You’ve probably seen this poem in your web wanderings:

Inner Strength

If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,

If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your 

troubles,

If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,

If you can overlook when people take things out on you when, 

through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

If you can do all these things . . .

Then you are probably the family dog!

What this humorous bit is playfully suggesting is that our dogs are probably better at living the Christian life than we are!

Hmm . . . I wonder.

Years ago psychologist Bruce Narramore wrote a book in which he suggested that the root of many people’s problems—both spiritual and psychological—is the deeper problem of unresolved guilt. The book was entitled No Condemnation and in it Narramore argued that too many people, including many Christians, are walking around with hearts that are haunted by repressed rather than released feelings of guilt and shame. According to Narramore, latent, hidden feelings of guilt can manifest themselves in our lives in at least five ways:

• Projection: we attribute to others the negative stuff we secretly feel guilty about.
• Repression: we simply deny our feelings of guilt, and guilt-producing feelings, and push them down out of our awareness.
• Compulsive activity: we experience an insatiable need to achieve in order to prove our value and worth.
• Obsessive thinking: we continually accuse ourselves of failing to do the right thing.
• Sublimation: we work out guilt-producing impulses or feelings in a socially acceptable way.

Now, if you know anything about psychology then you also know that these five dynamics cover a lot of territory. What this means, says Narramore, is that latent feelings of guilt, and/or an inability to ever feel truly forgiven, can and will produce a whole host of problems in our lives.

Is it possible that you possess some latent, unreleased feelings of guilt in your heart?

Let’s find out.

I’ve created a list of twenty questions based on the content of Dr. Narramore’s discussion of disguised guilt. As you look them over in rapid succession, do your best to keep count of how many of them you might even come close to saying yes to.

1. Do you tend to be a driven person, a perfectionist?
2. Do you tend to engage in any compulsive behaviors?
3. Do you tend to be critical and judgmental toward yourself and others?
4. Do you tend to berate yourself for the mistakes you make?
5. Is it hard for you to forgive yourself and others?
6. Is it possible that you tend to project onto others the attitudes and actions you secretly feel guilty about?
7. Do you tend to be cynical about and suspicious of other people’s motives?
8. Do you tend to get angry . . . a lot?
9. Do you tend to respond defensively toward any hint of criticism that comes your way?
10. Are you plagued by stubborn, nagging feelings of inferiority and inadequacy?
11. Is it hard for you to demonstrate or receive expressions of love and affection?
12. Is it hard for you to accept praise or compliments?
13. Do you possess a compulsive need to manage the impression others have of you?
14. Do you tend to be fearful and anxious . . . a lot?
15. Is it hard for you to relax without feeling guilty?
16. Is it hard for you to make decisions and then feel good about them?
17. Do you tend toward depression?
18. Has the thought ever occurred to you that you might be guilty of subconsciously sabotaging your own success?
19. Do you tend to enter into one unhealthy, abusive relationship after another?
20. Do you seem to experience significant seasons of spiritual dryness in your relationship with God?

So, how did you do? Could it be that way too many of us are actually walking around with hearts haunted by unreleased feelings of guilt and shame?

Of course, you know how ironic this is, don’t you? It’s ironic because . . . the Christ we Christians are all about is all over this business of the forgiveness of sins! This is a huge theme in the New Testament as a whole. The phrase “forgiveness of sins,” or a derivative, appears in the NIV of the New Testament no less than 43 times! Not only did Jesus talk a lot about forgiveness, not only was Jesus himself a very forgiving person, but his death and resurrection were things he experienced in order that we might experience the forgiveness of our sins.

In Matthew 26 we read that during the Last Supper he had with his disciples Jesus said:

This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28, emphasis added)

In Acts 13 we read that after proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus to members of the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, the apostle Paul went on to say to his Jewish hearers:

“Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. (Acts 13:38, emphasis added)

And in the first chapter of his letter to the church in Ephesus, where we find Paul singing a hymn of praise to Jesus Christ, we read:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace… (Ephesians 1:7, emphasis added)

According to these and many other passages in the New Testament, there is an unmistakable connection between the cross-work of Christ and our experience of the forgiveness of sins.

In a sermon entitled “The Prime Principle” Steve Brown made a profound observation about God’s forgiveness:

         Have you ever watched a little girl get her new dress dirty just before church? Little girls get their dresses dirty sometimes when they really don’t mean to, and then they’re faced with a number of options.

         They can try to hide the dirt by folding the dress over and walking close to their mother. Or they can pretend that they don’t know about the dirt: “Dirt? I didn’t know there was any dirt on me!” Or they can just try to stay away from mother so that mother can’t see the dirt. If mother comes into the living room, the daughter goes into the bedroom. She’ll try to get in the car before her mother gets in.

