Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 137

Being Sensitive in Sharing Scripture with the Suffering

When I was in high school, I had a friend that I really looked up to. Greg was bright, talented, and most importantly he deeply loved the Lord Jesus. Unlike some of our other Christian friends, Greg was going somewhere for God. If anyone had a promising life of ministry ahead of him, surely it was Greg.

Early one Friday evening in the spring of my junior year, the phone rang. Greg had just had a freak accident. He was in a great deal of pain, and the doctors were not sure if he would pull through. I remember like it was yesterday staying up all night, sitting on the hospital floor, praying, numbly, staring at the “intensive care” sign that stood between me and Greg. I prayed for healing, and I had strong faith that God would answer. It never occurred to me that His answer might be “no.” It was. A few days later Greg entered the presence of Jesus.

Greg’s father was not a Christian, and he was understandably a broken man. Many of us who were Christians had opportunity to share with him. I’ll never forget when one of my brothers in Christ said to Greg’s dad, “You know, the Bible says all things work together for good.” His reaction was both understandable and predictable. He was angry and bitter, not only at Greg’s death, but at the sheer audacity of someone apparently labeling his son’s tragic death as “good!”

While I realized this feeble attempt at comfort was well intended, it hurt me as much as anyone. I thought it was an insensitive platitude that was totally inappropriate and untimely. Since then in my ministry I’ve seen a great deal more accidents and sickness than I care to think about. And more than once I’ve heard Romans 8:28 used in the wrong way at the wrong time.

Darrell Scott told me that after his daughter Rachel was murdered at Columbine, people often quoted Romans 8:28 to him. He wasn’t ready to hear it. How sad that such a powerful verse, cited carelessly or prematurely, becomes a source of pain when it should offer great comfort. Think of God’s truths like tools. Don’t use a hammer when you need a wrench. And don’t use either when you need to give someone a hug, a blanket, or a meal—or just weep with them.

In this video, I address the question, “Should We Use Romans 8:28 to Comfort Others?”

Photo: Pixabay

We Need Honest Discussions About Race in the Church

Racial unity is a topic that I’m glad to see more churches in our country addressing. Still, there’s much work to be done. I agree everyone needs Jesus and that makes all the difference. Yet many whites and blacks who do love Jesus with all their hearts feel alienated from each other when they hear one another other talk about race. So salvation, which is purely by God’s grace, is a beginning, but must be followed by sanctification which gets complicated because it requires work on our part, especially when it comes to difficult things like racial unity.

In a blog post, Isaac Adams shared an example of a white and black pastor at the same church having an open discussion about race in front of their church the July weekend after two back-to-back tragic killings by police, followed the next day by the murder of five police in Dallas. Though the 45-minute audio conversation Isaac shares in his article took place several months ago, I think it’s a timeless example of how black and white pastors can model honest conversation about race in front of their churches.

Not only is the content great, what I also love is the model of how churches can openly discuss these things. And if a particular church has no white pastor or black pastor, combining two churches for a weekend with the white pastor from one and the black pastor from another would be great. Who knows what it could lead to? (Of course there’s value in Hispanics, Asians, and other races being included, but the greatest historic divide in America is between whites and blacks.)

Related to this topic, I also highly recommend Benjamin Watson's thoughtful and well-written book Under Our Skin. 

In our churches, may we experience the joy of unity, a foretaste of the perfect unity in a place yet to come!

Photo: Pixabay

The Simple, Daily Cultivation of God-Consciousness

Brother Lawrence (1614–1691) wrote The Practice of the Presence of God about his constant, conscious rehearsal of God’s presence. He saw his relationship with God not as a mountaintop experience that fades in memory as years pass but as a moment-by-moment lifestyle. His service to God involved contentment with what he called little things:

Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. . . . We can do little things for God. I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for the love of Him. When that is done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before Him, who has given me grace to work—afterwards, I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.[i]

The simple, daily cultivation of God-consciousness has had a central role in the increasing happiness I’ve experienced over the years. I often have coffee with God, and sometimes I have a meal alone with Him. Occasionally when I’m praying, I pull out a chair for Him and think of Jesus occupying it (not only did He sit in chairs; He also built them!). I talk to Him. I’m not pretending Jesus is with me at lunch or when I pray; I simply believe His promise that He really is with me and I act in keeping with it. If you want to be happy, put meaning to the sometimes empty phrase “spending time with God.”

