Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 18

Why Do I Have to Suffer So Much? What Resources Do You Recommend?

Note from Randy: A reader wrote our ministry, “Why do I suffer in pain so much? Is there something I can read to gain perspective?” This is a wonderful answer from Doreen Button, one of our EPM staff. 

Thank you for reaching out. I am sorry you experience so much suffering from the pain in your life. You did not specify whether this pain is physical or emotional, although both are very serious, and one can lead to the other in many cases. Pain is a universal symptom of the death Adam and Eve put into motion in the Garden (see Genesis 3). Ever since the original humans turned their backs on Eden and chose to climb to the top of their own personal dunghills and shake their fists in God’s face, we have followed their example and each of us suffer the consequences of sin and independence from God.

Jesus offers us rescue from that sin and relief from that pain (at least the emotional pain, and sometimes the physical pain as well, and ultimately from both). He invites us off that smelly pile, through a door where light and love reign. He offers to wash away the filth and clothe us in His own robes of righteousness!

When we turn our face toward Him, asking Him to run the show while we step out of the spotlight in love and obedience, we receive His peace.

Are you familiar with the story of Jesus sleeping in the boat during a life-threatening storm (Matthew 8)? That’s the kind of peace I’m talking about. I’ve experienced it, so I know it’s not just religious pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. The more I practice looking at Jesus, no matter how stormy my circumstances, the more that peace permeates me. It’s simple, but not easy to give up our little kingdom and allow Him on the throne which only He is suited to occupy.

Our enemy wants us to keep giving God the finger because it suits his purposes. When we’re absorbed by the itch and the emptiness, searching for any way but God to relieve our pain, whether we are “believers” or not we become ineffective for God’s Kingdom. When we choose to relinquish our throne and choose moment by moment to seek God’s Kingdom, we become fruitful, and God uses us to multiply His Kingdom population. Isn’t it amazing that the Creator of everything would use us “cracked pots” for purposes that resonate throughout eternity?

You may have heard of a famous preacher named Charles Spurgeon. His wife suffered great pain and wrote, “At the end of a dull and dreary day, I lay resting on my couch as the night grew darker. Although my room was bright and cozy, some of the darkness outside seemed to have entered my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. In vain I tried to see the sovereign hand that I knew held mine and that guided my fog-surrounded feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering. With a sorrowful heart I asked, ‘Why does the Lord deal with a child of His in this way? Why does He so often send such sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He allow this lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?’ These impatient questions were quickly answered through a very strange language…”

Susanna then describes how they discovered the source of this mysterious sound: “My friend exclaimed, ‘It’s coming from the log on the fire.’ The fire was unshackling the imprisoned music from deep within the old oak’s heart! …The intense heat of the fire wrenched from him both a song and a sacrifice at once. Then I realized: when the fires of affliction draw songs of praise from us, we are indeed purified, and our God is glorified…my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely revealed before me.”

God uses our pain to draw us close to Him. As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” We can choose to listen to Him or to turn a deaf ear and reap the potentially eternal consequences of ignoring the One who loves us so much, He gave everything to invite us back into relationship with Him. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). That’s His invitation and His roadmap into God’s eternal, loving presence where He will “wipe away every tear” and “sorrow and sighing are no more”!

In Eugene Peterson’s New Testament paraphrase, The Message, he wrote, “Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want” (1 Peter 4:1-2).

You asked for reading suggestions. Randy has written volumes and spoken dozens of times on the topic of evil and suffering in our world, both its purpose and its certain end. He’s also experienced a great deal of suffering from evil actions taken against him. One of my favorite books of his on this topic is The Goodness of God. It’s the smaller version of his comprehensive book If God Is Good…Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil. You might also appreciateJeremy Linneman’s article on our website, “The Surprise Blessing of Suffering and Trials.” After Randy’s wife, Nanci, died following a four-year battle with cancer, Randy spoke about his journey at his church: “An Eternal Perspective on Suffering, Loss, and Grief—Randy Alcorn on 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.” You can watch the video here.

Without knowing more about your situation, I can only guess if these thoughts and resources will be of help to you. I pray that you will find peace, even if you don’t find answers. Job went through suffering at a level I can’t even fathom. God spoke directly to him and never answered his questions, but He did show Himself sovereign, powerful, faithful, and in my mind the most important: He saw Job, was with him in his pain, listened, and cared about what was happening to him. And if Job was satisfied, in the depths of his suffering, we can be too.

