Jon Bloom's Blog, page 38

Turning Fifty and Still Fighting for Faith

I turn fifty this weekend. Fifty. It came faster than I expected.

I received a birthday greeting in the mail from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). I told my wife that it was like receiving a card from the Grim Reaper. Retirement is not something I’m prepared to think about yet, either psychologically or financially (though I may be prepared in the former sense before the latter sense).

Or spiritually. There is no retirement from Kingdom work.

I am among the oldest of so-called “Generation X,” born from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. We are a gap generation, an undistinguished “X” between the massive, socially dominant Baby Boomers and the noisy, hip Millennials. We are not “the greatest generation,” and we’re not the coolest. We’re the quiet, middle-child generation. We came of age in the relatively conservative Reagan-Bush era, which means we aren’t political or cultural revolutionaries. And we are now increasingly finding ourselves in middle age, no longer trendsetters, and not yet sages.

Fifty Feels Different

Middle age feels different than I thought it would. My grandmother once said to me (she was in her early nineties and I was in my early thirties), “Inside I still feel like I did in my twenties. I look in the mirror now and wonder, who is that old lady?” Now I understand better what she meant. Much of the inner me at fifty does not feel different than I did at 25. But when I see myself in photos, I wonder at the middle-aged man. Is that really what I look like? That looks like my dad.

But looking older is not the hard part of middle age. That’s mainly hard on my vanity, which is good for my soul. The harder part is the deeper, existential realization that at fifty I am still far more like the 25-year-old inner me than I thought I would be.

I thought I would be more mature by now. I thought I would have greater faith. I thought I would be more prayerful, less fearful, more patient, less irritable. There has been progress in all these areas, but not as much as I expected.

I thought I would be a more Christ-like, Spirit-filled disciple of Jesus, a better husband, a more skilled father, a more thoughtful friend. I thought I would be a bolder witness for Christ and a greater lover of people. I thought I would be more fruitful. And I thought I would have made more progress in overcoming my constitutional and temperamental weaknesses.

The hardest part of middle age is realizing how much of the me I thought would change still remains. The pace of sanctification is turning out to be painfully slow. Disgusting depravity is still a daily battle on many levels. I am still so “beset with weakness” (Hebrews 5:2).

Middle Age Temptations

I know better now why people have mid-life crises. There are more demands on us at this stage of life than at any previous time. Family, vocational, financial, and often ministry challenges are more complex than ever. And these arrive precisely at the time when it dawns on us that we are more sinful, weaker, and less wise than we thought we’d be by now. We can feel trapped in the middle.

That’s why some respond by withdrawing into a protective cocoon while others bolt for some greener-looking pastures. Some grasp at a new fantasy since the old ones didn’t deliver, while others simply succumb to the cynicism that all dreams are empty fantasies and begin the hardening process that produces bitter old people. When weakness meets weariness, and discouragement meets disillusionment, we must be on our guard. These are spiritually precarious moments.

Sufficient Grace to Endure the Race

I’m finding that what I really need at this phase of life is the refreshing gospel reminder that it is precisely my weaknesses that showcase most clearly and beautifully the strength of God’s grace (2 Corinthians 2:9–10), and that I have need of endurance, so that when I have done the will of God I may receive what he promised (Hebrews 10:36). My weaknesses have a purpose in God’s design, and so does my weariness.

Middle age is like miles twelve to twenty in a marathon (at least psychologically), when the initial energetic optimism of the start is gone and the finish line still seems far off (even with the AARP cheerleaders). Miles still stretch out ahead, and we know there are still some hills. Our body is weary, and our mind is susceptible to mental diversions. Regrets, anxieties, and fears cloud our thinking more than they did at the beginning. We are faced with various temptations to give up.

These middle miles may not be the most glorious miles of the race, but they frequently are the most important. Whether or not we finish well is often determined during this stretch of road.

So as I help lead the vanguard of Generation X into our sixth decade in the race of faith, with the rhythm of my feet upon the pavement and through some fatigue, I’m preaching to myself, There’s sufficient grace to endure the race (2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 12:1).

Fifty came faster than I expected. So will sixty and seventy, if the Lord wills. So will the finish line. So will Glory. And each will feel different than I thought it would. My expectations, and certainly my self-image, are not what’s important.

What’s important, what this whole race is about, is obtaining the Prize (Philippians 3:14). And I want to keep running that I may obtain it (1 Corinthians 9:24).

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How Should Christians Comment Online?

Reading people’s comments online is an interesting and sometimes troubling study in human nature. And reading comments by professing Christians on Christian sites (as well as other sites) can be a discouraging study in applied theology.

The immediate, shoot-from-the-hip nature of comments on websites and social media is what can often make them minimally helpful or even destructive. Comments can easily be careless. That’s why we must heed Jesus’s warning: “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). This makes commenting serious business to God.

How Should We Comment?

Seldom: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (Proverbs 10:19).

