Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 112

Why It’s Biblical, Not Just a Fad, to Care for People from Other Cultures

Unfortunately, in this world under the Curse, there’s often hostility and division between races and nations. But Christ died for our sins of racism and nationalism (I’m not speaking about patriotism—it’s usually healthy for people to be proud of their countries). The redemption of mankind and the earth will include the redemption of human relationships and the uniting of different people groups in Christ. There are different races in Heaven (Revelation 7:9) and even different nations on the New Earth (Revelation 21:24). But there will be no racial prejudice or belief that one’s nation is inherently superior to others.

Some scholars argue that the image of God has a corporate dimension: Richard Mouw says, “There is no one human individual or group who can fully bear or manifest all that is involved in the image of God, so that there is a sense in which that image is collectively possessed. …By looking at different individuals and groups we get glimpses of different aspects of the full image of God.” [1]

If this is true, and I believe it likely is, then racism is not only an injustice toward people but also an indirect rejection of God’s very nature. On the New Earth we’ll never celebrate sin, but we’ll celebrate diversity in the biblical sense (though never in the twisted sense that celebrates sin in the name of diversity). So let’s get a head start now, by loving and serving people of different cultures and races. This article by EPM staff member Shauna Hernandez is an excellent reminder of why we should do so. Thanks, Shauna, for what you and all our staff bring to the diversity of EPM! —Randy Alcorn

Lately, I’ve noticed it’s trendy, especially for young people, to be cultured, travel internationally, and cross off bucket lists. Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve done my share of seeing other parts of the world, and am an advocate for experiencing culture, food, traditions, and plane rides. But what if as believers, God has a deeper purpose behind our desire to travel and experience other cultures?

What I want us to remember is that God is the one who sets these desires in us. He also might have other lessons for us when we travel—like what we can learn from meeting people from other cultures. When we visit other countries, let’s keep God’s people as our top priority. Instead of overlooking the ones He calls treasured (Deuteronomy 7:6), let’s make them the most important part of discovering new places.

Here are three Biblical reasons why I think we should love people from other cultures and make them an important part of our travel:

1. Christ did it.

I can’t think of a single better reason to care for others than the fact that Jesus did. In John 4 we see Him interact with a Samaritan woman. Jesus asks her for a drink at the well and she responds, “‘How is that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’ (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)” (John 4:9).  Jesus, who is fully God and fully human, didn’t have to talk to this woman. He was more than capable of getting water on His own, yet He dismissed the cultural expectations of the time because He cared more for her than that water. In fact, He was (and is) the Living Water that she needed (John 4:10-14). So let’s care more for people than things or adventure, not just because it’s kind, but because Jesus did it.

2. It’s a glimpse of Heaven.

God commands us to set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2). This doesn’t mean we should only think about Heaven, but it does mean our perspective should ultimately be changed by our eternal dwelling place.

Revelation 7:9-10 says this about Heaven, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

When we interact with people from other cultures, we receive a sneak-peak of Heaven. What a gift! Let’s get on board now with what eternity is going to be like. Why would we wait?

3. It’s an abundant way to live.

God created us to experience lives of meaning and depth. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” When we enter into life with God, we enter into a life that’s incredibly rich. (This is not to be confused with a care-free, easy life. Richness often comes from struggle and relying on the Lord to bring us through the hard times.) One beautiful way we get to experience this abundance is by traveling, visiting other places, and meeting and serving brothers and sisters who worship the same God as us, yet differently.

I experienced another culture recently at our EPM office in Sandy, Oregon. Two years ago I had the opportunity to travel to Morelia, Mexico to visit the NOE center (learn more about this God-honoring organization) with my home church. I’ve been back several times since and have kept ongoing relationships with the students there.

While visiting the U.S., a student group from NOE were passing through Sandy on their way up to Mt. Hood. I suggested they stop by our office and pick out some of Randy’s books to take home. God has given Randy a heart of generosity and because of this, they each took home two books. They were so grateful! (Would you pray with us that these books not only touch these students, but also that God would intimately be known among the people of Morelia, Mexico? Who knows how God could use the Biblical truths found in Randy’s books there.) That experience touched me deeply and showed me that sometimes we don’t even have to travel—God brings people from other cultures right to us.

