The truth that our bitterness defiles the ones we love, is nowhere more graphically illustrated for me than in the break up of a marriage or other parental relationships. We may tell ourselves it is the best thing for the children, but without doubt the children suffer, and suffer deeply. I do not speak in self righteousness here, I speak as one who has utterly failed, yet one who is also forgiven. If you too have failed, I want you to know that God abundantly pardons, and He as promised that when we turn to Him in obedience He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). We need to claim this promise that when we return to Him, and as much as lies within us move in the direction of obedience to His laws and principles, we become repairers of the breach and healers of the broken structures that generations of dysfunction have laid waste. The promise of God that He will do His part in such restoration has two conditions. The first is that we should repent and turn to Him (i.e. to love God). The second is that we should walk in obedience to His laws and principles (Exodus 20:6).
It is more than difficult in the midst of our pain, to be willing to even consider the affect of our choices on others. To think of others at such times takes a level of maturity that most of us lack. We see such maturity in Jesus of course. In the midst of the most excruciating method of death then known to man, Jesus could think about, and take action to ensure that His mother was provided for (John 19:26,27). Spirit filled men like Stephen, could ask God not to hold his death by stoning against those who were stoning him.
In the case of the break up of a marriage, we often do not even begin to see what our choices and attitudes do to the children. We don't realize how criticism of our estranged spouse puts incredible pressure on our children to take sides. In an argument between your mum and dad who do you want to win? Too often without intending to and without realizing it, our attitudes imply “you can't be friends with me, if you are friends with him/her”. I have been told that the children experience this as being sawn in two. No wonder God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). There is more and more evidence that adult children of divorce experience life long trauma from parental breakups. This also happens even when the divorce is an emotional divorce (when we hide from each other putting up unscalable walls). We may have suffered from this at the hands of our own parents, and we may need to forgive them. We may need to forgive a former spouse. But as I said in a previous post, we need to treat bitterness as we would cancer. Absolutely no compromise.
Perhaps it is because of the destruction that is wrought through unforgiveness that this subject receives some of the most difficult teachings of Jesus. Without doubt, the spirit of bitterness and unforgiveness is the very opposite of the spirit and the primary purpose and agenda that God had in sending Jesus. We read that He purposed in the fullness of time to “unite all things in heaven and earth under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10 NIV). We are told unequivocally that unless we forgive from the heart, we ourselves will not be forgiven (Matthew 18:35). My understanding of what it means to “forgive from the heart”, is that we are to keep working at it until we have allowed the Grace of God to penetrate into our emotions, bringing them into conformity with His will that we be forgiving and merciful. In light of what He has done for us, any other response is unworthy of Him.
It is important for us to realize that our forgiving a person is not the same as saying that what they did was right, or that it does not matter. If it did not matter, there would be nothing to forgive. What can be helpful though, is to see the offense from the perspective of the injustice perpetrated on Jesus. He is our example. As they drove cruel spikes through His hands and feet He prayed “Father forgive them, they do not know what the are doing”. From His example and His teachings we know that separations, put downs, disrespect together with all things that bring and perpetuate division, are not of Him. We need to realize that when we refuse to allow our spirits to receive His Grace to forgive others, we are in fact doing the Devil's work.
It is here supremely where we need His help to live the life to which that He calls us. The force of the Greek of Hebrews 12:15 (quoted last day), is that we need to be diligent, to do our very best, lest we fail to obtain or appropriate the Grace of God to cut out these roots of bitterness that choke the operation of His Spirit in our lives. His Grace here, is the wherewithal that comes from Him, to do what He calls us to do. We can think of this as God's enabling Grace. Paul talks more about this in the early verses of Romans 5.
What do you want for yourself and for those you love? Do you want to be filled with the poison of bitterness, or with the fullness and the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – Galatians 5:22.23)? You (we) can't have it both ways. You cannot fit good things into a dumpster filled with garbage. We need to get rid of the garbage first. You cannot be filled with the Spirit while you hold onto the deeds and the desires of the flesh (the lower sinful nature). May God help us here. He is willing, but He requires our cooperation.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Don't get mad, get even and poison yourself and those you love.
We are both fragile and resilient, easily hurt but able to function with multiple wounds. It never ceases to amaze me how people who have smoked for years can live to a ripe old age with their soot filled and blackened lungs. Of course others die from lung cancer, but many don't. If quality of life is not an issue for you, you can fill your body with all kinds of poison, and still continue to function at some level.
As with the physical, so with the spiritual. We can allow the corrosive effects of the poison of sin (ours and others), and yet still, at some level continue to function. I don't say its living! The particular issue I want to deal with today is the issue of unforgiveness. There is nothing more corrosive to the spirit than this. I first encountered the poison of bitterness in another in a bar as a young man. The person I was talking to was obsessed with what his former wife had done years before. Frankly I could not wait to get away from him. Since then I have seen others who are bitter even decades after the perpetration of the pain that wounded them. When this happens those who are the focus of the unforgiveness are blamed for everything that goes wrong. “He/she fooled me up so badly, I am just not able to deal with life”. When we allow this to happen, we have in effect surrendered responsibility for our lives into the hands of the one(s) who hurt us. When we do this, as I said last day, the perpetrator has in some sense won. Actually it is the devil who has you tied up. He is manipulating you through your bitterness, and when he says jump, you jump. They say that time heals all wounds, but time will not heal bitterness or anger that is nursed.
