Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 145

Ray Ortlund, Sr.’s Example of All-Out, Risk-Taking, Happy Enthusiasm for Christ

When I was a young believer I was significantly influenced by Ray and Anne Ortlund. Ray wrote Lord, Make My Life a Miracle, a beautiful and timeless book. Anne wrote Up With Worship, an extraordinary book that had a huge impact in its day.

I also deeply respect their son, Ray Ortlund, Jr., senior pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He often refers to his dad and mom in his excellent blog that I follow. For instance, in this post Ray talks about his dad’s ministry journal and what it really means to be a pastor.

When Anne Ortlund died in 2013, this great story was told:

Before Ray’s passing in 2007, he wrote several love notes to Anne and hid them around their house for her to find later. One note she found in 2012 said, “How can I thank you for all you mean to me?”

Another note said, “I was born to love you.”

“That’s a good Presbyterian for you,” she laughed.

“He always had me on his mind,” Anne said. “He was so happy because he lived in the presence of God, but he was conscious of me too.”

In the blog that follows, Ray Jr. talks about the reasons for his father’s happiness:

The most important thing my dad taught me

I think about my dad a lot. I miss him so much it aches. But the most important thing he taught me was this. There is only one way to live: all-out, go-for-broke, risk-taking enthusiasm for Christ.

He used to say, “Halfway Christianity is the most miserable existence of all. Halfhearted Christians know enough about their sin to feel guilty, but they haven’t gone far enough with the Savior to become happy. Wholehearted Christianity is happy, and there is no other happiness.”

How did my dad get there and influence me to go there? He really, really knew that God loved him and had completely forgiven all his sins at the cross of Jesus. He did not wring his hands, wondering what God thought of him. He believed the good news, his spirit soared and he could never do too much for Jesus.

I am thankful for what I saw in my dad. It’s the most valuable thing anyone has ever given me. I want everyone to have this treasure.

Is Spending Money on Entertainment and Leisure OK with God?

Several years ago I had the privilege of doing a Q&A with Wayne Grudem. (I highly recommend his books Systematic Theology and Bible Doctrine.) In this video, Wayne and I respond to the question, “Is it wrong for Christians to spend money on entertainment and leisure?”

As we shared in the video, Scripture says that God provides us with material things “for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17, NLT). When I speak on the subject of money and giving, I try to always emphasize that phrase from Scripture and express how thankful I am for it, because it allows me to enjoy God’s creation without guilt. I’m grateful to have recreational items, including a bicycle and a tennis racket. Nanci and I spend reasonable amounts of money on vacations that aren’t “necessary” but serve to renew us. She and I sometimes go out to dinner, enriching our relationship. These things aren’t essential, yet they contribute to physical health and mental and emotional refreshment.

By God’s grace, we’ve found we can give away my book royalties and a good portion of our discretionary income, yet still have breathing room for legitimate recreational spending (and what we keep still leaves us wealthy in comparison with most of humanity). As I say in Money Possessions and Eternity, it’s not what you give but what you keep that determines your lifestyle, but giving away a lot helps what you keep to not rule you or be your idol.

I believe that as believers, we should be wrestling with our own wealth in this materialistic, wealth-centered culture and seeking to give more. We shouldn’t assume that just because God has entrusted all this to us He intends for us to keep it. By embracing lifestyles that free up money, we can invest in helping others and furthering the progress of the gospel. 

And yet, the answer isn’t asceticism, believing that money and things are evil. The biblical view is that God has provided for us in His creation a wealth of pleasures and comforts He desires us to enjoy, to His glory: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). When we worship God as God, everything else falls into place—and hobbies, sports, music, and entertainment can all enrich our lives as intended. (Unfortunately, because we’re fallen creatures and don’t see clearly, we can focus our lives on otherwise legitimate pleasures, turning them into idols. And some “pleasures” and entertainment are indeed harmful and addictive.)

So how do we find the right balance between how much we give, and how much we keep to use for our family’s needs, as well as for God-honoring recreation and enjoyment? I believe the tension reflected in that question is healthy. As we continue to grow in Christ, we prayerfully evaluate and seek God’s guidance. But may we always be determined to follow His lead as best we can discern it.  And meanwhile, we should be careful not to judge others, and imagine ourselves better than they are because of our different lifestyle choices. 

Photo: Unsplash

Keeping an Eternal Perspective When You Need to Move

Note from Randy: This is a letter I sent to a friend who’s a professional athlete, and was traded earlier this year to another team. He and his wife and children had to relocate to another city. I’ve deleted the specifics to make it generic and am posting it because 99% of it applies to any follower of Jesus who was happy where he or she lived, but needs to move elsewhere. Of course, some people are excited about moving, but many others leave with regrets and even dread at having to start over, and develop new friendships for themselves and their children. I hope this is of help to someone in that situation.

When you’ve been present where you invested in your church, neighborhood, community, schools, vocation, team, and all your working relationships, leaving that behind and starting in a new place is hard. (Something would be wrong if it weren’t.)

Nanci and I know a lot of missionaries, and we’ve visited them all over the world. Sometimes their hearts are heavy because they’ve left home, they miss their friends, and only gradually does their new location become their new home. So, while some people are missionaries to Indonesia, some to China, and some to Mozambique, you and your family can be considered missionaries to your new city.

