Month: December 2015

The following letter was originally posted on Jul 2, 2015.

My Dear International Friends:

I have gotten to know many of you over the years and am grateful to God that I know you.  Your presence in my life has greatly enriched it.   As you know, this past week the U.S. Supreme Court declared that people of the same sex may legally marry.  This decision will reverberate across American culture and eventually affect your cultures as well.  America exports more than just grain and goods.

I want to talk briefly about this decision and do so from a Biblical perspective.   I know that many of you have told me that America is a Christian nation.  You may be wondering, then, how a Christian nation can justify an idea like homosexual marriage.  Others of you may think that since America is a Christian nation, this decision shows that the Bible approves of homosexual relations.  After all, these “Christians” approved it.

Please, my friends, do not confuse American culture with Christianity.  I have said to many of you in the past that America is not a Christian nation, and perhaps this recent Supreme Court ruling will put to rest forever the notion that American culture and Christianity walk hand in hand.

I do not have time here to discuss the many Biblical texts that deal with homosexuality or with marriage.  Forgive me for not fleshing those out here.  Maybe that is another blog for another day.  Suffice it to say that the Bible in the clearest of terms commands God’s people to love, respect, and show kindness and grace to homosexual people, for such people are created in the image of God.  The Bible also, in the clearest of terms, condemns homosexuality as sin and defines marriage as the one flesh union of a man and a woman.  From a Biblical perspective, the idea of a gay marriage makes as much sense as a square circle.  The United States may now call such a relationship a marriage.  God does not.

The mantra you keep hearing in the media is that “Love Wins.”  But the “love” that won has nothing to do with Biblical love.  Biblical love “does not rejoice in evil” (I Cor 13:6).  Biblical love obeys God’s commandments (Jn 14:15).  Biblical love is not focused on personal gratification but on the glory of God.  Make no mistake.  The “love” that won has been divorced from righteousness, which means that it is no love at all.  Please do not confuse the language of love with the love of Christianity.  They are different things.  The love of God cares about holiness and obeys what God says.

In addition, if you have been listening to the narrative that the media has been feeding the public, you know that the culture repeatedly accuses us Christians of hatred and bigotry.  You know us.  You are intelligent enough to see that the accusation is nonsense, but it does show that the Christian side is not the only side that sees a great divide between American culture and Christianity.  Here in America, the culture at large acknowledges this as well.

Therefore, I ask you again, please do not confuse American culture with Christianity.  My concern in emphasizing this distinction is to preserve in your minds the purity of Christ.  I do not mean that you can truly sully Him.  Christ is holy, and nothing you and I do or think will ever change that.  But just because Christ is holy does not mean we see Him as such.  I want us to see reality.  But when we confuse American culture with Christianity, we tarnish Christ.  When we start to wonder if Christianity approves of things the Bible clearly condemns, we are on spiritually dangerous ground.  Please do not go there.

In saying these things, I do not deny the historical contributions Christianity has made to American culture.  Just as a good teacher impacts her students, so has Christianity impacted this nation.  But the students have grown up and gone their own way, and they now oppose their teacher without knowing truly how much they owe her.  And the teacher sees what has happened and weeps.

Sincerity is a wonderful thing.  But sincerity by itself is empty. All sincere people are always sincere about something. I have seen Mormons who were sincere about their Mormonism and communists who were sincere about their communism. I have seen sincere environmentalists blow up ships and sincere Muslims blow up buildings. Many Republicans and Democrats are sincere about their politics, but their sincerity causes them to push for opposing policies.  For all I know, Hitler himself was quite sincere about Nazism.

This should challenge the rabidly popular notion that sincerity is what makes a heart right. You’ve heard the idea. “It doesn’t matter what Sarah believes so long as she is sincere.” This idea is not from God. A right heart is more than sincere. A right heart is sincere about the right things. It has a right focus. A right heart never has its focus on any of the many good things in life. Instead it is focused on the one great thing. A right heart does not focus on pleasure or family, academics or business, world peace or a clean environment. Its passion is Christ. A right heart may enjoy marital sex, a family and an education, and it may take steps toward alleviating poverty or cleaning the environment, but these things never become the soul’s trump card.

