Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 120

Giving Help and Hope for Change to Teenagers Ensnared by Lust and Pornography

Since the time we were young teenagers, many of us have heard lists of reasons for walking in sexual purity. God commands purity and forbids impurity. Purity is right. Impurity is wrong.

True? Absolutely. But it’s equally correct to say purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid.

That’s what I call The Purity Principle: Purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid. Not sometimes. Not usually. Always.

That idea forms the basis of my book by the same title, The Purity Principle. I was delighted to see the following message to youth leaders and workers by Dustin Brown with Crossings Ministries, where he shares points from the book on how to help and encourage teenagers to walk in sexual purity. Thanks, Dustin, for sharing about the book and how it can be used to help youth! —Randy Alcorn

You just finished leading the Wednesday night youth Bible study when one of your 17-year-old students approaches you. He was convicted by your message and confesses through tears that he’s been hooked on pornography for the past five years. He wants to change. How will you lead him? A couple of weeks go by, and you get a phone call from a frantic parent who just discovered their 13-year-old daughter has been engaging in sexting. Her parents are desperate. How will you lead them? While most church-going teenagers know about the sin of sexual immorality, I’m convinced that very few of them know how to change. (Let’s face it: very few adults know how to change.) The chairs in our youth groups are filled with teenagers ensnared to lust and pornography, and yet most, if not all, do not know how to break the pattern. The church is indebted to Randy Alcorn for his contribution in filling this gap with his book The Purity Principle. There are several principles he presents that help us turn from sexual sin to walk in purity.

At the Heart of it All

If we want to help teenagers be free of their sexual sin, we must help them understand the heart behind it. Sexual sin is fundamentally idolatry. Desiring any sexual encounter outside of marriage, whether it is the actual act, in the mind, or on the computer screen, is a desire for something other than and “better” than God. In that moment, we are essentially saying that we desire pleasure, power, acceptance, control, comfort, leisure, etc. more than God. We must help students understand the idols of their hearts. These idols must be repented of and replaced with a worship for the Lord and a desire for him above all else. We must choose to fight for a greater joy and love. The problem is not just our sexual behavior; it is also our worshiping heart. Our desires need to change. Those bound by sexual sin have worshiped their way into it, and now they must worship their way out of it.

Renewing Thoughts

The battle of sexual sin begins in our minds, and Alcorn gives us helpful insight into how we can renew them. He reminds us, “Tomorrow’s character is made out of today’s thoughts…we become what we think” (41). We don’t just “fall into” sexual sin. No teenager innocently gets addicted to pornography. There is a progression that leads up to the sexual action, and that progression begins in the mind. We must guard our minds, quickly repent of any impure thoughts, and then replace those thoughts with what is pure. Again, the problem is not just with sexual action; it’s with our thoughts. Teenagers in our youth groups must be taught how to renew their thoughts, which leads to our next principle.

Radical Measures

Second Timothy 2:22 charges us to “…Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (NASB). This verse has played an integral role in my own fight for purity, as it calls us to flee from impurity and pursue what is pure. Not only must we flee sexual immorality, but we also must take radical measures to replace those things with those that are pure. Romans 13:14 exhorts us to “make no provision for the flesh.” Alcorn uses the example of someone trying to stop eating donuts. If that person continues to drive by the donut shop every day, thinks about donuts all day long, and watches donut commercials, it’s only a matter of time before they eat another donut. And yet as funny as that sounds, this is exactly what we often do with sexual temptation. Spending the day fantasizing about lustful thoughts, putting ourselves in situations with other people that will lead us into sin, watching and listening to materials that fill our minds with impure thoughts, and continuing to give ourselves access to the very things which cause us to stumble, will indeed result in more sexual sin!

