Jon Bloom's Blog, page 40
April 29, 2015
Why God’s Will Isn’t Always Clear
If God wants us to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” (Colossians 1:10), why doesn’t he give us more specific guidance in our decisions?
The Spontaneous 95%
Consider all of the decisions you make during a typical day. Most are quick and spur-of-the-minute. John Piper estimates “that a good 95% of [our] behavior [we] do not premeditate. That is, most of [our] thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous.” That’s true. And it’s a bit unnerving when you think about it. The majority of the decisions that end up becoming the bricks in the building of lives are just “spill over from what’s inside.”
Even if we do stop and pray about such decisions, it is very rare that we discern God’s specific leading regarding what we should wear, what or where we should eat, if we should respond to this instance of our child’s sin with correction or forbearance, if we should put off that time-consuming errand till tomorrow, or whether we should check our email again.
The Massive 5%
But what about the other five percent of our decisions?
Some of these are massive and life shaping. Should I marry this person? How much money should I give away and where? How much should we save for retirement? Should we adopt a child? Should I pursue a different vocation? Should we homeschool or not? Should I pursue chemo or an alternative cancer treatment? Should we buy this home? Which college should I attend? Is it time to put my elderly parent in a nursing home? Should I go to the mission field?
Shouldn’t we expect God to direct us more explicitly in these?
A Concealing Design
The answer is no, not necessarily. Why? Well, the short answer is because he is God, and we are not. “It is the glory of God to conceal things” (Proverbs 25:2). His wisdom and knowledge are unfathomably deep, his judgments are unsearchable and his ways are inscrutable (Romans 11:33). Considering all the factors in play in the universe, it is likely no exaggeration that there are trillions of reasons for why God directs the course of our lives, and he prefers to carry out his purposes in ways that confound, surprise, and humble humans, angels, and demons.
There is a tremendous glory that God displays when, without tipping his hand to us in advance, we suddenly recognize that he was working his will all along when we couldn’t see it. And he is also merciful to withhold information from us that he knows we aren’t ready to know, even if we think we really want to.
A Revealing Design
But one reason why God usually doesn’t give us specific guidance in our sometimes-perplexing decisions is that he places a higher priority on our being transformed than our being informed in order that we will be conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). That’s why Paul writes,
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
What does this mean? It means that God has a design in the difficulty of our discerning. The motives and affections of our hearts, or “renewed minds,” are more clearly revealed in the testing of ambiguous decision-making.
In Scripture, God reveals to us everything we need to know to live godly lives (2 Peter 1:3) and to “be complete [and] equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). But the Father is not seeking workers, but worshipers (John 4:23). And he knows that if he made his will for our specific decisions more explicit more often, we would tend to focus more on what we do rather than what we love. Like the Pharisees, we would tend to focus more on our actions, rather than our affections.
But in decisions that require discernment, the wheat is distinguished from the tares. When we’re not quite sure, we end up making decisions based on what we really love. If deep down we love the world, this will become apparent in the pattern of decisions that we make over time — we will conform to this world.
But if we really love Jesus, we will increasingly love what he loves — we will be transformed by renewed minds. And our love for him and his kingdom will be revealed in the pattern of small and large decisions that we make.
The Pattern of Our Decisions
I say “pattern of decisions” because all of us sin and make mistakes. But conformity to the world or to Jesus is most clearly seen in the pattern of decisions we make over time.
That’s one reason why God makes us wrestle with uncertainty. He wants us to mature and have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
The wonderful thing to remember in all of our decisions is that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He laid down his life for us so that all of our sins are covered — including every sinful or defective decision. He will never leave us or forsake us. He has a staff long enough to pull us out of every hole and a rod to guide us back when we stray.
And someday, if we really seek to love him and trust him, we will see that he really was leading us through the confusing terrain of difficult decisions all along.
Related Articles
God’s Bright Design in Your Bitter Providences
April 23, 2015
You Have Just Enough Time
“I don’t have enough time.”
I have said this countless times over the years. I have thought it many times more than I’ve said it. But I have not ever seriously considered that thinking or speaking this way reflected poorly on God. Until the other day on “Ask Pastor John” I heard Prof. Bruce Hindmarsh say,
Busyness is moral laziness [because it is often a statement of our self-importance and our excuse to be inattentive to people]. . . . But God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him. And his grace is there; it is eternally present. Every moment is a sacrament where time touches eternity and there is exactly enough time to do what God has called us to do.
I had to replay this a number of times. It wasn’t even the main point in Prof. Hindmarsh’s remarks about the importance of Sabbath. But it was the main point for me. Busyness is moral laziness, God has given us just enough time, every moment is a sacrament — these are massively important truths I need to soak in.
“Busyness Is Moral Laziness”
We all know busyness. Everyone is busy. And everyone complains about being busy. Busy, busy, busy. Busy is a buzzword (even phonetically). Most of us have grown fairly comfortable with busyness.