May we keep our eyes open when we travel, and even here at home, for ways to learn from and minister to people from other cultures. We’ll be all the richer for doing so!

[1] Richard Mouw, When the Kings Come Marching In (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 47.

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Four Aspects of Your Identity in Christ to Focus on

I exchanged texts with a friend recently who shared he’s trying to focus on his identity in Christ. That’s a great subject to give thought to, as we tend to let our jobs, relationships, material possessions, abilities, and other things define who we are, when they shouldn’t. Below are four aspects of our identity captured in Scripture, followed by some resources you might benefit from. I know I did.  

We are: 

1. God’s children: “See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children—and so, in fact, we are” (1 John 3:1).

2. God’s handiwork: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

3. Christ’s ambassadors: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

4. Christ’s friends: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

And that’s just a small sampling of who God says we are!

Here are some further resources on our identity in Christ: 

How should we live our lives in light of our identity in Christ?

Multiple good resources from Desiring God

Interesting podcast: Why We Never Find Our Identity Inside of Ourselves

My Identity in Jesus: a great PDF you can download/print with lots of good stuff on identity in Christ

May we each grasp and live out the identity we have in Jesus.

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God Wondrously Displays His Greatness When He Brings Good out of Bad

We judge someone’s greatness by the size of the obstacles he overcomes. Climbing Mount Everest brings glory to the climber and testifies to his greatness precisely because of the mountain’s enormity. An athlete who pole-vaults ten feet does nothing amazing. But one who pole-vaults twenty feet makes history. People still celebrate the U.S. hockey team’s “miracle on ice” in 1980 because of the greatness of their Soviet opponent.

So it is with the drama of redemption. Sin and death, the Fall and the Curse, Satan and his demons, the Hell we deserve—what powerful obstacles for God to overcome. But the biggest obstacle was the satisfaction of His own holiness. For God to demonstrate His greatness, He had to overcome all these obstacles.

The greater the obstacles, the greater the glory to God.

We see something remarkable about a person who can bring some good out of bad. But most remarkable is to bring something incredibly good out of something desperately bad. To redeem what appears irredeemable magnifies the greatness of the Redeemer. If the universe exists to demonstrate God’s infinite greatness, then shouldn’t we expect God to scale the highest redemptive mountain? The problems of death, evil, and suffering must be vast in order for God to show His far superior greatness.

Every time we ask God to remove some obstacle in our lives, we should realize we may be asking Him to forgo one more opportunity to declare His greatness. Certainly He sometimes graciously answers our prayers to relieve our suffering. This too testifies to His greatness, and we should praise Him for answering. But when He answers no, we should recognize that He desires to demonstrate His greater glory. May we then bend our knees and trust His sovereign grace.

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book If God Is Good, as well as the devotional 90 Days of God’s Goodness and book The Goodness of God (a specially focused condensation of If God Is Good, which also includes additional material).

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Is It OK for Christians to Read Erotic Books?

Someone wrote our ministry to ask, “Is it permissible for a Christian to occasionally enjoy erotic reading? (I'm not talking about anything violent.) I am actively following Jesus and choosing sexual purity in mind and body, but I’m single and may never get married.”

This person’s question was answered by Karen Coleman, an EPM staff member now with Jesus. I appreciate her wise and winsome response. As I shared in our tribute to Karen, she is truly one of my heroes. —Randy Alcorn

When the apostle Paul was writing about Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians 10:23-31, he said everything we do should be:

1. Profitable (beneficial, valuable, worthwhile)

2. Edifying (helping to improve us morally or spiritually)

3. Done for the glory of God

I don’t know exactly what you consider erotic reading. (Some argue it’s merely pornography in literary form.) But after a one-minute Google search for “erotic reading” I didn’t see anything I would want Jesus to find me reading. Consider this prayerfully: If Jesus is sitting next to you as you read (and through His indwelling Holy Spirit, He is!), can you hand Him the story and ask Him to read it to you?

