Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 100

The KonMari Method Can Be a Helpful Tool, But as Christians Let’s Take It Further

Today’s blog is from Stephanie Anderson, who is part of our staff at Eternal Perspective Ministries. —Randy Alcorn

She’s petite and soft-spoken, but Marie Kondo is a force to be reckoned with. Her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up has sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S., and worldwide her books have sold more than 11 million copies in 40 countries. Most recently, she’s at the center of the Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. It seems most everyone is talking about or at least familiar with the KonMari method of organizing a home.

I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and my husband and I have watched a few episodes from the series. My interest was personal: we have two young daughters and a smaller house (at least, for American standards) and struggle to keep our home as neat and organized as we’d like.

I enjoyed much of Marie’s book. I found her ideas useful, and my bookshelves, closets, and kitchen drawers are much improved because of her advice. In fact, as I read, I was reminded of what Randy Alcorn has written about possessions in The Treasure Principle: “The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own—the greater their total mass—the more they pull us into orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in.” How freeing to reduce our possessions and to have organized homes that serve our families well!

The KonMari Method can be a helpful tool for many people—including followers of Jesus. It can help us simplify and free us to appreciate what we already own. It can help us say “no” to buying unnecessary items. It can be a good way to start conversations with our neighbors and friends.

But we can share something even greater than the KonMari method. It’s not a stopping place, but rather, a starting one.

Most of us have way too much stuff. The solution might include drastically reducing the amount of things we own using the KonMari method, but it definitely should include an examination of our hearts.

Marie writes in The Magic Art of Tidying Up, “Rebound occurs because people mistakenly believe they have tidied thoroughly, when in fact they have only sorted and stored things halfway. If you put your house in order properly, you’ll be able to keep your room tidy, even if you are lazy or sloppy by nature” (p. 14). She encourages readers to change their habits by first changing their way of thinking (p. 15) and says that “Anyone who experiences this process, no matter who they are, will vow never to revert to clutter again” (p. 17).

But given human nature, we need to go a step further. Unless we examine the role our possessions (and our shopping habits!) play in our hearts, we can sort our closets and cabinets all we like, but end up in the same position (or worse) years or even just months later. Or we truly can have the neatest house on our block but be proud of it and just as materialistic as someone whose house is filled to the brim with possessions.

We’re often blind to our materialism, and our culture’s obsession with stuff makes it hard for us to see where the love of things might be encroaching on our hearts. Randy writes this in Money, Possessions, and Eternity:

The hardest part of dealing with our materialism is that it has become so much a part of us. Like people who have lived in darkness for years, we have been removed from the light so long that we don’t know how dark it really is. Many of us have never known what it is not to be materialistic. This is why we need so desperately to read the Scriptures, to grapple with these issues, bring them to God in prayer, discuss them with our brothers and sisters, and look for and learn from those rare models of nonmaterialistic living in our Christian communities.

Jesus reminds us, “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24, NIV). Let’s be willing to continually ask God to show us where our possessions (whether we have a lot or a little) have taken a place that should be His alone.

We should be grateful for the things we own, but our gratitude should extend to the Giver.

Read Marie’s book or watch the show, and it’s obvious she’s coming from a worldview and religion that is very different from Christianity. One of the first things she does when she enters someone’s home to help them tidy is introduce herself to the house and thank it for taking care of its occupants.

This extends to items, too. Marie writes, “One of the homework assignments I give my clients is to appreciate their belongings. For example, I urge them to try saying, ‘Thank you for keeping me warm all day,’ when they hang up their clothes after returning home” (p. 168).

Although I haven’t started talking to my clothes (and it saddens me to see someone talking to a house, when we are invited to come directly to the Creator of the universe), I actually found this oddly convicting. How often have I been thankful for the small things I use every day, like my water bottle, my hairbrush, or the spatula that helps me make breakfast? But instead of thanking inanimate objects for their service, as Christians we can thank God for His generous provision, as the Giver of “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). This can increase our happiness as our eyes are opened to the countless ways God abundantly provides for us.

Figuring out what items “spark joy” can be helpful in determining what we keep. But our greatest happiness isn’t found in keeping certain things for ourselves, but first in knowing Jesus, and then in giving generously to others.

One of the cornerstones of the KonMari method is sorting items by determining which ones bring you the most happiness. Marie writes, “My criterion for deciding to keep an item is that we should feel a thrill of joy when we touch it” (p. 59). This has encouraged me to ask, “Am I keeping this shirt because I really like it, or just because I got it for a good deal and hate to admit it just doesn’t fit?” and “Am I keeping this gift I was given out of guilt, or because I do like it?”

This is helpful—as long as we remember that the ultimate source of our joy isn’t the things we keep, but Jesus Himself. Having our sins forgiven and being reconciled to God is the greatest cause of celebration: “May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful” (Psalm 68:3).

Marie claims, “Putting your house in order is the magic that creates a vibrant and happy life” (p. 127). But as Megan Hill writes for The Gospel Coalition, “Minimalism is not the gospel.”

Tidying can bring joy, but it can’t give human hearts lasting satisfaction. Only Jesus can.

And there’s more. Because Jesus has transformed our hearts, we can follow His call to generously give away our money and possessions. Christ told us there’s more happiness in giving than receiving (Acts 20:35) and commanded us to store up our treasures in Heaven, not our homes (see Matthew 6:20). When we do, we’ll grow more excited over what we give rather than just what we keep.

So being aware of its limitations, go ahead and purge, sort, and tidy using the KonMari method.

