Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 127

Are We Shooting the Wounded or Acting in Love By Not Soon Restoring Fallen Leaders Back to Ministry?

First of all, it’s vital to remember that while transparency and the admission of sin are necessary, they are not sufficient, nor are they necessarily indicative of a changed heart. There are guys in accountability groups who share with each other week after week how they failed again by viewing pornography. Some are routinely congratulated and commended for being open, honest, vulnerable, and transparent. Those qualities all seem virtuous. But where it counts the most, by returning to their sin as a dog goes back to its vomit (2 Peter 2:22), they are not being virtuous at all, even if their “transparency” gives the illusion they are.

Not long ago, I read an online forum where hundreds of people were commending a Christian leader for his honesty and humility in publicly admitting his immorality (after it had already been made public by others). But when one person posted the suggestion that in light of the biblical qualifications for being a church leader (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1), he should stay out of Christian ministry for the foreseeable future, she was met with a barrage of responses from people accusing her of being judgmental and unforgiving.

The tables get turned, so that the “loving” thing to do is to act as if the affair (in this particular case, multiple affairs), divorce, and remarriage are not relevant to future ministry, and the “hateful” thing is to suggest that while God’s forgiveness is always there for the truly repentant, there are indeed consequences. One of those consequences is disqualification for ministry for at least a significant period of time (unless and until a new long-term track record of purity has been clearly established).

Years ago it became popular to say, “The church is the only army that shoots their wounded.” Now, if this were an appeal to stop telling people they are ungodly because they struggle with depression and fear and suicidal thoughts, and face difficult marriages and abuse and mental and chemical imbalances, it would be called for. It would be a very valid criticism and a call to express God’s grace and kindness, and to understand and emphasize with hurt, struggling, and wounded people.

But too often, the accusation of “shooting their wounded” is applied to those church leaders and laypeople who understand God’s grace, who affirm His full forgiveness of the repentant, but at the same time believe that the Bible’s moral qualifications for church leaders should be taken seriously and therefore extreme caution should be exercised before restoring someone to pastoral ministry and Christian leadership.

I personally worked with a gifted Christian leader who fell but who publicly confessed, truly repented, and lived out the rest of his life doing what jobs he could find, including driving a bus. At his memorial service, his family could hold their heads high, and I believe God said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” But when he was asked two months after his affair was over to pastor a church, our counsel to him was that it was way too soon to even consider it.  

Some interpreted our response as unloving and judgmental. In fact, we were not only trying to protect the body of Christ, but we were also trying to protect our beloved brother. Even apart from the message it sends to the church, to go back into Christian leadership without a significant time away is to put oneself back into the context that lent itself to the temptations in the first place. Repentance and forgiveness always means full restoration to fellowship in Christ’s body. It does not mean you should go right back to a position of leadership.

Those who defend fallen Christian leaders as “wounded warriors,” and put all the emphasis on their need to heal and be productive and use their gifts, often do not seem to grasp the harm done to the church, the body of Christ, and the damage done to the credibility of the gospel among unbelievers. In some cases church leaders have counseled fellow pastors not to confess their adultery publicly, and not even to tell their own wives whom they have betrayed.

Some people think that by admitting their sin (often after having been caught in the lie) they place themselves above responsibility and consequences. The unspoken assumption is, “As long as I admit I’m a sinner, no one has grounds to criticize me.”

But a man who betrays his wife and children in an affair, or who falls back to pornography again and again, must do more than admit he was wrong. He needs to call upon the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in the context of true accountability to others, to live a righteous life. He must recognize that God’s grace doesn’t make sin okay—it makes sin something that can be conquered and abstained from over the long haul: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

This is also a reminder that all of us in positions of leadership should rehearse in advance the devastating consequences of sexual sin, including the forfeiting of our ministries. I once met with a man who had been a leader in a Christian organization until he committed immorality. I asked him, “What could have been done to prevent this?” He paused only for a moment, then said with haunting pain and precision, “If only I had really known, really thought through and weighed what it would cost me and my family and my Lord, I honestly believe I would never have done it.”

Some years ago my friend Alan Hlavka and I both developed lists of all the specific consequences we could think of that would result from our immorality as pastors. The lists were devastating, and to us they spoke more powerfully than any sermon or article on the subject by encouraging us to refocus on the Lord and take steps of wisdom and purity to keep from falling. You can read through mine on my blog, and use it as a basis for your own. (My booklet Sexual Temptation, which contains clear, preventive guidelines we can follow to avoid immorality, also has a specific section for pastors and church leaders. See also my book The Purity Principle.)