The fact that you may have traveled far less distance doesn’t matter. You are representing God where you live just like missionaries in Uganda and many other places are representing Him there. (Finding a Bible-believing church in your new location, a body of believers you can serve, worship, and fellowship with, is an essential part of being part of God’s mission, so I hope readers who’ve moved will make finding one a high priority.)

Contemplating the fact that God has sovereignly sent you to fulfill His eternal purposes, and that He orchestrates the details of your life, can be an encouragement. Scripture says, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” (Acts 17:26). Since God determined the time and exact places you would live, it’s no accident which neighborhood you’ve moved to, who lives next door, who your children now go to school and church youth group with, and so on.

I love what Hebrews says about Abraham:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God….

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16)

So for now your new city is your “foreign country,” your mission field, but even then, as the relationships develop, it will start to feel like home. And you will have both old friends and new, as will your family.

I love that Abraham didn’t just move from one earthly location, Ur, to another, Palestine. While that was true, the passage says he, like God’s people of all time, knew that no place on the present earth was his true or ultimate home, but that was with God. Augustine wrote in his Confessions about longing for his heavenly home, “I am groaning with inexpressible groaning on my wanderer’s path, and remembering Jerusalem with my heart lifted up towards it—Jerusalem my homeland, Jerusalem my mother.”

While your location on earth changed with your move, remember that your true country, the better country, is in Heaven where God your Father dwells and you will join Him one day. The Carpenter from Nazareth has prepared that place for you and your family, so that home has remained constant despite the move.

When I had been a pastor 14 years and was 36, God suddenly called me—yanked me really—to move out of being a pastor of a church I helped start at age 22, and led me into launching a new ministry. At first it was sometimes lonely, as I really missed my fellow pastors, who were my teammates, as you have had to leave your teammates, some of them dear friends. But in time I could see why God had done it, and now it’s crystal clear.

These passages of Scripture encouraged me:

“The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.” (Job 17:9)

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum 1:7)

My brother, may God do rich things in and through you and your family in the new place where He’s sovereignly placed you. 

Photo: Unsplash

Six Keys to Understanding the Treasure Principle

In this 10-minute video, Pastor Todd Wagner of Watermark Church and I discuss the six keys from my book The Treasure Principle:

The Treasure Principle: You can’t take it with you, but... you can send it on ahead.

“Store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.” —Jesus, Matthew 6:20 

The six keys:

1. God owns everything; I’m His money manager.

We are the managers of the assets God has entrusted—not given—to us.

2. My heart always goes where I put God’s money.

Watch what happens when you reallocate your money from temporal things to eternal things.

3. Heaven—the New Earth, not the present one—is my home.

We are citizens of “a better country–a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:16)

4. I should live today not for the dot, but for the line.

From the dot—our present life on earth—extends a line that goes on forever, which is eternity in Heaven.

5. Giving is the only antidote to Materialism.

Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater person and a greater agenda. It dethrones me and exalts Him.

6. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

God gives us more money than we need so we can give—generously. 

Photo: Pixabay

Seeing Eternal Realities in the Olympic Games

In a recent blog David Mathis quoted John Piper on the Olympic Games. Some timely biblical thoughts with the Olympics going on now:

The Bible doesn’t mention baseball, basketball, or football, but God has something explicit to say about the Olympics.

The ancient Games were common knowledge in the first century, just as the modern Olympics are today. For more than a millennium, the Games happened every four years in Greece. Everyone knew about the Olympics. “Everyone who competes in the games,” writes the apostle Paul, “exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25, NASB).

God wants Christians to see through the Games to ultimate reality. Paul, explains John Piper, took the well-known Olympics and

taught the Christians to transpose them into a different level, and to see in the Games a reality very different than everyone else is seeing. He said in effect, “The Games are played at this level of reality. They run at this level. They box at this level. They train and practice and deny themselves at this level. They set their sights on the gold at this level.

…“Now I want you to see all that at another level. I want you to transpose the temporary struggles and triumphs of the Olympic Games onto a different level of reality — the level of spiritual life and eternity and God. When you see the athletes run, see another kind of running. When you see them boxing, see another kind of boxing. When you see them training and denying themselves, see another kind of training and self-denial. When you see them smiling with a gold medal around their neck, see another kind of prize.”

Read the full article.

Photo: Pixabay

Should Christians Save for Retirement?

When a man retires at sixty-five, studies show his chances of having a fatal heart attack immediately double. Our minds and bodies weren’t made to be shut down. Nowhere in Scripture do we see God calling healthy people to stop working. So before we think about saving for retirement, we should reexamine our thinking about retirement itself. How much of what we think and assume is based on our culture, and how much is really based on God’s Word and the leading of His Holy Spirit?

Of course, it’s perfectly legitimate to work without pay. You might donate labor to ministries and volunteer. But as long as God has us in this world, He has work for us to do. The hours may be shorter, the work different, the pay lower or nonexistent. But He doesn’t want us to take still-productive minds and bodies and permanently lay them on a beach, lose them on a golf course, or lock them in a dark living room watching game shows.

