Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 105

My Novels Lord Foulgrin’s Letters and The Ishbane Conspiracy: Putting a Wiretap in Hell’s War Room

The premise behind my novel Lord Foulgrin’s Letters is simple: Given demons’ insights into reality and their plot to deceive and destroy us—this is one conspiracy theory that’s right on target—wouldn’t it be a major coup for us to place a wiretap in hell’s war room? What if we could plant a bugging device where we could overhear our enemies assessing our weaknesses and strategizing how next to attack us?

This book took me by surprise. I have long been a fan of C.S. Lewis and have read several times his classic Screwtape Letters. But I had no intention of writing such a book myself. Then, over a period of a month in my own Bible study I kept reading the words of God and asking myself, what do demons want us to believe instead of this? By creating this contrast of truth and deception, I was amazed at how much clarity it brought to what God was actually saying. The next thing I knew I was writing out letters from one demon to another, in Screwtape style, and the book started to form.

Originally I thought it would it would be letters only, like Screwtape, but the more I considered it, the more powerful I thought it would be if the book had a full-fledged story line, with characters, setting and a sense of immediacy that would hook the reader and get him more in touch with the reality of spiritual warfare.

Certainly I didn’t want Lord Foulgrin’s Letters to encourage any sort of unhealthy preoccupation or fascination with the kingdom of darkness. Rather, in the sense that Ephesians 5:11 speaks of, my goal was to expose the darkness by shining light on it in a creative literary fashion. I wanted this book to be an instrument that conveys truth and serves as a wake-up call that makes us aware of the devil’s cunning and his strategies to destroy us and derail us.

Lord Foulgrin’s Letters isn’t necessarily dark, though it is very sobering at points. I wanted people to be challenged and contemplative, but also be able to smile because they’ve seen things in a very new way. There’s a satisfaction that comes from knowing you’ve heard the opposing coach sketch out his plays for the second half and you know what to expect, how to fight back and win.

You can read an excerpt, or listen to a sample from the audio book.

My novel The Ishbane Conspiracy, which I wrote with my daughters Karina and Angie, is a spin-off from Lord Foulgrin’s Letters focusing on four young people, aged 18-21, who face demonic strategies to take them down.

The summer of 2000, before my daughters both got married, I thought it would be great if they weren’t working jobs that pulled the family apart. The book idea seemed a good way to do it. I asked them if they wanted to spend a summer writing a book with their dad. They said yes, and I’ll always be glad they did.
 
I can’t think of two people I could have worked with who would have been more quali­fied and skilled, both spiritually and artistically. We read and discussed books on fiction writing, brainstormed characters and plots, stimulated one another’s thinking, prayed together, had lots of fun, and shared the frustrations and mind-numbing hard work of dis­ciplined writing.

For instance, Karina’s interests and expertise fit perfectly with the parts of the story line that she wrote with great insight. Angie wrote everything in hospitals, because she was studying to be a nurse. She subsequently worked for 15 years in a hospital emergency room. I wrote the letters between demons, since I find it easy to think like the devil. (Well, I’m joking, but maybe there’s truth in it too!)

Angela and Karina are true coauthors, not token ones. This is their book as much as it’s mine, and they have my deepest respect.

Over the years, our ministry has received much positive feedback from readers of Ishbane. In particular, we’ve received a remarkable number of letters from young women who’ve read the translation of the book in German. Here are a few of those responses:

“Dear Alcorns! I want to thank you for your wonderful book The Ishbane Conspiracy! …I’m so encouraged of this book. I get really aware of that there’s a sacred battle and that it’s always the best to fight for God’s truth! …Thank you for all the different and important topics you talk about in the story. I would like to have such a good influence on my friends as Jillian and Rob.”

“I’m a German Woman, and I read these books. Your books are fantastic and tell us a lot of the battle between the Lord and Satan. It’s a danger and most people don’t believe it.”

“I’m from Germany and I’ve read your book Die Akte Jillian.  I’m so impressed from your great book. …It shows the future- the future in heaven. Christ’s [people don’t have to] be concerned or hopeless, because God knows everything and he know a solution to any problem. He’s promised that we [won’t] die because Jesus died for us. This book is …so nice book for young and old people because it shows solutions for the biggest problems.”

“I’m 19 and live in Switzerland. When I read the book I was surprised, happy, sad, overwhelmed and confused at the same time. The structure is very well made with this story that continues with enough of good tense and those letters which appear in every chapter. Many of the statements of the Christianity weren’t new for me but…I’ve learned to see things with another perspective.”

“I'm 13 years old and I am in the 7th class. I read your book Die Akte Jillian. It's great! My mother wants to read it too.”

”I bought few months ago the book Die Akte Jillian. I am on page 169 now. And this book is so great! I am so happy that I found a book that I like. I searched a lot. I thank God. I believe in God since more than one year and it was good that I choose His way. I want to write stories about God and people, too. To help other people to be strong in believe. But I have to wait a little bit to know more about Jesus and God.”

“Hello Mr. Alcorn, I am a fifteen year old girl and I live in Bavaria (Germany). I’m really very thrilled by this book. And I thank you for it very much.”

You can read an excerpt, or listen to a sample from the audio book.

Flash Sale from Eternal Perspective Ministries: right now, you can purchase Lord Foulgrin’s Letters and The Ishbane Conspiracy on audiobook CDs for just $3 each (89% off $26.99 retail), plus S&H! Act fast—offer ends Monday, March 11 at 12 P.M. PT.

Why I Don’t See Tithing as the Pinnacle of Christian Virtue, OR as Something Legalistic

I first became aware of tithing as a teenager when my pastor preached on the importance of supporting the local congregation. His sermon drew on Galatians 6:6: “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.”

As a new believer, I was already giving significantly beyond 10 percent to world missions and organizations working with suffering Christians. However, what I determined to do at that point was to give 10 percent to the church. I then sensed a vested interest in my church. By that time I understood what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:19–21, in terms of storing up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, and when you give to something, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Even back then I was compelled to study and research. It became clear that, as a New Testament follower of Christ, in the most affluent society in human history, there’s no way I could ever justify giving less than 10 percent when God had required that of the poorest Israelite. I knew the grace of Jesus. Why would I not give more? It seemed like a good starting place. I wouldn’t have articulated it that way, but looking back, I think that really was what I was experiencing.

I’ve had the privilege of interviewing many givers. In the great majority of cases they mention how tithing first stretched them to give more. They tithed and watched God provide and move their hearts deeper into His kingdom. Now, years later, some of them are giving away 50, 80, or even 95 percent of their incomes! But it was tithing that set them on the road to giving. So while we need not view it as mandatory, the experiences of countless believers show that good has come out of many who start by tithing, or something in that ballpark (if 10% makes you feel legalistic, why not try 11 or 12%?).