But to call busyness (meaning a frenetic, distracted lifestyle) “moral laziness” suddenly makes us uncomfortable. It means that busyness is not something that merely happens to us. It is something we choose. As objections begin to rise in our minds, it is helpful to remember what Jesus said to busy Martha: “Mary has chosen the good portion” (Luke 10:42). Martha, you have chosen something else.
So why do we choose busyness? Prof. Hindmarsh says that too often we make it a “statement of self-importance.” We use busyness as a way of telling ourselves and, maybe more importantly, others how essential we are. Busyness is a way of posturing our significance. Ouch. I’ve done this.
But a more serious issue is that we choose busyness as a way to avoid having to make harder, sometimes more costly choices (which is why Tony Reinke calls it “lazy busy.”). Busyness can easily be an escape. It provides a convenient way to opt-out of wrestling through ambiguity to make a difficult, complex decision that we will be responsible for. It’s much easier to be the victim of circumstances than to be responsible for a mistake. And an overflowing schedule can become a shield protecting us from the unpredictable, inconvenient, time-consuming needs of other people. It’s an effective cover. Who can argue with you if you have too many things to do? Jesus can (Luke 14:15–24).
Now, of course there is such a thing as being legitimately too time-taxed to take on another need. We really are finite, as Jethro reminded Moses in Exodus 18. But that’s what makes busyness a moral and faith issue. Stewarding time is simply hard work. There are helpful tools, but there is no formula. Each person and each calling is unique and it requires our prayerful discernment and the humility of receiving (and seeking) counsel.
“Just Enough Time”
I need to break the very bad habit of saying I don’t have enough time. When I say this, I’m not only blaming my own moral laziness on my circumstances, I’m actually blaming God. I’m essentially saying that God is either insufficient or he’s stingy.
In reflecting on this I’ve become more aware of my lack of faith for God’s provision of time. I tend to have more faith that God will supply for our financial needs than he will for our time needs. For a while I’ve been bothered about not being more directly involved in personal discipleship and evangelistic relationships. But I’ve chalked it up to particular leadership and phase-of-life busyness — too easily, I now believe.
Toward the end of last year it dawned on me that my reticence (in part, selfishness and fear of man are also at work) is significantly due to my lack of faith that God would provide sufficient time if these unpredictable relationships proved more time-consuming than I could manage. I felt the Spirit’s conviction of my lack of faith and prompting to confront it. So since the turn of the year, my wife and I have been giving more freely of our time to these relationships and experiencing God’s provision.
Prof. Hindmarsh is right on when he says, “God has given us just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him. And his grace is there; it is eternally present.”
“Every Moment Is a Sacrament”
“Every moment is a sacrament where time touches eternity and there is exactly enough time to do what God has called us to do.”
What a beautiful and fearful statement. It’s beautiful in that every moment belongs to God (therefore every moment is holy) and he gives each moment to us as a gift. And he gives us enough sacramental moments to provide for our sacred callings, whatever they are. It is fearful in that we are stewards of these gifts and we will be held accountable for their investment (Matthew 25:14–30; 2 Corinthians 5:10). Fear and trembling is what we’re supposed to feel (Philippians 2:12). We are to handle holy things with great care.
Yet in our trembling we are also to remember that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15). If we come to him humbly through Christ confessing our sin and asking for help, all sinful stewardship is forgiven (1 John 1:9) and he will give us everything we need to steward the time entrusted to us (Luke 11:9; John 15:7; Philippians 4:19; Hebrews 13:20–21).
“His Grace Is There”
So let us lay aside the weighty sin of morally lazy busyness (Hebrews 12:1) and resolve to stop using it as a badge of self-importance or as an excuse to avoid what we don’t want to do.
And let us stop dishonoring God by saying that we don’t have enough time. God may, and frequently does, fill our time-plates full, which means that there are many things we must refrain from doing in order to remain faithful to our callings. But God always gives us enough time to do what he calls us to do.
And let us remember that this moment and every moment is a sacred gift from God. God’s sufficient grace is here, right now, where time touches eternity. As we prayerfully trust him, he will give us “just enough time to do what we need to do moment by moment to respond to him.”
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April 20, 2015
Free Yourself from Divided Interests
This is a reality we must remember: “The present form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31).
The nearly two thousand years since Paul penned these words might feel like a long time to those of us whose mortal lives are “like grass” (Psalm 103:15). But it’s not a long time at all. Two millennia are “like yesterday when it is past” to the Ancient of Days (Psalm 90:4). To him, “the appointed time has grown very short” and is rushing toward the end (1 Corinthians 7:29).
None of us should be too casual about wasting time. In God’s timeframe, each of us is given a life span of a breath (Job 7:7) to play our terrestrial part in his purposes. And the global church has a relative few minutes remaining before Jesus returns and the present form of this world becomes a memory.
This calls for clear heads. And keeping our heads clear is not easy. It’s hard. But if we don’t do the hard work, we will spend valuable time on the ephemeral at the expense of the eternal.
Divided Interests Are Costly
Paul keenly felt the shortness of time and the need for strategic living so that we make the best use of our time in these fleeting evil days (Ephesians 5:16). He wanted us to “be free from anxieties” and not have divided interests (1 Corinthians 7:32–34).