By saying what I am saying here, I do not in any way want to diminish the pain and agony that you or others have endured at the hands of others. What I do need to say though, and this may be difficult to hear, is that it is not what was done to you that keeps you stuck, it is your reaction to it. I don't pretend that this is easy, but in order to become unstuck we need in effect to become a better person than the perpetrator. These things are part of becoming an overcomer. We will never be filled with joy and hope and pace and love while we are filled with negative things. Letting go of negative things is a process, it may have to start with being willing to be willing even if we are not yet willing. We may need to work hard at this, it is not something that we can easily achieve in a day. We need help, I have needed His help. However when the Son shall set you free you will be free indeed. There are some outstanding examples of this out there.
One of my heroes is a lady called Corrie Ten Boon. She and her family hid Jews in Nazi occupied Holland during the last World war. There is an excellent book/movie telling her story. Its called “The hiding place” (see also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038cuYe3Nis), but I digress. They were eventually caught, and her father and her sister died in interment in the German death camps. Corrie miraculously escaped. After the war, she was called to go into post war Germany preaching that God forgives. The real test came for Corrie, when she saw in the audience, one of the crueler former guards from the concentration camp where she and her sister had been interned, and where because of the harsh conditions and treatment, her sister had died. This man came up to her afterwards and said to her “It is good to know that God forgives, but I want to know that you forgive me.”
Corrie relates her struggle. She tells that what immediately went through her mind, was a facility back in Holland for former inmates of the death camps. What she knew, is that those who could forgive were healed, but those who could not forgive were not. It was, she recalls, as simple and as horrible as that. So she knew that she had to forgive this man. As an act of the will she thrust her had forward and said to him “I forgive you”. Corrie tells that when she did this, the Love of God for this man filled her, and she not only chose to forgive but also through this act of obedience her emotions fell in line. Corrie had more to forgive than I ever have. How about you?
It starts with the choice. We may even need to go as far back as being willing to be willing to be willing. But know and understand well, that bitterness poisons the bitter one the most, and then those next who the bitter one loves. The Scripture warns us about this in Hebrews 12:15. “Beware”, we are told, “lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled”. We need God's grace, His empowering strength and mercy, to do what without Him we cannot do, and to be what He calls us to be. It starts, like it did with Corrie, with a decision to be obedient to His Word. In the words of a hymn that I loved as a new Christian “Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”. It's true.
As with the physical, so with the spiritual. We can allow the corrosive effects of the poison of sin (ours and others), and yet still, at some level continue to function. I don't say its living! The particular issue I want to deal with today is the issue of unforgiveness. There is nothing more corrosive to the spirit than this. I first encountered the poison of bitterness in another in a bar as a young man. The person I was talking to was obsessed with what his former wife had done years before. Frankly I could not wait to get away from him. Since then I have seen others who are bitter even decades after the perpetration of the pain that wounded them. When this happens those who are the focus of the unforgiveness are blamed for everything that goes wrong. “He/she fooled me up so badly, I am just not able to deal with life”. When we allow this to happen, we have in effect surrendered responsibility for our lives into the hands of the one(s) who hurt us. When we do this, as I said last day, the perpetrator has in some sense won. Actually it is the devil who has you tied up. He is manipulating you through your bitterness, and when he says jump, you jump. They say that time heals all wounds, but time will not heal bitterness or anger that is nursed.
By saying what I am saying here, I do not in any way want to diminish the pain and agony that you or others have endured at the hands of others. What I do need to say though, and this may be difficult to hear, is that it is not what was done to you that keeps you stuck, it is your reaction to it. I don't pretend that this is easy, but in order to become unstuck we need in effect to become a better person than the perpetrator. These things are part of becoming an overcomer. We will never be filled with joy and hope and pace and love while we are filled with negative things. Letting go of negative things is a process, it may have to start with being willing to be willing even if we are not yet willing. We may need to work hard at this, it is not something that we can easily achieve in a day. We need help, I have needed His help. However when the Son shall set you free you will be free indeed. There are some outstanding examples of this out there.
One of my heroes is a lady called Corrie Ten Boon. She and her family hid Jews in Nazi occupied Holland during the last World war. There is an excellent book/movie telling her story. Its called “The hiding place” (see also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038cuYe3Nis), but I digress. They were eventually caught, and her father and her sister died in interment in the German death camps. Corrie miraculously escaped. After the war, she was called to go into post war Germany preaching that God forgives. The real test came for Corrie, when she saw in the audience, one of the crueler former guards from the concentration camp where she and her sister had been interned, and where because of the harsh conditions and treatment, her sister had died. This man came up to her afterwards and said to her “It is good to know that God forgives, but I want to know that you forgive me.”
Corrie relates her struggle. She tells that what immediately went through her mind, was a facility back in Holland for former inmates of the death camps. What she knew, is that those who could forgive were healed, but those who could not forgive were not. It was, she recalls, as simple and as horrible as that. So she knew that she had to forgive this man. As an act of the will she thrust her had forward and said to him “I forgive you”. Corrie tells that when she did this, the Love of God for this man filled her, and she not only chose to forgive but also through this act of obedience her emotions fell in line. Corrie had more to forgive than I ever have. How about you?
It starts with the choice. We may even need to go as far back as being willing to be willing to be willing. But know and understand well, that bitterness poisons the bitter one the most, and then those next who the bitter one loves. The Scripture warns us about this in Hebrews 12:15. “Beware”, we are told, “lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled”. We need God's grace, His empowering strength and mercy, to do what without Him we cannot do, and to be what He calls us to be. It starts, like it did with Corrie, with a decision to be obedient to His Word. In the words of a hymn that I loved as a new Christian “Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”. It's true.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The crossroads of compromise
We are in a war, a war to the death with the enemy of our souls (see Nov 2,10, 2010). Most of us in the West don't get this, and as a consequence we find ourselves robbed, wounded, diminished and left dazed and puzzled as to “why all this has happened to me”. We blame others, and no doubt those who just came to mind as your read this are less than blameless. However we are more often than not, blind to our own part in it all, blind to our own unclaimed responsibilities, and to the problems we cause ourselves by our reactions to the injustices that are perpetrated upon us. But the fact of the matter is that the real enemy are the spiritual forces of the Evil one, that tempt them (and us) to live selfish, greedy and self serving lives.
