Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 136

Jimmy Needham on the Heart-Battle for Sexual Purity (and Other Spiritual Victories)

When it goes to fighting lust, and other besetting sins, our greatest need is for a heart transplant, a mind reprogramming, a change in our inner beings. Jesus told us why: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality” (Matthew 15:19–20).

When our thirst for joy is satisfied by Christ, and when the desires of our hearts are set on Him, sin becomes unattractive. We say no to the passing pleasures of sin, not because we do not want pleasure, but because we want true pleasure, a greater and lasting pleasure that can be found only in Christ. This is a critical distinction in our fight against sin, and I think Jimmy Needham explains it well in this article. Thanks, Jimmy! —Randy Alcorn

I used to look at pornography nearly every day for a decade. But for the past twelve years, by God’s grace, I have not visited a single porn site.

For many battling addiction, that sentence embodies what we’re striving for. That sentence, however, is not a success story.

As we all know by now, lust manifesting in addiction to pornography is rampant in our tech-savvy culture, and sadly it’s little different among Christians. I’m in weekly conversations with college guys at our church who are fighting hard against lust and porn addiction.

It’s interesting for me to hear how people talk about their struggle. Often when they share, they frame it in terms of “how long it’s been” since their last encounter with porn. The room rejoices with those who haven’t had an incident in a while, and we spout off advice to the ones who have. You can almost see the ranking system build before your eyes: The most recent sinner cowers on the bottom with the lowest score, while the one with the longest record of abstinence stands tall at the top.

But we may have it more wrong than we think. Why? Because our actions don’t always reveal our hearts.

Dirty Dishes

If you were looking for the most moral people of Christ’s day, you would look no further than the Pharisees — fasting, tithing, praying, obeying. Yet when Jesus has a chance to speak to them he says this:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:25–26)

For these religious leaders, holiness was only skin-deep. Their deeds were moral, but their hearts were evil. Jesus understood that what you could see in a person’s life often says very little about the condition of a person’s spiritual life. If God was merely after behavior modification, Jesus would have praised the Pharisees. Instead, they received some of Jesus’s harshest words of all.

One way to tell if you’re measuring success by an outer-cleanness versus an inner-cleanness is if you obsess over how many days it’s been since you last sinned. That mentality presupposes that your issue is one primarily of behavior, and not of the heart. But God always seeks a change deeper than our behavior.

Superficial Celebrations

This isn’t just a porn issue. We see this in other areas. For example, it’s not necessarily grounds for celebration if an obese person loses a hundred pounds. On a superficial level we can certainly say that proper diet and exercise is better for their health, and therefore a good thing. But is it worth celebrating if that weight loss was motivated by vanity? Or if it produced a heart of self-righteousness or self-worship? Perhaps they dealt the decisive blow to their gluttony, only to have narcissism sprout in its place. The new state of the person might be worse than the first!

The Puritan John Owen said it well when speaking on the fight against sin: “He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he has mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He has changed his master, but is a servant still.”

Obedience from the Heart

If it’s true that God looks at the heart first, what are some markers of that inner-cleanness he desires beyond the changes in our behavior?

A sense of neediness and dependence on the grace of God. Christianity is nothing if not the religion of the helpless. The godliest thing any of us can do in our fight against sin is to admit we cannot fight against sin on our own. We need the power of the Holy Spirit working within us. If you feel defeated in your struggle against lust, let that sense of defeat push you further into the arms of your strong Savior today, and push you to lean on his strength and help, again.
A steady gaze at Christ as our treasure and satisfaction. Most of our efforts in sanctification fall short of seeing Christ this way. But Scripture is clear: There is no legitimate conquering of sin without a pursuit of Christ in its place (2 Timothy 2:22; Romans 13:14; John 6:35). Jesus is a good meal for our soul. The battle for purity is really a battle to delight in God.

Don’t mistake what I’m saying. God absolutely wants external, visible life-change: “[Christ] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). But a change of behavior is only God-glorifying if it is motivated by a change of heart.

As you war against your flesh, as you fight against lust and addiction, as you counsel others in the battle, aim higher and deeper than outer moral conformity. Feel your inability to produce lasting life change apart from the work of God’s Spirit. Pray for a heart that is so enamored with the beauty of Christ that it despises the temptations of sin. Win the inner victory with Christ’s help, and the external victories will not be far off.

