Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 37

Biblical Hope Is a Solid Certainty

Referencing the coming resurrection, Paul wrote, “For in this hope [of the redemption of our bodies] we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:24–25).

To many of us, “hope” sounds wishful and tentative, but biblical hope means to anticipate with trust. We expect a sure thing, purchased on the cross, accomplished and promised by an all-knowing God. Scripture offers solid ground for our hope in Christ. 

At times I am troubled when I use the word hope in writing about Heaven, which is why I will sometimes use the phrase “blood-bought hope” or “certain hope.” Yet even then, “certain hope” sounds like I should be using a different word than hope, because if it’s certain, it might seem as if it’s not really hope. However, the word hope historically and biblically means far more than what it has been reduced to today. To use the same word of hoping it’s a sunny day or that our favorite team wins the game or that the meal we’re cooking turns out well just doesn’t seem like the right word to use of something God has promised to us and purchased for us.

When Scripture speaks of peace, hope, justice, and love, it routinely attaches deeper and more Christ-centered meanings to those words than our culture does. For example, love is commonly used in superficial ways, as popular music has long demonstrated. People say they love hamburgers, hairstyles, and YouTube. They “make love” to someone they barely know. This means we must take pains to clarify what Scripture actually means by love, holiness, hope, peace, pleasure, and happiness. We should contrast the meaning in Scripture with our culture’s superficial and sometimes sinful connotations.

Got Questions explains the difference between the English use of “hope” and the words used in Scripture that are translated as hope:

The word hope in English often conveys doubt. For instance, “I hope it will not rain tomorrow.” In addition, the word hope is often followed by the word so. This is the answer that some may give when asked if they think that they will go to Heaven when they die. They say, “I hope so.” However, that is not the meaning of the words usually translated “hope” in the Bible.

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word batah and its cognates has the meaning of confidence, security, and being without care; therefore, the concept of doubt is not part of this word. We find that meaning in Job 6:20; Psalm 16:9; Psalm 22:9; and Ecclesiastes 9:4. In most instances in the New Testament, the word hope is the Greek elpis/elpizo. Again, there is no doubt attached to this word. Therefore, biblical hope is a confident expectation or assurance based upon a sure foundation for which we wait with joy and full confidence. In other words, “There is no doubt about it!”

The Christian worldview doesn’t offer some vague, tenuous hope that there might be eternal life and happiness. It offers the solid promise of an eternal relationship with a happy God whose love is so great it sent Him to the Cross to secure our eternal righteousness and thus our never-ending happiness. Knowing His redemptive design, God assures His children, “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Paul writes in Titus 2:13, “As we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (NET). Again, hope means not a wish, but a certain promise. Got Questions explains, “Biblical hope carries no doubt. Biblical hope is a sure foundation upon which we base our lives, believing that God always keeps His promises.”

Such solid hope is the light at the end of life’s tunnel. Not only does it make the tunnel endurable, it fills the heart with anticipation of the world into which we will one day emerge. Not just a better world, but a new and perfect world. A world alive, fresh, beautiful, and devoid of pain, suffering, and war; a world without disease, accident, and tragedy; a world without dictators and madmen. A world ruled by the only one worthy of ruling.

This hope isn’t an unrealistic dream or fantasy. Rather, it’s a solid expectation secured by the blood-bought promises of our Savior and King. After making the pledge that He will end all suffering and death, Christ, “who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:5, NIV).

Jesus was saying, “That’s my promise, permanently inscribed in the scars on my hands and feet.” In a world where little seems certain, this is a promise we can take to the bank!

Is resurrected living in a resurrected world with the resurrected Christ and His resurrected people your daily longing and solid hope? Is it part of the gospel you share with others? It will be the glorious climax of God’s saving work that began at our regeneration, and will mark the final end of any and all sin that separates us from God. In liberating us from sin and all its consequences, the resurrection will free us to live with God, gaze on Him, and enjoy His uninterrupted fellowship forever, with no threat that anything will ever again come between us and Him.

May God preserve us from embracing anything other than a biblical definition of our hope. May we rejoice as we anticipate the height, depth, length, and breadth of our redemption!

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

Photo by Omer Salom on Unsplash

What Forgiveness Is and Isn’t

Note from Randy: Dan Darling has a new book out titled Agents of Grace: How to Bridge Divides and Love as Jesus Loved. I deeply appreciate Dan and wholeheartedly concur with his call for greater love and grace among Bible-believing Christians.

Like many, I watched Dan go through his public ordeal that in my opinion never should have happened in a Christian ministry. Dan's experience brought back memories of the criticism I received from many believers when over thirty years ago I did what I believed to be right in God's sight, through intervention to save the lives of the unborn. “Friendly fire” doesn't seem very friendly when it leaves casualties in its wake.

This book is about our need to love God and in the process learn to love our fellow believers, including those we disagree with in secondary areas. I highly recommend Agents of Grace as a tool for fostering a more conciliatory spirit, and I hope you find this excerpt from the book helpful.

I often talk about the importance of forgiveness in my own life, and over the deep hurts I’ve endured. But inevitable questions about biblical forgiveness arise. Does forgiveness imply we ignore issues of justice and restitution? Does forgiveness absolve the guilt of the perpetrator? Does forgiveness imply reconciliation?

It’s important for us to understand what is demanded of us in forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the same thing as reconciliation, which requires two parties willing to come together.

Consider the story of Joseph. For a long time, when I read the narrative in Genesis, I could never understand why Joseph, as prime minister, put his brothers through what often seems a cruel series of tests. If, as he says in Genesis 50:20, he held no bitterness against them, why make them go through the paces of going back and forth from Egypt to Canaan? Why hide the cup in the brother’s bag? Why hold one of the brothers back as collateral? What is going on here?

In this example, I think we see in Joseph the difference between forgiveness—which releases our own souls from bitterness—and reconciliation. Before Joseph could truly be reconciled with his brothers, he had to see that they had shed the petty jealousies and rage that had motivated them to commit their heinous acts of violence in the first place.

Were his brothers remorseful for their treatment? Listen to the way they talk amongst themselves, with Joseph overhearing:

They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.” They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter (Genesis 42:21-23).

Clearly, the guilt they had carried for decades, the dirty secret that had hung over their hearts like a weighted blanket, was now being exposed in the light of day. They understood that God was forcing them to confront their sin and appeal for forgiveness and grace. Here are the seeds of reconciliation.

And yet Joseph had to continue to test them, to see if their remorse would lead to repentance and new patterns. Clearly it did. Instead of being brothers who cared only for their welfare, these men now plead on behalf of their youngest brother Benjamin. These were changed men to whom Joseph could trust his heart.

It’s important for us to understand there are levels of engagement when we’ve been seriously hurt, not all of which are possible to achieve in this life. Forgiveness is the first and most basic. Forgiveness is the act of being released from the bitterness of our pain and entrusting payback and vengeance to the one who fights for us. “Vengeance is mine” God tells us (Deuteronomy 32:25; Romans 12:17-19). James reminds us that the “wrath of man doesn’t bring about the righteousness God desires” (James 1:20).

Forgiveness means we refuse to let that other person live in our heads rent-free. Forgiveness means we refuse to work our hurt into every single conversation. Forgiveness means we don’t let bitterness cloud our judgement. This is why my friend Rich told me I had to forgive. He was telling me this for my own spiritual and physical health.

I’ve seen too many people destroyed by bitterness. And here’s the thing: unforgiveness not only affects our own souls, its acid also splashes onto our families, our friends, and our coworkers. Years ago, I had to make a decision. Would I model forgiveness for my family and for the small church I was called to lead, or would I let bitterness color my life? I’ve been up close and personal with too many leaders—powerful, gifted, brilliant leaders—who never got over their hurts. It hamstrung their leadership, making them fearful, isolated, and untrusting. Then they unwittingly inflicted it on others.