As with all wars, there is much propaganda on the go. We are told, and we tell ourselves and others, many lies. These originate from father of lies Satan (John 8:44). One of his big ones in the West, is that he does not exist – the material is all there is. As a result of this, most of the time, we live as though there were no spiritual forces behind the things that life brings to us. In today's world there is no right and wrong, we have believed the lie that all opinions are equally valid. Inconsistently while we claim that all truth is relative, we have exulted tolerance to an absolute. That is tolerance has become the greatest good. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that tolerance is a virtue, and that most of the time tolerance is far better than intolerance. But it is not an absolute. I do not want to tolerate incompetence in airline pilots, or drunk drivers on the road, or child abuse. The fact of the matter is that tolerance of sin in our own lives is destructive. It is always destructive (see for example “Provision and Protection" in November posts).
Have you ever noticed that good habits are hard to get into and easy to get out of, while bad habits are just the opposite easy to get into and difficult to get out of. How much sewage do you want in your drinking water? We will never have 100% pure water, but how tolerant do you want to be of pollution? We can learn to live with it, and these days much of the world does. But pollution diminishes our quality of life and results in infections and diseases and illnesses that would better be avoided. In the same way the little sins, the little compromises, diminish our quality of life. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light we have fellowship with Him and each other. But the little sins lead to further sins. One little “white” lie, leads to another to cover it up, which leads to another to cover up the last one. When we embrace the darkness, even a little of it, it leads to more and more. The picture I have is of a whirlpool. On the edges where the current moves slowly we can perhaps easily escape and we tell ourselves there is no danger. But little by little we are drawn to the centre where the current is unmanageable. I remember borrowing a friend's car one time when I had trouble with mine. It scared me to death. The brake peddle went right down to the floor before the brakes caught. It had happened so gradually my friend had hardly noticed.
Its like this when we compromise in the little things in the Christian life. By and by we do not notice that we are not as close to the Lord. We get used to living with diminished joy and then without it. We tell ourselves and others that we are fine, wearing masks that fool even us. Then we wonder why Church is boring, and the things of the Spirit seem less exciting. We are no longer lost in wonder love and praise but rather in the “ho hum” of it all. Once we were on fire for the Lord, but now, it all seems rather ordinary. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:3 talks about living as mere men (or women). We are not meant to live as mere men, we are meant to soar like the eagle (Isaiah 40:31). If you want to know what the Lord feels about our compromises, I would suggest Revelation 3:15-16. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm ― neither hot nor cold ― I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. It makes Him want to puke!
When through compromise we have forsaken our first love, and we all come to it from time to time, we need to repent do the things we did in the beginning (Revelation 2:4-5). When we find ourselves in this place, we need to consider again the price that was paid for our redemption. In the light of the tender Mercies of our God, Paul tells us not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. When we enter fully into this we actually prove “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). When we fail, and we all fail at times, we need to return to Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to even cleanse us from all unrighteous (1 John 1:9). He will abundantly pardon. What an amazing God we have.
Compromise then is a crossroads that leads to our being conformed to the World, and to being spiritually ineffective. It is the little foxes that spoil the vine (Song 2:15). On this road we are robbed of our joy and our hope and our faith. In these days, we need to make up our minds exactly where we stand. Are you willing to take the road less traveled? We need to mark a line in the sand. We need to take a stand, and having done all to stand. We are in a war to the death, with the enemy of our souls. How much compromise do you want our soldiers to make in physical war? How much cancer to you want them to leave in your body, if they operate on you for cancer? Make no mistake about it, the little compromises are exactly like cancer. The Biblical picture is leaven. In time it changes the nature of the whole lump. If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
As with all wars, there is much propaganda on the go. We are told, and we tell ourselves and others, many lies. These originate from father of lies Satan (John 8:44). One of his big ones in the West, is that he does not exist – the material is all there is. As a result of this, most of the time, we live as though there were no spiritual forces behind the things that life brings to us. In today's world there is no right and wrong, we have believed the lie that all opinions are equally valid. Inconsistently while we claim that all truth is relative, we have exulted tolerance to an absolute. That is tolerance has become the greatest good. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that tolerance is a virtue, and that most of the time tolerance is far better than intolerance. But it is not an absolute. I do not want to tolerate incompetence in airline pilots, or drunk drivers on the road, or child abuse. The fact of the matter is that tolerance of sin in our own lives is destructive. It is always destructive (see for example “Provision and Protection" in November posts).
Have you ever noticed that good habits are hard to get into and easy to get out of, while bad habits are just the opposite easy to get into and difficult to get out of. How much sewage do you want in your drinking water? We will never have 100% pure water, but how tolerant do you want to be of pollution? We can learn to live with it, and these days much of the world does. But pollution diminishes our quality of life and results in infections and diseases and illnesses that would better be avoided. In the same way the little sins, the little compromises, diminish our quality of life. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light we have fellowship with Him and each other. But the little sins lead to further sins. One little “white” lie, leads to another to cover it up, which leads to another to cover up the last one. When we embrace the darkness, even a little of it, it leads to more and more. The picture I have is of a whirlpool. On the edges where the current moves slowly we can perhaps easily escape and we tell ourselves there is no danger. But little by little we are drawn to the centre where the current is unmanageable. I remember borrowing a friend's car one time when I had trouble with mine. It scared me to death. The brake peddle went right down to the floor before the brakes caught. It had happened so gradually my friend had hardly noticed.