This post originally appeared on DesiringGod.org . Used by permission of the author.

Photo: Pixabay

Tim Challies on Why Christian Kids Abandon Their Faith

I’ve shared before my concerns over the number of college students who are abandoning their faith in Christ. This article from Tim Challies, one of my favorite bloggers, explains some of the reasons why that happens, and what Christian parents can do to address those reasons. —Randy Alcorn

Why Christian Kids Leave the Faith

Few things are sadder to witness than people who once professed faith leaving it all behind. This is especially true when those people were raised in Christian homes by God-fearing parents. These children were given every opportunity to put their faith in Jesus but determined instead to turn their backs on him. Why would they make such a tragic choice?

Several years ago Tom Bisset carried out a study of people who had left the faith. Wanting this to be more than a statistical analysis, he actually sat down with people to interview them and ask for detailed information on when, why, and how they abandoned their faith. As he compiled his research he arrived at the four most prominent reasons that people raised in Christian homes eventually leave Christianity behind.

They leave because they have troubling, unanswered questions about the faith. Essentially, they come to doubt that Christianity offers compelling answers to the tough questions—questions related to science, suffering, sexuality, and a host of other crucial subjects. Their doubts may be intellectual or academic, theological or practical. Whatever the case, they became convinced that Christianity does not actually offer truth to those who seek it, that its answers are unreasonable, unrealistic, or just plain wrong. No longer satisfied with the answers and claims of Christianity, they opt for “intellectual honesty” and look elsewhere.

(A solution to this problem is to engage the difficult questions with our children and to show that Christianity offers a cohesive and compelling worldview that accounts for science, suffering, sexuality, and whatever else we find pressing or perplexing. We have nothing to fear from even our children’s most difficult questions.)

They leave because their faith is not working for them. Though they tried and perhaps even tried honestly and sincerely, they were not able to find the peace, joy, or meaning the Christian faith claims to offer them. Their personal experience of Christianity was never able to match what they had been taught to believe about it. Their experience was never able to match what they saw modeled by friends, pastors, or parents—people who expressed the joy and fulfillment that was theirs through a relationship with Christ Jesus. Out of discouragement they abandoned Christianity, sure its claims were exaggerated or just plain false.

(A solution here is to be vulnerable with our children, and to express that we, too, experience moments of doubt and disbelief, and that we are sometimes left wishing for answers God has not provided. We need to be careful not to oversell our faith, not to describe the Christian life as free from all difficulty. After all, the Bible emphasizes both the joys and the suffering that come to those who believe.)

They leave because they have allowed other things to take priority. For some people Christianity is outright rejected and replaced by an alternate system of beliefs. For others, though, Christianity is merely displaced by competing passions, concerns, or emphases. They may commit themselves to success in business and allow religion to take a back seat, or they may passionately pursue sports and find it more exciting and fulfilling than their faith. Some endure times of trial or torment and in the midst of those troubles find their faith has fallen by the wayside. In either case, faith, once an important part of their life, falls in significance until it fades far into the background. It’s less that these people reject their faith and more that they lose interest in it or even forget about it.

(Perhaps the solution here is for parents to emphasize the centrality of the local church to the Christian life, yet without allowing it to tip over into legalism. This community of Christians can offer children friends and mentors—even, or especially, older ones—who can supplement, complement, or even correct parental training. Children can learn that they, like their parents, need a place to belong, a place where they can both serve and be served.)

They leave because they never personally owned their faith. Sure, these people grew up going to church and they went through all the motions of personal commitments and youth groups and personal devotions. They did it all. They played the part. They convinced others and perhaps even convinced themselves. But all the while, whether they knew it or not, they were merely conforming to the desires or expectations of other people, of parents, peers, or pastors. They had never personally put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. When they grew sufficiently independent to make their own way in life, they gladly—or perhaps reluctantly—left Christianity behind. They left it behind because they had never personally owned it to begin with.

(A solution here is to continually preach the gospel to our children and never to assume they are saved simply because they are in a Christian home. As parents we need to regularly ask our children if they believe, to express joy when we see evidences of God’s saving grace, and to express concern when we see disobedience that may contradict their profession.)