But remember that we have something far better than a human system for organizing. May we rejoice that because of knowing Christ, we can be free from the love of things, our best possessions are eternal, our joy in the Lord is boundless, and our greatest happiness comes in giving to glorify Him.

This article also appeared in EPM's latest issue of Eternal Perspectives magazine.

Photo by Nathan Fertig on Unsplash

Waiting When God Seems Silent

In a time of suffering, David engaged in righteous self-talk about how he should respond in light of God’s goodness: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14).

The call to wait on God is an invitation to trust and hope. It entails believing that one day—even if today is not that day—He will make all things right. In times of waiting, as we seek God in prayer, we must learn to listen to Him as well as talk to Him—to shut out the clatter and quietly wait as He unfolds to us His person, purposes, promises, and plan.

But what about when we wait and listen, and God still seems silent?

God Is Near

In Deserted by God? Sinclair Ferguson discusses what our Christian forefathers called “spiritual desertion”—the sense that God has forgotten us, leaving us feeling isolated and directionless. But through faith, we can affirm God’s loving presence, even when He seems silent and we feel deserted. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8) is a promise God will not break, despite how we feel.

Several years ago, for no apparent reason, I went through four months of depression. I had to learn to trust God for His presence despite what I felt. Eventually, as I continued to open His word daily and seek His face, while still in that depression, I gradually regained my ability to sense and hear Him.

Many of us have walked the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13–32). Overwhelmed by sorrow. Plagued by questions. We wonder where God is. When, all along, He walks beside us.

Is This Your Best for Me?

A pastor friend told me about his experience after his teenage son’s death: “Nearly every morning, for months, I screamed questions at God. I asked, ‘What were you thinking?’ And, ‘Is this your best for me?’ And finally, ‘Do you really expect me to show up every Sunday and tell everyone how great you are?’ Then, when I became silent, God spoke to my soul. He had an answer for each of my questions.”

Waiting on God involves learning to lay our questions before Him. It means that there is something better than knowing all the answers: knowing and trusting the only One who does know and will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

Trusting God when we don’t hear Him ultimately strengthens and purifies us. If our faith is based on lack of struggle and affliction and absence of doubt and questions, that’s a foundation of sand. Such faith is only one frightening diagnosis or shattering phone call away from collapse. Token faith will not survive the dark night of the soul. When we think God is silent or absent, God may show us that our faith is false or superficial. Upon its ruin, we can learn to rebuild on God our Rock, the only foundation that can bear the weight of our trust.

His Silence Is a Matter of Perspective

There’s a sense in which God is never silent. He has already spoken in His Word and by becoming man and dying for us on the cross, purchasing our eternal salvation. This is speech, and speech is not silence! What we call God’s silence may actually be our inability, or in some cases (certainly not all) our unwillingness, to hear Him. Fortunately, that hearing loss for God’s children need not be permanent. And given the promise of resurrection, it certainly won’t be permanent.

Psalm 19:1 tells us the heavens shout about God’s glory. Romans 1:20 shows how clearly creation proves God’s existence. God speaks not only through His Word, but also through His world. When my heart is heavy, walking our dog Maggie or riding a bike through Oregon’s beauties is often better than listening to a great sermon or reading a good book.

Still, when we can’t hear God, we can keep showing up and opening His Word, day after day, to look at what He has already said—and done—and contemplate and memorize it until we realize this is not silence but is God speaking to us. Naturally, there remains a subjective sense in which we long to hear God in a more personal way. God spoke to Elijah in “a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).

The problem with low whispers is they’re not easy to hear—especially when all around us the wind is howling! Why does God sometimes speak so quietly that it’s hard to hear Him? The answer may be to bring us to the end of ourselves. To prompt us to be still and seek Him. And to build our faith and eventually speak more clearly or heal our hearing problem.

When Life Goes Dark

Martin Luther’s wife, Katherine, saw him discouraged and unresponsive for some time. One day she dressed in black mourning clothes. Luther asked her why. “Someone has died,” she said. “Who?” Luther asked. “It seems,” Katherine said, “that God must have died!” Luther got her point. Since God hadn’t died, he needed to stop acting as if He had.

What can we do when God seems silent and life is dark? We can pray with biblical writers who cry out to God:

To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. (Psalm 28:1)

O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! (Psalm 83:1)

I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. (Job 30:20)

We also can remember that, however long the silence seems, God promises it is temporary. Consider Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, he will be quiet in his love, he will rejoice over you with shouts of joy (NASB).

Just because we can’t hear God exulting doesn’t mean He is not rejoicing over us with shouts of joy. A blind or deaf child may not see her father’s face or hear his words, but can learn to sense his love and affection nonetheless. The blood-bought promise states that this brief life will be followed with an eternity in which His children “will see his face” (Revelation 22:4).

My Soul Waits for God

My wife, Nanci, while going through chemotherapy treatments that ended several months ago, read me this from Andrew Murray’s Waiting on God: “It is God’s Spirit who has begun the work in you of waiting upon God. He will enable you to wait. . . . Waiting continually will be met and rewarded by God himself working continually.”

“For God alone my soul waits in silence . . . my hope is from him” (Psalm 62:1, 5). If we lean on Him while we wait, God will give us the grace to wait and to listen carefully as we pray, go to trusted Christ-followers for encouragement, and keep opening His word and asking Him to help us hear Him.

This article originally appeared on Desiring God, and is also featured in EPM's latest issue of Eternal Perspectives magazine.