God is a jealous God. He demands that He be center stage in our hearts. When we pursue our business more than we pursue Him, we are like a wife who pursues a handsome coworker more than she pursues her own husband. She is free to work with the coworker and to be friendly toward him, but she crosses the line when she begins to give him her heart. Only one man has the right to that privilege.

Too many sincere people are like that woman. God made the soul in such a way that He alone must be its Husband, but instead we give the central place in our hearts to things like jobs, pleasure, money, fame, and power. Many of us understand that these pursuits easily damage the heart when they become its main focus.  What we rarely see, however, is that feeding the hungry and raising a family equally damage the heart by becoming its main focus. The ultimate purpose of a human being is not to feed the hungry or raise a family.

Many sincere people are in love with the church or with ministry more than they are in love with God.  Many sincere people have given central place in their hearts and lives to helping the poor or pursuing social justice. Many sincere people worship true doctrine more than they worship the true God. These sincere people are committing spiritual adultery against their God, and their lives will never be what God means them to be as long as their own desires or their good cause dominates their life.

Jesus is Lord. He reigns. We are not our own. We are bought at a price. Jesus will not have substitute lords as His rival. A right heart understands this and cries out for the grace of God to make it happen.

Open the eyes of my heart to see that You, O God, are the source of all good things and fill me with gratitude for Your kindness.

The heart that sees God sees that we owe everything to Him.  The heart that sees God sees that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights (Jas 1:17).  The heart that sees God is constantly grateful.  It is grateful for simple things like a cup of tea.  It is grateful for weightier things like children, which are a gift from God (Ps 127:3).  It is grateful for spiritual things like redemption and joy.  It is grateful because it sees.

The heart without gratitude withers away.  It fails to see the source of our blessings.  In fact, it often fails to see the blessings as blessings.  It takes for granted the fact that we have food and clothes and friends and work.  But the heart that sees God knows that we have no right to any of these things.  It knows that our home and food are a gift.  It sees in every good thing the grace and kindness of God.

We have such a good God.  A grateful heart simply sees that fact and responds in the   most natural way.   When we show gratitude, we have joy.  Grateful people are joyful people.  Ingrates are not.  If we pay no attention to what God has done for us, we live in our own fantasy world, and whatever “happiness” we construct for ourselves is merely the product of our fantasy.  But the real world of God and His grace is so much richer and deeper than any of our self-centered fantasies.  It produces real, lasting, deep happiness, and gratitude is the heartfelt response to that reality.  Thank you, God, for the riches of Your kindness.

A walk in the woods with the snow falling.

A hot cup of coffee and a chat with a friend.

Diving under the blankets when the wind howls.

A warm sun.

A laughing baby.

A hearty bowl of stew.

These pleasures are all brought to you by God.

Mothers and fathers and children and families.

The tulips in April and the fiery hillside in October.

The watermelon and the raspberry.

Green grass and blue sky.

The starfish and the mountain ram.

These gifts are all brought to you by God.

Laughter. Sight.

Rain. Fresh air.

A mind. A purpose.

These wonders are all brought to you by God.

Peace for your soul.

Forgiveness for your sins.

Love from the heart.

Freedom from condemnation.

These marvels are all brought to you by God.

Father, grant me a heart that is pure and simple and devoted to you, and I shall be content.

The University of Texas is a sophisticated world.  Professors, thinkers, influencers, media.  Indeed, the University of Texas is quite proud of its sophistication.  But God is not necessarily looking for sophisticated people.

God wants a simple heart in His people.   A simple heart trusts God as a child does.  It laughs as a child does.  It rejoices in simple pleasures and is free.  Praise you, God, for the sunrise this morning!