What are some radical measures we can take against sexual sin? It depends on what makes a person stumble, or what makes it easy for them to sin. There is nothing worse than sin, so whatever one has to give up to avoid it, it’s worth it. Consider the consequences if you don’t. Make a list for yourself, and instruct students to do the same, of what would happen if you had premarital sex, continued to look at pornography, or had an affair. One of the things students do not usually understand is how their choices affect other people. They don’t think their sexual sin hurts people, but it does. Sin kills. When we sin sexually, it will damage relationships (first and foremost with God), it will damage our witness and any future ministry, and it will damage a future marriage. Therefore, get rid of what causes you to sin. Jesus teaches this in Matthew 5:27-30. Let’s apply his teaching to our context. If your smart phone causes you to look at pornography, then get rid of it. Neither you nor your students need a smart phone. Some students may need to get rid of their computers. Yes, that is possible. Schools and public libraries offer free access to computers where homework can be done. If you do feel the need to have a computer in your home, sacrifice whatever money necessary to buy some type of internet filter software. These are just a few examples illustrating that we can get rid of what causes us to sin if we truly desire repentance. Do it and teach your students to do it because it’s worth it!

Jesus, the Purifier of our Souls 

The Purity Principle is a gift to the church; it is a gift to us. Alcorn gives us principles that serve as guardrails against impurity in our lives. If you’re ensnared by sexual sin, or if you minister to students who are, take heart. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 NIV). Jesus can, will, and does purify us from all of our sexual stains. Neither you nor your students are ever too far gone for Christ to reach, heal, and make new. If you are haunted by past decisions and regrets, as some of your students will be, know and teach that Jesus’s righteousness on our behalf covers all of our sin. The principles discussed here point us to Christ, and as we implement them, we realize it is only by clinging to his grace and mercy that we can be transformed and changed. The principles Alcorn presents are given to us first by God in the Scripture, and it is through these principles that God works new life into our hearts. Change is possible for all of us, and that change comes from Jesus, the purifier of our souls.

See also Randy’s booklet Sexual Temptation: Establishing Guardrails and Winning the Battle, as well as his blog on overcoming pornography, the first of a three part series.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

Hope and Resources for Those Struggling with Depression

Depression can be symptomatic of the deep desolation of our hearts. We are capable of fearing we’ll never again know happiness, and many who love God have suffered from such dread. God’s grace, His promise to never forsake us, His sustaining presence, and His promise of a plan for our good are always part of the cure; sometimes therapy and medication can also play significant roles.

I’ve known a few people with perpetually sunny dispositions, but my own nature is reflective and, at times, melancholic. I’ve experienced seasons of depression, both before and since coming to faith in Christ—some due to my personality type and emotional makeup (and perhaps genetics), some triggered by my long-term physical illness (insulin-dependent diabetes), and some the result of adverse circumstances.

I share in my book Happiness how as a teenager, before knowing God, I had nothing much to fight it with. Now I have far better tools—first and foremost an awareness of the presence and grace of God. I thank Him that as the years have gone on, He has enabled me to experience more frequent times of happiness even in the midst of difficulties. God’s gift of laughter is a huge part of that; in fact, sometimes it’s like a ladder that helps me climb out of deep holes. A close friend once told me, “I always know when you’re hurting. You joke and laugh more.” (Again, there are medications that help some people, and I’m grateful for that, as they’re part of His common grace.)

When I blogged about my depression several years ago, a few people expressed shock that someone who had written about subjects such as grace and Heaven could ever be depressed! I had to laugh, since far better people than I have experienced far worse depression, including Martin Luther, John Owen, and William Cowper, to name a few. 

Here are the posts I wrote about Charles Spurgeon’s experience with depression, which many readers have found helpful:

Depression, Gratitude and Charles Haddon Spurgeon

More on Depression in the Christian Life and Ministry (with Citations from Charles Spurgeon)

Third (and Final) on Spurgeon, Ministry and Depression

Also see Shedding Light on Depression and Thoughts of Suicide.

A few years ago I recorded this ten-minute video with Desiring God’s David Mathis about some things I learned while experiencing depression.