Is saving large amounts of money for retirement as essential as we’re constantly told? Paul commended the Macedonian believers, not for clinging to the little they had, but for giving beyond their means (2 Corinthians 8:3‑5).

The Macedonian Christians had virtually no material things, yet they gave beyond their means to the point of leaving themselves impoverished. If they didn’t need to think of tomorrow, why do we—with all our material wealth—need to be so concerned about storing up earthly treasures for thirty years from now?

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. Our brothers and sisters in other ages didn’t have them, and neither do most non-American Christians today. Yet they’ve found God absolutely sufficient to meet their needs. Usually the wealthy are most consumed by retirement planning simply because they have the resources to think in those terms.

I agree with Larry Burkett’s assessment of the saving-for-retirement obsession:

Retirement planning so dominates the thinking of Christians who have sizable incomes that they overkill in this area enormously. The fear of doing without in the future causes many Christians to rob God’s work of the very funds he has provided. These monies are tucked away in retirement accounts for twenty to forty years. God’s Word does not prohibit but rather encourages saving for the future, including retirement (Proverbs 6:6-11; 21:20), but the example of the rich fool, given by the Lord in Luke 12:16-20, should be a clear direction that God’s balance is “when in doubt—give; don’t hoard.” (How to Use Your Money Wisely)

As I share in my book Money, Possessions, and Eternity, we must ask the same question about our retirement savings as all savings. Is this reasonable planning, exercising foresight as Proverbs commends? Or is it an alternative to trusting God, a backup in case God doesn’t come through? How is maintaining a generous retirement plan fundamentally different from the rich fool storing up for his later years to live out his life in comfort and security? We know what Jesus thought of that man’s retirement plans (Luke 12:16-21). Why should we assume He thinks differently about ours? We should study this passage and compare our attitudes, behavior (including giving), and plans for the future to that man’s, and ask how different we are from him. If there’s no difference, obviously we need to change something.

What would happen if I took part, most, or all of the funds I would otherwise put into retirement and invested them in God’s kingdom? Financial counselors would tell me that I would be “jeopardizing my retirement years.” Might God say I would be “enhancing my eternal years”? If I waste the money, spend it, or am just a poor planner, that’s one thing. But will God really fail me if I invest these funds in His kingdom in an honest effort to obey His words in Matthew 6:19-21 and many other passages?

I realize this is a troubling and threatening question. Believe me, it bothers me to ask it. Although my retirement savings account may be small by American standards, it’s still enough to keep many people alive and reach many people with the gospel. Nanci and I decided a while back to take out some retirement funds and give them to God’s kingdom. But we still have a significant amount left. Some day we may give more of it away, or none of it, or all of it. I don’t know. But I do know we must ask God, because it belongs to Him, not us.

I know missionaries who so believed in their work training young believers in Europe that they cashed out their retirement funds and gave them all to the ministry. Many Christians would shake their heads and say, “How foolish.” But if God commended the widow for giving away her last two pennies, wouldn’t He commend these missionaries who—even without retirement savings—have many more financial resources than the widow could have dreamed of? Isn’t their action consistent with Christ’s promise that if we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . . all these things shall be added to you”? (Matthew 6:33, NKJV) Were these missionaries fools? I don’t believe they were. God doesn’t honor lack of foresight and failure to plan or wastefully spending now what we should save for later. But He does honor His children who trust Him even when it involves risks.

The rich fool never had the opportunity to use the money and possessions he stockpiled for himself. Will our own excess funds hoarded for the future one day become as filled with worms as Israel’s hoarded manna? We don’t know whether Christ will return in our lifetime. But He certainly will return in the lifetime of some Christians. We also know this: All money stored in retirement funds, savings, insurance policies, houses, real estate, and personal possessions will become eternally useless the moment Christ returns. If the countless billions of dollars now invested in earthly accounts were freed up and poured into helping the needy and fulfilling the Great Commission, what eternal impact might result?

So how much is too much to save for retirement? I can’t answer that question for you. I have a hard enough time trying to figure it out for myself. But I do know that each of us should ask God because the money we are dealing with belongs to Him, not us. We should shut out the distracting noises of the world, tune our ears to God’s Word, and quietly listen for His answer.

If we consider “our” retirement funds off limits to God, we’re pretending to be owners rather than God’s money managers. When we ask God’s direction for our lives, we need to lay everything on the table. Whatever posture I take with financial planning must leave room—a great deal of room—for God.

You might like to also check out an Ask Pastor John episode, “Should I Invest for Retirement?”, as well as Piper’s book Rethinking Retirement.  

Photo: Unsplash

Do We Miss the Humor of Christ When We Read the Gospels?

Few of us are familiar with the culture Jesus lived in. In our culture, most humor is based on joke telling, verbal ambiguities, and physical comedy. Jewish humor often employed witty hyperbole—clever, startling, over-the-top statements—to get a laugh. Though some comedians today do this and we laugh, when we see Jesus use the technique in the Gospels, we usually don’t get it. Jesus certainly never employed the caustic humor of late-night comedians who ridicule the weak minded or the unfortunate. But He did make hypocrites in positions of power the brunt of his wit.