Photo: Unsplash

Find Happiness by Planting Yourself Deeply in God’s Word

In our side yard a tree has survived ice storms, heavy snows, and howling winds. Several times in the decades we’ve lived here, I thought it would fall. Now I expect it to long outlast me. I’ve taken pictures of my preschool daughters in that tree, and of their children, my grandsons. It has lost many thick limbs, but others have grown, and harsh circumstances have made it stronger. In contrast, many protected and untested trees have long since fallen.

This tree has another secret. It lies at the lower part of our property, where the water sinks deep into the soil. This tree has all the nourishment it needs.

Psalm 1 says the one who continually meditates on God’s Word “is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (v. 3, CSB). Trees don’t choose where to place themselves, but we do. We determine what our sources of nourishment will be, which in turn determine whether we bear fruit or wither.

“How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2, CSB). Happiness is found in what this person does not do (hang out with the wrong people and take the wrong advice) and also in what he does do (meditate on God’s Word). The key to happiness, it suggests, is allowing the right people to influence our thoughts and actions. If it’s God and His Word, we’ll find happiness; if it’s mockers of God and His Word, we’ll find unhappiness.

The Jerusalem Bible renders these verses, “Happy the man who never follows the advice of the wicked . . . but finds his pleasure in the Law of Yahweh” (emphasis added). Countless Christians believe that Bible reading is their duty—something holy people do. What many don’t understand is exactly what the passage really tells us: that meditating on God’s Word can and should delight us, infusing us with heartfelt happiness. Superficial holiness can never produce true happiness. True holiness always manifests itself in authentic happiness.

Matthew Henry commented, “When the psalmist undertakes to describe a blessed man, he describes a good man; for, after all, those only are happy, truly happy, that are holy, truly holy; . . . goodness and holiness are not only the way to happiness (Revelation 22:14), but happiness itself.”

We all meditate, and we’re all shaped by the object of our meditation. We take our attitudinal and behavioral cues from what we focus on. Will we be shaped by sitcoms, social media, and the internet, or will we be shaped by Isaiah, Luke, A. W. Tozer, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon? It depends on how we choose to spend our time.

The key to joy-filled spirituality is the development of little habits, such as Bible reading and memorization and prayer. Day after day, we become the kind of person who grows and endures rather than withers and dies. We begin to understand that what we most want can be found through contemplating God and His goodness, as revealed in His Word.

Lord, take us deep into your Word. Let us not be content with empty entertainment and diversions. Your Word makes us alive, energizes us, strengthens and sustains us, and comforts us with truth. It confronts sin in our lives, encourages our obedience, and gives us delight in you. Who but the devil and sin itself would distract us from such treasure? Change our habits of leisure, Lord. Prompt us to abandon entertainment that scorns and violates your Word, to listen to music that celebrates your Word, and to embrace great Scripture-saturated books that lead us to you and your Word. Remind us that your Word is the source of correction, training, eternal perspective, and joyful rest from weariness and sorrow.

Browse more resources on the topic of happiness, and see Randy's books, including Happiness and  Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Photo: Pexels

An Eternal Perspective Brings Us Great Comfort in Grief

I doubt many people have talked together more about eternity than Nanci and I did. I spent twenty years of our life together researching, writing, and speaking about Heaven, so we had lots to talk about! We found great comfort in anticipating abundant life in God’s presence. (I encourage you to talk openly with your loved ones and help prepare each other for your eternal home.)

Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you . . . that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). If you put your faith in Him alone to save you from sin and hell, then Jesus is preparing that place—Heaven—for you. One day, He will bring Heaven down to the New Earth (see Revelation 21–22).

After the resurrection (when our bodies will be brought back to life, reunited with our souls), we’ll reach our peaks for the first time, and we’ll never pass them! We’ll feast with Jesus and all His people and tell stories and laugh. He will wipe away all our tears (Revelation 21:4). If we know Jesus, it’s not a fairy tale—we really will live happily ever after!

Nanci and I spoke often about what it will be like to live forever as embodied people on a resurrected earth—a world with trees, rivers, animals, music, literature, eating and drinking, reunions, new friendships, and above all, worshipping God with nothing to hinder us. Because we will continue to be God’s image-bearers, living on and reigning over a risen earth, there’s every reason to believe we will enjoy sports, drama, technology, and everything God designed human minds to come up with. Talking about this was immensely encouraging both to Nanci and to me.

Our grief has an expiration date. The world as it is now is under the curse, but God will lift it once and for all: “No longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:3). No more sin. No more cancer. No more dementia. No more suffering. No more death. God “will swallow up death forever” (Isaiah 25:8).

We who are grieving need to hear these words: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16, 18).