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul was addressing whether or not Christians should marry. And he advocated singleness “in view of the present distress” (1 Corinthians 7:26), though he made it clear that this was his trustworthy apostolic judgment, not the Lord’s command (1 Corinthians 7:12–13, 25).
But this is how Paul approached all of life. He lived lean and traveled light in order to minimize “worldly troubles” and divided interests (1 Corinthians 7:28, 34). That’s why he told Timothy, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Timothy 2:4). And this must be our approach to all of life as well.
Divided interests are costly. Every relationship we nurture, every activity we engage, every cause we get involved with, and every decision about what we will own and where we will live has a time, energy, concentration, and often financial cost attached to it. They all require some investment of life. The more divided our interests, the more diluted our lives.
Undivided Devotion Means Saying “Know” and “No”
When Paul calls us to live radically for the sake of the kingdom (like foregoing marriage), what he is trying to do is “secure [our] undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:35). He isn’t calling us to altruism but to true hedonism. God is the great Gain of life, the great Prize worth winning (Philippians 3:7–8, 14), and he’s worth giving up everything to have (Matthew 13:44).
But to pursue this joy in whatever levels of undivided devotion God calls us to — and there are different callings and gifts (1 Corinthians 7:6–7) — requires prayerful discernment and gracious ruthlessness. We need to know a few things, and we need to say no to many things.
We need to know what our calling is right now. Perhaps our vocational and other callings are clear, or perhaps we are waiting on God for further guidance. But whatever the case, there are things God is calling us to for his sake right now. And we must give ourselves to those things and not other things.
Which means that we also must know our limitations. I’m preaching to myself more than anyone else here. I have friends who have greater capacities than I do. They can read faster, write faster, organize more efficiently, and all around manage more things than I can. So they may be able to say yes to more things than I can and be faithful in their callings.
But as hard as it might be to admit, I’m not like them. I am who I am. And being me requires that I know, within reason, my limitations and how to say no to many things I may want to do or have so that my interests aren’t too divided. It’s hard, but a kind of ruthlessness is necessary to be faithful.
Live Lean and Travel Light
Divided interests are too costly to remain carelessly in the budget of our lifetime. Diversifying may be a wise financial investment strategy, but when it comes to time, concentration and focus yield the highest kingdom returns.
If you’re like me, it may be time for an audit. Let’s examine our relationships, vocations, activities, commitments, possessions, and living arrangements to see where we can divest ourselves of distracting interests and unnecessary anxieties.
We get one breath to live on earth. How we live matters. And soon this world’s present form will pass away.
In light of this, let us prayerfully discern our callings, know our limitations, and resolve to say no to anything unnecessary that unfaithfully divides our interests. Let us live lean and travel light in order to pursue a devotion to the Lord as undivided as possible.
Related Resources
Steward the Gifts God Has Assigned to You (article)
When Your Twenties Are Darker Than You Expected (article)
Don’t Waste Your Life (book)
April 16, 2015
Steward the Gifts God Has Assigned to You
Each of us has received grace-gifts from God. And, “as each has received a gift,” we are to “use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). We are given these gifts for the “progress and joy” of one another’s faith (Philippians 1:25).
Pride-Infected Gift Stewards
But we are all by sin nature selfaholics, born with an addiction to the intoxication of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Romans 12:3) and others thinking more highly of us than they ought to think.
And because remaining sin still dwells in us born-again saints, we find this old addictive pride still infects our view of ourselves and others when it comes to the grace-gifts we receive from God. Rather than seeing our gifts as things we don’t at all deserve and seeing others’ gifts as merciful means of grace to us, we frequently battle sinful discontentment. We often feel that we are not as gifted as we would like to be, or that our gifts don’t receive enough recognition, or that we would prefer another set of gifts altogether, impressive gifts like So-and-So has.
How Our Gifts Bless Others and Sanctify Us
Now, this exposure of pride in us is actually part of God’s design in the distribution of gifts among his children. As God doles out these unearned gifts among us in unequal measures, it has the gracious effect of drawing pride out into the light from the murky darkness of our deceptive hearts. Every time we compare ourselves to others and either exult in feeling superior or resent feeling inferior to them, God is inviting us to glorify him by repenting of our pride and humbling ourselves under his mighty, wise hand and trusting him to exalt us in the time and way it seems best to him (1 Peter 5:6).
That makes this a glorious design! It is sheer genius. It is a two-way channel of blessing if we will embrace it. God gifts all of us in such a way that our gifts channel blessings to others by meeting various needs, and they channel the blessing of humility to us by exposing our pride and pushing us to receive God’s grace to live by God-pleasing faith (Hebrews 11:6). When this happens it produces gratitude in everyone. It’s perfect! Our gifts work to bless others and sanctify us. It’s exactly what recovering selfaholics need.
Our Gifts Are for Others’ Benefit
Back to Peter’s words: “each has received a gift” (1 Peter 4:10). This needs to land on us with appropriate weight. God wants us to know that our gifts are not an accident of genetics and experience. He knew what he was doing when he made each of us and he has intentionally given us the gifts we have in the measure we have them.
