Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 144

Are You Looking for Satisfaction in All the Wrong Places?

The world is full of desperate people thirsting for happiness. In their quest, they eagerly drink from contaminated sources of water, mistakenly believing it will satisfy their thirst. What they long for, and desperately need, can be found solely in the one and only “fountain of living waters”—God himself. God laments over the poor choices we make: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture because it offers a compelling picture of reality. Imagine people dying of thirst and frantically digging cisterns that cannot hold water. In their last desperate attempts to quench their thirst, driven mad by the scorching sun, they shovel sand into their mouths, choking and retching as death overtakes them. Imagine that all the while, just a stone’s throw away, there is a spring of cold, fresh water, pure and life-giving. This is the picture that God paints through the prophet Jeremiah. Every attempt to find life in anyone or anything but God is vain. It is not only wrong to seek refreshment of the heart—it is utterly self-destructive.

Are you thirsty for happiness—for meaning, peace, contentment? Jesus invites you to join millions throughout history and across the globe, and a multitude of those now living in the visible presence of the fountain of living waters, to come to Him and drink the best water in the universe—the only refreshment that will ever truly and eternally satisfy.

I find God to be pure, refreshing, and satisfying. My happiest days are those I drink most deeply of Him. I also know that if I don’t drink of Him, I will drink something else—something that will leave me thirsty, dissatisfied, and sick, for idols cannot satisfy. George Whitefield wrote, “I drank of God’s pleasure as out of a river. Oh that all were made partakers of this living water.”

My son-in-law Dan Stump, married to my youngest daughter Angela, recently preached a great sermon on this passage in Jeremiah 2. I was there when he preached it and went back to listen to it again because it really spoke to me. (I have two-sons-in-law on my short list of guys I love to hear preach!) Dan is a teacher at Ron Russell Middle School in Portland, Oregon. He and Angie are part of Gresham Bible Church, where Dan has served as an elder and Angela directs the women’s ministries.

You can download the audio of his message. (By the way, Dan opens his message with a reference to a scene in the movie The Three Amigos. In case you’re interested, here’s that classic scene.)

Photo: Unsplash

Jon Bloom on How Humility Isn’t Always Nice

In this post by my friend Jon Bloom, board chair and co-founder of Desiring God, he shares some helpful reflections on what humility looks like, and explains that we might sometimes be surprised by how it looks.

Humility Is Not Always Nice

By Jon Bloom

Humble people aren’t always what we think they ought to be. They aren’t always modest, they aren’t always agreeable and submissive, and they aren’t always nice — at least in the ways we proud people think those qualities are supposed to look in humble people.

We do tend to find true humility attractive when we recognize it, but we don’t always recognize it. Sometimes we mistake humility for pride and pride for humility. And truth be told, we don’t always like to be around humble people.

Humble People Don’t Think Much of Themselves

Most of us would agree that humble people don’t think much of themselves. But often what we have in mind is self-deprecation; humble people think of themselves as lowly. And this is true. In view of God’s holiness and their sinfulness, they don’t think more highly of themselves than they ought to think (Romans 12:3). Their healthy, proportionate view of their own depravity causes them to consider others more important than themselves (Philippians 2:3).

But self-deprecation isn’t the primary trait of humility. The primary trait of humble people is that they just don’t think much of themselves — meaning they are not self-preoccupied. They have better, higher, more glorious things to be occupied with.

We can find this trait refreshing because humble people, seeing all things in relation to God, look for and enjoy God’s glory in all that he has made (Romans 1:20). This allows them to most fully enjoy what God has made — including us. When we’re with them they often help us do the same thing. And few things are as wonderfully refreshing as forgetting ourselves for a while because we’re absorbed in something more glorious.

But we can also find this trait convicting because it exposes our self-obsession. We are so used to people (especially ourselves) being self-conscious and self-centered that when we’re with people who aren’t, our own pride stands in stark contrast.

Humble People Prefer Windows to Mirrors

Not thinking much of themselves (in both senses) means that humble people prefer windows to mirrors. Desiring to see the glory of God in everything frees them from needing to see how everything else reflects on them.

Humble people view other people as God’s marvelous image-bearers, windows to God’s glory, not as mirrors that enhance or diminish their own self-image. But this also means they aren’t absorbed by how others view them. So they aren’t worried about reading the “right” books, seeing the “right” movies, listening to the “right” music, living in the “right” home, having the “right” job, being seen with the “right” people, etc. That’s a mirror mindset. They view these things as windows to see and savor God’s glory.