This eternal perspective has permeated and transformed my grieving. I saw my wife outwardly wasting away, yet because she fixed her eyes on Jesus and her unseen Home, I saw her daily being inwardly renewed.

The Apostle Paul wrote: “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). In times of grief and suffering, this requires trust on our part, since the promised greater good is future and we can’t see it in the present. But instead of trusting ourselves and our limited sight, we can choose to trust the One who has an eternal plan of sovereign grace and has gone to inconceivable lengths to see that it will be accomplished.

God, as we grieve, remind us of the far-reaching promises of resurrection. Help us live each day in anticipation of the life that awaits us on a brand-new Earth where we will live our lives in your presence, with those we love and who love you. Thank you for the place you are preparing for us now.

Adapted from Randy’s new booklet Grieving with Hope: Walking with Jesus in Heartbreak, now available from Eternal Perspective Ministries.

Are you facing a great loss? Perhaps a loved one or close friend has died. Great love brings great sorrow, and healthy sorrow recognizes the immensity of loss. But when death and loss come close, the temptation toward despair and hopelessness is often not far behind.

Author Randy Alcorn encourages you to go to God with all your sorrows and to remember that Jesus, your Good Shepherd, walks with you—a suffering Savior who is well acquainted with sorrow. No one can bypass grief, but you don't walk this dark valley alone. Jesus will lead you, and he guarantees that death is not the end and Heaven awaits. In Grieving with Hope, Randy gives perspective and practical advice to help readers on the grieving journey, so that in time, your grief will be accompanied by joy and hope.

Photo: Unsplash

Your Resurrected Body Will Never Pass Its Peak

Our perspective today is informed by the reality that resurrection awaits God’s children. According to God’s Word, the best is yet to be. We who love Jesus do not pass our physical and mental peak in this life, nor do we reach it. Our peak, or its beginning, will come in the resurrection, not before (Revelation 21-22):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKQmQ7eZRpw?si=S-BPEafLxhbHxBaQ

Understanding that our peak doesn’t come in this life should radically change our view of deteriorating health, which otherwise would produce discouragement, regret, anger, envy, and resentment. Elderly people could envy and resent the young for what they can do. People handicapped from birth could envy and resent others for what they can do. But when the elderly and handicapped recognize that their experiences on the New Earth will be far better than the best anyone else is experiencing here and now, it brings anticipation, contentment, consolation, and the ability to fully rejoice in the activities of the young and healthy, without envy or regret.

People without Christ can only look back to when they were at their best, never to regain it. Memories are all they have, and even those memories fade. But elderly or bedridden Christians don’t look back to the peak of their prowess. They look forward to it.

When we Christians sit in wheelchairs or lie in beds or feel our bodies shutting down, let’s remind ourselves, “I haven’t passed my peak. I haven’t yet come close to it. The strongest and healthiest I’ve ever felt is a faint suggestion of what I’ll be in my resurrected body on the New Earth.”

This isn’t wishful thinking. This is the explicit promise of God. It is as true as John 3:16 and everything else the Bible tells us.

Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including Heaven and The Promise of the New Earth.

Photo: Unsplash

Advice for Those Starting College: Navigating Your First Year with Wisdom

Note from Randy: Three of Nanci’s and my five grandsons are now in college. Just recently, one has been on a missions trip to Thailand with his local church by his college in Southern California. I’ve delighted to receive his texts. 

The other two are involved at the same Bible-teaching, Christ-centered church in Phoenix. One has been at the church for a year, and it has made a powerful impact on his life. The other has just arrived for college and before doing anything on campus, on Sunday he and his parents and his brother and a group of other parents and friends already went to that same church. My grandson who is a freshman loved the church and texted me that he is excited about being part of it. 

Sure, it would be great if every secular college and even every Christian college was all about Jesus, but that’s not how it is. But finding the right church will often make all the difference in the world as to whether someone grows in their faith, or whether their faith gradually slips away, as so often happens. Many students, even at Christian colleges, drift from the church while in school, and many of those never regain a solid commitment to it. 

I encourage parents and grandparents to pray, of course, but also to do everything in their power to help students plug-in to the right church and make it a top priority in their lives. Do your homework, check around, and consider visiting together some solid churches near the college to help them get started.

Vince Greenwald, assistant pastor at Immanuel Nashville, has written a great and helpful article for those starting college, and he includes advice on finding a healthy church. If you have a young person in your life who fits that category, I encourage you to share this article with them! (Also, two books I recommend are J. Budziszewski’s How to Stay Christian in College and University of Destruction: Your Game Plan For Spiritual Victory on Campus by David Wheaton.)