Its like this when we compromise in the little things in the Christian life. By and by we do not notice that we are not as close to the Lord. We get used to living with diminished joy and then without it. We tell ourselves and others that we are fine, wearing masks that fool even us. Then we wonder why Church is boring, and the things of the Spirit seem less exciting. We are no longer lost in wonder love and praise but rather in the “ho hum” of it all. Once we were on fire for the Lord, but now, it all seems rather ordinary. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:3 talks about living as mere men (or women). We are not meant to live as mere men, we are meant to soar like the eagle (Isaiah 40:31). If you want to know what the Lord feels about our compromises, I would suggest Revelation 3:15-16. “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm ― neither hot nor cold ― I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. It makes Him want to puke!
When through compromise we have forsaken our first love, and we all come to it from time to time, we need to repent do the things we did in the beginning (Revelation 2:4-5). When we find ourselves in this place, we need to consider again the price that was paid for our redemption. In the light of the tender Mercies of our God, Paul tells us not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. When we enter fully into this we actually prove “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). When we fail, and we all fail at times, we need to return to Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to even cleanse us from all unrighteous (1 John 1:9). He will abundantly pardon. What an amazing God we have.
Compromise then is a crossroads that leads to our being conformed to the World, and to being spiritually ineffective. It is the little foxes that spoil the vine (Song 2:15). On this road we are robbed of our joy and our hope and our faith. In these days, we need to make up our minds exactly where we stand. Are you willing to take the road less traveled? We need to mark a line in the sand. We need to take a stand, and having done all to stand. We are in a war to the death, with the enemy of our souls. How much compromise do you want our soldiers to make in physical war? How much cancer to you want them to leave in your body, if they operate on you for cancer? Make no mistake about it, the little compromises are exactly like cancer. The Biblical picture is leaven. In time it changes the nature of the whole lump. If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
When I am weak then I am strong!
Does this sound like nonsense? It is one of the Kingdom paradoxes, and the Scriptures tell us that the Wisdom of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Of course if God does not exist, or if He does exist but has left us to struggle on our own, then the “perishing” are right. On the other hand, if those of us who have tasted of the heavenly gift are telling the truth when we testify of His deliverance from our addictions, then they are wrong. We do of course have a part to play, and it is an important part.
Let me use an analogy. It works like this, when in the perplexities of life we do not know what to do and we cry out to God for wisdom, then He gives it to us. He has promised to do this. “If any man lacks wisdom”, James tells us, “let him ask of God who gives liberally, and it shall be given to him” (James 1:5). We do need to believe His promise of course, and we do need to cultivate hearing his voice (see 'You hear from God ...' September 2010). But the point I am making, is that when we lack wisdom and acknowledge it, and ask God, then we receive it, and in doing this, we become wise. So when we lack wisdom we are wise because we stand in the wisdom of God. It is a wonderful promise, and I have used it over and over. There are a couple of things we need to do by the way, before we can receive the promises of God. We need to qualify for them. The qualification comes in the “if” clause of the promise “If anyone lacks wisdom ....”. The good news is that you and I qualify for this promise. In other words, we all lack wisdom betimes. But we have to admit it, or we won't ask.
It works the same way when we are weak. You see if we know we are weak and we cry out to God for His strength, then He gives is to us. The Lord tells Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. This is not always easy to receive. Its called denial, but it is the very necessary first step of any twelve step programme (We admitted we were powerless over ...... - that our lives had become unmanageable).
I have come to realize that sooner or later, we all need to come to the place where the happenstances of life bring us to the end of ourselves. What I mean is that sooner or later we find that in our own strength we are unable to live the life that we are called to live, meant to live, and in our more lucid moments want to live (see “the end of my goodness” July 2010). These points are crossroads. It may happen over and over. It may be at conversion, it may be the very thing that brings us to the Lord in the first place, or it may be miles down the road, or all of the above. Paul came to this with his “thorn in the flesh” (the context of the quotation from 2 Corinthians). We do not know exactly what this was, but we do know that it threw Paul back onto God.
With respect to wisdom, if I am a know it all, and nobody can tell me anything (even God), then all I have is (the bankruptcy of) my own wisdom. To say it another way, nobody knows everything, and we can learn a lot from others, especially from God, but we do need to come to the end of our wisdom. Similarly when I come to the end of myself and turn my life over to God in complete surrender, I am given God's strength to do what it is I cannot do for myself:- come off the booze, forsake my addictions, live in purity etc. etc. So when I am weak and ask God for His strength I become strong.
The world will try to shame us “Christianity is a crutch”. My response is “Well in my experience my relationship with the Lord feels more like a brand new pair of legs, and actually most people I see are limping through life”. We are meant to run on Him. Jesus did, He tells us “... the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19). Paul tells us “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13). What would keep us from this? Our pride perhaps, or the short term pleasures of the flesh (our sinful desires)?
