Jon Bloom's Blog, page 15

Distraction Can Cost You Everything

One of Jesus’s most repeated sayings in the Gospels is some version of this: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:23). If we’re wise, we’ll listen carefully to whatever Jesus says, especially what he says repeatedly. And in this case, listening happens to be precisely what he’s telling us to do.

There’s a very, very important reason behind Jesus’s exhortation:

“Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:24–25)

Do you understand what Jesus is saying? The fact that this warning itself is somewhat difficult to understand illustrates his point: listen and ponder carefully, for if you don’t, you will not understand, and if you do not understand, you will lose whatever capacity to understand you do have.

Everything hangs on how well you hear what God is saying — what we commonly call the
word of God. And hearing God well requires your close attention. Are you paying attention?

The Strange Purpose of Parables

Jesus issues this warning in the context of telling a series of parables. Parables were riddle-stories in which Jesus hid profound secrets of God’s kingdom in brief, often mundane-sounding metaphors. In the stories recorded in Mark 4, he uses a farmer’s soils (Mark 4:1–8), an oil lamp (Mark 4:21–25), and seeds (Mark 4:26–32).

Read them. Do you understand them? Of course, Jesus explains the parable of the soils (Mark 4:13–20). But what about the lamp or the seeds? These stories sound simpler than they are. We won’t really get them unless we are paying attention.

And we have Bibles! None of Jesus’s original hearers had ever heard these parables before. They weren’t written down so they could be read over and over, have their grammatical structure examined, and be conveniently cross-referenced with other Scriptures. The first hearers heard these stories once. If they weren’t paying attention, they would miss the kingdom. That’s costly distraction.

When Jesus explained to his disciples why he taught in parables, he said he did so — quoting portions of Isaiah 6:9–10 — that his hearers “may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven” (Mark 4:12). Here again, Jesus’s hard-to-understand explanation illustrates his point: if we’re not listening carefully, we’ll miss what he’s saying.

Is God really telling riddles so that people won’t understand? No and yes. Jesus told the parables to reveal spiritual mysteries of the kingdom, and he really wanted people to understand them. That’s why he said, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” and “Pay attention.” But his revelatory method tested the spiritual wakefulness and earnestness of the hearers. Those who were listening to really hear would hear. But the spiritually dull and distracted would not. Jesus wanted to give the kingdom to the former, not the latter. Those who would not pay attention would reveal their spiritual dullness — dullness that has serious consequences: missing the kingdom of God.

God’s Counterintuitive Ways

If Jesus’s words here sound counterintuitive, they are. Jesus spoke and acted in ways consistent with God’s words and ways throughout the Bible, captured in this text:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9)

I’ve seen this passage, or some portion of it, quoted on Christian memes, calendars, and greeting cards, often with a beautiful inspirational landscape, seascape, or skyscape in the background. But if we inserted biblical images as backgrounds, they’d be things like a forbidden tree in Eden, the existence of Satan, a horrific flood, Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, Jacob disguised as Esau, Joseph languishing in prison, Israel with a sea before them and the Egyptian army behind them, Rahab the Canaanite prostitute marrying into the messianic bloodline, David hiding in a cave from Saul, Jeremiah weeping over Jewish women boiling their babies, baby Jesus sleeping in a trough, and above all, adult Jesus mutilated and hanging on a Roman cross.

God’s ways truly are not our ways. None of us would have written the story of redemption the way God has. The story itself points to a Personality and intentionality behind it.

And if we’re paying attention, we can detect the same Personality and intentionality in the strange way Jesus communicates the kingdom of God in hard-to-understand parables. None of us would do it that way.

Familiar, Affluent, and Distracted

The key qualifier is if we’re paying attention. Because, as Jesus said, if we’re not paying attention to what God says, we will miss what God is doing. That’s a costly distraction.

By God’s grace, we do have an advantage over Jesus’s original hearers: we have God’s authoritative, written word. In fact, never have so many Christians had so much access to God’s word as we do today.

But we must not be lulled into thinking that so much access to and familiarity with Jesus’s teaching means we don’t face the same danger as those first-century listeners. We may have a clearer view of the kingdom than the crowds who heard Jesus’s parables, but we are as endangered by dull hearing as anyone has ever been (Hebrews 5:11).

Never have Christians possessed so much wealth as Western Christians today, which presents many temptations to us and threatens to destroy us (1 Timothy 6:9–10). And never have Christians been barraged with so many and so varied distractions as we are. Overly familiar, overly affluent, and overly distracted is a recipe for the kind of dull hearing that often manifests as being able to explain what Jesus means without actually doing what he says.

It is a false comfort to be able to accurately teach a text if we do not obey it, if functionally our fleshly anxieties and desires govern us, not Jesus’s commands and promises. This can be a more deceptive form of dull hearing than merely not listening or forgetting.

Pay Much Closer Attention

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1). If we’re not paying attention, we may not even realize we’re drifting. We can look around and see lots of other distracted, dull Christians who talk Jesus’s talk without walking Jesus’s walk, figure it must be normal, and assume we’re doing just fine. The only way we know if we’re paying close attention to what Jesus says, in the way that he means it, is if we are really doing what he says (John 14:15).

The Christian life is an attentive life (Mark 13:37; Luke 21:36; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Peter 5:8). The Christian life is a hearing life (Mark 4:24; Luke 8:21; John 10:27; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 3:7–8). But attentive listening to Jesus does not come naturally. It must be cultivated and diligently guarded. And there is no formula for how to pay closer attention. It is cultivated by making attentiveness habitual — by practicing the habits of grace. We learn to pay attention by intentionally trying to pay attention. The Spirit will help us if we ask the Father to teach us (Luke 11:9–10; Psalm 25:4).

So whatever it takes, we must pay attention to what we hear. For Jesus’s ways and words are often counterintuitive, and we live in a destructively distracting age. And everything hangs on how well we hear Jesus.

Prophecy for Beginners: Ten Frequently Asked Questions

John Piper tells the story of when he and his wife, Noël, were expecting their fourth child, and a woman shared with John a very dire “prophecy”: Noël would die in childbirth, and the baby would be a girl. This prophecy seemed wrong. There was nothing edifying, encouraging, or consoling about it (1 Corinthians 14:3). John wisely said nothing about it to Noël. The child was born a boy, and mother and baby came through just fine.

This article is the fourth in a series of four articles on the gift of prophecy in the New Testament. In the series, Jon Bloom explores both of the major positions, looks at examples in the church today, and answers some frequently asked questions.

This is the kind of scary use of prophecy that can understandably make us cynical towards this gift of the Holy Spirit, and understandably make many pastors want to steer away from its use in their churches. What we need to remember is that damaging false prophecies foolishly delivered without prior evaluation by wise, pastoral counsel have occurred throughout church history. Even in the apostle Paul’s day, he had to exhort churches and their leaders to “not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19–21). The easiest way to avoid the messes this gift can make is to avoid the gift.

Worth the Risk

However, we also could list examples of the scary uses of other spiritual gifts, such as teaching or healing, yet we would not say that we should therefore avoid teaching people or praying for their healing. So we must also not let the misuse of prophecy cause us to miss out on the benefits the Spirit wants us to receive through this gift’s proper use. I have benefited from it many times over the years — mostly on the receiving end. If I had the time and space, I’d tell you stories:

Like the time God answered a very specific prayer through a text John Piper preached on.
Or the time God gave me a prophetic word from a friend, and gave my soon-to-be wife a prophetic vision, which helped prepare us for a dark, trying season in our lives.
Or the time a missionary friend in Kazakhstan emailed me a prophetic word he sensed God had for me, which arrived at the precise time I needed it to confirm a difficult decision I was weighing — of which my friend had no knowledge.
Or the time I received a specific word regarding a personal matter for a stranger sitting next to me on a plane that proved accurate.
Or the times more recently when a man in Kansas (I didn’t know), a woman in New York (I didn’t know), and a friend in Minneapolis all independently shared with me very similar words they sensed God wanted me to know, which contributed to a constellation of confirmations and helped me discern a difficult directional decision, of which none of them had prior knowledge.

And there are more stories I could share. Yes, I’ve also seen prophecy used poorly, and personally I’ve made some mistakes. But the edifying, encouraging, and consoling benefits I’ve received and seen others receive have been so profound that I can say this gift is worth the messiness it can sometimes cause.

If you’ve recently become convinced that God is still giving this gift to the church, or you’ve been in the “cautious continuationist” camp too long (“caution” effectively inhibiting meaningful pursuit), I’d like to share some practical counsel on how to get started “earnestly desiring” this gift, and answer some frequently asked questions regarding prophecy.