         Or she can do what she ought to do if she has a mother who reflects the grace of God. She can go to her mother and say, “Look, my dress is dirty.” If her mother is right on, she does something about the dirt but not the daughter.

                                                                                                       —       Steve Brown

Folks, our God is “right on”: he does something about the dirt, but not his sons and daughters.

The God we Christians worship and serve is a God who is compassionate and gracious; actually eager to forgive our sins.

Perhaps the Apostle John had this passage in mind when he wrote:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

But, this leaves us asking ourselves a crucial question today, doesn’t it?

If it’s true that Christ is all about the forgiveness of sins, then why are there so many people, including Christians, walking around with repressed feelings of guilt still haunting their hearts?

The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard used to tell a story about ducks to illustrate how we Christians can hear the message of the Bible without really putting into practice. According to Kierkegaard, there is a town where only ducks live. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat in their proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, then the duck minister comes forward and opens the duck Bible. He reads to them: “Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings. God has given you wings and you can fly like birds!” All the ducks shouted, “Amen!” And then they all waddled home.

“And then they all waddled home.” In other words, too many of people hear the message of God’s grace (we may even be the ones who are preaching and teaching it) but then waddle home—we go on living our lives as if our sins aren’t really forgiven!

Prominent Christian counselor David Seamands has written:

          Many years ago I was driven to the conclusion that the two major causes of most emotional problems among evangelical Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God’s unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people. . . . We read, we hear, we believe a good theology of grace. But that’s not the way we live. The good news of the Gospel of grace has not penetrated the level of our emotions (emphasis added).

According to this Christian counselor, it’s not good enough for us Christians to simply hear and affirm the message of grace; we have to take it to heart!

So, what do we do about this serious situation? Is there anything we can do?

The answer is yes.

If we let Him, the Holy Spirit will massage into our hearts the message of God’s love and grace in such a way as to empower us to release rather than repress our feelings of guilt and shame.

According to the Bible, what happens to and in our hearts is of the utmost importance.

• Proverbs 4:23 tells us that the heart is the wellspring of life.
• Jeremiah 31:33 tells us that God’s goal is to write his word and his will onto our hearts.
• Matthew 13:19-23 tells us that for the message of the Kingdom to do us any good, it has to be planted deeply in our hearts.

Since what happens to and in our hearts is so important, it shouldn’t surprise to read that …

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:5, emphasis added)

The Holy Spirit does a lot of things in the lives of Christ’s followers after we surrender our lives to him; but nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important than this business of impressing upon our hearts the message of God’ love and grace.

Has this happened to you yet? Has it happened lately?

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how guilty you might feel today. If you ask him to, the Holy Spirit can and will massage into your heart the message of God’s grace and the experience of His love.

And . . .

If there are longstanding feelings of guilt and that are hiding in the recesses of your heart, the Holy Spirit can and will begin a process of inner healing so that you can begin to truly live the new life Jesus died in order to give you.

In one of his books, spiritual disciplines guru Richard Foster tells the following story:

           A friend of mine once counseled a seventy-eight-year-old woman. She had been a missionary for fifty years, but now her life, it seemed, was in shambles. She had fears day and night. She was afraid of crowds; she was afraid of stairs; she was afraid of everything. And she was depressed; a deep sadness hung over her entire life. So total was her misery that she was preparing to have shock treatments.

          My friend, who is very wise in the care of souls, asked if she had been happy as a child. “Oh yes!” she responded. The next question was a simple one. “When did you begin to feel this sadness and depression?” The reply was quick, “When I was sixteen.” And so my friend asked, “Why? What happened when you were sixteen that caused the sadness?” For the first time in her life, this woman admitted that at sixteen she had an affair with a young man. Fortunately, she did not become pregnant, and the young man soon went away, but she had carried this deep wound in her spirit for over sixty years.

This story absolutely blows me away! Here is a woman who had not only been a church-going Christian, but had spent fifty years of her life as a Christian leader—a missionary. Nevertheless, during all that time she had been walking around with a heart haunted by feelings of guilt and shame before God! Even while she was worshipping and serving God, her heart was filled with fear, sadness and despair, instead peace, joy and hope.

Are you curious about what happened to her?

Richard Foster finishes the story by saying:

          My friend prayed for the inner healing of this dear woman, and, wonderfully, within a matter of weeks, the fears and depression began to disappear, so that, as she put it, “I am able to remember that I used to be afraid and depressed, but I can no longer remember what it felt like!”

I don’t know for sure if anyone reading this blog possesses a heart that is filled with repressed feelings of guilt and shame. But I do know that, if you do, there’s hope.

The Holy Spirit is in the heart-massaging business!

Heart massage, anyone?