Let me use an analogy. It works like this, when in the perplexities of life we do not know what to do and we cry out to God for wisdom, then He gives it to us. He has promised to do this. “If any man lacks wisdom”, James tells us, “let him ask of God who gives liberally, and it shall be given to him” (James 1:5). We do need to believe His promise of course, and we do need to cultivate hearing his voice (see 'You hear from God ...' September 2010). But the point I am making, is that when we lack wisdom and acknowledge it, and ask God, then we receive it, and in doing this, we become wise. So when we lack wisdom we are wise because we stand in the wisdom of God. It is a wonderful promise, and I have used it over and over. There are a couple of things we need to do by the way, before we can receive the promises of God. We need to qualify for them. The qualification comes in the “if” clause of the promise “If anyone lacks wisdom ....”. The good news is that you and I qualify for this promise. In other words, we all lack wisdom betimes. But we have to admit it, or we won't ask.
It works the same way when we are weak. You see if we know we are weak and we cry out to God for His strength, then He gives is to us. The Lord tells Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. This is not always easy to receive. Its called denial, but it is the very necessary first step of any twelve step programme (We admitted we were powerless over ...... - that our lives had become unmanageable).
I have come to realize that sooner or later, we all need to come to the place where the happenstances of life bring us to the end of ourselves. What I mean is that sooner or later we find that in our own strength we are unable to live the life that we are called to live, meant to live, and in our more lucid moments want to live (see “the end of my goodness” July 2010). These points are crossroads. It may happen over and over. It may be at conversion, it may be the very thing that brings us to the Lord in the first place, or it may be miles down the road, or all of the above. Paul came to this with his “thorn in the flesh” (the context of the quotation from 2 Corinthians). We do not know exactly what this was, but we do know that it threw Paul back onto God.
With respect to wisdom, if I am a know it all, and nobody can tell me anything (even God), then all I have is (the bankruptcy of) my own wisdom. To say it another way, nobody knows everything, and we can learn a lot from others, especially from God, but we do need to come to the end of our wisdom. Similarly when I come to the end of myself and turn my life over to God in complete surrender, I am given God's strength to do what it is I cannot do for myself:- come off the booze, forsake my addictions, live in purity etc. etc. So when I am weak and ask God for His strength I become strong.
The world will try to shame us “Christianity is a crutch”. My response is “Well in my experience my relationship with the Lord feels more like a brand new pair of legs, and actually most people I see are limping through life”. We are meant to run on Him. Jesus did, He tells us “... the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19). Paul tells us “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13). What would keep us from this? Our pride perhaps, or the short term pleasures of the flesh (our sinful desires)?
Saturday, January 8, 2011
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle!
I jokingly say that this (mis) quote from Ephesians 6:12 is Philip's translation of the passage. This Philip, of course is Philip Heath, not Philip as in J.B. Phillips (author of a well known translation). As a young Christian I found myself wrestling with many things. In an earlier post “Delivered from Heroin, but I cannot quit smoking”, I told of a friend who was delivered from heavy drugs only to find himself wrestling with trying to quit smoking. I also suggested that God has many a purpose for leaving us with lesser addictions, even when He delivers us from things we cannot by ourselves escape. I want to say more today.
The NIV translation of the verse in the title is “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. To put it another way, we are in a war to the death with the invisible, but very real, enemies of our souls (see “You believe in the Devil? Give me a break”). One person put it this way, 'the Christian is a walking civil war'. One of the pictures the Scriptures paint of the Christian is that of warrior. We are intended to be soldiers in this war with the unseen. Our true fruitfulness and our rewards in the hereafter are directly related to out willingness to enter into that war, and in particular to wrestle to death the baser side of our human nature, that side the Scriptures describe as fallen. We are given weapons to use in this war (II Corinthians 10:3-4). And once again the process of receiving them and putting them to good use has to do with cooperation with, and obedience to, the prompting of the Spirit of God in our lives. It is a fact (unless like the repentant thief on the cross we die immediately after conversion) that we will all come to times of testing.
In the end the battle within, is a battle for the heart. We do not learn to sail on a calm sea. Rather is it in the storms of life that our true metal is seen for what it is, whether good or bad. It is helpful to think of the Old Testament warfare as analogies or pictures of spiritual warfare in the New. In this light the following verse gives insight into the Lord's purposes in allowing (or at times even sending) trials. “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2). The wilderness of course has to do with lack, it speaks of difficulties, of difficult times.
We may not like the trials, we may not enjoy the times of testing, but these are the times of growth (or not). We are unlikely to lead those we love into the Kingdom, if we do not (over the long haul) demonstrated the reality of the work of the Spirit within us. Many times we are the only Bible our loved ones will read. Whether they admit it or not they are watching. What kind of selfishness is to show by our unchanging behaviour that we don't care about their eternal destiny. After all growth is the only real sign of life. What does it all mean, unless we are in the process of being changed? What sort of (lack of) appreciation is it of the sacrifice of the Son of Love, that we would fail to enter into His purposes for our lives and for the World? What sort of short sightedness is that that we choose the fleeting pleasures (and future pain) of sin, over the rewards of righteousness? We are not our own, we are bought at a price, and the only reasonable response to that, is to glorify God in our bodies (I Corinthians 6:19-20).
The good news is that we do not have to do this alone. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). When we cooperate with Him, give Him our all and allow the difficult times to draw us to Himself, He becomes our exceedingly great reward.
The NIV translation of the verse in the title is “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. To put it another way, we are in a war to the death with the invisible, but very real, enemies of our souls (see “You believe in the Devil? Give me a break”). One person put it this way, 'the Christian is a walking civil war'. One of the pictures the Scriptures paint of the Christian is that of warrior. We are intended to be soldiers in this war with the unseen. Our true fruitfulness and our rewards in the hereafter are directly related to out willingness to enter into that war, and in particular to wrestle to death the baser side of our human nature, that side the Scriptures describe as fallen. We are given weapons to use in this war (II Corinthians 10:3-4). And once again the process of receiving them and putting them to good use has to do with cooperation with, and obedience to, the prompting of the Spirit of God in our lives. It is a fact (unless like the repentant thief on the cross we die immediately after conversion) that we will all come to times of testing.