God tells us there will always be wheat and tares. Even among children born to believing parents there will be some who reject all their parents have taught. Some of these will rebel for a while and return. Some will not. As parents we are to commit ourselves to the task of raising our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, to teach them the facts of the faith, to show how it answers our questions and meets our needs, to insist that the good news of the gospel must be personally apprehended. We do what God calls us to do, we do it to the best of our abilities, and we entrust the results—and our children—to God’s good providence.

Obviously Bisset’s study is not exhaustive and there are many books and studies that would offer different perspectives. Yet highlights rings true in my experience. I have seen many—too many—in each category. How about you? What do you consider the most prominent factors to explain why people abandon their childhood faith?

Photo: Unsplash

It’s Not Only Athletes: What Platform Has God Given You?

Last spring I had the privilege of speaking at a conference for NFL players put on by Pro Athletes Outreach (PAO), a group which exists to unite a community of pro athletes and couples to grow as disciples of Jesus and positively impact their spheres of influence. They have a fantastic outreach to professional football and baseball athletes and their wives. I’ve seen firsthand the amazing difference they’re making.

In the off-season I exchanged emails and texts with dozens of NFL players and chaplains I met at the conference. It was a time of great spiritual impact on many, and a large number of players and wives were baptized. Nanci and I were deeply touched by the ministry of PAO.

This video PAO made featuring Andrew McCutchen, centerfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, is a great reminder that God has His people everywhere, and He has given each of us a platform to use for our Lord, with our own unique sphere of influence.

Of course, many vocations are more important than baseball or football or any other sport, which for most athletes last only a short portion of their adult lives. But regardless of what vocation or position or role in a family God gives us, when God gives His people a platform to stand on, and a voice that can be heard, He expects them to represent Him faithfully. When they achieve something, whether as a farmer, factory worker, teacher, nurse, clerk, or salesperson, He calls upon them to give Him glory.

You may not have as many people watching you as pro athletes, but innumerable angels, saints and the Lord Himself are watching. No matter who you are, God has given you your physical and mental and spiritual gifts to provide you a platform from which to draw attention to Him.

But I can’t talk about sports celebrities without a reminder of gospel humility. Of course, we all like to serve from the power position. We’d rather be healthy, wealthy, and wise as we minister to the sick, poor, and ignorant. Yet when those preaching God’s Word have little personal familiarity with suffering, the credibility gap makes it difficult for them to speak into others’ lives. Our suffering levels the playing field.

Christian athletes and non-athletes alike must learn that God uses the suffering we try to avoid to spread the gospel and build His kingdom. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

People hear the gospel best when it comes from those who have known difficulty. Paul says, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Suffering creates a sphere of influence for Christ that we couldn’t otherwise have.

E. Stanley Jones wrote, “Don’t bear trouble, use it. Take whatever happens—justice and injustice, pleasure and pain, compliment and criticism—take it up into the purpose of your life and make something out of it. Turn it into testimony.”

So “whatever happens,” what are you doing to honor Christ in your own unique sphere of influence, and to give Him credit for your successes and glory in your sorrows?

If you’d like to check out some more videos from PAO, their site TheIncrease.com has some great ones. It’s also a terrific resource for church leaders and parents to find authentic sports heroes who walk with Jesus in humility and grace. If your kids or grandkids love sports, this is a great place to find athletes they can admire.

One athlete I know and appreciate is Matt Hasselbeck, who retired after last season and is now an ESPN commentator. Here he tells his story and mentions Trent Dilfer, a Seattle Seahawks teammate, friend, and fellow ESPN commentator.

Here are a couple more stories I recommend:

Clayton Kershaw - My Story 

Jon Kitna – The World Was Mine

Derek Carr - My Story 

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

By the way, I encourage you to check out Football Sunday, which is produced by The Increase. They’re offering a free, professional video presentation featuring several athletes telling their stories and sharing about faith in the NFL. Churches can sign up to use it during their services, and individuals can also show it to those gathered in their homes. One idea is to use it as a positive alternative to the halftime show on Super Bowl Sunday!

Here’s the trailer.

Benjamin Watson at the 2017 March for Life

The 44th annual March for Life took place last Friday, January 27 in Washington, D.C. I haven’t seen an official estimate for how many participated, but most seem to think there were hundreds of thousands of people present. How encouraging to see so many people—of various ages and races—stand up for the unborn!