Yes, sadly, there are some Christians who see tithing as the pinnacle of stewardship, instead of the starting place. Hearing some people talk, you’d think it was this extraordinary act of sacrifice and devotion that only great saints would actually give 10 percent.

People talk about Old Testament giving versus New Testament giving, and one of the greatest misconceptions is that the Old Testament was all about the tithe and required giving, and New Testament is all about free-will giving. In fact, the Old Testament is full of not just tithes, but also free-will offerings. It refers to them again and again, including in Malachi 3:8 where those who rob God are said not just to be withholding tithes but offerings—freewill offerings! “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me” (NLT).

So to those who say all New Testament offerings are freewill, I say fine. My question is, even if we’re convinced tithing is an antiquated practice that doesn’t apply to New Testament believers, if Old Testament saints could rob God by withholding freewill offerings, can’t we do the same? If not, why not?

When I’ve heard such a large number of people testify to how tithing set them on the road to life-altering generosity, it’s hard for me to understand the extreme animosity some have toward this practice (entire websites and “ministries” are devoted to opposing tithing and accusing everyone of legalism who’s ever practiced it). Yes, tithing has sometimes been abused, and it never makes anyone acceptable to God, but let’s not throw out the baby of tithing with the bathwater of legalism!

 A remarkable number of people—and I’ve had long conversations with many of them—give absolutely nothing and view the tithe as a legalistic Old Testament thing. To give a tithe would be, to them, like offering an animal sacrifice. It would be ungodly to do it. And of course, they look around and point to people who are into tithing as legalism. And there are people, absolutely, into tithing as legalism. And I’m completely against that.

What I always say to people is that if you take the standard of 10 percent and say God required it of the poorest people in Old Testament Israel, and now that we’re under the grace of Jesus and have the indwelling Holy Spirit and live in this incredibly affluent culture, do you think He would expect less of us? Does God still have expectations of New Testament people? Clearly He does. In fact, Jesus’ message is, “You have heard that it was said…, but I say to you….” And then what does He do each time? He raises the bar! For example, consider Matthew 5:27–28, where Jesus said, “You’ve heard that it was said, ‘do not commit adultery.’ I say don’t look at a woman with lust.”

New Testament giving—Acts 2 and Acts 4 are very explicit on this—is a contagious liquidation of assets and giving to those in need. How far beyond 10 percent was that? That was taking an already existing asset, liquidating it, and giving the entire thing away. That’s giving away 100 percent of that asset, not 100 percent of your income. They gave away what many Christians today, in equivalent terms, might give away over a lifetime, and many would not even give that much.

I view tithing as a child’s first steps—not the best she’ll ever do, but simply a good beginning, one which her parents celebrate. Tithing is like the training wheels on the bicycle of giving. The point of putting on training wheels is actually to get you up and going to learn how to ride a bike. I think for many Christians tithing can be a good thing, in that it gets them going on the path of giving in a disciplined way that has some objectivity to it that is measurable.

Yes, I’m well aware that I will get many complaints from people who say I’m a legalistic for even suggesting people consider starting their giving where God started His Old Testament people, with the tithe. No matter what else I say, they will respond that I’m a legalistic and I’m calling for people to live under the law, not grace. But I will say what I’ve said nonetheless, suggesting that just because something is an Old Testament practice does not mean it has no possible value for some people today. If that value is just to get us started with giving, well, then, so be it. Better that than to never get started at all, like many who call no giving or minimal giving “grace giving.” (Odd that the average giving level of American Christians, who apparently practice “grave giving,” is one fourth of what was required under the law of not just the wealthy, but the poor.)

God’s goal is that your life would be lived by the grace of Jesus. Look at 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, the longest New Testament passage on giving, and study that passage and meditate on it. That’s separate from the tithing issue. If you actually capture the spirit of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and it becomes a reality in your life, you can forget about tithing. Why? Because you will surpass it in ways that make it seem like nothing but the starting point it is.

May you not be obsessed with tithing, or feel self-righteous about tithing, or be under bondage to tithing, or attack tithing as evil. May you simply be grateful that God got you started, whether at 9 or 10 or 11% or any other level, on the lifelong adventure of generous giving.

For more, see our other resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books.

Photo by Ben White on Christianpics.co

Thoughts About Malachi 3:10 and Luke 6:38, and Why God Made These Promises about Giving

When God’s people were robbing Him by withholding tithes and offerings, He said, “Test me in this…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” (Malachi 3:10).

It’s as if God is saying there is something very special about giving. He doesn’t say, “Don’t commit adultery. Test me in this. Give not committing adultery a try and see if I don’t bless you.” God doesn’t take His commands and reduce them to the level of “Oh, give it a try and see if it works.” It’s as if He’s making a special case out of giving, and saying, “Yes. Test me in this and see if I don’t bless you.”

There’s a New Testament equivalent—Luke 6:38 is a close parallel to Malachi 3:10, where Jesus says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.” Anyone who says, “Oh, Malachi 3, that’s Old Covenant, and it’s restricted to that”—no. Luke 6 is very close. “Watch me abundantly provide for you.” And this is Jesus speaking, not King David or Solomon, who are living in splendor. This is Jesus, who doesn’t have a rock to lay His head on. He has the clothes on His back, and not much more. And Jesus is saying, “Just watch what happens when you give. My heavenly Father is going to overflow.”

In Malachi, why is that promise there? Is it only for Old Testament Israel, without any relevance whatsoever for New Testament followers of Jesus? I don’t think so. If we are disciples of Jesus, surely we must take seriously what Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 6:38.

I think Malachi 3 and Luke 6 are there for us because God longs for His people to live the life of grace, to live the life of free-will offering, and see how much fun it is and how God abundantly provides and blesses it. (And, by the way, shouldn’t we trust Him to choose what form those blessings should take, and not just hope for financial prosperity?)

As we faithfully give to Him, God frequently entrusts more to our care. May we continue to be generous and wise with whatever amount of His money the God of sovereign grace calls upon us to manage. When He gives back to us, may we give more back to Him and embrace not prosperity theology, but the ever-enriching and joy-drenched theology of grace.

For more, see our other resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books.

Photo by Ben White on Christianpics.co

Ed Stetzer on How Christians Need Discipleship to Develop Godly Technology Habits

I was a pastor for fourteen years, and still have countless conversations with pastors. Many of the challenges and issues that pastors face in discipling and teaching those in their churches have remained the same since I was pastoring over 25 years ago. But there are also many new challenges for pastors, including helping Christians navigate digital technologies and social media platforms.