In The Humor of Christ, Elton Trueblood argued,

There are numerous passages . . . which are practically incomprehensible when regarded as sober prose, but which are luminous once we become liberated from the gratuitous assumption that Christ never joked. . . . Once we realize that Christ was not always engaged in pious talk, we have made an enormous step on the road to understanding.[i]

Did humor come into the universe as the result of sin? No. As I share in my book Happiness, we have a sense of humor because as His image bearers, we are similar to God, who enjoys laughter.

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says, “Jesus was a master of wordplay, irony and satire, often with an element of humor intermixed.”[ii] Jesus makes many serious points in humorous ways. “Are grapes gathered from thornbushes?” He asks, “or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). People who worked the ground in that culture surely smiled at the self-evident answers. When encountering a verse such as this one, which instructs us not to “cast your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6, NKJV), a modern reader might wonder why anyone would even think to do such an outlandish thing. But that’s the whole point—no sane person would! Therefore, Jesus was saying, don’t do the spiritual equivalent of that ridiculously stupid thing.

Jesus told people, “When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others” (Matthew 6:2). No one would do anything so obviously self-promoting. Instead, they’d draw attention to themselves by walking slowly and piously, making their money clearly visible. These self-congratulatory actions, which Jesus characterized as “sounding a trumpet,” undoubtedly produced numerous smiles, smirks, and chuckles.

Can’t you imagine folks looking at each other with amazement and nervous glee when Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27)? Jesus was not telling jokes but painting mental pictures with a humorous, satirical sting. Think of the religious leaders’ outrage when Jesus said, “The harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31, KJV). Then think of the approving smiles of the poor and oppressed in the crowds who finally saw someone unafraid to confront these pseudospiritual false shepherds.

Jesus referred to the shrewd and ruthless political leader Herod as “that fox” (Luke 13:32). Since a fox is cunning, this may appear to be a compliment, but it certainly wouldn’t have been lost on the crowd that those pointy-eared varmints were nuisances, not terrors. Jesus was poking fun at a vicious, immoral, murderous tyrant by comparing him not to a lion or a bear but to a fox! Imagine people going home and telling their friends, “You won’t believe what Jesus called Herod!”

Jesus said, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others” (Matthew 6:16). (“Do not look gloomy” would be a great memory verse for some churchgoers!) The self-righteous religionists of Jesus’ day liked to call attention to their fasting by rubbing ashes on their faces to make them look gaunt and deprived. The more miserable, the more spiritual—or so they supposed. Christ made fun of them for it, and they didn’t like it—but no doubt many of His listeners enjoyed hearing the self-righteous leaders taken to task.

Jesus said of the religious leaders, “They are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14). This graphic word picture might have prompted outright laughter. Of course, Jesus wasn’t making fun of the blind; He was critiquing the wealthy, powerful, influential people who prided themselves on their supposed clarity of spiritual vision.

Jesus also used exaggeration for comedic effect. Jesus told the religious leaders they were sightless, missing the whole point of following God: “You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:24). Straining out a gnat would have been hard work for anyone—but impossible for the blind. And what could be more ridiculous than swallowing a camel? This odd and pithy statement undoubtedly caused laughter to erupt.

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery says, “The most characteristic form of Jesus’ humor was the preposterous exaggeration.”[iii] It’s important to understand that this form of exaggeration is not falsehood in any sense, because the hearer knows it’s overstatement. The speaker is not misleading anyone; rather, He is appealing to the hearer’s humor to make his point.

Consider the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Jesus depicts a wealthy man who hands over one to five talents to various servants. Five talents would have been the equivalent of nearly a hundred years’ wages.[iv] In a culture where many people lived hand to mouth, this extreme amount of money would equate to saying, “There was a man who ate one thousand gourds.” The storyteller deliberately paints an absurd picture, with a gleam in his eye, to emphasize his point.

Jesus took hyperbole—a rhetorical art form—to a new level in His story about the king who loaned one of his servants ten thousand talents (see Matthew 18:23-35), an amount so ludicrous it defied comprehension, since the average person made one talent every twenty years.[v] Imagine the listeners’ expressions when they tried to calculate the sum that the king forgave his servant.

Then Jesus said another servant owed the forgiven servant one hundred denarii (see Matthew 18:28). A denarius was a day’s wage, and although a hundred days’ wages was significant, it was the tiniest fraction compared to the forgiven servant’s debt. The parallel to each person’s debt to God, which is beyond measure, must have had a deep impact. It wasn’t stand-up comedy (which might not have been funny to them anyway), but Jesus’ humor certainly would have resonated with His original audience.

Consider when Jesus asked, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? . . . You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3, 5). Surely the ridiculous picture of a log sticking out of a man’s eye produced not only a sense of conviction but also broad smiles.

Elton Trueblood recounted how he noticed Christ’s humor for the first time. He was reading Matthew 7 aloud when his young son burst into laughter at Jesus’ words about a log in the eye. Until then, Trueblood had failed to see Christ’s obvious wit.[vi]

Those who heard Jesus speak knew His keen humor—and they were endeared to Him. The humor of Jesus is far more apparent if we understand His culture and engaging personality. There’s nothing disrespectful about noticing that many of Jesus’ statements are, by design, happily outrageous.