I’m glad you’re not reading violent erotica. But where is the line drawn? And what about something violent you may run across while looking for something non-violent? We can’t ever “un-read” something after we’ve allowed our eyes to see it.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul laid out instructions that can help us to guard our minds: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Can each of those rightly apply to erotica?

Just because you don’t have any prospects of marriage at this time doesn’t mean you won’t get married someday. Even though it may be difficult to see now, reading erotic stories can set you up for disappointment, creating unrealistic expectations for your future spouse to fulfill.

Marshall Segal of Desiring God says reading genres similar to this “might feel like a fun and harmless fantasy, but it’s not so subtly redefining the power and beauty of sex, creating spiritual blockages in your heart…and impairing your ability to enjoy real and lasting pleasure.”

Randy has written extensively about sexual purity. I’d encourage you to read his article Guidelines for Sexual Purity, his book The Purity Principle, or his booklet Sexual Temptation: Establishing Guardrails and Winning the Battle. These things would help you establish a Biblical view—something solid against which to line up your behavior and choices.

Finally, here’s a clip where Randy talks about the importance of guarding our minds.

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

When the Pastor Came to Dinner

The adorable girl in the photos is my wife Nanci, who is still just as adorable. When I was dating her in high school, and had dinner with her parents, her dad and mom first told me this story. In years to come, I heard it a number of other times. I found it charming and funny, and just like Nanci! I asked her to write it up so you could enjoy it too. —Randy

When I was four years old, we lived quite a distance from our country church. The roots for my family in that church went back to the days of all four of my Scandinavian immigrant grandparents. My father, Elmer Noren, was deacon, treasurer, or trustee at any given time so it was not an option to worship elsewhere when we moved to the neighboring town for my dad’s new job.

One Sunday our pastor and his wife came over for dinner after church. This may be a common and comfortable situation for many families, but in those days the pastor was held in awe, and this was a rare occasion for us and therefore a very big deal in our house. The distance to our house was one reason this was an exceptional visit.

But the real reason for the drama was the nature of my family. We were a modest, stalwart, Scandinavian family. My dad, especially, was a very quiet man. His yearly re-election to service at our church was based upon his great wisdom, and desire to serve the Lord, not upon an outgoing temperament. My mother, Adele Noren, was very hospitable, and a great cook, but having the pastor over raised the bar for everyone’s comfort level. The atmosphere needed to be friendly, but predictable, composed, and certainly respectful. My brother Ron and sister Donna were much older than I was, and knew how to behave around a pastor.

After some pleasantries, we led the pastor and his wife to the dining room table carefully set with our best dishes, silverware, and water goblets. The pastor, Cabot Johnson, was great at putting everyone at ease. Things were going smoothly. This was going to be a wonderful time of fellowship around our table after all! My brother and sister, many years older than I, were both the model of self-controlled, courteous young people.

After a while, the pastor decided to step up the conversation a notch by asking what everyone thought of the sermon at church that morning.

Not only was I just four years old, I was also not cut out of the same cloth as the rest of my family. I was neither quiet, nor composed. I was certainly never predictable, and I didn’t really understand who our guest was.

Well, it was then that Pastor Johnson’s gaze turned to me, the little blonde girl whose face barely scaled the table top. “And what did you think of this morning’s service?”  My reply: “I love going to church, but sometimes that preacher just talks too long!”  

Pastor Cabot Johnson laughed hard and long, which gave everyone else permission to laugh. And my family reminded me of this story for the next fifty years.