Thoughts in Response to a Ministry That Might Be Required to Host Gay Weddings at Facilities Rented from the Government

I recently received this question:

Our ministry is setting up a retreat center for Christian leaders, and has the opportunity to long-term lease some beautiful facilities on government property. However, their requirement is that the general public also be able to use the facilities, which are currently used for weddings. We may not be able to eliminate weddings, and are concerned because we do not want to host gay weddings, which would violate our convictions. What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts in response:

I think this is shaping up to be the single most difficult challenge to the church and countless believers.

On the one hand, we want to offer complete grace and understanding when we disagree with people’s choices. We would never withhold goods and services to a theological heretic, a Mormon, a materialist, a gossip, or anyone else. If you sell greeting cards, do you refuse to sell to a man who abandoned his wife and children? I believe we should have the right to do so, but I don’t think that practically it makes much sense to try to pick and choose which sins will disqualify people from what we have to offer.

On the other hand, I’m one of those who sees a wedding as entirely different than for instance, attending a birthday party for a gay person. We can celebrate someone’s birthday, valuing the life God has given them. To celebrate someone’s birth is not to celebrate their moral choices. If allowing a wedding on property you manage were essentially no different than serving them a meal at your restaurant or selling them chocolates at your candy store, or making them a birthday cake, there would be no problem.

But if you view attending or facilitating a wedding (not only through performing a service, but through making the cake or doing the photography or providing the building or whatever) as a sign of approval, it takes on a very different feel, to me, anyway.

Historically, attending a wedding, or helping to facilitate it, was providing an “Amen” and a blessing, and affirming as a witness that “I will do all I can to help this God-ordained union succeed.” Because I believe this, years ago I chose not to officiate the wedding of a young woman in our church who was marrying an unbeliever. I felt she was violating God’s Word. I also chose not to attend the wedding, because I feel attendance is not just a passive thing, but a form of approval.  (If a couple were getting married against counsel and no one agreed to be part of the wedding party or to sing or do a cake or take pictures, obviously it would make a couple think, “Why? Is it possible this marriage really is wrong as others seem to believe?”)

This young woman was very angry at me and her parents were angry. I’m sad to say, five years later she came to me, with a broken life and marriage, and said, “You were right—I should have listened.” I found myself wondering what might have been if her parents and all our church folks who helped her get married out of God’s will had, with humble hearts, said, “We want God’s best for you, but He says this is NOT that. We love you too much to stand with you if you choose to stand against God. We love God’s honor and your wellbeing too much to do that to Him or to you.”

Here is a blog I wrote about being asked to attend a gay wedding (I think it would apply to facilitating it as well). I use the same illustration of the girl marrying the unbeliever to demonstrate it is NOT just gay weddings but any weddings that God says He disapproves of. Many good people disagreed with this blog and this position. As I said, I wish it were clearer how exactly we should respond.

For you, the question is whether it is right to take property you own or, in this case manage (if that’s the right term), over which God has granted you dominion, and consciously grant it to be used in a way you know to displease God. Of course, your situation is somewhat unique with the government owning it, and leasing it to you.

Now, even if you are an owner, you can certainly allow your property to be used by people who MIGHT dishonor God in their hearts and actions. Alcohol can be served, no problem, but some people may get drunk. (Indeed, when Jesus made wine at the wedding in Cana, likely some people got drunk on that; He made the whole world, and sin is everywhere!) That’s their decision, just like some people committing gluttony on your property is their decision. Some people may go in a room and commit adultery, or use cocaine. Someone could pull a gun or knife and murder someone else. You can’t monitor every thought or behavior.

But if you KNEW in advance the purpose of the gathering, the explicit intention, was that a number of people would be using cocaine or committing adultery or that murders would be committed, would you choose to offer them use of your facility? Presumably not, since we’re accountable to use what God has entrusted to our care in such a way that it honors Him.

To me, that’s the problem with the gay wedding. You know from the beginning not that it might, but that it certainly will, dishonor God, and that it is not helpful but hurtful to the people involved in this relationship and hurtful to the families and friends gathered to celebrate it. And while you know good and well that if you didn’t make your place (or in this case the place leased to you) available they would do the same thing somewhere else, what does that matter? If you didn’t deliberately make your place available for adultery and cocaine and murder, people could go elsewhere—that’s self-evident—but the difference is, we can’t control what other people choose to facilitate on their grounds, but we are accountable to God to use what He’s entrusted to our care for His glory.

I realize that the laws are such that anyone who exercises such convictions risks being sued and vilified. But then, in history God’s people have often faced such things and worse. And again, I also realize that that you DON’T own the land, the government does. So does a long-term lease distance you from the other deliberate uses of the facility? Certainly if you were renting a place on a property knowing that other renters of other parts of the property were using their place to facilitate gay weddings, that would seem different.

Maybe part of the question is, does a lease mean that you are the primary people responsible for the management of what happens at the property? Or is the government responsible for that, and does it restrict you to only doing “your thing” in which case you have to decide whether you can coexist with the celebration of sin, which grieves God’s heart, on that property where you are committed to celebrate God and oppose sin, for His glory and people’s good? If it is the government permitting you to do one thing with the property, while permitting you to do your ministry there, it could be argued you simply have no control over policy. But that probably raises the question, “If matters of moral and spiritual concern are not under our dominion, is this the right place for us?” The answer could still be yes, but it might be no.

To live out grace and truth puts us in challenging positions, doesn’t it? I know your heart is to honor God and His Word and reach people and minister to them. I pray He will guide you and give you wisdom. May He do the same for all of us.

Browse more related articles and resources, as well as see Randy's book The Grace and Truth Paradox and his devotionals Grace and Truth.