Therefore, we are stewards of the gifts God has entrusted to us. And he has entrusted them to us primarily for the benefit of others (1 Peter 4:10; Romans 12:4–6). Our gifts are not intended to be platforms where we try to gain our sense of significance from the esteem of men. Our real significance comes from God choosing us in Christ, gifting us, and deploying us in his kingdom for his purposes. There is more significance there than we can fully comprehend and appreciate. The praise of men is usually vicarious fluff.
Live Your Assignment
You are on assignment from God. This is why Paul says, “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). “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are “a bondservant of Christ” (1 Corinthians 7:22) and a steward of the gifts you have received. Others need your gifts. That’s why you have them.
Our lives are not about pursuing our dreams. Many of our dreams are self-exalting pride fantasies and gratuitously selfish when we really examine them. And the truth is, we rarely know what’s best for us and what will really make us happy. But our Designer knows. He knows exactly what we’re made for and how we can live the life we’ve been given to the fullest and most fruitful. If we follow him by faith, he will lead us in the most ultimately fulfilling paths — even when those paths lead through suffering and death.
So live your assignment. Steward your gifts to the utmost for the sake of others. Aspire to be the very best and most fruitful you that you can be for God’s glory. Don’t dishonor God by devaluing the gifts he’s given you. Don’t waste valuable time grumbling about gifts you don’t have or resenting others for the gifts they do have, or even for the sinful pride they might exhibit. They’re stumbling, recovering selfaholics just like you and God knows how to graciously oppose them (1 Peter 5:5). Pray for them.
“So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (1 Corinthians 7:24). There is no higher calling for you than to be you, and God will reward you beyond your wildest dreams if you faithfully steward your gifts for others.
Related Articles
When God Messes with Your Life Plan
April 13, 2015
You Will Change the World
Have you ever wished you could do something that would change the world? Your wish has been granted. Are you tempted to think that your obscure, little life will leave no mark on the world? You have no idea how wrong you are.
All of History Will Be Different Because You Lived
Your very existence has already unalterably changed the course of world history. All of us, from the child who does not survive the womb to the centenarian, leave indelible marks in the lives of those around us and those who come after us. Our purposeful or incidental interactions and intersections with other people affect the timing of events or ideas or decisions that direct the future trajectory of their lives, eventually affecting millions.
Not only that, but as creatures made in God’s image, God has conferred upon us the incredible dignity of being sub-creators who are given real power to change the course of history through what we create. What we make with words and wood and wire and water wells and scalpels and glass and chalkboards and stone and combine harvesters and paper and glue and musical notes and motion pictures and animals and meals and photos and spreadsheets and fabrics and computer code and time with our toddler or teen and IV needles and oil paints and nails and vacuums and PVC pipe and shingles and sermons and prosthetic limbs and financial investments and welding torches and the gentle care of wounded souls is of inestimable importance and value.
Lives are changed for better or worse by how we live the life we’re given and what we make with the talents we’ve been given. In fact, if you knew how much your life actually impacts others, how far that impact extends, and some of the unforeseen massively important things that result, it might frighten you into near paralysis, fearing you might cause a calamity.
No Such Thing As an Unimportant Life
There is no such thing as an unimportant, meaningless life. Life would only be meaningless if atheism were true. Then all of reality would be meaningless.
Every life God creates is good and has a purpose, and therefore possesses a certain sacredness (Genesis 1:31). As stewards of the earth, we humans should approach all life with appropriate reverence (Genesis 1:26), especially other human lives (Exodus 20:13; Matthew 19:19; Matthew 5:44).
This is one reason why abortion and euthanasia are such evils. Every life aborted at its beginning, middle, or end also alters the course of history. Whenever we take a life, another’s or our own, we affect far more people than we understand.
Are you wise enough to know whether an unborn child’s descendants should not live and change history? Are you wise enough to know whether a disabled or diseased person’s life has ceased to change, enrich, or direct the course other lives? “Can you find out the deep things of God” (Job 11:7)?
There is only One who is qualified to play God and it is his to give and take away human life (Job 1:21).
Many Who Are First Will Be Last, and the Last First
We humans are very poor judges when it comes to assessing the importance of a life. Too often we claim to be wise and show ourselves fools (Romans 1:22). Too often we vie with others for the title, “The Greatest,” not understanding what greatness really is (Luke 9:46–48).
The truth is, we rarely know who the real great ones are — those whose lives prove truly great in God’s assessment and bear the longest-lasting fruit generations from now. But we do know that Jesus said, “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30).
Therefore, we must be careful not to “judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24). And this means that we “not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).
Live Prayerfully and Carefully with the Kingdom in View
The life you have been given is an assignment from the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:17). You don’t need to be someone else and you don’t need to be somewhere else. You need to be who and where God wants you to be. Because your assigned life is not just about you. It’s also about hundreds of others around you and hundreds of thousands of others who will come after you.
And since you are not wise or foreseeing enough to chart your own course for the sake of your present and future fruitfulness, you must follow Jesus by faith. He is your Shepherd and will help you hear his voice so you can follow him in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake (John 10:27; Psalm 23:3).