Finally, if you’re depressed, or if you have a friend or a family member who’s dealing with depression, check out David Murray’s helpful article 8 Ways to Help Depressed Christians.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Discipling the Children in Your Home, with Insights from Our Daughter Karina

If I could give parents one piece of advice, it would be this: When it comes to your children’s lives, no one can take your place. So, don’t wait for someone else to talk to your kids about Jesus. Do it yourself. Read Scripture with them. Memorize it together. Pray with them. Go help the needy together. Give together and serve together. Show them what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

I love what the parent writing in Proverbs 23:26 says to his child: “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.” Children don’t just get their spiritual guidance from Scripture; they get it as their eyes observe the ways of their parents. When your children trust you enough to give you their hearts, they will follow your example.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, “And these words, which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

To “teach” is a formal term. It implies a certain time set aside for instruction. This is to be done diligently. It might involve reading to our children, memorizing with them, and discussing relevant issues. Family devotional times can be a great way of providing spiritual reference points which will lead to conversations throughout the week.

The passage also speaks of the informal. We are to “talk” to our children when we sit at home, as we walk, when we go to bed. In our family, many of the greatest learning opportunities arose as we worked together, went out to eat or had fun together, or traveled on vacation.

Above all, the heart of discipleship must always be to take our children back to the cross, to the Gospel of Christ. This should be the center of everything in family life. Our children must see their deep need not merely to be outwardly obedient, but to be delivered from the power of sin, to be transformed on the inside, to become new creations in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This brings me to a video that our daughter Karina recorded for Life Bible Fellowship Church in Upland, California, where she and her husband Dan Franklin attend along with their three boys, and where Dan is a teaching pastor and elder. In a conversation with one of their pastors, Troy Spilman, Karina discussed what discipleship can look like in the home. They both had great insights to share. This woman is the real deal! (Trust me. I’ve had the privilege of knowing her since the day she was born.)

Photo: Pixabay

Love Is Not God: A. W. Tozer on How Equating Love with God Is a Major Mistake

A.W. Tozer has had a great impact on my life. His book The Knowledge of the Holy, which profoundly influenced me when I came to Christ as a teenager, is a classic that I think people today need to read.

In the book, Tozer spoke of the attributes of God. He wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Unfortunately, many modern Christians have reduced Him to a single-attribute God. Never mind that the angels in God’s presence do not cry out, day and night, “Love, love, love,” but “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:3, NIV).

Certainly love is a very important attribute of God. God is love, we’re told in 1 John 4:16, so in some senses it is a defining quality of God. However, this does not minimize His other qualities, and that’s the problem: when you start saying (as I’ve heard people say) we must interpret all of God’s attributes in light of His love, you introduce the error of us imposing our limited understanding of love onto God, and recreate Him into our image.

By all means, we should rejoice in God’s mercy and love. But we must also recognize that our Lord is relentlessly holy, righteous, and just. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13, NIV). The universe exists not for Love’s glory, but for God’s glory.

Here’s what Tozer wrote about the danger of defining God only by His love:

The apostle John, by the Spirit, wrote, “God is love,” and some have taken his words to be a definitive statement concerning the essential nature of God. This is a great error. John was by those words stating a fact, but he was not offering a definition.

Equating love with God is a major mistake which has produced much unsound religious philosophy and has brought forth a spate of vaporous poetry completely out of accord with the Holy Scriptures and altogether of another climate from that of historic Christianity.

Had the apostle declared that love is what God is, we would be forced to infer that God is what love is. If literally God is love, then literally love is God, and we are in all duty bound to worship love as the only God there is. If love is equal to God then God is only equal to love, and God and love are identical. Thus we destroy the concept of personality in God and deny outright all His attributes save one, and that one we substitute for God.

The God we have left is not the God of Israel; He is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; He is not the God of the prophets and the apostles; He is not the God of the saints and reformers and martyrs, nor yet the God of the theologians and hymnists of the church.

For our souls’ sake we must learn to understand the Scriptures. We must escape the slavery of words and give loyal adherence to meanings instead. Words should express ideas, not originate them. We say that God is love; we say that God is light; we say that Christ is truth; and we mean the words to be understood in much the same way that words are understood when we say of a man, “He is kindness itself.” By so saying we are not stating that kindness and the man are identical, and no one understands our words in that sense.

The words “God is love” mean that love is an essential attribute of God. Love is something true of God but it is not God. It expresses the way God is in His unitary being, as do the words holiness, justice, faithfulness, and truth. Because God is immutable He always acts like Himself, and because He is a unity He never suspends one of His attributes in order to exercise another.

