The "Isms" - Counterfeit Belief Systems

Ok, I'm going to start writing a new series about the "isms."  You know, the various belief systems that seem to define & explain the world.... and our place in it.  Beliefs are the most important things about us, they literally control us.  They're like the operating system of your smartphone or computer; they determine the stewardship of your body, guide your passions, control your calendar, and counsel every decision you make.  We tend to think that WE choose our beliefs, but I think in reality they most often choose US.

"Belief" is a highly misunderstood concept.  In our pluralistic society, the concept of belief has been watered-down by post-modernity to the extent that its definition has morphed into something else.  Belief in today's world might be seen as synonymous with Preference...religious, moral, cultural, or political values that we prefer over other equally-true options....like Coke vs. Pepsi, post-modern belief is a matter of opinion.  The problem is that when you try to take something essential and huge out of the human psyche, and replace it with something optional and minor, it wrecks the created intent of the system and leaves one shallow & wispy.  What we see in post-modern America today is a belief-vacuum; where people have jettisoned the idea of objectively-true values in favor of more tolerant & politically-correct alternatives, only to end up actually believing in practically nothing to the extent that their instinctive saddles get filled with whatever gets their attention.  Think about it.

• Why does the wealthy business owner go on lavish shopping binges when she already has everything she wants or needs?
• Why does the young man continue to drink, even after suffering damaged relationships with his colleagues, friends & family?
• Why does the teenage girl send dozens of selfies a day to social-media contacts she'll never meet for compliments?
• Why does the husband & father steal nights & weekends from his family so he can go on high-risk adventures with the guys?

...Because of beliefs.  Behavior ALWAYS Follows Belief.

• The binge-shopper may believe that a never-ending stream of new possessions bring happiness, that indulging in "retail therapy" will settle a desire that yearns for something deeper.
• The drinking-man may believe that he's powerless to stop drinking, that his life is on a downward spiral, and that drunken escape is the only salve.
• The selfie-snapper may fear that she is ugly, and believes that the positive opinions of others will make her desirable.
• The adventure-seeker may believe that amazing experiences define his masculinity and meaning far more than relationships do.

Just theoretical examples.  But in all these cases, and countless others, beliefs are the bedrock "truths" upon which we ACTUALLY, REALLY LIVE...and they will either undergird or dismantle your wholeness as a being created by God.  Your primary beliefs are whatever pursuits or people you give the reigns to for directing your life, and we all have them.  Some of them are part of God's created order - like love, holiness, forgiveness, servanthood.  Others are counterfeits peddled by another jockey - like narcissism, humanism, hedonism, competitivism.  Whether you believe in God or not, what are the guiding principles that you believe?  Are they working?

Did you know that, in the original Biblical language of the New Testament, the words "belief," "faith," and "trust" are all the same word?  It literally means "to be fully persuaded."  But sociologically speaking, most Christians must not "truly believe" in the God of the Bible; because they don't act much different than their non-believing counterparts.  Perhaps we're like the salt that has lost it's saltiness, or the light that has a bowl on top of it! (Matthew 5:13-16).  What use is it to have correct theological doctrines if the actual attitudes & behaviors of our lives don't reflect them?  None!

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

IMHO this is the main reason why the Church in America is so incredibly anemic, and why so many of us struggle so much with life even though we may "believe in God and go to church!"  We have so much trouble because we have so little faith....and we have so little faith because we have believed lies, more than we have believed the truth. The overriding principle of belief is CONTROL… we are hardwired to desire and exert control, yet we are inexorably beckoned by our Creator to hand the reins over to Him in order to live as He intended. Every belief system in the history of the world has been part of mankind's attempt to exert control apart from God...except for one.

So I'll be writing some blogs over the next several weeks that will detail some "isms": Counterfeit realities that we have created, how to recognize and exile them, and how to align our actual beliefs with the God who is actually there.

