discernment

Constant Gardener

3 Comments / August 13, 2012

Big mistake.  Big, big mistake.  At least when it comes to the world of gardening.  I remembered  looking through the seed catalog several years ago.  It is always one of my favorite winter activities –poring over the colorful garden catalogs.  That particular year I made the fateful choice  to buy a packet of seeds labeled “Grandpa Otto’s Morning Glory”.  Oh, if only I would have known.  If I had had even an inkling of what was to come, I would never have bought that seed packet.

This past  Saturday night, I spent the evening, yet again, ripping out morning glory plants that had grown up all through my square foot garden boxes. What has made this summer so much more frustrating is that this spring we had built new boxes.  We had laid down a weed barrier and then had dumped  layers of fresh, virgin, seedless soil in them. There shouldn’t have been a morning glory seed anywhere around my boxes.

When I saw the first heart-shaped leaf early this summer my heart sank. No! You have to be kidding me. That stupid, invasive, beautiful plant was back. As I became busier in the month of July and didn’t have as much time to keep after the garden, the morning glories saw their chance and grew with a vengeance until they had climbed up through the sweet peas and raspberries. Their tendrils wrapping around and choking my peppers and my strawberries. What had started out as an innocent act of planting a tiny packet of seeds years earlier had turned into a gardening nightmare that would never go away.

Of course, many of you have probably already guessed where I am going with this. You see, sin is so much like that packet of seeds. It looks so beautiful, so small. It looks way too innocent to ever cause much grief. But the seed of a little sin, just like those annoying morning glories, grows and grows and then blossoms and eventually it sets fruit. And then the seeds start spilling out from the fruit and we find the sin multiplying on every side of us.

Some people just give up and let the sin continue to grow and multiply. They decide to just try to survive the jungle growing around them the best they can.

But, as Christians, we don’t have this option, do we?  And, so we are called to be very careful about what seeds we plant.  Are we planting good seeds or bad seeds?  Galatians 6:7 tells us: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  We fool ourselves if we think we can plant just a bit of evil in our lives.

Of course, most of us make the mistake of planting the wrong packet of seeds a time or two. I can look back in my life and see many times where I planted the wrong thing and I am still paying for that today. It is frustrating and discouraging to see the wrong fruit growing in the garden of our life. Especially when it seems to be over-taking the good fruit.

And, so, as Christians, we become the Constant Gardener.  We have the responsibility to constantly be searching and pulling the sin and the fruits of that sin from our lives and nurturing and growing the fruits of the Spirit. But, by doing so, we experience the immense joy of living a life that is hopeful and fruitful, instead of muddling through the jungle.

I guess we should all spend a little time gardening today!

Trading for the Trivial

Leave a Comment / August 9, 2012

Do you remember Esau?  Yes, the guy in the Bible.  He was the older twin brother of Jacob.  One day he came in from the field weary and hungry.  His brother was in the midst of making a delicious red stew.  When Esau asked for some, Jacob saw his opportunity.  He told him that he would give him some stew in exchange for his birthright. In those days, this was a big deal.  The older son was much more privileged than the younger son and by trading his birthright for a bowl of stew, he was giving up his inheritance. You can read this story for yourself in Genesis 25.

I have always thought of Esau as very foolish!  What man in his right mind would exchange something so important for a bowl of food?  And then it hit me.  I do that almost everyday.  I am in the habit of regularly exchanging self-control and a healthy body for a bowl of ice cream or a serving of french fries.  When I think about it like this, I realize that I am not all that different than Esau.

We also do the same thing when we trade:

–our financial well-being for a car we can’t afford

–our spiritual well-being for 2 hours of ungodly entertainment

–a healthy marriage for a moment of griping and complaining about something trivial

–our children’s well-being for the temporary moment of peace that comes when we don’t discipline them

–our Christian testimony for a glass of beer or an hour at the gambling table

–our integrity for a few bucks on a tax form

–a healthy body for an hour of laziness and tv-watching

Most of us are trading what is most important for what is trivial almost every day.  We wile away our entire lives on the unimportant, never realizing the great sacrifices we are making to do so.