College Freshman, Stick the Landing
How to Navigate Your First Year with Wisdom

By Vince Greenwald 

You don’t have to be an Olympian to know that a gymnast isn’t done after her in-air activity. No matter how many twists or flips happen in the air, landing is a make-or-break moment.

A similar dynamic is at play for the college freshman. Getting to the first semester of college was hard work; it required preparation and discernment. Now, after all the college applications, placement exams, scholarship essays, and FAFSA forms, you’re finally on campus. Will the “in-air” work you’ve done up to this point pay off? Will you land well?

Here’s how a Christian college student can stick the landing first semester.

1. Quickly find a healthy church.

If college has taken you away from your childhood church, look for a new church family right away. First, do some research. Ask a pastor at your home church if he can recommend churches near your college. If he doesn’t know of any personally, ask him if the denomination or network your church is affiliated with has a church directory, or look up local churches in the TGC church directory.

Second, limit the time you spend “church shopping.” Check out two to four of the top churches you discover in your research. Don’t waste a Sunday. Visit with purpose. Talk to the people in the pews and the people behind the welcome desk if the church has one. Ask them what they love about their church, and listen intently to their answers.

Listen for how each church talks about the Bible, making sure they see it as God’s authoritative Word and “rightly [handle] the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Listen to the preaching. Does the pastor jet ski over the surface of the Word or dive in deep? Does the sermon merely entertain, or does it clearly explain and apply the Bible passage? Aside from the teaching, pay attention to the culture of the place. Do people seem to know each other? Is there an air of humility and honesty? Do the people seem to enjoy God and one another?

Know ahead of time that you won’t find a perfect church. There are no perfect churches. You’re just looking for a healthy and faithful one. So after your short church-shopping phase, make the pivot from evaluation to participation. Pursue membership. Look for opportunities to serve. Bring some friends. And resist the urge to church shop indefinitely. Plants don’t grow well when they’re constantly uprooted and transplanted. Neither do Christians.

2. Anticipate loneliness.

One of the great paradoxes of college is that you’re around so many people but, as a freshman, you still may feel alone, unseen, and unsettled.

My first few months of college were a blur of new friendships, adventure, and discovery, but one day in that first semester, the bottom fell out. It dawned on me that none of these new friends really knew me. My life consisted of four-week-old friendships. My new friends knew nothing about my hometown, my siblings, and 99 percent of my story. Eight hundred miles from home, I felt so alone. There will be moments this semester when you’ll feel alone too.

See that inevitable loneliness as an invitation into deeper intimacy with God. Take refuge in and grow your friendship with Jesus Christ. Read and study his Word. Pray daily. And know that the Lord’s presence is no less available to you than it was to Paul when he was alone: “No one came to stand by me. . . . But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me” (2 Tim. 4:16–17). God’s friendship is no less available to you than it was to David, who wrote, “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him” (Ps. 25:14). Loneliness will come. When it does, lean on the Lord. He’s your refuge. He’s the God of all comfort. He’s near.

3. Live on mission.

The Lord brought you to college—a specific season in a particular place (Acts 17:26–27). Embrace it with intention by living on mission. In Colossians 4, Paul outlines what this looks like:

Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (vv. 3–6)

Notice three activities Paul models in the text: how to pray, how to walk, and how to talk. First, pray for open doors. In God’s sovereignty, there are no random roommate assignments. Pray expectantly for the people around you. Pray that God would give you an opportunity to talk to them about the gospel. Second, walk in wisdom toward outsiders. Campus life in a pluralistic society is complicated. Learn to listen before you speak. Then read books that model wise evangelism. Through reading, you can learn to walk with the boldness of Spurgeon and the winsomeness of a modern-day apologist like Rebecca McLaughlin. Finally, speak with gracious clarity, shaping your message for each person you encounter.

Perhaps your wise words in a brief encounter will help to prepare the soil of an unbeliever’s heart for the next time he meets a Christian. And perhaps the Lord will allow you to cultivate a meaningful friendship and give you a front-row seat as he draws a lost sinner to himself.

Believing college freshman, be encouraged. I’m confident you’re going to land well because of the gospel. Paul says that if you’ve trusted Christ, “your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). This means your life is no longer measured by your capabilities, your successes, or even your sins. The next four years aren’t about finding yourself, because God has already found you. College isn’t about proving yourself, because Christ’s perfect righteousness has been given to you. You are his.

So as you begin your freshman year, be intentional about community, devotion, and mission. But also know he holds you while you’re “in the air” and will uphold you as you stick the landing.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition and is used with permission of the author.

Photo: Pexels

Healthy Grief Is Centered on God’s Promises

I’ve heard it said, “There’s no wrong way to grieve.” I disagree.