You will change the world, more than you know. And because of that, because your life will impact so many others, Jesus wants you to live prayerfully (Ephesians 6:18), walk carefully (Ephesians 5:15), and seek his kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). If you do, if you faithfully invest the “little” he has entrusted to you, no labor of yours in this life will be in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58) and he will entrust you with more in the life to come (Matthew 25:21).
Related Resources
The Essence of the Unwasted Life (message)
How Can I Magnify God With My Life? (interview)
April 9, 2015
Sometimes Flight Is the Best Fight
Don’t try to reason with your sin-infected appetites. An aroused appetite is almost always unreasonable. When a desire is awakened in you to indulge in some sin, your best defense is often escape.
Who Rules the Kingdom of the Heart?
We might like to think that reason rules the human heart, but it doesn’t. Delight rules.
In the kingdom of the heart, the commanding hierarchy is this: King Delight rules and he tells General Desire what to want. General Desire then issues commands to Lieutenant Will to act on the want. No one does anything by “sheer will-power.” The will is not an independent agent. It is a soldier under authority that receives and obeys commands. The will might be strong or it might be weak and, like a soldier, it can be trained. But the will does what desire commands. And desire commands whatever delight believes will bring it the most pleasure or the least pain.
So what role does Reason play in the hierarchy of the human heart? Reason is Royal Counsel to King Delight and advises the king on what he should believe and value. When King Delight agrees with Counsel Reason, General Desire and Lieutenant Will act reasonably. But if King Delight doesn’t agree with Counsel Reason, the king is going to have his way.
The Will Always Obeys Desire, Even to Do Undesirable Things
But don’t we sometimes will to do what we don’t desire? Yes and no. Yes, our will can move us to do something that, on one level, we don’t desire, but only if, on another level, we desire something else more.
A man who desires to view a pornographic image can resist this desire, but only if he considers a competing desire, such as inheriting the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9) or cherishing his wife (Ephesians 5:28–29) or avoiding the shame of being caught will result in a superior pleasure. A woman who desires to smoke a cigarette can resist that desire because of her superior desire to enjoy more robust health now and avoid lung cancer in the future. Jesus desired to avoid crucifixion and bearing the Father’s wrath, but he endured it because he desired even more the superior eternal joy set before him (Hebrews 12:2). Likewise, a Christian denies himself, picks up his cross, and follows Jesus because he wants the same eternal life of joy more than earthly pleasures (Matthew 16:24–25).
Cool Reason vs. Hot Desires
It’s important to understand how the hierarchy of the heart functions, especially when it comes to battling sin-infected appetites, which are sinful desires issuing orders to the will. When we experience those desires, what’s happening is that King Delight is being persuaded by a temptation that a sin will yield pleasure. And in that moment, the king may not be open to Counsel Reason.
That’s why reasoning with an awakened sinful appetite is like reasoning with a devil. It isn’t interested in or compelled by the truth; it is interested in a pleasure being offered. In fact, that appetite will seek to manipulate our reason in order to get the pleasure it seeks. It will twist every reasonable objection and minimize and muddle it in our minds. This is why we have often succumbed to an appetite’s demand even when our reason tells us it is wrong and even destructive. Cool reason usually melts in the presence of a hot desire.
Know When to Run
Reason is necessary in the battle against sinful desires. But typically not when a sinful appetite’s craving is upon us, especially if the source of gratification is close at hand. What we need to do at this point is run!
The apostle Paul understood this. That is why he wrote, “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18). Sin-distorted sexual desire is a very powerful, persuasive appetite. Paul’s recommendation — no, his command — in the face of this appetite was to flee. Paul was very aware of this appetite’s ability to overpower our reason. So he told us to employ this intelligent, righteous alternative strategy: Hightail it out of there.
Joseph in Genesis 39:11–13 is a great example of this. When Potiphar’s wife cornered him and tried to seduce him, Joseph wasted no time reasoning with her, which he knew from experience was a waste of time. He “fled out of the house.”
David in 2 Samuel 11 is an example of a failure to flee. When he was on his roof and saw Bathsheba bathing, he could have done what Joseph did. But he didn’t. He lingered and looked. His reason and conscience told him it was wrong. But the longer he lingered the stronger his appetite grew and the more he listened to its promise of pleasure and he let it overcome him.
Proximity and Visibility: Plan Your Escape
We have all had our Joseph moments and our David moments. We’ve fled from and we’ve caved into sinful temptation. We all have certain familiar sinful appetites that tempt us to stumble. Therefore, we must make some plans of escape for the times when the temptation hits.
You know yourself. What are the patterns of temptation? When are the times that you are more vulnerable? When does the seductive voice speak sweet insanities to you in such a way that you want to linger and look and listen?
There are two ways to flee from sinful appetites that seek to entrap us. The first is to flee from proximity to the temptation. Get out of the house, away from the computer or T.V. or phone or fridge or Facebook.
