Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 113

On Choosing Wisely When to Say No and When to Say Yes

When we’re asked to do worthless or unprofitable things, it doesn’t take much wisdom to say no, does it? Especially not when you do one of those things and think, “Okay, that was a waste…I’m never doing that again.”  

The real problem is all the good things we’re asked to do. I don’t pray over every speaking request, because years ago I sensed God telling me that my default answer has to be no, and He will make it clear when it should be yes. So I do pray over every request where I sense God might be in it, but I don’t know for sure.

Ten years ago I realized my life was out of control, because even though I was saying no to 95%of requests, I needed to increase that ratio to something more like 99%. And as a lot of you know, that can really make you feel guilty. But it shouldn’t if we have our eyes on the prize—God, and our families, then our churches and ministry platforms, and sometimes the individual kid or family we know where we can make a difference.  

If you also struggle with knowing what to say yes to and what to say no to, maybe one of the three articles I link to below will be a help to you—if you can make time to read one!

This is an article I wrote in 2008, and by God’s grace I’ve lived by it pretty consistently since then. I think I’m still sensitive to God’s leading and people’s needs, yet I’m also sensitive to needing to prioritize because if I don’t I will neglect my time with Jesus and my family, and have very little to offer anyone else: Planned Neglect: Saying No to Good Things So We Can Say Yes to the Best

Four years ago I wrote a related but not redundant blog: A Lesson Hard Learned: Being Content with Saying No to Truly Good Opportunities

Since Nanci was diagnosed with cancer in January I’ve not only been saying “no” to new opportunities, but also I’ve been cancelling the ones I said “yes” to in the first place. I’m still serving God, both by serving my wife and trying to fit in book projects and other ministry obligations, but I’m content with doing far less than others want me to. He is, after all, the Audience of One—in the end, His opinion will matter far more than anyone else’s—infinitely more.

Finally, here’s a short article on understanding the difference between the urgent and the important. I’ve learned, though often the hard way, that God uses our failures to teach and guide us.

May we learn to think strategically and choose wisely, not poorly, like that guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!

Photo by MorganK on Pixabay

Our Problem, God’s Solution

The problem of how we could possibly be reconciled with a God who hates evil is the greatest problem of history. Before we can see God in Heaven, something must radically change. This calls for no less than the greatest solution ever devised.

Here is what we need to know:

1. “God created mankind in his own image...God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:27, 31).

God made human beings with personal and relational qualities like His own (Genesis 1:26) and desired to have a delightful relationship with them. But something went terribly wrong. When Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s advice in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), sin poisoned the world and now we are all born with the desire to do things our own way, not God’s.

2. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Our sins against a good and holy God have distanced us from Him (see Isaiah 59:2). God “cannot tolerate wrongdoing” (Habakkuk 1:12). Through sin we forfeit a relationship with God, and along with it our happiness.  The result of all this is death. Spiritual death is separation from God in a very real place called Hell. Physical death marks the end of our opportunity to enter into a relationship with God and avoid eternal condemnation (Hebrews 9:27).

3. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

There is absolutely nothing we can do to restore ourselves to God. He is holy, we are not. In fact, He says even our good deeds are like filthy rags (see Isaiah 64:6). But God loved us so much He sent us His Son Jesus, fully God and fully man, to deliver us from death and give us life (John 3:16).  Jesus said of lost sinners, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10)."God demonstrates His own love toward us…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Jesus went to the cross to pay the price for our sins. He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. When Jesus died for us, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word translated “it is finished” was written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant “paid in full.” Jesus then rose from the grave, conquering sin and death (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

4. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

God’s greatest gift is a restored relationship with Himself, delivering us from Hell and granting us entry into Heaven (John 3:36). This gift depends not on our merit but solely on Christ’s work of grace for us on the cross (see Titus 3:5). He is the one and only way to God. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

5. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

To be right with God, we must admit our sinful hearts and actions, and ask God’s forgiveness. If we do, He graciously promises full forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Then we are to affirm to others that the resurrected Jesus is our Lord.