Growing Up

I remember believing that adults were grown-up.  The feeling of looking up (way up, in my case) at adults as completed beings…finished with the processes of development, independent of the opinions of others, and very intimidating.  Childhood was tough for me, and I strived hard as a youngster to get to that place.  When I turned 18, I was finally old enough to be considered a legal adult; able to vote and smoke cigars, but still feeling like a kid.  20 was a bit different, leaving the teenage years behind and having a couple of post-high-school years behind me; but I still had a lot of growing-up to do.  Then the biggie, 21, I could legally drink…which I quickly found didn’t make a bit of difference in my maturity level.  A lot happened in my 20’s – I graduated college, got married, started a career – until suddenly I was 30.  Officially over-the-hill right? But I still felt (and often acted) like an insecure novice, and was surrounded by other adults who I came to realize were in the same boat as I was.  Then I had kids…you learn a lot about yourself, your true beliefs and identity, when you raise kids.  Fast-forward through countless scenes to the new season I find myself in.  I’ve reached a new mile-marker at 50 – with a wife of 23+ years, a 20-year old daughter, and (nearly) 18-year old son.  I’ve come to believe that the maturity I had always associated with adulthood as a child was merely a mirage; either of my own making, or of the adults around me who wanted desperately for me to believe that they had it all together. Now as an official old guy, I feel uniquely suited to understand the dynamics of the mirage I once sought.  Actually there’s nothing unique about it, I’ve just joined the club of fellow-journeyers.   

Adults are most-often just as confused, unsure, and afraid as kids…we just have more words, tools, and practice.  I see things more clearly than I ever have, and would say that I am truly coming to understand myself, the world, and my place in it.  For me, the path forward to understanding and peace often goes backward into lessons from my childhood, and always goes upward into the arms of the Heavenly Father who has beckoned and consoled me all along the way.  I’m learning some really powerful lessons right now, and thought I would share.

Recently I woke-up worrying about some things I couldn’t control.  After spending time waking up, I realized I was feeling more & more anxious & exasperated. I turned my attention to the Lord, asking Him to help me, and His Words in Psalm 42 came to me. “Why so downcast my soul, why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God.”  I went to the Biblical source of the words, Psalm 42, which begins….”As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God.”  As I continued to read, I realized that I had been looking past the blessings of the present and was placing my hopes on desired futures.  This is an elementary lesson in its simplicity, yet taking a lifetime to learn!  If I come into each day filled to overflowing with all I need, without compulsion to gain anything more to be happy, then my purposes and rewards for living are open to God’s designs and pleasure…which always leads to His favor and joy.  This is not a lesson we learn once, it’s daily…sometimes momentary.   Here are some pearls of wisdom that came to me through various people over the next 24-hours…

• Rick Warren (through Dan): “When God is at the center of my life, I worship.  When He's not, I worry.”
• Pastor Jess:
• "If you’re focused on what you will do, or what you want to see, you will always need to do more and better things. GOD DOESN'T BUILD WHATS, HE BUILDS WHOS. Whoever controls your identity controls who you will become and what you will do.
• “God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.  The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Every day we wake up to a new reality, new opportunities full of potential in Christ; rather than being ruled by the injustices of yesterday.
• Who Are You?
• I’m invaluably significant. 1 Cor.6:19-20
• I’m outrageously love. 1 John 3:1
• I’m immeasurably valuable. 1 Pet.2:9
• I’m incredibly empowered. Col. 2:9-10
• My voice commands the heavens. Mark 11:23

Sensing The Spirit

Music speaks to me.  It sings the language of the soul, appealing to places in me that are hidden in inner labyrinths that get locked-up & stymied by exposure to the world. Scripture says that the Spirit of God inhabits the praises of His people, and He also rides on the musical currents of melodies & meanings into those deep places to draw us into what the ancient Christian writer Ignatius calls the “consolation” of God.

“Beyond surface emotion, consolation is the interior movement of the heart that gives us a deep sense of life-giving connection with God, others and our most authentic self in God.  It is the sense that in some deep way all is right with the world, that I am free to be given over to God and to love even in moments of pain and crisis.  Desolation is the loss of a sense of God’s presence.  We feel out of touch with God, with others and with our most authentic self.  In desolation we are off center, full of turmoil, confusion and maybe even rebellion.” (Ruth Haley Barton, “Sacred Rhythms” p. 112)

There are many alternatives to deal with the desolation we all experience…dulling its effect and running to evade it through diversion, substances, fantasies.  But we are spiritual beings having a temporary physical experience; and as such, only our spiritual source can speak to those places in us that were designed for constant exposure to Him.

