The Bible Idol

Recently a friend began a discussion on the concept of whether or not some Christians make the Bible an idol. After all, anything good can be made bad by worshipping it rather than the Creator, right?

Someone who loves nature can find that the desire to admire forests, mountains, rivers—rather than leading to thoughts of how wonderful the Creator must be, if the creation is so beautiful, may instead lift thoughts no higher than the exhilaration that can come from adoration. Nature then becomes an idol.

Or those who play or watch a sport may find their thoughts persistently interrupted with the need to think in that vein, to skip fellowship to be out on the field or court,  to neglect relationships and duties to scream at a television screen. Sports then becomes an idol.

Or for those with a creative bent—as the spirit explains to the ghost in a C.S. Lewis' novel—they may begin with a desire to share glimpses of heaven and end by worshipping their very method of communication or, ultimately, themselves.

"Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him. For it doesn't stop at being interested in paint, you know. They sink lower—becoming interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations."~The Great Divorce

Hmmm... Does that sound familiar? Not of an artist you may know, but of a Christian? Maybe it's you; maybe it's me—"becoming interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations." Yes. I know that disease.

It may start as love for God, but then morphs into a love of a habit, thought, (God forbid) a favourite Bible verse. Then in their "zeal without knowledge", they print signs saying who God hates, they picket military funerals for reasons that don't relate to the family or the deceased, they preach truth without love or love without Truth (is that love?). In these cases we live as devils in the name of Jesus!

But is it correct to say that the Bible can become an idol? Maybe. But more accurate, I believe, would be to say that our understanding becomes an idol.

If we choose pet verses and miss the balance of Scripture, we break the Law of God.
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

Interestingly, the above verse is in a passage in James exhorting the churches to not show favouritism. Whether we twist Scriptures to damn a fellow Christian or someone outside of the faith for not adhering to the convictions we feel, we show favouritism. We accept those who think like us and treat anyone else as enemies. This partiality is equivalent to bias towards the rich over the poor, which is specifically addressed in James. This divisiveness makes enemies of those who do not think like we do.

If someone is an enemy, what did Jesus command? Instead of hating your enemy, He said "I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

If someone is truly wrong, living in sin, love would have them repent and reap the mercy of God, but pride wants to condemn them without a trial. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, wrote: "To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in His mercy." 

And, I would argue, this is the same right (to be prayed for) should be given to the lost too, who are not yet born again; therefore, to pray for an unsaved sinner, is to acknowledge that I was once in sin and (still struggle and have) need of God's mercy, and, but for His grace, I may have become worse than they.

True love desires that the one loved live in such a way as that he or she will benefit from the grace of God. You cannot love someone and desire their temporary happiness at the cost of their eternal happiness or at the cost of the value of their life. 

To want the best for someone, may require what some call "tough love." This does not belong just to the rebellious, who choose what is recognised as bad, but may also apply to one who is lazy and seeks pleasure rather than God. It may be necessary, out of love and only from love, to share with them the way of Truth, and pray they repent rather than reap the consequences of their sins. If they don't and the harvest of consequences comes, then love would lead one to come along side them to bear the burden and find the Saviour. 

Love and Truth summarize the whole Bible. As Mart DeHaan, former President of RBC Ministries, loves to tell—all Scripture either points to Christ as the Hope of all time or, by showing sin and weakness, points to our need for a Saviour. 

We, none of us, are guiltless. We all are responsible to be one who "correctly handles the Word of Truth." To "correctly handle" Scripture, one must be in it faithfully, consistently, listening, repenting, correcting our focus from one thing back to the Saviour and from another thing back to the Saviour. 

We will be accountable for knowing Scripture and for applying Scripture rightly (as this verse specifies). To know Bible passages and quote them does not prove you are righteous for even the devil quoted verses back to Jesus. 

Our knowledge of the Bible must be lived in obedience, love, and humility. If we find ourselves isolated from others, it may well be that pride has entered causing division. And, it may not be their pride, but yours or mine. Dissension and pride of any kind are something God hates.

Therefore, for our own standing before God, we must know and rightly apply the whole of Scripture to our own lives. But, also for the sake of the Body of the Messiah, to which all born again followers of Yeshua are members (arms, legs, hands, hearts), we bear responsibility.

