Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 52

What the Word of God Produces in You

The word of God is like seed scattered by a sower. The same seed yields very different results. In some lives, the seed is snatched away, like seed sitting on the surface of the path. In other lives the seed gets choked by the desire for other things. You want to be a Christian, but other things are bigger in your life. They have your heart and your attention. The word grows in your life, but it gets choked, and very little comes of it. 

Still, in others, the seed produced a bumper harvest. It can be 30, 60, or even 100-fold, depending on how richly the Word dwells in you. 

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. It will bring spiritual life. It will sustain spiritual strength. And, it will produce spiritual growth. If the Word of Christ dwells in you richly, this will happen:

You will grow in strength against temptation  

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14) 

John identifies different groups within the congregation in his letter. He writes some things especially to those who are older. Here he speaks specifically to young men. Notice what he says. 

i. The Word of God abides in you.  

The Word of God is going into your soul. It is settling in your inner life and it remains there. The result of this is strength. 

ii. You are strong.  

You started out like little children. At one time you were spiritual infants, but now, even though you are still young, you are spiritually mature. And this then leads to the next point: 

iii. You have overcome the evil one.  

There are victories over temptation in your life. Progress is being made. You are growing up in Christ, and the reason is that the Word of God abides in you.   

This is why it is so important for young families to find a church where they are rooted deeply in the Word of God. You don’t get this by going to a church that entertains your kids. And, you get this strength from a church and a youth group that is serious about getting the Word in their lives. 

You will grow in effectiveness in prayer.  

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)  

Notice how effectiveness in prayer arises from the Word abiding in your soul: “If… my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”  

The strength of our praying shows how much or how little the word of God dwells, abides, remains in us. Your ability to pray well for your wife and your kids hangs on this. Where the word abides, the fruit will be seen in effective praying.  

You will grow in wisdom and discernment. 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. (Colossians 3:16) 

We live in a ‘how to’ culture in which many people are becoming more and more dependent on someone else telling them how to do even the most basic things in life.  

Once the ‘how to’ thing takes root in your mind, it can be quite paralyzing.  You lose confidence. You feel that you will mess things up unless you can get someone else to walk you through what to do. The Bible has a great answer to this, and it’s called wisdom.  

A rich and regular diet of the word of God will increase your wisdom. The Bible is the Word of God. It comes from the mind of God. Thinking God’s thoughts after him is the best way to grow in wisdom for every area of your life.   

You will grow in usefulness to others. 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. (Colossians 3:16) 

Here’s a healthy church in action: God’s people are feeding on his Word.  It dwells in them richly. As they speak about their lives, they can help each other see how the Word relates to the various circumstances of their lives.  

Someone says, “I am really struggling with my 13-year-old daughter,” and explains some of the circumstances.  

Someone else says, “Here’s what I learned from the Scriptures that helped me. Here’s the principle I applied.” 

Not only are God’s people able to teach one another, but they are able to admonish one another, that is, they can spot where someone is straying down a wrong path and help get then back on the straight and narrow.   

This kind of mutual ministry in the body of Christ is wonderful. It depends on God’s Word dwelling in his people richly. 

How much more useful could you be to others if the Word of Christ dwelled more richly in you? 

You will grow in joy and thanksgiving.  

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16) 

A rich diet of the Word of Christ always produces more joy and thanksgiving in the lives of God’s people than if you drift through life with your Bible closed. 

Spiritual life is found and it is nourished by the Word of God. But if you ask people the question, Where is spiritual life found? you are likely to find one of three different answers: 

i. The religious or communal answer  

Spiritual life is found and fed in the people around you. This is the teaching of the cults: Join us and all will be well with you. That’s what the Pharisees believed. Don’t buy that one. Sure, fellowship is important to the spiritual life, but it is not a source of spiritual life.

ii. The secular or psychological answer 

Spiritual life is found and fed from the instincts within you. This is the overwhelming consensus of our culture, The answers lie within you.  This is why so many Christians rarely read the Bible. They have bought into secular psychology and they feel that the source of life lies within them.  

iii. The biblical or theological answer 

Spiritual life is found and fed from the Bible before you: 

You have been born again… through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:23) 

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)   

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17) 

So, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly! 

Our Responsibility to the Word 

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)  

Let the Word of God be the honored welcome guest of your life. Let the Word live with you let it remain in you. Don’t have a passing brush with the Word of Christ.  

The Word of God can dwell in the life of a Christian believer in different degrees. Let there be plenty of the Word in your life. Give the Word an honored and prominent place in your life.   

Is the Word of Christ dwelling richly in you?  