Right now The Grace and Truth Paradox is on sale from EPM for $5 (62% off $12.99 retail), plus S&H. Offer ends Thursday, May 23rd at 12 p.m. PT (noon). 

If you’ve missed this promotion, please note EPM sells all of Randy’s books and resources below their retail price. Visit our online store to browse them.

Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash

Kirk Cousins and I Discuss Heaven, Happiness, and Generosity

Last month Holland Christian Schools in Holland, Michigan welcomed back to campus a graduate of their school—Kirk Cousins, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, and former QB of the Washington Redskins. I was asked to join Kirk in doing a fundraiser for the school, where he interviewed me about various topics close to both my heart and his.

Kirk is a faithful and Christ-centered brother, and this interview provides a view of a high-profile pro athlete that’s rarely seen. The quality of Kirk’s questions and comments as he interviews me is remarkable. He’s read books I’ve written on Heaven and Happiness, as well as on financial stewardship and giving, and though I’ve been interviewed many times, Kirk was one of the best interviewers I’ve ever had. Because we’ve gotten to know each other well over the last few years, there’s a mutual understanding and trust, and some humor too.

Here are some of the questions and topics we covered:

​What’s the difference between the present Heaven and the future Heaven?

​Can those in Heaven watch what’s happening here on earth?

Will we have regret in Heaven, when we finally see with an eternal perspective? Will we regret we “missed it” in some ways?

What age will we be in Heaven?

Is it wrong to be want to be happy?

What bad news and good news about wealth does Scripture give us?

How do we take hold of the good life, “the life that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6)?

If interested, I encourage you to watch this all the way through to the end, so you don’t miss Kirk’s heartfelt admonition to be “all in” with giving to God’s Kingdom:

Last year Kirk and his wonderful wife Julie started the Julie and Kirk Cousins Foundation. You can read about their vision for the foundation, which is about investing in what matters and will outlast this life. More information about their foundation and the worthy ministries they support is here.

If you didn’t see the outstanding Football Sunday video back in February, here’s a portion where Kirk speaks about both his spiritual and sports journeys:

For more on eternity, see Randy’s book Heaven as well as his other related Heaven books. Also see his books Happiness, The Treasure Principle, and Managing God’s Money.

Also, coming this September from Randy Alcorn: Giving Is the Good Life: The Unexpected Path to Purpose and Joy. Sign up for EPM’s email newsletter to be the first to hear more about the book and receive preorder information!

We’re Not Only to Follow Christ, But Also the Examples of Others Who Do

It’s not surprising that Scripture calls upon us to imitate and follow the examples of Christ (1 Peter 2:21) and God the Father (Ephesians 5:1). It’s more surprising that we are told to follow the examples of the godly people around us, and to strive, by Christ’s help, to be such examples ourselves.

Here’s what Scripture has to say:

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, NASB).

“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, when you received the message with joy that comes from the Holy Spirit, despite great affliction”
(1 Thessalonians 1:6, NET).

“Remember your leaders, who spoke God’s message to you; reflect on the outcome of their lives and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7, NET).

“Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example” (Philippians 3:17, NET).

“Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. ...Do not neglect your gift… Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save [rescue, deliver from bondage] both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:12, 14-16, NIV).

“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care…not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3, NIV).

“A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40, NET).

This is why it’s vital that we become part of a Bible-believing local church. God has His faithful people everywhere, and by becoming actively involved in the local body of Christ we can get to know such people and learn from their examples in different areas—and hopefully, be examples ourselves. (Another way we can be inspired is by reading and discussing biographies of faithful believers, as well as the Christ-centered books others have written.)

Notice how the call to good teaching and good living is integrated in Titus 2, among the young and the older, both men and women:

“But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.  Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,  and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us”  (Titus 2:1-8).

As you contemplate these passages, consider that we can only follow an example we’re aware of, one that we can actually see or hear about. The body of Christ needs to let its light shine before men, and we need models of every spiritual discipline. (I’ve written extensively on the question of whether the example of our giving should always be kept secret.) We dare not let the risk of our pride keep us from faithfully disclosing God’s work in our lives. And if we must be silent to avoid our own pride, we should support others who can humbly testify to Christ’s faithfulness in various areas of their lives.

Puritan William Bates wrote, “Precepts instruct us what things are our duty, but examples assure us that they are possible… When we see men like ourselves, who are united to frail flesh and in the same condition with us, to command their passions, to overcome the most glorious and glittering temptations, we are encouraged in our spiritual warfare.”

Photo: Christianpics.co

Making the Prolife Case for Life, in 250 Words

In his Desiring God article on the prolife movement, Scott Klusendorf, president of Life Training Institute, provides this simple and straightforward argument for human life:

By all means, preach a biblical view of human value. But students in local churches also need to know how to make an essential pro-life argument and convey it to non-Christians. The basic shape of that argument looks like this:

Premise #1: It is wrong to intentionally kill innocent human beings.

Premise #2: Abortion intentionally kills innocent human beings.

Conclusion: Therefore, abortion is morally wrong.

Pro-life advocates defend that argument with science and philosophy.

We argue from science that the unborn are distinct, living, and whole human beings. You didn’t come from an embryo; you once were an embryo.

We argue from philosophy that there is no relevant difference between you the embryo and you the adult that justifies killing you at that earlier stage of development. Differences of size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency are not good reasons for saying you could be killed then but not now.