But sometimes fleeing from proximity to temptation is not an option. At that point we need to flee to visibility. Either we must flee to a visible place that will minimize temptation or we must let a trusted friend know about the temptation. Often the quickest way to douse a hot desire is to tell someone else about it.
The time for Counsel Reason to speak with King Delight about the highest, truest pleasures is when he’s open to listening to reason. But if a deceitful appetite is awakened today, don’t reason with it; run from it! Be ruthless. Run from proximity to the temptation or run to visibility on it.
Sometimes flight is the best way to fight sin.
Related Resources
Practical Steps to Kill Sin (article)
Make War: The Pastor and His People in the Battle Against Sin (message)
April 6, 2015
Quiet the Fear, Do the Work
Strategy, organization, and training are essential when a soldier is called to fight in a war. But by far the hardest thing to do is actually quiet the fear and do the hard work of fighting.
During the American Civil War, Union major generals George McClellan and Ulysses S. Grant are studies in contrast.
McClellan was the first General-in-Chief, appointed to oversee all military operations. He was young, handsome, and carried himself with a commanding bearing. His countenance was fierce and confident. He was credentialed, having finishing second in his class at West Point. He was popular with his soldiers and with the masses. As a general, he could out-prepare, out-organize, out-train, and out-strategize every other Union commander.
But after one year, Abraham Lincoln removed McClellan from command. Why? Because on the field, McClellan was very slow to actually fight battles.
Ulysses S. Grant was nearly McClellan’s opposite. He was scruffy and a bit disheveled, soft-spoken, constantly smoked, or chewed a cigar, and his demeanor was unassuming. He was undistinguished at West Point, finishing in the lower half of his class. Early in his career, he had been forced to resign from the army due to alcohol use. As a general, he was intuitive, could be impulsive, and even reckless.
But after one year in command, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. Why? It wasn’t because Grant was more capable than McClellan. It was because Grant was willing to fight. In saying this, I do not condone unethical tactics that he sometimes employed or allowed. My point is merely this: Grant knew that at the end of the day, battles and wars are won by doing the hard work of actually fighting.
Faith-Filled Fighting
When God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses as leader of Israel, Joshua’s task was a daunting one. It was his job to march Israel into Canaan and take over the Promised Land. God had “given” this land to Israel, but powerful peoples still lived there. This time God wasn’t going to send plagues to drive them out. He was going to send Israel to drive them out. That meant fighting. And fighting is a fearful thing.
That’s why seven times between Deuteronomy chapter 31 and Joshua chapter one, either God or Moses commanded Joshua to be “strong and courageous.” Joshua felt fear and was tempted to doubt his ability to accomplish this task. So God said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lᴏʀᴅ your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Being strong and courageous was not some kind of self-confident swagger for Joshua. It was trusting God’s promises more than his own strength and acting on that trust. Courage meant faith-filled action in the face of fear.
Courage in the Face of Fear
Jesus has called each of us to be “good soldiers” (2 Timothy 2:3) in the “good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), which means we are to be faithful witnesses of his resurrection wherever he has deployed us (Acts 1:8, 22).
In sharing the gospel, there is a crucial place for strategizing, organizing, and training. But in this spiritual war, just like human war, victory does not go to the brilliant, talented, impressive, credentialed, and popular. It goes to those who, when push comes to shove, are willing to take action on the field. People come to know Jesus Christ when we “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5).
To do “the work” requires courage. And courage is doing what we know needs to be done despite the fact that we are afraid to do it. Courage does not allow fear to fill the post of General-in-Chief in our minds and hearts, in our belief and behavior.
There is likely some opportunity before us to pursue today. Let’s not be surprised if we don’t want to do it. That’s the nature of real fighting in a real war. Let us be strong and courageous. Quiet the fear. Fight the good fight. Do the work. The Lord our God will be with us wherever we go.
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April 1, 2015
Not My Will Be Done
“Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)
Darkness had descended on Jerusalem. Its residents had finished their Passover meals. The lamb and unleavened bread had been consumed; the sandals, staffs, and belts put away (Exodus 12:1–11).
In Caiaphas’s house, a conference was underway with some members of the Sanhedrin, some officers of the temple guard, and one of Jesus’s closest friends. In the secluded hillside olive garden of Gethsemane, just outside the city’s eastern wall opposite the temple, Jesus sat with his other eleven closest friends. The eleven friends could not stay awake. Jesus could not sleep.
The Great Passover Unveiled
Earlier that evening, Jesus had shared with his disciples the most marvelous Passover meal of all time, though his disciples only recognized this in retrospect. Jesus had “earnestly desired” to eat it with them (Luke 22:15). For the Great Passover, the one for which the Passover in Egypt was a type and shadow, was about to take place.
The angel of death was coming to claim the Firstborn Son (Colossians 1:15). The worst plague of God’s judgment was about to fall. But this Firstborn Son, being all and in all (Colossians 3:11), was also the Passover Lamb who would be slain to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29; Revelation 5:6). The eternally obedient Firstborn Son, the spotless Lamb of God, would take on himself all the sin of the sons and daughters of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6), his blood would cover them, they would receive his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), and they would forever be shielded from the death angel’s blow (John 11:26).