From God’s other known attributes we may learn much about His love. We can know, for instance, that because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense, His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats confused and abashed.

Yet if we would know God and for other’s sake tell what we know, we must try to speak of His love. All Christians have tried, but none has ever done it very well. I can no more do justice to that awesome and wonder-filled theme than a child can grasp a star. Still, by reaching toward the star the child may call attention to it and even indicate the direction one must look to see it. So, as I stretch my heart toward the high, shilling love of God, someone who has not before known about it may be encouraged to look up and have hope.

We do not know, and we may never know, what love is, but we can know how it manifests itself, and that is enough for us here. First we see it showing itself as good will. Love wills the good of all and never wills harm or evil to any. This explains the words of the apostle John: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.”

…To know that love is of God and to enter into the secret place leaning upon the arm of the Beloved—this and only this can cast out fear. Let a man become convinced that nothing can harm him and instantly for him all fear goes out of the universe. The nervous reflex, the natural revulsion to physical pain may be felt sometimes, but the deep torment of fear is gone forever.

God is love and God is sovereign. His love disposes Him to desire our everlasting welfare and His sovereignty enables Him to secure it.

Photo: Pixabay

The Growing Body of Research Says Yes, Your Smartphone Really Is Changing You and Your Family

One of my favorite bloggers, Tim Challies, linked to a fascinating article in his daily A La Carte feature: Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial and unhealthy. So why can't you put it down⁉️ Here are some notable sections from it about the impact smartphones are having on our lives and minds:

They have impaired our ability to remember. They make it more difficult to daydream and think creatively. They make us more vulnerable to anxiety. They make parents ignore their children. And they are addictive, if not in the contested clinical sense then for all intents and purposes.

Consider this: In the first five years of the smartphone era, the proportion of Americans who said internet use interfered with their family time nearly tripled, from 11 per cent to 28 per cent. And this: Smartphone use takes about the same cognitive toll as losing a full night's sleep. In other words, they are making us worse at being alone and worse at being together.

…

Average users look at their phones about 150 times a day, according to some estimates, and about twice as often as they think they do, according to a 2015 study by British psychologists.

Add it all up and North American users spend somewhere between three and five hours a day looking at their smartphones. As the New York University marketing professor Adam Alter points out, that means over the course of an average lifetime, most of us will spend about seven years immersed in our portable computers.

…

In 2015, Microsoft Canada published a report indicating that the average human attention span had shrunk from 12 to eight seconds between 2000 and 2013. The finding was widely reported at the time and elicited some shock – for about eight seconds.

But John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an expert on attention-deficit disorder, said the problem is actually getting worse. "We're not developing the attention muscles in our brain nearly as much as we used to," he said. In fact, Prof. Ratey has noticed a convergence between his ADD patients and the rest of the world. The symptoms of people with ADD and people with smartphones are "absolutely the same," he said.

…

When taking in information, our minds are terrible at discerning between the significant and the trivial. So if we're trying to work out a dense mental problem in our heads and our phone pings, we will pay attention to the ping automatically and stop focusing on the mental problem. That weak attentional filter is a bigger shortcoming in the smartphone era than ever before.

…

Even people who are disciplined about their smartphone use feel the effect.

The devices exert such a magnetic pull on our minds that just the effort of resisting the temptation to look at them seems to take a toll on our mental performance. That's what Adrian Ward and his colleagues at the University of Texas business school found in an experiment last year. They had three groups of people take a test that required their full concentration. One group had their phones face down on the table, one had them in their bags or pockets and the last group left them in another room. None of the test-takers were allowed to check their devices during the test. But even so, the closer at hand the phones were, the worse the groups performed.

…

Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist and research associate in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, interviewed 1,000 kids between the ages of 4 and 18 for her 2013 book The Big Disconnect. Many of them said they no longer run to the door to greet their parents because the adults are so often on their phones when they get home.

And it gets worse once they're through the door. One of the smartphone's terrible, mysterious powers, from a child's perspective, is its ability "to pull you away instantly, anywhere, anytime," Dr. Steiner-Adair writes. Because what's happening on the smartphone screen is inscrutable to others, parents often seem to have simply gotten sucked into another dimension, leaving their kid behind. "To children, the feeling is often one of endless frustration, fatigue and loss."