Getting Started

What do you do if you’re not sure what to do next? How do we give legs to our “earnest desire”? First, remember that prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is given. So we are completely dependent on the Spirit. The Spirit “apportions [his gifts] to each one individually as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11), and we are told that not everyone receives this gift (1 Corinthians 12:29).

But the Bible also tells us that unbelief quenches the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19–20), and that the Spirit responds in proportion to our faith, specifically regarding prophecy (Romans 12:6). So the first step in earnestly desiring the gift of prophecy is to seek to increase our faith for it. And we can do this through prayer, preparation, and practice.

Prayer

First, ask the Spirit to teach you about prophecy. He’s the great teacher of the saints who Jesus promises will “guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). Ask him to guide you as you examine this gift and seek it, for the upbuilding of others.

Second, since the Spirit is the giver of the gift of prophecy, ask him for it. But don’t ask tentatively or half-heartedly. Ask boldly. If the gift is available, tell him that in obedience to 1 Corinthians 14:1, you earnestly want it. And ask repeatedly, persistently, even impudently (Luke 11:8). Tell other faithful pray-ers that you want this gift, and ask them to pray with you. If you know folks who exercise prophecy with some effectiveness, ask them to pray for you. Take what Jesus said in Luke 11:9–13 seriously and ask, believing that your Father longs to give you the good gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Preparation

Educate yourself on the gift of prophecy. Dig into 1 Corinthians chapters 12–14. Read Paul carefully and seek to understand what he really means. Then read the book of Acts and study every time a prophetic word or vision occurs. Keep your eyes open. You may discover details you hadn’t seen before.

Avail yourself of helpful resources on this gift (and others). Type “prophecy” into Desiring God’s search window, and you’ll find a list of helpful resources. You can also browse our resources on spiritual gifts in general. Specifically, I’d recommend John Piper’s article “Signs and Wonders: Then and Now,” his sermon series Are Signs and Wonders for Today?, and messages from a pastors conference under the title “Spiritual Gifts and the Sovereignty of God.”

I’d also recommend some resources by Sam Storms. His book The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts provides a helpful introduction to prophecy and other gifts. Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Your Life is a more practical guide to earnestly pursuing these gifts. Sam’s church hosts an ongoing conference to help lovers of God’s word grow in the use of God’s gifts. Past conference sessions are available to watch or listen to, free of charge.

These resources are a good place to begin to press into understanding the nature and use of the gift of prophecy.

Practice

Beginning to practice this gift is where the rubber meets the road — and where we encounter our fears. If we ask for prophecy and grow in our understanding of it, it is likely that the Spirit will begin to give us promptings. In fact, you may recognize you’ve already experienced this gift, even if you didn’t know what it was.

I believe that, for most people, it’s best not to learn to use this gift in larger public settings, but rather with individuals or in small groups. A small group of people who are earnestly desiring this gift together is an ideal place to nurture it. Group members can pray for each other. And an atmosphere of trust can be cultivated where it’s safe and encouraged to share what you think might be something from the Spirit — and to make mistakes. A safe place to fail is key to growing in the use of any gift, especially one like this. Like any other gift, we grow in our maturity in the use of prophecy over time (see FAQ #8 below).

Because this new covenant revelatory gift is processed and communicated by us fallibly, we should never use authoritative language like “Thus says the Lord” when sharing what we think may be a prophetic word. Rather, we should say something like, “I think the Lord might be saying . . .” and we allow others to test it for themselves (1 Thessalonians 5:19–21; 1 Corinthians 14:29). Humility is also key in growing in the use of any gift, especially one like this.

But don’t let fear of enduring the growing process stop you from moving forward. Seek to intentionally increase your faith through prayer, preparation, and practice. I have found it is worth the effort. Prophecy uniquely edifies, encourages, and consoles the saints of God, which is why Paul recommended that we especially desire this gift. It is one important way God expresses his love for his children. We neglect his gift to our own and others’ detriment.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is prophesying the same as preaching?

Not exclusively, but frequently. We know, from Paul’s writings, that prophecy and teaching are not the same (1 Corinthians 12:28; 14:26). Teaching is expositing a biblical text and drawing out a lesson, while prophesying is speaking something that the Spirit spontaneously brings to mind. But what often happens during a preaching moment is an unusually powerful application of a biblical text. Perhaps the clearest New Testament example is Peter prophetically preaching in Acts 2:14–36, applying the texts of Joel 2, Psalm 16, and Psalm 110. That, of course, was an unparalleled sermon, but it demonstrates an instance. Peter preached and thousands were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37).

Many of us have sat under preaching that was unusually powerful and personally affecting. We often call this “anointed preaching”; it may land on us like “teaching on steroids.” Often non-Christians are born again because of someone’s preaching — which means they encountered “the spirit of prophecy,” which is “the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 19:10). Other times Christians are brought to deep conviction of sin or encouragement under someone’s preaching. This is why many of the Puritans, like William Perkins, called preaching “prophesying.” And it is, I believe, the most frequent way most Christians experience the gift of prophesy: Spirit-empowered illumination and application of scriptural truth. In a previous article, I included two extraordinary examples of prophetic preaching. But it occurs more frequently in less specific, but personally profound, ways as well.

However, as the New Testament illustrates, prophecy is not limited to preaching as we typically think of it (prepared exegetical sermons delivered in a local church or wider event context). Ananias’s vision (Acts 9:10–16), Agabus’s foretelling (Acts 11:27–30; 21:10–11), Paul’s and Barnabas’s missionary call (Acts 13:2–3), the Ephesian disciples’ spontaneous utterances, Paul’s vision of the Macedonian man (Acts 16:9), the Spirit’s testifying to Paul in every city what awaited him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:22–23), and the personal prophecies Timothy received (1 Timothy 1:18; 4:14) would not fit into the “anointed expository preaching” category. They came outside of a preaching context — though each prophetic vision or word drew its power because it was a personally applied scriptural truth.

So I would say that the most common and most transformative way Christians experience the gift of prophecy is through Spirit-empowered preaching and application of the Scriptures. This may be one reason why, in 1 Corinthians 12:28, Paul lists “prophets” ahead of “teachers” as gifts to the church. And I would say the typical way Christians experience prophecy is through receiving revelatory dreams, visions, and what are often called “prophetic words.” This is why Paul could encourage everyone in a local church to earnestly desire to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:1).

2. Does a prophet make mistakes?

Remember that the way Paul describes the New Testament spiritual gift of prophecy is not canon-level revelation delivered infallibly and authoritatively like the Scriptures. The way he describes it, as I’ve argued elsewhere in more detail, is Holy Spirit-prompted, subordinate revelation that readers of 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 would expect to be partially or fallibly reported, and therefore intended to be tested against and subject to the infallible, authoritative revelation now contained for us in the sixty-six books of the Holy Bible. Paul expects New Testament prophecy, the kind he refers to in 1 Corinthians 14, to be fallibly — which means sometimes erroneously — delivered by people. Mistakes will happen, which is why prophecy must be evaluated.

Far more detailed exegetical explanations have been made in the resources I’ve listed above, as well as in Wayne Grudem’s extensive book on New Testament prophecy and D.A. Carson’s Showing the Spirit.

3. First Corinthians 14 refers to the use of prophecy in corporate worship. Is prophecy ever to be used outside corporate worship?

Paul does refer to the gathered church in 1 Corinthians 14. But here are a few observations to keep in mind. First, most of the churches Paul was writing to were much smaller groups than many of our churches today. Many would have been the size of large “small groups” to us. Second, we can tell from 1 Corinthians 14:26 that the way these churches structured their worship gatherings was different than the programmatic ways many of our churches structure our gatherings today. Third, nowhere in the New Testament is prophecy prohibited outside of corporate worship — Paul was addressing the specific context of the Corinthian church and we shouldn’t read more into the text than is there. And fourth, as I mentioned in the answer to the first question above, numerous New Testament prophetic messages were delivered in contexts outside of what we might call a church worship service.

4. Do both men and women prophesy?

Yes. This is clear in Acts 2:17–18, as Peter quotes from Joel 2:28–32:

“In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”

In addition, Acts 21:8–9 records that Philip the evangelist “had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied,” and Paul gives instructions about how married women should publicly prophesy in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16.

5. Who tests prophecies today, and how?

According to 1 Corinthians 14:29–33, pastor-elders test prophecies, as well as the gathered church. How this actually functions today depends on how churches are structured. I’ll give one example of how it can be done.

In a precious church I was part of for eighteen years, the pastors made space during the music portion of the corporate worship service for prophetic words to be shared. People who sensed they had a word came up to a pastor designated to evaluate public contributions, shared it with him, and the pastor discerned if it should be shared or not. If so, these people were allowed to address the congregation from a microphone in one of the aisles. It frequently was encouraging and consoling (1 Corinthians 14:3). Also, small group leaders were trained to evaluate prophetic words so that they could be shared in small groups as well. In both cases, a prophecy was evaluated by a leader and by the gathered church present.