And yet, forgiveness is only the first level of engagement with those who have hurt us. The next level, I believe, is reconciliation. But this is often more complicated. In Joseph’s case, it happened because his brothers also engaged and were willing to embrace repentance and restitution. This is not always possible. Romans 12:18 says “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” If it is possible, as far as it depends on you.

Sometimes, many times, reconciliation is not available. I’ve had relationships where I’ve forgiven and there is a measure of peace that God has brought to my heart and soul over time, but full reconciliation was not yet possible because there was not a reciprocal effort to make peace.

Sometimes forgiveness is used as a weapon, for instance, to force victims to drop criminal charges against their abusers. But this isn’t what forgiveness is at all. Forgiveness doesn’t erase the demands of justice, it merely takes the instruments of vengeance out of our hands and releases our perpetrators to “the judge of the earth who deals justly” (Genesis 18:25).

I also believe there is a third level of engagement beyond reconciliation that is even harder to achieve. This is trust. You can forgive and even be reconciled in the relationship, but it takes a lot to earn back trust. This happens in broken marriages, where one partner has violated the marriage covenant. The offended spouse should forgive her husband, she might even be reconciled, after counseling and repentance on his part. But trust—the ability to know that you won’t be hurt again by the one who hurt you—that takes a lot of years and patience.

Consider when Joseph’s brothers addressed him in Genesis 50. This was decades after he’d forgiven them, after they were reconciled and living side-by-side in Egypt. Yet they still wondered if, after their father Jacob died, he was just waiting to enact his vengeance on them. They repeated their father’s deathbed wish, that Joseph would forgive them of their sins against him.  In response, Joseph not only promised he would not take action against them, he also pledged to take care of them financially and materially. He even entrusted them to carry out his dying wish: to take his bones back to the land of his father.

This level of trust, beyond forgiveness, beyond reconciliation, is the fruit of years of faithful actions by both parties to restore confidence. Too often we collapse these three concepts into one. But while forgiveness can happen in any situation, we can’t force reconciliation where it’s not possible, and we should be wise with whom we place our trust.

If the church treasurer steals money from the church coffers, the church should forgive him.  That doesn’t mean he should be restored to his former position when he hasn’t yet earned the trust to handle the people’s money again. Forgiveness also doesn’t mean people who have abused authority or committed moral failures should automatically be restored to their former positions. Sometimes, after years of restitution, people deserve a second chance. But we should be careful who we put in positions of power again. Again, God’s grace is free and unlimited for our failures, but God never guarantees a return to the stage.

I can say today that I’ve forgiven and am at peace with those in my life who have deeply hurt me. That is the fruit of God’s gracious work in my heart. I carry no bitterness or ill will. And I can say that almost all of my relationships are restored. But there are some folks whom I still have a hard time trusting….and that’s OK.

Photo by Bro Takes Photos on Unsplash

The Image of God, Race, Ethnicity, and Future Nations on the New Earth

A reader responded to a blog post we shared several years ago by one of our EPM staff members, who encouraged readers to look for opportunities to love and serve people from other cultures. This person’s comments touched on the image of God, race, and the future of nations and ethnicities in eternity. I’m sharing my thoughts in response, as I think they may have a wider application to other readers.

“The image of God is not a corporate reality, but an individual reality. Otherwise, you can’t say that an individual is totally made in the image of God.”

The commenter is referring to my quoting Richard Mouw, who said:

“There is no one human individual or group who can fully bear or manifest all that is involved in the image of God, so that there is a sense in which that image is collectively possessed. …By looking at different individuals and groups we get glimpses of different aspects of the full image of God.” 

Of course, we all know that each individual is made in God’s image. Mouw, and other biblical scholars, hold the same position that says the infinite character of God is more fully represented in a number and variety of His image bearers than in just one.

Adam and Eve were both made in God’s image, but more of God could be seen in the two of them than in Adam alone. This is one of the reasons it wasn’t good for man to be alone. So we are fully made in God’s image, but being finite, the fullness of God’s image is more fully seen in a community of image bearers, who can together give a larger picture of who God is. We may see God’s grace more evident in one person, His justice in another, His mercy in yet another.

Can’t we sometimes see aspects of God in men that we don’t always see in women? Can’t we sometimes see aspects of God in women that we don’t always see in men? Or can’t we see them in children more than adults? Having worshipped with Kenyan, Egyptian, Greek, Hungarian, German, Swiss, Chinese, Cambodian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Jewish (and others) believers in their countries, my awe and worship of God, and understanding of Him, did not contract but expand.

“Experiencing other cultures is not like experiencing Heaven. Last I checked, the reason we have different cultures and nations and ethnicities and languages is because we are cursed. That’s right, all those things that you’re reveling in are results of sin (Tower of Babel). Heaven undoes all of those things by uniting people from different cultures, languages, ethnicities, and nations into one people with one language with one culture in one kingdom that does not recognize ethnicity.”

In Genesis 11:4 we read of the sin surrounding the building of Babel: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” The thing they were trying to avoid is exactly what God had commanded—to spread out over the earth.

By gathering together in one location, people were opposing God’s mandate to multiply and have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28), which implied expansion, not a centralized existence in one location.

In fact, after the flood God repeated this to Noah and his family, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). So when God gave them different languages to spread them out, He helped facilitate His original design.

Babel was not “the curse.” The curse happened with the first sin, in Genesis 3. What God did to Babel in Genesis 11 was a judgment. But the judgment had a sovereign purpose, and ultimately a redemptive one. The results were primarily good, since it stopped, or at least thwarted, the prideful human desire to centralize and exalt ourselves.

Also, this objection assumes that ethnicities came about as a direct result of God’s judgment at Babel. But the biblical text doesn’t say that. Genesis 11, the Babel passage, deals only with languages. There are different theories that suggest that the different language groups, spreading out to different places, naturally interbred and over time their limited gene pools developed distinctives, some of which might have been influenced by their environments.

But this is hypothetical. In any case, there is no statement in Scripture that God changed people’s skin colors when he gave them different languages. However and whenever those skin colors came about, God as the Creator governed them in the same way He did the different languages. So we should not view skin colors as the result of the curse. God designed human DNA and built into our genes the capacities for skin color differences. (This article presents different theories of how this all happened.)

I am concerned that if someone believes that ethnicity is the result of a curse, it’s a quick movement to thinking some races are more or less cursed than others, which sadly has happened in church history. Furthermore, are we to consider different languages as sinful? Obviously not. There is no single good language, nor are there any inherently bad ones.

We shouldn’t dismiss God’s design and glory that’s evident in different ethnicities. This implies that nothing under the curse can reflect God’s design or sovereign purpose. Biblically that’s not the case. Was God glorified by the redemption of Jesus that could only occur in a fallen world? Is He glorified by the redemption of people of every tribe and nation and language that all developed in a cursed world? Of course. The curse did not tie our Creator and Redeemer’s hands.  

Paul said of God, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (Acts 17:26). Since God is God over all, including the fallen world, ultimately He—not the Curse—made all the nations. He is intimately involved in ethnicity and nations and even locations.

As Creator, doesn’t God put together the fine details of every person’s identity, not just David’s (Psalm 139:13-14)? The fact that I may be a different color than you does not mean that one of us is more or less made in God’s image than the other. We are equal in our humanity; equal in the fact that we are all sinners, living in a world under the curse; and equal that Jesus came to die for us and offer us eternal life.