My blog today is not for everyone. It’s only for two kinds of people:

• It’s for people who want to actually experience success in this life rather than just talk about it all the time.
• It’s for people who recognize that the biggest key to living a happy life is to maintain positive, healthy, mutually beneficial relationships with other people.

So, do you fit into either of these categories? If you do, I want to encourage you to ask yourself a very important question today: Am I self-sabotaging?

To be even more specific, I believe we all need to ask ourselves: Is it possible that I might have some psychological blind spots?

You see, it’s our psychological blind spots that allow us to remain oblivious to certain aspects of our personality that are obvious to everyone around us. More often than not, these aspects of our personality that we don’t seem to be able or willing to recognize are problematic rather than helpful.

• People with psychological blind spots keep making the same mistakes over and over again without ever accepting responsibility for them.
• People with psychological blind spots keep behaving in ways that push most people away from them.
• People with psychological blind spots keep sabotaging their own success.

Now, many psychologists will argue that if we possess a psychological blind spot, it’s not because we can’t see the truth about ourselves; it’s because we don’t want to. This is why, when the Bible talks about people with psychological blind spots, it doesn’t refer to them as victims, but as “fools” or “mockers”!

The Book of Proverbs contains a whole slew of passages that describe the fool as a person who simply doesn’t want to know the truth about themselves or anything else for that matter.

Here, see if you discern the point being made in these various passages:

The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)

The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. (Proverbs 15:14)

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. (Proverbs 18:2)

Do not speak to a fool, for he will scorn the wisdom of your words. (Proverbs 23:9)

Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. (Proverbs 26:12)

He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe. (Proverbs 28:26)

Do you get the idea being presented in these pasages?

The fool is the person who is not open to hearing or learning from anyone else. The fool is content to have his or her blind spots. The fool is someone who simply doesn’t care about the truth.

At the risk of being a bit too thorough in this blog, I will press on to point out that the Book of Proverbs also refers to the person with a psychological blind spot as a “mocker.” Like the fool, the mocker is not open to learning anything from anyone else.

Take a look at a few more passages that describe the self-destructive behavior of the mocker:

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. (Proverbs 9:7)

A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 13:1)

A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise. (Proverbs 15:12)

The proud and arrogant man–” Mocker” is his name; he behaves with overweening pride. (Proverbs 21:24)

Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended. (Proverbs 22:10)

The schemes of folly are sin, and men detest a mocker. (Proverbs 24:9)

Did you notice how that, according to these passages, the mocker succeeds in alienating himself or herself from nearly everyone around him or her?

How about it? Do you think you know of anyone who might qualify as a mocker?

With that thought in mind, let me encourage you not to make the mistake of thinking that we are talking about ignorant, uneducated people. Many foolish people are anything but ignorant or uneducated. The fact is that it’s possible to be very well educated and still be a fool.

Commenting on this joke, psychologist Les Parrott III writes:

          “A high IQ has never guaranteed good decisions. No matter how superior one’s intelligence, even a genius may not see what’s obvious to others. One need not look far to find breathtaking acts of stupidity committed by people who are smart. You may be quick-witted, clever, and intellectually brilliant but these enviable traits don’t ensure wise judgments or accurate assessments, especially about oneself.”

In this quote Dr. Parrott seems to be referring to blind spots. How do I know?

I know because the quote doesn’t stop there; he goes on to say . . .

          “Blind spots. We all have them. Research has shown that we don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do. Psychological blind spots keep us from seeing the truth. They distort our perceptions, trick our reality, and feed us misinformation. Like the physical blind spots in automobiles, our personal blind spots steer us into danger if we’re not careful.”

So, what do we do about our blind spots? Dr. Parrott concludes this discussion by saying:

           “This is why discovering your blind spots is key to making good decisions. Ask for input. Have a confidant show you what you don’t see. It’s not easy work, but the payoffs are certainly sweet. It heightens your self-awareness, lowers your stress, revolutionizes your relationships, and frees your spirit for optimal fulfillment.”             

According to Dr. Parrott, the key to eliminating our blind spots is to proactively seek some quality input from some people you believe you can trust. The Bible says essentially the same thing:

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. (Proverbs 27:6, emphasis added)

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel. (Proverbs 27:9, emphasis added)

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17, emphasis added)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom … (Colossians 3:16, emphasis added)

speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15, emphasis added)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24, emphasis added)

I want to end this blog encouraging you to ask yourself another question or two:

• Do I have any confidants—close spiritual friends—I can trust to help me see the truth about myself, things I haven’t wanted to see?
• Will I actually do it? Will I open myself up to the truth no matter how painful a process this might be?