6. Should my local church pastor-elders oversee my prophetic gift?

Yes. The New Testament does not have a category of loose cannon, unaccountable prophets wandering around delivering messages. Such “prophets” have certainly appeared in church history, but always to the detriment and damage of the church. God calls all Christians, including prophetically gifted ones, to submit to duly appointed local church leaders (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Corinthians 14:37–38). And in the case of prophecies, we also submit to the evaluation of our brothers and sisters in our local church (1 Corinthians 14:29–33).

Now, if you sense God has laid a text on your heart for a friend, your pastors will not object to your encouraging someone else with the Scriptures. But if you think the Spirit may have given you specific revelatory information regarding someone else, you should seek the blessing of your pastor-elders before sharing it. What this looks like depends on the preference of your leaders. The point is this: make sure to test specific information first — and this is all the more true the less experienced you are in using this gift. The more you demonstrate consistent accuracy and upbuilding of others to your pastoral leaders, the more they will trust your judgment. But you should not be regularly exercising what you believe is a prophetic gift without their knowledge and blessing.

7. What if my church leaders hold a cessationist view of the revelatory gifts?

Then do not seek to exercise what you understand to be a gift of prophecy while under their pastoral authority. Make sure, though, that you understand clearly what they mean, and don’t mean, by “prophecy.” Many cessationists believe that certain phenomena continuationists call “prophecy” occur, but because they reserve the term “prophecy” for infallible, authoritative Scripture revelation, they call the phenomena by other names, such as “spiritual impressions” or “promptings.” Vern Poythress, a highly respected evangelical theologian, has written a helpful paper to help cessationists and continuationists recognize common ground between us. If your pastor-elders prefer to call this phenomena by a different name due to sincere doctrinal conviction, submit to them by using their terminology.

But if your church leaders prohibit any “prophetic” phenomena, then submit to their authority for as long as God has you under their authority and pray for the Spirit’s wisdom and guidance and seek the counsel of wise, spiritually mature Christians as to what Christ may want you to do with regard to your convictions on this issue.

8. Where does the New Testament tell us to “practice” (grow in skill through repetitive use) prophesying?

It doesn’t, explicitly. Neither does it explicitly instruct us to practice teaching or leading or praying for healing or discerning spirits or numerous other things. But after observing Jesus’s school of disciples, Paul’s missionary strategies, and reading Ephesians 4:11–12, which tells that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers “equip the saints for the work of ministry,” it should be more than clear to us that no one who receives a spiritual gift receives it in its fully mature form. Everyone grows in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). We all repetitively practice the gifts we receive from the Spirit in order to grow in our effective use of them. Prophecy is no different in that respect.

In the context of churches that are not used to the prophetic gift operating in a corporate setting, or for some reason are too large or programmatically constrained, small groups can be a place to encourage the use and maturing of this gift.

9. What if you practice prophecy and the first 20 times you’re just plain wrong?

Then you haven’t received the gift. Perhaps you haven’t received it yet, or perhaps you won’t receive it. “Earnestly desiring” to prophesy obeys the apostolic imperative and pleases our Lord (1 Corinthians 14:1). But he may not be pleased to give you this gift because he’s pleased to give you another gift that is likewise indispensable to the body (1 Corinthians 12:14–31). I know what this is like. I’ve received this gift for others a handful of times in my life, but it’s been rare. Others I know receive this gift much more frequently.

So, ask for it, but don’t force it. Let the sovereign Spirit distribute the gifts as he will, and be content with what you receive.

10. How do you know when to share what you think is a prophetic word and when to wait?

If in doubt, wait. Paul tells us to exercise the gift of prophecy in proportion to our faith (Romans 12:6). The weight of this counsel increases with the gravity of the prophetic word you’re discerning. So if you wake up in the middle of the night with a prophetic sense that someone is in trouble and you should pray, then pray! It’s not a huge risk to check in with that person later. But if you have a prophetic impression that someone is struggling with pornography, for example, it is wise to pray first and ask God for confirmation. And, if at all possible, that sort of impression should be passed by a pastor or wise, mature counselor for evaluation before sharing with the individual concerned.

Not all prophetic words or impressions are meant to be shared. Some are meant only for intercession. The more serious the prophetic impression, the more prayer-bathed and informed discernment it requires.

A number of years ago, I had a strong impression that Christ was leading two friends I knew to get married. At the time, they seemed interested in each other but were not yet dating. The impression was unusually strong, yet I (rightly) feared saying anything to either of them. When it persisted, I submitted it to wise pastoral counsel and was confirmed that I should not share it but that I was likely being given this impression for the purpose of prayer. I followed this wise counsel. The two friends soon began courting and ended up marrying.

Again, don’t assume a prophetic word or impression must be shared. And I emphasize: the more serious the impression, the more prayer and counsel and evaluation it requires before sharing it with the people involved.

How to Live a Simple and Wasted Life

In the summer of 1845, Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) moved into a small, spartan cabin he had built on the wooded edge of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. He lived there, as simply as he felt he could, for two years, two months, and two days. In his own words, here’s why:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear. (Walden, 31)

“Living is so dear.” Thoreau felt this deeply. He didn’t want to discover too late that he had missed life’s essential preciousness. And he knew this was a real danger. As he looked around, he saw lots of shallow living.

Looking for Real Life

He saw that the vast majority of people, both religious and non, were absorbed by trivialities like fashion and social status and fancy food and the best wines and bigger houses and wealth accumulation and all the life-consuming labor it required to attain and maintain these possessions. People just assumed that what everybody else seemed to value must be valuable, and very few stopped to reflect on whether or not that was true. It disturbed Thoreau that

shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous. If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. (32)

Thoreau believed that in chasing shams and delusions, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” (4). He determined not to live this way.

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. (31)

He published his account in 1854, in the book that became his most famous: Walden, or Life in the Woods.

Long Line of Lookers

Did Thoreau find what he was looking for? Did he suck the marrow out of life — not wasting even life’s bones for nourishment?

He did well in unmasking the delusionary nature of the daily pursuits that waste many lives — pursuits that have only multiplied since Thoreau’s day. For that reason alone, reading Walden is beneficial. He did well in simplifying his life in order to enjoy deeply the deep wonders of creation — wonders that are all around us. This too is a benefit of reading Walden, if we will actually strive to do the same in our contexts.

But did he “rout out all that was not life”? Did he find out what life essentially is? No, he didn’t. Like the long line of life-lookers before and after him, Thoreau identified vanity parasites that suck so much time and energy and resources out of people’s lives, but did not discover the essential essence or meaning of life. Thoreau’s experience would have made him agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes that “the wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness,” but he also “perceived that [death] happens to all of them” (Ecclesiastes 2:14).

Simplicity and solitude in the Walden woods yielded Thoreau helpful reflections on life — especially how not to live. But the essence of life was not in simplicity and solitude. Otherwise he would not have left off his spartan experiment. Thoreau was a Transcendentalist, not a Christian. He references more Hindu texts in Walden than biblical texts. But it’s interesting that his closing remarks in the book express his longing for “a resurrection and immortality” (106). Walden helped him see things, but he still hadn’t found what he was looking for.

Where to Find Marrow

And that’s because the essence of life is not found merely in simplicity and solitude and trying to get closer to a nature pulsing with life and convulsing in death. Life is not in today’s minimalism movement or sustainable living movement, nor is it in dream houses or bucket-list pursuits. All these things are “vanity and a striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) if we are not finding life’s essence, its meaning, in the Creator of life. The unwasted life is the life we receive from him and live for him (John 1:12–13).

But Thoreau recognized a biblical truth when he weighed the vanity of many people’s life pursuits: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). A good question for us Christians in the affluent West is, Are we taking care and being on our guard against all covetousness? Do we have any idea how much of our lives are being siphoned off by the incessant demands to attain or maintain our desired lifestyles? Do we have any idea how much good we cannot do to others because of these incessant demands?

The marrow of life is not in our possessions or titles or degrees or anything else that will pass away with this age. The marrow is found in the man Christ Jesus and the mission he has given us. All transitory gifts God provides are for us to enjoy and for us to employ in the mission he calls us to (1 Timothy 6:17–19). But if we look to these things for life’s marrow, we will find them hollow bones.

What Thoreau Never Caught

This emptiness is shown by what has become of the site of Thoreau’s experiment in pursuing the marrow of life. Walden is almost sacred ground for many, memorialized with granite stones like a grave. A half a million pilgrims visit the site each year, because they resonate with Thoreau’s God-given sense that life should not be wasted. Though, ironically, the grounds now house a state-of-the-art visitor center and gift shop.