Ed Stetzer, who serves as Dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership at Wheaton College and is executive director of the Billy Graham Center, makes the case that Christians desperately need discipleship in this area. Here are a few quotes from his article “The Technological Discipleship Gap”:

We have all these new technologies and online platforms by which to instantly react and to amplify the loudest, most divisive voices. We are a society where everyone has a megaphone and an increasingly smaller capacity to resist using it.

 …Christians often have the same bad habits as everyone else, practices that damage not only their well-being and relationships, but also their spiritual vitality and witness. Despite these dangers, when was the last time your church taught on social media or proper media consumption? Substantive, disciple-making teaching on how Christians can develop godly technology habits? Aside from youth pastors warning of cyberbullying, when have messages touched on the way technology is shaping our lives or how our online behavior relates to our faith? I have heard plenty of sermons that address the problem of pornography, but I can count on one hand the number of times a pastor or Sunday school teacher discussed a more comprehensive online discipleship.

...Christians have seen the emerging digital marketplace, and rather than thinking critically about its nature and effects, they have dived in. Innovation for the glory of God, we tell ourselves, even though we know that innovation for the expansion of the platform is often closer to the truth. Discipleship may not even cross our minds.

…Our new digital technologies and social media platforms have untold potential to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the same time, they can utterly lay waste to people, churches, and communities.

Effective discipleship helps Christians to bend these tools in service to Christ rather than to become slaves to their destructive power.

For more, see Ed’s book Christians in the Age of Outrage: How to Bring Our Best When the World Is at Its Worst. I also highly recommend Tony Reinke’s book 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You. You might also like to check out these past blogs: 10 Questions to Help Us Analyze Our Smartphone Habits and The Growing Body of Research Says Yes, Your Smartphone Really Is Changing You and Your Family.  

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

The Biblical Opposite of Homosexuality Is Not Heterosexuality

If asked, what would you say is the opposite of homosexuality? The vast majority of us would answer that it’s heterosexuality. But as Christopher Yuan points out in the following article, the biblical answer is different: it’s holiness.

I’ve highly recommended Christopher Yuan’s new book Holy Sexuality and the Gospel, which came out last year. Christopher is a serious and careful student of God’s Word, and is that rare individual who has personally grappled with these issues in the crucible of life. What he writes here in this article is very helpful—for any of us who have sexual desires that are outside of God’s will.

May we all pursue purity, realizing that “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified [set apart, or holy]; that you should avoid sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).  —Randy Alcorn

What Is the Opposite of Homosexuality? Why Marriage Is Not My Mission

By Christopher Yuan

At 33 years old, Bill became a Christian after pursuing same-sex relationships for eleven years. As a new believer, he was very open to marrying a woman and even starting a family. However, now thirty years later, he remains unmarried and has found godly contentment as a single man. Bill leads a full life of ministry and mentors many men with experiences similar to his own.

After years in the gay community, Mark also put his faith in Christ. His new life as a Christian did not come with any sexual or romantic interest in the opposite sex. He was ready and content to be single for the rest of his life — assuming it was his only truly Christian option.

Mark became best friends with Andrea, also a new follower of Christ. She came out of a broken past with abusive boyfriends and even a couple abortions. Because those relationships were toxic, she’d decided to hold off on dating and focus on her relationship with God. The two felt safe together. Mark knew she didn’t want to date, and Andrea knew he wasn’t attracted to girls. Their love for each other was deep but platonic.

After some time, Mark began noticing some things about her that he never noticed before. New affections blossomed — both physical and emotional. He built up enough courage and asked Andrea out on a date. After several months of dating, he asked her to marry him. And on their wedding night, he confessed to his new bride, “Honey, I can’t explain this. I’m not attracted to any other women. I’m only attracted to you.”

Two men, two pursuits, two paths. Bill wanted to marry but remains single today. Mark was single and content, but now he’s married to Andrea. Often God’s path is not what we expect or once even wanted. For some, it’s singleness; for others, it’s marriage. Yet the goal for all — single or married, same-sex or opposite-sex attracted — is holiness.

Breaking Bad Paradigms

We live in a world of countless shades of grey — not just fifty. Ambiguity is the innocuous but nefarious overture to false teaching. Thus, we must welcome every opportunity to lovingly communicate that biblical morality is unsurprisingly and beautifully black and white. As such, we cannot say that heterosexuality in all its forms is holy or God’s perfect standard.

Heterosexuality is defined as “pertaining to sexual relations between people of opposite sex.” This is exceedingly broad and would include sinful behavior — a man sleeping with several different women, a husband cheating on his wife with another lady, and even a committed monogamous relationship between a cohabitating boyfriend and girlfriend.

Yet some Christians consider these “success” stories for same-sex-attracted individuals because they’re achieving their “heterosexual potential” (Shame and Attachment Loss, 24). But the Bible doesn’t bless every indiscriminate variety of opposite-sex relationship — whether incest (Genesis 19:31–36), or rape (Genesis 34:2), or prostitution (Luke 15:30), or adultery (Matthew 14:3–4), or sex before marriage (John 4:16–18).

What the World Thinks

By simply stating that “heterosexuality is right” without qualification, others may hear a tacit endorsement of the sexual immorality listed above. Certainly, not all heterosexual behavior or relationships are sinful — the union between a husband and a wife is blessed by God — but we must also recognize that heterosexuality is not synonymous with biblical marriage and says nothing about singleness.

The terms heterosexual and homosexual originate from a secular anthropology elevating sexual desires as a legitimate way to categorize humanity. Is this really an ontological category Christians should espouse? Are we, in fact, defined by our sexual desires and behaviors?

The world embraces the terms heterosexuality and homosexuality in part because sexual desires and sexual expression are of utmost importance to unbelievers. The ideology is trumpeted in our classrooms and on our television screens that sex and sexuality are inseparable, necessary, and essential aspects of who we are.

Borrowing this secular, man-made category of heterosexuality to describe how God calls Christians to live misses his perfect standard for holiness. Also, the Bible doesn’t categorize humanity fundamentally according to our sexual desires — or any other sort of desire for that matter. Using a term which confuses and obfuscates our true identity is unwise, and embracing such a broad category which includes sinful behavior must be roundly rejected. It’s irresponsible to cling to terminology that only adds to the confusion.

What the Word Says

Instead of affirming secular categories, let’s look at what’s biblical. What we need is a completely new category to represent God’s sexual ethic: holy sexuality. We’ve pigeonholed ourselves into the wrong framework: heterosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality. It’s time to break free from this secular paradigm and embrace God’s vision for sexuality. The term holy sexuality simplifies and disentangles an otherwise complex conversation.