One of this year’s speakers at the rally was Baltimore Ravens tight end Ben Watson. I love this brother and so appreciate his willingness to speak out on behalf of the unborn, even when it’s unpopular to some.  He also speaks out often on the subject of racial justice, which is unpopular with others. (I’ve shared before about Ben’s book Under Our Skin, and you might also like to check out a forum on race and faith he’s doing with others, including Tony Dungy, on February 16.) People often are selective, embracing some justice causes and not others. I admire Ben for being consistent even though the same people who applaud him for one thing may criticize him for another. “If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

At the March for Life, Ben gave a great reminder that being prolife involves valuing life from conception to the grave. He also called men to lead the way in speaking up for the unborn and caring for women. I’m encouraged to see this, because abortion isn’t “just” a women’s issue. It’s a human issue, and its effects are devastating to women and men—and children—alike.

Here's Ben’s full speech.

By the way, Ben and his wife Kirsten are the hosts for Football Sunday, which is a free, professional video presentation produced by The Increase. It features several athletes telling their stories and sharing about faith in the NFL. Churches can sign up to use it during their services, and individuals can also show it to those gathered in their homes. One idea is to use it as a positive alternative to the halftime show on Super Bowl Sunday!

Here's the trailer.

C. S. Lewis’s View of Women, and How He’s Impacted My Thinking

The following questions and answers are from my contribution to Women and C. S. Lewis: What His Life and Literature Reveal for Today's Culture, edited by Carolyn Curtis and Mary Pomroy Key. I highly recommend this unique and well-reviewed book, which has excellent contributions by 26 others, including Alister McGrath and Kathy Keller.

Question: The readers of our book are interested in C.S. Lewis’s commentaries, literary treatments and known or apparent attitudes regarding women and girls. It’s intriguing to think about whether he would participate in today’s discussions about a variety of issues, ranging from women in church leadership…to abuses of women such as the rise of sex trafficking… to silencing the voices of women and thwarting the educations of schoolgirls in certain cultures. Many thinkers, authors and speakers in the 21st Century are vocal on such issues from various points of view. Do you think Lewis would join this chorus or stay silent, fearing such participation would enter the political realm (Lewis’s reason for turning down Churchill’s offer of a CBE [Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a rank in the royal honors system of the United Kingdom])? If he did participate, what do you think he might say or add to the discussion? We know this is a “supposal,” since he was of a different era, but do you see a hint of a trajectory in his thinking, writing and speaking, based on what you know of Lewis?

Answer: Lewis wrote admiringly of “the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade,” and just as he advocated equal rights for all races, I have no doubt he would fully advocate women’s rights, though his calling wasn’t one of a crusader. I cringe whenever I see Lewis called a misogynist. Certainly, to the degree that most of us are, he was a creature of his day and culture—indeed, he called himself a dinosaur—but in many respects, in the deeply respectful tone he speaks about women, he seems more ahead of his time than behind it. He was a true complementarian, one who saw women as God’s image-bearers with fully equal value to men, even if sometimes intended for different roles, something he celebrated.

As the father of two daughters, I love seeing Lewis’s tenderness toward girls. In his Letters to Children, he treats young girls with great respect and never talks down to them.

In 1949, Lewis sent his five-year-old god-daughter Lucy Barfield the completed manuscript of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with a letter saying, “I wrote this story for you,” which later became the dedication in the printed book. The way he portrays Lucy, as the most spiritually perceptive and good-hearted of the children, is itself a compliment to females—no male character in the Chronicles compares to Lucy in her love for Aslan, nor does Aslan love any character more than Lucy.

Many don’t know that the actual inspiration for Narnia’s Lucy was Jill Freud, a London girl who at age 11, during World War II, was evacuated to Lewis's house in Oxford to escape the bombings. Lewis wrote, “I never appreciated children till the war brought them to me." In his letters Lewis praised Jill as a “bright spot” in the home and "the most selfless person" he’d ever known.

Children often have a way of sensing an adult’s true nature, so I was interested to read a 2005 interview with then 78-year-old Jill Freud. When asked her first impressions of Lewis, she said, “Oh, I loved him.” She said Lewis was like an adoptive parent to her. “He influenced me hugely. …He did think I was bright.”