The Bible counsels us to restrain our lips (which in the twenty-first Century includes thumbs) because a fool has many words (Ecclesiastes 5:3). We are wise to heed this. It’s also helpful to remember that our sin nature gives us all an exaggerated sense of self-importance. But gospel humility leads us to esteem others higher than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). Perhaps our opinions aren’t needed after all.

Slowly: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19).

If an article or post makes us angry, we should almost never write in the heat of irritation. In that frame of mind it is very difficult to “be gentle [and] show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Titus 3:2). It is best to wait and pray. An hour or a day will likely yield a more gracious comment, if one is needed at all.

Graciously: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6).

All things that are said outside of the Bible by fallen humans, especially quickly written social media updates, are limited, deficient, and defective. And all of us read things through the filters of our experience and perspective. We all say and interpret things wrongly. Therefore, we can be gracious and patient, seeking to assume the best of people.

When Should We Comment?

For the Christian, the purpose for speaking anything to anyone at anytime, whether with lips or hands, is “that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). So if we discern that we should comment on someone’s post, our motive should be to give them grace. When we do decide it would be good to comment, here are a few suggestions of ways to give grace:

Thank: This may be the best and most frequent reason we should comment. If a writer increases our understanding or encourages our souls or helpfully exhorts or warns us, expressing our gratitude is appropriate for us and life-giving to the writer. The piece doesn’t have to be a perfect. If we’re helped, we can thank; if we’re not helped, we can say nothing.

Encourage: We humans generally find it easier to criticize each other than to encourage each other. Often this is sinful pride infecting our critical thinking skills. There are easily a hundred critics for every encouraging person. As gospel people who seek to give grace, Christians can use comments to encourage and build up a writer and other readers (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Look for and identify the grace in an article or post.

Clarify: If a post is confusing or sounds errant to us, giving grace is to first ask clarifying questions, rather than immediately jumping to conclusions. A kind, insightful question might reveal a writer’s mistake or a reader’s misunderstanding.

Correct (Gently): This should be quite rare. In general, I think too much time is wasted on crafting critiques in comments and then defending those critiques from opponent commenters. But occasionally a glaring factual or doctrinal error may be important enough to warrant a correction. In such cases we must remember Paul’s instruction:

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 2:24–25)

Authentic humility in heart and tone is essential. Wait and pray until you can comment in a way that matches Paul’s exhortation. And do not be sucked into time-consuming “irreverent babble” with other commenters (2 Timothy 2:16). Leave the comment in faith and don’t take offense if it doesn’t receive a response. If you know the author personally, avoid correcting them with a public comment. Write or call them privately.

Do Not Start Fires

In closing, let us remember this sober word from the Apostle James:

The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. (James 3:6)

James wrote this to Christians. Christians set fires in comment threads. Let us not set fires through careless words for which we will be held accountable. Rather, let us restrain our lips/fingers, and when we do speak, may it only be to give grace to those who hear.

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Do Not Underestimate a Defeated Devil

We think we know what’s going on. But often we barely have a clue.

Scripture teaches us that what we see happening in the world is only part of the story. There’s a whole dimension to reality that wields a direct and very powerful influence in our experience and yet is largely outside of our perception. The Apostle Paul describes it this way:

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Do You Know What Hunts You?

Many times Christians have quoted the first phrase of this verse to help us remember that our fellow human beings aren’t our primary adversaries. And that’s true. But the rest of the verse is quite serious and significant, too. We are up against cosmic powers that govern the present darkness in which we live, powers for which we are no match, at least not alone. Are we taking this seriously enough?

In Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” after Frodo the Hobbit has his first encounter with the evil Nazgûl, he meets Strider (who turns out to be King Aragorn). Strider asks Frodo, “Are you frightened?” Frodo answers, “Yes.” Strider replies, “Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.”

Do you know what hunts you? (1 Peter 5:8)

Satan Demands to Have You

The disciples found out what was hunting them and what they were really made of on the night Jesus was betrayed. Jesus warned them it was going to come. In the Upper Room, he turned to Peter in a moment of anguished compassion and said,

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” (Luke 22:31)

Ponder these five words for a moment: “Satan demanded to have you.” The Greek word for “you” in verse 31 is plural. Satan wasn’t just after Peter; he was after all of the disciples. He wanted to press them all through his sieve of terror.

The disciples had an Adversary — a ruler, an authority, a cosmic power, a spiritual force of evil — who had demanded that God let him put them through the wringer. And God was granting Satan permission. And they had no idea what was happening underneath and behind everything they could see.

I don’t know about you, but I find this stunning and unnerving. Satan, who the Bible says accuses Christians before God day and night (Revelation 12:10), can make demands, and sometimes God grants them. We see this also in the first and second chapters of Job. And when Satan is granted his demands, like with Job, all hell breaks out against believers. And this can take the form of flesh and blood enemies, natural disasters, and bodily disease.

Are you ready?