Holy sexuality consists of only two paths: chastity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage — as defined by God to be between a husband and his wife. Chastity is more than simply abstention from extramarital sex; it conveys purity and holiness. Faithfulness is more than merely maintaining chastity in marriage and avoiding illicit sex; it conveys covenantal commitment.

I describe these as two paths, not “choices.” Singleness, for most, is not a choice. If you think about it, no one is born married — we’re all born single! While some may choose to remain single, it’s never initially our own choice.

Holy sexuality is not anything new or monumental. From Genesis to Revelation, only two ways align with God’s standard for sexual expression: if single, be sexually abstinent while fleeing lustful desires; if married, be sexually and emotionally faithful to your spouse of the opposite sex while also fleeing lustful desires. All of us stand together in the same fight for holy sexuality. Instead of determining how we ought to live based on enduring patterns of erotic or romantic desires, God’s call for all humanity is holiness.

Good News for All

Before my conversion, I heard the “Christian” message loud and clear: homosexuality is wrong, and heterosexuality is right. If I wanted to become a Christian, so it seemed, I had to be sexually attracted to women — as if the more erotic desires I had for women, the more of a Christian man I’d be. Too many Christians have wrongly assumed that the main goal for someone like me is to stop or lessen same-sex attractions and develop opposite-sex attractions.

But what’s the harm in that? If people want to marry, wouldn’t it be good to help them be sexually attracted to the opposite sex? But this much is true: the best way to prepare others for marriage is to help them be more like Jesus. The key to a successful marriage isn’t sexual desires, but union with Christ.

God commands us to “be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:16). The biblical opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality — that’s not the ultimate goal. But the opposite of homosexuality is holiness. As a matter of fact, the opposite of every sin struggle is holiness.

Godly marriage and godly singleness are two sides of the same coin. We will do well to stop emphasizing only one without the other. Both are good. Holy sexuality — chastity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage — is really good news for all.

The article originally appeared on Desiring God , and is used by permission of the author.

Photo by Atharva Tulsi on Unsplash

The Benefits and Pitfalls of Multilevel Marketing in the Christian Community

Hundreds of thousands of Christians have at one time or another been part of multilevel sales organizations. Here’s how the Federal Trade Commission defines multilevel marketing:

In multilevel or network marketing, individuals sell products to the public — often by word of mouth and direct sales. Typically, distributors earn commissions, not only for their own sales, but also for sales made by the people they recruit.

In referring to multilevel marketing practices, I don’t mean “pyramid schemes” based on the multilevel chain-letter approach where others are enlisted to send in their money in hope of rising to the top and receiving huge profits. Although there is a pyramid element to some multilevel sales companies, pyramids per se are illegal, whereas legitimate multilevel sales organizations are not.

The Positive Benefits

First, some clarifications are in order. There is absolutely nothing wrong with selling products or making a profit. Every Christian needs to work for a living, and sales is a legitimate and respectable profession. There are multilevel sales organizations, both Christian and secular, that offer good products at a fair price.

Furthermore, I recognize that many committed Christians are only nominally involved in multilevel sales, or if they are very involved, are very careful in their approach. Personally, I have friends who are part of multilevel marketing companies, but have never once made Nanci and I feel uncomfortable. In fact, in most cases they’re very careful not to even bring it up.

There can be great benefits for some people, especially moms who desire to stay home and care for their children while still supporting their families. One blogger involved in a MLM business wrote:

I lead several women whose sole purpose in building a business is so that their husbands can give up second jobs and others whose purpose is to stay at home with their children. These are goals which will benefit their families. My own husband is preparing to exit the retail company he started 25 years ago, where he has worked 60-70 hours per week to earn roughly three times the income that I earn in a tenth of the hours.  I’ve watched many husbands leave jobs or cut back on hours in order to join in partnerships with their wives. This is not a bad thing! It is also worth noting that I know of one case of a family who has come off welfare due to the mother’s involvement in our business!

Many of those who are heavily involved in multilevel marketing are innocent of the kinds of attitudes and actions I will address in the rest of this blog. There are great examples of people who balance these things well. But just like anything else, being involved with such a business comes with its own unique set of temptations and challenges.

In sharing potential pitfalls, I’m sure to tread on sensitive territory, and no doubt some readers will be offended by what I share. Nevertheless, I ask that you consider what I have to say with an open mind. (What follows is a much edited and updated section from my book Money, Possessions, and Eternity.)

Consider the Finances

I’ll start with a word of caution about the financial side of engaging in multilevel marketing. Besides the well-known larger multilevel sales organizations, there are numerous smaller ones that have come and gone through the years. Some garages are filled five years later with products that were supposed to “sell themselves.”

Many of these organizations entice new prospects by touting extravagant incomes. But the statistics and disclosure statements of many such companies tell another story. In his article Ten Big Lies of Multilevel Marketing, Robert L. Fitzpatrick writes, “Fewer than 1% of all MLM distributors ever earn a profit and those earning a sustainable living at this business are a much smaller percentage still. Extraordinary sales and marketing obstacles account for much of this failure, but even if the business were more feasible, sheer mathematics would severely limit the opportunity. The MLM business structure can support only a small number of financial winners. ”

In their article “The Divine Rise of Multilevel Marketing,” Christianity Today focuses on one company and explains that by some estimates, less than 1% of sellers earn a profit, and more than 90% of the company’s consultants stay at the lowest level. This means they earn less than $600 in a year, before business expenses and taxes.

CBS News reports that 2015 disclosure statements from another popular multilevel marketing company revealed that the average commission their representatives earn is just $85 per year.

It’s true some people sign up as consultants for a company only to get a discount on the products they themselves would like to purchase, and aren’t necessarily concerned about making a profit. Others do so because they truly believe in the products and genuinely want to help others. But for those who hope to make a sustainable living selling them, it’s wise to be realistic about what you can expect to earn.

An article for Crown Financial Ministries (an organization I highly recommend) says this:

Those who enter an MLM business because they love the product and enjoy the association do fine. Those who enter to build a business with income potential need to realize that just like any business it is very difficult and can require years of hard work. If you enter thinking this is a “get rich quick” idea you will be disappointed. The Bible warns against being motivated by or eager to “get rich.”

When the Motivation Is More Than Just Friendship

I’ll move on to another serious concern that can happen with multilevel marketing. Picture this: Someone is warmly approached by a fellow Christian who appears to be genuinely interested in friendship, in person or even through social media. Typically, these people will work something into the conversation about their involvement with a particular line of cleaning products or vitamins or cosmetics, then make a pitch to enlist the other’s involvement.