In the end the battle within, is a battle for the heart. We do not learn to sail on a calm sea. Rather is it in the storms of life that our true metal is seen for what it is, whether good or bad. It is helpful to think of the Old Testament warfare as analogies or pictures of spiritual warfare in the New. In this light the following verse gives insight into the Lord's purposes in allowing (or at times even sending) trials. “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2). The wilderness of course has to do with lack, it speaks of difficulties, of difficult times.
We may not like the trials, we may not enjoy the times of testing, but these are the times of growth (or not). We are unlikely to lead those we love into the Kingdom, if we do not (over the long haul) demonstrated the reality of the work of the Spirit within us. Many times we are the only Bible our loved ones will read. Whether they admit it or not they are watching. What kind of selfishness is to show by our unchanging behaviour that we don't care about their eternal destiny. After all growth is the only real sign of life. What does it all mean, unless we are in the process of being changed? What sort of (lack of) appreciation is it of the sacrifice of the Son of Love, that we would fail to enter into His purposes for our lives and for the World? What sort of short sightedness is that that we choose the fleeting pleasures (and future pain) of sin, over the rewards of righteousness? We are not our own, we are bought at a price, and the only reasonable response to that, is to glorify God in our bodies (I Corinthians 6:19-20).
The good news is that we do not have to do this alone. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). When we cooperate with Him, give Him our all and allow the difficult times to draw us to Himself, He becomes our exceedingly great reward.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
.... kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
I don't know how long it has been for me to have struggled as hard as I have this week with sexual temptation. This as I prepare to give two sermons on Biblical human sexuality. The Lord however just this morning reminded me of the words in the title of this post from I Peter 1:5. He was reminding me that He is the one who keeps us.
Thayer says of the word translated here 'kept” that it means 'by watching and guarding to preserve one for the attainment of something' in this case, in context, our salvation. It is through faith – active trust and reliance upon Him, rather than our own will power and ability to endure. This reliance on Him does not come naturally to our rugged self reliant North American individualism. However until we come to the end of ourselves all we have is ourselves and whether we know it or not, “ourselves” is not enough because “in many things we all fail”.
The first three steps of any twelve step program dictate the acknowledgment that we cannot manage our own lives, a realization that we need our “higher power” and a decision to turn our lives over to God (as we understand Him). I need to say a word about this. It should be clear that truth is important, but that not everybody is ready to swallow the whole of orthodox Christian teaching. It took me some time to get where I am (see my profile). What I do want to say is that I know of nowhere else than the Bible where we are promised that “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
The context of the 1 Peter quote also makes it clear that we tap into His keeping power by placing our trust in Him (i.e. through faith). I have discovered that I cannot keep myself. In the words of the hymn writer I am “prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love”. We (I) are (am) far too easily seduced by the deceitfulness of sin that promises joy. But such joy is short term, and it costs us. The Bible talks about the pleasure of sin “for a season”. The joy sin promises is fleeting and leads us into bondage. I have learned to pray that part of the Lord's prayer - “lead me away from temptation” (Matthew 6:13) at the very first hint of temptation.
Do you pray for yourself regularly (every day), to be (continue to be) delivered from your addictions? I do, I am painfully aware that I need His power in my life on an ongoing basis in order to remain faithful to Him. When I am weak and cry out to Him and cast it all on Him, I become strong in Him because He keeps me.
There is no other way to fly! The same context of 1 Peter 1:5 (i.e. verse 6) tells us of the resulting joy that even brings us through trials. This only comes however with absolute surrender. In the words of the big book of AA “half measures availed us nothing”.
Thayer says of the word translated here 'kept” that it means 'by watching and guarding to preserve one for the attainment of something' in this case, in context, our salvation. It is through faith – active trust and reliance upon Him, rather than our own will power and ability to endure. This reliance on Him does not come naturally to our rugged self reliant North American individualism. However until we come to the end of ourselves all we have is ourselves and whether we know it or not, “ourselves” is not enough because “in many things we all fail”.
The first three steps of any twelve step program dictate the acknowledgment that we cannot manage our own lives, a realization that we need our “higher power” and a decision to turn our lives over to God (as we understand Him). I need to say a word about this. It should be clear that truth is important, but that not everybody is ready to swallow the whole of orthodox Christian teaching. It took me some time to get where I am (see my profile). What I do want to say is that I know of nowhere else than the Bible where we are promised that “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
The context of the 1 Peter quote also makes it clear that we tap into His keeping power by placing our trust in Him (i.e. through faith). I have discovered that I cannot keep myself. In the words of the hymn writer I am “prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love”. We (I) are (am) far too easily seduced by the deceitfulness of sin that promises joy. But such joy is short term, and it costs us. The Bible talks about the pleasure of sin “for a season”. The joy sin promises is fleeting and leads us into bondage. I have learned to pray that part of the Lord's prayer - “lead me away from temptation” (Matthew 6:13) at the very first hint of temptation.
Do you pray for yourself regularly (every day), to be (continue to be) delivered from your addictions? I do, I am painfully aware that I need His power in my life on an ongoing basis in order to remain faithful to Him. When I am weak and cry out to Him and cast it all on Him, I become strong in Him because He keeps me.
There is no other way to fly! The same context of 1 Peter 1:5 (i.e. verse 6) tells us of the resulting joy that even brings us through trials. This only comes however with absolute surrender. In the words of the big book of AA “half measures availed us nothing”.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The good things I want to do, I don't do them. The bad things I don't want to do, these things I do.