—Nanci Noren Alcorn

10-year-old Isaiah Read About Heaven and Is Now Experiencing It Firsthand

A friend shared this story and blog with me, about a precious family, the Simaos, who lost their son Isaiah last year after a tragic horseback riding accident. Isaiah’s oldest sister Sydney has written about their family’s experience and grief:

When tragedy strikes, faith does not make it hurt less. Grief is never easy. It makes us weak. But when you have nothing left in this world, the sovereignty and goodness and all the promises of God must become the rock you fall on by His grace because everything else has been stripped from under your feet. God has used this tragedy to draw us closer to Himself, as the burden of our pain and sorrow has pressed us deeper in the Rock that is higher than I. Writing on Isaiah’s story and our walk through grief has been an immense gift to me, as I dwell on the promises of God, and by His grace, share some of the hope I have in Him with others who may be made to walk a similar road.

In one of her posts, Sydney shared how Isaiah had been reading my Heaven book before his death. She wrote this while he was in the hospital on life support:

After we tucked the kids into bed tonight, Maya and I went into Isaiah’s room and crawled into his bed. He had the book that he’s been working his way through sitting next to his Avengers alarm clock. It’s the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn.

Isaiah asked if he could read it himself several weeks ago and has been working away at it every night. His bookmark was just beginning chapter 11. Some of the chapter titles that he has read include things like: “Can You Know You’re Going to Heaven?” “What Is Life Like in the Present Heaven?” and “This World Is Not Our Home.”

The last chapter he read in it is called, “What Will It Mean for the Curse to Be Lifted?” This is a passage from the last page of that chapter. He probably read it the night right before his accident, as he was going to sleep:

“How far does Christ’s redemptive work extend? Far as the curse is found…Redemption in Jesus Christ reaches just as far as the fall…Jesus…will transform our dying Earth into a vital New Earth, fresh and uncontaminated, no longer subject to death and destruction.

The Curse is real, but it is temporary. Jesus is the cure for the Curse. He came to set derailed human history back on its tracks. Earth won’t be put out of its misery; it will be infused with a greater life than it has ever known, at last becoming all that God meant for it to be.

We have never seen the earth as God made it. Our planet as we know it is a shadowy, halftone image of the original….If the present Earth, so diminished by the Curse, is at times so beautiful and wonderful; if our bodies, so diminished by the Curse, are at times overcome with a sense of the earth’s beauty and wonder; then how magnificent will the new earth be? And what will it be like to experience the New Earth in something else we’ve never known: perfect bodies?

…..Without Christ….mankind would be doomed. But Christ came, died, and rose from the grave. He brought deliverance, not destruction. Because of Christ, we are not doomed…Christ’s resurrection is the forerunner of our own.”

We had completely forgotten this was the book Isaiah was going through right now. We thought when he asked that it would be a little too heady for him, but he assured us enthusiastically that he was loving it every time we asked. Of course, God knew what He was doing.

Isaiah has professed faith in Christ and so he is twice our brother. He is also in the hands of our Great Father who is in Heaven. This morning, we read from John 11 with the kids, about two other sisters who were weeping for their brother. Jesus told them that this had happened so that His glory might be made manifest in him. He told them that He was the resurrection and that life, and all who believe in Him, though he dies, yet will he live. Jesus wept beside the tomb with them, but the story ends with Him crying: Lazarus! Come forth! And their brother came back from the grave.

We believe that Jesus is the Great Miracle Worker and the Great Physician. That He weeps and grieves for His flock and will never forsake us. We believe that He can bring Isaiah back to us, and that is our constant prayer.

But we also know that Lazarus’ resurrection pointed to the Great Resurrection. The Resurrection that Jesus brings forth in the hearts of all who trust in Him alone for salvation. We, who are dead in sin, cannot bring this work about in ourselves. Jesus comes to us while we are dead, while we are repulsive, while the odor of the grave is infiltrating every corrupted cell. And He weeps for us. And calls us by name. And commands us to Come Forth!

By His amazing grace, and His providential and sovereign plan before the foundations of the world, He chose Isaiah to call forth from the grave already. Isaiah is saved and therefore has only one ultimate destination. We want, oh so much, to have him here with us for a great time longer, but God’s timing is perfect, and He loves Isaiah with an everlasting love.