Instead of arguing at a fever pitch, Christian students can be taught to ask thoughtful questions aimed at giving people something to think about. Two of my favorites are,

“Do you believe that each and every human being has an equal right to life, or do only some have it based on something none of us share equally?”

and,

“If it’s wrong to hurt people because of skin color or gender, why is it okay to hurt them because they are smaller, less developed, or in a different location?”

The goal of asking is not dominance but thoughtful engagement.

By the way, I highly recommend Scott’s book The Case for Life. It’s well-researched, well-written, logical, and clear, containing many pithy and memorable statements. Those already prolife will be equipped, those on the fence will likely be persuaded. Readers looking to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves will find much here to say.

For more on abortion and the sanctity of life, see Randy’s books Why ProLife?, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, and Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?

Photo by Bich Ngoc Le on Unsplash

Should Christians Ever Participate in Violence?

My son-in-law Dan Franklin, married to my daughter Karina, is the teaching pastor and an elder at a wonderful church, Life Bible Fellowship in Upland, California. He shares some great video blogs on their site, and the following was one I thought was really excellent. Those who have ever wondered whether the Bible permits Christians to be involved in the military or the police will find some helpful principles to think through here. Dan wrote the text below to correspond to his video. Good food for thought! —Randy Alcorn

Violence is a major subject in current American culture. As we reflect back on mass shootings, the topics of guns and violence fill our minds and our conversations. Part of this discussion comes to the role of Christians in society.

Specifically, I want to ask (and answer) the question, “Is it permissible for Christians to ever participate in violence?” Is it immoral for Christians to be involved in owning guns, serving in the military, working as police officers, or committing violence in defense of self or others? I want to answer this question through three core statements.

Scripture is filled with examples of just violence.

Many of us think of the Ten Commandments and the command not to kill (better translated “murder”). In isolation, this command would seem to say that Christians should never be involved in killing or violence. However, it is impossible to read the Old Testament and conclude that the command means that godly people can never participate in violence.

The Old Testament is filled with stories of people acting violently and being commended. This is not to say that all violence is commended (certainly not!), but that there are many times when a person who participated in violence is seen as having acted justly. This is true of Abraham when he rescued Lot (Genesis 14). This is true of David when he killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17).

This is true of Joshua when we carried out the death penalty on Achan (Joshua 7). And this is true many times when Israel participated in wars. Clearly, Scripture presents the idea that a call to godliness is not a call never to participate in violence.

But are things different now that Jesus has come? Are these simply Old Testament examples that we have outgrown? I don’t think so. While there are definitely differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament regarding how God’s people are called to live, these differences are mostly because of two realities: (1) Jesus fulfilled certain practices (food laws, sacrifices, the priesthood) and (2) God’s people are no longer an identifiable nation with borders and a military.

Therefore, there could still be godly people participating in the military and as police officers, because Jesus and the New Testament authors teach that we live in legitimate governments that can be supported (John 19:11, Romans 13:1, 1 Peter 2:13).

Non-violence is not the same as non-retaliation.

In the New Testament, I fail to find a call to non-violence. Instead, we find a call to non-retaliation. Jesus calls us to non-retaliation in the Sermon on the Mount when he tells us to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5). Paul calls us to non-retaliation when he tells Christians to stop suing each other (1 Corinthians 6). Peter calls us to non-retaliation when he calls us to repay curses with blessings (1 Peter 3). Jesus did not retaliate and, because of this, we now walk in forgiveness and new life.

While Christians are called not to retaliate physically, verbally, or in any other way, this does not exclude violence. The reason for this is that a police officer is not enacting revenge when he tackles a violent suspect. A member of the military is not retaliating when he shoots an enemy combatant. They are instead acting in line with the state.

This is not to say that the government will always be just. Christians must be willing to disobey authority if we are commanded to do evil. That said, governments certainly have the potential to be just and the authors of Scripture present them as legitimate. Keeping law and order, participating in the military, and acting in self-defense do not fall into the realm of retaliatory actions. They can be just ways of participating in violence, even though violence is always a tragic path.

If something is good for someone to do, then it is good for Christians to do.

There are some who say that it is fine for Christians to live in a society in which the military and police officers protect us, but that Christians should not participate in these professions. I believe that this is not a biblically defensible position. If serving as a police officer is a good thing for a non-Christian to do, then it is a good thing for a Christian to do.

Peter speaks of the Christian calling to do good in society (1 Peter 2:11-12). Sometimes the good thing to do in a horrible situation is to participate in violence in order to prevent a worse and more unjust situation. Christians are not called to keep their hands clean while others do their dirty work. We are called to do good, even when it might involve sad acts of violence because of the evil choices of other people.

Clearly, this article is not exhaustive. Feel free to give feedback or raise questions. Christians are not called to delight in evil or violence or weapons. We grieve the fact that we live in such a broken world. We live in a world that desperately needs Jesus. We live as people willing to choose blessing over retaliation. And we also live as people who are willing to call some violent actions “good” if they are courageous actions that protect others from further violence and injustice.

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John Piper Answers the Question, “Does God Scare Us into Saving Faith?”

Are you tired of all the evil and corruption in this world? Do you long for a world in which such things don’t exist? Then you long for a Heaven without evildoers. And that requires either that God forces everyone to repent, come to Christ, and embrace His righteousness, or that God provides an alternative residence for those who do not. Hell is that place.

It saddens me to think of people suffering forever. But if there were no Hell, that would diminish the very attributes of God that make Hell necessary and Heaven available. Just as most people in prison don’t think they belong there, so most of us can’t imagine we deserve Hell. But when at last we begin to grasp that we do deserve it, we praise God for His grace on a far deeper level.