The digital drift affecting families shows up in national statistics. The Center for the Digital Future, an American think tank, found that between 2006 and 2011, the average number of hours American families spent together per month dropped by nearly a third, from 26 to about 18.

So how do we combat the ill effects of smartphones, both in our personal lives and in our families, and find ways to use them for good? Tony Reinke, another favorite writer, has addressed this same subject with great insight in his book 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. (Psalm 119:37)

Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Enjoying God’s Creation in Maui, and Trusting in His Sovereignty for What Lies Ahead

Nanci and I have had a great and relaxing time in Maui the last two weeks, enjoying God and each other. Our first weekend, I spoke on giving at Hope Chapel Kihei’s three church services. (Watch the video of one of the services here.) Thank you to those who’ve been praying for this time away.

If you receive EPM’s prayer updates by email (sign up here) you know that earlier this year, Nanci was diagnosed with colon cancer. EPM has set up a Caring Bridge site where the latest updates will be posted (you’ll need to create a simple Caring Bridge account, or log in with Google or Facebook, to access the page). Caring Bridge is a much more effective way to communicate because all the information stays in one place, and people can access any prior updates they’ve missed.

There’s no new medical information except that doctor appointments begin again when we return, and five weeks of radiation treatments may start the end of March or first of April. 

We’re both in good spirits, talking often of God’s grace and sovereignty and that we can fully trust Him in whatever is ahead. We continue to pray for direct or indirect healing, and if He chooses not to heal immediately, we ask Him to use the common grace of medical treatments to restore Nanci to health. We deeply appreciate your prayers during this season. From here in Maui, this has been part of my worship:

School of yellow tangs, various reef fish, and a Christmas wrasse, drifting with me in the surge zone:

Contented turtle cruising the deep blue:

This giant sea turtle, over five feet long and probably over 300 pounds, turned toward me and kept coming closer. We bonded:

A beautiful but particularly elusive species, the peacock grouper. Very rare to get them on camera for more than a few seconds:

Finally, I handed my camera to Tony Cimmarusti, EPM supporter and good friend who “happened” in God’s providence to be here when we were, and asked him to catch me swimming below a giant sea turtle near Makena beach:

I took this photo of Tony C. with a smaller turtle. We had a blast!

“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it” (Psalm 96:11).

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:7-12).

Learn to Pace Your Life Race

Some years ago the women’s competition in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon had one of the most dramatic endings in sports history. Coming into the final stretch with a comfortable lead, the triathlete reached the very end of her reserves. She slowed, staggered, then collapsed within sight of the finish line. Her mind and body were barely functioning. It was a pathetic and frightening sight.

Determined to win, she crawled toward the finish line, only to be passed by a competitor at the last moment.

The crowd and the commentators had the same reaction—too bad she lost. But even if she would have won, what a terrible price to pay!

This memorable moment illustrates a critical principle for Christians today. Life is not a sprint to be run with reckless abandon. It is a marathon to be run with care and thoughtfulness, saving bursts of speed for when they are necessary, but allowing time to recover before the next burst. The twenty-six miles of a marathon must be run strategically. The runner must conserve energy, monitor, then pace herself according to energy reserves. Otherwise, no matter how fast she may have started the race, she will end up losing, collapsed in a heap short of the finish line.

Some of us are tortoises (type B’s), some of us are hares (type A’s). The hares run themselves ragged, pleased that they’re getting more done and getting it done faster than the tortoises. The tortoises burn energy slowly but surely, getting the job done but not raising their blood pressure much in the process. While the hares start off with a great lead, they end up spending so much time sick, run down, and weighed down that the tortoises pass them by, getting more done in the long run, and in the process living longer and better lives.

Some cars are still going strong with 200,000 miles on them; others are sputtering at 60,000 miles and goners at 80,000. All of us need to go down some bumpy roads in life, and occasionally we need to speed. But if we race through life with throttles wide open, if our most traveled roads are full of chuckholes…how long can we expect to last? How much mileage will we get out of our lives?

Christian stewardship is much more than what we do with our money. It begins with what we do with ourselves. We must see taking care of ourselves—spiritually, psychologically, and physically—as an investment.