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Tim Challies’ Review of Managing God’s Money

A while back, blogger Tim Challies reviewed my book Managing God’s Money. I wanted to share it with those who aren’t familiar with the book. Thanks for the review, Tim! —Randy Alcorn

I have a love-hate relationship with money. I think most people do. On the one hand money is a necessity–a resource we depend upon, a resource we need if we are to live and thrive in this world. On the other hand money is spiritually captivating, a resource that offers a particularly insightful look into our hearts. Money is the topic of Randy Alcorn’s book Managing God’s Money. This is a biblical guide to managing our money with an eye to eternity.

Many of you know that this is not Alcorn’s first book on money. I believe it is actually his third, so let me tell you how it fits into the Alcorn canon. While I haven’t read Money, Possessions, and Eternity or The Treasure Principle, my perception is that this book fits right between the two. In the book’s final pages Alcorn writes, “I wrote Managing God’s Money to serve as a small and inexpensive resource that covers a lot of ground in addressing financial stewardship with an eternal perspective.” More ground than The Treasure Principle but less than Money, Possessions, and Eternity. To that end it is printed as a mass market paperback and priced at just $5.99 (or $3.99 for Kindle).

Let me tell you how Alcorn goes about addressing this issue. He does so in six sections: Money and Possessions, Perspectives that Impede Faithful Money Management, Our Stewardship in Eternity’s Light, Giving and Sharing God’s Money and Possessions, Wisely Handling God’s Money and Possessions, and Passing the Baton of Wise Stewardship. As you would expect, he progresses from biblical teaching on the foundations of money to the way we use our money to the way we teach others how to use their money.

A few principles underlie much of what Alcorn teaches.

Ownership: all of our money belongs to God.
Stewardship: we are to be faithful managers of God’s money.
Morality: money is not evil; however, it can be used to expose the evil that inhabits our hearts.
Materialism: we are drawn toward desiring and idolizing money and possessions.
The Treasure Principle: you cannot take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

These are a few of the most important big-picture principles that bind the book together. Working in his trademark question and answer format, Alcorn teaches how we can (and must) handle our money and possessions in a way that honors God. This is no-holds-barred stuff; he teaches that most of us have neglected our responsibility to give deeply, consistently and generously. He rebukes the materialism that inhabits the church to almost the same extent that it inhabits the world. He calls for a radical rethinking of the way most of us relate to our money.

Speaking personally, I found the book very convicting. I read it in the run-up to a series I am building on this very topic, and this book has given me a lot to think about. There may be times in which Alcorn overstates the case just a little bit, but even then, I need to do more study to really determine if this is the case. My impulse as I finished the book was to empty my bank account and give it all away. If only it were that easy. A couple of days later my thoughts have (thankfully) moderated a little bit. But I don’t think I’ll lose the heart of what Alcorn teaches here. The primary takeaway for me is a simple one, but one I needed to ponder: All I have belongs to God; he is the owner and I am merely the manager. My house, my car, my bank account–all of these belong to him. it is my responsibility to ensure that I am seeing them not as my possessions but as his. This then puts me in the proper context of a manager. That is a critical difference that is already changing the way I think about all that he has entrusted to me.

Managing God’s Money is a powerful little book and a very helpful one. It’s priced low enough that just about anyone can afford to buy it and read it. And if you read it, I’m sure you’ll benefit from it.

An Interview on the Frank Sontag Show about Service, Humility, and Truth

Last week I was interviewed on Frank Sontag’s radio show. Frank asked some great questions, and we discussed my recent blog post on leadership as well as the subject of my devotional book Truth.

Hope you enjoy the interview, which you can download here.

Photo by Alphacolor 13 on Unsplash

Lessons from an Otter on Doing Hard Things

You may have seen the “otter video” that’s gotten a lot of traction on Facebook. There’s a spiritual lesson here, I think. If you haven’t seen it, here’s this four-month-old pet otter who (for some reason) is being introduced to water for the first time. Please don’t get caught up in speculation about why someone has a pet otter and why the otter has never before been around water—maybe the otter was rescued and there were problems we don’t know about. (Not knowing, I’m going to assume the best, not the worst.)

So laying aside speculations, look at the video. Despite all the TLC from the owner, the otter is terrified at the sight of the water. Yes, terrified of the very thing he was made to enjoy and thrive in!