God doesn’t force Himself on anyone. If a woman were given a choice between being buried alive in a swamp and marrying a certain man, she would choose to marry the man. But what man would want such a wife? God doesn’t need our love, but He does want it. He doesn’t want people who merely desire to escape Hell. He wants people who value and treasure Him above all else, who long to be with Him.

Therefore, Christ freely offers to everyone the gift of forgiveness and eternal life: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

In this article, John Piper answers the question, “Does God Scare Us into Saving Faith?” Given the way that the doctrine of an eternal Hell is under attack even in many Christian churches, this is an important topic to think though:

“Trust Me or I Will Hurt You”: Does God Scare Us into Saving Faith?

By John Piper

How is the gospel invitation different from “Trust me or I will hurt you”?

If you don’t believe that hell is real, then this is not a serious question for you. If you believe hell is real, but don’t believe God ever sends anyone there (but only that they go there against his will), then it is still not a serious question for you. But if you believe that hell is real, and God actually sends people there, then this question needs a thoughtful answer.

Real, Terrible, Punitive

I do believe hell is real and that God sends people there. Of course, we have no way to know if hell is real, or if God sends people there, unless God reveals that to us. He has done this, especially through Jesus. No one in Scripture spoke of hell more than Jesus did. And no one spoke of it in more terrible terms. And no one made it more clear that it was a divine punishment, not just a self-inflicted consequence.

Jesus calls it “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46), “eternal fire” (Matthew 18:8), “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:17), “place of torment” (Luke 16:28), “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13), “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30), being “in anguish” (Luke 16:24), “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).

And he teaches that people do not go there voluntarily; they are “cast into hell” by God (Luke 12:5; Matthew 5:29; 18:9; Mark 9:45), “thrown into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). God is the Judge who makes these reckonings. Hell is a sentence on evil, not merely a sequel to evil. It is “judgment.” “How are you to escape from the judgment of hell?” (Matthew 23:33, my translation). Therefore, God is to be feared: “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

Why Will Anyone Be in Hell?

Sometimes we are told that the wrath of God is coming because of various sins: “Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. . . . On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:6; Ephesians 5:5–6; Hebrews 13:4). Or due to shedding “the blood of his [God’s] servants” (Revelation 19:2), or because of “unrighteousness” in general (Romans 2:8).

But beneath these specific acts of sinning is the deeper offense against God and his Son. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness” (Romans 1:18). “Whoever does not obey the Son . . . the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). Christ comes “in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Wrath comes on those who “do not obey the truth” (Romans 2:8), “refuse to love the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10), and thus “suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).

Ultimately, therefore, people are in hell because an offense against an infinitely worthy person is an infinite offense. God is infinitely worthy, and all sin is ultimately against him. Discrediting and demeaning and dishonoring God is the root and essence of all sin. Paul calls it “falling short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), exchanging God for his creation (Romans 1:23) — that is, preferring anything more than we prefer God (Jeremiah 2:13), and trusting ourselves more than him (Romans 14:23). The root of all law-breaking is Godward — hostility toward God (Romans 8:7).

Is God Like an Abusive Husband?

So the question we are asking is not frivolous. If there is a hell, and if God is the one who sends people there, and if the reason they go there is a failure to trust, and love, and enjoy, and honor God, how is this different from an abusive husband who says, “Kiss me or I will hurt you”? Or a peevish potentate who says, “Bow to me or I will take off your head”? And lest anyone think that the question is far-fetched, remember Psalm 2:12: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way.”

It seems to me that an answer to this question takes shape in two steps.

Step One: Already in Trouble

The God of the gospel, who requires faith in Christ (Acts 16:31), and warns of judgment (Romans 2:16), is different from the abusive husband and the peevish potentate in that God comes to a humanity that is already under wrath and on death row awaiting execution (John 3:36; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 2:3). In the gospel, he does not say, “Trust me or you will get in trouble.” He says, “Trust me, because you are in trouble, and I have a way to get you out.”

In effect, he says, “I am sending my Son to die in the place of those who are already condemned to die. I will ‘not spare’ him (Romans 8:32). I will give him up to the worst suffering, so that you may have a Savior and live. And if you cannot see what this means, let me make it explicit. It means I love you.” “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

No abusive husband or peevish potentate can say this. They have an opposite mindset. They are out to get, not to give. They are acting out of need, not fullness. They are a sucking siphon, not a satisfying spring. Their demands are not like the gospel. They are only threatening pain, not offering to rescue from pain. They are ready to hurt you, not planning to be hurt to spare you. But in the gospel — even in the demand of the gospel — God is giving himself to save you from being hurt.

That is the first difference between the gospel and “Trust me or I will hurt you.”

But this first step of the answer is not the last word. It leaves unanswered the question: How did humanity get in trouble in the first place? The answer is that God sentenced humanity to hell because of its sin. And sin is against God. And therefore, the question remains. When human beings first come under the wrath of God, how is it different from “Trust me or I will hurt you”?

Step Two: Wooing Before Warning

While God definitely warns people that the judicial sentence of suffering awaits them if they spurn him as their treasure, he does not lead with warning but with wooing. And this is more than a matter of sequence. It has to do with the very essence of what he demands.

The abusive husband and the peevish king demand actions: a kiss and a bow. Therefore, they can lead with threats, because a kiss and a bow can be given with no affection but only fear. Threats can constrain bodily actions, but cannot constrain beautiful affections.