God’s words are called “life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body” (Proverbs 4:22). God chose Solomon’s words to his son to be part of His own Word given to His children:

My son, do not forget my teaching,
But keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you prosperity. (Proverbs 3:1–2)

Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many. (Proverbs 4:10)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
For through me your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life. (Proverbs 9:10–11)

The fear of the LORD adds length to life,
but the years of the wicked are cut short. (Proverbs 10:27)

If we live according to God’s principles, we will withdraw in daily meditation of His Word, develop godly perspective, learn to manage our emotions, and learn to eat, exercise, and rest properly to care for our physical bodies, the temples of His Spirit. Can living by God’s prescription really help us live longer?

These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. (Deuteronomy 6:1–2, italics mine)

Of course, we have no guarantee of long life on this earth. God may have other, better plans for us. God is sovereign and there are accidents and diseases completely out of our control. There is no unconditional promise that faithful people will live long lives. Indeed, as the many martyrs around the world prove, God’s people sometimes die young because they are faithful. I do not believe in the health and wealth gospel. But I do believe God has entrusted to us the stewardship of our bodies and our lives. We can take good care of them, and leave our lifespans up to Him.

Let’s put the emphasis on the word enjoy from Deuteronomy 6, “so that you may enjoy long life.” We’re talking about quality of life. Those who pace themselves are invariably the most contented and refreshed people. They have more to offer their families, their friends, their church, their ministry. They’re more enjoyable to be around, they enjoy being around, and—all things being equal—they’re around longer to enjoy.

Sure, some people may pamper themselves unnecessarily and use stress as an excuse for avoiding their responsibilities. But we’ve talked with far more people who are so responsibility conscious, so totally committed to their tasks that they feel guilty caring for themselves. They think it’s selfish to take a nap, and unspiritual to send out for pizza. At best they feel it’s an imposition and at worst a sin to ask for help. If this describes you, change the way you think and start taking care of yourself or you’ll bequeath to those who love you a broken and burned out person.

Jesus came that we might have abundant life, not just in Heaven but on earth. How rich and rewarding is your life? How much more rich and rewarding could it be with a daily maintenance plan for the body and soul God has entrusted to your care?

Let’s open up the windows of our lives, learning not just to survive but thrive. Let’s learn to pace our race, and throughout our days look to God as our Creator and Redeemer.

Adapted from Randy and Nanci Alcorn's book Help for Women Under Stress. 

Photo by Andrew Tanglao on Unsplash

A Challenge for American Believers to Remember and Write for the Rest of the World, Too

I read the article below, by my friend Dan Balow, and appreciated the challenge he shared for writers. This was found on the blog of Media Associates International (MAI), a great ministry that equips and encourages talented men and women with a passion for producing Christian literature for their own people. They focus on countries with few Christians and little publishing activity. EPM has supported their work, and I recommend you consider supporting it, too. 

A little about Dan: he’s director of publishing development and a non-fiction literary agent with The Steve Laube Agency. He’s also the president and publisher of Gilead Publishing, which publishes Christian-themed fiction. He has a large and diverse amount of experience in the publishing world, so he has credibility in what he says here:

The majority of Christian books published every year are written in English by authors in the United States. U.S. Christian publishers in a billion dollar industry publish many thousands of new titles every year.

Still, I am not sure all American authors who desire to have their books spread across the globe and translated into various languages have the credentials nor the global insight to be telling the rest of the world how to live and grow in their faith.

How’s that for a cheery perspective?

An American perspective on the Bible is not always a universal one, applicable to every people group, language and country. This is why relatively few Christian books published in the United States find their way into translated editions or exported around the world.

Even the Bible has portions which need to be seen through the eyes of a Middle Eastern, Mediterranean culture before it can be truly understood.

Here are a variety of anecdotal pieces of information, which I believe create barriers to American Christian authors when they attempt to speak to the world:

During World War II, from 1939-1945, over 3% of the population of the world died either directly or indirectly as a result of the war. The United States lost 1/10th of this percentage or around one third of one percent. If the US followed the average of the rest of the world, we would have had over four million people killed. Certainly the 400,000 who died were far too many, but maybe we should have a little more understanding for the permanent damage to culture for countries like Russia who lost between 10-15% of their entire population, or the Philippines, who lost over 500,000 of their 16 million citizens and Ukraine who lost close to seven million people, a sixth of their population at the time.