Humble People Are Authentically Counter-Cultural

This makes humble people authentically counter-cultural. A culture comprised of pride-infected people produces a lot of pressure for people to conform to cultural expectations. Even much that poses as non-conformity is really just subcultural conformity — an attempt to fit into some subgroup.

Humble people are unusually unaffected by this pressure to conform. They can be hard to categorize because they often don’t fit neatly into any cultural mold. They tend to eschew using trendy fashions or interests or social media as means of personal branding. They have preferences about those things, but they hold those preferences as ways of enjoying God’s manifold goodness rather than image-enhancers.

And it’s this lack of self-preoccupation that really runs counter to the cultures or subcultures that humble people live in. This deficit of self-importance usually isn’t considered cool by cultural cool-definers. It makes humble people odd.

Humble People Are Offensive

One of the things that can surprise us about truly humble people, which can sometimes be mistaken for pride, is that they can be quite offensive. Humble people, being without guile, say it like it is. And saying it like it is can sting, and even sound condemning.

Jesus could fling some zingers. He called religious leaders a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 12:34) and sons of the devil (John 8:44), and he called the crowd and even his own disciples a “faithless and twisted generation” (Matthew 17:17). Humble Paul publicly rebuked Peter (Galatians 2:11-14) and told the Galatians they were “foolish” (Galatians 3:1). These weren’t “nice” things to say. Humble people don’t always say nice things. They say honest things that can have sharp edges and wound. Because of this they can be accused of pride.

But there is a qualitative difference between the offensiveness of the proud and the offensiveness of the humble. The proud offend to exalt or defend themselves and control or manipulate others. The humble offend in order to advance the truth for the glory of God and ultimate good of others. Humble offensiveness may not be popular, but it’s always loving.

King David knew this, which is why he wrote, “Let a righteous man strike me — it is a kindness; let him rebuke me — it is oil for my head” (Psalm 141:5). His son Solomon also knew this and wrote, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6). Humility can wound and pride can kiss. Kisses may feel better than wounds — at first. But later, the wounds foster health and the kisses corruption.

Walk Humbly

That’s why humble people aren’t always what we think they ought to be. They are disagreeable when truth must be valued over relational harmony. They are un-submissive when conformity mars God’s glory. And their company can be unpleasant, even undesired, when their wounding words are kinder than selfish flattery or silence.

And this is the kind of people God is calling us to be, people who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8). He wants us to be absorbed in things more glorious than ourselves (Philippians 4:8), to prefer windows to mirrors (Philippians 2:3), to live counter to every culture we live in (Hebrews 11:13), and, when love requires it and it would give grace to those who hear, to be humbly offensive (Ephesians 4:29).

To be humble people requires much grace. But the good news is that God is able to make this grace abound to us (2 Corinthians 9:8), and he offers it to us if we will receive it (James 4:6).

Photo: Unsplash

Passing the Joy of Giving on to Your Children

The most fundamental lesson any child can learn about finances—even more important than saving—is the lesson of giving. As parents, we should teach our children to give. This is more than simply taking our own money and handing it to our child to put in the offering. In such cases the child isn’t giving—she’s simply delivering our gift. In order for it to really be giving, it must come from what actually belongs to the child.

The holy habit of giving is like the holy habits of Bible study and prayer and witnessing and hospitality. These things need to be integrated into our lifestyle. Those not raised in a home where they learn this are at a great disadvantage later trying to develop new habits as adults. Children raised in giving families would no sooner stop giving than brushing their teeth.

One man wrote to me, “My wife and I have taught our kids from the earliest days to be regular givers to God and his kingdom purposes. Our family has been blessed with four young adults who love Jesus, and I believe that our faithfulness in giving has contributed to that. God’s returns are not always financial.” Nanci and I can attest to the same thing about our grown daughters, Karina and Angela, and their families.

When I asked a group to share their giving stories, Daniel J. Arnold told me, “Giving to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the expansion of his kingdom on earth has become the common purpose of our family, our co-mission. We test the will of God for us in prayer and come together in agreement on every gift. Giving enters us into a life of faith and trust in God.” Like everything else in the home, stewardship is caught as much as taught.

What are some practical ways you can pass the pleasure of giving on to your children? I recommend that families get involved together in special missions projects. Family members can work together to financially support, pray for, and correspond with a missionary, a needy family, or an overseas orphan. Becoming aware of needs elsewhere reminds our children of the incredible abundance in America and our opportunity to share it with the needy.