Certainly, there are different ways and lengths of time to grieve. We should not rebuke or lay guilt on the brokenhearted!

The Bible says this about grief: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 NLT, emphasis added).

This means grieving as if we have no hope is the wrong way to grieve. And grieving while embracing Christ’s rock-solid promise of His second coming and our resurrection—and that of all who love Him—is the right way to grieve.

A grieving father wept as he told me, “I will never again hug my daughter.” I asked, “Don’t you believe in the resurrection?” He said, “Of course.” I responded, “But the resurrection means you will hug your daughter again and again!”

Jesus said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). Our resurrection will follow the model of His (Philippians 3:20–21; 1 Corinthians 15:49). We will have the same bodies made new and perfect. Those who believe in the resurrection will grieve while consoling themselves that they will live forever with their Redeemer and their redeemed loved ones in their redeemed bodies on a redeemed earth!

We grieve the wrong way when we surrender ourselves to debilitating grief, allowing it to eclipse our love for God and others. Of course, most grief needs time, comfort, and counsel, not repentance. Still, if self-absorbed grief draws us further from Jesus, we need to repent, not only for God’s glory, but for our own good and that of our families. It’s a paradigm shift to learn neither to deny our losses nor be buried by them, but to bring them to the feet of Jesus who sympathizes with us and also empowers us (Hebrews 4:15–16).

Puritan John Flavel’s book Facing Grief says unhealthy grief can cause us to decrease our fellowship with God, and that we may even “find some kind of pleasure in rousing our sorrows,” or finding our identity in ongoing grief. When Jesus saw a paralyzed man He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6). It may seem a strange question, but we can develop vested interests in adverse conditions, including grief. We may all have to ask ourselves: “Do I want to get well?”

Good grief recognizes the reality of the loss, but it also recognizes, slowly but surely, that life goes on, and the pain lessens over time. “For everything there is a season. . . . A time to cry and a time to laugh. . . A time to grieve and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NLT).

God knows we need a season of grief. But a season is not a lifetime. He intends that we would also smile and laugh and dance again. There is no set timetable, but God wants us to find relief in Him.

Excerpted from Randy’s new minibook Grieving with Hope: Walking with Jesus in Heartbreak, now available from Eternal Perspective Ministries.

Are you facing a great loss? Perhaps a loved one or close friend has died. Great love brings great sorrow, and healthy sorrow recognizes the immensity of loss. But when death and loss come close, the temptation toward despair and hopelessness is often not far behind.

Author Randy Alcorn encourages you to go to God with all your sorrows and to remember that Jesus, your Good Shepherd, walks with you—a suffering Savior who is well acquainted with sorrow. No one can bypass grief, but you don't walk this dark valley alone. Jesus will lead you, and he guarantees that death is not the end and Heaven awaits. In Grieving with Hope, Randy gives perspective and practical advice to help readers on the grieving journey, so that in time, your grief will be accompanied by joy and hope.

Photo: Pexels

Is It Appropriate for Christians to Still Refer to Themselves as Sinners?

A reader of my book Heaven sent us this feedback:

On page 33 you wrote, "And all of us, like Adam and Eve, are sinners." I assume you were referring to the unsaved as sinners, not those who are followers of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul always opened up his letters and addressed believers as saints, though he knew they still sin as we all occasionally do. But to say that we who are saved are still “sinners” is to imply we couldn’t help but sin, the work of Christ on the cross is less than sufficient, and the power of the Holy Spirit is limited. Yes, we who are saved still sin, but we are not sinners. We are saints. If we are sinners before being saved and we are still called sinner AFTER we are saved, our new identity in Christ is moot.

The context of that sentence is the chapter “Can You Know You’re Going to Heaven?” The point is that none of us can accept Christ’s offer of salvation unless we first understand the problem—our desperate need to be rescued from the sin that separates us from God.

Once someone accepts Christ, I agree that our primary identity in Christ is that of saints, believers, and children of God. I wonder how often the key to questions like the one sent by this reader above is simple semantics. Someone might give a definition to sinner, which to that person means “I can’t help but sin,” while to me it means, “I sometimes do sin, and I need to remain humble about my need for a Savior.” As long as someone holds to that first definition of sinner, then I guess it would be wrong for them to call themselves or any Christian a sinner!

David Platt writes in Counter Culture:

[Jesus] has offered us a new identity–His identity. No longer separated from God, but now united with God. No longer stained by sin, but now clean from sin. No longer slaves, but now free. No longer guilty before God as Judge, but now loved by God as Father. No longer deserving eternal death, never to grasp all that God created us to be, but now having eternal life, experiencing more and more exactly who God has created us to be.