6. "Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

The life we long for is freely offered to us in Christ. We can believe His promise and call on Him to save us, humbly accepting His gift of eternal life: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). God’s Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us obey Him (see 2 Timothy 1:14). 

The gospel is called the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7). Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). God offers us in Christ the life and happiness we crave and He wants us to enjoy forever. Here’s a prayer that may help you affirm your faith in Jesus. There’s no magic in just saying the words, but they may help you genuinely express to God what’s in your heart:

God, I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price for all my sins. I believe Jesus conquered sin and death through His resurrection from the dead. To the degree I find any of this difficult to believe, I ask that you work in my heart and mind to overcome my unbelief. Help me to trust what the Bible says—that you, Jesus, are the God-man who came to rescue me from sin and death and to restore me to the Father.

I am sorry for and want to repent of my sins, including my self-centeredness. I confess my sins, realizing I’m not yet aware of all of them, but I ask you to make me more aware. With your strength I want to turn away from doing wrong, and give up every part of my life that doesn’t please you—not just my actions but my attitudes. I want to experience the joy of being a new person and living a new life. I surrender myself to you.

I gratefully receive your forgiveness and ask you to be my Savior and Lord and King. Please come to indwell me and empower me to live a new life. Fill me with your love. Help me to learn from your Word and your followers how to live as a transformed person who loves and forgives others as you love and forgive me. Thank you.

I ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Once you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior, one of the most important things you need to do is become part of a family of Christians called a church.  A good church will teach God’s Word and provide love, help, and support. If you have further questions about Jesus, you can find answers there. Seek out people who know God’s Word and can help you grow in your relationship with Jesus! Read the Bible, pray, share your faith, and gather regularly with God’s people. “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:13).

See also:  Can You Know You’re Going to Heaven?  and  Can EPM Recommend Any Churches Near Me?

Photo by Hugues de BUYER-MIMEURE on Unsplash

God’s Happiness Is Good News for Our Eternal Future

Nearly all Christians believe that God is good, but it seems that many don’t believe that He’s good natured. Does it really matter whether we believe that God is happy? Yes—it matters more than anything has ever mattered, or ever will. Upon it hinges, for instance, whether or not we can believe God’s promises, like those found in Romans 8.

If God is not happy, then He cannot be our source of happiness. He cannot give us what He does not have. An unhappy God would never value the happiness of His creatures. And we would have no reason to believe we would enjoy everlasting happiness in His presence.

Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Blaise Pascal said that all people seek happiness, and that only God is the ultimate source of happiness. If He is to keep His promise of granting us eternal happiness, God must not only be happy, but also exceedingly and overflowingly happy, with a happiness that spills over into creation in general and His image-bearers in particular. For surely no “mostly unhappy” being is capable of dispensing and maintaining happiness in any deep and lasting form.

Paul says the good news we bring to the world is "the glorious gospel of the blessed [happy] God” (1 Timothy 1:11). At the end of the same letter, perhaps to encourage Timothy who is dealing with countless problems in the churches that could make him unhappy, Paul speaks of the return of Christ and says, “which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed [happy] and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15).

In the message we speak to our churches and to the world, do we portray God as happy? If not, we seriously undermine the good news of Christ’s redemptive work. Indeed, if God is not happy, the “good news” of living with Him for all eternity would not be good news at all!

God’s happiness is an essential part of the gospel, and the promise of eternal happiness is contingent upon God’s happiness. To be told you can have an eternal relationship with an unhappy being is bad news, not good! How soon before an unhappy God tires of us and decides to bring up our past offenses or resents us for the shed blood we cost Him? Annihilation would surely be better than living with an omnipotent being whose mood tomorrow may change to unhappiness, with depressive and terrifying (ETERNALLY terrifying) consequences to His creatures.