[This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “The Word of God,” from his series Soul Care, Part Two]



Photo Credit: Unsplash

Key Connections: Thorns, Joy, and more…

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Christian articles around the web, including bringing Christ joy on earth, Paul’s thorn, and more. If you found a quote you really like, then be sure to send it to us so we can share it with others!

10 Ways to Bring Christ Joy Only Possible on Earth (Colin Smith, Unlocking the Bible)

The only bearing witness to Jesus that you will ever do is in this world. There are no lost people in heaven and those who believe know him and enjoy him forever.   

When God Changes Your Plans (Lindsey Tollefson, Women Encouraged)

Even when you’ve planned something good, if God takes it away, have faith that His gift is even better than whatever you were trying to achieve. God’s goodness and mercy follow us everywhere, even when circumstances are different than what we wanted. We just have to choose to see them.

The Meaning of Romans 8:28 (Frank Thielman, Zondervan Academic)

Romans 8 also reminds us that God is busy recreating this world and that those of us who are united with Christ by faith are being transformed, and the church is being transformed and is God’s pilot unit for what the world should look like.

He’s transforming the church, and eventually he’ll transform this whole world to bring suffering and oppression to an end.

Go and Tell: Church Social Media (James Faris, Gentle Reformation)

Church social media accounts act as platforms to generate gospel content that will find its way into the social media feeds of those who have never known of the existence of that particular congregation or who need to hear the truth in some form but were not looking for it.

The Gospel in Genesis (Crossway)

God called frail humans to represent him: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Each of these men was profoundly flawed, a point to which the Bible gives ample testimony. Yet God gave them grace upon grace, keeping his promise, at whatever cost, to bless them and through them to bless all humanity.

Why Translate the Bible? (Aaron Shryock, The Master’s Seminary)

Today, thanks to decades of research and mission work, we know that there are 7,361 languages. Of these languages, only 683 languages have a complete Bible. That means that only 9% of the world’s languages have the full counsel of God. An additional 1,534 languages have a New Testament. However, 2,163 language communities are still waiting for a translation.

What if Paul’s Thorn in The Flesh Was This? (Josh Rasmussen, Borrowed Light)

There has been much speculation on what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. Some have speculated that it was a chronic medical condition, a human adversary, or some sort of temptation to sin. The speculation is wide ranging, and likely will always be so. Not knowing exactly what it is can actually be helpful to us – Paul’s point here is that God used something undesirable to keep Paul from sinning by becoming prideful

Take a Break from Words to Worship the Word

One summer between college semesters, I wrote for a company that created dozens of websites offering an ever-flowing amount of niche content. I worked mostly with one specific site all about casseroles. I’m not exaggerating when I say I spent eight hours a day, five days a week, writing 100-word reviews of casseroles, chicken bakes, and goulashes.   

In this environment, our motto for success was simply this: Content is king. This phrase was supposedly first said by Bill Gates in the late nineties. It means you were successful as an online writer in as much as you were producing content. We did not measure success by quality of post, but quantity.

I do not wish to criticize the work of this company—I learned many good things about writing there. Nor do I wish to criticize the work of any content writer or editor working online (like myself). What I wish to say is this: By working in this content-driven environment, I learned the importance of regularly stepping away from content generation, away from new words, to reflect on the words most important to me. 

I needed to return to God’s Word throughout my day so I could replace content with Christ as the king over my life.

Unprecedented Availability of Words 

Author and teacher Marilyn Chandler McEntyre once wrote, “The sheer availability of words—written, spoken, sung—is historically unprecedented” (3). And she wrote that in 2004. Since then that availability of words for us has only increased. 

McEntyre discussed her concern for her students in the age of unprecedented availability of content:

Because they hear so many words so constantly, their capacities to savor words—to pause over them, ponder them, reflect upon them, hear the echoes of ancient cadences, and attune themselves to illusiveness and alliteration—are eroding. (19) 

And, of course, what’s really at stake here is not so much a vague, artistic nostalgia for the subjective beauty of words but the ability to know the objective beauty some words point to.  

If I’m honest, the “unprecedented availability of words” burdens me. I feel a burden to consume newness —new stories, new articles, new ideas. I mistakenly think value is located exclusively within novelty. I’m tempted to think less of something if I have read it before.  

Novelty 

I am so thankful for Abigail Dodds’s book, (A)Typical Woman, for many reasons. One of them being this great paragraph: 

So many are searching for a novel approach, a new way to think about something, a uniqueness or niche. But if you live long enough, you realize that novelty isn’t a virtue… In the world of ideas, it’s often just dressed-up ignorance of all the bad ideas that have already been tried… I’m looking for something fixed and dependable. I find it in God and his Word, the only way you can be made new by an unchanging God and his ancient book. (14) 

This quote so perfectly calls out the foolishness of striving for novelty.  What I think of as new and exciting is usually less a statement about the thing itself and more a statement of my own ignorance of the past. In sum, newness is a poor indicator of value. 