It is incorrect that Heaven does not recognize ethnicity. (Wasn’t the risen Jesus still genetically a Jew? Or was His DNA altered to become a non-ethnic entity?) In Revelation 7:9-10, John says this about what he saw in Heaven: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Something similar is said in Revelation 5:9.

These are not people who were once of or formerly of different tribes, nations, and languages, but people who John could clearly identify as such. Not only visually, but perhaps he heard them praising God in these different languages.

“Tribe” is an ethnic term. The beauty is not that Heaven doesn’t recognize ethnicity—it clearly does—but that people of all ethnicities are among the redeemed, and they are one in Christ and worship Him in concert! Heaven is NOT based on uniformity, but on a Christ-centered unity that embraces and celebrates differences.

When we gather with God’s redeemed from other cultures we receive a sneak-peak of Heaven. I have experienced this often as I’ve joined believers around the world in worship, even when I didn’t know their language. People of different ethnicities and languages and nations bring something to the table that those of a single culture do not.

I appreciated these thoughts that another commenter, Kristen, left on Facebook:

Shouting praises to God with one voice/tongue doesn’t mean we will lose our other languages any more than I lose my English language skills when I worship in other countries but use their local language, singing and praying in unison. It just means that we will have the ability to sing in a unity we’ve never experienced on Earth. God is so much bigger than we can grasp and Heaven will contain so much more than we can imagine! I get thrilled when I think of what we will learn in Heaven, but that doesn’t mean we will lose any element of what we’ve learned here on Earth. 

“There is only one human race, so can we please stop saying there are multiple races? Christians need to use precise language.”

First, our staff member’s article didn’t use the word “race.” It was about people of different cultures. I used the word in my introduction to her article. Obviously we’re all aware there is only one human race. But the word “race,” like most terms, means different things in different contexts. The English term “races” still exists, and finding a substitute isn’t always easy. Ethnicity? Color? Geographic region of origin? One can be nationally or ethnically English, but black or white, with ancestors from various parts of the world. Terms such as Mexican-American combine ethnicity and nationality. It’s fine to prefer other synonyms to the word “race,” but we should realize the word has a long and established history and people will still talk about “race relations,” “racial unity,” “racial prejudice,” “racial reconciliation,” etc.

Again, my thanks to commenter Kristen for her thoughts on this:

…to ignore the commonly accepted usage of the word “race”—and risk the appearance of ignoring the serious problems associated with it—is neither wise nor healthy. Promoting racial peace has been an issue long before our time because people see differences, label them and then spew hate in regards to them. We can’t demand “precise language” without acknowledging the reality of what “imprecise language” does to our world.

“Ethnicity and background should never even cross our minds when we meet another believer. Unfortunately, we’re being told that the first thing we need to notice about someone in a local church is their skin color.”

I disagree. First of all, it obviously does and will cross our mind, and it’s silly to think we can or should close our eyes to differences.

Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). What he’s saying is that we are all equal and should be in unity with each other. He doesn’t mean racial identity and gender and slavery do not exist. The same Paul speaks openly of Jewish and Gentile believers (Romans 2:10; 9:3-4), slaves and free believers (Philemon is free, Onesimus is a slave), and male and female believers (Ephesians 5:22, 25).

The notion of being “colorblind” doesn’t lend itself to oneness but to blindness. It suggests that if we recognize or admit differences we would be forced to say some are better than others. No, we should recognize the differences and celebrate that God’s image-bearers come in all shapes and sizes and colors, and we are the beneficiaries of His providence in creating us this way. (See Trillia Newbell’s excellent article 4 Reasons You Shouldn’t Be Colorblind.)

Saying someone’s skin color shouldn’t even cross our minds is like saying I shouldn’t notice whether I’m talking to a man or a woman, or that it’s somehow wrong to notice a man is 6’8” or 4’8”. What is wrong is when I judge or stereotype or think less of him, or more of him, because of a physical attribute. I can certainly thank God for creating diversity.

What about noticing someone is disabled, and looking for a way to assist them if needed? What about noticing someone is young or old, and they too may need my help? If I see someone of a different skin color at a store, staring at American money the same way I stared at Chinese money when I was in China, I should offer help. But I won’t if I fail to notice them.

To say that we are all image-bearers is NOT to deny we have differences. It is to say we who are different are all human, and we who are believers are, as Paul puts it, one in Christ. Not ceasing to be male or female, or ceasing to be whatever race we were created as, but fully united regardless of our differences. The glory of God is greater because people of different tribes, nations, and languages of different times and places will be forever united in Jesus.

“Scripture does plainly show that cultures, nations, languages, and ethnicities are A. a result of sin (Tower of Babel), and B. going to be undone in eternity. Yes, in eternity there will be people ‘from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation,’ but these people have been united as one people making up one nation with one language.”

How are we to be united into one family? Through the obliteration of our differences? The elimination of our uniquenesses? All skin colors blended into one so we all look the same?

No. “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut…” (Revelation 21:23-25). The nations, with their different ethnicities and languages, regardless of their origins under the curse of Babel, are the creation of God Himself. In their redeemed versions it appears they will forever continue.

I share some more thoughts about nations on the New Earth in this video:

Photo by Anna Nekrashevich

If a Vacation Is Worth Planning and Anticipating, How Much More Should We Anticipate Life in Heaven?

In his early twenties, Jonathan Edwards composed a set of life resolutions. One read, “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can.”

Some may think it odd and inappropriate that Edwards was so committed to pursuing happiness for himself in Heaven. But Pascal was right when he said, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end.” And if we all seek happiness, why not do as Edwards did and seek it where it can actually be found—in the person of Jesus and the place called Heaven?

Tragically, however, most people do not find their joy in Christ and Heaven. In fact, many people find no joy at all when they think about Heaven.

A pastor once confessed to me, “Whenever I think about Heaven, it makes me depressed. I’d rather just cease to exist when I die.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp . . . it’s all so terribly boring. Heaven doesn’t sound much better than Hell. I’d rather be annihilated than spend eternity in a place like that.”

Where did this Bible-believing, seminary-educated pastor get such a view of Heaven? Certainly not from Scripture, where Paul said to depart and be with Christ was far better than staying on a sin-cursed Earth (Philippians 1:23). My friend was more honest about it than most, yet I’ve found that many Christians share the same misconceptions about Heaven.

After reading my novel Deadline, which portrays Heaven as a real and exciting place, a woman wrote me, “I’ve been a Christian since I was five. I’m married to a youth pastor. When I was seven, a teacher at my Christian school told me that when I got to Heaven, I wouldn’t know anyone or anything from earth. I was terrified of dying. I was never told any different by anyone. . . . It’s been really hard for me to advance in my Christian walk because of this fear of Heaven and eternal life.”

Let those words sink in: “This fear of heaven and eternal life.” Referring to her recently transformed perspective, she said, “You don’t know the weight that’s been lifted off of me. . . . Now I can’t wait to get to Heaven.”

Our Unbiblical View of Heaven

There’s a great deal I don’t know, but one thing I do know is what people think about Heaven. And frankly, I’m alarmed.

I agree with this statement by John Eldredge in The Journey of Desire: “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service. . . . We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? That’s it? That’s the good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.”

Gary Larson captured a common misperception of Heaven in one of his Far Side cartoons. In it a man with angel wings and a halo sits on a cloud, doing nothing, with no one nearby. He has the expression of someone marooned on a desert island with absolutely nothing to do. A caption shows his inner thoughts: “Wish I’d brought a magazine.”