But that’s not what Scripture portrays. Consider Matthew 25:23: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”

“Come and share [or “enter into”] your master’s happiness” is a profound statement. It is not “Bring me your happiness” or “Come to Heaven where you will find things to make you happy.” Rather, God essentially says here, “Enter into a happiness that preceded the dawn of time, a delight of Father and Son and Spirit in each other, that we now extend to you. This is OUR happiness, and we happily invite you to share it with us. We have done so at unfathomable cost, in the shed blood of God Almighty, because we knew from the before the beginning that the payoff of our eternal happiness, and yours in us, would be worth it. Hence the sufferings of this present time cannot be compared to the glory we will reveal to you and in you—and never stop revealing (Ephesians 2:7).”

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down [with his joy realized] at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

For more on God’s happiness, see Randy’s books Happiness and God’s Promise of Happiness, the devotional 60 Days of Happiness, and his DVD series Happiness 101. 

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Five Things to Let Go of So You Can Embrace Contentment and Simplicity

I’ve shared before my appreciation for Joy Hlavka Forney, who along with her husband Dave and their children, serves with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Uganda, East Africa. Joy grew up at our church, Good Shepherd Community Church, along with her sisters and our daughters. I served for years with Joy’s dad Alan, who is still one of our pastors. (Our daughters Karina and Angela carpooled with Joy and her sister Heather when they attended our church’s grade school!)

I really appreciate what Joy has to say in this video about contentment and simplicity, and what we need to let go of in order to experience them. (If you enjoy this one, be sure to check out her channel for more videos.)

If you have time to do just one thing, be sure you watch Joy’s video above. That’s the most important part. Only keep reading if you want some of my thoughts connected to what Joy says.

Here are Joy’s five excellent points, followed by my own reflections and some links below each:

1. Stop comparing.

Comparison is deadly. Believing that other people are happier than we are, because of what they have or how they look or what they can do, is unproductive and unrealistic. We don’t know their struggles, private pains, and secrets.

Early in our marriage, Nanci suffered guilt feelings when we visited friends and saw how neat and clean everything was, even though they, too, had young children. One night when our friends spent the evening with us, we realized how neat and clean we’d made our house by throwing debris into our bedroom closet. We didn’t let them see our messes, just as they didn’t let us see theirs. So the answer to “How does she do it?” is often, “She doesn’t. She shoves it into a closet!”

May we remember that God calls us to contentment, and not comparison: “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6) and “Be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5). Contentment means being happy with what God has given us and who He has made us to be.

See Jon Bloom’s article Lay Aside the Weight of Prideful Comparison.

2. Be thankful; stop complaining.

Pride is the master sin, and it’s manifested in our complaints. When we complain about circumstances beyond our control, we’re telling God, “You don’t know what you’re doing; I know better than you.”

Proud, presumptuous people always think they deserve better. But Scripture calls upon us to grow in thankfulness:

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30:12)
I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you. (Psalm 35:18)
Do all things without grumbling or disputing. . . . I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. (Philippians 2:14, 17-18)

See The Blessing of Gratitude, the Curse of Complaining and Gratitude: God’s Will for Us, as well as my book Happiness.

3. Stop saying, “I need…”

Advertising is seductive and manipulative. It programs us, enlarging our wants. Its goal is to create an illusion of need, to stimulate desire, to make us dissatisfied with what God has already provided. Advertising lies. If we’d think it through, we’d see the truth, but our thinking gets cloudy.

Good stewards of God’s money think before they make a purchase. We must consciously reject advertising’s claims and counter them with God’s Word, which instructs us about what we really do need…and what we really don’t. (We have far fewer needs than we believe!)

Often we define our wants as needs. Has God promised to give us all we want? No. Has He promised to meet all our true needs? Yes. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

See Six Reasons to Live More Simply—and Give More Generously and Ten Practical Ways to Control Spending and Wisely Manage God’s Money, as well as my book Managing God’s Money.

4. Let go of saying “yes” to everything.

I learned years ago that I have to say no to the great majority of things I’m asked to do, so I’m available to say yes to those few God wants me to do. Jesus calls upon us to carry our crosses yet paradoxically promises a light burden and rest for our souls. If the burden feels heavy and our souls aren’t at rest, maybe we’ve picked up more than He intended us to carry or we haven’t fully come to Him.