Over the years, many people have told me similar stories of their experiences with multilevel marketers, with varying degrees of hurt or anger. I’ve experienced it enough times myself to know that it really happens. I’ve received “the call” from a fellow alumnus from Bible college or seminary. First, he’ll ask about me and my family, saying pleasant and flattering things, before he finally moves on to his real reason for calling. When I politely say no to his proposition, sometimes he’ll persist and I must get firmer. Suddenly, all his interest in my family and me is transferred to the next person on his contact list, which consists of every person he has ever met whose name he can remember.

The Danger of Seeing People as Objects

The distinctive element of some multilevel sales organizations is that people are not just potential customers but also potential distributors who would come “under” their recruiter (who from that point forward would receive a percentage of their profits). Not only is every occasion a potential sales pitch and every person a potential sale, but every person is a potential salesman, making money for the “upline.” People can naturally become objects, not subjects, and interest in them can easily become primarily utilitarian.

I know a man and woman who were invited to dinner by two close friends who’d recently become involved in multilevel sales. Before dinner was served, the man noticed out of the corner of his eye that his host had deliberately tipped over the gravy bowl, spilling it onto the tablecloth. Saying something like “clumsy me,” he marched into the kitchen and then reappeared with a bottle of cleaning fluid. He proceeded to demonstrate its amazing ability to get gravy stains out of tablecloths and then launched into a sales pitch for his organization and its wonderful products. The visiting couple was deeply hurt and shaken by this deception and manipulation. It wasn’t only the end of the evening, but the end of a long friendship.

The Potential for Ulterior Motives

Years ago a woman visited our church one Sunday, took a church directory, and immediately started calling people straight down the list, offering her services with a particular multilevel sales company. When she called my wife, this woman shared how much she enjoyed our fellowship, saying that her family had decided ours would be their new church home. After some more pleasantries, she tried to sell her product. When my wife politely said she wasn’t interested, the woman’s previously sweet tone changed. She asked if there were others in the church already selling her product. When my wife said, “Yes, there’s a number,” there was a quiet “Oh,” and the conversation ended. So did the relationship with our church.

Unfortunately, some multilevel marketing lends itself to ulterior motives. Because an up-front and to-the-point sales approach may be quickly dismissed, in some cases, covert strategies are often adopted. Instead of openly relating as brothers and sisters in Christ, people come with hidden agendas and unspoken purposes, calculating how to produce a desired response. People become targets and strategies are developed to overcome sales resistance.

As people start catching on to these indirect sales strategies, a loss of trust occurs. Nobody likes to find out that an apparent friendship is nothing more than a sales strategy. How many of us, due to our past experiences with such people, now instinctively ask, “Why is she being so nice to me? What’s her angle?” or “What’s he leading up to?”

Marketing in the Church

Although there’s nothing wrong with businesspeople having customers from their own church—this is natural and healthy when it develops on its own—it’s another thing for salespeople to use church contacts to actively recruit customers. When that occurs, something ugly starts to happen to people and their view of others. They begin using the body of Christ to further their own purposes for financial gain. (It’s particularly regrettable when pastors and lay leaders use their contacts with people as a platform for their personal financial growth. These conflicts of interest can undermine the integrity of an entire ministry.)

The Church is often an ideal climate for marketing because there’s already an established level of trust—“He’s a good churchgoer” or “She’s my sister in Christ”—and a well-established network of people (sometimes known as contacts) who are already linked by having something important in common (Christ and the Church). So how does the multilevel marketing phenomenon work out in the Church? Sometimes, no doubt, it works out just fine. But sometimes it produces people who use the body of Christ for personal gain.

There are cases where people use church social gatherings and home Bible studies to share their “testimonies” of how this company or this product has transformed their lives. (I’ve heard such testimonies myself.) Sometimes people move from church to church to get more customers, exaggerate their profits, and go into debt to pursue materialistic lifestyles as proof of God’s “blessing.”

To protect their members, one church wrote out an official policy on multilevel/network marketing (there are probably others churches who’ve done the same). I appreciate this section:

Thank you for helping us “keep the main thing the main thing” here at Crossroads. The reason we’re here is to “connect people to God and one another.” Not for business purposes or personal profit. Rather, so that we can reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus Christ and make a difference for Him in our world before He returns.

Loving Our Neighbors

Sometimes, deep involvement in multilevel sales changes people, and not for the best. Some end up fueling the greed of their brothers and sisters in Christ, tampering with their priorities, and encouraging them to pursue a path of materialism. Some go so far as to restrict their friendships to those who work under them or over them, or buy their products, or are useful in some other way. Some become evangelists for their company and their products, anxious to pass on “the good news” of their wonderful organization and moneymaking opportunity. Sadly, sometimes, their “gospel” becomes a cheap substitute for the real gospel.

All of these are very real cautions. But do I think multilevel marketing can be done well, in a way that honors the Lord, fosters love for other people, helps families, and encourages Christlike generosity? It will require biblical wisdom, but yes, it absolutely can be done. I agree with Courtney Reissig, who writes this in her article How Not to Do Multi-Level Marketing:

With millions of people involved in multi-level marketing and direct-selling, this way of working and making money isn’t going anywhere. Instead of writing off the idea completely, we—as Christians who believe all work has value—can provide a different way of thinking about it that doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Whether your job is selling beauty products out of your home or something else entirely, the motive for our work remains the same—loving our neighbor.

Resources for Further Consideration

How Not to Do Multi-Level Marketing – The Gospel Coalition

Multilevel Sales Programs – Crown Financial Ministries

Mind Your Own Business – Crossroads Church

The Divine Rise of Multilevel Marketing – Christianity Today

Dave Ramsey’s take on multilevel marketing

Photo by Christine Donaldson on Unsplash

Philip Yancey on His Own Personal Reading Crisis, and What It Means for All of Us

Philip Yancey, a writer I often appreciate, wrote an article about his own struggle to carve out focused attention for reading, and how his own personal experience reflects our culture at large. The decline in reading books is something I feel strongly about, as those who aren’t dedicated readers most likely won’t be dedicated readers of God’s Word.

Here’s an excerpt from Yancey’s article:

I am going through a personal crisis.  I used to love reading. I am writing this blog in my office, surrounded by 27 tall bookcases laden with some 5,000 books. Over the years I have read them, marked them up, and recorded the annotations in a computer database for potential references in my writing. To a large degree, they have formed my professional and spiritual life.

Books help define who I am. They have ushered me on a journey of faith, have introduced me to the wonders of science and the natural world, have informed me about issues such as justice and race. More, they have been a source of delight and adventure and beauty, opening windows to a reality I would not otherwise know.