Don’t Overestimate Yourself

It is a dangerous thing to underestimate the power of spiritual evil and to overestimate our ability to withstand it. When Jesus told Peter that Satan was coming after him and the others, Peter responded,

“Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” (Luke 22:33)

Peter had a willing spirit, but he didn’t know how weak his flesh was (Matthew 26:41). However, Jesus did and he told it to Peter straight:

“I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:34)

In human terms, Peter was no wimp. This man had left everything to follow Jesus (Mark 10:28). He had the guts to try walking on water (Matthew 14:29). He had seen Jesus transfigured (Mark 9:2). It would be wise for us not to assume that we are his equals. If Peter could be pressed by Satan to deny Jesus, there’s no doubt that we could be as well. Without the protection of Jesus, we have no hope of withstanding such an evil spiritual force.

The Protection of Jesus’s Prayers

In the face of Satan’s attack, Peter had only one hope, as he discovered. Jesus had said to him,

“I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32)

It’s interesting that the Greek word for “you” in this verse is singular, as opposed to the plural “you” of verse 31. “I have prayed for you, Peter.” Jesus knew Peter was going to outright deny him repeatedly. Peter was going to have a major failure of faith. He was going to discover that he needed far more than self-confidence to withstand satanic sifting. But Jesus had prayed for Peter, and so Peter’s faith was not going to fail utterly. His faith would be sustained, restored, and strengthened.

Like Peter, ultimately our only hope of enduring this present oppressive darkness is with Jesus’s prayers. And we have very good ground for hope, for Jesus “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). That intercession ensures that by his omnipotent grace we will ultimately stand (Romans 5:2).

Wear the Armor, Wield the Word, and Pray at All Times

But Jesus does not merely intend for us to be the passive recipients of his mighty prayers. He intends for us to engage our powerful Adversary, the cosmic powers, in battle in the strength he supplies (1 Peter 4:11). Through Paul we understand how Jesus equips us. We discover that we have spiritual body armor and a sword (Ephesians 6:13–17), and that Jesus expects us to do everything possible to withstand evil (Ephesians 6:13).

What this means is that we must take the reality of spiritual evil very seriously. The enemy and the war are not metaphors. They are very real. Being armed, we are called to remain alert by remaining prayerful, “praying at all times in the Spirit . . . with all perseverance . . . for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

If we are not praying this way, it’s likely that we do not take the spiritual forces of evil seriously enough. We do not really know what hunts us. And like the disciples, we do not know how weak our flesh is. Jesus’s word to us, like it was to them, is, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).

But if we wear the armor, wield the Word, and pray at all times in the Spirit, we will “not be outwitted by Satan” or “ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:11). We will be ready to wrestle well when he demands to have us.

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You Don’t Have to Plan Everything

God doesn’t want you to plan everything.

Don’t get me wrong. Planning is a beautiful thing. God is a magnificent planner — in the bigness of the universe and the smallest molecules. Many things in life simply do not happen without planning. Stadiums aren’t built, sewer systems aren’t installed, power grids aren’t maintained, children aren’t educated, books aren’t written, churches aren’t planted, weight isn’t lost, and often prayer doesn’t happen without a plan.

Jesus’s Largely Unprogrammed Ministry

And yet the most powerful ministry encounters recorded from Jesus’s life seemed to take place during unexpected, informal, unprogrammed moments. If you skim through the Gospel of John, you’ll see what I mean. Most of what John recorded of Jesus’s ministry — from his baptism to his post-resurrection appearances — were experienced by his followers and observers as unplanned, spontaneous events.

In other words, the picture we get of Jesus’s earthly ministry strategy is not a highly structured three-year plan with a detailed, efficiently executed travel schedule and preaching itinerary. Rather, what we see is Jesus remaining in a state of constant prayer, confident in the Father’s plan, watching for his Father’s initiative (John 5:19), and, in response to that initiative, making decisions to stay or move or preach or heal — decisions that from a human perspective seemed spontaneous.

Not By Might, Nor By Power, But By the Spirit

So what, if anything, does this mean for twenty-first-century Western Christians who live in a very complex technological culture that highly values strategic planning in just about every area in life — from exercise to school to parenting to yard work to our 9-to-5? We must remain aware of and critically evaluate our cultural values. We learn from our culture that success is owing to effective planning and execution. We absorb this value just living in our world.

But the examples in the Gospels and Acts tell us that the kingdom of God is being built according to God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23), not ours (Isaiah 58:8–9). We cannot build the kingdom of God like the new, billion-dollar stadium is being built in Minneapolis. Success for us is not merely a combination of the right goals, the right blueprint, the right budget, the right resources, the right timeline, the right talent, and the right materials. The reason is that we often don’t even know what the key factors are in ministry — what faithfulness and fruitfulness look like in a particular situation or relationship.