Two years later Lewis paid for her to go to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she began a successful career as an actress. Her assessment of Jack Lewis? “I thought he was wonderful.” Not the assessment that a girl or young woman would make of a misogynist!

Lewis developed a good friendship with Ruth Pitter, an accomplished poet. Lewis admired her poetry. His correspondence, including his critique of her work, demonstrates great respect for her intellect and artistic gifts. 

Lewis deeply respected and appreciated his friend Dorothy Sayers, one of the greatest British intellectuals of her time, as well as a popular playwright and writer of mysteries. At Sayers’s funeral in 1957, Lewis’s warm eulogy spoke of the extraordinary craftsmanship displayed in her radio plays on the life of Christ, “The Man Born to be King.” He said he had read it “every Holy Week since it first appeared, and never re-read it without being deeply moved.” Sayers was an outspoken woman and a forceful intellect, some of the same qualities Lewis would admire in his future wife Joy.

Lewis developed a close friendship with Joy Davidman Gresham before they married. He loved her deeply and after her death, writing A Grief Observed under a pseudonym, he called Joy “a splendid thing; a soul straight, bright, and tempered like a sword.” If some of Lewis’s earlier books seem occasionally condescending or stereotypical concerning women, his later writings show strong respect, and toward Joy, deep admiration. Lewis met few men who were his intellectual equal, but delighted to marry a woman who had two of his own qualities: a photographic memory and a love for debate. Joy’s son Doug Gresham confirms that theirs was a marriage of equals, with a mutual depth of respect.

It is impossible to separate how Jack Lewis viewed women, later in life, from how he viewed Joy, the woman with whom he shared his dreams, pleasures and sorrows. How brilliant was Joy? She entered college at age 14. By age twenty she had a master's degree with honors from Columbia. Her poetry was published in the most prestigious magazines.  At age 8, she read H.G. Wells’s Outline of History and declared that she was an atheist. (Many years later she credited the books of Lewis with bringing her to Christ.) Her brother recalled that she could read a page of Shakespeare once and memorize it instantly. Her IQ tests were literally off the charts. (Some of the claims about her intellect may seem overstated, but Doug Gresham, when I asked him, confirmed their truth.) Any man who was insecure around capable women would surely stay away from Joy, who was so brilliant and prone toward debate!  

Warren Lewis, Jack’s brother, wrote: “For Jack the attraction was at first undoubtedly intellectual. Joy was the only woman whom he had met ... who had a brain which matched his own in suppleness, in width of interest, and in analytical grasp, and above all in humour and a sense of fun.”

Paul Ford points out that the female characters in the four Chronicles of Narnia written prior to The Horse and His Boy are more old-fashioned, while afterward the women become more modern, intellectual and self-sufficient. It’s no coincidence that The Horse and His Boy, dedicated to Joy’s sons Douglas and David, was the first one written after Lewis had gotten to know Joy. In his last novel, Till We Have Faces, Lewis’s favorite, he writes from the point-of-view of Orual, a woman. Joy collaborated with him on this book, which he dedicated to her. I’ve admired the typewriter at Doug Gresham’s home used by his mother, on which she typed the final manuscript. Many believe that Orual, in many respects, reflects Joy’s persona. Theirs was a true partnership of equals.

Without his understanding of women that came through his relationship with Joy, The Four Loves might not have been written, and certainly would not be as rich and perceptive.

After Davidman's death from cancer in 1960, Lewis wrote in A Grief Observed: “She was my daughter and my mother, my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign; and always, holding all these in solution, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. ...If we had never fallen in love we should have none the less always been together.”

My wife Nanci and I were very touched, many years ago, to view Joy’s memorial epitaph in Headington, near Oxford, with the words written by her loving husband Jack Lewis. He could not have expressed such deep affection for one woman without embracing a high regard for womanhood:

Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
And field, and forest, as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hopes that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.

Question: As an author who has written widely on issues of interest to women (and men), such as Help for Women Under Stress, Why Prolife?, and ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, in what ways has Lewis impacted your thinking?

Answer: My wife Nanci and I raised two daughters whom I respect deeply. When the first was born, the Christian doctor said to me in the delivery room, “Sorry, dad. It’s a girl.” I looked at him without appreciation and said, “I prayed we’d have a girl.” I’ve never had a moment’s regret that God gave me girls instead of boys.