It isn’t so much in Thoreau’s simplicity that he points to the way that leads to life. It’s in his ending words, his intuitive sense that there must be a better future than this — “a resurrection and immortality.” His intuition was right, even if his religious conclusions were not.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Which is why Paul said, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). And it’s why Paul said that those who put their hope in the Resurrection and the Life “[store] up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:19).

No one in heaven envies the rich of this world. No one covets the famous. No one praises the powerful. They have discovered what it means to “live deep and suck all the marrow out of life.” They have found that which is truly life: Jesus Christ.

What Does Prophecy Look Like Today?

What does the New Testament gift of prophecy look like when it’s being exercised today? This is the sincere question of many evangelicals. Some are exploring the possibility that this gift continues in the church, and others have become convinced exegetically that it does, but would be helped by some examples.

But others have different questions. Why do we even need the gift of prophecy now that we have the Bible, the closed canon of the Old and New Testament Scriptures? Why would we “earnestly desire” fallibly-delivered “prophetic words” when we have the infallible word of God at our fingertips? Aren’t the Scriptures enough for us? These are sincere questions for many evangelicals who either believe prophecy has ceased or that the Bible just reduces its importance.

These are all important questions and deserve answers. So what I’m going to do is provide three examples of well-known preacher-teachers exercising the gift of prophecy, and then use them to explain why this spiritual gift plays an important ongoing role in the life of the church — a role that doesn’t replace Scripture but fulfills it.

On the 34th Floor

When John Piper is about to preach, he says he frequently prays something like, “Lord, bring to my mind truths about yourself and about this text and about this people that I will be able to say in such a way that they will pierce with unusual — I might say prophetic — power into their lives.”

One Sunday, while preaching, he was encouraging the people of Bethlehem Baptist to be involved in small groups and start evangelistic Bible studies. At one point he said, “You might be working on the 34th floor of the IDS Tower, and maybe you should call your people together to have a small group meeting.” After the service a woman, who had been sitting in the area where he looked, came up to him and said, “Why did you say that? I work on the 34th floor of the IDS Tower, and I’ve been praying about whether to start a small group.”

What was that? It was the New Testament gift of prophecy. When that thought came into John’s mind, he wasn’t consciously aware that the Spirit was revealing specific information to him regarding a specific individual, but the Spirit was. And the Spirit wanted to encourage this woman to move forward by answering her prayer in a way that would strengthen her faith. That’s one of the Scripture-defined purposes of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:3).

His Soul for Fourpence

Here’s a similar example that gets even more specific. Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) once shared this remarkable story:

While preaching in the hall, on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd, and said, “There is a man sitting there, who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays, it was open last Sabbath morning, he took ninepence, and there was fourpence profit out of it; his soul is sold to Satan for fourpence!”

A city missionary, when going his rounds, met with this man, and seeing that he was reading one of my sermons, he asked the question, “Do you know Mr. Spurgeon?” “Yes,” replied the man, “I have every reason to know him, I have been to hear him; and, under his preaching, by God’s grace I have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Shall I tell you how it happened? I went to the Music Hall, and took my seat in the middle of the place; Mr. Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir. I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took ninepence the Sunday before, and that there was fourpence profit out of it. I did take ninepence that day, and fourpence was just the profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell. Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday. At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul.” (Grudem, 357)

In this case, the Spirit revealed very specific details to Spurgeon in order to disclose the secrets of a man’s heart and, in kindness, lead him to repentance (Romans 2:4). How do we know this is prophecy? Because the Scripture calls this precise phenomenon “prophecy” (1 Corinthians 14:24–25).

Secrets of the Heart

Here’s one more example of this “secret-disclosing” sort of prophecy, but in a more personal context. John Wimber (1934–1997), one of the formative leaders of the Vineyard church planting movement, once described an experience he had while on a flight from Chicago to New York. Shortly after takeoff, he casually glanced across the aisle and was startled by seeing the word “adultery” in clear letters across the face of the middle-aged businessman seated across from him.

The man saw John looking at him oddly and snapped, “What do you want?” As the man spoke, a woman’s name came clearly to John’s mind. So John cautiously said, “Does the name [blank] mean anything to you?” The man went pale (his wife was sitting next to him). The man responded, “We need to talk.”

They moved to the plane’s lounge where the man confessed to having an affair with a woman whose name had come to John’s mind. John ended up leading the man to Christ, and then the man returned to his seat, confessed to his wife, and led her to Christ (Power Evangelism, 74–76).

Again, this is an illustration of 1 Corinthians 14:24–25 prophecy in action. But here, Wimber was conscious that the Spirit was revealing information to him, and he shared the information with the man. And there’s little doubt the whole experience resulted in the man and his wife being built up and encouraged and consoled (1 Corinthians 14:3).

Not Replacing Scripture

These three examples illustrate that the new covenant spiritual gift of prophecy isn’t a replacement of Scripture. That’s not its role. As I’ve explained elsewhere, from its inception, this spiritual gift was never intended to overrule the authoritative, infallible testimony of God’s chosen contributors to Scripture.

It’s important we understand that prophecy is not offering something more than Scripture offers, as if it’s some kind of improvement on Scripture. Rather, Scripture says prophecy is one of the means of grace God has given to the church. In other words, prophecy is not Scripture’s competitor, but its prescription.

Like the three stories demonstrate, prophecy provides both the recipient and the giver an experience of God’s real presence among us (1 Corinthians 14:24–25). It helps us experience personally the Scripture-revealed reality that God does indeed know when we “sit down” and when we “rise up,” that he is “acquainted with all [our] ways,” that “even before a word is on [our] tongue, behold, [he knows] it altogether” (Psalm 139:2–4).

It’s not that the experience of prophecy is more true, or more wonderful, than the inspired word of God. It’s one of the gifts the true, wonderful, inspired word tells us is available to us. God’s authoritative and sufficient word, delivered through his Old Testament prophets and Christ’s New Testament apostles, is final and decisive for his church. But we must remember that it’s this final, decisive word that introduces us to a category of New Testament “prophecy” — something Christ wants his church to “earnestly desire” (1 Corinthians 14:1). Jesus wants us to experience a reality testified to in his living and active word (Hebrews 4:12). Our Father wants to give us glimpses of just how fully we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Exceptional Gift

I have found this gift to be a great mercy to me and many others. As frail and broken as we are, as prone to unbelief, and as confused and disoriented as we can become in this devil-ruled world (1 John 5:19), God loves to give his children very personal upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation (1 Corinthians 14:3). God has given the church the gift of prophecy, because he loves us. It’s one way he expresses his joy in loving us.

I know the gift of prophecy, like every gift God gives, has been (and is) abused. I know that some can put too much stock in subjective prophecies, or find them more exciting than Scripture. But in my personal experience and observations of others, I have found it rare that prophecy devalues Scripture for those who experience it. Rather, it has almost always heightened their love of, and trust in, Scripture’s authority and sufficiency. Because the God of Scripture has acted for them in a way they recognize from Scripture, reinforcing the final truth and power of Scripture.

One last thing. As I observe it in the Bible, church history, the lives of others, and in my own life, the gift of prophecy is exceptional — not the normative way God speaks to and leads us. God wants us to live by every revealed, authoritative, infallible word he has spoken (Matthew 4:4). Paul tells us to earnestly desire to prophesy for the benefit of others, but he also tells us that Scripture is God-breathed and “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

So let us do what the Scripture instructs for the purpose Scripture defines: let us “earnestly desire” the spiritual gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1) for the “upbuilding and encouragement and consolation” of God’s saints (1 Corinthians 14:3). But let us be careful to do so in the ways (and proportions) that Scripture teaches.

Should You Earnestly Desire to Prophesy?

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) once described a remarkable experience he had while preaching:

He suddenly broke off from his [sermon] subject, and pointing in a certain direction, said, “Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for: you have stolen them from your employer.” At the close of the service, a young man, looking very pale and greatly agitated, came to the room which was used as a vestry, and begged for a private interview with Spurgeon. On being admitted, he placed a pair of gloves upon the table, and tearfully said, “It’s the first time I have robbed my master, and I will never do it again. You won’t expose me, sir, will you? It would kill my mother if she heard that I had become a thief.” (Spurgeon, 60)

What do you call Spurgeon’s experience? Is there anything we can compare it with in the New Testament? How about this: “If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Corinthians 14:24–25)?

According to the apostle Paul’s description, I would argue that what Spurgeon experienced is a good example of the New Testament spiritual gift of prophecy. And it wasn’t an isolated experience for the Prince of Preachers.