Spiritual music is extremely powerful, and a certain song has been ringing in repeat mode over the past couple of days.  I won’t bore you with the lyrics in their entirety, but these phrases are what the Spirit has been whispering into my ears…opening me up from the inside-out like a rose in Spring:

”Spirit of the Living God
come fall afresh on me
come wake me from my sleep.
Blow through the caverns of my soul
pour in me to overflow.”

Yesterday, I went for a run in the trails on top of Cooper Mountain near the nature center.  It’s a beautiful place, you should check it out sometime.  As I ran, meditating on God’s character and presence, thinking about those words and laying my burdens before Him, I thought about the power of breathing….and the correlation between wind/air and the receptivity of olfactory organs (noses) to sense what is there.  This thought started as I was thinking about the descriptions of the Spirit in scripture as a “wind.”

In terms of smelling, we are aware of scents because of their tiny microscopic particles that enter our noses and pass along the receptors that “read” them.  There are about 5-million of these little receptors inside the human nose.  Although this sounds like a lot, it’s nothing compared to the 300-million that give some dogs their amazing ability of smell.  The vast surface-area inside a dog’s nose are contained in intricate folds & crevices that the air passes through.  A dog relies on her sense of smell to interpret her world, in much the same way as people depend on their sight. Although this contrasting world view may be hard to imagine, know that your dog interprets as much information as you do. However, she does much of this by smelling an object or animal, not by staring at it.  It’s similar with the Spirit.

The Biblical word for “spirit” in scripture is the Greek word “Pneuma,” which also means “wind” and from which we get our word for pneumatic.  This gives deeper meaning to Jesus’ play on words with Nicodemus:

“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8)

So what would it be like if we had a greater ability to sense the intricate, subtle movements of God’s Spirit?  What if our spiritual receptors were more like a dog’s sense of smell than a human’s?  Perhaps a better question: “Is it possible to increase my receptivity to the Spirit?”  The answer is YES!  This is what pursuing God is all about...becoming so in-tune with Him and so devoted to Him, that we become an extension of Him in the world around us.  And the joy & peace & love that we receive and give to others is icing on the cake!  What a beautiful God!

“Discernment in its fullness takes a practiced heart, fine-tuned to hear the word of God and the single-mindedness to follow that word in love It is truly a gift from God, but not one dropped from the skies fully formed.  It is a gift cultivated by a prayerful life and the search for self-knowledge.” (Ernest Larkin) 

“The capacity to recognize and respond to the presence of God in all of life is a spiritual habit and practice that keeps us connected with God’s larger purposes for us and for our world rather than being consumed by self-interest. As we become practiced at recognizing the presence and the activity of God, we are able to align ourselves more completely with what God is doing in any given moment, which is when life begins to get really exciting!” (Ruth Haley Barton)  

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”  (John 14: 23-26) 

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children; and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer

In the ebb & flow of daily life, the Spirit constantly beckons us to engage with Him in prayer.  Prayer is not simply telling God what He already knows; but communing with Him, coming back to Him, exchanging fears & dreams with Him.  As I prayed through The Lord's Prayer this morning, I found myself rewriting it in my own words...

My Father

You exist and exert Your presence all around me and in the air that I breathe.

You are wonderful and majestic and worthy. In You is everything good, and I revere and fear and honor Your Name.

The reality that You created, the one that interacts with and undergirds all of human history & culture, is the Real Reality.  Every effort that bends Your truth to create an alternative is a temporary, deceitful fantasy that will someday be remembered no more. 

May Your reality, Your Kingdom, come crashing into my life and the lives of those around me.  May Your desires and plans be as plain as daylight in the midst of my daily life and the world around me, conforming all that I perceive into Your glorious & good vision.

Please provide for my daily needs; physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual.