Since a friend sent it to me a few weeks ago, I’ve been thinking about how sometimes we shriek at some of the very things God calls us to. Sharing our faith? Being baptized? Giving? Bible study? Praying? Adoption? Church membership? Opening our homes? Mission trips? SHRIEK!!! And then we actually do them, and we realize, like the otter, THIS IS WHAT WE WERE MADE FOR!

So, sometimes we need to just get our shrieks out of the way as God lowers us toward the water, finally just jump in that water, and discover the wonderful things God has for us!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6, CSB).

“Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, CSB).

“Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses, but we take pride in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7, CSB).

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you” (Psalm 56:3, CSB).

Photo: Pixabay

Can Coloring Books Be Done to God’s Glory?

I’m excited about the release of my adult coloring book Picturing Heaven, on September 5. The illustrator, Lizzie Preston, and the team at Tyndale House have done a great job with it. (Yes, I said coloring book. Read on to learn more.)

Here’s a sample. The layout is Scripture and a brief meditation I’ve written on Heaven and the New Earth on the left, and a full page of coloring on the right.

I anticipate some will probably say, “You write biblical and theological books, and encourage good stewardship of time and money. Why would you succumb to the superficial trend of coloring books?”

I heard similar responses when I wrote Eternity, my first of two graphic novels. “Seriously, a theological, Christ-centered, Bible-based writer doing a glorified comic book?” (See my defense of God-honoring and Bible-based graphic novels here.)

One of the main reasons I agreed to do this book is that I love books, I love publishing, and I really enjoy trying my hand doing different kinds of books. You don’t know what you can do until you try. I love writing a wide variety of books. That’s why I started writing novels in the early 90’s. I’ve done  theological books, devotionals, a women’s book, multiple novels of different genres, children’s books, picture books, graphic novels, and now…a coloring book.

I recently read a review saying, “I think the author just wrote this book to make money.” Honestly, though I don’t think making money is wrong, it’s safe to say it doesn’t motivate me much since I don’t receive any money from the books I write. So the coloring book idea has nothing to do with making money; it has everything to do with the fun of God-honoring creativity and trying to touch the lives of different people in a different way.

Forgive me if this blog sounds a little defensive, but I’ve gotten enough pushback on writing different kinds of books that I think I need to make some clarifications. Following are some arguments against coloring books, and my responses:

They are childlike, and we are to put away childish things.

God created and values a childlike spirit (Mark 10:14-15). Jesus held children on His lap and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Certainly if “childlike” and “childish” refers to what’s immature or dishonoring to the Lord, we’re wise to avoid it. But when Paul says that he “gave up childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11), he was referring to immature things we should naturally outgrow. He was not referring to childlike delight in God and in life, which we, as God’s children, should never outgrow!

Let’s not decide that because children color, coloring is automatically off-limits or silly for adults! Artists aren’t “childish” when they draw or paint or color. Must one be a professional to engage in such activity?

Children enjoy doing many things, including eating ice cream, laughing, swimming, and playing games. Those are all things that adults can do too, allowing their delight to draw them to Jesus, the Source of all joy.

They are a waste of time, and we are to redeem the time.

Compare the time spent in relaxing, exercising your creativity, and reducing your stress levels with the hours we spend looking at our phones or watching television and movies, unsure of what might come up next that displeases God or disturbs our souls. Even if you still think coloring is a waste of time, it’s fitting to ask, “You wouldn’t waste your time doing coloring books, but how do you feel about your time spent on social media and talk radio and sports radio?” We can overdo anything, but all these things in moderation can be healthy.

If what you otherwise would have done with that hour is pray, read the Bible, feed the poor, gather with your church, or share Jesus with your neighbor, then sure, just say “no” to the coloring book! But if you would have spent it doing a number of other discretionary things, then feel free to say “yes” to the coloring book.

They are trendy, and we must never be trendy.

I resist trendiness when it encourages wrong thinking and superficiality. But sometimes what’s new and popular isn’t inherently wrong. Downsizing and the movement toward greater simplicity are trendy, as are eating better quality food and getting good exercise, but I think they are often good trends. (Trust me, I am well aware of trendiness in the publishing world, which applies equally to secular and Christian publishing!)

But often trends point to felt needs, and sometimes these felt needs are legitimate. Life has become extremely stressful to many people, and they find themselves worrying. Watching the evening news, listening to radio, and talking negatively at the workplace about political trends doesn’t help (nor does viewing ten murders a night on entertainment television). The constant stream of information, pictures, and news from social media and the internet can leave our minds fragmented and our souls empty.