Life has been difficult everywhere. Comparatively speaking it has been far less difficult in the United States. Treat other peoples with respect and understanding.

Middle class America is not something experienced by the vast majority of the world’s Christians. Since most Christian authors in the US come from this group, this fact alone should build in a great deal of humility and caution for Christian writers.

When you write globally, consider yourself less important and entitled than you might be accustomed. More Scripture, less you.

American Christians experience a level and variety of religious freedom largely unknown in the rest of the world. We have more Christian books, Bibles and Christian media than the rest of the world combined. The total number of Christian books published in a month in America outnumbers the total number of Christian books ever published in some languages and countries. American access to the Bible and places of worship is unparalleled.

American Christians have comparatively little to complain about. Be careful when addressing issues of Christian persecution and difficulties.

So, what is the point of this counter-perspective today?

When writing from their experience alone, American Christian authors have very little to say to the rest of the world’s Christians. If an American Christian author desires to write for believers in other languages and countries, they need to see their faith on a deeper level, writing from great humility and a Scripture-focused perspective.

Still, the American Christian perspective is not always a universal one.

Authors can write about anything they want in this country. You don’t need to apologize for your life or experience. But if your desire is to write to help believers in other languages or countries, you need to see your work and message from their perspective.

If you use examples to illustrate your points about the stress of driving your SUV five miles to the Home Depot to pick up building materials for the pergola over your backyard patio, your spiritual point and credibility will be lost among the shaking heads.

The writing of Christian books to people culturally similar to you is a great privilege and responsibility. Writing to encourage people not like you is an even more daunting task.  Walk carefully and with great spiritual humility.

A great joy of mine has been to see my books translated into over seventy languages from around the world, including Chinese, Ukrainian, Nepali, Turkish, and Norwegian. (See the full list, which is broken down both by languages and by individual books.) But there are always expressions, figures of speech, and illustrations which need to be altered during translation, to make them culturally relevant and understandable.

One of the illustrations I use in The Treasure Principle of the futility of storing up treasures on earth is people who held onto huge boxes full of Confederate currency that became worthless as soon as the Civil War was over. Obviously that story is meaningless to someone who knows nothing of the American Civil War and Confederate currency! So the translator will have to help me out by finding the equivalent of that illustration in his own culture. If he looks hard he can probably find it.

As Dan explains, we don’t have to feel badly about writing specifically to people who live in places and situations similar to us, but there is power in focusing on God’s Word and writing about how it applies to our lives, regardless of where and how we live. I try to keep this mind as I write, knowing that eventually my books may be read by people from around the world. I believe that what’s truly lasting and eternity-impacting will be the parts which center on God’s powerful Word, which He says will not return to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11).

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

An Important Case Concerning Pregnancy Resource Centers Is Headed to the Supreme Court March 20

I was privileged to serve on the board of the first Pregnancy Resource Center (now under the umbrella of First Image) in the Portland, Oregon area back in 1983. At that time there were only 12 to 15 others in the whole country. Now there are 2,500! It’s amazing how far the movement has come, and how many lives have been changed and saved because of it. (For example, First Image reports that last year 2,850 women were seen in the Portland centers; 850 of those women were given ultrasounds which resulted in 94% of them deciding to carry their babies to term!)

PRCs display the heart of God for the child (fatherless) and the widow (abandoned). As the most affluent society in history, we are sometimes hard-pressed to find the truly desperately needy. But for many of the women facing unplanned pregnancies, we encounter the combination of those who haven’t heard the gospel and who need practical, life-saving counsel and resources. As staff and volunteers quietly care for women and the unborn—from supplying clothing and diapers, to providing peer counseling and parenting classes—their compassionate outreach breaks the old stereotype of only being concerned about the unborn, but not the woman or the baby after birth.