A king’s advisers hesitate to interrupt him, but his children are always welcome. God tells us, “Whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help” (Hebrews 4:16, CEV).

We can’t spend time with many of the world’s famous people, but I have a hunch we’d often be disappointed if we could. We can, however, spend time with God daily—hour by hour. To “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is not an impossible chore but an ongoing delight.

Imagine if we came to God as dogs come to their masters—with tail-wagging enthusiasm, overflowing joy, and complete vulnerability. What if we came bounding into His presence, conveying with everything in us, “I just want to be with you!”?

God wants us to recognize His constant presence and goodness, and thank Him not only when things go our way but “in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This is as close as Scripture gets to a formula for happiness. But it’s more than a prescription; it’s a happiness-permeated reality for those who live it out.

[i] Brother Lawrence, “Pursuing the Sense of the Presence of God,” The Practice of the Presence of God, ed. Harold J. Chadwick (Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 1999).

Photo: Unsplash

Our Recap of 2016, and Looking Ahead to 2017

2016 proved to be a very challenging year for our wonderful EPM staff, who had to work creatively when our office was closed a few months due to water damage and renovation. An extraordinary number of our staff, actually most of us, also suffered painful personal losses and serious health problems this past year. When we met together last week, we talked about how our praise and gratitude to God can be all the stronger because of the suffering we’ve walked through.

We pray loads will be lightened in the year to come, but wherever there is still pain and adversity, we know God’s grace will abound, and He will be accomplishing His eternal purposes through our staff individually, and through our ministry. I have sensed some of this is spiritual warfare, attacks from the evil one. We desperately need God’s grace and strength.

Jesus said “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Your prayers for Nanci and me and all of our EPM staff in 2017 would be deeply appreciated. We certainly can’t do this work without Him, and we can’t do it without you either.

Hope you enjoy the highlights from EPM’s past year. Thank you so much for serving as members of Christ’s body to partner with us in this eternity-shaping ministry! —Randy Alcorn

Some of Randy’s Most Read Blog Posts of 2016

Parents: It’s Time to Wake Up About Porn, Sexting and Your Children - “That pornography is ‘harmless’ is a lie from the pit of Hell.”

Should Christians Save for Retirement? – “I’m not saying we can’t use or shouldn’t have a retirement plan. I do. But as God’s children, we need to think differently about them.”

Matt Chandler’s Challenge to Men – “Brothers, let’s not waste our lives and fail our wives and children. Let’s rise to the occasion and man-up, to the glory of Jesus.”

7 Reflections Now That the Election Is Over – “Here are seven perspectives as we seek to think biblically and eternally about not only the upcoming four years, but for the rest of our lives.”

Where Is Heaven, and What Are Some Major Misconceptions About Heaven?  - “I’ve found that it’s a common misconception even among Christians that the present Heaven, where Christians go when we die, is the same place we will live forever.”

Videos of Randy Speaking in 2016

Heaven: What It Is and What It Isn’t - Randy spoke on Heaven at Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Bermuda:

(Related books available from EPM: Heaven, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Heaven)

More videos:

Hardwired for Happiness - Randy spoke on happiness at his home church. This is part 1 of a 3 part series. (Related books available from EPM: Happiness, God’s Promise of Happiness)

Treasuring the Light - Randy spoke on the eternal impact of giving at an East West Ministries banquet. (Related books available from EPM: The Treasure Principle, Managing God’s Money)

Just a Few of the Many Ministry Projects We Supported Through Book Royalties in 2016

ACTION Cuba – pastor training

Life International – developing/supporting global prolife ministries

Global Aid Network – emergency medical pallets

John M. Perkins Foundation – summer/school programs for children

World Relief – Southern Africa food crisis

EPM gave $289,195 in book royalties to 58 organizations in 2016 ($7,662,440 lifetime-to-date royalties given).

Donations to EPM’s general fund are what fund our own operating costs and enable Randy and Nanci to continue giving away 100% of the royalties.