What a contrast to the perspective Charles Spurgeon had on death: “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”

Trying to develop an appetite for a disembodied existence in a non-physical Heaven is like trying to develop an appetite for gravel. What God made us to desire, and therefore what we do desire if we admit it, is exactly what He promises to those who follow Jesus Christ: a resurrected life in a resurrected body, with the resurrected Christ on a resurrected Earth. Our desires correspond precisely to God’s plans. It’s not that we want something, so we engage in wishful thinking that what we want exists. It’s the opposite—the reason we want it is precisely because God has planned for it to exist. Resurrected people living in a resurrected universe isn’t our idea—it’s God’s.

An Eternal Destination beyond Compare

Louis Berkhof’s classic Systematic Theology devotes thirty-eight pages to creation, forty pages to baptism and communion, and fifteen pages to what theologians call “the intermediate state” (where people abide between death and resurrection).  Yet it contains only two pages on Hell and one page on the eternal state.

When all that’s said about the eternal Heaven is limited to page 737 of a 737-page systematic theology like Berkhof’s, it raises a question: Does Scripture really have so little to say? Are there so few theological implications to this subject? The biblical answer, I believe, is an emphatic no!

In The Eclipse of Heaven, theology professor A. J. Conyers writes, “Even to one without religious commitment and theological convictions, it should be an unsettling thought that this world is attempting to chart its way through some of the most perilous waters in history, having now decided to ignore what was for nearly two millennia its fixed point of reference—its North Star. The certainty of judgment, the longing for heaven, the dread of hell: these are not prominent considerations in our modern discourse about the important matters of life. But they once were.”

Conyers argues that until recently the doctrine of Heaven was enormously important to the church. Belief in Heaven was not just a nice auxiliary sentiment. It was a central, life-sustaining conviction.

Sadly, even for countless Christians, that is no longer true.

We’re told how to get to Heaven, and that it’s a better destination than Hell, but we’re taught remarkably little about Heaven itself. Let’s change that! If a trip to Hawaii (or any other location that makes you smile) is worth planning and anticipating and ultimately enjoying, how much more should we plan for, anticipate, and ultimately enjoy Heaven?

J. C. Ryle wrote, “It would be strange indeed if you did not desire information about your new abode. Now surely, if we hope to dwell for ever in that ‘better country, even a heavenly one,’ we ought to seek all the knowledge we can get about it. Before we go to our eternal home we should try to become acquainted with it.”

“I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29, NIV). That’s worth looking forward to!

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

Photo by Joshua Humpfer on Unsplash

If There Is No God, Why Is There So Much Good in the World?

I first posted about “the problem of goodness” on my blog 14 years ago, but it is still relevant to conversations I’m having today with others (nothing has changed other than the fact that I am 14 years older!). People always talk about the problem of evil, and how it threatens the Christian worldview, but they almost never talk about the problem of goodness and how it threatens non-Christian worldviews, including the evolutionary framework, survival of the fittest, materialism, and naturalism. That people would sacrificially do great good for the benefit of others —who naturalism sees as weak links in the chain that deserve to cease to exist—is absolutely extraordinary and cries out for an explanation. —Randy

While atheists routinely speak of the problem of evil, they usually don’t raise the problem of goodness. But if evil provides evidence against God, then shouldn’t goodness count as evidence for Him? And wouldn’t that be evidence against atheism? 

From a non-theistic viewpoint, what is evil? Isn’t it just nature at work? In a strictly natural, physical world, shouldn’t everything be neither good nor evil? Good and evil imply an “ought” and an “ought not” that nature is incapable of producing.

Augustine summarized the argument in two great questions: “If there is no God, why is there so much good? If there is a God, why is there so much evil?” To many, only the second question occurs. But the first is just as important. If a good God doesn’t exist, what is goodness’s source?

We have no logical reason to take good for granted; its existence demands an explanation. Much of the good of this world, such as the beauty of a flower or the grandeur of a waterfall or the joy of an otter at play, serves no more practical purpose than great art. It does, however, serve a high purpose of filling us with delight, wonder, and gratitude.

Why does anyone feel gratitude? And why do people, even irreligious survivors of a plane crash, so often thank God? Do people thank time, chance, and natural selection for the good they experience? No, because innately we see life as a gift from God.

People speak of gratuitous evil. But what about gratuitous good—purely impractical, over-the-top good that seems to have no explanation?

That we don’t question good’s existence affirms we consider good the norm and evil the exception.

Don’t evil and suffering grab our attention precisely because they are not the norm in our lives? We “get the flu” because we normally don’t have it. We break an arm that normally remains unbroken. Our shock at evil testifies to the predominance of good. Headlines we consider terrible wouldn’t be headlines if they described usual events. At any given time, fewer people are at war than at peace. Even in the bloody twentieth century, a person had less than a 2 percent chance of dying from war or violent civil strife.

The atheist who points out the horrors of evil unwittingly testifies to good as the norm. When we speak of children dying, we acknowledge they usually don’t. When a natural disaster hits, 99 percent of the world remains untouched. Most people in the world go through a lifetime without personally experiencing a devastating natural disaster. Fatal car accidents and murder are rare, relatively speaking. Though fallen, nature still contains more beauty than ugliness.

Without God, the world would be amoral, with no objective goodness or evil.

I heard Christopher Hitchens say in a debate, “The world looks as it would if there were no God.” But if there were no God, would you really expect this world to look just as it does? I don’t think so.

Where does goodness come from? How could it come from nothing? Why would people have such a strong sense of right and wrong? Why would the powerful sometimes sacrifice their lives to save the weak, handicapped, and dying?

Evolution can explain greed, selfishness, insensitivity, survival-preoccupation, and even a certain amount of ruthlessness; but does anything in the blind evolutionary process explain demonstrating kindness, putting other people first, and even risking your life to help a stranger? If so, what? How much good should we expect to see in an impersonal, self-generated world of mere molecules, chemicals, and natural forces?

A system that operates on brute strength, genetic superiority, and the survival of the fittest can explain and justify racism, sexism, and oppression. But it cannot explain goodness, humility, kindness, compassion, and mercy, especially when exercised on behalf of the weak and dying. What should surprise atheists is not that powerful people crush those weaker than themselves—that would be entirely natural. The surprise is that powerful people would sacrifice their welfare to aid the weak. And yet, that very thing often happens. Why?

Despite its current flaws, the world’s beauty and goodness testify to a Creator who designed it with order and purpose.

Adapted from Randy’s book If God Is Good.

Photo by Jess Loiterton

 

What Are Common Objections to the Idea That God Wants Christians to Experience Happiness in Him?

In “Should Christians Desire to Be Happy?”, I shared that the belief that Christ is the answer to our deep longing for happiness can be credited to scholars, preachers, and teachers from every generation and from all denominational backgrounds. Despite being from different theological persuasions, they have generally agreed with these ideas:

All people desire happiness.
The gospel of Jesus Christ offers people both eternal happiness and present happiness.
God’s glory and our happiness are inextricably linked—both are parts of His design and plan.
God is glorified when we are happy in Him, so our happiness shouldn’t be compared to or weighed against His glory but seen as part of it.
God desires our happiness—He’s the source of it and went to inconceivable lengths to bring His happiness to us.

I’m used to pushback since writing my books on happiness, as this topic is rife with misunderstandings and half-truths. Not surprisingly, several commenters on Facebook mentioned some common objections, including that God calls us to joy, not to happiness; that happiness is fickle and fleeting; and that wanting to be happy leads us into sin, etc. One of our EPM staff responded to the comments and questions by sharing links to past articles we’ve done. I appreciate all the effort made in responding, and I feel these answers deserve a wider audience.

As always, we welcome comments and feedback from readers, including those who disagree with my blogs! But I wanted to share these comments anonymously because they represent many who are struggling with this way of thinking, which is common.