[i] Elton Trueblood, The Humor of Christ (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 10.

[ii] Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., “Humor—Jesus as Humorist,” Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 410.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] See footnote on Matthew 25:15, ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008).

[v] See note on Matthew 18:24, The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2006).

[vi] Trueblood, Humor of Christ, 9.

Photo: Pixabay

God’s Sovereign Grace in Timbuktu

As a child, Steve Saint thought of Timbuktu as a made-up name for “the ends of the earth.” In 1986, while traveling in western Africa for Missionary Aviation Fellowship, he found himself stranded in the real Timbuktu.

Steve decided to rent a truck to travel elsewhere, despite warnings that if it broke down, he wouldn’t survive in the Sahara Desert. Men armed with scimitars and knives watched him suspiciously. After he failed to find a truck, Steve’s thoughts ran to his father, Nate Saint, a former missionary in Ecuador. When Steve was only five, natives speared to death his dad and four other missionaries. Now, thirty years later, Steve found himself questioning his father’s death. “I couldn’t help but think the murders were capricious, an accident of bad timing.”

Steve asked for directions to a church. Some children led him to a tiny mud-brick house with a poster on the wall showing wounded hands covering a cross. A dark-skinned man in flowing robes approached and introduced himself as Nouh Af Infa Yatara.

Steve asked Nouh, through a translator, how he came to faith in Christ. Nouh said he had stolen vegetables from a missionary’s garden. The missionary gave him the vegetables and promised him an ink pen if he memorized some verses from the Bible. Nouh believed the verses he learned and came to Christ. Nouh’s parents threw him out of the home and pulled him out of school. Nouh’s mother even put a sorcerer’s poison in Nouh’s food at a family feast. Nouh ate the food but suffered no ill effects.

Steve asked Nouh, “Why is your faith so important to you that you’re willing to give up everything, even your life?”

“I know God loves me and I’ll live with him forever.”

“Where did your courage come from?” Steve asked.

“The missionary gave me books about Christians who’d suffered for their faith. My favorite was about five young men who risked their lives to take God’s good news to stone-age Indians in the jungles of South America. The book said they let themselves be speared to death, even though they had guns and could have killed their attackers!”

Stunned at these words, Steve said, “One of those men was my father.” “Your father?” Now Nouh felt stunned.

Steve assured Nouh of the truth of the story. And then Nouh assured Steve that God had used his father’s death, many years later, to help a young Muslim-turned-Christian hold on to his faith. Steve realized that if God could plan the death of his own Son, He could also plan and use the death of Steve’s dad, Nate Saint, to accomplish His sovereign purpose—including reaching one young Muslim for Christ and orchestrating this God-ordained meeting of two men at the ends of the earth.

Stories like this don’t apply only to the deaths of missionary martyrs. Over time, God has brought countless people to Christ through the lives and deaths of ordinary housewives, common laborers, farmers, factory workers, business people, teachers, and schoolchildren.

We won’t all, in this life, meet someone whose story will suddenly shed light on God’s purpose in our loved one’s suffering or death. But I think most of us will have that very experience one day, beyond the ends of this Earth, on that New Earth, where we, eyes wide, will hear countless jaw-dropping stories of God’s sovereign grace.

Photo: Pixabay

Experiencing Happiness in Christ, Even Through Depression and Sorrow

The following is a recent interview I did on the topic of happiness. I appreciated being able to address how someone who is depressed can still move toward experiencing a deep happiness and joy in Christ, which is a question I’ve been asked about frequently since my book was released.

Question:  When you look at happiness, is there a distinction between joy and happiness?

Randy: Interestingly, this has been taught as if it were fact for many years, and there have been many sermons that say joy and happiness are two different things. But we get them both wrong, because people end up saying things like “Joy is not an emotion” and “Joy is not really based on anything; it‘s some transcendental, vague sort of thing. But don‘t seek happiness, because that‘s from the world, and involves sin.”

Well, a lot of people do seek happiness in sin, just like they seek joy in sin. But God is the true source of happiness, delight, and joy. In my study for Happiness, I went back to the Hebrew and Greek words and saw how there are many of them that are translated in various versions as “joy,” “gladness,” “merriment,” “happiness,” “delight,” “pleasure.” These words all have overlapping meanings. Ninety percent of a Hebrew word that‘s translated “joy” overlaps with one that‘s translated “gladness” or “happiness.” (I’m including here a diagram from Happiness, illustrating this.)

There’s been a false and negative distinction that‘s been made between joy and happiness. Unfortunately, the message we send to those both inside and outside the church is, “Seeking happiness is superficial and shallow. Go out and get it in the world, but you won’t find happiness in God.” But all people seek happiness, and because they do, we’re basically telling them, “Stop seeking what God Himself wired you to seek.” What we should be saying is, “Seek your happiness in the right place—in God Himself.”

Question: Why did we begin to think of happiness as a sin, and if you’re a happy person, something’s wrong with you, because the life of a holy Christian should be one of burden? Can’t we see clearly in the Gospels that Jesus was criticized for going places where He supposedly shouldn‘t have gone, and attending parties He shouldn’t have?