I was talking one time to an alcoholic friend of mine about this quotation from Romans 7. He told me, “There is a lot in the Bible that I do not understand, but I understand this part”. Those of us who have struggled (or still struggle) with addictions know about this very well and from a first hand perspective. I suspect that we don't really even begin to understand it though, until we really try to stop doing the things that cause us shame.
I remember sitting in a Church service one time when the Pastor said “If you have trouble with pornography stay away from that end of the video store”. I wanted to stand up and shout “Buddy, you don't have clue”. It is not the case that someone addicted to pornography is necessarily weak willed and unable to resist fleeting temptations brought about as he (or she) enters the video store. I am told that pornography stimulates the same pleasure centre in the brain as cocaine, and when full blown is every bit as addictive. When this happens we become obsessed with it, and it occupies most of our waking thoughts (and then some).
It seems to me that rather than being weak willed, many of us who have been trapped in addictions have incredible will power. I mean after having failed again and again and again to still be willing to take a stand and determine in our hearts and minds to try again. Is the one who – if at first does not succeed tries, tries, tries, tries again weak willed? I think not! The problem is that will power alone will not deliver us from our addictions. It is a common part of the addiction cycle to simply determine to try harder. With deep seated additions it simply does not work. If you can relate to the quotation above, you will know what I am talking about. Jesus put it this way “He who sins is the slave of sin (John 8:34)”.
Most of us need help to break these cycles. We can understand the mechanism but still be unable to get out of the addiction (see “Psychology without faith is lame” August 2010). Fortunately there is good news. Paul at the end of the chapter quoted above asks “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” It can certainly feel like death when we are trapped in these cycles, it is absolutely not living the abundant life. Paul answers his own question “I thank God, through Jesus Christ”. We need to receive Him and we need to commit to walking in His ways. The gospel Paul preached is far more than the four spiritual laws that get us out of hell and into heaven. The Gospel is “The power of God unto salvation, to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). This word salvation is a big word, yes it means we get to heaven at the end, but it also includes healing and deliverance in the here and now to “everyone who will believe”. He will meet us where we are “at”. All things are possible to he or she who will believe (Mark 9:32).
I remember sitting in a Church service one time when the Pastor said “If you have trouble with pornography stay away from that end of the video store”. I wanted to stand up and shout “Buddy, you don't have clue”. It is not the case that someone addicted to pornography is necessarily weak willed and unable to resist fleeting temptations brought about as he (or she) enters the video store. I am told that pornography stimulates the same pleasure centre in the brain as cocaine, and when full blown is every bit as addictive. When this happens we become obsessed with it, and it occupies most of our waking thoughts (and then some).
It seems to me that rather than being weak willed, many of us who have been trapped in addictions have incredible will power. I mean after having failed again and again and again to still be willing to take a stand and determine in our hearts and minds to try again. Is the one who – if at first does not succeed tries, tries, tries, tries again weak willed? I think not! The problem is that will power alone will not deliver us from our addictions. It is a common part of the addiction cycle to simply determine to try harder. With deep seated additions it simply does not work. If you can relate to the quotation above, you will know what I am talking about. Jesus put it this way “He who sins is the slave of sin (John 8:34)”.
Most of us need help to break these cycles. We can understand the mechanism but still be unable to get out of the addiction (see “Psychology without faith is lame” August 2010). Fortunately there is good news. Paul at the end of the chapter quoted above asks “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” It can certainly feel like death when we are trapped in these cycles, it is absolutely not living the abundant life. Paul answers his own question “I thank God, through Jesus Christ”. We need to receive Him and we need to commit to walking in His ways. The gospel Paul preached is far more than the four spiritual laws that get us out of hell and into heaven. The Gospel is “The power of God unto salvation, to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). This word salvation is a big word, yes it means we get to heaven at the end, but it also includes healing and deliverance in the here and now to “everyone who will believe”. He will meet us where we are “at”. All things are possible to he or she who will believe (Mark 9:32).
Monday, January 3, 2011
I quit heroin, but I can't stop smoking
There is power in the Gospel, power to deliver us from our addictions, power to set us free (Romans 1:16). Though there are exceptions, for the most part Christianity in the West has failed to tap into this power, or often to even preach it. But it is there and it is available to those who will believe. It seems to come supremely at the place where faith and desperation mix. I experienced this in my own life (see last July's “Journey” posts), and I have seen it in the lives of friends who got saved too. They were into different and currently less known drugs than heroin, but drugs that were every bit as addictive. The deliverance was spectacular, and in each case, the joy of the new relationship with Jesus, was greater than the highs of the the drug of choice, but without the side effects (unless you call joy a side effect). There were times I wished I had gone as deep into that stuff as they had, because of the experience of deliverance. But there were also times when sanity rained, for I knew and know that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7), and there were struggles that would come. I also knew by that time, that unless things were dealt with that needed to be dealt with, the deliverance would not be permanent and the latter state of the man would be worse than the former state (Matthew 12:43-45).
There were also things that remained even after the spectacular deliverances. I am thinking of one particular example of a friend who, after the spectacular delivery from hard drugs (Mescaline, LSD, Coke etc.), was left wanting to quit smoking too, but for the longest time was somehow unable to do it. This paralleled my own experience where some of the more destructive addictions were handled easily with His help, but I was left with “lesser addictions” that I struggled with for years and years. I got to asking why He would help me so wonderfully with the big things, but leave me to struggle with lesser things? On the surface, it didn't seem to make any sense, but God is not always easy to understand.