Thank you, Sydney and the Simao family, for sharing about Isaiah. May God wrap His arms around you and comfort you. I look forward to meeting Isaiah, and all of you, in a far better world, where suffering, pain, and sorrow will forever be a thing of the past:

On this mountain he will destroy the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:7–9, CSB)

Encouragement to Men to Lead Their Families Spiritually

I share some advice for men about spiritually leading their families in this brief video:

I would challenge men to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. What does that look like on a daily basis? Open God’s Word with your wife, your children, and your grandchildren. Pray with them, talk with them, and guide them. Use the spiritual wisdom that God is giving you as you draw from His word daily, and share it with the people around you to make a difference in their lives.

And here are some further thoughts on how men can impact their families spiritually:

Family devotional times can be a great way of providing spiritual reference points which will lead to conversations throughout the week. When our children were younger we would read and discuss Bible stories. As they got older, we asked them to pick a story and read it. Sometimes at dinner I would read from Proverbs and invite their thoughts on the passage. These were rich conversations that prompted our daughters to tell us things they might otherwise not have mentioned.

Ask your children to try to put verses in their own words, and then apply them and report back the next day to the family. Their skill in application will dramatically develop—as will their love for the Lord.

Here are some related resources and books:

25 Ways to Lead Your Family Spiritually – radio broadcast from Dennis Rainey with Family Life Today

Game Plan for Life, by Joe Gibbs plus Tony Dungy, Ravi Zacharias, Tony Evans, Randy Alcorn, and others

Kingdom Man: Every Man's Destiny, Every Women's Dream, by Tony Evans

Quiet Strength, One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge, and Uncommon Manhood, by Tony Dungy

The Resolution for Men, by Alex and Stephen Kendrick, and Randy Alcorn

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Poor Interpretation Lets Us “Believe” the Bible While Denying What It Actually Says

I’ve been spending some time in Psalm 1 recently and have been reminded just how important delighting and meditating on God’s Word is. Here’s how the CSB renders it (note the use of “happy” in verse one for the Hebrew asher, often translated “blessed”):

1 How happy is the one who does not 
walk in the advice of the wicked 
or stand in the pathway with sinners 
or sit in the company of mockers!
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

In order to delight and meditate on the law of the Lord, we must understand correctly what Scripture actually says. As people respond to my books, ask questions, and state opinions through emails and social media, I’m struck with how many say they believe the Bible, but their interpretations are so out of line with credible biblical meanings that their profession of confidence in Scripture becomes meaningless, and even dangerous. Not only is this happening more frequently today, it’s also being accepted as normal.

Historically, theological liberals denied Scripture, and everyone knew where they stood. But today many so-called evangelicals affirm their belief in Scripture, while attributing meanings to biblical texts that in fact deny what Scripture really says. Hence they “believe every word of the Bible” while actually embracing (and teaching) beliefs that utterly contradict it.

I’m not talking about mere differences within the sphere of orthodoxy, such as the debates between Calvinists and Arminians, or various interpretations for some of the most difficult problem passages or intramural squabbles about spiritual gifts or ordinances or church polity. I’m talking about people believing and confidently affirming that Scripture says what no one in the history of the church ever believed it says—or some people did say it but were easily recognized as heretics. (Universalism is just one example among many, though an important one.)

We rightly call upon people to read their Bibles, but it seems many spend much more time reading INTO the Bible than reading OUT of it. So nearly everything they read becomes merely an echo of what they already think or what most people around them are already saying. God gave us His Word to teach, rebuke, correct, and train our thinking (2 Timothy 3:16), not so we could interpret it away into something that’s just a mirror image of our preferred beliefs.

You can believe in the inspiration and even inerrancy of God’s Word, but because your subjective interpretation doesn’t center on the author’s (and Author’s) intention, but on what seems right to you and the secular or church culture, the Bible isn’t really your authority. You don’t let it correct your thinking but walk away with an interpretation which conveniently supports your comfortable beliefs.