What’s Ahead for EPM in 2017?

Books and Resources: Randy’s devotional 60 Days of Happiness was released this month, and another devotional titled Truth: A Bigger View of God’s Word will be released in May. We also hope to translate many more of our online resources into other languages to grow the worldwide outreach of our website. (We would welcome any donations specifically for this project, which can be given to the “Translation Fund” on our donation page.)

Speaking: Of the nine speaking times scheduled for Randy in 2017, two will involve international trips. For a complete list, see his speaking engagements.

Photo: Unsplash

How Does Understanding God’s Happiness Change Lives?

The following blog is excerpted from my new devotional, 60 Days of Happiness, which is now available in stores and from our ministry. The book’s entries are drawn from carefully selected portions of my larger book Happiness. However, I’ve reworked the material to present it in a fresh and different way. I hope it not only informs readers about one of the most appealing subjects in the world but also encourages and motivates them, and moves their affections toward God.

I wrote 60 Days of Happiness for two kinds of readers: first, those who haven’t read Happiness but long to learn what God has to say about this subject and what His people have said about happiness throughout the centuries. It’s for anyone who likes to deal with subjects in bite-sized chunks that are also heart-touching and practical.

Second, it’s for those who have read Happiness but would like to return to the subject and ponder it in a devotional format that will likely speak to them in different ways. Some of what they read earlier will be reinforced, but much will feel brand new.

This book is also for those who want to pass on the exciting and paradigm-shifting concepts of Happiness but in a smaller and more easily digestible form that may suit their friends or family better.

I hope and pray that this book will help ignite readers’ passion for the happy God and for the gospel of Jesus, which the Bible calls the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7) and the “good news that will cause great joy” (Luke 2:10, NIV). —Randy Alcorn

Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. . . . Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. — Isaiah 65:17-19

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. — A. W. Tozer

A teenage boy came to me with questions about his faith. He’d attended church all his life, but now had some doubts. I assured him that even the writers of the Bible sometimes struggled. He wasn’t questioning any basic Christian beliefs, and he didn’t need six evidences for Christ’s resurrection, so I talked to him about holiness and happiness.

“What does God’s holiness mean?” I asked.

His clear, biblical answer: “He’s perfect, without sin.”

“Absolutely true. Does thinking about God’s holiness draw you to Him?”

He responded sadly, “No.”

I asked him whether he wanted to be holy 100 percent of the time. “No.”

“Me neither. I should, but I don’t.”

Then I surprised him, asking “What do you want 100 percent of the time?” He didn’t know.

“Have you ever once thought, ‘I don’t want to be happy?’”

“No.”

“Isn’t that what you really want—happiness?”

He nodded, his expression saying, “Guilty as charged.” Friendships, video games, sports, academics—every activity, every relationship he chose—played into his desire to be happy. But I could see he felt that this longing was unspiritual, displeasing to God.

I told him the word translated “blessed” in 1 Timothy 1:11 and 6:15 speaks of God being happy. I asked him to memorize these verses, replacing “blessed God” with “happy God.”

Then I asked him to list whatever pointed him to God’s happiness—backpacking, music, playing hockey, favorite foods. I said, “God could have made food without flavor, but He’s a happy God, so He created a world full of happiness. That means you can thank Him for macaroni and cheese, for music, for Ping-Pong, and above all, for dying on the cross so you can know Him and be forever happy.”

This boy had seen Christianity as a list of things he should do that wouldn’t make him happy and a list of things he shouldn’t do that would have made him happy.

Since we’ll inevitably seek what we believe will bring us happiness, what subject is more important than the true source of happiness? Just as we’ll live a wealth-centered life if we believe wealth brings happiness, so we’ll live a God-centered life if we believe God will bring us happiness. No one shops for milk at an auto parts store or seeks happiness from a cranky God.

As much as I believe in the holiness of God, I also believe in emphasizing God’s happiness as a legitimate and effective way to share the gospel with unbelievers or to help Christians regain a foothold in their faith.

God feels love, compassion, anger, and happiness. He’s never overwhelmed by unsettling emotions, nor is He subject to distresses imposed by others. But He does feel His children’s suffering deeply.