Lewis’s writing and focus on Heaven powerfully reminds us to live our lives seeking to please Christ. His emphasis on eternity helps us to become the kind of Christians who actively reach out to others in Jesus’s name, addressing both their physical and spiritual needs. Many of the most materially needy and emotionally abused people in the world are women.

Nanci’s and my book Help for Women Under Stress was written to give hope, encouragement and practical assistance to women facing life’s challenges. We encourage women to embrace their worth but recognize their limits. Their energy is perishable, but can and should be daily replenished. Most importantly, we remind readers that God will wipe away all their tears in an eternal world of rest, refreshment, thriving relationships and unending adventure. This eternal perspective emerges in both Lewis’s fiction and nonfiction, and it’s something all of us need to consider.

My books ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments and Why ProLife? were born out of a deep concern both for the unborn and their mothers. A little more than half of aborted children are female, and in some cultures prenatal testing is done to identify females and kill them before they are born. This is anti-woman on the most basic level.

Because I’ve been outspoken in my support of women, it was a particularly hard blow years ago to be pigeonholed as “anti-women” because I publicly opposed abortion. In fact, my concern about abortion didn’t start with a burden for children, but a burden for women who struggled due to their past abortions. I believe abortion not only kills children, but deeply hurts women.

It was during this time of public criticism that I began daily to think about God as “the Audience of One.” Lewis helped me remember that eternal realities alone, not temporary ones (including other people’s opinions of us), are truly important. When Jack Lewis met his Savior, I believe he heard, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into your Master’s happiness.” When that day comes for all of us, we will know instantly that the One opinion that really mattered all along was His.

Outlive Your Life

It’s a law of life. Material things wear out, give out, burn out:

The computer that suddenly refuses to boot up…
The favorite sweater pulled out of storage in the fall which the moths found during the summer…
The light bulb that flashes to dark…

So what will last? What are things truly worth our limited time and concentrated focus, because they’re not going to be thrown onto the next pile of trash or tossed into the thrift store donation box?

The Bible tells us about some weighty things that will last.

God: “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).
His Word: “The old life is a grass life, its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers; Grass dries up, flowers droop, God’s Word goes on and on forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25 The Message).
People, created in God’s image—When Jesus uses sheep and goats to illustrate the final judgment, He concludes with these sobering words about the people of this earth:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’…And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:42-45)

Since God, His Word, and people are eternal, what will last is what’s used wisely for God, His Word, and His people.

David prayed,

Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life…Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but ­only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. (Psalm 39:4-7)

Because this life is so brief, we might conclude it’s inconsequential. Nothing could be further from the truth! The Bible tells us that this life lays the foundation upon which eternal life is built. Here’s a great 2-minute video reminding us that eternity will hold for us what we have invested there during our life on earth.

I love this video because not only does it capture life well, but it also reflects the central message of our ministry, Eternal Perspective Ministries. The common element in all EPM does is an emphasis on seeing life through the eyes of eternity, and thereby learning to live now to the glory of God. As there will be no second chance for the unbeliever to go back and live his life over again, this time accepting Christ, so there will be no second chance for the believer to go back and live his life over again, this time serving Christ. Now is our window of opportunity. Now is our chance to follow Christ, speak the truth and reach out to the needy in love. Now is our chance to invest our lives in eternity. (You can read more about our ministry and how we’re making eternal investments.)

Think of it this way: suppose I offer you one thousand dollars today to spend however you want. Not a bad deal. But suppose I give you a choice—you can either have that one thousand dollars today or you can have ten million dollars one year from now, then ten million more every year after that. Only a fool would take the thousand dollars today. Yet that’s what we do whenever we grab onto something that will last for only a moment, forgoing something far more valuable that we could enjoy later for much longer. This present life is but a brief window of opportunity to invest in what will last for eternity.

So do something eternal today:

Dig into God’s Word and let it seep into your soul.
Spend some quality time with people, going deep, speaking truth.
Look for an opportunity to give away your time and treasure to help others.
Share the Good News of Jesus with someone you meet today.

By living in light of God’s eternal perspective, you really can outlive your life.