But God demands affections first, not actions. Actions only have moral significance if they flow from a heart of affection for God. Judas-kisses do not honor Christ. Bowing before the potentate, while your heart is sworn to another, may suffice on earth. But it is far short of what God demands. It is not a commendation when Jesus says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8).

Praise or Die?

Therefore, Jesus does not lead with the slogan, “Praise me or you die.” He does indeed say, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” and “will lose it [his life]” (Matthew 10:37, 39). But that warning is not the first or decisive motive for loving him.

In fact, the key point here is that threats and warnings cannot function as direct motives for what God demands. To be sure, he does demand certain behaviors. But beneath every behavior that God commands (whether “do not kill” or “practice hospitality”) is an implicit, and often explicit, command for dispositions of the heart that make hospitality and not killing morally beautiful in God’s sight. For example, Jesus said that the real issue behind murder is anger (Matthew 5:21–22), and Peter said that all hospitality should be “without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9). The affections of the heart are always decisive in whether a bodily action is beautiful in God’s sight.

From the beginning, the most basic affections that God demanded from human beings were that he be trusted (Proverbs 3:5), loved (Deuteronomy 6:5), enjoyed (Psalm 37:4), honored (Romans 1:21), and, from these, obeyed in all things (Deuteronomy 4:40).

Threats Cannot Directly Awaken Trust

But this means that threatening with pain can never function as a direct motive for what God demands. First, because what he demands, beneath all other demands, is trust, love, joy, and honor. Second, because none of these can be awakened or sustained directly by threats of punishment.

Try it. If you do not feel trust for someone, and they put a gun to your head and say, “Unless you feel trust for me, I will kill you,” what happens? You cannot make the feeling of trust rise in your heart. You can force yourself to act certain ways that may look like trust. But the true affection of heartfelt trust cannot be coerced by threats. Neither can love, joy, or honor. That is simply not the way the human heart works.

What I mean by saying that these affections cannot be awakened or sustained directly by threats is that the threats and warnings do have an indirect role to play. Otherwise, God would not have given them to us, which he has. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way” (Psalm 2:12). “I warn you . . . that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

But these warnings in Scripture do not function directly on our affections of trust and love and joy and honor. Instead, they wake us up to the fact that our hearts are so rebellious and so deserving of punishment that we desperately need the mercy of God to make us a new kind of person. In this way, the threats convict us that the problem lies not in God, but in us. We are defective and hard and blind and resistant. Therefore, we cannot see or feel the true beauties of God’s manifold perfections. Our affections are not alive to God as they should be. Therefore, God uses warnings and threats to wake us up from our deadness and hardness and blindness. He leads us to the cross and shows us “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). That is where the affections of trust and love and joy and honor are fed.

What about man before the fall? How did the warning function there? There was only one: “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The function was not to wake Adam up from deadness, but to stand as a sentinel against trusting self more than God. Not the warning of one tree, but the wooing of thousands, was God’s plan to be loved.

Wooing of Bounty and Rescue

In pursuit of our trust and love and enjoyment and honor, God leads with wooing, not warning. With joy-awakening splendors, not fear-awakening dangers.

If we think of humanity before its condemnation, we see God leading with the free gift of bounty. “The Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” and he said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden” (Genesis 2:9, 16). Only one was withheld.

And if we think of humanity after its condemnation, we see God leading with the free gift of rescue through the gift of his Son. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). He leads not with the menace of wrath, but the message of rescue. “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9).

“Trust Me or I Will Hurt You” Obscures

I conclude, therefore, that the gospel is not expressed, but obscured, by the words, “Trust me or I will hurt you.” 1) The words conjure up images of an abusive husband or a peevish potentate and thus obscure the truth that God acts out of fullness for our good, not out of need for our affirmation. 2) They obscure the fact that we are already hurt and already under the sentence of being hurt more, and God comes to us in that condition with words of rescue as a blood-bought gift. 3) These words obscure the fact that the essence of what God demands of us (trust, love, joy, and honor) cannot be awakened or sustained directly by threats. God has made us so that it is psychologically impossible for the most satisfying affections to be directly produced by threats.

He has made us to glorify him by enjoying him as the supreme treasure of the universe. That enjoyment is the overflow of our heart. It is a spontaneous response to the glory of his immeasurable perfections, or it is nothing. By its very nature, and by God’s design, it cannot be coerced.

This post originally appeared on DesiringGod.org.

For more on the subject of hell, see Randy’s chapter “Hell: Eternal Sovereign Justice Exacted upon Evildoers,” from his book If God Is Good.

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True Repentance Is More Than Just Words

We live in an age when politicians and nearly everyone else only admits to as much wrongdoing—if they admit it at all—as is necessary to minimize it and then move on with their lives. But what does true repentance look like?

Repentance begins with our personal walk with God, our families, and those closest to us. Sometimes it needs to go further than that—for example, to those we work with and under, depending on how broadly we have wronged people. To be repentant means to not just be sorry about sin, but also to be committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep from falling back into it.

Repentance is more than reciting well-rehearsed words while trying to minimize our losses. Genuine repentance is vulnerable. It confesses not just as much as what has been found out, but more. It doesn't withhold information (e.g. from our spouses or friends) in the hope of preserving an image or a reputation. It puts itself at the mercy of others; it does not presume to direct or control them and how they respond to us.

Read Psalm 51, an expression of pure repentance. Notice there is no explanation of the extenuating circumstances—of how busy King David is, how lonely the man at the top is, how irresponsible it was for Bathsheba to be bathing in sight of the palace, how Uriah was a neglectful husband. David didn’t rationalize or justify or qualify his sin. He owned up to it, 100 percent. He simply admitted he was wrong.