If your human father said he loved you but never showed it through his emotions, would you believe him? If we think God has no emotions, it’s impossible to believe He delights in us or to feel His love. That’s one reason believing in God’s happiness can be a breakthrough for people in their love for Him.

We’re told of God, in relationship with His people, “In all their affliction he was afflicted. . . . In his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9). What a moving portrayal of the tenderness of His affection for us and devotion to us! (Surely God doesn’t want us to read this and say, “of course God doesn’t really have feelings of love and pity and compassion.”)

But if God is so moved by our sorrows, how can He still be happy while we’re suffering?

God Himself models His inspired command to rejoice always. He sympathizes with all His suffering children, but He rejoices in purchasing our redemption and making us more like Jesus. He joyfully prepares a place for us, and He has eternally happy plans. He has the power to accomplish everything, as well as the sure knowledge that it will happen.

While I’m grateful that God cares deeply for me, I’m also grateful that when I’m miserable, it doesn’t mean God is. As any good father will be moved by his daughter’s pain when her boyfriend breaks up with her, God can feel our pain while retaining His own happiness. God the Father has an infinitely larger picture of eventual, eternal good that He will certainly accomplish. Nothing is outside his control. Therefore, nothing is a cause for worry. God does not fret.

Yes, our distress can involve feelings God doesn’t have, such as helplessness or uncertainty. But clearly God intends us to see a similarity between our emotional distress and the affliction the Bible says He feels on our behalf. If God experiences various non-sinful human emotions, as indicated by Scripture, it stands to reason that He feels happiness, too.

Loving Father, you are all-knowing, so nothing takes you by surprise. You are all-powerful, so there’s nothing you want to do but can’t. You are completely loving and good, so you can and will never betray or abandon us. You are the source of all happiness, so you’re able to fulfill our deepest longings for joy and pleasure. Thank you for being both capable of, and committed to, bringing ultimate goodness to us, your children. 

Why I Love VidAngel and Am Pro-Choice About Renting and Filtering Movies

Nanci and I have been using VidAngel for a few months. It’s been amazing, by our choice in checking off some boxes and not others, to mute blasphemy and the f-word and skip sexually explicit scenes in every movie we watch. (We do permit kissing, though we notice many kissing scenes are suddenly cut short, in light of what else we’ve said we don’t want to watch.)

Ever since Clean Films was sued out of existence some years ago by Hollywood, we have wished we could do what we did back then: watch movies edited as we prefer. Movies on network TV and airplanes are routinely edited, so if the technology exits and others are allowed to use it, why can’t individuals in the privacy of their own homes have the right to say what they do and do not want to watch in a movie? I don’t presume to tell Hollywood directors how to make their movies. But I don’t expect them to tell me how to watch them.

Many passages warn us to protect our minds and hearts from immorality. For instance, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires….You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: … and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:5, 7-8).

There are some movies I would never watch in the first place. But there are others that would be great to watch with just a few minutes of content selectively removed. The VidAngel filtering system essentially serves as an enhanced remote control. If I could program a remote to mute all the words I don’t want to hear, and skip past all the scenes I don’t want to watch, I would. That’s what VidAngel does for me. I (not they) decide what I want muted and skipped past. Then I don’t sit there nervously wondering whether I’m going to be exposing myself to what dishonors Jesus and may be a source of temptation.

I am pro-choice about the vast majority of things in life, with the notable exception of those things which take innocent lives and hurt innocent people. I am certainly pro-choice about being able to select, on my own, what I want to watch and not watch. Just as I am free to skip over parts of novels I don’t want to read, and can fast forward movies using a remote, I think as long as I pay the rental fee and the company providing the movie legally buys what they’re renting to me, I should be able to say no to explicit sex, nudity, and blasphemy if I so choose.

In VidAngel’s case you actually buy the movie and then sell it back when you’re done (for the net cost of $1). This is one reason that grants them their legal right to accommodate streaming movies to their customers that remove what each individual requests they remove.

Last week VidAngel was directed by a federal judge to suspend their rental services. They are appealing this judgment to a higher court. This video, which is very well done and amusing—and in my opinion is a model for how people with moral convictions can take stands in a disarming way—explains the situation from VidAngel’s perspective.