Photo: Unsplash

Joni Eareckson Tada on Our Calling to Advocate for the Voiceless

Last weekend, my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church, had the privilege of hosting Joni Eareckson Tada and her wonderful husband Ken for a Sanctity of Human Life weekend.

Joni’s a faithful servant of God, who has lived what Eugene Peterson called “a long obedience in the same direction.” I can't think of anyone better qualified to speak on Sanctity of Human Life issues—Joni has been a faithful advocate for the disabled, the unborn, the elderly, and the voiceless.

As I share in my introduction before her message, Nanci and I have counted Joni and Ken as friends for years, and we had an unforgettable evening in their home years ago, talking about theology and doing lots of laughing and weeping together. They are the real deal. She and Ken have experienced much suffering in their 35 years of marriage, and as she told me when I interviewed her for my book If God Is Good, “Suffering is messy.”

Because of the insights Joni has into something we all have faced, or will face, I cannot encourage you enough to get a copy of her Beyond Suffering Bible. It's a wonderful resource for every reader, and not just for those who are disabled, because our present life under the curse is hard (though we’re guaranteed a glorious future with God and His people on the New Earth!).

Joni had specially asked for prayer on the Saturday evening she was speaking because of difficulty with her lungs, which are weak due to the quadriplegia (this year marks 50 years since the accident that left her paralyzed). A key part of the message from the Holy Spirit was in the vulnerability Joni displayed, and the tender, loving relationship between her and Ken, which you’ll see as he assists her a few times throughout the service. As I told Ken, among other things, the message became a powerful picture of a Christlike marriage. You won’t regret taking the time to watch what Joni shared with us that night:

After Joni spoke on Sunday morning, most of our Eternal Perspective Ministries staff gathered for lunch with her and Ken. Our ministry has enjoyed a special partnership with Joni and Friends (JAF) over the years, so it was a privilege to spend time together, including singing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” before our meal.

What a privilege for our EPM staff to have been touched by Joni’s life and books and to support the wonderful ministry of JAF.

Looking for a wonderful need-meeting cause to support? Check out JAF’s Wheels for the World, one of my favorite ministries.

Watch this 2-minute video and you’ll be eager to give to this great cause.

Pornography Is Never Harmless, Never Private, Never Safe

In a recent article, Marshall Segal addresses the problem of pornography. He lays out these bullet points that summarize pornography’s devastating consequences:

Pornography blinds us to God (Matthew 5:8). It blurs our eyes to his goodness, truth, and beauty.
Pornography trains us to treat women as objects, as less than human. It portrays them as possessions to be used and enjoyed, and then thrown away.
Pornography fuels sex slavery — real people held against their will and raped repeatedly — all over the world, even in the United States, even in your city or the major city near you.
Pornography belittles real beauty — like the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 31:30) — and replaces it with a cheap and fading imitation.
Pornography makes sex small and momentary, like a cigarette, instead of massive and lifelong, like it is in marriage.
Pornography robs us of some of the delight we might have had with our spouse. It keeps us from experiencing and enjoying them and their bodies without a fog of images from our past.
Pornography quickly bankrupts trust in a relationship. It encourages us to lie and hide from others, to walk in darkness and then build walls around ourselves in the darkness.
Pornography grossly stunts our maturity, the development of our mind and our gifts — our abilities to understand God and love others.
Pornography pursues an undergraduate degree in selfishness, training us over and over to focus on ourselves, prefer ourselves, and serve ourselves.
Pornography keeps us from all kinds of ministry, disqualifying many and demotivating even more.
Pornography is teaching many children an awful, evil distortion of love and sex even before their parents explain the truth to them.

I encourage you to read the rest of this helpful article. 

Photo: Unsplash

He Finds Joy Even in Us

H. D. M. Spence-Jones (1836–1917) was a Cambridge graduate who taught Hebrew and was the general editor of The Pulpit Commentary. I was struck by his observation on Jeremiah 32:41 (which I quote in my book Happiness), where God says, “I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.”

Spence-Jones wrote,

God has joy. He is not indifferent, nor is he morose; we are to think of him as the “blessed” God, i.e. as essentially happy. . . . The brightness and beauty of the world are reflections from the blessedness of God. Because he is glad, nature is glad, flowers bloom, birds sing, young creatures bound with delight. Nothing is more sad in perversions of religion than the representations of God as a gloomy tyrant. . . .