Should We Seek Joy, Not Happiness?

One commenter said, “Happiness is a feeling that is fickle. Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit and stays.” Another said, “There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on outside circumstances. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Joy comes from that deep relationship with Jesus Christ. There should be no issue with being joyful.”

The EPM staff wrote, “That’s definitely one of the misconceptions in modern Christianity that Randy addressed in his book on this topic. See Is There a Difference Between Happiness and Joy?”

This is probably the number one response I hear related to happiness. The Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology defines joy as “happiness over an unanticipated or present good.” The Dictionary of Bible Themes defines happiness as “a state of pleasure or joy experienced both by people and by God.” Happiness is joy. Joy is happiness. Virtually all dictionaries, whether secular or Christian, recognize this.

John Piper writes, “If you have nice little categories—joy is what Christians have and happiness is what the world has—you can scrap those when you go to the Bible because the Bible is indiscriminate in its uses of the language of happiness and joy and contentment and satisfaction.” And Joni Eareckson Tada says something similar. She writes, “Scripture uses the terms interchangeably along with words like ‘delight,’ ‘gladness,’ ‘blessed.’ There is no scale of relative spiritual values applied to any of these.”

Is Happiness Fleeting?

Along the same lines, another commenter wrote, “…happiness is fleeting. We should appreciate the times when we are happy, but life is full of different emotions, and we can be at peace knowing that God is with us in the midst of each of them.”

Our staff wrote, “That idea of a God-given peace and contentment reflects the deeper kind of happiness Randy is talking about here, as opposed to happiness as the world defines and experiences it. He shares some thoughts here about the contrast in Four Reasons Christians Distinguish Between Happiness and Joy.”

Does Promoting Happiness Run the Risk of Promoting Sin?

This one isn’t so much an objection, but a legitimate point worth addressing: “One thing to watch for, and I’ve seen people actually advocate it, is, ‘God wants me to be happy, therefore I can justify any sin.’ Of course, the piece isn’t saying this, but it’s related.”

Our staff responded:

Yes, for sure. A parallel example is how our culture defines love in ways that are contrary to God's design. But the problem isn't love, which is a gift from God; it's how our culture has redefined it in sinful ways.

Randy writes, “As a young pastor, I preached, as others still do, ‘God calls us to holiness, not happiness.’ There’s a half-truth in this. I saw Christians pursue what they thought would make them happy, falling headlong into sexual immorality, alcoholism, materialism, and obsession with success. I was attempting to oppose our human tendency to put preferences and convenience before obedience to Christ. It all sounded so spiritual, and I could quote countless authors and preachers who agreed with me. I’m now convinced we were all dead wrong. There were several flaws in my thinking, including inconsistency with my own experience. I’d found profound happiness in Christ; wasn’t that from God? Furthermore, calling people to reject happiness in favor of holiness was ineffective. It might work for a while but not in the long run. Tony Reinke gets it right: ‘Sin is joy poisoned. Holiness is joy postponed and pursued.’”

And as Randy put it in his blog: “Being happy in God and living righteously tastes far better for far longer than sin does. When my hunger and thirst for joy is satisfied by Christ, sin becomes unattractive. I say no to immorality not because I hate pleasure but because I want the enduring pleasure found in Christ.”

And I would add that when we chose to walk in holiness, at times we postpone immediate happiness for a greater and more lasting happiness—for instance, by abstaining from sex before marriage. But if chose sin and reject holiness, any joy or happiness or satisfaction will quickly fade and will ultimately not bring us joy but rob us of it. This is the “fleeting pleasures of sin” Scripture speaks of (Hebrews 11:25).

Also see Sin Brings Unhappiness, Righteousness Brings Happiness.

Should Our Focus Only Be on Holiness?

Similarly, another commenter said, “I’ve been taught that we’re here to live to work towards being holy, not happy, although happiness can be a side effect of knowing and following Christ.”

Our EPM staff said, “Randy writes here about true holiness and true happiness in Christ are intertwined: Why We Don't Need to Choose Between Happiness and Holiness.”

Too often our message to the world becomes a false gospel that lays upon people an impossible burden: to be a Christian, you must give up wanting to be happy and instead choose to be holy. If given a choice, people will predictably choose what appears to be the delightful happiness of the world over the dutiful holiness of church. Satan tries to rig the game by leading us to believe we can’t have both happiness and holiness. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, happiness and holiness are inseparable. “Give up happiness; choose holiness instead” is not good news, and therefore it is not the “good news of happiness” spoken of in Scripture (Isaiah 52:7)!

Are We Supposed to Bubble over with Happiness, Even in Suffering?

This subject didn’t come up in the discussion on Facebook, but one objection I’ve also heard is that sharing about happiness is insensitive, not taking into consideration the pain of living in a fallen world. The assumption seems to be that the kind of happiness I’m talking about is some bubbly, Pollyanna-ish state that ignores or minimizes suffering.

On the contrary, Christ-followers don’t preach the flimsy kind of happiness that’s built on wishful thinking. Instead, our basis for happiness remains true—and sometimes becomes clearer—in suffering. Until Christ cures this world, our happiness in Christ will be punctuated by sorrow. Yet somehow an abiding joy is possible even in suffering. Christians are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Rejoicing always in the Lord (see Philippians 4:4) may seem unrealistic at times. But we must remember that this rejoicing is centered not in a passing circumstance but in a constant reality—God Himself, and His Son, Jesus, who died for us and rose again. Nothing about the biblical call to rejoice in the Lord always, and rejoice in all circumstances, denies the reality of pain and grief. God understands it, and in fact, God endured it more than any other person in human history in the person of Christ on the cross.

See Is It Possible to Be Happy in Christ Despite Suffering? and The Early Christians Experienced Happiness in Christ Despite Suffering; So Can We.

The Good News: in Jesus, We Are Offered Eternal Happiness

It was great to read this person’s insights:

I was raised to believe happiness was worldly. Stripping away “the world” was obedience and holiness. Those were the respected believers in the church. Wow! God wasn’t much fun. Years later, God peels away my actions and hardness of heart to reveal His awesome love towards me. Nothing I do has anything to do with this mind-bending love. It’s unearned, and Jesus’s blood sealed it and covered me. Now all happiness and joy [are] from His hand and I worship Him for [that] daily. I serve a GOOD God!

And this one: “Mind boggling that our Great Savior is concerned that much with our welfare that He would go to such great lengths to ensure His children are happy. It is still just hard for me to believe about Him. Mind blowing.”

Mind-blowing indeed. And such good news. I believe many of our misconceptions about happiness come from a misunderstanding God’s character. If God is not happy, then He cannot be our source of happiness. He cannot give us what He does not have. An unhappy God would never value the happiness of His creatures. And we would have no reason to believe we would enjoy everlasting happiness in His presence.

This is why I give considerable attention to the biblical teaching that God is happy in my books Happiness and Does God Want Us to Be Happy? Only when we understand this can we believe that God wants us to be happy. For more, see: Exploring the Happiness of Jesus and Christ, the Wisdom of God.

May we today, in our own lives and families and churches, add our names to the list of Christ-followers throughout the ages who believed that God is happy, that Jesus His Son is happy, and that the gospel we believe and embrace and share with others is a happy one.

Photo by Irina Iriser on Unsplash

God Is Sovereign Whether We Choose to Believe It or Not

I don’t know whether the builder of the Titanic really said, “God himself couldn’t sink this ship,” but I do know that human arrogance daily makes foolish claims that beg to be disproven. Many centuries before Napoleon’s conquest of Britain was thwarted by a providentially timed rainstorm, another arrogant ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, made a humbling discovery. God promised to take Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom from him for a time, and told him, “Your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:26). That’s exactly what happened, and the truly humbled king afterward insisted that God “does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35).