Randy: That’s a great question. I think of Scripture such as Joel 2:21: “Be happy and full of joy, because the Lord has done a wonderful thing.” Or Psalm 40:16: “May all those who seek You be happy and rejoice in You,” as well as all the passages in the Psalms about “shout triumphantly; be happy; rejoice out loud.” These passages of Scripture, for some reason, don‘t resonate with us, because we have these preconceived notions.

And as you say, Jesus Himself was criticized. He wasn’t a glutton and drunkard, but He was accused of being those things. Why? Because He went to parties where people ate and drank, and some people probably were at those parties who were drunkards and gluttons. But you don’t have to be sinning just because you’re in in an environment of happiness.

Question: Someone once said to me, “You Christians look saved, except for your faces.” They meant that we look down and dejected. We’re fearful and don’t have confidence. Why is that? If we’re right with God, why wouldn’t our faces express happiness and joy?

Randy: That’s an important question, and something I addressed in the book. I often hear people say happiness is just based on circumstances. I know what they mean when they say that. But consider what our true circumstances in Christ are. How about Romans 8:35-39: “Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ.” That’s an actual condition, so call that a “circumstance.” It’s an invisible circumstance, but it’s a real one. If you know Jesus, He went to the cross and purchased your eternal happiness. So, let’s frontload that to how we think and live today.

Question:  I’ve talked to so many people lately who are really weighed down by life’s circumstances. Maybe they have cancer, or a family member who’s been in an auto accident, or a spouse who has lost a job. There are a lot of sad things that happen in this world, so how can I reconcile the truth you’re talking about with difficult present circumstances?

Randy: I think we should study what Paul said about being sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:10). That‘s how he describes the Christian life.

It’s not like bad things aren‘t happening to us. We do have sorrow. This world is full of things that make God sad, but He simultaneously has a happiness that is based in and flows out of Himself. So I think we need to not look at sorrow and happiness as opposites that cannot co-exist. They can and do co-exist. I have preached many memorial services where you see the sadness and the tears for those attending, and then you see how quick people are to laugh as they remember funny and happy things about their loved ones. And if the deceased knew Christ, those in attendance are able to rejoice as they anticipate the reunion that will one day come.

Question:  You talked about the longing that a human being has to feel joyful and happy. Because we don’t necessarily seek happiness in the right places, it seems that, particularly in Western culture, we medicate that longing by trying to find happiness through extramarital affairs, materialism, toys, or being busy. So what is the definition of true happiness, and where do we find it?

Randy:  We need to ask ourselves where this desire for happiness came from. Sometimes we act as if it came from the devil. Well, the devil knows nothing of true happiness. He once knew happiness in God’s presence, but he gave it up when he sinned and rebelled against God. Now he takes rat poison and wraps it up in happy-looking wrappers. That’s how he tempts us, by offering it to us, because he knows we have this innate desire for happiness.

But the reason we have this built-in desire for happiness is because we’re created in God‘s image. He wired us to want to be happy. Unfortunately, we sometimes disassociate happiness from its true source, which is God Himself.

Satan tempts us by offering us happiness, because he knows that’s what we want. But he offers it in the wrong places, at the wrong times, and in the wrong things. On the other hand, God, who is described in Scripture as the happy God (see 1 Timothy 1:11, 1 Timothy 6:15), says to us, “You can find your true happiness in me. I created all kinds of secondary sources of happiness that point back to Me, the primary source of happiness.”

Question: Was there a time when you had to move from not being happy to embracing happiness?

Randy: I was raised in an unbelieving home, and heard the Gospel for the first time when I was 15 years old. My dad was a tavern owner. My parents had both been previously divorced. They were good people, but they fought and had a lot of problems.

I was so unhappy as a child. In middle school, I was reasonably successful in athletics and was student body president, but I was not fulfilled. I had two jukeboxes in my bedroom because of my dad‘s business with taverns. I remember listening and honestly feeling a sense of both despair and urgency as John Lennon sang, “Help, I really need somebody.” In the pre-computer era, our house had foosball and pool tables, pinball and bowling machines, so it was a popular place to hang out with my friends! But despite having all of these happiness-related toys, and a swimming pool and a nice house, we were not a happy family.

I first heard the Gospel from the church I started attending, mostly to spend time with a girl. (That girl is now my wife. At the time she shouldn’t have been dating me, because I wasn’t a Christian, but I’m sure glad God used it all for good!) Eventually I came to faith in Christ through reading Scripture. When I did, I found in Christ a real happiness. It felt like a weight had been taken off of my heart.

After I’d been a Christian for a while, I noticed my pastor would always talk about Oswald Chambers and his book My Utmost for His Highest (truly a great book) . But in that book, Chambers said happiness has nothing to do with the Christian life, and that God doesn’t care about your happiness—He only cares about your holiness. Chamber actually says, “It is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him.”