Quite frankly, I can’t even relate to what Esau did because it is not part of our culture.  We couldn’t trade a birthright in our culture, even if we tried.  And so this story has always remained rather an enigma to me.  And, then the other day, as I was reading it once again, it was made so clear to me.  I can see how I am just like an American style Esau.  Trading what is most important to me almost every day for something really stupid.

Some of the things I am trading aren’t even sinful in and of themselves.  A bowl of ice cream or an order of fries isn’t sinful.  Buying a new car isn’t sinful.  But it is the attitude.  It is the habit.  It is the lack of self-control.  It is the desire of self-gratification over the desire for doing what is right.

I don’t know about you, but I will never read that story in the Bible the same way again.

 

 

Wednesday Wisdom #8: Thoughts on Church

Leave a Comment / August 8, 2012

 The Grace to You ministry has been so helpful to me through the years.  John MacArthur preaches the truth of the Bible without compromise and yet with so much love and humility.  I remember someone once told me that they think he is so “harsh”.  I find myself wondering if anyone who says that could have possibly ever listened to him?  Sure, he says things I don’t like, too, but he bases all he says on the Word of God.  His humility as he teaches the Word of God is unseen in many pastors.  The other day we were listening to a question and answer time with Phil Johnson and John MacArthur.  In this particular Q&A time, the discussion centered on the modern day church and all that’s going on there right now.  After we heard what I have written below, my husband remarked that every Christian should hear this.  Hence, my decision to share it with you all today.  We can never let down our guard when it comes to this matter of church.  

The whole interview would be so worth a few minutes of your precious time.  You can find it here, along with all of his other MP3s, which he provides on the Grace To You website for free.  Here is a brief excerpt of that interview:

First of all, you’ve been worshiping with us, right? For four days. What you experience in the way we worship here would have been exactly what you would have experienced if you had been here twenty years ago…or thirty years ago. You heard me preach. What you heard me say today and the last three days, you could have heard me do the very same thing thirty-five years ago. We pay absolutely no attention to the pop culture, we couldn’t care less. We don’t care what they’re doing.  It’s irrelevant. We have a fixed point of reference: the Word of God. And I don’t want to link arms with the culture. I want to link arms with the history of the church. I want to quote the great theologians. I want to sing the great hymns that generations of believers have sung and the reason we’re still singing them is because they were so good. I want to link arms with the past. I want people to know that we’re some…we’re a part of something that is multi…multi-national, multi-generational and multi-millennial. It goes back several thousand years. I don’t want people to think we just invented this.

I can tell you everything I need to know about a guy who says he’s a pastor by how much he gives honor to the work of Christ through faithful men through the history of the church and how much he wants to be among them and not an invention of his own. It’s just a problem.

I mean, look around at Grace Church, we’ve been taking in people, we often say this, I don’t know, what 75-80 new members a month for years and years and years and we think about 85 percent of them are thirties and under and have been for at least ten years. You know what? The Lord is reaching those people in a church that pays no attention to pop culture. We don’t drink beer openly, publicly. We’re not trying to play with the culture. We don’t want people to walk in here and say, “Wow, this is cool. This feels comfortable to me. It’s like a nightclub.”

We want people to walk in here and say, “What in the world is this? I’ve never experienced anything like this anywhere in my life.” We don’t want the world to come in, we want heaven to come down.

Lust and Love

6 Comments / July 30, 2012
In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. I Timothy 2:9-10

“If you’re an adult male, you cannot deny the power of a flash of flesh to draw your attention. A too-short skirt. A hint of cleavage. It’s really an incredible force of nature. Most women understand that a revealing outfit brings a certain amount of attraction from males, but they have no idea how much power they really have. Every man reading this is well aware of that power.” **

As I came upon this paragraph, I realized exactly why it is so important for women to dress modestly and, just as importantly, why it is so critical for Dads to share this information with their daughters.

I have given God many excuses as to why I can’t write on this particular topic – I will offend – I will be viewed as legalistic – Some of my friends and their daughters dress inappropriately – My three daughters and I are guilty of immodesty ourselves, at times.  Please, no, God, don’t ask me to write on this topic.  But He would not let me go, so here is the post I have been dreading to write for at least a year.