Thank You for Your amazing, stubborn love of me in spite of all my shortcomings; which grants me victory over sin and inspires me to truly love and forgive others in similar manner.  Help me to continue releasing every lump of judgment toward others that lives in me; so that although I perceive the distinction between righteousness and rebellion, my care & goodwill toward others is unimpeded by any form of indignation in me that would set itself against them. 

I invite You to inject Your leadership into every facet of my being – every known surface and hidden crevice within me – so completely that every thought that comes to mind and every move that I make possesses Your character and desire and power.  Thus will I remain free from every form of evil that originates from within me, as well as that which attacks me. 

YOU are absolutely, unequivocally, uniquely, completely, rightfully Sovereign and Almighty and Glorious; and I gratefully submit all that I am and everything I have to Your wonderfulness for this day, the rest of my earthly life, and for all eternity.  Amen

THE LORD'S PRAYER
MATTHEW 6:9-13 

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen."

First Love – A Personal Psalm of Praise

I got up early this morning.
After drinking my morning coffee, checking the weather & news & stuff on my phone, I settled-in for some prayer-journal time.  This is what came out.

Good morning, my Love,

That’s how I feel about You, my God…although it seems strange to write a name for You which seems romantic in nature.  But truly You are my First Love!  And I rejoice in You this morning.

Because of You, I can face today and tomorrow. Because of You my hope and joy are not destroyed when I read the news, or consider the circumstances I must navigate, or deal with the people I must interact with.  Because of You I possess an identity and power that transcend the opinions or approvals of others.  Because of You I am free to be what I am designed and commissioned to be.  Because of You I do not need to compare myself to anyone else to determine my worth, effectiveness, or destiny.  Because of You the investment of my passion, time, and resources are not bound-up in the temporary treasures of this world.  Because of You I have access to the same supernatural, miraculous power that has healed the sick, given sight to the blind, and raised the dead.  Because of You I am empowered to give and receive love with everyone in my life with ever-increasing vitality.  Because of You I am regarded as faithful by those who are loved by me. Because of You I have insight behind the scenes of the world’s dramas, and wisdom underneath its foundations.  Because of You I am independent of every man & woman’s condemnation.  Because of You I have peace in the midst of the wild hurricanes that surround me.  Because of You I have opportunity to walk above the depravities and miseries of the world’s inheritance.  Because of You I have everything I need.  Because of You I have faith, hope, joy, and love that protect my soul from the painful trials I must endure.  Because of You, the people I come into contact with are imprinted with Your attributes by association with me.  Because of You I have purpose, power, pleasure, perspective, promise, and prize that eclipse the sunniest day.  Because of you there is no sacrifice I must make that is not rewarded with 100-times the blessing.  Because of You I live, serve, and sing with joy!

My Love, You are truly and unreservedly amazing!

Spiritual Gifts 7 - Faith, the Prerequisite

I was talking with a good friend a few months ago about the spiritual gift of healing.  He was sharing some pretty amazing stories, and I was feeling defensive because I've prayed for people before and it "didn't work."  I asked him "what about when it doesn't work?"  His words have stuck with me, "There are many reasons why prayer sometimes does not produce the results we want, but the Bible is full of promises and examples and commands about praying in faith and seeing miraculous results...so I'm going to focus on that."  I replied, "How often does it work for you?"  "About 75% of the time....but instead of getting derailed on the other 25%, I'm going to trust in God for the 75%."

In my personal quest to know God, follow Him, and become like Him, it’s clear that all of my times of greatest learning & growth were triggered by calculated decisions to throw caution to the wind and step-out in faith to where I KNEW God was leading.  There have also been plenty of times when I THOUGHT I KNEW, stepped-out in faith according to that supposed knowing, and was unpleasantly surprised.  Those experiences have been forks in the road of my past…sometimes my faith was strengthened as I learned more about the distinction between God’s voice and my own…His desire and my own.  Other times I furrowed my brow, blamed God for not performing, and withdrew into more controlled & cautious places.  There is a healthy, mature type of caution that avoids recklessness….but fear-based caution is one of our enemy’s most potent weapons in keeping us at arm’s length from our Heavenly Father.  God always responds to faith.