A simple heart is content.  It does not require that we get accepted to the school we want or that we get our article published in the right journal.  It is happy in God.  Praise you, God, for giving us yourself!

A simple heart is focused.  It knows that ultimately only one thing matters, and it does not get distracted by a thousand different activities.  The schedule may be full, but the heart is still.  Praise you, God, for quiet on the inside!

A simple heart sees God.  It sees because it is pure, and the pure in heart see God. (Mt 5:8)  It is not cluttered but clean.  Earth has a way of cluttering our affections, but God has a way of clearing out the clutter.  Praise you, God, for making us clean!

Sometimes we are too sophisticated for God.  Sometimes we are like the teenage girl who thinks she knows what her parents don’t and consequently never listens.  She is too smart to listen.  A simple heart is never too smart to listen.  It allows us to know God.  That is why I have seen three-year-old children who knew more of God than Phd scholars at the University of Texas.    We learn God by trusting Him, not by studying subtleties.  It really is simple.

Father, may I trust you as a three-year-old would.

No one can experience God unless he has faith.  Faith believes what is unseen, and without faith it is not possible to please God (Heb 11:1, 6).  This is basic.  Faith deals with our beliefs, and since it deals with our beliefs, one may think that it does not belong in a discussion about the heart.  But faith is first and foremost a matter of the heart.  “If you … believe in your heart that God raised [Jesus] from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9).

Faith does have an intellectual element to it, but the intellectual part has no meaning without the heart.  Many people honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him (Mt 15:8).  They say the right things; they may believe the right things in their heads, but they have no heart for God.

Sometimes you hear people criticize the idea of faith because it makes a big deal out of the beliefs a person holds.  “Who cares what your beliefs are?” they may say.  “What really matters is the life you live.”  To such people, someone who lives a “good life” without the beliefs is better than someone full of hatred with the beliefs.  The criticism might be worth exploring if faith actually implied such a situation.  In reality, however, the criticism shows merely that the critic does not understand faith.

Faith does entail beliefs.  But those beliefs must be rooted in the heart.  If you argue for the doctrine of God but never entrust yourself to your Heavenly Father, then you have no faith.  What good will it do you to nod your head to a set of beliefs if you never give your life to them?  When Jesus touches hearts, He changes people’s lives.  Until someone believes from the heart, he is not a follower of Jesus, for Jesus demands the allegiance, the love, and the submission of the heart.  This is crucial.  The heart translates belief into life.  Unless the heart gets hold of a belief, the belief remains dead.

Faith from the heart means that the believer lives as if his beliefs are true.  Indeed, this is what a believer truly is.  If people do not live in accordance with what they say they believe, then the normal word we use to describe them is “hypocrites.”  Hypocrites are not followers of Jesus.  They are pretenders.

The heart of faith is simple.  It is the heart of a child.  It trusts in what God has said.  It stands firm upon God’s Word.  Faith tells us that we are forgiven through the shed blood of Christ even when we may feel guilty for lashing out at a friend.  Faith tells us that God is on our side even when we lie sick in bed.  Faith tells us that God will complete His work in us even when we see so much sin in our own lives.  Faith brings hope because it reveals the glory that God’s people shall one day see and share.  Faith brings love because it is itself a warm embrace of the love of God.  Faith produces peace because it rests in the righteousness that God has provided.  Faith leads to joy because it sees the pit out of which God has rescued us.  Faith brings gratitude to God.  Faith produces freedom in the Spirit.  Faith helps us wait with patience.  Faith simply trusts God.

Faith is so simple that a three-year-old can have it, but it entails so thorough a claim upon our hearts that most adults don’t want it.  They would rather have something less pure and call it faith.  Faith turns a person inside out because faith is how we see God, and God turns people inside out.  For this reason, faith is dangerous.

Faith is practical.  It involves real life situations like “will we have enough money to pay the rent this month?” or “will we ever be able to have a baby?”  Faith sees something bigger and more important than the rent or a baby and fits those cares into a proper perspective.  It also sees a great Father who provides our every need.  It can thus rest not in the job or the doctor, both of which are fleeting, but in the goodness of God Almighty, who never wavers.