My crisis consists in the fact that I am describing my past, not my present. I used to read three books a week. One year I devoted an evening each week to read all of Shakespeare’s plays (OK, due to interruptions it actually took me two years). Another year I read the major works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. But I am reading many fewer books these days, and even fewer of the kinds of books that require hard work.

The internet and social media have trained my brain to read a paragraph or two, and then start looking around.  When I read an online article from The Atlantic or The New Yorker, after a few paragraphs I glance over at the slide bar to judge the article’s length. My mind strays, and I find myself clicking on the sidebars and the underlined links. Soon I’m over at CNN.com reading Donald Trump’s latest Tweets and details of the latest terrorist attack, or perhaps checking tomorrow’s weather.

Worse, I fall prey to the little boxes that tell me, “If you like this article [or book], you’ll also like…”  Or I glance at the bottom of the screen and scan the teasers for more engaging tidbits: 30 Amish Facts That’ll Make Your Skin Crawl; Top 10 Celebrity Wardrobe Malfunctions; Walmart Cameras Captured These Hilarious Photos. A dozen or more clicks later I have lost interest in the original article.

Neuroscientists have an explanation for this phenomenon. When we learn something quick and new, we get a dopamine rush; functional-MRI brain scans show the brain’s pleasure centers lighting up. In a famous experiment, rats keep pressing a lever to get that dopamine rush, choosing it over food or sex. In humans, emails also satisfy that pleasure center, as do Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat.

Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows analyzes the phenomenon, and its subtitle says it all: “What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.” Carr spells out that most Americans, and young people especially, are showing a precipitous decline in the amount of time spent reading. He says, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” A 2016 Nielsen report calculates that the average American devotes more than ten hours per day to consuming media—including radio, TV, and all electronic devices. That constitutes 65 percent of waking hours, leaving little time for the much harder work of focused concentration on reading.

Yancey also shares this:

When asked about his secret to success, Warren Buffett pointed to a stack of books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will…”  Charles Chu, who quoted Buffett on the Quartz website, acknowledges that 500 pages a day is beyond reach for all but a few people. Nevertheless, neuroscience proves what each of these busy people have found: it actually takes less energy to focus intently than to zip from task to task. After an hour of contemplation, or deep reading, a person ends up less tired and less neurochemically depleted, thus more able to tackle mental challenges.

If we can’t reach Buffett’s high reading bar, what is a realistic goal?  Charles Chu calculates that at an average reading speed of 400 words per minute, it would take 417 hours in a year to read 200 books—less than the 608 hours the average American spends on social media, or the 1642 hours watching TV.  “Here’s the simple truth behind reading a lot of books,” says Quartz: “It’s not that hard.  We have all the time we need. The scary part—the part we all ignore—is that we are too addicted, too weak, and too distracted to do what we all know is important.”

Toward the end of his article, Yancey says:

I’ve concluded that a commitment to reading is an ongoing battle, somewhat like the battle against the seduction of internet pornography. We have to build a fortress with walls strong enough to withstand the temptations of that powerful dopamine rush while also providing shelter for an environment that allows deep reading to flourish.  Christians especially need that sheltering space, for quiet meditation is one of the most important spiritual disciplines.

The whole article is well worth reading.

Here are some suggestions I have found helpful to make space for reading and contemplation:

- If you haven’t discovered audiobooks, you don’t know what you’re missing. The great thing is, you can listen while driving, doing dishes, working on a car, running, biking, you name it. I love audiobooks, and so does my wife Nanci. There are some great apps out there for audiobooks, including Audible and Hoopla. (Some libraries have agreements with Hoopla or Overdrive, so check with your local library to see if your account includes free access to an audiobook app.)

- Consider setting a personal reading goal for the year of the number of books you’d like to read. Ask a friend or family member to join you so you can keep each other accountable.

- Dedicate times when all electronic devices are put away so you can focus on reading.

Is It OK to Be Angry with God over Difficult Things?

You can listen to the audio of my answer or read the edited transcript below, which has some additional material added.

Sometimes we legitimize being mad at God, and we need to start by correcting that. There’s a difference between being profoundly disappointed, discouraged, or even depressed by a bad situation, and being mad at God about it. Being mad is blaming God, and saying, “It’s your fault.” And blaming God is a dead-end street, because in doing so we turn away from our greatest source of comfort.

What’s Wrong with the World?

If God is who Scripture says He is, then is He actually to blame for all the bad things that happen in the world, and specifically in my life? I think the answer to that is no, He isn’t.

Is there a biblical basis to justify our being mad at God? Having strong emotions about a situation is understandable, and certainly emotions in and of themselves aren’t bad. I think there’s value in honestly confessing to God our feelings of hurt, resentment, and anger. However, we should direct our emotions (including blame) toward the proper object of our sadness, disappointment, and discouragement.

We need to remember whose fault is sin. All suffering in the world is either directly or indirectly the result of sin. In John 9:2-3 Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

He said it wasn’t a specific sin. If someone has cancer, it doesn’t necessarily mean they did a particular sin and are now being punished by God. Yet overall, the pain and suffering in this world is a result of punishment for sin, and part of the Fall and Curse. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  

We’re all part of a sinful race. It’s not just that Adam and Eve, or “really bad people” like Hitler, Chairman Mao, or Pol Pot, sinned. It’s people like you and me who are sinners.

In my books The Goodness of God and If God Is Good, I share a story about G. K. Chesterton, who along with other prominent people, was asked by The London Times to respond to the question, “What’s Wrong with the World?” His was perhaps the shortest essay in history: “Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton.”  What’s wrong with the world? I am. That’s a biblical truth. We are all part of the problem.

Ann Voskamp writes:

We look and swell with the ache of a broken, battered planet, what we ascribe as the negligent work of an indifferent Creator (if we even think there is one). Do we ever think of this busted-up place as the result of us ingrates, unsatisfied, we who punctured it all with a bite? 

It is sin—sometimes not our sin, but someone else’s—that has resulted in bad things in life. When natural disasters kill people, when cancer ravages a loved one, instead of getting mad at God, we should feel anger toward the sin that lies at the root of all suffering.

The Ultimate Remedy

For the Christian, the ultimate remedy for our feelings of anger and hurt is to affirm God’s goodness, sovereignty, and power. We need to go to Romans 8:28, which says, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose.” This is part of the inspired Word of God, just as true as John 3:16.

Yes, this side of eternity, we often don’t understand why God allows difficult things in our lives that He could prevent. But the comfort Romans 8:28 gives me is this: I can look at the worst thing that has ever happened to me and say, “I’m a child of God. God promises me that somehow, He is going to use this very bad, horrific situation for great good in my life.” We can be assured that whatever difficulty He has allowed in our lives has been Father-filtered through His fingers of wisdom and love. That is the ultimate perspective-giver.