I have found myself humbled as I have sought to write my answer to the “why” of the last paragraph. I thought I knew, and I do have some ideas, but He brought me back to the verse “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” God is so much bigger than we have even begun to imagine, so much wiser. He has been showing me many many things behind His actions, even this one. We need to realize that when we have insight into His ways, we have but scratched the surface. As the Scripture says “no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11B).
My initial thoughts about this puzzling “omission” in my own and other's deliverance lead me to my own pride. The problem is, that we are want to take credit where is it not due. I have seen it, done it and have more t-shirts to prove it. In a previous post (Dec 5) I described a typical scenario where this happens. The alcoholic for example working the 12 steps, is given victory. It came relatively easily when he surrendered completely. He is in trouble however, when he begins to think that it is by his will power and self determination that he delivered himself. When we take credit for what He does for us, especially when we get proud because of it, this pride separates us from Him, from the source of our deliverance. He tells us in His Word “Let he who thinks he stand, take care lest he fall”, and “pride comes before the fall” (I Corinthians 10:12 and Proverbs 16:18). So my initial answer to the question was “to keep us from pride”. But there is more, much much more.
God does not look at things the same way we look at things. We want to look good on the outside, God is interested in what is going on in the inside. He wants (a) to do a deep work in us, not just to give us a superficial make over. At the same time, (b) He wants us to know His power in us to do what we cannot do on our own. He also wants (c) to draw us deeper into relationship with Him, to establish us, and to fulfill us by our participation and partnership in the bringing in of His Kingdom. If He does it all for us, it is not partnership. If the deliverance is too easy, we far too easily go back to our addictions (Proverbs 26:11). I mean He will do it again won't He, even over and over when He needs to? Well yes He does and He will, but He needs our participation, and He needs us to understand the cost of what He does and did (back to the Cross), and He needs us to understand that sin has consequences.
I have come to realize that He has many reasons and purposes in all that He does, in how He deals with us. He is wise beyond our wildest imagination. Its is all about our growth, all about relationship with Him. It is true what they say “He loves us exactly as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us this way”. I intended to start the new year with a post entitled “Without God man cannot. Without man God will not”. It will however be the subject of several posts. It is about walking the Christian walk, about gaining and keeping victory in Him. It's about entering the abundant life, it's about bearing fruit. There is much to learn. The Scripture puts it this way, it is line upon line, precept upon precept here a little there a little. It is journey, it is process, it is relationship, it is life in the Spirit. We are meant to live dependent on Him. This can be hard on our pride, but then our foolish pride will keep us from many good things if we let it.
There were also things that remained even after the spectacular deliverances. I am thinking of one particular example of a friend who, after the spectacular delivery from hard drugs (Mescaline, LSD, Coke etc.), was left wanting to quit smoking too, but for the longest time was somehow unable to do it. This paralleled my own experience where some of the more destructive addictions were handled easily with His help, but I was left with “lesser addictions” that I struggled with for years and years. I got to asking why He would help me so wonderfully with the big things, but leave me to struggle with lesser things? On the surface, it didn't seem to make any sense, but God is not always easy to understand.
I have found myself humbled as I have sought to write my answer to the “why” of the last paragraph. I thought I knew, and I do have some ideas, but He brought me back to the verse “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” God is so much bigger than we have even begun to imagine, so much wiser. He has been showing me many many things behind His actions, even this one. We need to realize that when we have insight into His ways, we have but scratched the surface. As the Scripture says “no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11B).
My initial thoughts about this puzzling “omission” in my own and other's deliverance lead me to my own pride. The problem is, that we are want to take credit where is it not due. I have seen it, done it and have more t-shirts to prove it. In a previous post (Dec 5) I described a typical scenario where this happens. The alcoholic for example working the 12 steps, is given victory. It came relatively easily when he surrendered completely. He is in trouble however, when he begins to think that it is by his will power and self determination that he delivered himself. When we take credit for what He does for us, especially when we get proud because of it, this pride separates us from Him, from the source of our deliverance. He tells us in His Word “Let he who thinks he stand, take care lest he fall”, and “pride comes before the fall” (I Corinthians 10:12 and Proverbs 16:18). So my initial answer to the question was “to keep us from pride”. But there is more, much much more.
God does not look at things the same way we look at things. We want to look good on the outside, God is interested in what is going on in the inside. He wants (a) to do a deep work in us, not just to give us a superficial make over. At the same time, (b) He wants us to know His power in us to do what we cannot do on our own. He also wants (c) to draw us deeper into relationship with Him, to establish us, and to fulfill us by our participation and partnership in the bringing in of His Kingdom. If He does it all for us, it is not partnership. If the deliverance is too easy, we far too easily go back to our addictions (Proverbs 26:11). I mean He will do it again won't He, even over and over when He needs to? Well yes He does and He will, but He needs our participation, and He needs us to understand the cost of what He does and did (back to the Cross), and He needs us to understand that sin has consequences.
I have come to realize that He has many reasons and purposes in all that He does, in how He deals with us. He is wise beyond our wildest imagination. Its is all about our growth, all about relationship with Him. It is true what they say “He loves us exactly as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us this way”. I intended to start the new year with a post entitled “Without God man cannot. Without man God will not”. It will however be the subject of several posts. It is about walking the Christian walk, about gaining and keeping victory in Him. It's about entering the abundant life, it's about bearing fruit. There is much to learn. The Scripture puts it this way, it is line upon line, precept upon precept here a little there a little. It is journey, it is process, it is relationship, it is life in the Spirit. We are meant to live dependent on Him. This can be hard on our pride, but then our foolish pride will keep us from many good things if we let it.
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