In contrast, Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you” (John 14:27) and “Come onto me all you who are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28). Certainly reading and mediating on God’s Word can and should be our primary source of stress-relief. But He provides countless other sources of joy and refreshment, including family, friends, food, nature, sleep, and hobbies. These are good gifts from our Father (James 1:17). Coloring books can be the same.

My wife is extremely gifted musically and can play anything by ear. But she doesn’t like to play in front of people. So I got her a keyboard with a headset she can plug in. It’s pure fun and therapy for her, like biking and snorkeling are therapy for me. So why wouldn’t it be okay for people to experience meaningful creativity and stress reduction through coloring books?

Here are some reasons to give coloring books a try:

They can be done to God’s glory.

“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). I ride my bike to God’s glory. And I worship God while joyfully playing tennis and snorkeling, just as I worship Him while enjoying music, reading God’s Word, and playing with dogs. We can worship God as we eat, drink, work, and enjoy hobbies, nature, and art.

I encourage you to exercise your creativity instead of being hand fed the endless mind-numbing products of movies, television, video games, and other addictive habits. They are good in moderation, just as food is good in moderation, but gluttony is not good.

God values creativity. Practicing it now can be a foretaste of the creativity that will be unleashed on the New Earth.

The first person Scripture describes as “filled with the Spirit” wasn’t a prophet or priest; he was an Israelite craftsman (Exodus 31:1-6).God gifted and called Bezalel to be a skilled laborer, a master craftsman, a God-glorifying artist. The gifting and calling were from God (Exodus 35:30-35).

If you don’t believe craftsmanship will be an important part of the New Earth, read Exodus 25–40. God tells His people in exquisite detail how to sew clothing, what colors to use, how to construct the furniture for the Ark of the Covenant and Tabernacle, what stones to put on the high priest’s breastplate, and so on. He instructed the Israelites to make the priests’ clothing “for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2).

The design, precision, and beauty of these things tell us about God, ourselves, and the culture of the New Earth. God’s instructions and His delight in the gifts He imparts to people to accomplish these tasks make clear what we should expect in Heaven: greater works of craftsmanship and construction, unhindered by sin and death. When we die, we won’t leave behind our creativity, but only what hinders our ability to honor God through what we create. Meanwhile, we can get a head start and exercise that creativity in Christ-honoring ways.

It’s inexpensive, and you won’t end up wasting much money even if you don’t continue.

You can’t take up golfing, scuba diving, or skiing without spending a ton of money, and in many cases these costly hobbies are given up quickly. But your worst case scenario is some unused crayons or pencils or pens you can give to friends or grandkids, and the cost of one coloring book (I checked online and they range from $4 to $14, the more expensive ones being, as you’d expect, higher quality).

If you have some crayons or colored pencils, give it a try. Just get one adult coloring book (no, it does not have to be Picturing Heaven!). Try it. If you feel God increasing your joy or decreasing your stress, if you feel Him pulling you away from less creative and more unhealthy ways to spend your time, great. If you want to get more coloring books, one at a time, fine.

My suggestion is this: Let’s not mock as silly and wasteful what brings harmless joy to others.

I don’t collect stamps, baseball cards, coins, or rocks, though I did as a child. You may think that means I moved on from childish things. But I’ve found other diversions, and most of them, I believe, are edifying, refreshing, and God-honoring. Some people keep their childhood hobbies as adults; others move on. But it’s not always a good move, certainly not when harmless childhood interests are replaced by harmful adult addictions.

Yes, unhealthy obsession and focus on things that won’t last isn’t our goal. But seen properly, even small things like coloring books can draw our heart to worship Christ.

Christianity Today shared a helpful piece on “Why Adult Coloring Works for Christians.” Alicia Cohn writes:

…can Bible-themed coloring books actually aid spiritual discipline? I think they can, but like any tool, it depends how we use them. …For those who do like the Scripture-based coloring books, the length of time it takes to color in a verse is long enough for meditation and even memorization of the verse itself.

…I may not be convinced by the arguments that coloring “unleashes creativity” or lowers the activity of my amygdala—in fact, I still feel a little silly every time I pick up the coloring book on my coffee table—but I am starting to crave my coloring time. It’s a flexible tool that helps me maintain a healthy mind and a healthy heart.

Read the rest of her article.

Does Obeying God Mean Sacrificing Our Happiness?

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24).