As usual, this summer has brought skirts and shorts that are too short, shirts that give way more than just a hint of cleavage, and bikinis that leave very little to the imagination.  I think the saddest thing of all is that there there is very little – if any- difference between Christian and non-Christian women when it comes to how we dress.  I see facebook pictures of Christian young women displaying their almost naked bodies.   We can find half-exposed breasts and long, sexy legs in church services and at weddings.  And, even more surprisingly, no one seems to be sounding the alarm that this isn’t appropriate.

I wonder if so many of us women do not truly realize what our immodest dress does to the men around us?  Do we realize that we are tempting them to lust by not properly covering ourselves?  I submit to you that this is not showing love to our fellow Christian brothers, but instead throwing temptation in their faces and just expecting them to deal with it.

And  I would like to especially challenge Fathers of teen-aged girls. You, of all people, know what goes through the mind of a male who sees an improperly clothed woman.  Why do you let your teen-aged girls go out half-dressed?  Sure, if you ask them to change they may get mad and stomp off but many years later they will thank you from the bottom of their hearts.  Parenting is tough, but we can’t give in.  We need to protect our girls, their reputations, and the hearts and minds of the young men in their company.  Many are the conversations my husband has had with our three girls – asking them to change – telling them why – never giving up on protecting them and the young men in their company.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have a husband who is honest with them about this difficult topic.

Some men will say they are not tempted by immodestly dressed women.  And maybe the culture is so inundated and flooded with sexual messages that it is true.  But I doubt it.  I would guess that they are not telling the truth.  I watch men turn their heads and pay attention.  I know the constant attention given by the men in my life to turn away, trying not to turn back for a second glance, because of where their thoughts will go.

Ladies, do we really want to be guilty of this?  Do we want to be the cause of a man’s lust because we didn’t dress modestly?  And exactly how is that showing the love of Christ to those around us?  How is this type of dress bringing glory to Jesus Christ, the one who died to save us?  God commands us to be modest and I believe that one of the main reasons for that command is to protect our dear Christian brothers and the wives (our sisters in Christ) that are married to them.

I know that a few of you will agree with me as you read this post;  a couple more may give what I have written here some thought; but my fear is that most of you will think I am off of my rocker for even bringing this up.  In all circles of my life I find little consideration is given to this subject.  No one seems to care anymore. But perhaps it would be good for all of us to humbly ask God if our attitude about how we dress is the attitude He would want us to have. Even I, as I write this, find myself thinking about a few things I need to get rid of in my closet.

You see, this isn’t about rules – Thou Shalt Not wear such and such.  This is about an attitude of submission to God and love for our fellow man.  As Christian women, we are called to express our Christian love by keeping ourselves properly covered.  As parents, we have the responsibility to teach this important principle to our girls.  Are we inciting lust or showing love by how we dress?  It is certainly something to think about.

 

** Excerpt taken from 52 Things Wives Need From Their Husbands by Jay Payleitner

WW #6: Simple Does Not Mean Easy

2 Comments / July 25, 2012
Today I am sharing some wise words from a friend of mine who is a missionary in Cambodia.  She is a wonderful writer and I know many of you will appreciate what she shared in her newsletter on Monday.  The analogy she makes is a great one.  Read on and see what I mean!
 

The heat here [Cambodia] makes it quite hard to want to get out and do anything, really, but I am glad to report I was up bright and early today for a riverside jog/walk. And I almost enjoyed it. Almost.

You’ll have to forgive me if a lot of my object lessons recently have been about exercise and the physical side of things. It is taking a bit of my focus and energy right now, as I am working toward some “before forty” goals. (The clock is ticking!) But I am beginning to see why many of the NT writers used athletics and sports allegories to make their points about the spiritual life. There are so many parallels!

A number of years ago, a doctor said to me that—unless your weight gain was due to medical reasons—all you had to do to lose weight was to eat less and move more. It’s that simple. It comes down basic math, really. If your calorie intake is consistently less than the number of calories you burn day after day, you will begin to lose weight. This is not rocket science, folks!