Does it require faith? Absolutely. But it is true.

We see it in a number of places in Scripture, including in Job’s life. We also profoundly see it in Joseph’s life. In Genesis 45 he tells his brothers, “Don’t be mad at yourselves.” Now, they did a truly horrible thing by betraying and selling him into slavery, probably at the young age of thirteen or fourteen.

Once Joseph confronts his brothers with his identity, he tells them to not be mad at themselves for what they did because it was really the sovereign God who sent him down to Egypt. One day, being Pharaoh’s right-hand-man, he could save countless lives (not only Egyptians, but also his own family—the race from which Messiah was going to come). Later his brothers think, “He’s going to kill us now. There’s no way he’s going to forgive us.” But he does! His forgiveness is based on the perspective he shares in Genesis 50:20, “You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good to save many lives” (emphasis added). If God did that in Joseph’s life, surely He does that in ours.

Jesus is the ultimate example of God bringing good out of the very bad. The worst thing in human history happened on a day we call Good Friday. Why don’t we call it “Bad Friday”? Because we see that God brought the best good in the universe out of the worst thing that ever happened. If God can do that in Jesus’ life and in Joseph’s life, can He do that in ours? Romans 8:28 says yes! Are we going to believe it?

He Owes Us No Apology

God is the source of all good and the standard by which good is measured. We may not like what God does, but we’re in no position to accuse Him of wrongdoing. Every breath He gives us—we who deserve immediate and eternal death—is a gift.

In his article “It Is Never Right to Be Angry with God”, John Piper writes,

Anger at sin is good (Mark 3:5), but anger at goodness is sin. That is why it is never right to be angry with God. He is always and only good, no matter how strange and painful his ways with us. Anger toward God signifies that he is bad or weak or cruel or foolish. None of those is true, and all of them dishonor him. Therefore it is never right to be angry at God. When Jonah and Job were angry with God, Jonah was rebuked by God (Jonah 4:9) and Job repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).

God owes us no apology; we owe Him many. If you’re waiting for God to say He’s sorry for the difficulty you’ve experienced in life, don’t hold your breath.

But if, on the other hand, you want to hear Him say He cares about you, and sympathizes with you for the pain you’ve had to endure, if you are downtrodden and brokenhearted, listen to what He says to His people:

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:13)

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
(Isaiah 49:15–16)

Psalm 13 begins, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” It ends, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me” (verses 5–6). David travels a vast distance in a mere three verses (v. 2-4). Like him, we can feel the pain of the first four verses of Psalm 13, while affirming the truths of its last two.

May we too avoid the bitterness of anger toward God, and instead give Him the gift of our trust.  

Photo by Francisco Moreno on Unsplash

What Happens When Youth Are Given the Opportunity to Help a Child in Need

Today’s blog is about a nonprofit that’s making a big difference in the lives of kids with medical needs, and also in the lives of youth in local schools. Our ministry has the joy of being a part of this through sponsorship! Here’s more from Laura Queen, the Portland program director with Sparrow Clubs USA. I think you’ll be touched by reading about their work and seeing the pictures of a child who has been helped. It was so fun to be there at this event at Reynolds High School here in Oregon. —Randy Alcorn

In many ways, today’s world makes establishing relationships with other people harder than ever. Kids are glued to their cell phones, video games, and computers. While they may feel more “social,” the truth is they are quickly losing one of life’s most precious gifts—personal and meaningful connections. 

What if we could get kids to realize the world is so much bigger than just them? 

What if we could ignite compassion in those same kids?

Sometimes, it’s as simple as giving someone an opportunity. That’s the heart behind Sparrow Clubs USA. We connect local students at schools to children in medical need, giving hope and support for these children and their families. And as great as that is, something even more remarkable happens when a child in medical need, which we call their Sparrow, enters the school: compassion explodes. Students are given a reason to look up, to look around, to take notice and reach out to others in their community.

So how does it work? A business provides a set amount of sponsor money to a Sparrow Project at a local school. For every hour of community service students perform, $10 is placed in a Sparrow account for the family. As students raise funds, awareness, and support for their Sparrow, they begin to understand the value of helping others and the power of compassion.

Many young people struggle with feelings of isolation, loneliness, low self-esteem, and lack of purpose. By focusing on community service, the Sparrow program enables everyone to make a difference, regardless of popularity, economic status, athleticism, or intelligence. Often, for the first time, these students are part of something bigger than themselves.

Families with children in medical need face significant emotional turmoil, as well as financial hardships. Although health insurance coverage is now available to more individuals, additional costs such as travel expenses for specialized care, ongoing therapies, annual co-pays, and deductibles are out-of-pocket expenses for families. In most cases, parents caring for a critically ill child lose time from work—some have to leave their jobs—resulting in a reduction of income and inability to pay for these costs, let alone day-to-day living expenses. But Sparrow families no longer feel as isolated during the struggles with their child’s medical issues as they are embraced by an entire school student body.

Community service takes on an entirely different meaning when students are introduced to an actual family, know their story, and understand their hardships. They want to contribute their time doing community service in order to benefit their Sparrow family, instead of feeling that their service hours are something they have to do in order to meet school requirements. Last year alone, over 14,000 hours of community service were performed by students involved in the Portland, Oregon Metropolitan area in support of their Sparrows, resulting in over $83,000 for local families with kids in medical need!

Not only are kids in medical need and their families helped, but there is also a lasting impact on the local youth. They learn lessons in conscience, courage, and character as they serve others in need. This spark of compassion can change lives for years to come, because youth with compassion become adults with compassion.

In January, Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon launched their second Sparrow Project, this time sponsored by Eternal Perspective Ministries. Reynolds had an incredibly successful project in 2017-2018, with students completing over 1,400 hours of community service and raising over $3,500 for their Sparrow, Juno. Their new Sparrow is Joseph, a 14-year-old boy who was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma and is undergoing chemotherapy. He recently received an overwhelming welcome from both students and staff.  Learn more about his story:

Randy again: EPM board member Jay Echternach and I were at two assemblies at Reynolds High School where Laura introduced Joseph to the student body. (We were also there four and a half years after the school shooting that left one student dead, two counting the student who shot himself, and a teacher injured.)  It was very touching to see the students at the second largest high school in Oregon respond as they did at the opportunity to help Joseph! You might think these high schoolers wouldn’t care much about helping a junior high kid. But they did care, and Sparrow Clubs, through Laura, helped them to care.  

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, and to see how you can get involved, visit sparrowclubs.org. 

Is God All You Need?