In this 4-minute video, I share a story about one of my daughters, and talk about the joy of having children who have an eternal perspective about money and giving:

[The righteous] are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing. (Psalm 37:26, NIV)

Photo: Pixabay

Lutzer and Challies on Modern Catholicism and Whether the Reformation Is Over

I realize this is a sensitive topic for Catholics who love Jesus and believe in salvation by grace through faith, and also for those who don’t. It’s sensitive as well to evangelical Christians who know and love sincere Catholics, as many of us do.

Certainly the face of Catholicism has changed. But the fact is that it still officially holds to and teaches a variety of key doctrines that are fundamentally unbiblical and contrary to the Gospel of the Grace of God in Christ. (This is not judgment and condemnation, it is a sincere conclusion based on reading and listening to the stated doctrines of the church, then comparing them to what I believe Scripture actually teaches.)

Many evangelicals rightly seek unity, but wrongly do so at the expense of honestly addressing the teachings of the Catholic Church that remain at odds with Scripture. The fact that you may know a Catholic who truly believes in salvation by faith, with no dependence on good works or baptism or the Lord’s Supper to give them right standing before God, does not mean this is the teaching of the church as a whole. If you know a Catholic who does not pray to Mary or believe her to be a mediator between God and humans, good for them, but this does not change official Catholic doctrine.  

These days the “loving” thing is typically thought to mean that we don’t think or speak critically regarding the beliefs of others. But if truth matters—and if the Bible is right and Jesus was right, it does—then the loving thing is not to deny the reality of different beliefs and their significance. Rather, for the good of those we love, we’re to kindly engage and dialogue about these issues with our friends and family. God calls upon us to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). And we can’t do that unless we are accurately informed of what the truth is.

Certainly we should identify areas of commonality, and evangelical Christians do have much in common with Catholics, including our belief in the trinity and the deity of Christ. These shared beliefs can be the stepping stones we walk on as we address our different doctrines.

After reading the following article, if you wish to explore this further, see the excellent book Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment by my friend Gregg Allison, theology professor at Southern Seminary. This is the book’s description:

Noting prominent similarities without glossing over key differences, this book will equip Christians on both sides of the ecclesiastical divide to fruitfully engage in honest dialogue with one another.

Here’s an excerpt from Tim Challies’s blog post, “Is the Reformation Over?”

Is the Reformation over? Have the issues that divided Protestants and Catholics been sufficiently resolved that we can now pursue a return to unity? At the very end of his book Rescuing the Gospel, an account of the Protestant Reformation, Erwin Lutzer offers a compelling answer. While he admits that both Protestantism and Catholicism have developed since the sixteenth century and while he points out areas in which Protestants and Catholics are working in a common cause toward common goals, he insists that the Reformation has not yet come to an end. Any unity would come at the expense of the gospel. “On the most critical issue, namely the salvation of the human soul, Luther’s Reformation is far from over … No matter how many changes the Catholic Church makes, it will not—indeed cannot—endorse an evangelical view of salvation.”

Many make the argument that Catholicism has changed, that the church of the twenty-first century is so vastly different from the church of the sixteenth century that the old disagreements and arguments no longer hold. But here Lutzer points to 5 contemporary teachings of the Roman Catholic Church that must continue to divide us.

Read the rest.

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A.W. Tozer on God’s Wisdom and Our Broken, Waiting-for-Redemption World

Tozer, one of my all-time favorite authors, makes a great analogy in this sermon, shared in the book The Attributes of God Volume 2: Deeper into the Father's Heart. (Thanks to EPM’s Stephanie Anderson for skillfully shortening the original.) Hope you enjoy this too. —Randy

The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. (Proverbs 3:19)

He hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. (Jeremiah 10:12)

With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. (Job 12:13)

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. (Ephesians 1:8)

…It tells us in Proverbs 3:19 and Jeremiah 10:12 that the Lord founded the earth, established and stretched out the heavens by wisdom, understanding and discretion. Those are two of many verses in the Bible that tell us about the wisdom of God.

The wisdom of God is something to be taken on faith. …If I have to reason myself into faith, then I can be reasoned back out of it again. But faith is an organ of knowledge; if I know something by faith, I will reason about it.