I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description, that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, “Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.” (Grudem, 357)

Prophecy by Any Other Name

Now, Spurgeon didn’t call these revelatory experiences “prophecies,” because as a cessationist, he reserved that term for Holy Spirit-inspired, authoritative, infallible, Scripture-equivalent revelation — the kind of revelation all evangelicals agree ceased at the close of the apostolic age. Spurgeon called his experiences “impressions of the Holy Spirit”:

There are occasionally impressions of the Holy Spirit which guide men where no other guidance could have answered the end. . . . I have been the subject of such impressions myself and have seen very singular results therefrom. (Spurgeon, “A Well-Ordered Life,” 368)

I daresay he did. But, though I blush to offer him correction, I believe Charles Spurgeon indeed prophesied in these instances. I believe this because of how Paul speaks of the spiritual gift of prophecy, particularly in 1 Corinthians 14 — the chapter in the New Testament that provides the clearest apostolic instructions on the use and evaluation of prophecy.

Authoritative or Not?

Cessationists assert that in the New Testament, “the gift of prophecy consisted of the authoritative and infallible reporting of revealed messages from God,” and that continuationists simply “use New Testament terminology to describe . . . spiritual experiences [that] do not match what was actually happening in the first-century church.”

However, New Testament exegesis, particularly in 1 Corinthians 14, doesn’t support that assertion. Don Carson argues that,

When Paul presupposes in 1 Corinthians 14:30 that the gift of prophecy depends on revelation, we are not limited to a form of authoritative revelation that threatens the finality of the canon. To argue in such a way is to confuse the terminology of Protestant systematic theology with the terminology of the Scripture writers. The prophecy Paul has in mind is revelatory and Spirit-prompted [but] . . . none of this means it is necessarily authoritative, infallible, or canon-threatening. (Showing the Spirit, Kindle Locations 2726–2731, italics added)

Rather, when we look carefully at the phenomena Paul describes, and his instructions on their application and evaluation, what we find aligns more accurately with an understanding of prophecy as Holy Spirit-prompted, subordinate revelation that readers would expect to be partially or fallibly reported, and therefore intended to be tested against and subject to apostolic and prophetic authoritative revelation, which is now contained for us in the sixty-six books of the Holy Bible.

In other words, much of the prophecy that took place in the first-century church would have looked very similar to Spurgeon’s “impressions of the Holy Spirit.”

How Did Paul Think About Prophecy?

Exegetically, the key chapter that helps us understand how Paul viewed the gift of prophecy is 1 Corinthians 14. Consider the following observations that indicate Paul had something different in mind than Old Testament prophecy.

First, Paul begins the chapter with the remarkable command, “Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1). Notice the unqualified way Paul, the former Pharisee, exhorts all Christians to “earnestly desire” this gift, without including any serious warning to those who would presumptuously and falsely speak what others would receive as God’s authoritative, infallible word — especially in light of the Old Testament warnings to false prophets (Deuteronomy 13:5; 18:20). In contrast, consider the apostle James’s caution that not many should be teachers and subject themselves to stricter judgment (James 3:1). Does it not seem odd that none are warned against the dangers of exercising the authoritative, infallible, Scripture-level gift of prophecy, but all are warned against the dangers of exercising the fallible gift of teaching?

Second, Paul emphasizes the role prophecy plays in upbuilding, encouraging, and consoling members of specific local churches (1 Corinthians 14:3). Granted, this isn’t an exhaustive description. But if Paul had in mind authoritative, infallible, verbal revelation, it’s odd that he doesn’t explicitly emphasize doctrinal instruction or other important aspects of canon-level revelation.

Third, the one hypothetical prophecy example Paul includes in 1 Corinthians 14:24–25 gives us an idea of the kind of revelation Paul had in mind: the specific secrets of an individual’s heart being disclosed, demonstrating the reality of God and his intimate knowledge of individuals, and pointing to the validity of the Christian gospel. Paul had in mind the kind of revelation Spurgeon received for that young man.

Fourth, Paul’s instructions for how prophecy in local churches should be exercised and evaluated in an ongoing way seem odd if what he has in mind are Old Testament-like prophets delivering authoritative, canon-level revelation (1 Corinthians 14:29–33). This oddness only increases when we consider that Paul forbids women from publicly evaluating prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:34) but had previously acknowledged that women are welcome to publicly deliver prophesy (1 Corinthians 11:5). If Paul has canon-level revelation in mind, which of the two is more authoritative, the prophetic content or the evaluation?

Fifth, it’s important to note that Paul asserted his apostolic authority over, not submission to, prophecies in local churches (1 Corinthians 14:37–38). This indicates he didn’t consider such prophecies as authoritative and infallible — meaning, he didn’t put them in the same category as the authoritative revelations he himself received from the Lord.

To add one further observation, from outside of 1 Corinthians 14, Paul exhorted Christians to not despise prophecies — meaning there were (and still are) real temptations to do so. Rather, they were to “weigh” or “test” them and only “hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19–21; cf. 1 Corinthians 14:29). Here again, Paul instructs readers to respond to these kinds of prophecies differently than he and Peter instruct them to respond to scriptural revelation (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20), which even at that time included authoritative apostolic writings (2 Peter 3:15–16).

These, among other reasons, lead continuationists to believe that the New Testament gift of prophecy is Spirit-prompted, yet partially and fallibly reported revelation that must always be subordinate to apostolic, doctrinal authority — which for us today is the Bible.

You Should Desire to Prophesy

And since continuationists understand prophecy in this way — that this spiritual gift poses no necessary threat to the canon of Scripture or challenges its sufficiency — there is every reason to believe that the Holy Spirit still “apportions [this gift] to each one individually as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11). And there’s no reason to believe the gift of prophecy will cease until “the perfect comes”: when Jesus returns (1 Corinthians 13:8–12).

And if the spiritual gift of prophecy continues in our day, what are we to do? Paul tells us exactly what to do: “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1).

It is not an option; it is an instruction. It is not a suggestion; it is an imperative. And whenever God gives us a straightforward command in the Bible, the default response he expects from us is to trust and obey. John Piper gives us this challenge:

I wonder how many of us have said for years that we are open to God’s moving in spiritual gifts, but have been disobedient to this command to earnestly desire them, especially prophecy? I would ask all of us: are we so sure of our hermeneutical procedure for diminishing the gifts that we would risk walking in disobedience to a plain command of Scripture?

Prophesy for Your Joy

We should all want to obey God. But guilt over our failures to obediently pursue this gift is not the primary, deepest motivation God wants to use to help us begin or begin again. Prophecy, like all the spiritual gifts, is a gift! And God loves to give good gifts to his children (Luke 11:13). He wants us to hear his command that we earnestly desire to prophesy as an invitation to pursue our own (and others’) joy in him!

Like the young man experienced in Spurgeon’s church that remarkable morning, God wants at times to reveal his intimate knowledge of us as individuals and our unique circumstances that we might experience his personal love for us, a love he infallibly revealed to all his children in Scripture. He wants our churches to exercise this gift so we and our brothers and sisters will be upbuilt, encouraged, challenged, and consoled as we experience together the friendship of God through his Spirit. He wants us to prophesy because he loves us.

Therefore, since the God of Scripture has revealed all this to us in Scripture, let us continue to earnestly desire that we may prophesy — until the Lord returns.

What Do Cessationists Believe About Prophecy?

In 1 Corinthians 14:1, the apostle Paul writes, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” This verse is at the heart of a significant debate among evangelical Christians. Some believe that to obey this command today is to deny the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Others believe that to not obey it is to deny the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.

One of the historic hallmarks of evangelicalism is a robust belief in the Holy Spirit-inspired, authoritative, infallible, inerrant, sufficient nature of the revealed word of God contained in the canon of Scripture. We evangelicals believe that when it comes to the Bible, as the old hymn says, “there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey” the whole counsel of God as understood through the lens of Christ’s new covenant.

So, what should we do with the biblical command to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1)? Well, the obvious answer is “trust and obey,” right? But for many evangelicals, this is not the obvious answer.

Problem of Prophecy

The two primary groups in the debate over prophecy are cessationists and continuationists. Cessationists believe that the so-called “revelatory” gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12–14 (most pointedly, prophecy and tongues/interpretation, 1 Corinthians 12:10) ceased sometime between the deaths of the apostles and the confirmation of the New Testament canon. Continuationists believe that all the gifts of the Spirit listed in these chapters are meant to continue more or less, according to the sovereign Spirit’s purposes, throughout the church age until Jesus returns. The disagreement exists, ironically, because cessationists and continuationists agree on the inspiration, authority, infallibility, and sufficiency of the Bible.