I can pretty much guarantee that this process of self-discovery will be painful. This is why the philosopher Socrates once said:

And why the philosopher Plato once observed:

Make no mistake, this business of eliminating our blind spots is hard, painful labor. But, let me assure you, Jesus will help you through this learning experience no matter how painful it may be. Just ask Peter or any of the other disciples … except Judas.

What I’m trying to say is that because we are whole, integrated beings our psychological health is important to Jesus. If we let Him, He can and will help us all cease our self-sabotaging. The next move is ours.

Something to think about.

I’m currently proofreading an edited version of the manuscript that, in July 2011, will be released as Christ’s Empowering Presence. In chapter 7 of this book my focus is on  the set of “rules” for holy living put forward by a seventeenth-century Anglican churchman named Jeremy Taylor. Better thought of as suggestions, these  “rules” were intended by Taylor to enable his readers to experience the presence of God in their daily lives and respond appropriately to it. Here’s an excerpt from my manuscript I feel led of the Lord to share with my friends today: 

Rule #2

            Taylor’s second “rule” has to do with the way in which his readers conduct their times of devotion. Taylor suggests that as we begin our quiet times we should spend a few moments in worship: picturing God with the eyes of faith; rehearsing the reasons why he is worthy of our time, attention, and praise; imagining ourselves in his very presence. According to Taylor, this simple act of connecting with God in a way that is both volitional-intellectual and mystical-experiential will have a tremendously positive effect upon our devotional exercises. 

“In the beginning of actions of religion, make an act of adoration, that is, solemnly worship God, and place thyself in God’s presence, and behold Him with the eye of faith; and let thy desires actually fix on Him as the object of thy worship, and the reason of thy hope, and the fountain of thy blessing. For when thou hast placed thyself before Him and kneelest in His presence, it is most likely all the following parts of thy devotion will be answerable to the wisdom of such an apprehension, and the glory of such a presence.”[1]

            When talking to my university students, either in class or in one-on-one counseling sessions, I will often make the distinction between our conversing with God and our merely talking at him. I will point out that what some of us are really doing during “prayer” is merely rehearsing our worrisome thoughts toward the idea of God rather than genuinely sharing our burdens with him in a real, person-to-person manner. 

            I’m convinced that Jesus would have us understand that prayer can be a real conversation we have with God, confident that we are being listened to by a gracious, loving heavenly Father who genuinely cares for us. This is the kind of praying that produces: (a) a real sense of peace in our hearts; and (b) real results in the world! Rather than merely talk at, or worry toward, the idea of God, we can and should converse with him. To do this, we need to take rule #2 seriously and begin our prayer times with an act of adoration, reckoning with God’s real presence, focusing our heart and mind on the fact that we are about to converse with a very real spiritual entity who also happens to be our loving heavenly Father. 

I hope this distinction between speaking to God in prayer rather than merely talking at him (or worse, at the mere idea of him) is as helpful to you as it is to me. At the very least it provides us with … 

Something to think about. 

[1] Jeremy Taylor: Selected Writings, “Holy Living,” ed. C. H. Sisson (Manchester, England: Carcanet Press Limited, 1990),, 62–63.

Postmodernity’s rejection of modernity’s concept of a rational, autonomous knower tends toward a rejection of individualism as a whole accompanied by a sometimes radical embrace of communalism. Many postmodern Christians are therefore highly critical of the individualism they see present in contemporary evangelicalism. Some are even beginning to question whether it is legitimate for evangelicals to speak of having or pursuing a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ. Pointing out that this phrase is not present in the New Testament text, some postmodern theologians are concerned that such language is off-putting to the post-Christians living around us, and that such a concept causes many contemporary Christians to become myopic, self-centered and consumerist in the way they live out the Christian faith.

It is true that many evangelical Christians have become too individualistic in their walk with Christ, and that the phrase “personal relationship” with Jesus does not show up in the pages of the New Testament. But does this mean that the concept of a personal relationship with Christ is altogether absent from God’s word? Is denying or even simply downplaying the idea of a personal relationship with Christ the best way to respond to the problem of Christian individualism?  

This is an important issue for any Christian who wants his or her faith to be biblically informed. Therefore, I encourage you to take a good look at the following passages in order to make your own determination as to whether the authors of the New Testament, nearly two millennia before the advent of modernity, did or did not communicate the idea that God is concerned for the spiritual well-being of individuals, and desires that individuals enter into and maintain a personal relationship with him through Jesus Christ (a personal though not private relationship that most certainly has communal implications).

C. S. Lewis has famously observed that the trinitarian God of Christianity is unique in that he is not simply personal, but super-personal. At the heart of the Godhead is a community of three persons engaged in a sort of divine dance produced by the eternal, loving interaction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit (see Mere Christianity, pp. 175-176). In other words, our God is all about the dynamic of interpersonal relationship.You might say that he is a hyper-personal God who is radically interested in a personal (though not private) relationship with each and every human being created in his image. Hence the long list of scriptures presented above!