These fragrant meadows, broad rolling seas of moorland heather, rich green forest-cities of busy insect life, flashing ocean waves, and the pure blue sky above, and all that is sweet and lovely in creation, swell one symphony of gladness, because the mighty Spirit that haunts them is himself overflowing with joy. Our God is a Sun. And if divinity is sunny, so should religion be. The happy God will rejoice in the happiness of his children. . . . God is so joyous that he finds joy even in us.[i]

[i] H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., The Pulpit Commentary: Jeremiah, vol. 2.

Photo: Unsplash

What Should We Think About Holy Laughter?

When I was recently asked my opinion about holy laughter, I was surprised, since I thought of it as something that happened in the 90’s, as part of what was called “The Toronto Blessing,” and I wasn’t familiar with people practicing it today.  Since then I’ve discovered it is still a common part of some conferences and churches.

I have serious reservations about holy laughter. This is largely because when it was happening in Toronto under Rodney Howard-Browne (who I met once when I was speaking somewhere, and who seemed like a nice and humble guy), I saw its effects on some pastor friends of mine at a church back east. I was uncomfortable with those effects, which included what appeared to be a lack of discernment, so that whatever odd manifestations happened in a believer’s life were viewed as the work of the Holy Spirit.

But there’s much strangeness due to personality or mental or emotional disorders also, and to drunkenness and drug use, and clearly these are not the work of God's Spirit. If someone rooted in God’s Word and enjoying His presence is suddenly overcome with laughter, well, to me that’s great. Joy—genuine, Christ-centered happiness—is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). But with the Toronto revival and much of the ensuing “holy laughter” gatherings, the peer pressure toward self-induced and human-induced laughter seems great.

This has long been a problem, going back to the revivals of John Wesley where a form of what some thought of as “holy laughter” took over some meetings. Wesley’s response was that this was of the devil. However, while preaching, Wesley beheld many cases of people overcome with groaning and falling to the ground, etc., which he believed to be, some of it anyway, the work of God’s Spirit.

I don’t want to be dogmatic here, and can’t say such manifestations are always demonic, though that’s the position some take (see this video showing a gathering with “holy laughter,” with critical commentary onscreen by Phil Johnson).

While I’m neither charismatic nor anticharismatic, and am at home with a broad range of worship practices in many charismatic churches (many of our best worship songs have come out of charismatic churches), I admit that even without the commentary on the screen this video makes me very uncomfortable. It feels like a psychologically induced phenomenon rather than a true movement of the Holy Spirit. (Not that the Holy Spirit needs my permission to do what He wishes—He certainly doesn’t.)

I prayed for the gift of tongues for over a year as a young Christian, and never received it, though I was very sincere and passionate in seeking it. But then people started telling me I needed to repeat random syllables over and over to “prime the pump.” I believed the Holy Spirit wanted me to ask Him for the gift, but not to simulate having it. That felt like pretense. So when I’ve watched videos in which the preacher encourages people to start laughing, basically making themselves laugh, I am very leery of this.

I believe raising our hands in worship and other physical manifestations can honor God. (I often raise my hands in worship at church.) And I agree that church gatherings should be happier than they often are. So if laughter from on high fills someone’s heart, that’s wonderful, but I think it needs to come down vertically, rather than be induced horizontally.

Below is an excerpt from an article by Adrian Warnock on holy laughter, one in which he’s not condemning others, but encouraging readers to be careful. He says this about Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan pastor and revival preacher:

Jonathan Edwards discussed how to judge if a movement is of God. According to Edwards, we should not be influenced by

Bizarre and unusual phenomena
The interest generated by the phenomena in the world
The ecstasy and reports of impressions or visions
The fact that imitation is to some degree responsible for producing the outward effects
The conduct and teaching of those affected.

It was his opinion that none of these things prove anything.

It was in his study of 1 John 4 that Edwards found the signs to indicate the genuineness of a work of God:

An increase in esteem for Jesus as the Son of God
A greater following of God’s ways
An increased hunger for and understanding of God’s Word (thus listening to the Apostles)
An increased love for God and man.
It is by the fruit of this movement that we will know its genuineness. (Matthew 7:15-20). The result of all of this ought to be a greater desire for holiness and to see souls saved.

Photo: Unsplash