In reading these quotes from Dodds and from McEntrye, I can’t help but think about this line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. During Act two, scene two, Hamlet is reading a book, and when asked, “What are you reading?”, the famously mad Hamlet responds:  

Words, words, words. (l. 183) 

He is saying the book doesn’t matter. It’s meaningless. It’s completely unrelated to what’s important. 

A Normal Day 

How much of my day is spent consuming unimportant “words, words, words”?

Most days I have the discipline to read Scripture for 30 minutes in the morning. I spend the next hour writing words of my own. Then, after getting ready for the day, I listen to FM radio during my 40-minute commute to work. Throughout my work day, I am usually listening to podcasts and radio broadcasts on a variety of topics. I then listen to the radio again on my commute home, and I spend many of my evenings watching Netflix.  

I’m not interested in categorizing any of the above activities as good or bad. I only mean to highlight the amount of content I consume on a normal day. And it makes me wonder—are those thirty minutes of Bible reading at the beginning of my day working in my heart by the end of it? 

“What the Word of God Produces” 

In his sermon, “The Word of God,” Pastor Colin writes a few things that God’s Word produces in us:  

Strength against temptation Effectiveness in prayer  Growth in wisdom and discernment Usefulness to others  Increased joy and thanksgiving  

All of these happen when the spirit works in us as we faithfully read the Bible, and all of these are a part of God’s promise to us. Isaiah 26:3-4 says:  

You keep him in perfect peace 
    whose mind is stayed on you, 
    because he trusts in you. 
Trust in the Lord forever, 
    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. 

When we read, reflect, and meditate on God’s word we have peace. We have peace because we can fend off temptation, and peace because Scripture moves us and prepares us for prayer. We have peace because God’s Word grants us wisdom and discernment to know God’s will for us. And, we have peace in relationships because, in our increased joy in the Lord, we have a greater love for others.

But what happens to that peace when we consume a million other words throughout our day. Particularly, what happens when we fill our day with content that speaks a different gospel than the Gospel of Jesus?  

As Dodds points out, if we are constantly looking to new sources, then we’ll miss the only thing that has the power to transform our lives: God’s unchanging Word. 

Christ is King 

I do not want my day living under the lordship of content; instead, I want to live under the lordship of Christ. I do not want to spend my time worshipping “words, words, words” like a madman, I want the peace and everlasting joy that comes from worshipping the one true Word (John 1:1).

This does not mean that I should never listen to music or podcasts, but it does mean I should consider very carefully how the content I consume. I should be careful and discerning toward the words I fill my mind with to ensure that they do not erode my relationship with Christ. I want to live my life not under the motto content is king, but Christ is king.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

10 Ways to Bring Christ Joy Only Possible on Earth

Right now you have opportunities to honor Christ and bring joy and pleasure to your Lord and Savior that are only possible during your life in this world. I’ll give you ten:

10 opportunities to bring joy to Christ that are only possible during your lifetime.

1. All the praying you will ever do is the praying you do while you are in the body. You will not need to pray when you are with Jesus. Your communication will be direct. 

2. All the believing you will ever do is the believing you do while you are in the body.  You won’t need believing when faith has been turned to sight.    

3. All the courage you will ever show is the courage you show in this world. Because there are no dangers in the presence of Jesus.  

4. All the resisting of sin you will ever do is the battling with temptation that you do in this life. There are no sins or temptations for you to fight in the presence of Jesus.    

5. The only opportunities you have to trust God in what you do not understand are here in this world. In the presence of Jesus, all that was hidden will be revealed and faith will be turned into sight.   

6. The only dark places where you can shine like a light are the dark places where God puts you in this world. There are no dark places in the presence of Jesus.    

7. The only patience you will ever show is the patience you have while in the body. There will be no need for patience in the presence of Jesus.  

8. The only bearing witness to Jesus that you will ever do is in this world. There are no lost people in heaven, and those who believe know him and enjoy him forever.   

9. The only comfort you will ever give to suffering people, and the only compassion for the poor is the comfort and compassion you give to those who suffer in this world – while you are in the body. There is no suffering and no poor in the presence of Jesus. 

10. The only sacrifices you will ever make, the only giving you will ever do, the only labor for Christ and his kingdom is what you do in this life. In the presence of Jesus there are no sacrifices. The saints rest from their labors. The only opportunity you will ever have to move beyond your comfort zone for the sake of Christ is now! 

There are opportunities to honor Christ now that you will never have again, so seize them! Use them! We make it our aim to please him! We will do that in heaven, but there are multiple ways of doing this that are only possible while we are here on earth. 