God purposely plans to build his kingdom through works of his sovereign Spirit rather than sheer human might and power (Zechariah 4:6). God purposely chooses to build his kingdom using means and people that from a worldly standpoint are weak and foolish (1 Corinthians 1:22–29). God purposes to build his kingdom in ways that are different from the ways the world generally works because the kingdom is a new creation, not part of the old one (2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s a new world order (Isaiah 65:17). And therefore it is very important to God that we, as citizens of his better, heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16), do not rest our faith “in the wisdom of man but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5).

Some Diagnostic Questions

This is a significant reason why God chose to move like he did in the Gospels and Acts. He wanted to show the world that he exists and rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6), and he wanted his people to not depend on their own wisdom, but to be prayerful, watchful, and responsive in faith when he works in unexpected ways.

And this reason hasn’t changed.

Given our cultural assumptions, we must ask ourselves, how prayerful are we in our plans and programs? I mean, really prayerful.

Are we really asking God for specific things?

Are we really listening? Are we really watching?

Are we flexible and available to respond to an unexpected, unprogrammed move of God?

Do the structures we’ve constructed in our lives and ministries even allow for this?

Do we even want God to move in such ways?

These are just questions. I’m asking them freshly of myself, and so I’ll pass them along to you. This is a diagnostic exercise. We who are often enamored with plans and programs must question our cultural assumptions. We must hold up our lives next to Jesus’s and to the early church, and let them speak into us and our strategies.

God isn’t against ministry plans and programs. The highly structured temple worship described in Leviticus, the complex, multi-dimensional administration required to govern Israel, and the normative rhythm of corporate worship and life together found in the New Testament show us this. God is glorified in good planning.

But God doesn’t want or intend us to plan everything. He is working a highly detailed plan and he wants us to follow his lead — perhaps more than we are today. Let us ask ourselves if and where we may be leaning too much on our own understanding in pursuing God’s kingdom advance.

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Loving and Celebrating a Defective Nation

July 4th is the day we Americans set aside to celebrate the birth of our nation, the ideals it represents, and the freedoms we enjoy.

But for many American Christians, the recent Supreme Court ruling will hang like a dark cloud over this year’s Independence Day festivities. And in a very real sense, this response is appropriate. The marring of the meaning of marriage is a calamity whose repercussions will likely be more far-reaching and destructive than most of us understand now. And it will likely have serious future implications for churches and other Christian institutions.

It’s helpful for us to take a moment to reflect on what true freedom really is and what it means for us ex-patriots of the kingdom of heaven to love and celebrate America, even with all her grievous defects.

True Freedom

What does it really mean to be free?

In the American sense, freedom is the ability to pursue one’s self-determined happiness with minimal constraints imposed by others or by the state. Tyranny is any external force that inhibits the pursuits of one’s internal desires.

Christian freedom is very different. According to Scripture, the worst tyranny is one’s errant, self-determined, internal desires and the greatest freedom comes from submitting to an external force: God. Here’s how Jesus said it:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34–36)

Internal sin is the worst tyrant and the external Son is the most wonderful liberator. True freedom is the Christ-bought freedom from the guilt of sin and the Spirit-empowered freedom from the governance of sin. But this is not the freedom of personal independence. It is liberation from the tyranny of sin and Satan (Romans 6:12; John 8:44) so that we may live joyfully under the loving servant-king that is Jesus Christ (John 15:13–14).

Free Citizens of a Better Country

Christ said that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). He came into this world to call out his people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of heaven (Colossians 1:13).

Therefore, in the deepest sense, Christians are no longer citizens of this world but citizens of “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 11:16). We are now “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). Wherever we live, we live as ex-patriots of the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, as Christians living in the U.S., we celebrate Independence Day remembering that America is the land of our sojourn, not our home (1 Peter 2:11).

The Burden of the SCOTUS Ruling

The burden we feel over Obergefell vs. Hodges must not be mainly the loss of Christian freedoms in America. No matter what may happen as a result of this ruling, Christians will not lose any of our most fundamental freedoms. For Christ has set us radically free (Galatians 5:1) and has given us the right to be called children of God (John 1:12), and in him we have become heirs to all things (Romans 8:17, 1 Corinthians 3:21). We have the promise of provision for every need (Philippians 4:19), the promise of abounding grace for every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8), and the promise of Christ’s presence with us to the end (Matthew 28:20).

No, the main burden we feel must be grief over our nation’s rejection of God and the scorning of his glory that this ruling represents, and the fact that those embracing it are not free. And therefore they do not know inexpressible joy that is filled with glory (1 Peter 1:8). They may be more free in the American sense, but not in the most important sense. They are freer to pursue their internal desires, but they are not free from them.

Loving and Celebrating America

There has always been a “culture war” of one kind or another being waged in America. It is actually part of the design of the American Experiment and the exercise of democracy. And so there is certainly a place for Christians to participate in this exercise and advocate for our constitutional rights.