So the Firstborn of many brothers (Romans 8:29), the Great Passover Lamb, had taken bread and wine and said to the first eleven of those brothers, “This is my body . . . This is my blood . . .” (Mark 14:22–25). And in doing so, the old Passover was subsumed into the new Passover.
From that moment on, the new Passover meal would be eaten in remembrance of Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:23–26) and how he delivered all his brothers and sisters out of the slavery of sin and death and led them into the promised eternal kingdom of the beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
Nine Unfathomable Words
But now, among the olive trees, Jesus was praying. Many times he had prayed in “desolate places” (Luke 5:16). Yet never had he known desolation like this.
In this familiar garden of prayer, Jesus looked deeply into the Father’s Cup he was about to drink and was terrified. Everything in his human flesh wanted to flee the impending physical torture of crucifixion. And his Holy Spirit groaned with ineffable dread at the far greater impending spiritual torture of being forsaken by his Father.
Such was his distress over this “baptism” (Luke 12:50), the very thing he had come into the world to accomplish (John 12:27), that Jesus cried out, “Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
Yet not what I will, but what you will. Nine words. Nine unfathomable words.
God, having longed, and even pled, to be delivered from God’s will, expressed in these nine simple words a humble faith in and submission to God’s will that was more beautiful than all the glory in the created heavens and earth combined. Mystery upon Trinitarian mystery: God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but became obedient to God’s will, even if it meant God dying an incomprehensibly horrifying death on a Roman cross (Philippians 2:6, 8). God wanted God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, even though in that dark moment, God wished in body and soul that God’s will could be done another way.
Obedience in Suffering
And in that moment, another mystery came into view. God the Son, perfectly obedient to God the Father from all eternity, “learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Never has another human felt such an intense desire to be spared the will of God. And never has any human exercised such humble, obedient faith in the Father’s will. “And being made perfect” — having exercised perfectly obedient trust in his Father in all possible dimensions — “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).
As the Son learned this perfect and preeminently humble obedience as he yielded to the Father’s will, the first drops of his bloody agony seeped out of his pores (Luke 22:44).
Barely a kilometer away, in the high priest’s courtyard, his treacherous disciple prepared to lead a small, torch-bearing contingent of soldiers and servants to a familiar garden of prayer.
Your Will Be Done
No one understands better than God how difficult it can be for a human to embrace the will of God. And no human has suffered more in embracing the will of God the Father than God the Son. When Jesus calls us to follow him, whatever the cost, he is not calling us to do something he is either unwilling to do or has never done himself.
That is why we look to Jesus as the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). He is our great high priest who understands, far better than we do, what it’s like to willingly and faithfully endure the sometimes excruciating, momentarily painful will of God for the sake of the eternal joy set before us (Hebrews 4:15; 12:2). And now he always lives to intercede for us so that we will make it through the pain to the eternal joy (Hebrews 7:25).
So this Maundy Thursday, we join God the Son in praying to God the Father, “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). And if we find that, in body and soul, we wish God’s will for us could be done in a way different from what God’s will appears to be, we may wholeheartedly pray with Jesus, “Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” But only if we will also pray with Jesus these nine gloriously humble words, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Because God’s will for us, however painful now, will result in joy inexpressible and full of glory and the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:8).
2015 Holy Week Series
Palm Sunday: The Savior’s Tears of Sovereign Mercy
Monday: Jesus Turns the Tables
Tuesday: The King We Needed, But Never Wanted
March 26, 2015
What Will You Leave Behind?
Author, playwright, poet, and Christian apologist, Dorothy Sayers, once wrote, “What we make is more important than what we are, particularly if ‘making’ is our profession.”
By professional “making,” Sayers was referring particularly to artists. But in reality, all of us are makers, whatever our profession. Making is not solely the realm of artists. God has bestowed on all humans the incredible privilege of being sub-creators. We all make things all the time. And our making is of great importance to God.
What’s More Important?
But is it true that what we make is more important than what we are?
In one sense, yes, it is. What we make should be measured against the objective standards of whatever is true, pure, lovely, excellent, and good, as defined by God (Philippians 4:8). Our personal failings don’t alter those things. As a Christian, Sayers was painfully aware of her own sin and faith struggles. Yet she was convinced of the truth of Christianity and contended for it in her writing and speaking. She believed that her personal failings did not invalidate that truth. And in that sense, she was right.
But in the ultimate sense, what we make is not more important than what we are. As Sayers’s friend, C.S. Lewis, explained,
If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilisation, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of the state or civilisation, compared with his, is only a moment.
Each of us is “incomparably more important” than a civilization. And this means each of us is incomparably more important and durable than anything we make.
The Importance of What We Make
However, what we make remains of immense importance because it actually reveals, in some measure, what we are. This is true of God (Romans 1:20) and true of us (Matthew 12:33). What we produce and our motives for producing it reveal what we believe and value.
That’s the message of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30): Faithful investment of what we’re given produces fruitfulness. It’s the message of the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31–46): What we do evidences what we are. Works evidence faith.