If you want to express your objection to this injunction against VidAngel, here’s something you can sign.

I have to say, I not only love VidAngel’s services, but also really enjoy their explanatory videos, full of common sense and humor, both of which we need a lot more of these days. Check these out:

Is VidAngel Censorship?

Would VidAngel Paint over Nude Paintings?

How Does VidAngel Pay Artists?

Does Filtering Destroy Art?

Photo: Pixabay

Jon Bloom on Our Need for Deliverance from Distraction

A. W. Tozer wrote, “Among the enemies to devotion none is so harmful as distractions. ….Distractions must be conquered or they will conquer us.” Today’s culture and technology provide us with access to more distractions, but distractions are hardly a new problem in the Christian life.

In his gospel, Luke relates the story of Mary and Martha. We’re told that Martha was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” (10:40 NIV). The word translated “distracted” means “to be drawn about in different directions.” We are not distracted to something, but away from something. She was distracted from Jesus. We too can easily be distracted away from Christ, focusing on the unimportant and the trivial rather than what’s eternal and truly important. (I shared here more thoughts about how Jesus dealt with Mary and Martha, and what we can learn from it.)

My friend Jon Bloom shares some helpful reflections in his article “Lord, Deliver Me from Distraction.” As we begin our new year, let’s seek to put aside distractions, to exercise Spirit-empowered self-control, and to set our minds on Christ and things that are above (Colossians 3:2). —Randy Alcorn

Lord, Deliver Me from Distraction

By Jon Bloom

Since the fall of man, people have had trouble staying focused, but we live today in an age of unprecedented distraction. Since you’re already reading this on some electronic device, I don’t need to elaborate.

Lots of experts are talking about the negative effects this is having on us. Many of us feel it: the buzzing brain, the attention atrophy, the diminishing tolerance for reading, especially reading books.

We’re becoming conditioned to distraction, and it’s harming our ability to listen and think carefully, to be still, to pray, and to meditate. Which means it is a spiritual danger, an evil from which we need God’s deliverance (Matthew 6:13).

The Causes of Distraction

Distraction, at least the dangerous kind I’m referring to, is shifting our attention from something of greater importance to something of lesser importance.

Our fundamental and most dangerous problem in distraction is in being distracted from God — our tendency to shift our attention orientation from the greatest Object in existence to countless lesser ones. The Bible calls this idolatry.

This fundamental attention shift disorders us in pervasive ways. We find our tendency to be distracted from the more important to the less important cascading down detrimentally affecting our relationships and responsibilities. So at the deepest level, we are distractible because of our fallen, selfish nature; we have evil inside us.

But not all our distraction problems are due to our resident evil. Some are simply the result of the futility infecting creation (Romans 8:20–23). This futility can infect our biology as well as our environments. All of us have faulty brains and bodies, and so some of us battle distraction more than others due to factors like ADHD and other mental or physical illnesses. Environmental factors like poor nutrition, unhealthy family systems, and cultural/technological forces (such as the constant stream of media) can also affect our ability to focus.

All these factors mix together in most cases, making it nearly impossible to tell how much sin, fallen biology, or environment is to blame for our distraction. But if we ask God, he will deliver us from evil, whatever the cause, by using these powerful foes to our advantage, helping us see what our hearts love, and pressing us by his grace into greater levels of humble faith and self-control.

A Heart Revealer

When we are regularly distracted by something, we need to take note. Our attention often runs to what’s important to us. So distraction can reveal what we love. This happened to Jesus’s friend, Martha.

Martha was busy in the kitchen while Jesus taught in her home. When Martha complained that her sister, Mary, wasn’t helping because she was sitting at Jesus’s feet, Jesus replied,

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41–42)

Martha was distracted from Jesus. By what? By serving her guests. Why? Because she was anxious. Anxious about what? Anxious about feeding everyone, and in all likelihood anxious about what everyone would think of her and her household if she didn’t do it well.

But Martha didn’t recognize her distraction until Jesus helped her see her heart. She thought she was doing the right thing by serving everyone. But Jesus pointed out to Martha that her values were disordered. She had shifted her attention from the greater importance to the lesser.