But if Christians are mainly known as conservative cultural warriors and the defenders of our constitutional rights, the true gospel freedom that we are really here to promote will be obscured. Jesus said that the world would know that we are his disciples by the way we love one another (John 13:35) and by the way we love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Love is the greatest mark of the Christian (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The Greatest Freedom Ever Instituted

And the greatest love that we can show to our neighbors is to help them hear the gospel of the greatest freedom that has ever been instituted. Like Jesus, our primary focus must not be on the culture war, but on the kingdom mission. We must be mainly about planting gospel-proclaiming local churches, lovingly engaging our neighbors and family members, sending gospel-proclaiming missionaries to the unreached, and, like the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37, compassionately meeting every need the Lord brings across our path. Regardless of the media’s portrayal of Christians, let us show the people we actually live with the real gospel by embodying it in relationships.

And let us not lose sight of the fact that the American Experiment, for all its failings, remains a wonderful thing. It has secured, promoted, and defended unprecedented historical freedoms for an unprecedented and diverse amount of people. July 4th is a moment to remember and celebrate the remarkable common grace of God that we — and hundreds of millions of others — have received through the United States.

Our national celebrations have always been tempered with the reality that the U.S., throughout its history, has at times legalized terribly destructive immoral things, such as the enslavement of African peoples, the genocide and social alienation of native North American peoples, and the systematic killing of 50+ million unborn children, just to name a few. It is right to be grieved over legalized sin.

But let the current events increase our resolve to seek America’s greatest good. Being citizens of a better country frees us from trying to make this one the kingdom of heaven. Our time here is short and “here we have no lasting city” (Hebrews 13:14). Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). So let us give ourselves to bringing as many Americans to the better, lasting country as possible.

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God’s Purpose for the Supreme Court — And Everything Else

Jesus Christ is hard at work (John 5:17) and this is what he’s up to:

I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16)

Jesus is working hard to gather the rest of his sheep that he “bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28) and that are “scattered abroad” (John 11:52). This gathering is the main work that is happening in the world. All the great geopolitical events in the world are connected to this mission, though the world doesn’t know it.

But the church on earth, the sheep that are in the fold already, must remember this truth.

It’s what history is all about and it’s why we are still here, participating in this work with him.

It’s why God installs and removes rulers.

It’s why economies surge and crash.

It’s why church planting and missionary doors open and close.

It’s why gospel awakening breaks out in one place and persecution breaks out in another.

And as Jesus’s mission moves steadily toward its fulfillment, he tells us what we are to expect:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:9–14)

We can be at peace despite major cultural shifts, moral decline, political upheaval, war, natural disasters, disease, and increasing hostility to the gospel (Romans 8:35) because we know that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37), through him who loved us to the point of his own death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). And we know that all these things “must take place” (Matthew 24:6). All that is happening right now, no matter how concerning and God-belittling and destructive, will not prevent, but in fact will have some role in facilitating, the gospel proclamation throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

As the official defenders of American justice codify immorality as the law of the land, God wants us to stir up our minds (2 Peter 3:1) — to remember — so that we don’t lose sight of the gospel and the real purpose of history. Remembering what’s really going on is what keeps us from losing heart and hope and retreating into our private escapes and growing cynical. Jesus died to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) and he is relentlessly seeking each one he’s determined to save (Luke 19:10) until the full number has come in (Romans 11:25).

So despite the appropriate grief we experience over the new calamity, we can abound in hope (Romans 15:13). Because what’s really going on is that Jesus is bringing in all his sheep, and they will listen to his voice. And then the end will come.

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Breaking Free from the Spell of Fantasy

While listening to a sermon by Ray Ortlund, Jr., I was struck by a quote he read from Simone Weil.

Nothing is so beautiful, nothing is so continually fresh and surprising, so full of sweet and perpetual ecstasy as the good. No deserts are so dreary, monotonous and boring as evil. But with fantasy it is the other way round. Fictional good is boring and flat, while fictional evil is varied, intriguing, attractive and full of charm.

This statement is gloriously and heartbreakingly true. The real, fresh, surprising, ecstatic, good that God has made is so rich and satisfying, and yet we are so easily duped into exchanging it for charming fantasies that rob us of joy and leave us spiritually barren.

But Jesus has come to set us free from fantasy’s impoverishing enchantment.

Fantasy Turned the Garden into a Wasteland

The Garden of Eden was in every way a garden of real delights. Adam and Eve enjoyed the unfiltered fullness of the presence and fellowship of the Triune God whose radiant glory emanated from every wonderful thing he had made and given to them. And then the satanic serpent showed up and presented them with a fantasy where the ecstatic good was cast as flat and boring, and evil was cast as attractive and intriguing. Our progenitors allowed themselves to be tragically charmed, and they believed the lying fantasy. When they did, their garden of joy — and ours — became a dreary wasteland of monotonous misery.

And since that time, every fantasy that has put a charming, attractive face on evil and deceived a human being has replayed that tragedy. The fantasy markets itself as a garden of delight when it really is a desert. And it robs us of the beautiful good, alienates us from God, and leaves us desolate.