However, “simple” does not necessarily mean “easy”.

Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows how hard it is to change lifestyle rhythms or habits. It is soooo difficult to pass up that extra helping, or that tempting snack. It is exhausting to submit your body to rigorous exercise and grueling to stick to disciplined daily routines.

Weight loss might be simple on paper, but it certainly is not easy.

In the same way, salvation is basically simple. You have a debt of sin that you could never repay. Jesus has paid the price in full, and offers to clear your account. You simply have to accept His gift and His Lordship in your life.

But there is nothing easy about the Christian walk. The dying to self, the denial of fleshly desires, the breaking and bending of the will to the Spirit’s control. None of this comes naturally. But it must be done, intentionally and regularly. Besides that, the world will heap us with abuse once it sees we are trying to do things differently, not living by its norms and standards.

The basics of salvation might be simple to grasp, but living it out on a daily basis is probably one of the hardest things a person can do.

We do a great disservice, I fear, when we minimize the cost of following Christ. When we promise a primrose-strewn path, leading not only to future Glory, but also to heaven here on earth. We mislead others if we do not prepare them for the rocky road ahead.

Of course we do not walk this path alone. We need not strive and strain in our own strength. We have a Helper always available to us. In fact, He is eager to do most of the work if we will just submit to His control. It’s that simple. But not that easy.

–by Deborah Wise

Finding a Better Place

Leave a Comment / July 5, 2012

Last night a big gang of us went to watch fireworks.  We decided the best place to watch was the parking lot of a nearby historical society.  Apparently everyone else thought that, too.  But we found a place to park and joined the crowd.   With blankets and chairs in tow, we scoped the area for the best place to sit.  Most of the grassy area was taken, but we found one we thought would be okay, despite the big building directly in front of us. Oh, well.  We settled down to wait for the show.

A few minutes later, one of the guys decided he was going to search for a better spot and off went a group of them.  A few minutes later my daughter ran back and breathlessly told us that we should all follow her, where across the parking lot and behind a building, was the perfect hill to watch the fireworks.

So off we all went with our stuff, down the hill, across the parking lot, and around the building — to the perfect hillside.   Most people hadn’t ventured that far and so there was only a couple of other parties of people in the area.  And guess what?  It was a great place to watch the fireworks.  Probably the best place we’ve sat at in years…maybe ever.

This is the perfect picture of why I write this blog!  I was thinking about it this morning.  So often we are tempted to just settle.  We are tired of the weight battle, we are tired of the kid battle, we are tired of the entertainment battle.  We are tired of battles!  So we just settle.  We don’t want to work now for shadowy rewards to come later.  We want our rewards now.  And so we stay right where we are, taking the easy path.  But the easy path doesn’t always lead to the best place to watch the show.  In fact, I would venture to say it never leads to the best place to watch the show.

And some of us really do want to take the hard path, but then peer pressure weighs us down.  As I think on last night, I realize that if a few of us would have dug our heals in and said we weren’t leaving our spot, the whole group probably would have stayed put.   Thankfully, everyone was willing to walk to the better spot last night.  But, unfortunately, when it comes to real life, we often need to travel on alone in order to take the best path.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 9: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.  Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.  But I discipline my body and bring itinto subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

We can’t afford to be tired or pressured by our friends because we are running the race to win!  And the rewards are great if we don’t give up — a healthy body, children who love the Lord, a pure heart and mind, but, most importantly, the imperishable crown we will receive in glory.

Do you remember Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare?  I know the point of that is that slow and steady wins the race, but I would like to point out here that the tortoise never took a break, either.  He just kept plugging away without getting distracted or giving in to his exhaustion.  May we be like the tortoise today, as we continue to run the race set before us, always looking for ways to run it better and never giving up!  May we never settle for status quo!