All of these things, and so much more, get at the heart, and without the heart, faith does not exist.

Praise you, Father, for you are incomprehensible.  You are God.

God once asked me to start a church.  The church closed.  As I sought God after the church had closed, He gave me a very clear sense that, yes, He really had called me to do that.  In other words, He had called me to fail, or at least it looked that way.  And why not?  God called the King of Kings to die.  If that is how God operates, He is not going to be easy to predict.

An agnostic man once told me that he would like to test scientifically whether God exists and acts in history.

“And how would you do that?” I asked.

“Oh, I would take a sample of people who believed in God and a sample of people who didn’t, and if God is real and acts in history, then the people who believe should be healthier.”

I gave him a look.

“You don’t think it would work?” he asked

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Well, what if God can get to a man’s soul by making his body sick?  To God, that would be a good trade, and He would do it in a minute.”

The agnostic was thinking superficially, as people are custom to thinking, but God looks deeper than we do.  God refused to remove Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”  God said that His grace was sufficient.  The thorn forced Paul to rely on God, and that reliance was evidently worth the thorn.  God says that He makes His strength perfect through weakness.  He says that we gain our lives by losing them.  He says that the first will be last.

God does not operate as we do.  He constantly astounds us, thus, forcing us to approach Him with an open mind.  He will close a church to build a man or let cancer spread to gain our trust.  To us, this all sounds crazy, but it is how God works, and we must let God be God.

Unfortunately, however, many of us will not let God be God.  Often we have our preconceived notions, and we will not allow God to surprise us.  We, thus, miss God.  At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came.  The disciples had been told this would happen, and they had been waiting for it, praying for it, and expecting it.  Yet when it happened, none of them had ever dreamed that it would manifest itself the way it did.  God gave them the very thing they were expecting, and it still surprised them.  That’s God.  Too many followers of Jesus have their spiritual routines set and will not allow God to do something fresh and new.  Too many churches have their programs going so efficiently that they have neither room in their minds nor time in their schedules for God to show up.  If God ever did show up, one wonders whether they would recognize it.  Their minds are too narrow.

A narrow mind is a heart problem, and an open mind is not the child of the mind.  This is true of agnostics as well as church people.  When Bart Ehrman dismisses the Resurrection of Jesus because, well, resurrections don’t happen, his argument is simply a closed mind.  It may be the best argument he can give, but it is still a closed mind. His world is confined in a cramped closet, and anything outside that closet simply cannot be. Such people are not open to the possibility that perhaps God could surprise them, and their narrow mind is the product of the heart, not of the intellect.

But church people sometimes display similar narrowness.  Some have no room in their theology for God to heal the sick or raise the dead today.  Some are so stuck in running their church like a business that God becomes the great CEO in the sky, and He certainly would not operate outside accepted business principles, which they would call wisdom.  They incorporate marketing, programming, research, technology, and fiscal policy, all of which can certainly be helpful. But none of these things is what makes the church the church.  When God operates, He does so through His Spirit, and the Spirit doesn’t generally follow the market trends.  Sometimes the minds of church people are so fixed on how to do church that they won’t let God work.  This is a narrow mind, and it is the product of the heart.

Perhaps we want God to be safe and simple so that we can fit Him into our brains, or perhaps we fear uncertainty.  Whatever it is, God still insists on being God.  He is far bigger and wilder than we would like Him to be.  His ways are not our ways, and we must learn to live with that.  A mind open to God comes from a right heart, a heart humble enough to admit that God is bigger than we, a heart willing to let God surprise us.  For if God never surprises us, we have a small God, a small heart, and a small mind.

For I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep unto that day that which has been entrusted to me.

A Pharisee asked a cynic, “Why do you doubt everything?”