We must come to terms with this truth. Evil fantasies are perversions of the real good, the good we are designed to really enjoy. In creating them, we use our God-like imaginations in a satanic way, fantasizing a world in which we rule as God and indulge our selfish ambition, greed, anger, hatred, violence, covetousness, sexual lusts, and indolence. Their forbidden fruit is so easy to eat — as close as a thought — but their effect is devastating. They accustom our spiritual taste buds to fictional evil and addict us to the drug of titillation till we lose the taste for good and end up with nothing real.

Waking up from the Longest Dream

“But God, being rich in mercy . . .” (Ephesians 2:4). Oh, the beautiful, continually fresh, surprising, sweet, perpetually ecstatic good of the gospel of God — of the gospel that is God. In mercy he did not leave us to eternally endure the wasteland of evil’s fictional fantasies!

Jesus came to destroy the destructive thief and to give us the real good of the real abundant life that bursts out of the fullness of all that God is and wants to be for us (1 John 3:8; John 10:10). He came to set us free from evil fantasy’s bondage with the glorious truth (John 8:32).

It begins with being born again (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:3). The late Keith Green captured this experience in a song titled “Your Love Broke Through” in which he described his life before his conversion:

Like a foolish dreamer trying to build a highway in the sky,
All my hopes would come tumbling down and I never knew just why.

But he when he came to Christ, he said it was,

Like waking up from the longest dream,
How real it seemed,
Until [Christ’s] love broke through.
I’ve been lost in a fantasy
That blinded me,
Until your love broke through.

When Jesus became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14) and preached the truth because he was the truth (John 14:6) and died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3–4) that we too might have eternal life (John 3:16), the Real Good broke into the evil fantasy world and the Garden-City invaded the wasteland. Coming to faith in Jesus is our first awakening and liberation.

Breaking the Stronghold of Evil Fantasy

But still having indwelling sin woven into our bodies (Romans 7:23), and still living in a world that lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19), we are still susceptible to fantasy’s charming evil.

Having come to faith in Jesus, the way Jesus destroys the addictive stronghold of fantasy in our lives section by section is by calling us to live by faith in his promises (Galatians 2:20).

The Garden of Eden was turned into a wasteland by faith, as Adam and Eve putting their faith in the serpent’s promise that the fantasy of rebellion against God would make them happy and free. Now the hellish wasteland of the fantasy of sin is turned back into a better garden, the Garden-City, by faith, as we put our faith in every precious and great promise of God to make us free and happy (2 Peter 1:4).

The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4–5)

Evil fantasy presents itself as a delectable delight. But it is not. It is an argument to be destroyed, not a sweet apple to be eaten. Believing this — really believing this — is the key to breaking free from fantasy’s enchantment.

The evil fantasy that tempts you to believe its fictional attractive charm, and promises to make you happy, is nothing more than an ethereal wraith with a poison apple that will deliver only dreary, monotonous, joy-stealing barrenness. Don’t listen to it. Don’t eat its apple.

Instead, look to Jesus and listen to Jesus. Only he has the words of eternal life (John 6:68) and the power to give you that life in more abundance than you have yet imagined (John 10:10; 1 Corinthians 2:9). Yes, putting your faith in him instead of the enticing, titillating fantasy will be a fight, but it will be a good fight (1 Timothy 6:12), because it will eventually bring you the true, beautiful, continually fresh, surprising good that you really desire.

And the more you cultivate the habit of looking to and listening to Jesus, the more your spiritual taste buds and eyesight for real good will be restored so that you can “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

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How to Complain Without Grumbling

When we complain, it is frequently evil. But complaining is not necessarily evil. There’s a faithful (believing) way to complain and a faithless (unbelieving) way to complain.

The Bible often refers to faithless complaining as grumbling and warns us not to do that (Numbers 14:26–30; John 6:43; Philippians 2:14; James 5:9). Grumbling complaints directly or indirectly declare that God is not sufficiently good, faithful, loving, wise, powerful, or competent. Otherwise, he would treat us better or run the universe more effectively. Faithless complaining is sinful because it accuses God of doing wrong.

But faithful complaining does not impugn God with wrong. Rather, it is an honest, groaning expression of what it’s like to experience the trouble, anguish, and grief of living in this fallen, futile world (Romans 8:20–23). God does not mind this kind of complaining. In fact, he encourages it — and teaches us how to do it in the Bible.

With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. (Psalm 142:1–2)

How God Wants Us to Complain

Most of these biblical and righteous complaints are contained in what we call the psalms of lament. The Book of Psalms contains the prayers and hymns that God chose to teach us how to express ourselves to him in worship. About one-third of these psalms are laments. And they are precious gifts from God.

In these laments, the writers pour out to God their sorrow (Psalm 137), anger (Psalm 140), fear (Psalm 69), longing (Psalm 85), confusion (Psalm 102), desolation (Psalm 22), repentance (Psalm 51), disappointment (Psalm 74), and depression (Psalm 88), either because of external evil or internal evil or darkness.