Drifting…

2 Comments / July 23, 2014

We were enjoying a day at Assateague Island.  It is a beautiful, family-oriented beach complete with wild ponies, although we didn’t see any that particular day.  We trudged through the sand, looking for a good place to set up.  We found one fairly close to the lifeguard, which made us all feel a bit safer, as the surf was in fine form that day.  It didn’t take long for the kids to grab their boogie boards and start riding waves.  I took my sand chair down to the water’s edge and set up for one of my favorite activities at the beach: people-watching.

Now, if you are a mom you have the art of  “ocean scanning” down to a science.  Scanning and counting…scanning and counting…over and over again.  There’s one…two…there’s kid three…and (sigh of relief) the fourth.  I count over and over,  making sure they are all safe several times each hour.  This started when they were small and even though two are now classified as adults officially, the “mom instinct” doesn’t quit and I am still counting to four several times each hour when we are all together.

This particular day, I got distracted in my people-watching and hadn’t “counted”  for awhile.  When I finally looked up to start scanning once again, I didn’t see anyone familiar in front of me.  My eyes strayed further down the beach and there I spotted our group, several hundred yards away from where they had started.  They had drifted, unknowingly, down the beach, away from the lifeguard.

This is such a great picture to what happens to us in life if we aren’t careful.  It may be in our marriage, where small selfish decisions become larger and more frequent until we find that we have drifted into indifference.  Or perhaps it is our listening and watching habits, where a lack of discernment finds us drifting further and further into the cesspool of what is the American entertainment industry.  Or it may be the lure of materialism, where we find ourselves buying “one more thing” and trying to convince ourselves that we will be content, only to find ourselves drifting further and further away from contentment.  Drifting is how affairs get started, how relationships break down, and often why our kids walk away from the Lord.  We think this one time…this one thing…this won’t hurt.  But the next time, it’s so much easier to rationalize once again.  And it gets easier and easier. Drifting is a dangerous business.

The only way to keep from drifting is to never let our guards down.  Ever.  We are to be a watchman for our own lives and for our children. Yes, it is exhausting.  It is hard work.  And it is time-consuming.  But if we are true believers and desire to obey God’s Word, it is required.  Too easily, we humans drift into bad habits and dangerous places.  Before we know it, we drift away from the lifeguard and the safe place He has provided for those who live in obedience and we move into dangerous territory filled with sharp rocks, giant waves, and dangerous undercurrents.   We rarely come away unscathed when we drift away from safety.

Drifting is a natural occurrence.  It is only through knowing and obeying God’s word that we can we keep from drifting.  It is only through diligent and purposeful examination of each choice we make that we can stay in the vicinity of our Lifeguard.  Perhaps we should all examine how close we are to the Lifeguard this day and if we find ourselves far down the beach, may we ask the Lord humbly and sincerely to carry us back to safety.

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

I Corinthians 16:13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.

Wednesday Wisdom #2: Holiness and Grace

2 Comments / November 1, 2012

In the recent years (and perhaps always), there have been many men who have decided they are going to define God how they think He should be, instead of how scripture portrays Him.  This is a dangerous business, as most of these men write and preach and otherwise espouse their heresies to a world that wants to hear things about God that will make them feel warm and fuzzy inside.  But scripture makes it clear that God is not only love and mercy, but also holy and just.

Last Christmas my brother gave me a list of books that he has found helpful in his own Christian walk with God.  One of those books was The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink.  I usually have a hard time reading through books that contain such old-fashioned language, but this one was so helpful in helping me understand who God is, that I worked my way through it without hesitation.  This book is included on my Favorite Books page, which you can  find here. But I give you fair warning:  Not everything you read in it will be what you want to hear.  This is not a book to tickle your ears.  Some of it was really convicting for me.  But all of it was backed clearly by scripture.  If you want to learn about the God of the Holy Bible and who He is according to Scripture, this is a great resource.  Of course, the Bible itself is the best resource!