It is a Christian duty . . . for everyone to be as happy as he can. —C. S. Lewis

You may be unaccustomed to thinking that God commands us to be happy or to do things that make us happy. But He does. And I’d wager that since the outcome of our obedience would be our happiness, these are commands we would all want to obey—provided we were thinking clearly.

Some people have an intuitive resistance to the notion that happiness is unbiblical, and rightfully so. A blogger says, “Happiness isn’t in the Bible? But what about all the commands to rejoice? What about laughter? Please tell me I’m not supposed to always be heavy-hearted, trudging along and begrudging obedience. I want to be a happy Christian!”[i]

Happiness is a privilege. However, since God repeatedly calls upon us to rejoice, delight, and be glad in Him, we have an obligation to actually do so.

This makes sense only if the God we love is happy, if the gospel message we embrace and proclaim is happy, if Heaven is a happy place, and if it makes God happy for us to be happy. It makes sense if we understand that people long to be happy and won’t turn to Jesus if they believe there’s no happiness in Him. Others will judge whether there’s happiness in Jesus by whether they see happiness in His followers. Hence, our happiness is, in multiple respects, a Christian duty.

But what an incredibly wonderful duty it is . . . like being required to eat Mom’s apple pie! We’re accustomed to thinking of duty as drudgery. Yet we know that the duties of loving a spouse or caring for a child or serving one’s country can bring satisfaction, contentment, and happiness.

People have told me it’s easy to speak of happiness in a prosperous country, but how dare we say God expects those impoverished and suffering to be joyful? In fact, poor Christians often have joy that radiates far beyond what we typically see in Western churches, and they have much to teach us. I’ve studied more than 2,700 Scripture passages where words such as joy, happiness, gladness, merriment, pleasure, celebration, cheer, laughter, delight, jubilation, feasting, exultation, and celebration are used. Throw in the words blessed and blessing, which often connote happiness, and the number increases.

Even Jeremiah, who’s called “the weeping prophet” since he was brokenhearted over the tragic suffering of God’s people, spoke prophecies of happiness. He saw the future—some of it in this world’s Jerusalem and much of it in the New Jerusalem to come—and in it he was given glimpses of God’s promised happiness.

God is clear that seeking happiness—or joy, gladness, delight, or pleasure—through sin is wrong and fruitless. But seeking happiness in Him is good and right.

So should we feel guilty for being unhappy, struggling with depression, and being sad at the suffering in our lives and others’ lives? No, but we should feel a liberating hope that Jesus, who knows infinitely more about suffering than we do, offers us and calls us to greater happiness than we’ve known. As Jeremiah and Jesus wept, we, too, will sometimes weep—and so we should. But if we’re not experiencing some degree of happiness in God, then we’re not obeying God’s commands and we’re missing out on the abundant life Jesus came to give us (see John 10:10).

Let’s say yes to His offered gift of happiness in Him. Your temperament may be like mine—not naturally joyful, but more melancholic and prone to depression. You may not become the happiest person you know, but just as I have, you, too, can become far happier in Christ than you ever could have on your own.

Over the years, as I have contemplated Scripture, walked with God, and sought to cultivate an eternal perspective, my happiness has increased. None of us are prisoners of our natural temperaments. We too quickly underestimate the Holy Spirit’s power to transform us gradually into the image of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).

The fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23, including joy, is the Holy Spirit doing a supernatural work in our lives. What we cannot do in ourselves He can do in us when we yield ourselves to him.

I talked with a young woman who viewed the Christian life as one of utter dullness. She knew that following Christ was the right thing to do, but she was certain it would mean sacrificing her happiness.

Unless her view changes dramatically, her spiritual future is bleak. It isn’t in our nature to continually say no to what we believe would make us happy—or to say yes to something we think would make us unhappy. (Don’t mistake perseverance for choosing unhappiness—the man who faithfully loves his wife suffering from dementia is not choosing unhappiness but rather choosing the happiness of honoring his wife, keeping his vows, maintaining his self-respect, and hearing God’s “well done.”)

So where did this young woman, who was raised in a fine Christian family and church, acquire such an unbiblical notion? Somehow she, like many of us, missed the point of what God calls the good news of great joy.

Around 150 years ago, Pastor Charles Spurgeon told his church what pastors today should tell theirs: “God made human beings, as He made His other creatures, to be happy. . . . They are in their right element when they are happy.”[ii]

Celebration and gladness of heart have characterized the church, including the suffering church, throughout history. Scripturally, the culture of God’s people is not one of misery, anger, and whining but of joy, happiness, gratitude, eating and drinking, singing and dancing, and making music. It’s not the people who know God who have reason to be miserable—it’s those who don’t.