So in our busyness, we must ask, what is the real distraction? What does our heart desire? Are we choosing “the good portion,” seeking the great “one thing” (Psalm 27:4), or something less?

A Fight That Builds Humble Faith

Distraction is a frequent reminder of our frailty and limits, that we indeed are not God. And since we are given to such unjustifiable, and frankly ridiculous, levels of pride, this is very good for us. Distraction humbles us and forces us to ask God for the help we so desperately need.

And it can build our faith. God is not nearly as interested in our efficiency as he is in our faith. Do you remember how he allowed enemies to harass Nehemiah and his Jerusalem wall-builders, slowing down the work (Nehemiah 4)? Similarly, God allows us to battle inefficient distraction to build our dependent faith in him. That’s what God is building in all the inefficiencies of our lives.

If we see the Spirit-given graces of humility and faith growing in us through our struggles against distraction, we will count it among the “all things” we give thanks for (Ephesians 5:20, KJV).

Building the Muscle of Self-Control

God also uses distraction to strengthen our self-control. Christian self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). And like nearly all the Spirit’s fruit of sanctification in us, they are cultivated through the primary, decisive gift of the Spirit and our secondary, but indispensible intentional hard work.

It’s helpful to remember that we strengthen self-control similar to how we strengthen muscle: through resistance. Muscles do not grow stronger without pushing against resistance. Neither does self-control. There’s no getting around the hard work of applying ourselves and figuring out what works best for us. But if we prayerfully and faithfully apply ourselves, the Spirit will empower our efforts and we will see our capacity for self-control increase.

Now, just as with physical strength and ability, some are graced with greater ability to focus than others. If you’re one of those people, then good stewardship of this gift looks different than it does for less gifted people. Like a gifted athlete, you are made to excel. Seek to maximize it, for “to whom much [is] given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48).

If you’re a person who, for whatever reason, has a more difficult struggle with distraction, you need not feel condemned (Romans 8:1). For you, good stewardship looks like fighting distraction as best you can. Push yourself. You may not be able to do what others can do, but God will only hold you accountable for the measure of grace given to you (Romans 12:6).

Whatever It Takes

It’s right for us to see certain distractions as evils in themselves. Every one is a time-tax we pay, a tax for which there is no refund. Time spent simply means we have less to spend. Every distracted minute is an unrecoverable minute, now frozen in the permanent past. It is right to seek to make the best use of our time in these evil days (Ephesians 5:16).

And yet, we also do not need to be more paralyzed by this than by any other struggle with sin or futility. Our Father wants us to grow in the grace of faith-fueled focus, and will, through Christ, cause our difficult struggles against distraction to work for our good (Romans 8:28). He will, through his Spirit, use them to free us from idolatry and pride and to help us grow in self-control. So, in confident faith we can approach his throne of grace with this prayer:

Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my resolve to pursue only what you call me to do, and deliver me from the fragmenting effect of fruitless distraction.

This article originally appeared on DesiringGod.org. 

Photo: Unsplash

Death: The Last Enemy, and Our Deliverer

Peter uses the word exodus in reference to his own approaching death (2 Peter1:15). Death for the Christian is God’s deliverance from a place of bondage and suffering to a place of freedom and relief.

In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, Paul refers to his death with the Greek word analousis, meaning “to loosen.” Consider some of its common usages in that culture:

an ox being loosed from its yoke when it was finished pulling a cart.
pulling up tent stakes, in preparation for a journey.
untying a ship from dock, to let it sail away.
unchaining a prisoner, freeing him from confinement and suffering.
problem solving—when a difficult matter was finally resolved, it was said to have been “loosened.”

Each of these is a graphic picture of death for the Christian.

On the one hand, the Bible calls death “the last enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26). On the other hand, for the person whose faith and actions have prepared him for it, death is a deliverer, casting off the burdens of a hostile world and ushering him into the world for which he was made.

No matter what difficulty surrounds it, God is intimately involved and interested in the Christian’s departure from this world: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).

What we call “death” is a transition from a dying body in a dying world to a world of light and life. No wonder Paul says, “To die is gain” and to go to be with Christ is “better by far” (Philippians 1:21-23).