I have chosen to share a passage with you today regarding God’s holiness and how it has been so distorted by both Non-Christians and Christians alike.  In fact, if we had a proper view of God’s holiness, I would venture to say that we would be appalled by our lack of sensitivity to sin.  I hope you enjoy this excerpt:

God’s holiness from a worldly perspective

The unregenerate do not really believe in the holiness of God. Their conception of His character is altogether one-sided. They fondly hope that His mercy will override everything else. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself” (Psalm 50:21) is God’s charge against them. They think only of a “god” patterned after their own evil hearts. Hence their continuance in a course of mad folly. Such is the holiness ascribed to the divine nature and character in Scripture that it clearly demonstrates their superhuman origin. The character attributed to the “gods” of the ancients and of modern heathendom is the very reverse of that immaculate purity which pertains to the true God.

An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of all sin, was never invented by any of Adam’s fallen descendants! The fact is that nothing makes more manifest the terrible depravity of man’s heart and his enmity against the living God than to have set before him One who is infinitely and immutably holy. His own idea of sin is practically limited to what the world calls “crime.” Anything short of that, man palliates as “defects,” “mistakes,” “infirmities,” etc. And even where sin is owned at all, excuses and extenuations are made for it.

The “god” which the vast majority of professing Christians “love” is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the “indiscretions” of youth. But the Word says, “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity” (Psa 5:5). And again, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psa 7:11). But men refuse to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. No, sinful man was no more likely to devise a holy God than to create the Lake of Fire in which he will be tormented forever and ever.

Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity. Can darkness dwell with Light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure in “filthy rags” (Isa 64:6)? The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled. A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. God would deny Himself, vilify His perfections, were He to account as righteous and holy that which is not so in itself; and nothing is so which has the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God.

But blessed be His name, that which His holiness demanded, His grace has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge stands “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). Hallelujah!

Pink, Arthur W. (2010-04-05). The Attributes of God (p. 44).  . Kindle Edition.

Are We Addicted to the Latest and Greatest?

2 Comments / June 18, 2012

 

The raging competition of who can build the biggest and best roller coasters is focusing its attention on Hersheypark this year. This past winter they built SkyRush, their tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster with one-of-a-kind winged outer seats (per their website description).   A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to give SkyRush a try.  I do like a good roller coaster and SkyRush was a thrill, although, personally, The Great Bear is still my favorite coaster in the park.

Right near the SkyRush sits the Super Dooper Looper.  This was the latest and greatest coaster when I was a kid.  It was introduced in 1977 with the promise to actually take you upside down!  35 years later, the Super Dooper Looper feels like almost a kiddie ride.  It is truly amazing how far along America has come in building roller coasters.

There is something in our human nature that demands something newer.  Something better.  Something greater.  We get bored with the same old thing.  This human tendency seems to have especially dug its roots deep into American soil, where we insatiably search for bigger and better.  Whether we are referring to roller coasters, the latest technology, or cars, contentment is hard to find these days.  Even if we are happy with what we have, we believe there must be something better if we can only find it…or afford it.

And I would venture to say that this same mindset has subtly crept its way into many of our churches, as well.  Pushing the edge isn’t just something for amusement parks, anymore.  Many modern churches have joined the Bigger and Better movement and are trying things like adding heavy metal or rock music, dances, and sermons based on secular (ungodly) movies to their worship services.  And why?  To be the church that is doing something new, something great, something awesome, so that they can attract a world that is looking for something newer, greater, and awesomer (yeah, I know it’s not a word).

But should this be where our attention is focused as believers?  Does God need us to be like the world in order to win the world?  If we take a step back in history we will see that the answer to that is NO.  Whether we go the whole way back to Rome or we step back just a few hundred years into American History, we will see that great revivals and growth of the true church took place because Christians chose to be different than the world…not like them.  Preachers preached a message that wasn’t comfortable, appealing, or fun and yet God worked!  He drew thousands to himself using men and women who were willing to stand up, turn their backs on the world, and be different.

It seems we may have forgotten that it is the Holy Spirit Who does the work of saving…not secular rock songs, gimmicky pastors, or worldly methods.  It is God who draws people to himself (John 6:44).   The trend of adding pop culture  to worship is certainly leading to church buildings filled with people.  But are they people who truly understand what being a Christian really means?   Are they people who will turn away from the world and their own selfish desires to follow Jesus?   I can’t answer for individuals, of course.  But I know what I see in the church as a whole and I can’t help but wonder if  the addiction to the latest and greatest isn’t hindering the Kingdom of God instead of helping it?