What a wonderful God you are to not only provide a means of happiness but also to command us to be happy even as you command us to be holy. How happy we should be to love and be loved by someone as delightful as you! Thank you for creating us so that our happiness increases as our gratitude multiplies. This is joy unspeakable. We praise you for calling us to ever-greater happiness in you, your presence, your Word, your creation, and your work in our lives and in the world around us.

Excerpted from 60 Days of Happiness: Discover God's Promise of Relentless Joy.

[i] A Lois Lane, “Experiment 3.3: Why I Cannot Be a Happy Single, Part 1,” The Singleness Experiments (blog), https://singlenessexperiments.wordpre....

[ii] Charles H. Spurgeon, “Christ’s Joy and Ours” (Sermon #2935).

Photo by Andres Fernandez Unsplash

Charlottesville: Reminding Everyone That Racism Is Alive and Ugly

A lot of good things, and some not so good, have been said and written since the tragic events in Charlottesville last week. None have been much better, in my thinking, than what Russell Moore wrote. I appreciate this for its biblical base, prophetic nature, and clarity:  

White supremacy angers Jesus, but does it anger his church?

As we watched the televised images of the noxious, violent white nationalist protests in Charlottesville this week, many of us felt our blood pressures rise. Many of us were, and are, angry. Many of us have been for some time about the resurgence of white supremacy and anti-Semitism we see all over the world.

In a time like this, Christians might ask whether we should, in fact, be angry. Should we not instead just conclude that this is what a fallen world is like and pray for the final judgment to come? If you are feeling distressed and heated, you have reason to be. White supremacy makes Jesus angry.

One of the many remarkable things about the picture we get of Jesus in the Gospels is how relatively calm he is. When his disciples are panicking in a life-threatening storm, Jesus is asleep. When villages reject the message, the apostles are angered but Jesus is not. Threatened with arrest and even execution, Jesus meets his accusers with tranquility. The Scriptures show us two things that make Jesus visibly angry: religious hypocrisy and racial supremacist ideology.

Read the rest on The Washington Post.

I also recommend Ed Stetzer’s article #Charlottesville, the Christian Response, and Your Church’s Call and Kevin DeYoung’s blog post It Wasn’t That Long Ago.

Racial unity—fostering interracial understanding, partnership, and unity in the Body of Christ, and in our greater communities—is one of the things close our ministry’s heart. We highly recommend John Perkin’s ministry, The John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation, Justice & Christian Community Development, one of those we support with our book royalties. John’s example of love, forgiveness, and Christ-centeredness has touched my life deeply, and I recently shared my foreword to his excellent new book, Dream With Me.

In a past blog post, Brotherhood and the Color of Our Skin, I highly recommended Benjamin Watson’s book Under Our Skin. Ben is an NFL tight-end with the Baltimore Ravens who spoke powerfully at January’s March for Life in Washington, D.C. Under Our Skin is a terrific book on race relationships. It’s now my go-to book on this subject, and I have read many.

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14).

5 Practical Steps for Seeking Wisdom Through Mentorship

Who are your mentors, the people who are helping you grow in your faith? Proverbs 13:20 says that “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (I share some more thoughts about the importance of godly mentorship, especially related to our children, in this 1-minute audio clip.)

Sometimes knowing how to find a mentor and start that relationship can be challenging. My longtime dear friend Barry Arnold, who pastors Cornerstone Church in Gresham, Oregon, shares some thoughts about the importance of seeking wisdom from others, as well as five simple steps for pursuing mentorship:

Proverbs 1:3-4 says, “To receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;  to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.” We’re told that a truly skillful, or wise, person will never stop learning, especially from others who are even more skillful than they are.

This is why the generations have to be together. No matter what your age, you need people of other ages close to you. Older people have the wisdom younger people need. Younger people have the energy and enthusiasm older people need. The best small groups in church I’ve been part of have been inter-generational. You also need to pass on the wisdom—the life-skill God has given you—to younger people.

Let me tell you one way mentoring can work. Let’s say there are three or four men or women in your church—a little older than you—that you admire. By the time you get to their age you would like to be a lot like them. You would like to be “mentored” by them, but you don’t know how to go about asking. (On the other side, older people who have life skills are just as awkward about offering to be a mentor.)