I think that one of the biggest reasons for the apparent spiritual apathy & impotence of the American Church today is lack of faith.  It’s also at the root of why many Christians say things like “why doesn’t God do miracles anymore like in Bible times?”  Well, actually He does…but He insists on partnering with faith. Not faith in the sense of intellectual agreement with the historical facts & moral truths of the Bible, and trying your best to live by them.  That’s Kindergarten faith.  Grown-up faith is a conviction of trust that God is real & personal, and that His way is best for my life.  Faith is the antithesis of fear, and in the Old Testament there was a powerful euphemism for faith: Fear of God.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” (Proverbs 9:10).

The opposite of fear of God is fear of man.

Alex Rettman, Pastor of Youth & Young Adults at Bridgetown Church in Portland, says this: “What the fear of man can do in your life is to make looking respectable, responsible, and financially wise more important than being obedient to God…The fear of man is an over-rating of people in your life and an under-rating of God.  Fear of man is actually a hallmark trait of the Pharisees.  They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God…and this is why they couldn’t see Him as the Messiah.”

The Pharisees are known as “the hypocrites” of the New Testament.  This wasn’t because they sometimes lost their temper or said harsh words or sought the places of honor…those were only symptoms, and we all do these things on occasion.  Scripture says that God looks past our facades straight into our hearts; He alone can see our deepest desires & dreams.  The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was rooted in a deep-seated fear of man, or in other words “love of the world,” which stood in direct opposition to what God was doing around them.  Any time we find ourselves resisting what God is trying to do, we’re acting just like them…and it pinches the hose of God’s power that He wants to flow into us.  All of us struggle with fear/lack of faith, and God is constantly, eagerly waiting for us to take the first steps so that He can catch us when we fall.  He can be trusted!!!

In order to experience the “abundant life” that Jesus promises, answers to prayer, miraculous healings, prophetic words & visions, and all the other stuff God wants to do through us, we have to turn away from the false beliefs we have learned and walk toward Him in faith.  His goal for us is not to fill our lives with material blessings and comfortable circumstances that will make us happy.  That’s not God, that’s the American dream…and in terms of the Kingdom of God, it’s actually a narcissistic nightmare that blinds our eyes to the true wealth that Jesus offers us to be victorious in the midst of a broken world.  When we surrender our fears to the Almighty, according to the relationship we have with Him in Jesus, we are free to step-out in faith and receive what He is waiting to give us.

SCRIPTURES…

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” (John 7:37-39)

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:1-2, 6)

“Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4-5)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15)

“Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

“Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:18-21)

“Jesus left there and went to his hometown…and they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:1-6)

“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” (James 5: 14-18)

Spiritual Gifts 6 - Removing Barriers

In my last blog I shared about a truly miraculous, life-changing event that happened to me as the result of being in a great spot with the Lord.  I was running toward Him with all cylinders, enjoying His presence, and open to His voice; and an amazing & supernatural thing occurred (see “Spiritual Gifts 5 - A Prophecy Story”).  Today, I’m going to share about the other fork in the road…when we find ourselves impeded by self-inflicted barriers that block God’s work in us and through us.  We all carry echoes of the fall-of-man within us that continue to war with our Creator.  They’re instinctive urges & expressions of self-will that prevent us from acquiescing to God’s reign over us.  Like the ancient serpent’s whispering temptation into Adam & Eve’s ears “Did God really say…,” our ears itch with similar desires to touch and experience that which has been forbidden by the Most High so we can do things on our own terms; and we end-up suffering for it.  The Bible calls this sin.

I’m going to invite you into my journey, which I think is probably the most effective way to communicate.  Of course, it’s easiest and most convenient when the portions of said journey reflect well upon my character, and cause the reader to admire me in some way.  However, as is always the case behind braggadocious sermonizing & Facebook feeds, I tend to learn my most valuable life lessons through my failures…and I suppose it’s the same for you.  But we don’t really like to share about that, do we? We tend to hide those parts of us that are less than right and cover them over with shiny, happy veneers.  I don’t think it’s necessary or appropriate to go into details, but let’s just say that I’ve been struggling with an area of sin in my life; something that frequently rears its ugly head within me, messes with my motivations & behaviors, and throws wrenches in the gears of my relationships with God & others.  Every time I give myself over to its lies I end up feeling betrayed, distant from God, and devoid of His power…do you have a thing like that?