Our God is sovereign.

One helpful definition of God’s sovereignty affirms that everything is under God’s rule and that nothing in the universe happens unless He either causes or permits it.

Theologian Abraham Kuyper explained, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine’!”

“Dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28). Because God has absolute power, no one—including demons and humans who choose to violate His moral will—can thwart His ultimate purpose.

Paul wrote, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). What does “everything” not include?

Even what appears random is not: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from Yahweh” (Proverbs 16:33). If we believe this, our reaction to many of the difficulties we face will change. Problems will seem smaller, for although we can’t control them, we know God can—and that everything will work out for His glory and our good.

God is sovereign over evil and disaster.

Though evil had no part in God’s original creation, it was part of His original plan, because redemption from evil was part of His plan. Therefore, Scripture doesn’t distance God from disasters and secondary evils the way His children often do. Amos 3:6 says, “When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?” A description of natural disasters follows in Amos 4:6–12, where God says He intended these not only as punishment but also as discipline designed to draw His people back to Himself. (These passages have specific contexts in which God is bringing judgment on His people; they do not prove that all disasters are God’s judgment.)

Satan may bring about a “natural” disaster, but the book of Job makes clear that God continues to reign, even while selectively allowing Satan to do evil things.

Evil never takes God by surprise, nor makes Him helpless.

God isn’t the author of evil, but He is the author of a story that includes evil. In His sovereignty, He intended from the beginning to permit evil, then to turn evil on its head and use it for a redemptive good. God didn’t devise His redemptive plan on the fly, simply making the best of events that spiraled out of His control.

God is sovereign in the outworking of historical events.

Jesus declared that some events “must” happen, in line with Scripture and God’s sovereign will, among them, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21).

Because of what the triune God knew and decided in eternity past, Jesus not only might or could go to the cross, but had to. God chose.

Peter, speaking to a Jerusalem crowd, said of Christ, “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). God planned His redemptive work and did what was necessary to make it happen.

God is sovereign over disabilities and diseases.

Every day since 1985 I’ve had to deal with the implications of my insulin-dependent diabetes. As a result, I recognize my absolute dependence on God. This has drawn me closer to Him, and I’m deeply grateful.

Some Christians try to distance God from disabilities, arguing that if we attribute them to the sovereign hand of God, we’re making Him out to be a monster. This argument doesn’t change what Exodus 4:11 actually says with startling clarity, that God directly claims to give people their disabilities: “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?’”

I may fail to understand it, but if the Bible is my authority, don’t I have to believe it? I’ve spoken with many disabled people who didn’t find comfort until they came to believe God made them as they are.

My brilliant friend David O’Brien lived with a severe form of cerebral palsy since birth, and yet he demonstrated joy that transcended his body’s bondage.

At a conference for the disabled, David commented, “If Christ had to suffer to be made complete, how can we expect not to have some form of suffering?” Then he said something unforgettable: “God tailors a package of suffering best suited for each of his own.”

David spoke the following, in words difficult to understand, yet prophetically clear: “Dare I question God’s wisdom in making me the way I am?”

Skeptics may say of disabled believers, “They’re denying reality and finding false comfort. If there’s a God who loves them, he wouldn’t treat them like this.”

David’s audience found better reasons to believe and worship the sovereign God who purchased their resurrection with His blood—and who offers them comfort and perspective—than to believe the skeptics who’ve purchased nothing for them and offer only hopelessness.

We can trust God’s loving sovereignty in every hardship.

Benjamin B. Warfield taught at Princeton Seminary for thirty-four years until his death in 1921. Students still read his books today yet few know his story. On their honeymoon, lightning struck his wife, Annie, permanently paralyzing her. Warfield cared for her until she died. Because of her extreme needs, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during thirty-nine years of marriage.

Warfield viewed his personal trials through the lens of Romans 8:28–29 and wrote this:

The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. …If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good.… And He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us.

Really, Dr. Warfield? Only good from all that befalls us? Warfield spoke from the playing field of suffering, answering an emphatic yes to the loving sovereignty of God.

Our state of mind determines whether the doctrine of God’s sovereignty comforts or threatens us.

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty.…On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings.”

Imagining that God should let us run life our way sets us up to resent God and even “lose our faith” when our lives don’t go as we want. However, that’s a faith we should lose—to be replaced with faith in the God of sovereign grace who doesn’t keep us from all difficulties but promises to be with us in all difficulties.

God has a way of making what seems worst into the very best.

Nancy Guthrie writes of a speaker asking people to fold a paper in half. She then instructed them to write on the top half the worst things that had happened to them, and on the bottom half the best things.

Invariably, you’ll find things at the top of the page that are also at the bottom. Experiences labeled as the worst things that had ever happened, will, over time, give birth to some of the best things.

It’s the same with my own list. If enough time has passed since some of those “worst things” have happened, then almost certainly we’ll find an overlap.

Our lists provide persuasive proof that while evil and suffering are not good, God can use them to accomplish immeasurable good. Knowing this should give us great confidence that even when we don’t see any redemptive meaning in our present suffering, God can see it…and one day so will we.

Adapted from Randy's book  hand in Hand: The Beauty of God's Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice .

Photo by Pixabay

The Ship Memorial Library Named after Nanci

A year ago, I got a phone call from Operation Mobilization, an organization Nanci and I have loved for years. They asked how I felt about their naming the ship library on Logos Hope after Nanci. I was, of course, honored, and knew Nanci would be, because we absolutely loved our visit to the ship six years ago, when it was docked in Jamaica.

By God’s grace, I have been in many countries and witnessed incredible ministries. But Nanci and I were touched as deeply by what we saw on Logos Hope as we have ever been anywhere in our lives. My friend George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilization who is now with Jesus, had the vision, along with OM pioneer Dale Rhoton, to launch the first OM ship in 1970. George and many others have talked to me about the ships over the years, but I hadn’t realized the breadth and depth and kingdom-shaping quality of this ministry until we witnessed it firsthand. We were blown away by the work of God’s Spirit.

Each time the ship docks, local people come aboard, visit the bookstore, buy many books very inexpensively, hear the gospel presented, and hang out in the international café. One of the best parts of our visit was going to the huge onboard bookstore, called a “book fair,” and watching the adults look at my books. But nothing compared to seeing Jamaican children flipping through the pages of my graphic novels Eternity and The Apostle! 

The library was dedicated last September. OM kindly sent me this tribute to Nanci from Seelan Govender, CEO of their ship ministry:

For many years, I have personally known Randy and Nanci Alcorn. I consider Nanci and Randy as wonderful, long-time friends and supporters of OM, sharing a deep love for the Ship Ministry.

Nanci had a love of the ministry, young people and especially the library on board Logos Hope. She was an integral part of generous and selfless giving to so many that encountered the Word of God and the person of Jesus through books on the ship. She will be remembered as a dear friend to the work of Operation Mobilization. Her words, smiles, teaching, and impact will live on for many generations to come.

We are so grateful for her example of a godly life well-lived. To celebrate and commemorate her legacy with the Ship Ministry and her love of reading and literature, today we honor her influence on our ministry by renaming the library on board Logos Hope, “The Nanci Alcorn Memorial Library.”

It is our desire that future guests and crewmembers will use this space as a place of growth and prayer as they strengthen and sustain their daily walk with our precious Heavenly Father. Both are things that Nanci modeled extraordinarily well for us with her own life.

While we are extremely saddened by her loss, we rejoice with Randy that this is only a temporary goodbye.