For this reason I make no attempt to prove God’s wisdom. If I tried to prove that God is wise, the embittered soul would not believe it anyway, no matter how perfect and convincing the proofs I might bring. And the worshiping heart already knows that God is wise and does not need to have it proved.

…We also should not ask God to prove His wisdom. We believe God is wise because God is God. Any demand we might make on God for proof would be an affront to the perfection of His deity. …And to think low of God is the supreme degradation.

It is necessary to our humanity that we grant God two things at least: wisdom and goodness. The God who sits on high, who made the heaven and the earth, has got to be wise, or else you and I cannot be sure of anything. …We have to grant goodness and wisdom to God, or we have no place to go, no rock to stand on, no way to do any thinking or reasoning or believing.

…So we begin with the assumption—not a guess, not a hope, but a knowledge—that God is wise. But someone will ask, “If God is good and wise, how do you explain polio, prison camps, mass executions, wars and all the other evils that are in the world?...”

Let me answer by an allegory. Let us say that a man is very, very wise and is not only wise, but is rich to the point of having all the money in the world. And let us suppose he decides to build the most beautiful palace that has ever been built in the world. So in some little country, say in Europe, he gathers together the finest artists and architects, the finest designers that can be found anywhere.

…Then he says, “…Money is no object. I want the most beautiful building in all the world. I want its floors to be gold, I want its walls to be jasper… I want it to be studded with diamonds and rubies. I want it to be the epitome of all that is beautiful… When it is finished, I want it to be the talk of all the world. …Now go to work and give me the best that you can give.”

And, pooling their wisdom and genius, they built a most beautiful building—a building that makes the Taj Mahal look like a barn.

…Let us suppose that, after a year or so, the political fortunes change and a conquering army comes in and takes over that little country…and take over the palace—great, tough, barbarian soldiers with hobnailed boots. They care nothing about beauty, about art, about the diamonds and gold. Let us suppose that they stable their horses in the palace, that they spit on the floor and throw beer cans all over the place and make a wallow out of it. Eventually, the beautiful palace is filled with dirt, old rags and filth of every kind; the man who owns it and the artists who built it have fled into exile.

While the heel of the barbarian treads down the little country, one passerby whispers to another, “There’s the great palace, the greatest concentration of universal beauty known in the world.”

And the other person says, “…It’s a pigpen! How can you say it’s beautiful?”

“Just wait for a while,” the first passerby replies. “There’s been a war and this is an occupied country. The fortunes of war will change again and the oppressor will be driven out.”

And let us suppose that these bestial and brutal men are driven out. Then the rich man comes back from some far away retreat and says to his artists, architects and sculptors, “Let’s get to work and clean this up...”

After a year or so of work, the palace stands once again, shining in the noonday sun—the epitome of all beauty…

Once there was someone named God—God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. He turned His mighty wisdom loose on the making of man. He said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26). Then he made a garden eastward in Eden and He put man in it. He said to man, “I will make him an help meet for him” (2:18).

…Then Satan came into the garden and wound himself about the limbs of the tree of life. …the fortunes of moral war changed; Satan took over and man sinned, betraying the God who made him. That which used to be the most beautiful of all gardens and most lovely of all worlds…now is turned into a pigpen and plunged into darkness.

And so the critic walks about as the passersby did by the palace. And he says, “Are you telling me that a wise God made this pigpen?”

But I say, “…God in His great wisdom and in His providential dealings with this world has allowed foreign soldiers to occupy. And this epitome of all beauty, this flying ball we call the earth…is now under a cloud, a shadow.” It tells us in Romans 8:19–22,

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

God’s wise plans will be carried out, but God in His wisdom has allowed, for a little time, this foreign occupation. The world we live in, with its cyclones, tornadoes, tempests, tidal waves and other forces of destruction, is under occupation.

…The state of Pennsylvania, where I was born, has rolling hills, flashing streams, waterfalls, meadows and lovely forests. If you have ever driven through it, you know how beautiful it is. Near where I lived when I was a boy, money-loving men have done what they call strip mining. Instead of digging into the hill to get the coal, they strip the top off and get the coal from above. …I have seen thousands of acres of the lovely hillsides, green and beautiful, that I knew as a boy, lying wounded and bleeding.

…But do you think that God Almighty has surrendered and gone away forever? No! …one of these days the great God Almighty is going to send His Son “from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). We will be changed, raised, glorified and made into the image of God. He’s going to clean house down here and there shall be peace from the river to the ends of the earth. …Then we’ll see that God was wise. But we’re going to have to be patient and go along with God for a little while, because we’re under occupation.