As a young Christian, as I read and heard what he was saying, I thought, Well, it must be true, because he’s saying it. But I’m really much happier now that I know Jesus than I was before. Now, as I read those words, I realize what Oswald Chambers was doing. He was concerned as he saw people looking for happiness in sin. But unfortunately, by condemning happiness in general, he was throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Often when we think of Jesus saying, “You are the light of the world,” we think only of morality and ethics. Of course, that’s certainly part of it. But there‘s also the light of happiness, joy, and gladness. When we walk into a room, the darkness that should be pushed away is not only the darkness of sin, but the darkness of hopelessness, utter depression, and suicidal thoughts of “I don‘t want to live anymore, and I‘m so terribly unhappy.” That light draws people. It’s not simply the light of holiness that draws people to the Gospel. Sometimes the light of happiness is more successful in drawing people to the Gospel—the Good News.

Question: I know there have been times when you struggled with depression. When you’re in that dark place that you don‘t feel God‘s happiness, how do you reach up to Him?

Randy: I think we should begin by saying that God totally understands, and you don’t need to pretend. When you’re feeling depressed and profoundly unhappy, cry out to God like David did. He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest” (Psalm 22:1–2). In essence he‘s saying, Lord, I just feel You‘re distant.

In other Psalms we see that David does self-talk. He’ll say, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 42:11; 43:5). Sometimes we have a tendency to listen to ourselves more than talk to ourselves. We need to talk to ourselves based on Scripture and remind ourselves of the truth of what God’s word says.

One example of helpful self-talk may go something like this: “Yes, the reality is that I feel this way. However, God loves me. God is causing all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28). God has a purpose for everything in my life, including my sadness and depression. He can draw me out of it, but as long as I’m in it, He has a purpose in it.”

I wrote a series of blogs several years ago related to Charles Spurgeon’s depression. There was no man who talked more about happiness and joy (I quote him frequently in Happiness). Yet he experienced a vast amount of depression and melancholy. It seems like a contradiction, but it’s not, because he would speak of the joy and happiness of Christ to move his soul from the state of depression. He was honest and open about his struggles, and it gave him credibility with people.

One of the things I say to people in depression is this: acknowledge it, but realize that even if it lasted the rest of your life in this world (God forbid), that’s a tiny amount of time compared to the true rest of your life. Eternity with Jesus Christ awaits, in which we’ll experience utter and complete happiness, and where He promises, “I will wipe away the tears from every eye.”

Question: What are some things you would suggest someone who is depressed start doing?

Randy: In addition to meditating on Scripture, I would strongly encourage them to gather with people who love Jesus—especially happy people who love Jesus. Misery loves company, but happiness loves company too, and the company that you keep will affect you.

I would tell that person to stop listening to talk radio and step away from the television and smart phone, and instead, get out of the house and enjoy creation. Go outside to read good books and sit in the sunshine. Now I’m from Portland, Oregon, so there’s not always sunshine! But some days the sun breaks out, and those are great days to take a walk. My wife walks our dog, Maggie, and thoroughly enjoys it.

Enjoy God’s creation. Go to a waterfall. Go to the zoo. Take time to pet a dog. You know, there is a delight in animals. If you don’t have a pet, and you’ve never had one, consider getting one. God has used dogs to console me. There have been times where I’ve really been struggling, and it’s been difficult, but then I put my arms around our Golden Retriever, Maggie or our Dalmatian, Moses, who preceded her, or our Springer Spaniel, Champ, who preceded him. I’ve found God can use all of His secondary delights to draw us toward Him as the primary delight.

Go out to admire the night sky and look up at the stars. Take a walk on the beach. Go for a hike. Plant and grow flowers. Smell them! The small things of God’s creation can truly manifest His presence and remind you of His goodness and grace. Practice the habit of gratitude, and list the things you’re thankful for.

Finally, remind yourself that these afflictions may seem heavy and like they’re going to last forever, but the Apostle Paul, who knew a lot about afflictions, called them light and momentary (2 Corinthians 4:17). Remind yourself that God is achieving something through them. They‘re not pointless. For the child of God, there is no pointless suffering.

God is conforming you to the image of Christ and expanding your ministry. So look for the ways that your ministry can expand through prayer and reaching out to someone else who may be struggling with depression. Second Corinthians 1:4 says that God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.”

Question: Talk about your research into the happiness of God. You believe that the Lord is not just a God of judgment, but that He is also happy.

Randy: In Happiness, I write about the happiness of Jesus, and in fact, in Hebrews 1, the writer quotes Psalm 45 in reference to Jesus, which says, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” I believe His companions may refer to the entire human race.

Based on that passage, you could ask the question, “Who is the happiest person who has ever lived?” I think the proper answer to that, biblically, is Jesus Christ. When you say that, many people immediately say, “But wait, no. He‘s the Man of Sorrows.” Yes, Scripture calls Jesus the “Man of Sorrows” in Isaiah 52 and 53, describing His redemptive work. Gethsemane through suffering on the Cross? Man of Sorrows. Weeping over Jerusalem? Man of Sorrows.

But when Jesus walked the earth, He drew people to Himself, not because He only had sorrow in His life, but because I think His default state was one of happiness—happiness in His Father and His Father‘s plan. He had participated in the ancient happiness that far preceded the creation of the world itself: the happiness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit delighting in each other. The incredible thing is that by His grace, He invites us into it: “Come and share your master's happiness!” (Matthew 25:23, NIV). 