“I doubt because of you,” replied the cynic. “You are certain about the number of fleas on the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem.  Why should I trust anything else you say?”

“Then don’t trust me.  But shouldn’t you at least be confident in God?”

“Whose god? Your god? I don’t think I want that. I would rather be humble enough to admit that I may be mistaken.”

The Pharisee and the cynic are alive and well in churches across the land.  The Pharisee thinks faith requires him to know everything, while the cynic thinks humility requires him to question everything. The Pharisee emphasizes doctrine in a way that squashes out the heart. The cynic emphasizes the heart or mystery or ethics or some other thing in a way that squashes out knowledge of God.  Both people have a wrong heart that is shown by their confidence.  One has a false confidence.  The other no confidence in God at all.  Both the Pharisee and the cynic take the heart off the path of God.   One will cause the heart to veer off the bridge to the right, the other to the left.  Either way, you end up in the river, and Satan is pleased, for you will go nowhere with God.

A heart that sees God has confidence in Him. Our current world entices the follower of Jesus to give up any source of assurance. It associates assurance with arrogance and then points to the Pharisee as proof that religious confidence is morally deficient. Yet simple faith in Jesus is far more humble ─ and confident ─ than the humility of this world. Humility and certainty are not opposites.  Those who are in Christ know in whom they have believed (II Tim 1:12).  They know that they have eternal life (I Jn 5:13).  They have confidence about things they cannot see (Heb 11:1), and this confidence breeds humility.

A genuine heart is certain of those things the Bible speaks of. Jesus’ people know that the blood of Jesus cleanses them from all sin. They know that their Savior has bodily risen from the grave and that death is swallowed up in victory. They know that God works all things together for their good. They know that they have a holy, righteous, sovereign, and mighty God. They know Him, and because they know Him, they can boldly approach Him and unwaveringly trust Him.

To some, such confidence will always be arrogance. To others it will be ignorance. In reality, it is more like the confidence that a small boy has in a good father. The boy trusts Dad because he knows him. In this respect, a lack of confidence is a symptom of an unhealthy relationship. When the boy constantly doubts Dad, we have a problem.  This is true between children and parents, husbands and wives, employers and employees, and it is true between God and us. Confidence and trust go hand in hand. If we say that we trust God, but we are not confident in anything that He says, we deceive ourselves.

Confidence, however, does not mean we understand everything. We can question God, just as Habakkuk did; but when we question, we still trust, just as Habakkuk did.

The Pharisees and their current descendants, however, are good reminders that confidence alone does not prove the genuineness of a heart. Many people are confident in some experience they had. Others are confident in a false teaching. Still others are confident merely that they are right. None of these situations represents genuine trust. Genuine trust in God and the confidence that comes from it goes deeper. It begins in Jesus and it ends in Jesus. It breeds righteousness and spiritual boldness.  It touches us inside.  It results in peace, and it pleases God.

Father, you have given me the peace of God that passes all understanding.  May I rest in it by your grace.

“Tell me,” the officer said.  “If you could have one thing in the world, what would it be?”  I was a high school senior sitting in a chair in the Air Force ROTC office at Kansas University. I wore a fancy suit, and the officer was interviewing me as part of the application process for an ROTC scholarship.

“Peace of mind,” I said.

I don’t think he was expecting that answer.  He looked too surprised.  Nonetheless, I did receive the scholarship.

The peace of God has been the one aspect of knowing Christ that I cannot escape.  It pursues me and overtakes me wherever I go.  When doctors told me I needed radiation treatment for a brain tumor, God filled my soul with peace.  When I was single in my thirties but desired a wife, God dogged me with His peace.  When I went through unemployment after unemployment, not knowing where the money would come from, God reassured me with His peace.  This I know.  The peace of God is real.  No one will ever convince me otherwise.  I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen it in the face of adversity.  Peace has been God’s calling card upon my life.