Many think they hear God say, “Do more” and “Do better.” But not, “I’ve done it for you—rest.” Yet this is what Jesus meant when He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden.… Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).

See Planned Neglect: Saying No to Good Things So We Can Say Yes to the Best and Being Content with Saying No to Truly Good Opportunities.

5. Stop thinking about the “what if’s.”

Ironically, much of our worry is unrealistic. We “catastrophize” by making the worst of situations and anticipating the worst possible outcome. Montaigne, the French philosopher, put it this way: “My life has been full of terrible misfortunes—most of which have never happened.”

Jesus assures us that if we put God and His kingdom first, in His sovereignty He will take care of us (Matthew 6:33). In the next verse He says, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Much worry comes from carrying today the burdens of yesterday and the dreads of tomorrow. This is unnecessary and unhealthy. Lessons from the past can be learned without living in it. We can plan for the future without dwelling on it. Now is all we have. Let’s invest it, enjoy it, profit from it. Let’s not lose it to worry.

See 5 Reasons to Rejoice, Not Worry and John Piper on Your Greatest Reason Not to Worry.

Photo by Conner Baker on Unsplash

The Sacred Trust of Pastors and Christian Leaders: Accountability and Consequences for Sexual Abuse

Recently a well-known writer and speaker at writer’s conferences, who was also a long-time Christian university professor, was found to have had a decades-long history of attempting to seduce young women. Over twenty-some women have come forward, independently telling similar tales. The university has now dismissed him, admitting there were three cases reported to them for which he was warned and disciplined. Sadly, however, he remained a professor and continued to speak at conferences, where he also continued his immoral behavior.

One of the most prominent pastors in the country, from one of the most prominent churches has had numerous women come forward accusing him of sexual advances going back many years. The entire board and most of the pastoral staff have resigned, some of them due to realizing they had defended the pastor and discredited the victims and hence disqualified themselves. Last I heard the pastor was still denying he’d done anything wrong, despite the testimonies of all the women, including highly credible people in the church ministry. If these things had been taken seriously and investigated from the beginning, the outcome could have been very different, and a great deal of the harm to victims could have been prevented.

Tragically, this is nothing new. The evangelical landscape is littered with the carcasses of lives and ministries decimated by sexual sin. For every well-known Christian television personality or evangelical leader who commits sexual immorality, there are any number of lesser-known local pastors, Bible teachers, and parachurch workers who quietly resign or are fired for the same. Most of us can name several, some dozens, and some many more. Three Christian leaders I know of sat down together and between them came up with a list of 250 names.

Recently a Portland church issued a statement about their senior pastor being dismissed for adultery, and when confronted, he admitted there had been previous adulterous relationships. I appreciate the final sentence from this church’s elders: “We grieve the shame this brings to the Gospel and the sorrow it brings to God’s people.”

I’m personally glad for the women standing up against abuse in Hollywood. It is also desperately needed in the church, which should be leading the way in helping and protecting the vulnerable and abused. Before the Church can say anything to the world, she who is intended to be the spotless bride of Christ must look to herself. “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God” (1 Peter 4:17).

Ministry is not just a task. It is a sacred trust between the under-shepherd and the flock that has been entrusted to him by God. To misuse and violate that trust to achieve sexual conquest, or even emotional dependence, is a particularly deplorable behavior. Every time a Christian leader’s sexual sin is passed off as “an unfortunate indiscretion that came at a vulnerable point in his life,” responsibility is avoided or denied, and others—especially the members in the local church—are taught that emotional needs and inadequacies justify immoral entanglement.

Even the secular counseling profession considers it the highest breach of ethics to enter into a romantic and/or sexual relationship with a client. Indeed, sexual involvement with one who has come to seek emotional help or spiritual guidance should not only be considered fornication or adultery—it should be considered sexual abuse.

Sexual activity that comes out of a ministry context is comparable to child sexual abuse, where the supposedly mature and stable adult figure takes advantage of his or her authority and credibility to initiate or allow a sexual encounter with the immature and vulnerable. In such cases, the person in ministry is not a victim but a predator. And it is all the worse because we are trusted representatives of Christ.