[This sermon clip was taken from Pastor Colin’s message, “Bringing Joy to Christ,” from his series Don’t Lose Heart.] 

An Interview with Author and Pastor Drew Hunter

[Davis Wetherell had the chance to interview Drew Hunter, author of Made for Friendship (Crossway, 2018). Their conversation can be found below. Check out our March promotion to learn how you can both receive a copy of his book and support our ministry!]

I’ll start with a general question that I wondered when I first picked up your book: Why write a book on friendship? What can the Bible teach us about modern friendships?

I would have asked the same question several years ago. But then three observations struck me and together permanently changed the way I view friendship.   

First, it’s no longer possible to miss that we’re living in a hyper-individualistic culture that continues to plunge deeper into an epidemic of loneliness. And while churches have recovered an emphasis on small group community, many people within these structures still remain largely unknown. We need another step beyond “community” in general—another step into something closer to fulfilling the New Testament “one anothers” in the context of everyday life.  

Second, I think many modern people would be struck by how pointedly and profoundly Proverbs and Jesus spoke about friendship. The author of Proverbs zealously encourages us to think wisely bout friendship. And Jesus calls his followers his friends and he described the cross itself as a cosmic act of friendship (John 15:13–15). After lingering with their words, I was struck by how I viewed friendship—and friendship with Jesus—so “lightly” when he clearly viewed it as a weighty privilege.  

Finally, I rummaged through church history and found out that we simply don’t view friendship as highly as our brothers and sisters from the past. From Augustine to Jonathan Edwards to Charles Spurgeon—they all valued it as a supreme treasure in life, to be cultivated with utmost intentionality.  

I had never thought how Jesus calls his disciples friends in John 15. That’s a powerful, weighty point.

You have another powerful line in your book that resonated with me. You wrote, “Sin is antisocial. It curves us inward and it drives us to isolation” (30). Could you explain what you meant by this? And, how might friendships help us with our individual battles with sin?  

We see so much of the nature of sin in its very first appearance in scripture in Genesis 3. The root of Adam and Eve’s sin was to distrust God’s wisdom and goodness. And once they rejected him, they hid from him and each other. They even turned on one another, with Adam shifting the blame to Eve.  

We see the same dynamic in our own sin. We sin because we don’t trust God’s truth, goodness, and beauty—we want to be independent lawmakers. And this pushes us not only away from him, but also away from one another.  

True friendship—an affectionate bond forged with truth and trust—is a primary way God heals us from our selfishness. God uses true friends to seek us when we hide, to demonstrate his acceptance, and to speak the truth in love.  

Your book talks about how marriage is one of many examples of good friendship, but not the only friendship Christians should have. You even share a little bit about how having other close friends can actually make a marriage better! Why is this the case? 

There are two extremes to avoid. On one end of the spectrum, a marriage can be neglected when spouses find their deepest sense of belonging outside of the marriage. On the other end of the spectrum, a marriage can become overly isolated when spouses don’t free up space for the other to enjoy other friendships.  

My wife and I have found that having close friends outside of marriage not only adds to our joy but strengthens our own relationship together. We return refreshed from time with friends. We get marital advice from friends. Also, we are held accountable for purity by friends. And, we are strengthened in our manhood and womanhood by friends. We are filled with joy by friends. All of this contributes to the flourishing of the marriage itself.

The wisest thing some couples can do to strengthen their marriage is to actually free up their spouse to get time with other mature and faithful friends.

One thing I really like about your book is how you include a bunch of great quotes on friendship from a variety of writers, past and present. Do you have a favorite one?

Yes! J. C. Ryle was a well-known 19th century pastor. In a sermon on the topic of friendship (and I wish many more were preached today!), he said:

“This world is full of sorrow because it is full of sin. It is a dark place. It is a lonely place. It is a disappointing place. The brightest sunbeam in it is a friend. Friendship halves our troubles and doubles our joys.” 

I love this for both its realism and its hope. So many of us know exactly what he means in the first half—we live weighed down with disappointment and depression. And yet God gives us “the brightest sunbeam” of friends.

I’d regret if I didn’t ask you about your participation in Crossway’s book series, Knowing the Bible, in which you authored the guides for both Isaiah and Matthew. What’s one thing you learned about the Bible throughout that project? 

Every chapter of the Bible connects to the larger storyline of God’s grace to us in Jesus. I wrote on Isaiah and Matthew, and God’s grace was no less present in that Old Testament book than it was in the New Testament one.