A heart filled with Jesus has peace.  “Peace I leave you,” Jesus said. “My peace I give you.  Not as the world gives…” Jesus gives one kind of peace. The world gives another.  The world cannot understand the peace of Christ.  In fact, sometimes God’s people cannot understand it, even while they revel in it.  It is a wondrous thing.

The peace of God is in Christ, for in Christ God has forgiven our sin. In Christ, God has reconciled our relationship with Him. In Christ, God has put to death our old nature and made us new. In Christ, we are clean, we are whole, we are right, and we are new. In Christ, the fullness of God dwells inside us, and where God dwells, peace dwells. We may lose our job, our health, or our spouse. We may grieve and hurt deeply, but we will still have peace. The presence of pain is not the absence of peace.

The peace Jesus gives is an inward quietness, a rest that comes from knowing that Jesus satisfies our deepest needs, and that no one can take that away. This world may take away our home, our health or our freedom, but it cannot touch our peace if that peace rests in Christ. God touches us more deeply than circumstances do; consequently, the peace of Christ remains through all circumstances.

The peace the world gives is quite different. It resembles real peace by creating a type of contentment. The peace of the world takes comfort in met needs, but those needs are different needs.  Earthly peace finds consolation in financial security, good health, a family, friends, nature, or a sense of morality. This peace is tied more closely to circumstances than to God, and it is built more on self than on God. Personal comfort is not peace, and self cannot give peace.

Earthly peace sometimes consists of nothing more than personality. Some people are wired to be more content than others. The man who goes through life with a laissez faire attitude, who always appears to be content with what life throws at him, seems outwardly to be at peace. But if you get behind the layers, he may have no more inner peace than the restless wanderer. His “peace” is his personality, and personality is not peace.

Earthly peace sometimes comes from sweet feelings. A nature lover may describe many sweet feelings she feels while in the woods. A religious man may describe similar experiences when praying or contemplating the Cross. Elevated emotions and feelings, even religious ones, are not real peace. Sweet feelings do often accompany true peace in Christ, but they do not define it. Real peace can sometimes be a strong, sweet emotion, but more often it is a quiet certainty.

The peace of the world is an eggshell.  We may decorate it pretty on the outside, but sooner or later, it gets knocked onto the tile floor, and then we see what it is made of.

The peace of Jesus is a gift of grace. Those who have it know that they do not deserve it. In fact, that is why they have it, for God refuses to give His grace to those who think themselves worthy of it.

The peace of Jesus comes from righteousness. Real righteousness. A righteousness that is as deep as the Cross. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” The angels can promise “Peace on Earth” because the child whose birth they sing will bring righteousness to the human race. Peace and righteousness go together. The world cannot give peace because the world cannot give righteousness.

Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Peace is what all desire, but all do not care for the things that make for true peace.” Peace comes through renouncing the desires of our flesh and listening to the Holy Spirit.  It is hard.

Earth calls. “Look over here,” it says. “Your deadline is fast approaching … Oh, wouldn’t that sofa and chair look nice in the living room … you’re getting a few more gray hairs now … have an iced latte … don’t miss that Christmas special … how will you pay the mortgage this month?”

God calls. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.”

“The big game is tomorrow … yes, yes, yes … seven steps to financial freedom … four principles for a good marriage … Oh, your husband left you? I’ve got just the book for you … by Dr. Bill … so practical … how do you like your burgers cooked?”

“And I will give you rest.”

“Yes, did you hear what Jasmine told Kristen about Matt … congratulations! It’s a boy … what are you doing to help the environment … to alleviate the plight of the homeless … to eliminate poverty …to help the Guban people in Eastern Gubania … stop war now … Oh, you just lost your job?  I’m so sorry.”

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

“Your research report should have at least five sources … I think the transmission just went out in the car … 3,000 dollars … don’t be late to church … and baseball practice is at five … the ladies are coming for coffee on Tuesday … get the house ready … get the house ready …”

“And you will find rest for your souls.”

“At the top of the charts this month is … what difference does it make so long as they are consenting adults …”

Is it any wonder we have no peace?