the reductionist. In other words I am saying that there is room both for looking at the parts, and for looking at how they fit together. So for example there is room for both individual counselling and the type of counselling that regards the family (or marriage, or group, or culture) as a system. I am suggesting that a more balanced approach includes a mixture of both. Thus again I am suggesting unity in diversity (but this is not yet trinity).
Still in terms of what can be discovered in the secular, modern medicine has begun to see that the well being of the body is not independent of the well being of the soul. There is a whole area of research that supports this position. We hear talk for example, about about psycho-somatic illnesses – body (soma) maladies that have their origin in the psyche – the soul. Thus we get ulcers because we worry, and it is well known that cancer patients who fight the illness live longer than those who simply give up. And then of course research has shown that drugs can affect our personality, in both positive and negative ways.
So then a mixture of the reductionist and holistic approach is better than the one dimensionality we see too often, but it is still missing one essential component, namely the spiritual. In an earlier post we talked about wanting and needing to be made whole. Just as the body needs physical healing at times in order of us to be whole, so we also need healing of the soul, and healing for the broken or lifeless spirit. When the Bible talks about being whole, it is referring to being whole in precisely in this trinity of body soul and spirit. This is what the fullness of the Biblical word “salvation” is all about, it is about rescue in all three aspects of who we are.
So then what I want to suggest is that just as there is a connection between physical and emotional health, so also there is a connection between the health of our soul and the health of our spirit, and between physical and spiritual health. In particular our emotional well being is not independent of the health of our spirit. To put is another way, if we do not deal with the spiritual aspect of our maladies, we will never be fully whole. When we have done something wrong for example, we can be plagued with guilt. The cure for true guilt of course is to be forgiven and “who can forgive sins but God?” Well no-one, but God can forgive (see the July post “Guilt, shame …”). But malady of spirit can also have physical consequences. Jesus makes a strong connection between morality and physical health when he finds the man He healed by the pool of Bethesda, and tells Him to sin no more least a worse thing befalls him. This is not to say that all sickness, or all suffering is sin related (see Luke 13:4,5), but to emphasize the point that all these things are interconnected. By the way, the “something worse” is not necessarily physical here. I suspect that many readers know about suffering that is other than physical.
Now we can choose to live out lives excluding the spiritual realm, and clearly many do, but the abundant life (fullness of life) that Jesus promises will not be found outside of living out spiritual principles. These so often are foolishness to the World. Take for example “He who would save his life shall loose it, and he who shall loose his life for My sake, shall find it”. Spiritual principles include, integrity and self denial and admitting wrong doing and the like (more later in Psychological and Biblical truth.) Secular self help too often looks for scape goats that deal only with the symptoms, and can do nothing else, because the root causes are violations of spiritual principles it cannot yet acknowledge.
Part (and just part) of what I am saying, in modern jargon, is that our approach to wholeness needs to a mixture of (the more balanced forms of) the holistic and the reductionist. In other words I am saying that there is room both for looking at the parts, and for looking at how they fit together. So for example there is room for both individual counselling and the type of counselling that regards the family (or marriage, or group, or culture) as a system. I am suggesting that a more balanced approach includes a mixture of both. Thus again I am suggesting unity in diversity (but this is not yet trinity).
Still in terms of what can be discovered in the secular, modern medicine has begun to see that the well being of the body is not independent of the well being of the soul. There is a whole area of research that supports this position. We hear talk for example, about about psycho-somatic illnesses – body (soma) maladies that have their origin in the psyche – the soul. Thus we get ulcers because we worry, and it is well known that cancer patients who fight the illness live longer than those who simply give up. And then of course research has shown that drugs can affect our personality, in both positive and negative ways.
So then a mixture of the reductionist and holistic approach is better than the one dimensionality we see too often, but it is still missing one essential component, namely the spiritual. In an earlier post we talked about wanting and needing to be made whole. Just as the body needs physical healing at times in order of us to be whole, so we also need healing of the soul, and healing for the broken or lifeless spirit. When the Bible talks about being whole, it is referring to being whole in precisely in this trinity of body soul and spirit. This is what the fullness of the Biblical word “salvation” is all about, it is about rescue in all three aspects of who we are.
So then what I want to suggest is that just as there is a connection between physical and emotional health, so also there is a connection between the health of our soul and the health of our spirit, and between physical and spiritual health. In particular our emotional well being is not independent of the health of our spirit. To put is another way, if we do not deal with the spiritual aspect of our maladies, we will never be fully whole. When we have done something wrong for example, we can be plagued with guilt. The cure for true guilt of course is to be forgiven and “who can forgive sins but God?” Well no-one, but God can forgive (see the July post “Guilt, shame …”). But malady of spirit can also have physical consequences. Jesus makes a strong connection between morality and physical health when he finds the man He healed by the pool of Bethesda, and tells Him to sin no more least a worse thing befalls him. This is not to say that all sickness, or all suffering is sin related (see Luke 13:4,5), but to emphasize the point that all these things are interconnected. By the way, the “something worse” is not necessarily physical here. I suspect that many readers know about suffering that is other than physical.
Now we can choose to live out lives excluding the spiritual realm, and clearly many do, but the abundant life (fullness of life) that Jesus promises will not be found outside of living out spiritual principles. These so often are foolishness to the World. Take for example “He who would save his life shall loose it, and he who shall loose his life for My sake, shall find it”. Spiritual principles include, integrity and self denial and admitting wrong doing and the like (more later in Psychological and Biblical truth.) Secular self help too often looks for scape goats that deal only with the symptoms, and can do nothing else, because the root causes are violations of spiritual principles it cannot yet acknowledge.
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