If you’d like to read more related to the subject of evil and suffering, see Randy’s book If God Is Good, as well as the devotional 90 Days of God’s Goodness and book The Goodness of God (a specially focused condensation of If God Is Good, which also includes additional new material). Many people have also handed out the If God Is Good booklets.

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Encouragement When We Need Comfort, Grace, and Hope

Lately I’ve been meditating on the familiar (and therefore neglected) words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30. Though I memorized the words as a new Christian 45 years ago, I have never pondered them as much as recently. I’ve been looking at it phrase by phrase, and contemplating each word. Of course this is not a magic formula that will eliminate our pains and heartaches. But it is a blood-bought promise from the One who knows us better and loves us more than anyone. And I’ve found it recently not to eliminate my burdens but to lighten them measurably, just as Jesus promised:

Come to me, 

all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart

and you will find rest for your soul. 

For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

I think I could meditate on each of these sentences, phrases, and words the rest of my life, and be nourished by them.

Here are three passages on grace:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:8-9) 

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) 

I recommend these three books on grace, each different than the other: Phil Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Max Lucado’s Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine, and Chuck Swindoll’s The Grace Awakening. I recommend the audio books, too. Personally I love listening to books, probably a third of those I “read” are audio. Sometimes it’s less work, and the words speak to me differently.

In addition to grace, but related to it, during times of discouragement and weariness, I need hope. These hope-related verses aren’t like Band-Aids or a cure-all, but as cold water for a weary and thirsty soul. Our minds will inevitably latch onto something during trials, may they latch onto words of comfort, grace, and hope. Here are some on hope:

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you. (Psalm 33:22)

Why are you downcast, o my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5)

In your name I will hope, for your name is good. (Psalm 52:9)

Find rest, o my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5)

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. (Psalm 65:5)

I have put my hope in your word. (Psalm 119:74)

Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. (Psalm 119:116)

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

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The Elements of a Patient Prayer Life

Tim Keller in his great book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God uses an illustration from O. Hallesby. In God’s providence, I was recently reading this passage from the book, and found it very helpful. Tim writes:

If we overstress submission, we become too passive. We will never pray with the remarkable force and arguments that we see in Abraham pressing God to save Sodom and Gomorrah, or Moses pleading with God for mercy for Israel and himself, or Habakkuk and Job questioning God’s actions in history.

However, if we overstress “importunity,” if we engage in petitionary prayer without a foundation of settled acceptance of God’s wisdom and sovereignty, we will become too angry when our prayers are not answered. In either case—we will stop praying patient, long-suffering, persistent yet nonhysterical prayers for our needs and concerns.

Hallesby likens prayer to mining as he knew it in Norway in the early twentieth century. Demolition to create mine shafts took two basic kinds of actions. There are long periods of time, he writes, “when the deep holes are being bored with great effort into the hard rock.” To bore the holes deeply enough into the most strategic spots for removing the main body of rock was work that took patience, steadiness, and a great deal of skill.

Once the holes were finished, however, the “shot” was inserted and connected to a fuse. “To light the fuse and fire the shot is not only easy but also very interesting ... One sees ‘results’ ... Shots resound, and pieces fly in every direction.” He concludes that while the more painstaking work requires both skill and patient strength of character, “anyone can light a fuse.”

This helpful illustration warns us against doing only “fuse-lighting” prayers, the kind that we soon drop if we do not get immediate results. If we believe both in the power of prayer and in the wisdom of God, we will have a patient prayer life of “hole-boring.” Mature believers know that handling the tedium is part of what makes for effective prayers.

Photo: Pixabay

Why Does Everyone Want to Be Happy?

Based on books I’ve read, sermons I’ve heard, and conversations I’ve had, it’s clear many Christians believe that humanity’s desire for happiness was birthed in the Fall and is part of the Curse. Hence, the desire to be happy is equated with the desire to sin.

But what if our desire for happiness was a gift designed by God before sin entered the world? If we believed this, how would it affect our lives, parenting, church, ministry, business, sports, entertainment, and our relationships with God? How would it affect our approach to sharing the Gospel?

Augustine asked rhetorically, “Is not a happy life the thing that all desire, and is there anyone who altogether desires it not? He added: “But where did they acquire the knowledge of it, that they so desire it? Where have they seen it, that they so love it?”  (The Confessions of St. Augustine).