• A substance addiction that beckons you with promises of escape & release
• An unhealthy relationship that causes you to compromise Godly values
• A fixation on consumption of food, clothing, drink, or experiences as a way of filling the void 
• A greedy drive for money, power, or possessions that controls your definition of success
• An unbridled sex-drive that tempts you to engage in porn & unbiblical sexual experiences
• A self-righteous anger that causes you to seethe with disdain and explode with rage
• A self-deprecating grief that alienates you from people and entices you with alternative-realities.

So, why am I writing about sin in a series about spiritual gifts?  Because sin puts barriers between us and God. Remember all throughout the Bible how it talks about FAITH being the thing that unlocks God’s blessings and miracles, etc.?  The New Testament word we translate as “faith” literally means to be “fully persuaded,” to “totally trust” that God’s way is best.  Like the good Father He is, God always responds to faith with favor, and always responds to sin with redirection.  The world speaks an opposing narrative of self-determination, and our eyes & ears are filled with lies about this…saying that we can have our cake and eat it too.  We hear things like “God wants me to be happy, and [indulging in something that God condemns] actually makes me feel happy, therefore it must be good for me to [indulge in whatever it is].  I’ve heard this to justify drunkenness, sex outside of marriage, divorce, and other stuff.  Sins like these certainly don’t damn us to hell, but the circular reasoning that justifies them alienates us from the Living God.  We need to get our heads on straight…

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proudbut shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:2-8)

Now, understand me correctly….this is not a “works theology” about salvation.  It’s crystal clear that God’s offer of salvation for heaven is a free gift based upon His grace rather than our obedience.  “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).  We often misunderstand the difference between salvation and sanctification.  Salvation means that God saves us from eternal death by offering us the free gift of eternal life because of what Jesus did for us through His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead.  Amen on that!  Sanctification, however, means that after we are saved and already part of God’s family, we find ourselves at the beginning of our journey with Him rather than the end…and how we travel the road of life with Him will determine how He interacts with us, and to others through us.  So, although I am free in Christ and saved for Heaven, He’s not going to entrust me with important messages for others when my own lifestyle is in direct opposition to His reign.  Why would we think that God would reward us with blessings of greater understanding, miraculous gifts, prophecies, etc., when we refuse to abide by what He’s already given us?  Remember, His ultimate goal is relationship with you.

I’ve learned (and am learning again) that when I find myself in this unwelcome but familiar place, I have to die to myself in order to find the pathway back to the way of Jesus.  When I hold on to sin it always involves self-deceit, which is a function of the original sin of pride….and self-deceit shields us from the blessing of shame.  Shame has gotten a bad rap in recent years, as new generations of positive-thinkers attempt to live “shame-free” lives by focusing only on the positive and denying the existence of negatives within them and their consequences.  But shame, like any other God-given emotion, is neutral…it can carry our souls to places all along the spectrum.  I agree that there is self-destructive shame, which originates with the lie that “I am bad” and ends up taking me into downward spirals of self-loathing; but there is also life-giving shame, which is part of the God stuff in us that leads to repentance.  When we embrace shame and hand it over to God’s capable Hands, we see clearly how we’ve veered off the right path, how to apologize and adopt His better way, and how to start walking toward Him again in a state of renewed blessing.  This is why I keep friends around me who aren’t afraid to tell me the truth about myself when I’m full of Godless bull-s*$%.  Not because they ridicule me and make me feel like a maggot, but because they love me and have permission to remind me of my deepest and most important values.

It’s essential that we open ourselves to criticism and judgment from those who have our best interest in mind, to scripture, and to the gnawing sense of the Holy Spirit inside us that won’t let us rest in a state of unrepented sin.  Not because God hates us when we do, but because He loves us and hates when we block ourselves from the miracles and hope and love He wants to birth in us. After I have repented and placed the reins back in God’s sovereign Hand, new life springs up like fresh shoots out of April soil, and His celestial GPS navigates a brand-new course toward my destiny from where I’m at.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) 

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16) 

“…In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) 

“I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:21-25)