It was striking just how much Isaiah pointed forward to the realities about Jesus that Matthew wrote, and just how much Matthew reflected on Isaiah in order to understand the truth about Jesus.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Why Fearing God is Important in Our “OMG Culture”

For many people, the fear of God sounds more like an enemy than a friend, “Fearing God? Surely this is something that we are trying to get away from, something we are trying to get rid of!” It sounds more like a dysfunction than a sign of spiritual health. 

But the Bible presents the fear of God as a friend; a friend who will do us a great deal of good:  

I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. (Jeremiah 32:39) 

God is speaking to his own people, a people who are in a covenant relationship with him. Look at what he says: “My people will fear me. If they don’t fear me, it will mean trouble for the next generation.” 

Then God says, “This will be for their own good and for the good of their children, and this will be forever.” That means there will never be a time on earth or in heaven when God’s people will not fear him in holy wonder and reverence and awe. 

I want to do what I can to dispel the idea in culture that there is a God to be feared in the Old Testament and a God to be loved in the New Testament, and that the fear of God is therefore not for us. 

The Wonder of God’s Love  

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:4)  

The fear of God arises out of our knowledge of the grace, mercy, love, forgiveness that leads the person who receives it to fear the Lord.  

You see the love of God and how much it cost on the cross and you say, “How could I sin against love like this?” 

Andrew Bonar writes, “It has been much impressed upon me that, if convinced of sin at all, I must be so by the view of it in Christ’s love.”  

I’ve adapted a description of the fear of God from an old writer called John Brown, who wrote a massive commentary on the first book of Peter, where we have the command to fear God (1 Peter 2:17): 

To fear God is to love Him so that His frown would be your greatest dread and His smile would be your greatest delight. 

Can you see now why Jeremiah speaks of the fear of God as something that lasts forever? Because even in heaven God’s people will fear him as we love him and love him as we fear him. A person who fears God is one who has seen something of his glory, his judgment, and his love. 

Glory 

Heaven will be filled with the splendor of his glory. The pure in heart will see God, and when we do, we will fall on our faces casting any crowns before him in awe and in worship.  

Judgment 

Heaven will remain a happy and holy place forever because of God’s judgment on unrepentant sinners that goes on forever in hell.   

Love 

Heaven will be full of the knowledge of his love. Glory, judgment, and love – forever we will fear him; forever we will love him. “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever” (Jeremiah 32:39). 

OMG Culture 

We live in what I’m going to call the “OMG culture.” We are awash with reality shows where people invoke the name of God to express their surprise when the reveal comes at the end.   

It strikes me as a symptom of how far our culture has gone from the fear of God, when you think how the Jews held God is such high esteem that they would not even pronounce his name. 

In our culture, people pronounce the letters G-O-D and have absolutely no idea of the glory, the judgment, or the love of the One of whom they speak.  

If you are a Christian I challenge you to make this resolve: To demonstrate that you know something of the glory, the judgment, and the love of God, so that whenever you speak the name of God, or Jesus, or Christ, you speak his name in a way, different than the culture around you, that shows that you know him, you fear him, and you love him.

Will you make that resolve as part of your Christian testimony? 

Three Applications for You 



1. The blessing 

Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always. (Proverbs 28:14) 

How is the one who fears the LORD blessed? First, fearing the Lord will give you wisdom (Psalm 111:10). Second, fearing the Lord will keep you from sin (Exodus 20:20). And third, fearing the Lord will motivate you in evangelism (2 Corinthians 5:11).  

All kinds of good will flow into the life of the person who fears the Lord.  

2. The promise 

I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. (Jeremiah 32:40) 

Notice what the Lord says here to his people: He will put this godly fear in their hearts. Why? That they may not turn against him. 

The clear implication is that without the fear the Lord, believing people might easily turn against the Lord. This is part of the promise of the new heart. God is able to give this to you.  

God says, “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” This is a wonderful promise! If we feared God more, we’d sin less. If we had a greater sense of the reality of his judgment, we would do more to advance the gospel. And, if God carried more weight in our lives, we’d make wiser decisions.  

3. The prayer 

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. (Psalm 86:11) 

Lord, my heart is pulled in all kinds of directions. Unite my heart to fear your name! 

Put more of this fear of you that arises from the splendor of your glory, the reality of your judgment, and the wonder of your love in my heart! 

[This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “The Fear of God,” from his series Soul Care, Part Two]  



Photo Credit: Unplash 

Key Connections: Jesus’s Prayers, God’s Promises, and more…

Here are my favorite quotes from Christian articles around the web, including God’s promises and why Jesus prayed.

Here’s How to Receive More of What God Promises (Colin Smith, Unlocking the Bible)

We have a risen Savior. By his power we will be saved, not only from sin’s condemnation, but also from sin itself. When Christ brings you home there will not be a trace of sin in you or around you. He will not let you go. He will bring you all the way home. 