It is precisely this desire in the heart of God for a personal, life-giving relationship with each of us that produces the drama inherent the biblical story. The sad truth is that not everyone will enter into such a life-giving relationship with God, despite the remarkable lengths God has gone to make such a relationship possible.

Make no mistake, the New Testament does emphasize the concept of a personal relationship with God. The problems of contemporary Christians adopting an attitude of radical individualism, and approaching life in the church with a consumerist mindset in place are real and need to be dealt with lest we continue to practice churchianity rather than Christianity and give the post-Christians around us more justification for dismissing the faith. But the solution to these problems is not to dismiss or downplay the idea of a personal (though not private) relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Quite the contrary.

Something to think about.

Have you ever noticed how many of the psalms have as their theme a plea to God for protection from the psalmist’s enemies? Even allowing for the fact that the ancient Near East was an environment where the rule of law did not always hold sway, it kind of makes you wonder what the psalmists (especially David) were doing to create so many enemies?

Judging by the content of the prayers themselves, all the psalmists were guilty of was trying to live a righteous and upright life in the face of much evil and lawlessness (see Ps 7:8; 17:1-3; 18:20-24; 40:9-10; 119:121).

Okay.

But having written a book about the problem of Christian Pharisaism, which often manifests itself in attitudes of self-righteousness and super-spirituality, I have to admit that I get a little nervous around people who are in the habit of insisting that their provocative actions are completely innocent, their motives entirely pure, and their cause indubitably just. I also grieve whenever I see or hear of people acting in a deliberately belligerent, obnoxious manner because they are absolutely convinced that defending God’s honor or advancing God’s concerns depends upon their doing so. It’s not that I’m suggesting that the psalmists (especially David) were self-righteous, super-spiritual jerks, I’m just saying that I hope that not too many contemporary readers of the psalms will be guilty of justifying the presence of a plethora of unnecessary enemies in their lives on the basis of them.

Then again, it’s also true that, as Mark Twain once observed, there’s nothing more annoying than a good example.

Furthermore, along with the Scriptures, everyday life teaches us that it does sometimes happen that essentially good people will be persecuted by less good people for no other reason than because of their commitment to please God.

Just ask Jesus. 

In his book, Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel includes a cogent quote from the writings of Martin Bell. Speaking of Jesus, Bell writes:

“There he is. In the temple again. Causing trouble. Speaking very differently from other preachers. Speaking with authority about sorrow, anxiety, sickness, and death. Penetrating the dark corners of human existence. Shattering illusion. Make no mistake about it; this is a dangerous man.”

To some people, Jesus was a dangerous man.

Hmm … aren’t we called to emulate this dangerous person? Didn’t Jesus warn his disciples in John 15:18-22 that, to the degree they successfully re-present him to the world, they should expect to be hated and persecuted as we was? It was certainly not the case that Jesus was a self-righteous, super-spiritual jerk. Rather it was because he was so very committed to living his life in a righteous manner in his relations to God and his neighbors, and called for others to strive to do the same, that he got on people’s nerves, making a number of necessary enemies in the process.

These musings have the effect of causing me to wonder: Does anyone in the world consider me dangerous? If not, why?

Indeed, having thought about the matter some, I’ve come to the conclusion that this may be why so many of the psalms contain prayerful, heart-felt appeals to God for divine protection against the psalmist’s enemies. The same Holy Spirit that inspired the composition, collection and canonization of the psalms inspired the Apostle Paul to write:

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted… (2 Timothy 3:12)

So, instead of wondering why so many of the psalms are about protection from one’s enemies, and instead of worrying about too many contemporary readers justifying the presence of too many unnecessary enemies in their lives on the basis of them, maybe I should be wondering why I don’t have more necessary enemies of my own.

Weird, huh?

Something to think about.

Yesterday morning’s Bible reading involved Haggai 1 in which is found the following passage:

So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, ¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. Haggai (1:14-15)

The backstory is that the exiles from Babylon had returned to Jerusalem and had begun to put their lives back together. Houses were being built; crops were being planted and harvested; community life was being reorganized taking on a semblance of normalcy. However, according to the word of the Lord that had come to the prophet Haggai, there was a huge problem: the house of the Lord (the temple) remained a ruin (Haggai 1:4, 9). This oversight, said the prophet Haggai, was the reason why the people in the land had yet to experience God’s full blessing on all their life re-building endeavors (Haggai 1:5-6, 10-11).  The call of Haggai’s propehcy was for the people to come correct and and make the rebuilding of the house of the Lord a priority (Haggai 1:8). The implication of this prophetic message was that putting God first in their lives would put these people in a position to experience his full blessing. 

The chapter goes on to say that the people responded well to the prophetic preaching of Haggai—the orientation of their hearts to the message was one of obedience to it (Haggai 1:12). In response to this, a second word of the Lord came through Haggai to the people, assuring them that God was (and would be) with them. It’s then that we read of the Lord stirring up the spirit of the people and their leaders to actually begin the work or re-building the temple.

The idea of the Lord stirring up the Spirit of a group of people to become involved in a ministry project, the importance of which they had not correctly assessed before, was on my mind all day yesterday and is still with me today. Could it be that I am overlooking something that God considers very important? Should I so quickly assume that my prorities are God’s priorities? Is there something I need to be doing in order to please God and bring him the honor he deserves (Haggai 1:8) that I’m not doing right now?

Now, while this medidation could end on a negative, self-critical note, I don’t intend for it to. The biblical text ultimately says that the Lord stirred up the spirit of the people, encouraging and empowering them to do that which would please him and put them in a position to experience his best blessings in their lives. That’s grace!

Over the years I’ve found that we have a God who is so gracious that he can be counted on to provide his people with the “spirit” and “heart” they need in order to live their lives in a way that’s pleasing to him and good for themselves. All we have to do is ask. For example:

• In Psalm 51:12 we read of David requesting that the Lord would grant him a “willing spirit,” that he might do better at pleasing him.
• In Psalm 86:11 we read of David asking God to give him an “undivided heart” that he might fear his name.
• In Psalm 138:3 we read of David giving thanks that the Lord heard his prayer and responded by making him “bold and stouthearted.”

Isn’t it good to know that we serve a God who not only instructs us in the way we should live but then is willing to provide us with that which we need in order to do so: e.g., a “willing spirit” and a “heart” that is both “undivided” and “stout” (sturdy, resolute, determined, strong)?

The Haggai text tells us that in response to the orientation of their hearts to want to obey the prophetic word they had received, the Lord stirred up the spirit of the people enabling them to accomplish the very thing he was calling them to do. Again, that’s grace—empowering grace—and I need/want as much of it as I can get. How about you?

Something to think about.

I’m pretty sure that nearly all church-going Christians know how important grace is to the Christian life. Many New Testament passages indicate this. Passages such as: 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

If asked, most evangelical church members could probably quote this particular passage from memory. But, what I’m not sure of is that enough church members are sufficiently aware that the New Testament also seems to teach us that how we respond to God’s grace, initially and in an ongoing manner, is crucial. According to the New Testament, we can respond to God’s grace by:

     1.   spurning it, insulting the Holy Spirit in the process (Hebrews 10:29);

     2.   receiving it in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1);

     3.   accepting but then abandoning it or setting it aside (Galatians 1:6; 2:21);

     4.   falling away from it (Galatians 5:4);

     5.   missing it, by failing to extend it to others (Hebrews 12:15); and

     6.   perverting it, turning it in to license to sin (Jude 1:4).

On the other hand, the New Testament also teaches that we can respond to God’s grace by:

     7.   seeking to better understand it (Colossians 1:6);

     8.    making sure to continue in it (Acts 13:43);

     9.   being strong in it (2 Timothy 2:1); and

     10. being careful to keep growing in it (2 Peter 3:18).

Based upon my reflection on all the passages referred to here, I’m thinking that a crucial question all church-going Christians need to ask themselves is whether or not they have ever truly embraced grace, and whether they are doing so now.

In chapter six of my book Defeating Pharisaism I include the following story from Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?  Yancey writes:

A friend of mine riding a bus to work overheard a conversation between the young woman sitting next to him and her neighbor across the aisle. The woman was reading Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled, the book that stayed on the The New York Times Best-Sellers list longer than any other.

   “What are you reading?” asked the neighbor.

   “A book a friend gave me. She said it changed her life.”

   “Oh yeah? What’s it about?”

   “I’m not sure. Some sort of guide to life. I haven’t got very far yet.”

   She began flipping through the book. “Here are the chapter titles: ‘Discipline, Love, Grace, . . .’”

   The man stopped her. “What’s grace?”

   [The woman replied] “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten to Grace yet.” 

Yancey goes on to express his concern that too many evangelical church members haven’t really gotten to grace yet. I wrote Defeating Pharisaism because I share Yancey’s concern. In this book I suggest that at the heart of the Pharisaical approach to religious life is an inability or unwillingness to embrace grace. 

You see, in the thirty-two years I spent pastoring three churches, I came across many faithful church-goers who nevertheless found it very difficult to trust God to be good and merciful to them. In other words, they found it very difficult to embrace grace. Instead, their need for psychological and spiritual certitude drove them to make certain their place before God by reducing the religious life to a set of concrete rules and rituals they could master with precision. The problem is that once you start down this road of earning your place before God via religious rule and rituals, you tend to end up bearing many of the earmarks of Pharisaism that Jesus had such a problem with: hypocrisy, judgmentalism, super-spirituality, legalism, dogmatism, pugilism (a fighting spirit), separatism, spiritual myopia, et cetera.

In my book I endeavor to show how that throughout his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used the Pharisees as a negative example of the kind of disciples he had come to make; how an inability to embrace grace would impact such things as a disciple’s ethics, piety, ambitions, ministry effectiveness, and ability to persevere in the faith. In other words, what Jesus was doing in the Sermon on the Mount was making the point of how important it is for his followers to embrace grace if they are going to truly become the kind of people who manifest the traits described in the beatitudes and, as a result, end up functioning as spiritual salt and light, effectively pointing even more people to God!

Now, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be reading this if you were a person who didn’t care at all about functioning effectively as spiritual salt and light. Then again, it’s easy—amazingly easy—for the most sincere Christian to slip into a performance mode before God. I struggle with this myself more often than I care to admit.

Here’s the bottom line: there are many ways we can respond to grace. Have we ever truly embraced it? Are we living out of that embrace right now? It really does make a difference.

Something to think about.

Later this morning I will be delivering a lecture on the problem of evil. In that lecture I will point out to my students that the author of the textbook we’re using for the course indicates that at least some blame for the evil that is in the world has to be directed at a malevolent spiritual being at work in it.

I will go on to indicate that this evil spiritual being is referred to fairly often in the Bible (NIV) as: Satan (54 times), the devil (36 times), the evil one (12 times), Beelzebub (7 times), the prince of demons (4 times), and the prince of this world another (3 times).

I will also draw attention to the fact that some pretty smart, spiritually savvy biblical characters evidently took the reality of the devil seriously. I am speaking of such folks as Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, James, Jude, and the author of the Letter to the Hebrews.

Though what the Bible has to say about the origin of the devil is, in my mind, somewhat murky, its various descriptions of his activities seem to indicate that the most basic, fundamental, unwavering orientation of this evil spiritual being is toward the destruction of the human race. As the evil one, he is anti-life, and anti-love. In another words, his essence is diametrically opposed to any sort of human flourishing, either in this age or the age to come.

We really can only speculate about what the devil’s deal is—what makes him so thoroughly committed to evil. C. S. Lewis was careful to point out that evil really possesses no ontological status of its own. It’s not that there are two equal rival powers at work in the universe competing for supremacy (i.e., metaphysical dualism). Evil is rather goodness gone bad.

Whatever the origin and motive of the devil, I will encourage my students later today to take him seriously, as the Bible suggests we should.

According to the Apostle Paul (a pretty smart, spiritually savvy fellow), we should be careful:

• not to give the devil a foothold in our life (Eph 4:27);
• not to put ourselves in a position to be tempted by him (1 Cor 7:5);
• not to allow ourselves to be outwitted by him (2 Cor 2:11); and
• certainly not to turn away from the faith and follow him (1 Tim 5:15).

Furthermore, says Paul, the way to accomplish all of this is by being careful to put on the full armor of God so as to be able to stand firm against his schemes (Eph 6:11).

Can we give the devil too much attention? Of course. But we can ignore him to our detriment too. Doesn’t the prototypical prayer Jesus provided us contain a petition that says “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”?

In the movie The Usual Suspects a character named Verbal Kent says: “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.” Indeed, it has been my experience that it’s when we stop taking the devil seriously, it’s when we fail to remember that it’s not just us and God in the universe—that we have a spiritual enemy whose main goal is to “steal and kill and destroy” (see John 10:10)—that we allow the evil one to get close enough to us to eat our lunch.

So, in my lecture today I will encourage my students to give the devil his due. This does not mean we should fixate on and obsess over him. But it does mean that we should be careful to take him seriously and resist him in the ways referred to above.

It also means that we should not be so quick to put immediate blame on God for absolutely every evil event that transpires on this fallen planet.

As for why there is a devil and human freedom, while I will address these issues in my lecture today, they will have to be the topic of future blog posting, so stay tuned.

How’s that for a tease?

The title which C. S. Lewis gave the book that tells the story of his conversion from atheism to Christianity is “Surprised by Joy.” This is a wonderful title of a wonderful book written by a wonderful author. 

That said, my concern is that for many Christians the experience of spiritual joy is either too short-lived—limited to a few hours or days following a crisis conversion experience—or too sporadic—much too dependent upon infrequent occurences of happiness-provoking circumstances beyond their control. While the Bible most certainly does teach that the experience of joy is often precipitated by the activity of God in our lives, it also seems to teach that the experience of joy is something that can and should be proactively pursued. Consider, for example, the following passages:  

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) 

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 8:15) 

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4) 

Okay, so how do we do this: how do we pursue joy? 

There are no doubt many ways one can engage in this pursuit. In this blog, I’ll focus on just one. 

Since one of my devotional habits is to read through the Book of Psalms each month, this means that every so often I will run across passages like Psalm 90:12 which reads: 

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalms 90:12) 

Viewed in its context, the verse (attributed to Moses) seems to be encouraging its readers to recognize how fleeting life is. Verse 10 of the same psalm reads: 

The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. (Psalms 90:10) 

Becoming aware of verses such as these—passages that encourage us to recognize how fleeting life is—has had the effect of causing me to begin most days recognizing something very important: “I’ll only have one shot at this day; once it’s gone, it gone for good. How am I going to act? Will I walk in the flesh or strive to be led by the Spirit? Will I approach the day with a fear-orientation in my heart (worried that something horrible might happen) or with a faith-orientation in place (confident that I live in a good God-governed universe). Will I choose to endure this day or to enjoy it instead?” 

For the purpose of this blog, it’s that last  question that’s important. Will we merely endure the few days that make up our lives, or make the quality decision to enjoy them? 

Sadly, I’m tempted to think that Thoreau was right when he wrote: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” However, surely, for us Christians, it doesn’t have to be this way, right? Don’t we of all people have a good reason to experience hope rather than despair—a hope for the future that can produce joy in the present (see Rom 15:13)? 

Will we merely endure the few days that make up our lives, or make the quality decision to enjoy them?

Committed to not being a part of the mass of men of which Thoreau spoke, my habit most days is to say to myself: “Since I’m going to live this day only one time, despite my busyness—all the things that really do need to be accomplished—I want to be careful to press some joy into it.”

Admittedly, I don’t always succeed. Sometimes my proactive pursuit of joy get short-circuited by the fact that my faith is still imperfect, and that in this fallen world crud happens—the kind of crud that, frankly, makes rejoicing in the Lord always a difficult thing for an imperfect person like me to do. 

But I don’t allow those bad days to get the best of me. Convinced that the experience of spiritual joy shouldn’t depend completely upon current happiness-provoking circumstances, and that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have inspired the Apostle Paul to encourage his readers to do something impossible, I firmly believe that with the Spirit’s help I can, over time, become a more perpetually praiseful, grateful, joyful Christ-follower. 

Here’s the bottom line: Though my conversion to Christ was indeed a joyful experience, I don’t want to live the rest of my life merely hoping to be occasionally surprised by joy. No, given the brevity of life, I want to learn to live each day insisting upon it. 

How about you? 

I was having lunch recently with some Vanguard University faculty colleagues when Dr. Rich Israel, Professor of Biblical Literature, made the observation that when Solomon prayed for wisdom in 1 Kings 3:7-9 he was actually asking God to give him a lev shomea, a “listening heart.” Since shomea is related to the Hebrew word shema, “hear,” I suppose we might also refer to lev shomea as a “hearing heart.” 

Almost immediately, I thought of a quote by Thomas Kelly that goes like this: 

There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.

I love both images–that of a heart eager to hear from God, and of a self that seeks to be continually receptive to divine breathings.

Ultimately, it’s all about direction, isn’t it? To what degree are we committed to being guided by God rather than by our natural understanding of things. The Bible is replete with passages that encourage the former and warn against the latter. Here’s just one passage, well known but worth repeating:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I want to suggest that, given it’s context, the exhortation to “acknowledge” God is a call to always have a spritual ear tuned to the divine direction he can and will provide those who belong to him. To the degree we do this, says the proverb author, we will find ourselves walking the right paths, doing the right things.

You see, the problem is that our natural understanding of things can sometimes be terribly errant. Other passages from the Book of Proverbs make this crystal clear. For example:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25)

He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe. (Proverbs 28:26)

It was only right for King Solomon to ask God to give him wisdom–a discerning, listening, hearing heart. After all, as the new king of Israel he was facing some huge responsibilities. But, really, aren’t we all? Don’t we all need all the divine direction we can get?

Much later in time the Apostle Paul would write these encouraging words to the rank-and-file members of the church in Philippi:

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

More love informed by knowledge and insight? A greater ability to “discern what is best” so that I might be “pure and blameless” until the return of Christ? The ability not to be merely positionally righteous in Christ, but to actually become practically righteous as well? Are you kidding me? Sign me up!

So, my suggestion is that all of us make Solomon’s prayer our own. In fact …

“Dear God, I’m certainly neither a Solomon nor an Apostle Paul, but my prayer today is that you will give everyone who reads these words, no matter when they do so, a lev shomea–a hearing heart that will enable them to discern what is best so that they may be pure, blameless, and practically righteous until the day of Christ. Amen.”