These psalms are expressions of God’s profound and deep compassion for us (James 5:11). He knows that we frequently will experience bewildering pain and therefore will frequently need to express our pain to him.

God wants us to pour out our complaints to him and tell him our troubles (Psalm 142:2). He wants us to do it privately, like David did when he wrote Psalm 142 in the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 22). And he wants us to do it corporately, as when the people of Israel would sing Psalm 142 together.

He wants us to tell him exactly what it feels like, as when David exclaimed, “no one cares for my soul” (Psalm 142:4). And he wants us to remember that despite how things look and feel right now, because of his very great promises (2 Peter 1:4), someday these troubles will no longer afflict us, as when David expressed his hope: “You will deal bountifully with me” (Psalm 142:7).

The psalms of lament are treasures for the saints. They give inspired voice to our troubled souls. They model for us how to complain to God in a way that honors him. And they are themselves expressions of God’s merciful care for us, because in them we see that we are not as alone as we feel, and that God indeed does understand.

And if we have ears to hear, these psalms will also guard us from expecting too much in this age. God does not always intend his saints to experience prosperity. Rather, the psalms of lament remind us of the truth of Jesus’s statement, “In the world you will have tribulation,” and point us to our great hope: “Take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

So go ahead and complain to God, but don’t grumble. Learn from the lamenting psalmists how to be a faithful complainer.

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Where Real Courage Comes From

Where does courage come from? And how do you get it when you need it, when some fear towers over you and threatens you, and you feel like cowering and fleeing into some cave of protection?

For an answer, let’s look at one of the most famous stories of all time in 1 Samuel 17 — and one of the most misunderstood stories in the Bible.

David and Goliath

Three thousand years ago, in the Valley of Elah, a massive man named Goliath of Gath stepped out of the Philistine ranks to defy and taunt the army of Israel and its God. For forty days, he harangued the Israelite warriors, heaping shame on them, since none dared to accept his fight-to-the-death, winner-takes-all challenge. Every morning when he stepped forward, the men of God shrank back.

Then a teenage Hebrew shepherd boy named David showed up in the camp with some bread and cheese for his soldier big brothers and heard the giant pour out his scorn on the impotent host of his Lord. David was indignant. So he took his shepherd’s sling, grabbed a few stones, knocked Goliath on the block, and chopped off his head.

What David and Goliath Is Not About

Many think David’s defeat of Goliath is a story of personal courage in the face of overwhelming odds. They see David as the archetypal underdog, an Old Testament Rocky Balboa, standing up to an arrogant, powerful blowhard. They see him as a self-confident, independent young man who was brave enough to fight for what was right and rely on his own strength and skills, rather than conform to conventional tactics.

The popular moral of the story is this: Get out there and face down your giant because the heroically courageous come out on top.

But that is not at all what this story is about. It’s true that David was courageous, and courage is an essential, glorious virtue. But when he faced Goliath, David’s courage was a derivative virtue. It was being empowered by something else.

The Source of David’s Courage

Before looking at where David’s courage came from, we need to ask why Saul and his soldiers lacked it, at least at this moment. On the surface, the answer seems manifestly obvious. The Philistine champion was about nine-feet tall and incredibly strong (1 Samuel 17:4–7). He was a highly trained, experienced massacre machine who had sent many opponents to meet their Maker (1 Samuel 17:33). Physically, every man in the Hebrew camp was outclassed. Fighting Goliath looked like suicide, plain and simple.

But it is not so plain and simple. First of all, because fighting Goliath didn’t look like suicide to David, who was as physically outclassed as anyone else. But also, because these men believed in God and knew Israel’s history. They knew the stories, how God had overcome one giant adversary after another. Many of them had personally seen God do amazing things, such as Jonathan’s defeat of a Philistine garrison in 1 Samuel 14.

No, the men lacked courage to face Goliath because at this moment the men lacked faith. At this moment, for whatever reason, despite all the stories and past experiences, Goliath looked bigger than God. Each man believed that if he went out against this humungous human, he would be on his own and end up as bird food (1 Samuel 17:44).

David’s Deep Confidence in God

So what made David different? It was not because he had the self-generated, raw, cool courage of the American action-movie hero. What fueled David’s courage was his confidence in God’s promises and God’s power to fulfill them.

In the preceding chapter, Samuel the prophet had informed David that God had chosen him to be the next king of Israel and anointed him with his brothers around him (1 Samuel 16:13). David knew this information when he arrived in the camp and heard Goliath’s sneering rants. And he drew additional confidence by remembering how God had helped him in the past (1 Samuel 17:34–36).

This reality was David’s courage wellspring. He was not self-confident; he was God-confident.