Photo: Unsplash

Francis Chan on Thinking About Your Death

Death is life’s greatest certainty. Death will come, whether or not you’re prepared. But death is not an end—it’s a transition that will bring us face to face with our Creator. It’s the absolute certainty of our death gives the gospel its urgency.

I really appreciated this article from Francis Chan addressing why we need to be willing to pause and contemplate our deaths in light of eternity (and also be willing to have candid conversations with our loved ones). Let’s remember that Jesus came to deliver us from the fear of death, “so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15). With our confident hope of eternity in Christ, we can choose to live well in the “short today,” anticipating the joy of what A. W. Tozer called “the long tomorrow.”

Do You Think About Your Death?

I visited a man on his death bed yesterday. I left confused.

This man had no relationship with Jesus, no interest in the gospel, yet no fear of death. His only desire was to ease his physical pain and die without a struggle. I couldn’t understand it. Really? No fear of death at all?

The first time I remember seeing a dead body was when I was eight. I was terrified! It was my stepmother’s body in a casket. My mother died giving birth to me, so this was the woman that I knew as mom. Seeing her lifeless body scared me. The whole concept of death confused me and gave me a sick feeling. There was nothing casual about it.

Seeing my dad in a casket four years later brought the same kind of fear and sobriety.

Forty years later, I still get deeply disturbed at funerals. Whenever I see a dead body, I inevitably think, That will be me soon. Then all sorts of uncomfortable thoughts follow.

Wisdom Ponders Death

I understand that Christians should not fear death. Jesus died and rose from the grave, therefore death has lost its “sting” (1 Corinthians 15:55–56). But just because the fear subsides, it doesn’t mean we are left feeling indifferent. Death has a way of jolting us into seriousness. Don’t you still get an eerie or maybe even sick feeling when you think about your own death?

Some of it is just trying to grasp something so foreign to us: the separation of the soul from the body. We are unable to fathom existing apart from the only body we’ve known. The other troubling mystery is trying to imagine what we will first see and experience after death. What will it be like when we first see a heavenly being or God himself?

Death is not an easy thing to meditate on, but the wise person will think about death often.

Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

When was the last time you prayed that prayer? A wise man thinks about his death often, and the fool ignores it. This is why the enemy keeps us from thinking and talking about death. And this is why we must work to keep the brevity of life on the forefront of our minds.

Next week, one of my friends is going to court. There is a chance that he will be sentenced to several years in prison. As you can imagine, it is hard for him to think about anything else. As much as he will try to have a “normal” week, I’m pretty sure his mind will be preoccupied with what the judge is going to say.

Shouldn’t we also be preoccupied with our upcoming day in God’s court? The Bible says that one day we will stand before a Judge who is referred to as a “Consuming Fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Unbelievably, some will go their whole lives without ever considering what this moment will be like.

Ignoring Death Leads to Ignorance

I can only imagine how you as a reader are responding at this point. This may be the first time someone has encouraged you to think deeply about death and judgment. We are unaccustomed to conversations about death. Our society goes to incredible lengths to hide the inevitable reality of death from us. It is considered intrusive or even rude to ask others to think about their deaths. Inevitably someone will quickly change the subject once it gets too serious or solemn. But should we?

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2)

It is better to go to a funeral than a party? The fact that you’ve never heard this expression in conversation reveals just how far our society is from biblical wisdom.

I have performed many funerals. It’s not uncommon to see crowds go out drinking immediately following the service. It is their way to “move on” and not dwell on the severity of the situation.

Others may not get drunk, but they find other ways to intoxicate themselves — heading back to work, going to a movie, laughing, talking, texting, getting on social media. People will do anything to avoid thinking about the only thing that matters. Reality is right there before their eyes, but they’ll desperately pursue any alternative to facing the facts.

The Bible shows that ignoring death leads to ignorance.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (Ecclesiastes 7:4)

The wise man doesn’t quickly move past funerals. His heart lingers in a state of mourning. The fool tells jokes as soon as the funeral ends, not realizing the damage it does to his soul. Fools do whatever is easiest.

Eating pie is easy, but kale takes effort. The things that build us up require intentionality and work. Contemplating death takes work; watching a typical movie does not. The wise man makes time to think about serious issues. The hard work of mourning builds up the wisdom of the heart.

Linger in the House of Mourning

When I was in seminary, I learned that “the heart” refers to the mission-control center of our bodies. It is the seat of decision-making. This is why you and I make wiser decisions after our hearts spend time in the house of mourning. I tend to make good decisions at funerals and poor ones in restaurants. I have made wise financial decisions while surrounded by starving children, and poor decisions from the suburbs. We need to keep our hearts close to the house of mourning to avoid decisions we will regret.

As difficult as it is, we need to be mindful of death. We must make decisions with our day of death in mind. Please, please, please consider spending just ten minutes in solitude today, meditating about your own funeral. Imagine standing before a God who “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16).

But don’t stop there. Perhaps ponder some major life decisions after meditating on death. Your heart, the seat of decision-making, will then be better conditioned to decide where to live, what to drive, and which shoes to buy.

Article shared by permission of the author.

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