There’s evidence that at death the believer will be ushered into Heaven by angels (Luke 16:22). Different angels are assigned to different people (Matthew 18:10), so perhaps our escorts into Heaven will be angels who have served us while we were on earth (Hebrews 1:14).

I’ve always appreciated this depiction of death:

I’m standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She’s an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other. And then I hear someone at my side saying, “There, she’s gone.”

Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There, she is gone” there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!” And that, for the Christian, is dying.

What will happen as we set foot on Heaven’s shores, greeted by our loved ones? I envision it as C. S. Lewis did in the Last Battle:  “The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside.” [1]

The moment we die the meager flame of this life will appear, to those we leave behind, to be snuffed out. But at that same moment on the other side it will rage to sudden and eternal intensity—an intensity that will never dim, only grow.

On his deathbed D.L. Moody said, “Soon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don’t believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before.”

Excerpted from Randy Alcorn’s book In Light of Eternity.

[1] C. S.  Lewis, The Last Battle (New York: Macmillan, 1956), 180.

Photo: Pixabay

What We Can Do to Help Those Suffering in Syria

Many of you have heard and shared about the fighting and bombing in Syria, and specifically in the city of Aleppo. While the hope is that the worst is over, the aftermath of suffering will go on.

Joe Carter put together a helpful list for The Gospel Coalition with “9 Things You Should Know About Aleppo and the Syrian Crisis” if you’d like to read more about the situation.

Joe shares that during the siege, approximately 40 percent of the population in eastern Aleppo were children. It’s a heartbreaking situation, and if you’ve seen the pictures and watched the videos, you can’t help but be broken about the suffering that has taken place there. (Recent news indicates that the fighting may be over in Aleppo. Still, there’s countless suffering people living in absolute devastation in the city. And there’s no telling what Syrian city might be next in the conflict.)

Though this 3 ½ minute video isn’t easy to watch, I encourage you to do so. It will help you remember that these stories and numbers are about real people, real mothers and real children, who have experienced, and are experiencing, unimaginable terror and pain.

It’s easy to be paralyzed by the enormity of the needs in Syria and other places in the world. But in an article for the ERLC, Richard Stearns shares three things we can each do:

- Pray.

- Tell our congressional representatives that the U.S. government needs to do more to stop Syria’s bleeding.

- Give to organizations providing relief to Syrians.

If you’d like to give to help relieve suffering in the Middle East, you can give through EPM to our “Middle East Relief” special fund on our donation page and 100% of your donation will go directly to one of several trustworthy ministries we’ve chosen.

I believe we must ask ourselves, “If Christ were on the other side of the street, or the city, or the other side of the world, and he was hungry, thirsty, and helpless, or imprisoned for his faith, would we help him?” Any professing Christian would have to say yes. But we mustn’t forget what Christ himself says in Matthew 25: He is in our neighborhood, community, city, country, and across the world, in the form of poor and needy people—and especially in those who are persecuted for their faith. (In fact, Aleppo contains Syria’s largest population of Christians.)

I encourage you to meditate on these verses from God’s Word:

“Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day” (Isaiah 58:10-11, NLT).

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:16-19).

photo credit: MaximilianV Syrian Refugee via photopin (license)

God Designed the Human Machine to Run on Himself

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote:

What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could “be like gods”—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.[i]

Every sin we commit, every shortcoming we display is an attempt to be happy through a God-substitute. Lewis, who spent much of his life trying to find happiness outside God, finally realized he’d been deceiving himself. He wasn’t alone.

But it’s not only unbelievers who try to find happiness outside God. Every time believers are tempted to sin, we’re contemplating whether greater happiness can be found without God. If we imagine it can, we’ll succumb to the temptation.

Lewis continued his argument:

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.[ii]

Lewis also said, “There is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. . . . It is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.”[iii]

We’re free to be unhappy. We’re free to search for happiness where it can’t be found. What we’re not free to do is reinvent God, the universe, or ourselves so that what isn’t from God will bring us happiness.

Excerpted from Randy’s book Happiness.

[i] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), book 2, chapter 3, “The Shocking Alternative.”

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

Photo: Unsplash