How to Study Scripture Theologically (Joel Beeke)

Too often, we divorce theology from the study of the Bible, imagining the former to be an academic, intellectual debate and the latter to be a simple acceptance of God’s Word. In reality, there is no true theology without Bible study, and no faithful Bible study without theological reflection. 

We Cannot Love God if We Do Not Love His Word (R. C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries)

We do not have to go as far as accepting the foolish idea that the courses of the stars determine our destinies, our prosperity, our achievements, and our successes. However, it is equally superstitious to equate our feelings and inclinations with the leading of the Holy Spirit. It seems so much more exciting to live with a freewheeling openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than practicing the laborious discipline of mastering His Word. This is exceedingly dangerous ground. If we want to do the will of the Father, we need to study the Word of the Father—and leave the magic to the astrologers.

If Jesus Is God, Why Did He Pray? (Mark Jones, Crossway)

Jesus revolutionized prayer in a way that did justice to the radical nature of his ministry. With no previous examples of faithful Jews addressing God as “Father” in prayer, the supremely faithful Jew referred to God as “Father” almost exclusively in his recorded prayers.

The Four Subtle Lies of Loneliness

Admitting you’re lonely is hard. 

When I finally vocalized it, it felt like shame-wrapped defeat that simultaneously issued a personal attack against everyone around me. As though neither their presence nor help in my life were good enough. 

My soul withered, as darkness returned to parts of my heart where I knew light had previously blazed. Disappointed in myself, I was mad I allowed depression to pierce its talons into my soul again. 

I grieved the absence of close friends that shared my city and season of life. I felt guilty I wasn’t finding contentment in Christ. And, I felt overwhelmed by this inexpressible hurt. 

I tried to reason with myself. I knew I had no reason to struggle with. Sure, there were challenges, but I had a great life with wonderful people around me—there was no suitable explanation for loneliness. Despite my best efforts, logic did not remove the struggle. 

It is hard to say how to resolve struggles with loneliness. The gospel should bring as much hope to the lonely as anyone else. The beauty of the gospel is how its truth pervades and permeates every scenario and situation, location, and need we could ever encounter. Each of us has a thousand different circumstances and pains, and the gospel meets us in each one.

But we don’t always feel that way. Our minds often choose to focus on subtle lies that loneliness tells us. Here are four lies that you might be tempted to believe in your loneliness. 

Lie #1: It’s always a sin for you to feel lonely. 

While it’s true we can sinfully isolate ourselves and avoid both God and his body (specifically the local church), loneliness itself is not a sin. While can sinfully respond to pangs of loneliness––allowing discontentment to reign and wallowing in self-pity––it is not always a sin to be lonely.  

Paul Matthies at The Village Church explained that loneliness may not always be the result of sin or hiding or not pursuing communion with God or community with others, it may just be the byproduct of living in this broken world of pain and groaning (Romans 8:22-23). It could be a result of sin, but it also might simply be a longing for unhindered intimacy with God and others, something that only heaven can provide. 

In the meantime, we have a choice in how we respond to our loneliness. We’re hurting and grieving, and our survival instincts are screaming at us to flee the pain. Will we believe this lie or will we turn to God and his word? 

Lie #2: A human relationship is the solution to your loneliness.  

When wrestling with loneliness, it’s tempting to fire up the “if only…” playlist in our minds. You know, the ones that sing, if only my parents were believers, if only I was dating (or married to) someone who sacrificially loved me as Christ loved the church, if only I was in a healthy church, if only I had a better friend group, if only… fill in the blank. 

I want to defuse those lies with all my strength. 

I have amazing parents and the best siblings. I’m dating the best man I’ve ever known and I’m a part of a church family that is growing in grace and fights for each other. And I still feel the weight of loneliness like a plague straight out of Egypt.  

God has surrounded me with wonderful people but they are just that—people. Created beings are made from dust and ashes, and, last time I checked, dust and ashes only serve to make one more thirsty. 

The gospel tells us Jesus is sufficient to meet our deepest needs and he does so in himself (2 Corinthians 12:9, Philippians 4:19). Therefore, the gospel is good when the wedding bells ring and they are finally yours and the gospel is good when they are not. The gospel is good in seasons of abundance and the gospel is good when you are suffering the loss of everything you hold dear.  

Lie #3: Loneliness is a curse. 

In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with God and said he wouldn’t let him go until he blessed him. How did God respond? He gave him a blessing––a limp.  

Perhaps the limp of loneliness is an answer to your prayer for blessing. What a blessing it (and anything) is that drives us to the Lord in dependence and desperation. Loneliness then is not a curse but can be a blessing. 

This is one of the biggest lessons God has taught me in this season. Loneliness is a vehicle of mercy meant to drive us to God in dependency, because we know nothing else is enough, and worship, because God is holy and worthy of every ounce of praise.