Several years ago, I did an article on the question of Sinless Perfectionism, and touched on the question of whether Christians should still refer to themselves as “sinners”:

In Romans 7, Paul is speaking as a believer he is, not the unbeliever he once was.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

He doesn’t say “what a wretched man I was,” but “am.”

Paul is recognizing that in the future he is going to be delivered from wrestling with the old sin nature. Yes, he is a new person in Christ. Absolutely. It’s not just a matter of two dogs who are in a fight within him, and one has equal powers with the other.

We should recognize and live in accordance with our redeemed identity in Christ. Yes, we are cleansed. Yes, we are new in Him. Yes, we are covered by the righteousness of Christ. We are His saints, His holy ones. But there are three tenses of salvation: we have been saved, we are being sanctified, and we will be glorified. Glorification still awaits us, when we enter the presence of God. When glorification happens, there will be complete sinlessness. But until that time, we are still sinners. Sanctification is very real, but it is not the same as glorification. Sanctification means having great progress and victory in our battles with sin. But it does not mean sinless perfectionism. That is reserved for glorification, which awaits us in Christ’s presence, but is not the state we are in now.  

That’s why in 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul says, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” Paul frequently spoke in the past tense, but here he spoke in the present tense. He doesn’t say “I was the worst” but “I am the worst.” The more godly someone is, the more he is aware of his sin. Not that there was literally no one who sinned as much as Paul, who was a righteous man, but that simply every righteous man is more familiar with his own sins than those of anyone else.

Look at the very godly people in history that include John Calvin, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, and Amy Carmichael—all of these people were very aware of their sinfulness and referred to their sinfulness. William Carey, the father of modern missions talked about his wretchedness and his sin. John Newton talked about being a wretch in his sinful state. But even at the very end of his life, after knowing Christ many years, he said, “I don’t remember too many things. But I do remember this: that I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” Not “I used to be a great sinner,” but that “I am a great sinner.”

Now, there is a danger in affirming our identity as sinners. Some people rationalize sin and end up saying, “It’s inevitable that I’m going to sin, so why bother trying not to?” God has given us the power of Christ so that we do not have to sin. We are empowered to live righteous lives. We can live righteously for some period of time, and sin is not inevitable.

The caution is worth repeating: if you are a believer, don’t fall into the mistake of thinking sin is inevitable, or that you are not fully responsible for your sins. Don’t say to yourself, “I’m just a sinner—it’s no big deal. We all sin all the time anyway. That’s normal, so I may as well sin this time too.” Don’t dare to commit sin reassuring yourself it doesn’t matter since Christ will forgive your sins anyway. Sin against God always matters. No sin is small that crucified Jesus.

Remind yourself you have died with Christ, you are raised with Christ, and you are a new person in Christ. Live a righteous life, calling upon His power. Never deny your capacity to sin. If you do, you deny the Word of God, and you set yourself up to make God a liar. The person who thinks he can’t sin won’t be careful to guard himself against sin.

Finally, see John Piper’s thoughts here.

Photo: Pexels

The Priceless Friendship of Jesus

Over the last two and a half years of grief since Nanci died, I have been sensing deeply the friendship of Jesus. What could be better than for Him to not only love us so much that He would die for us, but to actually call us His friends, and not just servants? That is so beautiful and meaningful to me.

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).

“The friendship of Yahweh is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (Psalm 25:14).

“For the devious are detestable to the LORD, but he is a friend to the upright” (Proverbs 3:32, CSB).

God looks at us genuinely as both His children and His friends. Incredible!  I share more thoughts in this clip from my interview with Rush Witt, on The Straight to the Heart podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzJ5ZxbjM9Y?si=f-NHBTDnXnRDuUiw

We should never deny or minimize the fact that we are God’s servants; that itself is a high calling. But we should simultaneously affirm the wondrous fact that we are His children and His friends—and also His heirs and delegated rulers of His creation. We are all of those simultaneously.

God can and does love His servants, but He certainly loves wholeheartedly His children and His friends. And He intends to do His best for us, even when that best takes a different form than we might have chosen.

See Randy's books  It's All About Jesus  and  Face to Face with Jesus .

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I Will Rise Again

This is a blast from the past, at least for those of us old enough to remember Dallas Holm and Praise, and his 1977 mega-hit “I Will Rise Again”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh_KFneobCM?si=1Lx4t1LekHVKY2tS

I have listened to “I Will Rise Again” multiple times recently, and it takes me back to a crucial time in my life. The song came out in 1977 which was the year Stu Weber and his wife Linda and my wife Nanci and I and many of our closest friends were planting our church, when I was 22 and Stu was 31. (Now I’m 70! You can do the math on Stu.) I vividly remember listening to that song repeatedly the first few years of our church, and it was a source of great blessing to Nanci and to me and to what became Good Shepherd Community Church.