God says through John the Baptist, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). The sincerity of our repentance is demonstrated by how willing we are to take the steps necessary to nourish our souls and reprogram our minds from Scripture, so we can draw on Christ’s power to be restored and live righteously.

“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19–20).

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They Sang a New Song: Charles Spurgeon’s Reflections on the Heavenly Hymn in Revelation 5

In a sermon on “The Heavenly Singers and Their Song,” Charles Spurgeon wrote this:

“They sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’” (Revelation 5:9-10). I must take away the poetry for a moment and just deal with the doctrines of this heavenly hymn.

The first doctrine is that Christ is put in the front; His deity is affirmed. They sing, “Worthy are you.” A strong-winged angel speeds his way over Earth and Heaven and down the deep places of the universe, crying with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll?” (Revelation 5:2). But no answer comes, for no creature is worthy. Then came One of whom the church cries in its song, “Worthy are you.”

Yes, beloved, He is worthy of all the praise and honor we can bring to Him. He is worthy to be called equal with God; He Himself is God, very God of very God. And no man can sing this song, or ever will sing it, unless he believes Christ to be true deity and accepts Him as his Lord and God.

Next, the doctrine of this hymn is that the whole church delights in the mediation of Christ. Notice that it was when He had taken the scroll that they said, “Worthy are you to take the scroll” (Revelation 5:9). To have Christ standing between God and man is the joy of every believing heart. We could never reach up to God except that Christ has come to bridge the distance between us. He places one hand on man and the other upon God. He is the mediator who can lay His hand upon both, and the church greatly rejoices in this.

Remember that even the working of providence is not apart from the mediation of Christ. I rejoice in this, that if the thunders be let loose, if plagues and deaths around us fly, the child of God is still under the mediator’s protection. No harm shall happen to the chosen, for Jesus always guards us. All power is given unto Him in Heaven and in Earth, and the church rejoices in His role as mediator.

But now notice: in the church’s song, what is her reason for believing that Christ is worthy to be a mediator? The church says, “Worthy are you . . . for you were slain” (Revelation 5:9). Ah, beloved, when Christ undertook to be her mediator, this was the extreme point to which His pledge to be her substitute could carry Him—to be slain! Jesus is never more glorious than in His death. His substitutionary atonement is the culmination of His glory, as it was the very utmost depth of His shame. Beloved, we rejoice in our mediator because He died.

A thing that is redeemed belonged originally to the person who redeems it, and the redeemed of the Lord were always His. “Yours they were,” said Christ, “and you gave them to me” (John 17:6). They always were God’s. You cannot go and redeem a thing that does not belong to you. You may buy it, but you cannot redeem it. Now that which belonged originally to God became indebted through sin. We, having sinned, came under the curse of the law. And though God still held to it that we were His, we were yet under this embargo: sin had a claim upon us.

Christ came and saw His own, and He knew that they were His own. He asked what there was to pay to redeem them, to restore His ownership. It was His heart’s blood, His life, Himself that was required. He paid the price and redeemed them, and we tonight sing, “By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).

He has, by redeeming us, separated us to Himself and made us a holy people, bought with blood in a special sense out of all the rest of mankind.

This redemption is the grounds for the distinction of God’s holy people: “By your blood you ransomed people for God” (Revelation 5:9).

God never wearies of the precious blood, nor will His ­people who know where their salvation lies. They do not, even in Heaven, say that it is a dreadful word to mention. I heard a man the other day say of a certain minister, “Oh! We want another minister; we are tired of this man. He is always talking so much about the blood.” In the last great day, God will be tired of the man who made that speech.

Randy again: Spurgeon wrote some hymns and published a new collection of worship songs in 1866 called Our Own Hymn-Book. It was mostly a compilation of Isaac Watts’s psalms and hymns. Spurgeon paid close attention to the doctrines contained in hymns. He was publicly critical of a particular hymnbook that portrayed God as distant and uninvolved in human affairs. As usual, his criticism gained him a great deal of negative press in return.

It is the hymn of Revelation 5 that Spurgeon chooses as his passage in this sermon, expressing that the entire physical universe was created for God’s glory. But humanity rebelled, and the universe fell under the weight of our sin. Yet the serpent’s seduction of Adam and Eve did not catch God by surprise. He had in place a plan by which He would redeem mankind—and all of creation—from sin, corruption, and death. Just as He promises to make men and women new, He promises to renew the Earth itself. How? By the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God. There is no other way.

If, due to the Fall, God would have given up on his original purpose for mankind to fill the Earth and rule it (Genesis 1:28), He surely wouldn’t have repeated the same command to Noah after the Flood: “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1, NIV). Still, until sin and the Curse are permanently removed, people are incapable of exercising proper stewardship of the Earth. Redemption buys back God’s original design.

“God never wearies of the precious blood,” Spurgeon says, “nor will His people who know where their salvation lies.” The gospel is far greater than most of us imagine. It isn’t just good news for us—it’s good news for animals, plants, stars, and planets. It’s good news for the sky above and the Earth below. Albert Wolters says, “The redemption in Jesus Christ means the restoration of an original good creation.”

God’s redemptive plan climaxes not at the return of Christ nor in the millennial Kingdom but on the New Earth. Only then will all wrongs be made right. Only then will there be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:1-4). And only then will we all begin to see the breadth and depth of the universe-piercing power of the blood of God.

Excerpted from We Shall See God, in which Randy Alcorn has compiled profound spiritual insights on Heaven from the sermons of Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest theologians of all time.

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