Asaph says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25, niv). This may seem an overstatement: There’s nothing on Earth this man desires but God? Is Asaph saying he doesn’t desire food, water, clothes, shelter, friendship, and laughter? No. He’s saying, in essence, “Of the many things I desire and need, at the core of all of them is God Himself. Therefore, all that I desire and need is summed up in God alone, because He is the source of all provision and the giver of every good gift.”

Think of human relationships, which are one of God’s greatest gifts to us—a reflection of the relational goodness of His triune self. It was God who said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). This statement isn’t simply about marriage; it is also about the intrinsic human need for friendship and companionship.

Notice that God didn’t say, “I’m all you need,” though in one sense (seeing God as our first Need and sufficient Provider) that’s true. Rather, He said, “I’ll give you all you need—and I made you to need others of your kind.” Think of it—God was with Adam in the Garden, yet God said that wasn’t good enough. God designed us to need each other. So do I need food, water, air, and other people? Do I need family, friends and the church, the body of Christ? Sure. God made me to need them, and He provides them for me.

In this article, Scott Hubbard, editor at desiringGod.org, shares some thoughts about the statement “All I need is God.” He writes, “Throughout Scripture, God’s people often need more than God alone—they need God through the things he has made.” Thanks, Scott, for this helpful clarification. —Randy Alcorn

 

You Need More Than God Alone

By Scott Hubbard

“All I need is God.”

The words were becoming increasingly familiar in his new Christian vocabulary. He sang them in verses and choruses on Sunday morning. He heard them in sermons and testimonies. And, of course, he read some variation of them all throughout his Bible. “All we have, all we need, all we want is God.”

The words often felt false on his lips. He thought of how many things he treasured after God. Big things like his parents, his girlfriend, and his nephews. Small things like his bike, his books, and the river by his house. He knew he wanted these things. At times he felt like he even needed them — they energized him, delighted him, comforted him.

He wondered, Can I really say I need God alone?

What a Quiet Time Can’t Do

The phrase “all I need is God” captures the cornerstone of Christian hope, but it is not the only word God himself speaks over the Christian life. To be sure, God alone in Jesus Christ is our greatest and final need. He is the one we need to be born again, justified, forgiven, adopted, and placed on the road to glory. God is also the only one in this world that we cannot truly live without. But when the Bible talks about how Christians fulfill their mission, or find strength in depression, or feel comfort in sorrow, or mature overall, it has more to say than simply God alone.

As we keep repeating, “All I need is God,” over time the phrase may elbow out other biblical ways God gives himself to us. We may subtly give the impression that the Christian who is always alone with his Bible, away from the world, will be first in the kingdom. And we may foster a false sense of guilt for brothers and sisters who, try as they might, need more than prayer and Bible reading to cope with trials and temptations.

Throughout Scripture, God’s people often need more than God alone—they need God through the things he has made. They need not only the grace of God in the gospel, but also the gifts of God in creation.

Consider the stories of three biblical characters: Adam, Elijah, and Paul.

Flesh and Bones in the Garden

As Adam walks through Eden, a sinless man in a perfect garden, with the trees and rivers clapping their hands, and the shalom of God pulsing through the air, two words smack against the sky like a bird hitting a window: “not good.”

“It is not good,” God says, “that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). In order to fulfill his mission to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28), Adam needed more than God alone. He needed “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23). He needed Eve.

And then, even together, Adam and Eve needed more than God alone. If God had wanted to, he could have created Adam and Eve as pure spirit — two angels alongside Michael and Gabriel and the rest of heaven’s hosts. Instead, God made a man and a woman, spirits fastened to flesh and bone. And then he placed them in a world teeming with more than God alone: stars and moons, tulips and oaks, dolphins and rabbits, and a few billion other plants, animals, and minerals.

In God’s very good world, Adam and Eve needed the rain to grow their food, and wine to gladden their hearts, and oil to make their faces shine, and bread to strengthen their bones, and lights to mark the seasons (Psalm 104:13–15, 19).

Adam and Eve needed more than God alone in order to fulfill their mission. They needed God’s help through each other and every other good thing.

Eat, Sleep, Repeat

Jump forward a few thousand years. The prophet Elijah stumbles through the wilderness outside Beersheba, running from a queen who wants his head. “If a sword is not thrust through that prophet by this time tomorrow,” Jezebel had said, “so may the gods do to me and more also” (see 1 Kings 19:1–2). A hundred miles later, Elijah collapses beneath a broom tree, exhausted, depressed, and ready to die (1 Kings 19:4).

Elijah needs God to revive his faith. He needs God to speak to him. He needs God to show himself. But first, he needs to sleep and eat.

And God knows. After letting his prophet rest, God sends his angel with these most practical of words: “Arise and eat” (1 Kings 19:5). So Elijah eats, and then he sleeps again. The angel comes back: “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you” (1 Kings 19:7). Man shall not live by bread alone — true. But man should not try to live without bread.

Elijah needed more than God alone to find strength in his depression. He needed God’s help through food and sleep.

God of All Friends

What about Paul, the single apostle and frontier missionary? Didn’t he find all his help in God alone?

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul calls God “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a God of comfort — a God who tracks us down in the wasteland of our fears and anxieties, wraps his arm around us, and leads us back home.

But how does God deliver his comfort? Sometimes, God comforts us directly through his word. When Paul felt the thorn pierce his side, and when he pleaded for relief, Jesus met him with a word: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Other times, God comforts us through his people. When Paul came into Macedonia, and was “afflicted at every turn,” God wrapped his comfort in a person: “God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus” (2 Corinthians 7:5–6).

Often, God sends comfort to his people by sending them a friend. He sees us in our affliction, taps one of his image bearers on the shoulder, and says, “Go and show him what I’m like.” So we get a knock on our door, or a conversation after church, or friends who ask how they can pray for us. And through them we feel our Father’s comfort.

Paul needed more than God alone to feel comfort in his sorrow. He needed God’s help through a good friend.

From Whom All Blessings Flow

“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God,” C.S. Lewis writes. “The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito” (Letters to Malcolm, 75).

Throughout Scripture, and throughout our lives, God often ministers to us incognito. He wraps the world he has made like a cloak around him, he masks himself with his creation, and he walks about the earth on a mission to bless his people.

So when we find help from more than God alone, we should not be surprised. All of God’s created gifts are medicine from our Physician, green grass from our Shepherd, flowers from our Bridegroom. And therefore, they are avenues for adoring him.

We may need more than God alone, but he alone is the fountain from whom all blessings flow, the giver of every good gift (James 1:17). So he alone deserves the glory for all the strength and hope and comfort we find—wherever we may find it.

This article originally appeared on DesiringGod.org , and is used by permission of the author.

Photo by Iswanto Arif on Unsplash