Dallas wrote me not long ago to share that his wife Linda went home to Heaven in December after battling breast cancer for 37 years. He wrote on his website:

In going through Linda’s things in recent days, I came across several notebooks which she had written in over the years; usually as she was having her daily time of Bible study and prayer.

The following illuminates the depth of her understanding of Scripture and the level of intimacy she maintained always with our Lord and Savior.

In reading one verse in Proverbs 30:31 which describes things that are stately when they walk, she expressed herself fully from just the one line, “A king with his army around him.”

Linda wrote, “My mind went straight to You Lord, and how true this is. You are praised by Your army. Your army is made up of totally weak, inadequate, sinful people who have been pursued, redeemed, equipped, trained, and made ready by Your Blood, by Your Wisdom, by Your Strength, Your Love, and Your great Promises. You are lifted high. You Lord Jesus are so very generous. You give always and then You promise to share through eternity. Your ‘army’ brings nothing. We come to You sad and broken, full of rot, and You give joy for sins forgiven! You give wholeness in spirit, mind, and body. You give strength, wisdom, purpose, and You equip perfectly. You meet every need, each desire, and Your timing is perfect! My response is to bow in awe, to cry tears of amazement, to rejoice and express my gratefulness in living for You; displaying my relationship with You to those I come in contact with. Jesus…be lifted up! I place You high and look to You for everything. Great are You my King!”

Scripture says that, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Linda has spoken. Her words are saturated with Godly perspective and deep gratitude. I miss everything about Linda; her joy and laughter, her breathtaking beauty, her grace and poise, but most of all, her inner, spiritual strength and holy centeredness.

She was (and is) a truly amazing woman! I will see her again, and…next time it will be forever!

Thank you, Jesus, that Linda and Nanci and all who have placed their trust in you will not only be with you, and each other in your presence, but will one day rise and return with the One who rose again!  

Photo: Unsplash

Be Intentional, Curious, and Passionate Like Jesus

Note from Randy: Greg Stier has written a Christ-centered, biblically-grounded, and from-the-heart guide to what a normal Christian life should be, but for most of us is a radical one. His new book Radical like Jesus is a clear and engaging call to follow Him and share His good news with others. I highly recommend it. (Watch this video to see Greg sharing more about the book.)

Hope you enjoy this excerpt from Radical like Jesus.

To become radical like Jesus we must be intentional, passionate, and curious when it comes to spending time with the Father.

Nobody embodied this more than young Jesus. Although there is but one New Testament passage about him during his preteen and early teen years (see Luke 2:40-52), these thirteen verses are packed with insights about the boy-about-to-become-a-man and his singular passion to be with the Father.

In Jewish culture, the transition from boyhood to manhood took place at the age of thirteen. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus was twelve and on the brink of manhood. At the end of his family’s annual trip to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, he was left behind and found himself in the Temple courts for three days, asking questions of the rabbis and giving profound answers to their questions. By the time Mary and Joseph found him, there was a crowd of teachers surrounding him who were astounded by the gravitas of his answers and the penetrating profundity of his questions.

When Mary rebuked Jesus for his decision to stay in Jerusalem instead of traveling with the caravan back to Nazareth, he simply answered, “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (verse 49, NLT).

It is clear from this passage that Jesus was fully aware of who his real Father was—not Joseph, but Yahweh. It is also clear that Jesus longed to be with his Father in his house, the Temple.

Why did Jesus enjoy being in his Father’s house? Although a direct answer is not given in this verse, the underlying answer is hidden beneath the surface, waiting to be dug up.

Jesus longed to be where God’s Word was being publicly read and explained.

Jesus was asking questions, processing the teachers’ answers, honing his theology, and arriving at biblical conclusions. He was doing this before the best of the best—and they were shocked at his depth of understanding. The word used here for “understanding” in the original Greek is sunesis, which means “a bringing together.” The implication is that Jesus was utilizing synthesized reasoning to connect the dots in ways that bring deeper insights than the rabbinical teachers had previously considered.

If we want to learn to be like Jesus when it comes to being with our heavenly Father, there are three stark principles for us from this story: Be intentional. Be curious. Be passionate.