The debate hinges on what Paul meant by “prophesy” in 1 Corinthians 14:1. Did Paul understand the new-covenant spiritual gift of prophecy as Holy Spirit-inspired, authoritative, infallible, canon-equivalent revelation? Or did he understand it as Holy Spirit-prompted, subordinate revelation that could be fallibly reported and therefore intended to be subject to God’s chosen apostolic and prophetic authoritative teaching contained in the Spirit-determined canonical writings of Scripture? If by “prophesy,” Paul meant the former, then to “earnestly desire” to prophesy is to earnestly desire to speak with scriptural authority — to challenge, in some sense, the sufficiency of Scripture. If he meant the latter, then to not “earnestly desire” to prophesy is to blatantly disobey a clear apostolic imperative — to challenge, in some way, the sufficiency of Scripture.

You see why the debate can get a bit intense.

Two Convictions, One Indivisible Church

We at Desiring God are convinced continuationists. We believe the Bible teaches that all the gifts of the Spirit (including prophecy, tongues, and interpretation) continue today, and will until Jesus returns.

However, we have dear friends who are precious colleagues in gospel ministry, and highly esteemed teachers (both past and present) who are convinced cessationists. These are people whose skillful handling of God’s word, personal holiness, and spiritually fruitful lives have profoundly shaped ours. They hold their view of prophecy in good conscience before God, as they (and we) should (Romans 14:5). And we are privileged and humbled to have them as our brothers and sisters in the faith.

Like differing evangelical views regarding the meaning and modes of baptism, how we define New Testament prophecy is not a core issue to the gospel and has no necessary bearing on the validity of a person’s regeneration. And like baptism, while how we define New Testament prophecy may significantly influence what local church fellowship we join or don’t join, it ought never be an unbridgeable rift between members of the global Christian family.

However, also like baptism, New Testament prophecy is not unimportant — particularly in view of 1 Corinthians 14:1. If we don’t especially desire to prophesy, we’d better have a good reason, because not trusting and obeying what the Spirit expressly commands in the authoritative, infallible word of God is, as all true evangelicals would agree, serious business.

Why Are There Cessationists?

If you want to read a helpful overview of cessationism by a trustworthy theologian who fairly represents the conviction of many thoughtful evangelicals, read Tom Schreiner’s article “Why I Am a Cessationist.”

Tracing the roots of cessationism is not simple (and beyond the scope of this article). Some assert that most of the most credible theologians since the Reformation have been cessationists. But as Kevin DeYoung and Gavin Ortlund demonstrate, that's not simple either. Prominent Protestant leaders and theologians across the centuries have held a variety of theological convictions regarding the revelatory gifts.

But certainly at the core of cessationism is a desire to preserve the Reformation doctrine of sola Scriptura, the conviction that the written word of God — the sixty-six books that Protestants believe comprise the Christian Scriptures — is the final authority that governs the church of Jesus Christ in this age.

All true evangelicals of the past and present stand in agreement that the Scriptural canon is closed, that the authoritative, infallible revelation recorded in the Bible has ceased.

But given what provoked the Protestant Reformation in the first place — the Roman Catholic distortion of the gospel, its overreaching claims of papal and clerical authority, and the resulting terrible corruption — and given the recurring trouble with various false prophets and faulty prophecy the church has endured throughout its history, some have found it compelling to equate the New Testament spiritual gift of prophecy with how Old Testament prophecy is generally understood: Holy Spirit-inspired, authoritative, infallible, inerrant, canon-equivalent revelation. If this is true, then prophecy necessarily ceased at the end of the apostolic age. For cessationists, a view that allows for continuing prophetic “revelation” only invites further distortion, abuse, and corruption into the church and undermines the Bible’s authority and sufficiency.

However, many, if not most, cessationists concede that “there’s no definitive teaching in the Bible that [the revelatory gifts have] ceased.” It must, for the most part, be inferred. The argument for cessation is built on the unique authority of the “apostles and prophets,” who laid the foundation on which the church was built by delivering to it canon-level revelation (Ephesians 2:19–21).

Paul seemed to know that he was the last (“untimely born”) of these Christ-appointed, authoritative apostles (1 Corinthians 15:8–9). And while most cessationists affirm that the “perfect” Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13:10 — the event he says will bring about the ceasing of prophecy — refers to Jesus’s return (not the formation of the canon), they argue that Paul wrote in the expectation that he might live to see the eschaton and spoke of the gifts with similar expectations. But since neither he nor any of the apostles survived to see the return of Jesus, this unique gift of apostleship ceased in the church — a spiritual gift cessation the vast majority of evangelicals embrace. And when that gift ceased, canon-level prophecy ceased with it. And cessationists would say that while 1 Corinthians 13:8–12 seems to imply the continuation of this gift, it does not necessarily require its continuation.

What We Love about Cessationists

We do, of course, have an argument to make that the New Testament gift of prophecy is something different than canon-level revelation and does indeed continue to operate in the church. But that is not our purpose here. Before making our case, we want to stop, carefully ponder the cessationist argument, and appreciate the deep concern that fuels the cessationist conviction — a concern to which we are very sympathetic. The Bible is unspeakably precious, and its authority and sufficiency must be gladly guarded for the sake of Christ’s glory and the church’s joy. Godly cessationists believe this, and we deeply love and respect them for it.

Again, the cessationist/continuationist debate is not central to the gospel. There are wonderful, faithful, and fruitful saints on both sides. But it’s not an unimportant debate. “Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” is an apostolic imperative. How we respond is a matter of fear and trembling. We don’t want to practice or teach others anything false, nor neglect any precious means of grace God himself has given us. So, let each of us weigh God’s own words carefully and prayerfully, and let “each one . . . be fully convinced in his own mind” — for “it is before his own master that he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4–5).

Because the glory of God is at stake in how we trust and obey his authoritative, sufficient word.

The Secret to Self-Discipline

LeBron James is the most dominant player in the NBA today, and some argue he’s the best player ever. He’s earned the moniker “King James.” His dominance, however, doesn’t result from his elite, God-given athletic talent alone. He keeps his body in peak condition through an extremely disciplined and rigorous workout and diet regimen.

Nearly every day of every year, James subjects himself to grueling physical exercise and stringently-controlled nutrition and hydration routines. In fact, he spends $1.5 million a year continually subjecting himself to things the vast majority of us continually avoid. Why?

Because he prizes NBA championship trophies, a growing list of personal achievements, accolades, and records (already a mile long), and all the benefits that come with those trophies and success. King James exercises tremendous self-discipline and endures a great deal of unpleasantness for the sake of what gives him joy.

James knows the secret to self-discipline (consciously or unconsciously), a secret that applies to all of us: joy. The secret is not that each rigorous exercise of self-denial gives us joy. The secret lies in the prize — what we're willing to endure self-denial to have.

Power in the Prize

In the Bible, this is not a secret. Paul knows exactly why Lebron James spends more than a million dollars on his body:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24–27)

Here’s the point: elite athletes don’t live disciplined lives because they think disciplined lives are virtuous. They aren’t stoics; they’re hedonists — pleasure-seekers. They live disciplined lives and endure all kinds of self-denial because they want the pleasures of the prize. They believe the pleasures of the “wreath” (or medals, trophies, rings, and records) are superior pleasures to the pleasures of self-indulgence.

The Imperishable Prize

Notice that Paul doesn’t call their pursuit of reward wrong. Far from it. Paul shamelessly states that the pursuit of a reward also fuels his self-discipline and should fuel ours. The only difference — and it’s a big one — is that the reward he pursued was an “imperishable” wreath, which he describes here:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)

Gaining Christ through the gospel — gaining all of God and all his promises to his cross-reconciled children for all eternity and losing all sin and all death and all hell and all their accompanying miseries — was the reward that gave Paul his laser-like focus and fueled his self-discipline.

The power for self-discipline does not come from admiring self-discipline. It does not come from wishing we were more self-disciplined. It does not come from making new resolves, plans and schedules for self-discipline (though these help when the fundamental motivation is right). It certainly does not come from loathing our lack of self-discipline and resolving (again) to do better — and this time we mean it. The power for self-discipline comes from the prize — whatever we really want, the reward we believe will yield us the greatest pleasure.

Why Am I Not More Disciplined?

How many times have you made some resolve, let it fall by the wayside, and wondered why you’re not more disciplined? I’ve done it more times than I care to admit. What’s our problem?

Well, first let’s acknowledge that we’re complex beings and numerous factors can play into our capacities for self-discipline. Our genetics, conditioning, past trauma, various kinds of mental health struggles, and many other issues all affect us to differing degrees. And God understands how they affect each of us. He knows we don’t all have the same capacities for self-discipline and doesn’t hold us all to the same expectations. Jesus’s principle applies here: “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). So, we must be careful when assessing ourselves in comparison to others, and very careful and gracious when judging others.

But these factors don’t change the fundamental fuel that powers the capacities we do have for self-discipline and self-denial: the joy of a reward set before us (Hebrews 12:2).