Defining Legalism

12 Comments / March 1, 2020

I don’t think I can actually count the amount of times I have been labeled a “legalist” in the last 30 years. So I have had to do a little soul-searching through the years.  Am I a legalist?  Is that label appropriate for me and my family because we stand for what the Bible teaches?  The following is what I discovered.

First and foremost, legalism is the belief that you have to do something in order to be reconciled to God. 

Dictionary.com gives this definition officially:

Legalism– the doctrine that salvation is gained through good works.

This goes completely against scripture where it clearly states in Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Clearly, we are not saved by our own works and if I believed that we were, then I would be a heretic officially.  So do I adhere to the doctrine of legalism? Certainly not!

But if Christianity is made up of just saying a prayer asking the Lord to “come into your heart”, then what is the cost?  Why wouldn’t everyone take this “fire insurance” from hell?

It is because Christianity is more than a prayer.  With true belief comes sacrifice.  With true belief comes a desire to grow in holiness and purity. And this is where we get confused.

You see, I don’t think I should have high standards and keep myself separate from the world to be saved.  I believe I should have high standards and keep myself separate from the world because I am saved.

All Christians agree that we should love each other and help the poor.  There is no argument there, so let’s talk about this separation from the world thing a bit more.

If scripture clearly teaches that we are to be separate from the world, that we are to desire to grow in holiness and purity, the question becomes not: “what am I allowed to do?” but, instead, “why would I want to?”

The more mature we grow in Christ, the less we should actually desire to see two people fornicating on a movie screen, or listen to a song about the ecstasy of drug use, or hear the crude language of our friends.  It is not “Can I?”… It becomes “I don’t desire to.”

It is true that all believers are at a different point in their Christian growth.  I remember a friend who had no problem wearing a bikini as a college student.  I have no doubt that she was saved but, in the area of immodesty, she was blind. However, as she has grown as a believer, she has seen that immodesty does not please the Lord, and has since changed not only how she dresses personally but how she and her husband allow their daughters to dress, as well.  We all have blind spots in our walks with God.  This is not about pointing fingers.

And while it is not our job to place rules on others, it is our place to stand for what is right and wrong.  Here in America, there seems to be a race going on as to who can call themselves Christians and still be the most worldly.  Holding to absolutes is frowned upon, not only in the world, but even in our churches.  Everything has become wishy-washy and up for grabs.  But I want you to know that we serve a God of absolutes! Yes, He is loving and He has shown us grace and mercy.  But He is also just and He hates sin.  He stands for what is right and wrong and I am to do no less.

If God makes it clear in His Word that He hates adultery, fornication, strife, orgies, drinking parties, drunkenness, crude and profane language, lewdness, taking His name in vain, sorcery, and immodesty then why in the world would we even desire to make any of that a part of our life- whether by actually doing those things, or by wasting our precious time watching movies, listening to music, playing video games, or reading things filled with these things God hates?

You see, being a Christian is a sacrifice.  It is not some fun journey we are on to find our personal purpose in life and live however we want with the promise of heaven. Christianity is hard.  We are going to be hated in this world – not loved.  Jesus was persecuted and we should expect no less (Matthew 5:10-12; John 15:18-20; 2 Timothy 3:12). Standing for the Truth is not for cowards. It will mean great sacrifice.  In America, we are fortunate – it doesn’t mean losing our homes, or prison, or death.  But it can possibly cost us jobs, relationships, and our reputations.

I write all of this with a humble heart, knowing I have much growing to do in my own Christian walk…knowing that I am blind, too, in areas that are not pleasing to my heavenly Father. These blind spots are why it is so very important that we regularly confess our sins, study God’s Word, and ask the Lord to help us walk in the Spirit.  We need to continually be checking our desires, our thoughts, and our longings (2 Corinthians 13:5). Are they in tune with the works of God or the works of the flesh? May we desire to be in tune with God and keep working towards this goal until the day we die.  Not to be saved…but because we are saved.

 

 

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