Somebody has to make a move, and I’m suggesting it should be the younger person. Here’s what not to do: Don’t go up to an older person and ask, “Would you mentor me?” Most older people, even if they have bad knees, would bolt out the door and may never come back. “Mentor you? What’s that mean?” The older person pictures C. S. Lewis in his library, smoking a pipe and discussing Aristotle and Polycarp with a group of young men—and they think I could never do that.

But what you want to know is what strategies this older person has found successful in resisting temptation. Perhaps you want to know how to be completely fulfilled as a single person. Maybe you want to know how they kept loving their spouse—for decades. You want to know how they study the Bible, what they pray about, how they dealt with an insecure, perhaps even incompetent, boss. You want to know how their kids grew up to embrace faith in Christ when so many don’t. You want to know practical things—like how to stretch a paycheck and how to make good money decisions.

So here’s what you do, in five simple steps:

1. Make a list of older men or women you admire.

2. One at a time, approach them, saying you admire them, and you’re wondering if they would meet you for coffee because you’d like to ask them a couple questions about life. That’s it. Just ask to meet one time—to ask about how life works.

3. If they say yes, jot down questions starting with “How did you...” or “How have you...” and ask the questions. They don’t have to prepare anything. There’s no homework, no notebook, because what you want is not information but their “life skills” and “wisdom.”

4. If the hour is awkward, you’re done. Go to the next person. But if an hour and a half goes by quickly and you only got through one question, ask if they would mind meeting again. When you get your questions answered, you’re done. Maybe you’ll end up meeting five times, maybe twenty. The number isn’t important. Your questions are important.

5. Ask another person you admire if they would meet you for coffee. It may take two or three years to pick the brains of the people you select, but in this model, everyone wins. And when you’re finished, you’re not dragging along a program you don’t know what to do with. 

Photo: Pixabay

When Divine Appointments Don’t Feel Pleasant

I’m a firm believer that many of life’s inconveniences involve divine appointments with people the Lord brings into our lives—if only we open our eyes to see them. God appoints the times and places we live (Acts 17), and is a Master of the exact timing that creates the beauty of divine appointments. Over the years I’ve had them in stores and restaurants and on airplanes.

Even when I don’t have the opportunity to talk to someone or give them a book or booklet, I’ve been encouraged to pray, even if briefly, for many people I see in passing and don’t know. This I do know—God created them, loves them, and desires them to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). God has appointed one or more of His children, within their sphere of influence, to reach out and touch the lives of these people.

So I encourage you to see your life as full of divine appointments. This blog post from EPM reader Angelia Dittmeier is a reminder that these encounters may come in unexpected ways:

Divinely Appointed Unpleasantries

You know those times when you run into a person in life and you just know God brought you to the same place at the same time for a reason? Well….this was not one of those times, or at least not at first glimpse. Yesterday I had a run-in with a woman I’m going to call “Mary.” (I don’t know her real name, and I’m somewhat grateful for that. You’ll understand why shortly.)

Mary was in a hurry to get somewhere, it appeared, because she decided to head toward the exit of a parking lot by cutting across the incoming lane of traffic. I was in the process of entering, when suddenly she was in front of me. My son Colson saw her coming and warned me, but still I had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting her. Mary also stopped, facing the wrong way (albeit caddy corner) right in front of me. I seriously don’t know if her rage was triggered at that moment or whether it might have already been well in progress, but promptly she began mouthing things at me. She rolled down her window, and I reached to roll down my own before something I’ll call “divine instinct” told me not to do it. Mary began shouting, and the lip reading was unmistakable. Use your imagination. Mary is a very angry woman.

This is Texas, y’all. For the most part, we try to get along–but I seriously believe that had I engaged in dialogue with Mary, she may have jumped out of her car and physically attacked me (while parked in my lane)!

Sometimes I’m dense. It wasn’t until this morning that an important truth dawned on me: Divine appointments are not always pleasant. The woman in that car needs prayer. She could have driven into the path of anyone, but the same God who laid out the stars of the universe timed it so that the object of her rage would be me. It doesn’t take a mental health professional to realize this woman probably has trouble going on her life, but I am one. It doesn’t take a preacher to understand that she needs prayer, but I’m a Christ-follower. And while it might take me a while to hear the voice of God, I do try to obey Him when He speaks. At approximately 6 o’clock this morning, God enlightened me to the fact that even bizarrely unpleasant encounters sometimes take place for a wonderful purpose, outside of the realm of human understanding. What an “Aha” moment! If I don’t pray for this woman, will anyone? (Perhaps you will…but more importantly, you may, like me, have a better perspective the next time you run into your own “Mary.”)