God has written his law on our hearts (see Romans 2:15). There’s compelling evidence he’s also written on our hearts a powerful desire for happiness. In fact, this has been the consensus of theologians throughout church history. Since we inherited our sin nature from Adam, it’s likely we inherited from our Eden-dwelling ancestors a sense of their pre-Fall happiness. Why else do we long for something better than the only world we’ve ever lived in?

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve undoubtedly anticipated good food, which likely tasted even better than imagined. But after the Fall, the opposite became true. We anticipate more of food, work, relationships, and everything else than what we experience. We live in a darkened world, but our disappointments demonstrate we retain expectations and hopes of a brighter one.

Were we merely the product of natural selection and survival of the fittest, we’d have no grounds for believing any ancient happiness existed. But even those who’ve never been taught about the Fall and the Curse instinctively know something is seriously wrong with this world. We’re nostalgic for an Eden we’ve only seen hints of. These hints are trickles of water in our parched mouths, causing us to crave and search for rivers of pure, cold water.

Anglican bishop J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) wrote, “Happiness is what all mankind want to obtain—the desire for it is deeply planted in the human heart” (Happiness: The Secret of Happiness as Found in the Bible).

If this desire is “deeply planted” in our hearts, who planted it? If not God, who else? Satan? The devil isn’t happy and has no happiness to give.  He’s a liar and murderer, dispensing rat poison in colorful, happy-looking wrappers. He hates God and us, and his strategy is convincing us to look for happiness everywhere but in its only ultimate Source.  

Did Adam and Eve desire happiness before they sinned? Did they enjoy the food God provided because it tasted sweet? Did they sit in the sun because it felt warm and jump into the water because it felt refreshing? Was God pleased or displeased when they did? Our answers will dramatically affect the way we see both God and the world. If we believe God is happy, then it makes sense that part of being made in his image is having both the desire and capacity to for happiness.

Sadly, Christ-followers routinely say things like, “God doesn’t want you to be happy, God wants you to be holy.” But holiness and happiness are two sides of the same coin—we dare not pit them against each other. Not all attempts at holiness honor God any more than all attempts at happiness honor him. The Pharisees had a passionate desire to be holy on their own terms and for their own glory. Christ’s response? “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires” (John 8:44). God wants us to seek true, Christ-centered happiness in him, while Satan wants us to seek false holiness with self-congratulatory pride.

Other Christians say, “God wants you blessed, not happy,” and “God is interested in your growth not your happiness.” Such statements may sound spiritual, but they’re not. 

Does the message that God doesn’t want us to be happy really promote what Scripture calls the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7)? Or does it actually obscure the Gospel?

What good father doesn’t want his children to be happy, i.e. to delight in good things? If we tell our churches and children that God doesn’t want them happy, what are we teaching them? That God isn’t a good Father? Should we be surprised when children raised with this message turn away from God, the Bible, and the church to seek from the world the happiness our Creator wired them to want? As Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Man is unable not to wish to be happy” (Summa Theologica).

By creating distance between the gospel and happiness, we send the unbiblical message that the Christian faith is dull and miserable. We should speak against sin but hold up Christ as the happiness everyone longs for. If we don’t, then we become partly responsible for the world’s tragic and widespread misperception that Christianity takes away happiness instead of bringing it.

Separating God from happiness and our longing for happiness undermines the attractiveness of God and the appeal of the Christian worldview. When we send the message “God doesn’t want you to be happy,” we might as well say, “God doesn’t want you to breathe.” When we say “Stop wanting to be happy,” it’s like saying, “Stop thirsting.”

People must breathe and drink and seek happiness because that’s how God made us. The only question is whether we will breathe clean air, drink pure water, and seek our happiness in Jesus. 

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The Purity Principle, Reader Responses, and the Joyful Rewards of Sexual Purity

When Randy wrote his small book The Purity Principle, which explores the biblical foundation for purity, his prayer was that the principles and advice it contained could save many readers from disaster, setting them on a course for which they—and their families—would always be grateful.

Randy wrote:

Surveys indicate that the sexual morality of today’s Christians isn’t all that different from that of non-Christians. It’s often impossible to discern where the world ends and the church begins.

Our failure to follow the teachings of Scripture in this area undermines our ability to accomplish what God has called us to. Why? Because if we’re just like the world, we have nothing to offer it. An unholy world will never be won to Christ by an unholy church.