When Will Power Seems to Fail

We often chalk up our discipline failures to a lack of will power. We look at a LeBron James and think if we just had some of his iron will, we could stick with it. But will power is not our problem — at least not in the way we usually think. When we abort some resolve, it’s actually our will power that’s overriding it.

Our will always obeys our wants — our real wants, not our fantasy wants. And our real wants are based on our real beliefs, not our fantasy beliefs.

So, when we can’t sustain some new self-discipline regimen, it’s very likely that our resolve was based on a fantasy reward. What typically happens is we imagine what experiencing the benefits of attaining some goal might feel like — perhaps a fit body, or reading the Bible in a year, or some kind of career advancement, or the fruit of more intercessory prayer, or a financial savings goal, or a new boldness in evangelism. What we imagine appears desirable to us. We feel a burst of inspiration, so we make a resolve. We think (or want to think) our inspiration stems from a new conviction that the reward we imagine will make us happy.

But once we experience the unpleasantness of self-denial, the inspiration evaporates and the goal no longer seems worth it, so we give it up. What happened? We liked the imagination of the reward, but the reward itself wasn’t real enough to fuel our discipline — we didn't really believe in it. It was a fantasy. And when the fantasy was dispelled, we realized we wanted another reward more and our will followed.

It wasn’t a lack of will power; it was a lack of reward power.

Eyes on the Prize

That’s why Paul said, “I do not run aimlessly” (1 Corinthians 9:26). Like LeBron James or the ancient Olympians, Paul “ran” with his eyes on the prize he really wanted — the prize he believed would yield him the most happiness.

That is the key to self-discipline: our real belief that the pleasures of a reward will be worth the denial of lesser pleasures. And that’s what nourishes the spiritual fruit of self-control in our lives (Galatians 5:23): wanting the rewards the Spirit offers us more than the rewards sin or the world offer us.

This is really good news to self-discipline stumblers like us! If we’re not pursuing the kingdom of God first (Matthew 6:33), if the surpassing worth of knowing Christ isn’t causing us to count all else as rubbish (Philippians 3:8), the Spirit’s remedy to our problem is not more white-knuckled, duty-motivated efforts to be more disciplined. Rather, the Spirit is inviting us into greater delight. He wants us to explore and examine the imperishable reward God longs to give us with all his heart and soul — to plead that the eyes of our heart will be enlightened to see it (Ephesians 1:17) — knowing that the more we seek to see, the more he’ll reveal and help us believe. And the more that happens, the more we’ll view self-discipline, not as a drudgery to be avoided, but as a means to the joy we really want.

When athletes lose motivation, their coaches and trainers exhort them to get their eyes on the prize. That’s Paul’s exhortation to us when he says, "So run that you may obtain it" (1 Corinthians 9:24). For sustained self-discipline for the glory of God is always fueled by intense desire for more joy in God.

Lord, Make Me a City on a Hill

How many pastors would be ordained if Jesus examined them?

Let me be more personal. Would Jesus have ordained me had he sat on my council of examiners? When I look back on my ordination exams, I wonder if I got off too easy.

It’s not that the brothers who examined me pitched me softballs. They grilled me with difficult and complex questions. They required me to give clear evidence that my theological understanding was sound. Some of their questions exposed my weaknesses.

But a text that sets me wondering is this:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14–16)

My examiners focused their questions almost exclusively on what I thought, which is, of course, very important for effective pastoring. But I don’t recall any pointed questions about how my intellectual theological understanding was producing the shining light of good works. I wasn’t required to give clear evidence that I was an actual doer of the word, and not just a well-informed hearer of the word (James 1:22).

If Jesus Had Examined Me

Now, my brother-examiners no doubt gave me the benefit of the doubt, assuming I would not have been recommended for ordination if my life wasn’t consistent with my words. But I think Jesus would have been harder on me, knowing me as he does, knowing how I can often talk a better game than I actually play.

I think he would have wanted me to demonstrate that my theological knowledge was in fact fueling the burning of my visible lamp. He might have asked me to describe how those in my neighborhood and relationships were tangibly receiving the benefit of my “light.” He might have required specific examples of the last time I was reviled and persecuted on his account (Matthew 5:11–12). He might have asked me when I was last aware of someone giving glory to my Father in heaven after seeing my good works.

Those questions would have been harder to answer. They would have exposed even more weaknesses, and in certain ways more important ones. My intellectual theological understanding from years and years of hearing the word would have only satisfied him to the degree that it was producing light through my doing of his word.

What Makes Us Light?

Jesus called himself the light of the world (John 8:12). What made him shine? Certainly it was his words (John 7:46). But it wasn’t only his words; it was also his works. He said, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me” (John 10:25). Jesus’s works made who he was manifestly clear. His works shone, and they still shine.

Jesus called us the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). What makes us shine? It isn’t only our words, but our works. The works we do in Jesus’s name bear witness about us and about him. Our outward, observable, public works make who we are and whose we are manifestly clear. Just like Jesus, our works cause some to revile us and persecute us and utter all kinds of evil against us falsely on his account, and they cause others to give glory to our heavenly Father.

Shining People

“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” What kind of good works shine like that? It’s not a difficult question to answer. Ask yourself, What good works have other Christians done that stand out most in your memory? Who are the people you’ve known who have been most radiant with the light of Jesus?

The shining people haven’t necessarily been the smartest, or most articulate, or most talented, or had the most publicly influential platforms. They’ve been the most servant-hearted and sacrificially loving people. They’ve been the ones who find God’s steadfast love better than life (Psalm 63:3). They’ve consistently loved others in both word and deed (1 John 3:18). Their words and deeds have sometimes been tender and other times tough, depending on the need. Their actions have demonstrated that they truly consider others more significant than themselves (Philippians 2:3), and that they pursue others’ good more than others’ approval.

It’s not merely what the shining people do, but why they do it and how they do it that makes them literally remarkable — people talk about them. Some praise them, and others slander them. But it is their doing, not talking, that sets them apart. And we’ve found ourselves both drawn to them and unnerved by them, because the light of their humble, word-and-deed love has both warmed our chilled hearts and exposed our selfishness and pride.

Whatever It Takes

Would Jesus have ordained me? I trust that through the Spirit operating in my brother-examiners, he did. Seeing how Jesus patiently dealt with his original band, it’s clear he graciously chooses disciples like me whose intellectual knowledge initially outpaces their actions. But he expects that to change. He expects our works to grow into our words and bear shining witness to the reality and power of his words.

I’m grateful for the gift of theological equipping God has provided me. But these days I am asking him to press me harder than ever before, to examine me fully, to search me and try me and transform me so that I shine more with the light of Jesus through my works than I ever have. I don’t want to merely articulate glorious truth more accurately, but to incarnate it more fully, especially in the dark places of the world where it’s most needed. I want to live it more — to so love God and others for his sake that, whether I provoke persecution or the praise of God, my light is more clearly seen.

So, Lord, whatever it takes, make me a doer of your word so that my life shines like a city set on a hill and gives you glory, in Jesus’s name, Amen.

Yawning at Majesty: How to Fight Boredom with the Bible

Let’s say you were given this assignment: construct a book that will remain relevant for millennia and radically influence the greatest civilizations in the history of the world. How would you do it?

Would you think that compiling the book’s contents over 1,500 years, employing at least 40 different authors, incorporating numerous and very different genres, and originally composing it in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) is a good strategy? I doubt it.

It’s good God doesn’t consult us on things like this.

The Bible is the most amazing book in the world. And when we’re tempted to feel bored with it, we may need to step back and remember how marvelous and unique and powerful this piece of literature is. The Bible is simply unequaled in its influence, audacious in its claims, and unrivaled in its power to transform hardened sinners into humble saints.

Unequaled

Just think about what God was aiming to accomplish in the Bible. He purposed to convey the truth of redemption (the gospel) in ways that would be understood and believed by people in thousands of diverse cultures, speaking thousands of different languages, over thousands of years. Have you ever thought how incredible it is that the message of the Bible can be believed, and the gospel can be lived out, in the most primitive and most sophisticated cultures on earth — in every age?

Not only that, but God determined to make the most important parts of the Bible comprehensible to small children and uneducated adults, and yet be able to withstand the most rigorous pounding of academic literary criticism. The Bible has taken, and continues to take, more critical cannon fire than any other book in history, and the ship just won’t sink.

The Bible would not likely be chosen by the literati who give out the Nobel Prize for literature, though it certainly contains remarkable works of art. Nevertheless, it has and continues to shape the course of world history like no other book ever has. As a historical phenomenon, it is simply unequaled.