Anything that makes me lean into Christ more is a gift, it’s all mercy. It’s a mercy for that pain to be exposed because it reveals a need for healing that only Jesus can give. It’s a mercy for that person to let you down. Because it exhibits what is always true: We’re all sinners in need of a great Savior.

And, it’s a mercy for that relationship not to satisfy. As Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is no room for Christ in a full heart.”

Loneliness can be a gift in that it allows us to feel what is always true: Christ alone is sufficient to satisfy. 

Lie #4: God is not worthy to be praised in our loneliness. 

If God is who he says he is (and he is), if the gospel is true (and it is), and if our circumstances do not dictate our responses (and they don’t), then we are just as free and able to offer a sacrifice of praise in the middle of our deepest wounds (before healing comes) as we are in the highest height of joy. 

Additionally, God is worthy to be praised because he does not waste anything, especially our suffering. Because his Son bore each of our sorrows in himself on the cross, he is deeply invested in sustaining us through them (Isaiah 53:4, 1 Peter 2:24).  

He is committed to walking through this with us, identifying with our hurts and griefs at every point, and filling our toolboxes with resources to help others (Hebrews 4:14-15, 2 Corinthians 1:3-5) 

Therefore, by his sufficient grace, we lean into loneliness. We lean into the hurt and the absence of fulfilled dreams and ambitions. And we see Christ in every second. We soar our eyes above our circumstances. We lean into the One who has never left us or forsaken us and who never will. 

The gospel when you’re lonely is this: Christ is enough.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Grieving a Variety of Losses with a Full Heart

Losing my first daughter in this life
was categorically different than losing the era of my second daughter’s precious
newborn days. With the latter, sorrow lingered for weeks and tears lasted for
days. With the former, tears remained for months—and they still come, sometimes
unexpectedly.

Some varieties of grieving are more life-altering than others—what was lost differs. But I experienced a string of similarity connecting these experiences: a familiar ache has accompanied both, yes.

But further, as God is at the core of my heart, I am able to grieve with a full one.

Remembrance of
Goodness Because of God

“Remember the wondrous works that he has done” (Psalm 105:5)

While we cannot return to the past,
it can enrich our lives right now through remembering. We remember the good
gifts we have received and that is a way to consider the moving hand of God in
our lives.

I have known God’s gracious provision.
In remembering, I acknowledge the Lord who gave—who sacrificed so that I can be
alive on this earth and the new one to come. Who is present to bestow all that
I enjoy and have enjoyed. And, who holds the changing world together by his changeless
might.

Grieving often effuses into artful acts of remembrance to honor past works of God’s kindness. Because these acts are not what hold the meaning of the gift, they need not be emotionally confused with the good gifts themselves or the God who gave. Were all acts of remembrance destroyed—all letters, pictures, mementos, non-profit organizations, donations, books, blog posts—the original gifts are untouched.

From the Creator stems the value of
every life, gift, and season. And tied to his eternality, the value of what has
honored him in this life already endures into the next.

Lamenting to God
When Others Cannot Understand

“You must follow me.” (John 21:22)

For those who are not gifted in empathy and who also do not share the experience of a similar loss, entering into the particulars of another’s grieving can be a tremendous challenge. Not all experience the same areas of sorrow; not all have been given the specific comfort of God so that they can comfort me in mine (John 21:21-22; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

In short, those who grieve do not
always feel understood by others—it’s an expectation not often realistic of
mere people.

But even God might feel distant. Even
so, we as his children are infinitely more familiar to him than he is to us. I
remember with love what I no longer have, and perhaps you do too. Your home
country, your earliest season of motherhood, your work prior to spending days
wonderfully at home with your children that was fulfilling in a different sense,
or another beloved person or part of your life that is not with you now.

You cannot now literally see what you have lost, but you can recall it—and neither do we see God. So conflating the two experiences, especially when sorrowing, can be tempting. He calls us to mind, us whom he does see and for whom he has sacrificed to bring near (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25)—how we might regard him differs so greatly from how he regards us.

God knows my sorrow (Matthew 26:36-46)—and not only my sorrow. He knows the very course of my life. Theoretically, should any unabating desire outside of God’s plans for me be presently fulfilled this moment, what would I ultimately gain? Without Christ, all is loss (Philippians 3:7-8). Even with tears of sorrow, I desire God’s plan for my life. I want my life to produce the glory he has ordained from my brief days on this ground.

Instead of letting silent dreams
fester within me, I have found that grieving my pains before God—lamenting them
before the one who understands my life’s trajectory perfectly—allows me to
receive the sweet answer of his sovereignty. Lament before this kind of God can
introduce to my spirit a holy, more unreserved embrace of my past tears and my
veiled future that both promise his glory, as I follow his ways.