"An element of sickness gets into the body; perhaps nobody knows where it is from or in what member it has lodged, but the body is infected. This is the proper metaphor for the Christian community. We are members of a body, not only when we choose to be, but in our whole existence. Every member serves the whole body, either to its health or to its destruction." ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When we stand before Yahweh, will you and I be "approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed"? Today is all we may have.

What are your thoughts?

TOO LITTLE LOVE

This summer sizzled with intense heat and little and late rains. As I saw how it sapped the great Lake Superior (as well as lesser lakes), and as I heard of the toll taken by crops with the predictions of rising food costs, I thought often of the prophet Elijah.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
Elijah has long been a kindred heart to mine. I love his reckless abandon to Yahweh as he sarcastically confronts the servants of Baal on proving beyond doubt the greatness of the One True God. I love his lonely independence and his zeal. These qualities I hold up as ideals for my own life to pursue.

But beyond all his successes, Elijah was—as Jesus' brother James wrote—"a man just like us." He suffered from depression after great victory. He threw a pity party that God had to crash. He grew weary and hungry.

But this is all history and not what I've been pondering. The significance of Elijah's story in today's drought is this: "he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." 

Did you catch it? Does it confound you as well? He prayed for his own discomfort!

Do you love God that much? Do I?

As the summer blazed and I watched the puffs of clouds in the sky, many times I cried out for God's mercy on our land. I love rain and all the goodness it brings—the greening of grass and flowers, the wafting fragrance through the air, the filling of the lakes, the feeling of its gentle touch falling on my face.

But what if God asked me to pray for drought? What if His good for our people required suffering so that we all might call on His name? Do I love Him enough to suffer three and a half years (or more) so that He might be praised?

Don't get me wrong. I don't actually think I'm a prophet or that this is my gift to call on Him for such a thing. It only serves to stir my heart with the question: do I love Him enough to suffer for His glory?

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF

19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

The world and the church today tout the word "tolerance" as the key to unity and peace. Is it?

Others have raised this question: Would you rather be tolerated or loved?

I understand the world's concern. In their desire to cling to their pseudo-independence, the conclusion has to be that each would leave the other alone. But in the church, is there room for tolerance?

Tolerance and mindless deference to the authority of state describe Germany in the 1930s and 40s. Precious few awoke in the church to "obey God rather than man."  The convenience of living a private "Christianity" outweighed the moral outcry of injustice and murder. They descended into their spiritual bunkers and withered to nothing.

The flip side of that extreme is judgement. The feeling that I can discern and, therefore, condemn your motives.

Both of these attitudes are such delicious concoctions of the enemy. How gloating and self-congratulating he must be as he looks at the West and our tug-of-war extremes!

James, in his book, (and as so many others in the Bible have taught) cries out against these polar mind-frames. He calls us neither to judge the motives of a brother nor to leave a fellow sinner to wander unchecked onto the edge of destruction without reaching out to catch him and pull him back.

WHAT'S THE CONCLUSION?
So what's the answer? I could not improve upon James' no-nonsense instructions.

1. Fill your life with God. 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
2. Know your own sin & repent. 8Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded...10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
3. Throw off worldly pursuits & pursue living out God's Word. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
4. Watch what you say. 26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
5. Your love for others will show by what you do and for God by what you avoid. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
6. Know God's mercy in your life & give that mercy to everyone else. 12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!

Love is an action. Love is a pursuit. Love does not go on vacation, and its Source is God.

Only a Shadow of Good Things

Have you thought much about shadows?

It's interesting about shadows that they may closely resemble the object they portray or they may completely distort it. How truthfully they reveal the original object depends on the position of the sun.

To the eyes of children, a shadow may be the image of a loved parent returning to gather them up or it may be the distorted form of a monster creeping close to steal their soul.

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship." ~Hebrews 10:1

In one of C.S. Lewis' books (I believe, The Weight of Glory), he talks of the blandness of heaven as described in the Bible (and don't tell me you haven't thought so too). Shadows.

Have you ever thought or heard that the "God of the Old Testament" is an angry God unlike the "God of the New Testament"? Shadows.

Have you ever read all the do-nots or must-dos of the Bible and thought "how restricting!"? Shadows.

A shadow gives a glimpse of something real beyond what we see before us. A shadow may misshape, discolour, or appear to misrepresent the real object. But a shadow's purpose is not to show you the object. Its purpose is to make you aware that the object exists.