Audacious

And the Bible is unashamedly audacious in its claims. That’s why it either inspires devotion or hatred in its readers. Because as J.C. Ryle says,

If the Bible is not the word of God and inspired, the whole of Christendom for 1,800 [now 2,000] years has been under an immense delusion; half the human race has been cheated and deceived, and churches are monuments of folly. If the Bible is the word of God and inspired, all who refuse to believe it are in fearful danger; they are living on the brink of eternal misery. (Old Paths, 11)

The Bible claims it is “breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16), “perfect” (Psalm 19:7), and “living and active,” able to discern “the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

And at the climax of the written word is the recorded life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who the written word calls the Word incarnate (John 1:1). And the incarnate Word claimed audaciously that he was the same word that issued from Moses’s burning bush (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58), and declared unequivocally that he was “the way, and the truth, and the life” and that no one comes to God except through him (John 14:6).

Take the written word at its word, and take Jesus at his word, and a reader must either bow to Jesus as Creator of all and Savior of those who repent, or reject him as the most dangerous megalomaniac of all time. Either Bible-believers are deluded fools, or Bible-unbelievers are in terrible peril. There is no real middle ground. The only people who are lukewarm about the Bible are those who don’t take its claims seriously.

Unrivaled

But in the lives of those who do take it seriously, who embrace its claims and its Savior, we see the greatest evidence of the power of this book. As John Piper writes,

The peculiar glory of God in Scripture is reflected in his people: they are transformed from self-centered, self-exalting people to God-centered, Christ-exalting servants, who live for the good of others. In this, they are like Christ, the perfect embodiment of the peculiar glory of love through lowliness. This change extends the self-authenticating evidence of the glory of God through the word into the character and the good works of God’s people. Thus the people who are most transformed by the word become evidences of the reality of the God of the word. (A Peculiar Glory, 260).

The Bible is often accused of inciting all manner of violent historical horrors. It is an ignorant, foolish, and at times willfully misleading interpretation of the violence recorded in Scripture and the violence recorded in extrabiblical history. Since the dawn of time, human beings have been manipulating every form and level of power and every religion to slake their evil, self-glorifying desires for money, sex, and more power. The real story is not that the Bible has been abused in such ways — in fact, the Bible teaches us not to be at all surprised when this happens.

The real story of the Bible is its unrivaled power to transform murderous, covetous, sexually immoral, pathologically selfish people into humble, self-sacrificing, servant-hearted lovers of God and other people. There is a reason Christians, more than any other group of people throughout history, have been on the forefront of aiding the poor, tending the sick, educating the masses, and standing against injustice: the Bible’s teaching.

You really want to change the world? History would teach you to take the Bible seriously and obey what Jesus says in Matthew 22:37–39.

Yes, there are glaring, tragic, shameful historical failures. But examine closely the larger (usually greed-driven) cultural failures (like the African slave trade and the repeated betrayals of the Native American peoples), and who are most likely to be the few, courageous people advocating for the rights and needs of the oppressed at the times when it’s most costly and dangerous to do so? The fashionably and liberally religious? The atheists? No, serious Bible-believing, Bible-obeying Christians — because of the Bible’s unparalleled power to move believers toward others' real, desperate need, even at the risk of their own lives.

Anything but Boring

The Bible is the world’s most amazing book. You can love it and believe it, or you can hate it and despise it. But you cannot deny its unequaled global influence, its audacious claims, and its unrivaled power to beautifully transform lives. The Bible has achieved what no other book has been able to do.

And you can hold one in your own hands!

Are we bored with it? Oh, boredom! That plague of our finite, fallen, self-oriented flesh that so easily loses appreciation for the most precious treasures simply when they become familiar! Forgive us, Father, and hasten the day when we lose our amazing capacity for boredom and gain an amazing capacity for sustained amazement!

If the Bible has grown boring to you, fight it! Remember what makes it marvelous and marvel again. Look at it again, and take time to look. If it bores you, that’s when you really need to keep looking. Look until the peculiar glory begins to shine again, until you don’t want to stop looking. For those who see this glory just never get to the bottom of it.

The Greatest Thing You Can Do with Your Life

One of the most wonderful and hopeful things you can know about yourself and your life is captured in a rather unassuming, simple sentence:

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. (1 Corinthians 7:17)

The verse might hit us as a bit constrictive, perhaps even oppressive, especially if our circumstances are difficult or painful. But that would miss the heart of God’s intention for us.

Your life is a gift and an assignment from God. This should infuse our life — its good and evil, its sweet and bitter, its health and affliction, its prosperity and poverty, its comfort and suffering — with an unfathomable dignity, purpose, and glory. You are not an accident. Neither are you a ruined potential, run off the rails because you were dealt a poor genetic hand of cards, suffered others’ abuse, or made foolish and sinful choices, putting you beyond the hope of a useful calling in Jesus’s kingdom.

No, you exist because God wanted you to exist. And you are who you are, what you are, how you are, where you are, and when you are because God made you (John 1:3), wove you in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), called you to be his own (John 10:27; Romans 8:30), and assigned you a place to live (Acts 17:26).

The greatest thing you can do with your life is to live to the hilt the adventurous assignment God has given you.

God Has Called You

Think about this for a moment: “Let each person lead the life . . . to which God has called him.” God has made your entire life your calling!

We tend to think of our callings as our vocations, some significant job God gives us to do with an identifiable and preferably esteemed title. Perhaps it’s a career vocation or perhaps it’s a noncareer vocation in a church or ministry. But that’s too narrow. Of course, vocations should be vehicles for our calling — ways we fulfill our assignment from the Lord. But our calling encompasses more than our vocations.

Our primary core calling is to love God with all we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27). And this calling incorporates everyone we interact with, or perhaps comes to mind, in everything we do from morning till night. Which is why John Calvin said, “God commands each one of us to consider his calling in every act of life” (Institutes, 821).

This means that our calling isn’t behind that door we’re waiting for God to open someday (though that may be part of tomorrow’s calling). Our calling is to love God today, to love the neighbors God places in our “road” today, and to do well what God gives our hands to do today.

That’s one reason Jesus tells us, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). Being overly preoccupied with tomorrow’s calling, as tempting as that can be, is often a way we are deceived into being disengaged from today’s calling. Jesus doesn’t want us to spend the priceless gift of life he’s given us today absorbed in the unreality of an imagined tomorrow.

Now, it is true that our callings change over time. We move through different phases of life, we might be deployed to different places at different times, and we experience various circumstantial and health changes. All these alter our calling. And as the Spirit gives us light, we should seek to anticipate and plan for changes as befit good stewards.

But God wants us focused primarily on the life he’s called us to, which is the life we have today.

Be Faithful to Your Assignment

The Spirit tells us through Paul, “Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him.”

Perhaps you’re thinking, You don’t know my circumstances. Without wanting to be insensitive, it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are.

The circumstances of the Corinthian Christians to whom Paul was writing were all over the board: married, betrothed, and single, widows and bondservants, circumcised and uncircumcised. That’s just a sampling.

Think of the bondservants. They were the physical property of a human master. And yet Paul says to them in 1 Corinthians 7:21, “Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)” What Paul meant was circumstances, even very difficult ones, don’t disqualify anyone from God’s assignment. If we can extricate ourselves honorably from such circumstances, we ought to do it. But if not, let us consider it God’s assignment, at least for today, and be faithful,

not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:6–8)

Assigned to Affliction

Think of Paul’s own various circumstances: imprisoned, violently persecuted, ill, exposed to the cold, hungry, shipwrecked, betrayed, homeless, poorly dressed, mocked, maligned, distrusted, spiritually opposed, afflicted, sometimes despairing of life, and finally killed (2 Corinthians 11:23–28). And it was glorious! All of it! Because Paul’s life was hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3) and since the Life (John 14:6) had given him eternal life, death could only gain him a whole new level of life (Philippians 1:21).

As John Calvin said, “we should all regard our particular situation as a post assigned to us by God, lest in the course of our lives we flit to and fro and drift aimlessly about” (Institutes, 821). See your life today as an assignment from God. And stay faithful at your post until the Lord moves you.

Your Greatest Adventure

Here’s the bedrock truth beneath 1 Corinthians 7:17: God — the Creator and sustainer of all that exists — is the one who has chosen us and bestowed on us the exceedingly rare honor to live here and now. He has assigned us a life to lead. And there is no more wonderful, exciting, hopeful, fulfilling, joy-producing sense of life purpose than to realize that we are who we are, what we are, how we are, where we are, and when we are by the assignment of the Lord.

You have been given the unfathomable gift of life. You have been given the infinitely more valuable gift of eternal life. And you have been given the astounding and extremely rare privilege of receiving an assignment from God. There is no higher calling than to lead the life that the Lord has assigned to you. Embrace your assignment, this great adventure chosen for you, and press it to the limit.