Because of their tremendous impact, it’s not surprising that PRCs are often attacked by the pro-abortion movement through restrictive legislation and other means. David French explains about a law passed in 2015:

The state of California has enacted a law, the so-called FACT Act, that requires pro-life crisis-pregnancy centers to prominently place a notice informing clients that California offers low-cost and even free abortions to women who qualify and providing them a phone number that grants quick access to abortion clinics.

In other words, California is requiring pro-life professionals—people who’ve dedicated their lives to protecting the unborn by offering pregnant mothers alternatives to abortion—to advertise state-sponsored abortions. California is making this demand even though it has ample opportunity to advertise state services without forcing pro-life citizens to do so.

…And the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the FACT Act is constitutional. To validate California’s oppressive act, its decision carved out a dangerous First Amendment exception for what it deemed “professional speech”—“speech that occurs between professionals and their clients in the context of their professional relationship”—and ruled that the state had much greater leeway in regulating, for example, doctor/patient communication.

PRCs who don’t comply with the law face penalties, starting with $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent one. (Unlike the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Alliance Defending Freedom reports that other courts have invalidated or mostly invalidated similar laws in Austin, Texas; Montgomery County, Maryland; Baltimore; and New York City.)

Now this California case is slated to be heard before the Supreme Court starting March 20. Let’s be in prayer that the justices would make a wise decision that protects the first amendment rights of pro-life centers and their staff. And pray for encouragement for all the centers’ staff and volunteers who work selflessly to uphold the sanctity of human life and reach out in Christ’s name to help those in need.

You might also like to check out this podcast from Care Net, which talks about why this decision could mean the end of freedom of speech as we know it, as well as 50 Ways to Help the Unborn and Their Mothers (excerpted from my book ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments).

Photo: Pixabay

Understanding What Life Looks Like for Billions of People Worldwide Can Change Yours

In his book The Great Ascent: The Struggle for Economic Development in Our Time, economist Robert Heilbroner recommended visualizing ourselves doing the following, step by step. Though this may make you uncomfortable, it will increase your level of gratitude, thankfulness, and contentment, and hopefully increase both your compassion for the world’s truly poor and desire to reach them in Christ’s name. Please don’t just read the words. Slow down and take time to picture what reality looks like for billions of people:

1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blankets and pads for beds.

2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.

3. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.

4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.

5. Take away the house itself and move the family into the tool shed.

6. Place your “house” [the tool shed] in a shantytown.

7. Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and book clubs. This is no great loss because now none of you can read anyway.

8. Leave only one radio for the whole shantytown.

9. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.

10. Throw away your bankbooks [or debit and credit cards], stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.

11. Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops, of which one third will go to the landlord and one tenth to the money lenders.

12. Lop off twenty-five or more years in life expectancy.

The next time you are tempted to think, “I don’t have enough money,” don’t compare yourself to the relatively small number of people in the world who have more than you. Compare yourself to the billions who have less, most of them far less, including those who lived in the time the Bible was written. I often encourage people to go to globalrichlist.com and insert their household income to see where they figure in terms of global wealth. Most will find they land in the top 1 or 2 percent.

God has given you considerable material blessings. Have you ever asked yourself, Why has He provided so much? You don’t need to wonder. Paul tells us exactly why:

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that… (2 Corinthians 9:10–11)

So that what? Prosperity theology would finish this sentence, “so that we might live in wealth, showing the world how much God blesses those who love Him.”

But that isn’t how Paul finishes it. He says, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (v. 11).

God comes right out and tells us why He gives us more money than we need. It’s not so we can find more ways to spend it. It’s not so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children. It’s not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God’s provision.

It’s so we can give—generously.

(By the way, I am not minimizing the fact that many people in western countries do struggle financially. In some cases it’s not their fault and certainly we should help them. But it is fair to say that some people don’t have enough because they are spending what they have on things they want but don’t actually need. In those cases, when there’s no food on the shelf, often it’s because of other choices that have been made. There is help available for people in changing their spending habits and getting out of debt. For example, see Crown Financial Ministries.)

For more on money, stewardship, and giving, see Randy’s books The Treasure Principle, Managing God’s Money, and Money, Possessions, and Eternity.

Photo by Joshua Watson on Unsplash