As with all analogies, there is a point of break down. With a shadow, more often than not, one can look up to see the exact object that is being projected in dark twisted shapes beneath it. With spiritual shadows, our looking up will be hereafter. The shadows are reminders that our faith is based on Something and not our own imagination.

In Hebrews 10, the author describes the law as "only a shadow of the good things that are to come." How many of us think of the law as pointing to hope of a good thing instead of something to avoid breaking or avoid being caught bending?

The author of Hebrews points to the fact that the law, as defined in the Old Testament, never could save those who followed it. It was a shadow of a better thing to come.

The bleating goats, baaing lambs and flapping birds, whose blood were shed as a reminder of the ugly consequences of our sin—could never save, but instead foreshadowed One whose blood would save.

The burning candles, bloody altars, daily bread, glittering temple, mysterious ceremonies, and hidden rooms—their services never ushered a soul into heaven, but they foreshadowed a Most Holy Place where Yahweh is truly enthroned and the Lamb has made an entrance for us to follow.

The world around us appears so real that the shadows of Scripture get lost in the darkness. Without constantly seeking out the Son, we forget the presence of shadows and, more importantly, the Object they represent. It is for this very reason, the author of Hebrews admonishes us:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ~Hebrews 10:23-25 (Emphasis added.)

Sometimes shadows look harsh and scary. We need to remind each other it is merely the skewed view caused by unseen elements. If we encourage this faith and hold to this hope, one day we'll see before us the Face of Love unmasked by shadows. 

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

I've been pondering a great deal about "respect." Perhaps you can discuss this with me, as I'd really rather this be a dialogue.

Many writers have written about men's need to be respected and women's need to be loved. Indeed the Bible said this a couple thousand years before our "Christian bestsellers." 

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

(I tend to think that both sexes crave respect, but that it may come across differently for each. That could be a whole other discussion.)

The dictionary defines respect as: "esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability."

Much like worship, which is ingrained in the psyche of mankind, I think we all have a desire—not only to be respected but—to respect. This may be part of the reason we build our hopes in a person and are crushed by the reality. We strongly desire to think highly of, to trust in someone who proves unworthy.

Respect, for me, is harder than the dictionary makes it sound to nail down the full definition.

• There is the effort to give respect to someone no matter what you think of them. 
• You have respect of some sort for friends (or they wouldn't be friends) and family (at least some of them). 
• Then there are those few who you know and have the deepest respect for. 

(This again reminds me of the different types of love—trying to define it; however, the Bible dedicates a whole chapter to define love, but only gives a matter-of-fact nod to respect).

The peak of my pondering, if you will, is a discussion I had recently with my mother about three people where I live, who I think of with the highest respect. These are not men I believe to be flawless. They are not ones who I agree with 100%. They are, however, men with high values, proven character, and a gentle and humble spirit. They are ones who, if they gave me their word on something, I would truly expect they'd keep it (memory permitting).

When I mentioned my respect to one, he expressed his concern that he'd disappoint me, but then added that he hoped he'd recognise it immediately and make it right. Yes, that's exactly the attitude that makes me respect him in the first place!

So I conclude with my own definition of this "highest respect" and then await your response.

True respect is based on character and not perfection; therefore, it isn't lessened by mistakes or bad days.

Oh, that we might all grow in God toward humility, holiness, gentleness and compassion, and might, therefore, be men and women worthy of respect!

What About Me?

FOCUS
I remember once as a child asking God for something and using as my bargaining tool (whether or not it helped) that I rarely asked for anything for myself. Well my prayers have changed. I still love to pray for others, but find my mind often jumping back to my own heart-concerns or desires in the midst of my intercession.

Don't get me wrong. Sharing our burdens with the Lord is one of the things we're admonished throughout Scripture to do (Psalm 37:5, Psalm 55:22, Proverbs 16:3, Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Peter 5:7). It's just a matter of focus. And my focus is frequently off.

WHO'S IT ALL ABOUT?
John the Baptist's disciples were like me. When they baptized repentant Jews at the river and looked across at the crowd Jesus drew to be baptized, they complained to John. Instead of joining them in worrying about his declining position, John simple stated—

"He must become greater; I must become less." ~John 3:30

Jesus Himself did not come seeking the comforts, rewards, or accolades of this life. He told one would-be follower that He had "no place to lay His head." He knew that He was commissioned here for a short while and for a unique purpose. Even in this knowledge, He declared proudly His complete dependence on God the Father.