David believed that God would never break his promise, and if Goliath made himself an obstacle to God’s promise, God could flick him out of the way with a pebble. David saw God as bigger and stronger than the fearful Philistine. So he went out to fight knowing that God would give him victory over Goliath — and when he did, the victory would demonstrate God’s power and faithfulness, not David’s courage (1 Samuel 17:46–47).

What’s the Source of Your Courage?

Courage is not an autonomous, self-generated virtue. Courage is always produced by faith, whether our faith is in God or something else. Courage is a derivative virtue.

For the Christian, a lack of courage, what the writer of Hebrews calls “shrinking back” (Hebrews 10:37–38), is always evidence of a lack faith in a promise of God. Some “Goliath” is looming larger than God in our sight and taunting us into humiliation. All we see is how weak and pathetic we are, and how inadequate we are to face him. Fighting him seems impossible, and the thought immobilizes us.

All of us experience this fear. So did David. David is such a helpful example for us, not only because he fueled his confidence and courage to face Goliath from God’s promises, but also because he so frequently felt fearful and needed to encourage his soul again by remembering God’s promises. A quick read through the first 25 psalms shows how often David battled fear and unbelief.

Get Angry at Fear

But faith made David more than courageous. When he heard the Philistine defy the living God and his army, it made David angry. Goliath’s taunts and accusations scorned God’s glory. And when no one stepped up to defend God’s name, it made God look weak. David would not tolerate that.

And such should also be our response to every fear and “lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Our fears are not primarily about us, even though they feel that way. Our fears are primarily about God. They impugn God’s character and call him weak, or non-existent. They defy God and his church.

That is an outrage, and our call is to stop cowering and stand up to our fears, not allowing them to intimidate us into unbelief.

Gospel Giant-Slaying

In the new covenant, we are not to battle flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but to love our human enemies (Luke 6:27). However, we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Our “Goliaths” are our indwelling sin and the “spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). And we are to wield warfare weapons against them (2 Corinthians 10:4), including the shield of faith and the sword of God’s word (Ephesians 6:16–17). We are to aim to kill.

These giants, who are bigger than we are and very intimidating to our flesh, will be slain just like David’s was — by faith. And our courage to face them will not come from our self-confidence. It will only come from confidence in God’s powerful promises.

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Give the Word Time to Work

While reading my Bible recently, these words stepped up and stared me in the face:

Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. (1 Corinthians 10:24)

I wanted to move on, but I couldn’t. I thought I already had the point, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw personal implications that I hadn’t seen before. For me, these moments are often the beginning of life transformation.

Let No One Seek His Own Good?

Being a Christian Hedonist, I first had to make sure I was clear on what Paul meant by “let no one seek his own good.” Because, of course we’re supposed to seek our own good! That’s the only reason anyone who finds a treasure in a field sells all he has to buy that field (Matthew 13:44).

But that’s not what Paul was talking about. What he was addressing in chapters 8–10 was Christian liberty. He wanted to make sure his readers understood that they should never exercise their freedoms in Christ if those freedoms gave offense to others. It may be true that in Christ “all things are lawful,” but Paul reminds his readers that “not all things are helpful” or “build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23). If our freedoms give offense to other Christians or non-Christians, love demands that we forego our freedoms so that we don’t destroy or inhibit someone else’s faith (1 Corinthians 8:11–13; 9:22; 10:28–29).

“Let no one seek his own good” means our priority should not be pursuing our freedoms, but others’ faith. In this sense, a true Christian Hedonist would never pursue his own good over another’s faith because, as John Piper says,

By Christian Hedonism, we do not mean that our happiness is the highest good. We mean that pursuing the highest good will always result in our greatest happiness in the end. We should pursue this happiness, and pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy, you cannot love man or please God.

But the part of this text that hit me hardest was the “neighbor” part. As the text stared at me, it seemed to be asking, How much is your neighbor’s faith your priority? How much are you thinking of your neighbor’s faith when it comes to the way you live?

I’m not eating in any “idol’s temple” (1 Corinthians 8:10) that I’m aware of, though I am not finished with the investigation. But when I reflect on Paul’s approach to life, how he sought to “become all things to all people, that by all means [he] might win some” (1 Corinthians 9:22), I’m once again confronted with the layers of my selfishness.

Meditation Leads to Transformation

All the implications of 1 Corinthians 10:24 are not yet clear in my mind and heart. This text is not done with me. I need to give it more time. And that is my reason for writing.

When a text grabs our attention, we must allow it time to do its work. The Spirit’s use of the sword of God’s word (Hebrews 4:12) to pierce into our deep places and bring about sanctification and transformation doesn’t always fit neatly into a daily devotional time or a Bible reading plan. Sometimes we need to clear our devotional schedule and linger over a text and wrestle with it, and probe into it, and let it probe into us.

Unhurried meditation is what leads to the mind’s transformation (Romans 12:2), which leads to behavioral application, which leads to lifestyle transformation. Such meditation may only require ten minutes, or it may take ten months. However the Spirit leads, linger.

Give the Word time to do its work.

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