Pastors desperately need clear guidelines when it comes to purity and integrity. (My booklet Sexual Temptation was specifically written to help those in ministry to avoid and resist sexual temptation.) I believe that if we would rehearse in advance the ugly and overwhelming consequences of immorality, we would be far more prone to avoid it. (See my blog post on Counting the Cost of Sexual Immorality.)

If Abuse Does Occur

When abuse happens or is revealed, there needs to be a clear, deliberate response. When children are involved, this must include reporting to the appropriate authorities.

I know of pastors guilty of immorality who’ve been quietly dismissed or who have resigned from one church (everyone wanted to avoid a scandal), only to reappear at another church that was totally ignorant of their previous track record. Too often they repeat their sins, largely because they’ve been protected from sin’s full consequences and never been helped to overcome their problem.

Such an attempt to guard a leader’s reputation amounts to an irresponsible endorsement of a man whose moral vulnerability should have required his stepping down from ministry, at least for a significant season, and in many cases permanently, when the underlying issues have not been sufficiently acknowledged and repented of, and the damage is such that people’s trust cannot be regained. The leader, his family, his church, and his Lord’s reputation all suffer when sin is covered up.

Many churches have been guilty of not doing due diligence by hiring a pastor without thoroughly interviewing those in authority over that person in their previous ministry. If the only references consulted are those a candidate lists, who typically will be ignorant of or unwilling to divulge his moral track record, then church leadership fails both Christ and their congregation. It is unconscionable to hire a man without first diligently investigating his past, interviewing knowledgeable people with direct and pointed questions about any history of accusations of sexual impropriety. These conversations should always take place with those he worked with and under in his previous church.

Countless churches have hired a pastor who ends up in immorality, only to find out that he had been guilty of the same in his previous church, which they had failed to ask about his character, morality and reputation.  To not do so in our current moral climate is irresponsible in the extreme.

Those in positions of leadership are particularly subject to public discipline: “Those, [elders] who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning” (1 Timothy 5:20). The goal of all Church discipline is always restoration, not reprisal. But as I’ve blogged about before, that certainly does not automatically mean restoration to a position of authority. Jonathan Leeman says this in his article Why repentant pastors should be forgiven but not restored to the pulpit:

To “forgive” a pastor means we don’t personally hold his sin against him and that we restore him to his office of church member. If he is repentant, he meets the qualification of membership.

That doesn’t mean we should restore him to the office of pastor. Our forgiveness does not mean he magically meets those qualifications. His life, quite simply, is not above reproach.

Church members inevitably begin to think that sexually immoral acts must not be a big deal if a “man of God” can be restored to his position of leadership without much more than a slap of the hand (and in some cases, a paid leave of absence). This only perpetuates the problem, and makes people laugh at the church for its hypocrisy in claiming a higher standard than the world (whereas a public school teacher dismissed for sexual impropriety is unlikely to ever be given a second chance). 

The church needs to discover ways to demonstrate greater grace and forgiveness than the world, and also a higher commitment to truth and the sort of integrity that engenders trust in its leaders. (See also Ed Stetzer’s article The Moral of Moral Failings of Christian Leaders, and David Murray’s article Why Do Churches Cover Up Sin?)

One reminder: we who are not directly involved in abuse situations must be careful in not assuming that everyone accused is automatically guilty, as I share in this blog post. It’s true there is always danger of false accusations being made. However, accusations should never be automatically dismissed. Rather, they should be carefully investigated with fairness and integrity. We should be quick to speak up for children and innocent people.

In cases of adultery, the primary responsibility and consequences should be placed on the Christian leader, the one in the power position, while never condoning the sin of their partners in adultery. The misuse of the leader’s power is always, to one degree or another, a form of sexual abuse.

For more on purity, see Randy's book The Purity Principle and his booklet Sexual Temptation: Establishing Guardrails and Winning the Battle.

See also EPM's free resources on purity.

Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash

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.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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