If you’ve not yet watched John Piper’s most recent Look at the Book series, Finding Meaning in the Bible, I highly encourage you to do so. In one of the early sessions, he talks about The Golden Rule of Bible Reading. Just as we would like people to understand what we actually mean by our words, so we need to find the intended meaning of the biblical authors, not superimpose on Scripture our own preferred meanings.

This reminds me of the challenge small group Bible studies face where the main question can easily become “What does this passage mean to you?” instead of “What did it mean to the author and original readers?” Only when we ask that second question can we then figure out how to properly apply God’s Word to our own lives. (Of course there are numbers of passages where we can’t be 100% certain of the meaning. But overall, there is much clarity of meaning in Scripture. Otherwise, reading the Bible would be meaningless because the Holy Spirit could never change or transform us through words we can’t know the meaning of, or to which we can feel free to ascribe any meaning we wish.)

So we need to teach people not just to read the Bible but also how to interpret it, so they don’t end up being Bible-believing heretics or Jesus-followers who follow a Jesus different than the real Jesus of the Bible and history.

I find myself wishing people would know they are denying Scripture, and not feel free to use Scripture to deny Scripture. If you’re aware that you disbelieve and reject the Bible, there is hope because you can come under conviction to submit to God by denying your preferences and accepting what Scripture actually says. But if you imagine you believe the Bible all along, when in fact your interpretations contradict it, pride can blind you from knowing the truth and therefore the truth cannot set you free.

For more on this subject, see Randy's devotional Truth: A Bigger View of God's Word.

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Your Suffering Can Be the Pathway to Greater Godliness

Mountain climbers could save time and energy if they reached the summit in a helicopter, but their ultimate purpose is conquest, not efficiency. Sure, they want to reach a goal, but they desire to do it by testing and deepening their character, discipline, and resolve.

God could create scientists, mathematicians, athletes, and musi­cians. He doesn’t. He creates children who take on those roles over a long process. God doesn’t make us fully Christlike the moment we’re born again. He conforms us to the image of Christ gradually: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In our spiritual lives, as in our professional lives, and in sports and hobbies, we improve and excel by handling failure and learning from it. Only in cultivating discipline, endurance, and patience do we find satisfaction and reward. And those qualities are most devel­oped through some form of suffering.

God Uses It for Our Good

Instead of blaming doctors, drunk drivers, and criminals for our suffering, we should look for what God can accomplish through it (see Romans 8:28).

Why do God’s children undergo pressures, suffering, and deadly peril? Paul answers clearly: “that we might not rely on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1:11).

A victim of a great evil told me, “I learned that God wasn’t going to go down my checklist of happiness and fulfill it. I learned what it meant to sur­render to his will. Before, I wanted certain gifts from him; now I want him.”

For turning us toward God, sometimes nothing works like suf­fering. C. S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (The Problem of Pain). God uses suffering to bring us to the end of ourselves and back to Christ. And that’s worth any cost.

I write these words not from a lofty philosophical perch, but in the crucible of my precious wife Nanci’s battle against cancer. This is not theory to us; it is life. And we sense not only God’s presence, but also His purposes.

Our Suffering Often Includes Discipline

For us to be transformed increasingly into Christ’s likeness, we need God’s correction: “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all dis­cipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10–11, ESV).

Of course, God never punishes us to make us atone for our sins. He calls on us to accept, not repeat, Christ’s atonement (see Isaiah 53:5). But He does give us a clear reason for disciplining us: “that we may share in his holiness.”

C. S. Lewis spoke of God’s discipline this way:

But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscien­tious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless.... What do people mean when they say, “I am not afraid of God because I know He is good”? Have they never even been to a dentist? (A Grief Observed)

Let Suffering Reveal Your Idols

Suffering also exposes idols in our lives. It uncovers our trust in God-substitutes and declares our need to transfer our trust to the only One who can bear its weight.

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall” (Proverbs 18:10–11). God uses any means necessary to tear down whatever we hide behind. Your job, reputation, accomplishments, or material possessions may be your fortified city or your imaginary, unscalable wall. But anything less than God Himself will come up short: “My people have com­mitted two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

We may imagine God as our genie who comes to do our bid­ding. Suffering wakes us up to the fact that we serve Him, not He us. Diseases, accidents, and natural disasters remind us of our extreme vulnerability; life is out of our control.