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Seelan Govender

CEO & President, OM Ships International For and on behalf of crew and staff

Thank you, God, for Nanci’s life, which continues to bear fruit for eternity.

When we set up Nanci’s memorial fund, one of the three main recipients was the Logos Hope, and we have expanded it now to include the Doulos Hope. Learn more about OM Ships International here . And here’s a video about the launch of the Doulos Hope in May:

Do the Will of God You Know; Discern the Will You Don’t

Note from Randy: This is a great article from Scott Hubbard, editor for Desiring God. As he points out, God wants us to know His will. Because He loves us, He gives us His Word, the Road Map, so we don’t have to grope in darkness. The Bible is the revealed will of God. If we want to live in His will, then we should “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). When we do, we can lean on His Holy Spirit to help us discern the myriad of other choices we have to make in this life. I hope you find this article helpful.

Do the Will You Know: The First Step for Further Guidance

By Scott Hubbard

What is the will of God for your life? An air of mystery surrounds the question. God’s will can seem elusive, ambiguous, difficult to discern — a land without maps.

Is this the right job for me? Would God have us get married? Should our family move to the city or the suburbs? Is God leading me to full-time ministry?

Such questions send us searching for clarity — praying, thinking, pro-con listing, often second-guessing. What is your will, O God? And how do I find it? Depending on your charismatic convictions, you may do more: wait for impressions, read signs in your circumstances, lay out a fleece. I once flipped a coin.

We understandably agonize over such decisions. What job we take, whom we marry, where we live — these choices change the course of our lives. Yet because of their very importance, they also can distract us from the primary ways Scripture speaks of God’s will. Like hikers who pay more attention to each new fork in the path than to their compass, we can easily lose our basic sense of direction by fixating on one decision after the next.

Thank God, then, that in all our most difficult decisions, we have a compass:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9–10)

This familiar prayer may not offer the direction we long for — an unmistakable nudge, a whisper from heaven — but it does offer the direction we most need.

‘Your Will Be Done’

“Your will be done” is a prayer with levels and layers of meaning, a multiple-story petition.

On one level, we ask, “Your will be done on earth.” In the broadest sense, the prayer settles for nothing less than a transformed, transfigured earth — an earth where God’s revealed will is no longer ignored, neglected, or despised, but done with the same angelic zeal, the same seraphic joy, as his will is done “in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

On another level, we ask, “Your will be done — not mine.” Here we follow the example of our Lord Jesus, who not only taught us to pray these words, but prayed them himself: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). We who follow Christ will never come close to the agony of this moment; like Peter, James, and John, we ever remain on Gethsemane’s edge. But in our own anguished hours, “Your will be done” is likewise for us an opening of the hands, a bending of the knees, a bowing of the head to God’s painful yet perfect plans.

And then, on a third level, we ask, “Your will be done in me.” As wide as earth and as high as heaven, the prayer nevertheless turns back to us, bidding us to ask not only that God’s will would be done everywhere out there, but also everywhere in here — right now, today, in every part of my life.

Which returns us to our beginning question: What is God’s will for my life, and how do I walk in it? Beginning from the Sermon on the Mount and broadening from there, we might answer with two simple sentences: Do the will you know. Discern the will you don’t.

Do the will you know.

We’ll see in a moment that Scripture gives direction for discerning God’s will in unclear situations. But as we’ll also see, Scripture gives a fundamental prerequisite for such discernment: attentive obedience to what God has already revealed. Doing the will you know is necessary for discerning the will you don’t.

And not only necessary, but far more important. Consider the words of Jesus in the chapter after the Lord’s Prayer: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Heaven hangs on doing the will of God. And the will of God here is no hidden key, no secret whisper. As Jesus says three verses later, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man . . .” (Matthew 7:24). In the most basic and crucial sense, the will of God is found in the words of God.

Imagine a man who, after hearing Jesus’s sermon, says to his friend, “That’s all well and good, but I still wish I knew God’s will for my life.” His friend would be right to respond, “Weren’t you listening? God just told you his will for your life! Embrace poverty of spirit, meekness, and peace. Let your light shine. Kill anger, lust, lying, and vengeance. Pray and give and fast in secret. Don’t worry; seek the kingdom. Enter the narrow door. Build your house on the rock. That’s God’s will for your life.”

How many of us, like this will-of-God seeker, wonder what job we should have while neglecting godly diligence in our present job? How many seek his will for whom to marry while not pursuing a biblical vision of singleness in the meantime? How many ask God where they should live while overlooking neighbor love and the local obedience Scripture so clearly prescribes?

Far better to know and obey this will, always available and ever clear, than to have the greatest situational insight and neglect this will. Or as the apostle Paul might say, if we discern the right decisions to make, and if we receive all impressions and leadings, and if we gain all guidance, so as to choose the right paths, but do not obey the plain words we already know, we are nothing (Matthew 7:21).

Discern the will you don’t.

At the same time, the very Scriptures that give us God’s clear will also tell us to seek his unclear will. “Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord,” Paul tells the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:10). And then he writes in Romans,

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

And now we see why hearing and doing the will of God we know is the prerequisite to discerning the will of God we don’t. Right discernment depends not merely on a clear mind or an intelligent mind, but on a transformed mind — a mind, John Piper writes, “that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ.”

We can see this discernment process at work even in the life of Jesus. In Luke 4, for example, Jesus decides to leave Capernaum to “preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well” (Luke 4:43). The decision was by no means a simple one: the people of Capernaum didn’t want Jesus to leave (Luke 4:42); neither did his disciples (Mark 1:36–37). But Jesus knew his Father willed for him to preach the gospel broadly (Luke 4:43). And so, after spending time in a desolate place (Luke 4:42), he applied the clear will of his Father to an unclear situation through patient, prayerful discernment.

Let the emphasis land on patient and prayerful. Discernment often will not come easily or quickly. Gathering the appropriate words God has spoken, understanding how they relate to our present situation, rightly weighing all relevant factors and friendly counsel, praying for wisdom all along the way, and obeying what you know in the meantime — this is no small task. But it is God’s normal method of guiding us through the hundreds of moments when we stand before two (or more) paths, none of which has a sign that reads, “Go this way.”

In a world without maps, our best compass is an increasingly Christlike will, informed by an increasingly renewed mind.

Led by the Spirit?

Some, at this point, will wish to say more — and understandably so. “What about the leading of the Spirit?” they might ask. “What about dreams and visions and impressions?” Three responses are in order.

First, at times, the Spirit does indeed lead his people in a more manifestly supernatural manner. In the life of Jesus, we might remember when “the Spirit . . . drove him out into the wilderness” after his baptism (Mark 1:12). Even more clearly, we might recall how God led Peter to Cornelius, and then led Paul and his team to Philippi, through visions (Acts 10:9–16; 16:9–10). And so he may sometimes lead us.

Nevertheless, these instances of striking guidance take place within the larger framework of doing and discerning. The Spirit came to Jesus in baptism (Mark 1:9–11), to Peter in prayer (Acts 10:9), to Paul on mission (Acts 16:6–8) — in other words, he met them in the midst of their present, intelligent obedience. Unless we too are willing to follow the Spirit’s more typical paths, we cannot expect him to lead us down unusual paths — nor can we assume we would recognize those paths or rightly walk them.

Second, such manifestations of the Spirit may prove dangerous if we rely on them too much. Those who say, “Lord, Lord,” in Matthew 7 did not lack powerful spiritual experiences; they did lack obedience to God’s clear will (Matthew 7:21–23). Ironically, some who are most eager for a spectacular method of finding God’s will can be most prone to neglecting the ordinary opportunities for pleasing God right in front of them.