So, I have not merely told others my
sorrows, and I have not merely let pain pile when others could not fully relate.
I have told my sorrows to the Lord who superintends all, and says to me through
his word—in all of his divinity after rising from his own cross—“follow me.”

What Is Behind
Invigorates Joy for What Is Ahead

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Memories can be overpowering, yet peace in going forward without what has been lost can be found when what’s ahead in my heavenly country becomes more greatly desired than even the sweetness of preceding days (Hebrews 11:16).

Accompanying grief is the possibility
to sense more of the eternal joy to come; the vapid character of earthly life
magnifies an illustrious future. And along the way to our home, alongside
sorrow, we do receive gifts—like more little snippets of what’s to come, if we
attend to them.

When God returns, may I only thank him for the gifts he gave, for the sovereign plan he could devise to graciously bring me into all goodness, for the way he beckoned me to follow his ways through the trajectory he has foreseen for me from all eternity, and for all of the joys he planted here that are actually the mere inaugural seeds.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

What An Old Testament King And I Have in Common

It was never my goal to become like one of the wicked Israelite kings in the Old Testament. However, I recently realized that I’m very similar to King Ahaziah, an Israelite king who reigned after his father, Ahab. His story showed me that I have become as reliant upon idols as he was.

Ahaziah’s story begins with Ahab’s death. After reigning for a short time, Ahaziah was injured by a fall. Instead of directing his concerns to God, he sent messengers to ask Baal-zebub if he would recover. But, instead of hearing from Baal-zebub that he would live, Ahaziah received word from Elijah that he would soon die.  

Idols Tell Us What We Want to Hear 

Clearly, the Old Testament king, Ahaziah, was seeking counsel from the wrong god. Instead of pursuing wisdom from the living God, he pursued wisdom from a soul-less deity. It appears that Ahaziah relied on Baal-zebub because he would provide the answer that Ahaziah wanted to hear: that he would not die from his injury and lose his throne.  

This Old Testament king’s idolatry stemmed from his pride. He sought his own glory, but any glory he gained simply perished with him. 

Even today, we fall into the same sin of idol-worship that Ahaziah did. Allowing idolatry into our lives comes from our desire for our own glory. However, seeking our own glory by chasing our idols will not fulfill us. We were not created to bring ourselves glory but to bring glory to Jesus Christ.

And this is what the Old Testament king and I have in common. I too look for answers from my idols, seeking my own glory. My idols were not named Baal-zebub, but they named something different that may be familiar to you as well: 

1. Beauty  

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30). 

We try to achieve this by spending hours at the gym, having plastic surgery, or wearing fashionable clothes. It’s not necessarily wrong to experiment with new diets, dye your hair, or buy expensive jewelry. But to think these physical things bring the wisdom and counsel we can find in the Lord is foolish. 

2. Popularity 

We try to achieve this by making lots of friends, gaining a large following on social media, or dating numerous people. We surround ourselves with popular people and follow the latest trends. They think it will bring added attention from others, as well as a boost for their self-esteem.  

But God’s approval should be our primary focus, not others’ approval. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul asks, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).  

3. Success  

Promotions at work, getting good grades, or obtaining a prestigious career seem to promise a value and security. We want these things because they bring recognition from others as well as feelings of pride in our hard work. 

But true success comes from a godly, faithful life devoted to Jesus’s righteousness, not from our accomplishments. Joshua told the Israelites:  

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8) 

Christ’s Glory Leads to Life 

Sadly, we believe the lie that these three gods will fulfill us. We worship them because they falsely promise to give us glory. We think they will give us the answers we want, much like the Old Testament king, Ahaziah, did. But searching for life in these idols brings only unhappiness, unfulfilment, and death: 

So he [Elijah] arose and went down.. to the king and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub… therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. (2 Kings 1:15-17) 

The truth we all must realize is that Christ alone deserves glory for the work he has accomplished in our hearts and lives. We should strive to honor him for the sole reason that he is Lord, and he sacrificed himself on the cross to redeem us. He left his glory in heaven to give us life there for eternity. 

Yes, we naturally desire beauty, popularity, and success because these things may bring us glory; but that glory is temporary. Seeking our own glory by chasing our idols will not fulfill us because we were not designed to bring ourselves glory but to bring glory to Jesus Christ. We cannot ignore this truth in our lives. After all, this principle is woven throughout Scripture, even in the Old Testament king’s, Ahaziah’s, story.  

Though Ahaziah’s pursuance of personal glory led to death, our pursuance of Christ’s glory leads to life.

Photo Credit: Unsplash