So the question for all of us makers becomes, what should we make of and with our lives? For each of us, the answer is different. But all of us must look to the Great Maker’s life (John 1:3; 14:6) to get our answers. For what he made with his life has great bearing on what we should make with ours. Our ultimate goals should be the same as his.
What the Great Maker Left Behind
What did God the Son pour himself into making when he became flesh and dwelt among us? What did Jesus build to last? Only two things: his word (teaching) and his church (transformed, born-again people). That’s all Jesus left in the world when he left the world. He determined no other artifacts were worth preserving.
But these two artifacts have impacted the world more than anything else in history. In fact, these two things are what world history is all about. For two millennia, Jesus’s word has sped (2 Thessalonians 3:1) and his church has spread throughout the world (Matthew 24:14). And when every human civilization and artifact, and the world as we now know it, has finally perished, these two things will remain. Jesus’s word is forever (Matthew 24:35) and his church is forever (Revelation 22:4–5).
What Jesus made is not more important than what he is. What he has made reveals what he is. Which makes what he has made of incalculable importance.
What Will You Leave Behind?
What implication does Jesus’s making have on our making? Essentially it means that we should make Jesus’s priorities our priorities. If Jesus devoted his earthly life to making his word known and his church grow, then the aim of our making should be knowing and spreading his word (Matthew 28:19) and serving the growth and health of his church (Ephesians 4:13).
Does this mean that all of us should be employed full-time by a Christian ministry? By no means! Rather, it means that all of us should see all of life as a form of full-time Christian ministry, no matter what our profession is. For the Christian, there is no abiding sacred-secular distinction. All things are God’s (Romans 11:36), and we do all things for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).
God does set a few aside to devote themselves to the ministry of the word, the care of the church, and the equipping of the saints (Acts 6:4; 1 Peter 5:1–3; Ephesians 4:12). But the vast majority of us are sent by God into all spheres of life to spread his word and gather and serve his church. He gives us many different talents to invest; he gives us varied gifts to use (1 Peter 4:10). And they all are made holy by the word and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4–5).
But nothing that we make on earth is sure to last, except for its effect on advancing Jesus’s word and his church. In this sense, it’s true that “only what’s done for Christ will last.”
So what are you pouring your life into making? When it’s over, what will you leave behind that will really last? When you report to your master how you invested the talents he gave you, what will you show as a return?
What you are is of eternal importance. And what you make reveals what you are. So make the priorities of all that you make to serve the priorities of your Maker. Make your making eternally durable (1 Corinthians 3:12–13) by making it serve the advancement of the word and the church.
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March 23, 2015
The Priceless Gift of Corrective Lenses
Jesus died for me. What a treasure I must be!
Now where in the world does this notion come from? Over the years, I’ve heard many people say something along these lines. But a few minutes of honest self-assessment should leave the best of us with serious questions. Not to mention the fact that this notion isn’t in the Bible.
No, Jesus didn’t die to purchase treasures. Jesus died to ransom enemies (Mark 10:45; Romans 5:10). Jesus came to call rebellious sinners, not righteous treasure-people (Luke 5:32). We are not the Pearl of Great Price; Jesus is (Matthew 13:46). It is the alchemy of the Atonement that transforms our base iron of sinful depravity into the gold of the Great Treasure. It is only in being united to Christ that we become the treasures of God.
The Extraordinary Power of Lenses
So where does this notion come from? Faulty lenses.
Somewhere along the way, people’s blinding pride, demonic deception, and/or defective teaching caused them to look at the cross, see Jesus hanging on the sin-cursed tree where they belong, and somehow see a statement of their self-worth, rather than the worth of the true Pearl and his amazing grace that saves wretches like us.
Lenses are extraordinarily powerful things. We interpret reality depending on the way we see it. If something is wrong with our seeing — our lenses — we won’t see what’s real. We will see a distortion.
And this is far more important when it comes to spiritual sight than it is with physical sight. Here’s how Jesus said it:
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. (Luke 11:34–35)
The degree to which our spiritual eyes are bad is the degree to which our understanding is dark.
We All Need Corrective Lenses
The truth is we all have bad spiritual eyes that need corrective lenses to let more light in and refract it accurately. And the corrective lenses that Jesus provides us with are his word and the gift of teaching in the church (Ephesians 4:11). When teachers “rightly [handle] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), people receive corrected sight and their “eyes” become more healthy and their soul more full of light.
And when it comes to seeing, there is nothing more important for people to see clearly than why Jesus came to die.
Fifty Reasons Why
As we remember the death and resurrection of Christ in more focused ways in the next couple of weeks, you might benefit from reading John Piper’s book Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. It’s only 122 pages long, and each chapter is only two pages, and yet it is a powerful, clear lens on the most important event in human history. Or maybe there is someone you know who could benefit from a clearer seeing of why Christ died for them, which would also help them see everything else more clearly. This book is available free electronically, or you can order a physical copy.
Right handling of Jesus’s word is one of the greatest gifts we can ever receive or give to anyone else. Through it, we all receive healthier eyes and illumined souls.
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