We must relinquish our idol of control that causes us to believe we can prevent all bad things from happening, or correct their byproducts. God reminds us, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). We don’t even belong to ourselves: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

We should repeatedly tell our Lord, “This house is yours. The money, this body, and these children belong to you. You own the title deed; you own the rights; you have the power of life and death.” It becomes much easier to trust God when we understand that whatever He takes away belonged to him in the first place (see Job 1:21).

Count It All Joy

We come into this world needy and leave it the same way. Without suffering we quickly forget our neediness. If suffering seems too high a price for faith, it’s because we underestimate faith’s value.

James 1:2-4 tells us, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

How can we possibly obey this command to welcome difficulties instead of resenting them? By trusting that God tells the truth when he says these make us more like Jesus, increase our endurance, expand our ministry, and prepare us for eternal joy.

Perseverance through suffering, for Christ’s glory, is the sure pathway to godliness. May our God of grace and kindness grant us His peace, and immerse us in His presence, as we walk that road—and may He remind us both that He walked the road before us and walks it with us now.

Photo by Micah Hallahan on Unsplash

While You’re Waiting on God, He’s Working

In a time of suffering, David affirmed this: 

The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?... Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confi­dent.... Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.... I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:1, 3, 10, 13–14)

Notice how David talks to himself about God’s faithfulness and goodness, then encourages himself to wait on God. Self-talk is often misguided, but it’s terrific when it involves speaking God’s Word. David tells himself twice to wait for God, and uses His personal name: Wait for Yahweh, the God who is, and who is at work, and who is at work for you and me.

My wife Nanci, who is currently undergoing chemo treatments, is now reading several books, including The Joy of Fearing God by Jerry Bridges and Waiting on God by Andrew Murray (a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor, 1828-1917). She said this week in an email to a few friends, “I am learning that ‘waiting’ is an enormous tool that God uses in His working, both in our hearts, and in His purposes to be accomplished. In the ‘waiting,’ He is ‘working.’”

Then she quoted from Murray’s Waiting on God:

When you first begin waiting on God, it is with frequent intermission and failure. But, do believe God is watching over you in love and secretly strengthening you in it. There are times when waiting appears like just losing time, but it is not so. Waiting, even in darkness, is unconscious advance, because it is God you have to do with, and He is working in you. God, who calls you to wait on Him, sees your feeble efforts and works it in you. Your spiritual life is in no respect your own work; as little as you begin it, can you continue it. It is God’s Spirit who has begun the work in you of waiting upon God. He will enable you to wait continually.

Waiting continually will be met and rewarded by God Himself working continually. We are coming to the end of our lessons. I hope that you and I might learn one thing: God must, God will work continually. He ever does work continually, but the experience of it is hindered by unbelief. But, He, who by His Spirit teaches you to wait continually, will bring you also to experience how, as the Everlasting One, His work is never ceasing. In the love and the life and the work of God, there can be no break, no interruption.

Do not limit God in this by your thoughts of what may be expected. Do fix your eyes upon this one truth: in His very nature, God, as the only Giver of life, cannot do anything other than work in His child every moment. Do not look only at the one side: “If I wait continually, God will work continually.” No, look at the other side. Place God first and say, “God works continually; every moment I may wait on Him continually.” Take time until the vision of your God working continually, without one moment’s intermission, fills your being. Your waiting continually will then come of itself. Full of trust and joy, the holy habit of the soul will be: “on thee do I wait all the day “PS. 25:5. The Holy Spirit will keep you ever waiting.

My soul, wait thou only upon God!

Also, recording artist Jackie Hill Perry was recently on the Ask Pastor John podcast, and talked about waiting on God. It’s great stuff, a contemporary voice expressing in different words what Andrew Murray spoke of.

Photo by Jose Llamas on Unsplash