How do I really know that God directed me to pray for Mary? “But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44, ESV)

Because He said so!

Photo: Pixabay

My Answers to Questions Asked by a 12-Year-Old Reader

I really enjoy hearing from readers of my books. But my absolute favorite letters are the ones that come from children and young adults. I’m not able to answer every letter and email and message I receive (though our great EPM staff help me out with their responses to the questions that come in), but following the example of C. S. Lewis, I try to respond to all the letters from children. I want to do all I can to encourage young people to find joy in reading and ultimately in following Jesus!

Here is a recent letter I received from a young reader, and my answers to some great questions she asked:

Dear Randy Alcorn, my name is Sydney. I am 12 years old and I have two siblings. I really enjoy reading your books because they are very inspirational. I’m writing this letter to you because one of my favorite books is “Wait Until Then.”

Dear Sydney,

I was delighted to receive your letter. How encouraging to hear that you’ve enjoyed many of my books, especially Wait Until Then.

My wife, Nanci, and I visited Joni Eareckson Tada and her husband, Ken, in their home when I had just finished Wait Until Then. When I showed her the last picture of Nathan running around the bases and the wheelchair in the background, she wept. In fact, she asked to see the picture more than once. Though the book is now out of print, we donated all the royalties from this book to Joni and Friends to help provide wheelchairs for the needy around the world. You may know about Joni and her story, but if you don’t I would encourage you to read the book Joni. Besides being a dear friend, she’s one of my present day heroes of the faith!

Here are some answers to your questions:

How do you get inspiration for your books? I get inspiration for my books by reading other peoples’ books and finding ideas.

Like you, I get inspiration for my books by doing a lot of reading myself. I also pray and ask God to direct me on future writing projects and they usually come from a particular burden/interest I have on a certain subject. Often God has allowed me to experience different things in my life that are reflected in my writing.

What was your favorite book as a child? I still read children’s books today, and they still inspire me.

As a child I loved reading comic books. Some of my favorites were the Hulk and the Flash. I also loved the Sci-Fi book Stadium beyond the Stars, about Olympic competition between alien races. :)

How long does it take you to finish a book? It must be a lot of writing or typing and you probably get tired.

It usually takes 1 1/2 to 2 years to complete a book. I do a lot of research, and after I’ve written a draft I have assistance from a few members of my staff who help to reduce the word count and edit what I’ve put together. I write and rewrite several times before the final draft is submitted to my publisher. Then once they’ve edited it, I look it over again and make changes. So it’s a long process from start to finish.

What was your favorite book to write? They were all so inspiring, but my favorite was “Wait Until Then.”

One of my favorite books to write was The Grace and Truth Paradox. I love that book because it talks about the balance between grace and truth and how both of them are essential.

Do you have any books coming out soon that we should look forward to? I can’t wait for another book from you!

I’m excited about my coloring book, Picturing Heaven, which will be out in September. There will be 40 hope-filled devotions with Scriptures along with beautiful artwork. I’m also looking forward to Seeing the Unseen coming out in October. It’s a 90-day devotional to encourage people to set their mind on eternity with Scripture, commentary, and great quotes from others.

When you aren’t around anyone, what are some of your hobbies? Some of mine are painting and coloring.

Some of the hobbies I enjoy are biking, reading, snorkeling, and underwater photography. I enjoy going on bike rides with two of my grandsons, Jake and Ty, ages 13 and 11. They live only a mile from our house, and we ride the Springwater Trail not far from where we live and enjoy all kinds of adventures together. I also read a lot and when I can travel I absolutely love to dive and snorkel and take underwater pictures. Whenever I can get together with my three other grandsons in California, Matt and Jack and David, I have a blast with them.

Do you have any family or pets? I have 2 siblings, my mom and dad. I also have 3 cats that are very fun to play with.

Nanci and I love dogs! I had a Golden Retriever named Champ when I was a young boy. Our first dog after we were married was a Springer Spaniel and we named him Champ, too. After he died, we got a Dalmatian named Moses. And after he left us, we now have a Golden Retriever named Maggie. She is five years old and an important part of our family. (Here’s something I wrote about Moses after he died.) I can’t prove it but I believe we’ll be reunited with our dogs after the resurrection and on the New Earth!

Here’s our Maggie, who just got a hot-weather trim:

Thanks again for writing, Sydney. Keep reading and following Jesus with your whole heart!

Your friend,

Randy Alcorn

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash