spiritual life

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The kind of person who . . .

“True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as he would.” – Dallas Willard

I have been revisiting The Ten Commandments lately and realizing the commands to honor parents, respect property rights, tell the truth, not to be envious, put God first, and so on are as relevant today as they were then. So, what do we do?

We can do our best to keep them, but that’s been proven for centuries to be impossible.

Or we can start right now to ask God to make us into the kind of people for whom keeping the commands is automatic. Instead of thinking “I can’t fudge on my tax return because God says not to,” we say “I am no longer the kind of person who steals.” Do you see the difference? It’s about inner change, not just outward behavior. It becomes part of our nature to never want to do anything that would hurt God or another human being by not following the way of life as defined in God’s law.

How does God change our character to be persons who always do what is right and just and true? By spiritual disciplines: Prayer, worship, Bible reading/meditation, relationships with other believers, and even by trials that we go through. He molds us. Makes us more like people who are enabled to do what he wants, who long to please him, who love him completely, and love others as we love ourselves.

It will never work by trying harder. It only works by yielding to the One who can make us into people who think and act like Jesus. It’s a long journey. Are you in?

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” – Romans 13:10

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There’s no law against it.

“A true and faithful Christian does not make holy living an accidental thing. It is his great concern. As the business of the soldier is to fight, so the business of the Christian is to be like Christ.” – Jonathan Edwards

There are many in these days who worry about our rights to free speech, to practice our faith as we think appropriate, and to live our lives as we believe we should.

I read an encouraging word about this in the Bible recently and it has redirected my thoughts away from the fears and worries and toward something so positive it absolutely draws me in. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Paul was writing to the people of Galatia who were Christians at a time when the rulers were legislating all kinds of things against them. Paul himself was killed by the Roman government because of his preaching and teaching ministry. But, living in those difficult times, he focused the attention of his audience on the characteristics the Holy Spirit was growing their lives: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As he concluded this list of amazing traits, he commented, “. . . against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

No legislation has ever said it’s illegal to be kind or good or joyful. And this is exactly what the Holy Spirit will grow in our lives if we commit ourselves to him, direct our thoughts toward him, and obey his direction in our lives. Maybe we shouldn’t focus on what we can’t do and, instead, focus on our freedom to become all God has designed us to be.

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” – Romans 8:5

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Listen with a purpose.

 “Hope in God, who is not the God of the perfect only, but of the becoming.” – George MacDonald

If you’re like me, you read your Bible every day. You also hear good sermons that share biblical truths. Then we get on with our day-to-day lives often without really living out what we’ve taken in.

Jesus shared a parable about that. He talked about a farmer throwing out seeds, (representing the Word of God) and then watching as the seeds began to grow. Some died, some sprouted, some were choked out by thorns, and some grew to fullness yielding a great crop. What was the difference with those outcomes? Not the seed, but the soil.

Good soil produced a good crop. This is one of the parables Jesus explained to his disciples, and this is what he said, “. . . the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Our spiritual growth and success in the Kingdom of God all depends on our heart!

If our heart soil is right, here are the steps Jesus gives:

  1. Hear the word. We do that by listening to sermons or podcasts and by reading the Bible for ourselves.
  2. Retain what we hear or read. It’s really easy to forget – even if it was good teaching. We need to think about God’s Word, mull it over, and remember what it says.
  3. Persevere. We keep on learning, pondering, obeying, and focusing. Eventually, after patient waiting, we’ll see fruit.

It’s not hard. We all can do it. And Jesus himself guarantees the results!

“. . . walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” – Colossians 1:10b

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Advice to Self

“God will meet you where you are in order to take you where He wants you to go.” – Tony Evans

I was challenged recently to think about my life in light of teachings in the book of Proverbs. As I pondered, some important considerations surfaced. I want to share them with you.

Recognize the seasons of life.

As I look back on my decades of life, I realize more than ever that there have been seasons – times to focus on various things including education, marriage, children, career, and service. Not that any of these ever fade into oblivion, but various roles come to ascendancy at particular times. I must recognize the season that I’m in today: One of service, engaging both inside and outside of family, and passing some roles to others.

Never stop learning.

Learning and humility are closely related in my mind. I must be willing to learn from friends and advisors and from teachers and authors. I want to retain a curious mind, eager to explore new things and ready to revisit old things with a fresh look. My goal at this stage of life is to go deeper, not wider.

Speak out for justice.

I’ve become more aware in recent months of God’s emphasis on biblically defined justice. I should not ignore injustice when I observe it around me. I must learn to promote justice for those who may not be able to speak up for themselves. Not a movement, but a response to individual needs.

How about you? What season of life are you in? What are you learning? Where is God taking you? It’s worth the time to think about these things. If we listen, he will speak.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1


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Profound. Simple.

“Genuine spiritual knowledge lies not in wonderful and mysterious thoughts but in actual spiritual experience through union of the believer’s life with truth.”– Watchman Nee

If you’ve ever listened to two doctors or two lawyers talk, you know we can be lost quickly in the four-syllable words of their professions.

We sometimes encounter a similar situation related to our faith. There are those who have studied ancient languages and know theology from every angle. And that theology is often expressed in several-syllable words. Because these are important concepts, I have great appreciation for those who study at that level.

But sometimes I look at the Bible and just have to smile at the simple ways God expresses profound truths. Here’s one from Numbers 14:9, “The Lord is with us; do not fear them.” In a few one-syllable words, he helps us understand his presence with us and his loving care for us. In this simple expression, he erases our reason to be afraid.

Here are others:

“You are the light of the world. . .” (Matthew 5:14a). Seven simple words alluding to the world as a dark place that we, by being like Jesus, can light up. That’s a lot of encouragement in a short statement.

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth” (Psalm 100:1). Could an instruction be any clearer? We should experience joy in our relationship to God and should express it loudly to him in worship. And, not just us, but everyone, everywhere.

See if you can find some of your own one-syllable word statements in the Bible that contain deep and understandable truth. The Christian life is profound, but it is also simple. There is nothing we need to know that we cannot grasp as God reveals it word-by-word and step-by-step.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (from John 14:6)

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Unshakable Joy

“Joy has its springs deep down inside. And that spring never runs dry, no matter what happens. Only Jesus gives that joy.” – SD Gordon

I think God likes it when we laugh – true, deep-down, teary-eyed laughter! He wants his children to be happy, to live in joy. Sometimes God-given joy is light-hearted laughter and, at other times, it’s quietly internal. But, if we follow Jesus closely, there will be joy, no matter what circumstances we face.

This is what biblical joy may look like:

“. . . my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;” (from Psalm 16:9). I get the picture here of a dog wagging his tail so hard his whole body is in motion!

” . . . the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10). Have you ever noticed that you have more energy when you are joyful?

And even this one: “. . .we rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3). OK, that one’s harder. But it must be possible if Paul, who suffered a lot, can say this honestly.

Real joy isn’t something we can conjure up. It’s a gift – one given directly from God. Joy is part of the fruit the Holy Spirit grows within us. It starts small, and as we get to know Jesus better, it grows bigger, stronger, and more evenly consistent over time.

Creating (or pretending) joy is not on our spiritual “to do” list! Our job is to keep our eyes on Jesus. See him in his Word, in his creation, and in his actions in this world. He is here. He will reveal himself. The more we make Jesus the center of our thoughts and the more we learn to trust him, the more we will have genuine unstoppable joy.

” . . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control;” – from Galatians 5:22

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Transparency

“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” – George MacDonald

Have you noticed that relationships go better if we can be honest about who we are and what we think? The apostle John addresses this issue, but we have to look carefully to see it: “. . . if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

Walking in the light means we aren’t hiding anything. We’re cleansed from our sin and, therefore, have nothing to cover up. We can be ourselves. We can be transparent and honest. The hard relationships are those where there are topics we can’t talk about or sins and weaknesses we want to keep secret. So how do we get to the point of having the kind of relationship John describes as fellowship?

Here’s what he says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

If we regret things, past or present, we are acknowledging the truth: We have sinned.

And there a solution to that: Confess and receive God’s forgiveness.

The rest of the verse describes what follows: We are made clean. It’s as if John is telling us to confess the sins we know about and we will be cleansed from the ones we don’t know. God makes us clean, past, present, and future, through the blood of Jesus.

And the result? We walk in the light – meaning we can live easily in transparency and truth.

Only then can we experience true fellowship, deep friendship, committed love. Isn’t that what we all want?

“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” – Proverbs 10:9

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Say “yes”.

“There is no one who is insignificant in the purpose of God.”– Alistair Begg

We are so bombarded with sales-pitches today, that we have conditioned ourselves to say “no”. There are times, though, when our conditioning might block us from doing what is really best for us. Our predetermined “no” may keep us from doing something God himself is putting in front of us. Let’s not always be skeptical!

God met Moses at the burning bush and told him he had been chosen to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt and into the land God had promised to their ancestors.

Moses’s response: Not me, Lord. I’m not the right guy for this job. I have no influence. The people won’t accept me as their leader. And, I’m not even a good speech maker. You need to find someone else.

As we know, God gave Moses some supportive tools, including miracles he could perform to show God had sent him and including his own brother Aaron to give the speeches. Somehow I think God might have been happier if Moses had just said “yes”.

God says,

“Love me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”

“Be holy as I am holy.”

“Love each other as I have loved you.”

“Go into all the world and tell them about me.”

He wants us to say “yes” to all those things.

Here are some other things to add to our “yes” list:

Discomfort

Uncertainty

Humble service

Change

Living by faith

Caring – a lot

Teaching others

Giving back to him everything he’s given to us

Showing compassion

If we say “yes” to these things, we also are saying “yes” to supernatural and unexplainable peace, hope, purpose, and joy. Let’s practice saying “yes” to God!

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.” – 2 Corinthians 1:20 .

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The Me I Want to Be

“The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.” – Philip Yancey

Recently a Christian leader sent an angry tweet and, then, another post apologetic about the first and saying, “That isn’t really who I am.”

If we’ve used social media for any period of time, we most likely have had regrets about something we posted. Aren’t we all glad for the edit option?

In Mark 7, Jesus taught his disciples this truth: The words that come from our mouths (or, in today’s world, our phones or computers) reflect what we’re like on the inside. Our words reveal exactly who we are. Maybe, as one tweeter said, we shouldn’t say, “That isn’t really who I am,” and instead say, “That’s not the person I want to be.”

How, then, do I become that person – the one I want to be? The one who is good, kind, gentle, generous, wise, self-controlled, faithful, loving, patient, and forgiving, but still discerning and bold? Whether we need fine tuning or a total overhaul, the method is the same: We go to the Father, confess our failings, and ask him to grow us into the person he’s designed us to be. Then, believe that he’s doing it. As we go through our lives day-by-day, we will be given opportunities to choose our responses, to initiate conversations, to help someone in need, and all the while, we are changing – becoming more and more like the person we want to be.

It all starts with turning to the Father.

” . . . walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,” – Ephesians 4:1b-2

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Save your heart for me.

“Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure; where your treasure is, there is your heart; where your heart is, there is your happiness.” – Augustine of Hippo

These old song lyrics come to mind occasionally: “. . . just remember I’m in love with you and save your heart for me.”* I think God sings that song to us sometimes. The spiritual life is all about who has our heart, and he wants yours and mine to belong only to him.

God wants us to have human relationships, to engage in business, to be educated, to own things, to develop personal interests. But he doesn’t want any of these things to compromise our overriding commitment to him. That doesn’t mean we have to be perfect. David, who made notable mistakes and sinned scandalously, was described by God as “a man after my own heart.”

What did that mean? I think it meant that David wanted to please God more than anything. So, when he realized he had failed at doing that, he turned back to God for forgiveness and restoration. His heart belonged to God, so it was never at rest when something interfered with that deep inward commitment.

We can be like David: Desiring more than anything else to have our hearts devoted to God, knowing we will never reach that goal perfectly in this life. But knowing, as well, that when we are intentionally committed to God, we’ll turn to him even in our failure, and he will forgive our unfaithfulness and restore our joy.

So, let’s go out and live passionately, generously, gracefully as long as we save our hearts for him!

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” – Psalm 51:12

*Gary Lewis and the Playboys