And third, the renewed mind’s rigorous application of the Scriptures to unclear situations need not sidestep the Spirit’s ministry — not when done humbly, prayerfully, and God-dependently. In fact, as J.I. Packer writes, “The true way to honor the Holy Spirit as our guide is to honor the holy Scriptures through which he guides us” (Knowing God, 236). The Bible is no dead letter, but the living breath of the living Spirit. Those who listen well to Scripture listen to him.

Decisions from Our Knees

Lest we forget the obvious, “Your will be done” is a prayer, a request that God would do in us what we cannot do in ourselves. Apart from him, we cannot know the will he reveals, we cannot obey the will we know, and we certainly cannot discern the will we don’t know. And so, we bow our heads, lift our hands, and say, “Our Father in heaven, . . . your will be done” (Matthew 6:9–10). The best decision-making happens from a kneeling soul.

In all your decisions, then, don’t neglect to do the will you already know. Then, with that will clear in your mind and alive in your life, do the hard work of discerning, as best you can, what might please God most in your work, your relationships, your home. Weigh the factors; seek counsel; view the matter from several angles. And through it all, ask him again and again for his good, pleasing, and perfect will to be done in you.

This article originally appeared on Desiring God , and is used with the author’s permission.

Photo by Jessica Delp on Unsplash

True, Lasting Happiness Is Found in Jesus, Not Sex or Sexual Identity

Sex as God intended—in marriage, between a man and a woman—is a pleasure to be celebrated (see Proverbs 5:15-19). Sex outside of marriage brings serious negative consequences—emotional, physical, and spiritual. Promising long-term pleasure it can’t deliver, addiction to sex and pornography enslave and degrade everyone involved. “[The adulterer] follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter. . . . He does not know that it will cost him his life” (Proverbs 7:22-23).

Research data from 16,000 American adults who were asked confidentially how many sex partners they’d had in the preceding year proved the same point made in the book of Proverbs: “Across men and women alike, the data show that the optimal number of partners is one.” [1] Other research similarly revealed that “people with more sexual partners are less happy.” [2]

Satan would like us to believe that people who have sex outside marriage are happier, but that’s a lie.

Sin Does Not Lead to Lasting Happiness

The unhappiest-looking person I’ve ever seen—face drawn and haggard, eyes vacant—was holding a sign that said, “Gay and happy about it.” I’m not suggesting, of course, that homosexuals can never be happy. God’s common grace offers some happiness to all. But Romans 1:27 speaks of those making these choices as “receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Romans lists many other sins God hates, yet that one is singled out as particularly self-punishing.

I’ve had long, honest talks with those living the “gay lifestyle” who are decidedly miserable—just like many heterosexuals who have idols of their own.

Teenagers and single adults often face heavy pressure to pretend they’re having a great time sleeping around, when privately they’re filled with self-loathing and disillusionment, because reality never lives up to the promises. Likewise, there’s pressure on gay people to project an image of fulfillment. Some people—both heterosexuals and homosexuals—go out of their way to publicly celebrate their promiscuous behavior, all while trying to ignore the emptiness and pain. With the Satan-scripted obligatory claim, “[Fill in sin] makes me happy,” they offer false advertising for the father of lies, who relishes their self-destruction.

Little Idols vs. Infinite God

There’s a tragic irony in the positive term gay. No matter how happy gay may sound, these are the facts about the suicide rate among homosexuals:

The risk of suicide among gay and lesbian youth is fourteen times higher than for heterosexual youth.

Between 30 and 45 percent of transgendered people report having attempted suicide.

I didn’t get these statistics from religious conservatives, but from a secular website sympathetic to gay and lesbian issues. [3] A study that analyzed twenty-five earlier studies regarding sexual orientation and mental health showed that “homosexuals and bisexuals are about 50% more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to suffer from depression and abuse drugs.” [4]

For many years, it was widely assumed that this much higher level of unhappiness was due to humiliation over others’ disapproval. Though society has become much more accepting of the LGBQT lifestyle, unhappiness persists even among those surrounded by affirmation. Being gay or transgender may be celebrated in our culture, but that doesn’t change its nature or eliminate the harm to those engaging in such a lifestyle.

Jackie Hill Perry, author of Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been, writes:

All of the dead things I loved—the things I said, thought, did, talked about, watched, walked in, listened to, promoted, and went to bed with—had a measure of satisfaction in them, but they were never enough. I was made for an infinite God, so how could some little idol make me whole or happy?  

Likewise, countless heterosexuals’ lives have been destroyed by believing the false promise of happiness in an affair. I know many people who’ve had affairs and have spent the rest of their lives regretting it.

Radical Steps Required, Great Joy Promised

The god of lust dominates countless lives in our culture. Jesus said, “I tell you that any one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28, NIV). Then He added, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. . . . If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you” (Matthew 5:29-30, NASB).

How decisively do we deal with the idol of lust? To find true happiness, radical steps are required to dethrone it and put God in His proper place. Christopher Yuan puts it simply in his book Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: “Our biggest problem is our sin nature, and victory is found only in Christ Jesus.”

This radical solution starts with salvation in Christ, which transforms our nature and dramatically affects our capacity to embrace greater happiness in God. Our justification by faith in Christ satisfies the demands of God’s holiness by exchanging our sins for Christ’s righteousness (see Romans 3:21-26).

In Future Grace, John Piper writes that we “must fight fire with fire. The fire of lust’s pleasures must be fought with the fire of God’s pleasures. . . . We must fight it with a massive promise of superior happiness. We must swallow up the little flicker of lust’s pleasure in the conflagration of holy satisfaction.”

Once believers are born again, sin is still present in our lives (see Romans 6:11-14; 1 John 1:8–2:2), but we have supernatural power to overcome it since we’ve died to sin (see Romans 6:6-9). God’s Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us obey Him and embrace the deeper happiness  (see 2 Timothy 1:14). The result? We’re free to reject sin and its misery, and embrace righteousness, with its true and lasting happiness.

Beckett Cook, who lived for years as a gay man in Hollywood but later had a radical encounter with Jesus Christ, writes:

Surrendering my sexuality hasn’t been easy. I still struggle with vestiges of same-sex attraction, but denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Jesus is an honor. Any struggles I experience pale in comparison to the joy of a personal relationship with the one who created me and gives my life meaning. My identity is no longer in my sexuality; it’s in Jesus. 

Sam Allberry has spent a lifetime wrestling with homosexual temptation. He writes: “Whatever we give up Jesus replaces, in godly kind and greater measure. No one who leaves will fail to receive, and the returns are extraordinary—a hundredfold. What we give up for Jesus does not compare to what he gives back. If the costs are great, the rewards are even greater, even in this life.”

One day God’s children will look back on this life with complete clarity. When we do, I believe we’ll see that our only true sacrifices were when we chose sin instead of Jesus. The “sacrifice” of following Jesus produces the greatest, most lasting happiness—both here and now, and forever.

For resources on this subject, see Randy’s book  The Purity Principle  and booklet  Sexual Temptation: Establishing Guardrails and Winning the Battle .

[1] Arthur C. Brooks, “Love People, Not Pleasure,” New York Times, July 18, 2014.

[2] Thomas David Kehoe, Hearts and Minds: How Our Brains Are Hardwired for Relationships (Boulder, CO: University College Press, 2006), 132.

[3] Natasha Tracy, “Homosexuality and Suicide: LGBT Suicide: A Serious Issue,” HealthyPlace.com, April 12, 2013.

[4] Nancy Schimelpfening, “Homosexuality Strongly Linked to Depression and Suicide,” About.com, accessed October 30, 2014.

Photo by George Kondylis