Why is sexual purity such an integral part of a rewarding life? Why is premarital and extramarital sex so toxic to joy? Why have so many tried and tried and tried... yet failed and failed and failed? How can we avoid the lures and snares that lock us into bondage and tear away the abundant life?

The Purity Principle sought to answer those difficult questions in a biblical, practical manner. Our ministry has been encouraged by the many positive responses we’ve received since the book was first published twelve years ago. Recently we received this review from a reader:

This is the most biblically based explanation of purity that I have read. Alcorn doesn’t skirt around the point, even if it’s a harsh one.  He knows that truth is truth, and that sin in the life of the Christian is a big deal.  There’s no skirting around or padding over its existence.  He goes straight to the Scriptures to explain not only why sexual sin is wrong, but why purity is right. Finally, the author backs up what he says.  He is aware of the incredible danger of sexual sin, and advocates doing all that it takes to remain pure (something we must all do).  This gives credit to what he says in his book, and reminds the reader that true freedom is found in Christ.

Another reader wrote:

This little treasure will forever be a great tool in my tool belt as a counselor. I have counseled a couple young men through the problem with purity and lust. Alcorn hits the heart and uses stories and analogies that will linger in your head and shake your heart. Both young men I have given this to have loved it. One of my counselees loved it so much he would tell me that he would approach the book with the thought, "What do you have to teach me today?" This book ministered to me as a teenager in high school when I struggled with lust and porn. It was a life changing and life shaping book then and it has stood the test of time now. A must have for anyone who is serious about putting lust, porn, and immorality to death.

We love this note from a young reader, and are encouraged to hear of a father taking an active, preemptive role in his son’s purity:

I am almost 12 and my dad is taking me through The Purity Principle. I just wanted to thank you sooooo much for writing that book. It has really helped me with that issue. And now whenever I am tempted I just remember your words which were “impurity is always stupid and purity is always smart.”

May we, Christ’s followers, honor God by living in sexual purity. As Randy stated in the book, “If we do, we’ll experience His blessing and rewards not only today, tomorrow, and ten years from now, but throughout eternity.”

 

Grateful for the Wait

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

—2 Peter 3:8-9

For many, the most difficult problem with evil is its persistence. God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice” (Acts 17:31). But why a future day of judgment?

Barbara Brown Taylor phrased it, “What kind of God allows the innocent to suffer while the wicked pop their champagne corks and sing loud songs?”

We may say, “Yes, Lord, we accept your wisdom in permitting evil and suffering for a season—but enough is enough. Why do you let it continue?”

The Bible echoes the same sentiment. Jeremiah said, “You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” (12:1).

Why doesn’t God simply reward each good and punish each evil as it happens? Because God’s justice is not a vending machine in which a coin of righteousness immediately produces reward or a coin of evil yields swift retribution. Scripture assures us justice is coming. Everything in God’s plan has a proper time; the gap between the present and that proper time tests and incubates our faith. When reward and punishment are immediate, no faith in God is required or cultivated.

The wheels of justice may seem to turn slowly, but they turn surely. Some rewards of goodness and punishments of evil come in this life. And though ultimate rewards and punishments await the final judgment, considerable justice—both reward and retribution—is dispensed upon death, when God’s children immediately experience the joy of his presence and the unrepentant suffer the first justice of Hell (see Luke 16:19–31). This means that the maximum duration of injustice experienced by any person cannot exceed his life span.

Don’t we give thanks for God’s patience with Saul, the self-righteous killer who became Paul? Or John Newton, the evil slave trader who accepted God’s amazing grace and wrote the song that countless millions have sung?

God drew me to Himself in 1969. But what if Christ had answered the prayers of many in those days and had returned and brought final judgment in 1968? Or in 1953, the year before I was born? Where would I be for eternity? Where would you be?

I’m grateful God was patient enough with fallen humanity to allow the world to continue until I was created, and then continue further until I became part of his family.

Aren’t you grateful for the same? If God answered our prayers to return today, who might be lost that he plans to save tomorrow?

Lord, you are the potter; we are the clay. You have the right to do what you choose. But if we look carefully at what you choose, we may see wisdom and purpose and mercy even in what we don’t fully understand. Thanks for not answering the prayers for Christ’s immediate return offered by the generations that preceded me and my family. I’d hate to think of us not existing, of not being able to love you and serve you and glorify you forever.

This meditation is excerpted from Randy’s book 90 Days of God’s Goodness. Learn more.

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