Be Intentional

Luke 2:41-42 says, “Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual” (emphasis added, NLT). The annual festivals were attended “as usual” by every committed Jew. In the Jewish culture, males were commanded to attend three festivals in person per year: Passover (also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles (see Exodus 23:14-19).

Yet Jesus had more than just three annual festival “as usuals” in his life. He most likely had personal times of learning from his earthly father, daily times of Torah mastery, weekly times of learning at the synagogue as a family, and, of course, his own time of meditation on God’s Word.

The Holy Scriptures were central to his “as usuals.” They were central to his time at the Temple and synagogue. They were central to his home life and personal life.

Are they central to yours?

We are living in a culture of Christianity where five-minute app devotionals (which are better than not having devotionals at all!) have replaced deep, reflective, and prayerful reading, study, and meditation on God’s Word.

Most Christians I know have never read the Bible cover to cover. They skim the top of texts like rocks skipping on water. But God desires us to plunge deeply into his Word, like a large anchor plummets to the depths of the ocean. Listen to the words of David:

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.

The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the honeycomb.

By them your servant is warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 19:7-11

God’s Word is perfect, refreshing, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, firm, righteous, precious, and sweet. David believed this. Jesus, the Son of David, believed this. They scoured the Scriptures because they believed this.

Do you believe this? Do your “as usuals” reflect this?

Your annual “as usuals” of spiritual retreats, Bible conferences, etc.
Your weekly “as usuals” of church attendance, Bible study, small group, etc.
Your daily “as usuals” of time reading and reflecting on God’s Word, journaling, etc.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” If we want to be like Jesus, then we must have habits like Jesus.

Jesus mastered Scripture. He read it, meditated on it, memorized it, and obeyed it. So should we.

Be intentional like Jesus. Make spending time with God in his Word your biggest “as usual.”

Be Curious

I was a troublesome student. I terrorized my teachers—not because I was not paying attention or because I was goofing around all the time (although I did a lot of that). No, I terrorized my teachers because if I didn’t understand a subject or a concept, I would relentlessly ask questions until they explained it well enough for me to understand. I’m a slow learner, but a determined one.

Jesus was a fast and determined learner. He was curious. His sharp mind, uninhibited by sin and distraction, worked so quickly that it astounded the top teachers of his time. Luke describes it this way: “Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (2:46-47, NLT).

Jesus asked questions and assimilated answers. He wrestled through subjects until he wrestled them fully to the ground and pinned them down.

We should have such an approach when we take time to be with our Father. Ask God hard questions, and wrestle through difficult subjects. Do the same with the preachers and teachers in your world. Be curious, and don’t stop asking hard questions until you get the answers from God’s Word—even if you’re a slow learner like me.

Be Passionate

Jesus was so passionate about being in his Father’s house and understanding his Father’s Word that he spent three days and nights in the Temple, without his family, as a twelve-year-old boy.

Where did Jesus sleep during these three days? How did he eat? Did he eat? Did he care?

It seems like the only thing on his mind was understanding God’s Word better. During these seventy-two hours, he relentlessly quizzed the rabbis. He was passionate to understand as much as he possibly could before his parents found him.

It wasn’t just the acquisition of knowledge. He didn’t want just to know more; he wanted to grow more, to love his Father with perfect love and obey him with perfect submission. That was his passion. That was his obsession. That’s what made food, sleep, rest, and the safety of being with Mom and Dad a distant second.

Jesus was passionate about being with the Father and knowing his Word.

I’m a passionate guy. When I preach, the veins in my neck pop and I sweat like Tommy Boy in a sauna with a broken thermostat. As someone once said, “When I preach, I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.”

But as passionate as I am about preaching, I want to be more passionate about my time with God in his Word.

We need to pick a time and place we meet with God every single day. That place becomes our version of our “Father’s house.”

My “Father’s house” is at the end of our long couch by the gas fireplace. Every morning, “as usual,” I meet him there. I seek to spend the first hour of every day with God. During this time, I pray, read his Word, meditate on it, and sometimes journal a prayer back to God about a verse that really communicates to me. I ask God the hard questions. I wrestle through difficult passages until the Holy Spirit, the ultimate teacher, helps me understand. And then I seek to put whatever truth I’ve learned that day into practice in some tangible way.

People often ask me if I ever went through a time of rebellion against God. I haven’t. To be sure, I have struggled with sin and faltered and failed, but I have never stopped fighting the good fight to be holy and to serve Christ.

When they ask how I can explain this, the only answer I can give them is that I am relentlessly in God’s Word every single day, seeking his will, asking him to fill me with his power to conquer the temptations of that day.

I have chosen to be in my Father’s house. And by God’s grace, I will never leave.

Join me there.

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