"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does....for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me. ~John 5:19, 30b 

WHO CALLS THE SHOTS?
If the perfect Son of God cannot afford to live independently from the Father, we—who are in constant need of putting to death the flesh—certainly cannot afford selfish independence.

Paul describes it this way:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

   Who, being in very nature^a God,

   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

   but made Himself nothing,

   taking the very nature^b of a servant,

   being made in human likeness.

   And being found in appearance as a man,

   He humbled Himself

   and became obedient to death—

   even death on a cross! ~Philippians 2:5-8

To the Galatian church, Paul wrote—

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (2:20)

If only this death to flesh was a once for all decision, but it's daily. By daily realizing life is "not about me" and daily recognizing our dependence on God for all that is good, we allow Christ to live through us.

When C.S. Lewis' wife, Joy, began the journey of discovering her own insignificance and remembering with shame how others must view her because of her past life, she concluded: "Who am I, that I shouldn't look like a fool?

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN'T GET IT RIGHT?
Lest we think that some people don't struggle with this, Paul shares his close-to-despairing cry—

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~Romans 7:24

What started me thinking about this today was an hour-long conversation I had with God on a walk in a graveyard. I realized how much my own desires have been distracting me from Him. THEY became my focus. (Or, in reality, I was my focus.) My wants consumed my thinking, led me on rabbit trails during prayer or reading. I knew, if my hopes failed (which personal experience has taught me to expect this type of dream to fail), my emotions would plummet. I had centred my energy around—not something bad, but having stolen my focus it became—an idol.

Even in "releasing" my grasp on this dream, my silly self betrayed partial motive. I had to also confess that in surrendering, something inside me hoped it might lead to God to reward me with what I wanted.

Oh, wretched one I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

WHAT'S THE ANSWER?
So what's the answer? What's the twelve-steps we need to take to master the old and put on the new? If Jesus death was in essence our own death to our old nature, then why do we still struggle with it?

In older times, Christians referred to the "mortification of the flesh." Their extreme view of this is not what I'm after. In, however, the realization that daily "I" am the enemy of my soul, the continual need to receive from God through His Word and give up "my rights" to Him prayer, and the understanding of my absolute need of Him to be my righteousness—this is the mortification we need. While we still live in this body, we will always need to engage in this battle.

Paul says in Romans 7:25 that in the mind we realize our need of God, but in our old nature we are slaves to sin. We must feed the new nature.

Keith Green, a popular 1960s Christian rock singer, wrestled constantly with surrender. In his song Draw Me, he cries:

Help me, oh help me, please help me my Jesus.
Save me from sins that I thought were all gone.
Kill me with kindness, and break through my blindness.
I know till I'm dead I can never live on.

So what about you? Am I the only one who struggles so much with self-centredness? What do you struggle with and what have you found that helps?
_______________________

If you haven't read it, I'd recommend reading the biography of Keith Green—No Compromise.
 

Is Your Faith Completely Naked?

My friend, Leesa Barnes, is hosting a blog series featuring faith-centered professionals providing advice on how to add more naked faith to your business.

These faith-centered workers are men and women who are bestselling publishers, success coaches, association directors, solopreneurs, online community managers, motivational speakers, professionals who have been on their own journey to add more faith to their sales, marketing and customer service.

Beginning on April 2, 2012, Leesa and her guest authors (including yours truly on April 4th) will provide you with tips over a 30-day period. You’ll also get action steps that you can take each day to help you on your journey to reintegrate more faith into your business. Whatever your work (paid or volunteer), you can benefit from these insights.

Are you ready to get naked with your faith?

Click here to add yourself to the announcement list so you can join the community of other faith-centered men and women.

K.R. Pent

Pure Power

Power. The word expresses something you are either under or are endeavouring to wield. It is the cause, humanly speaking, of the rise and fall of nations and empires.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.  ~President Abraham Lincoln

Power is the vehicle with which one forces or guides others to fulfil one's will—for good or for evil. It may seem strange then that the Apostle Paul includes power as part of the inheritance (now) for Christians.

Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus sharing his prayer for them. He says he wishes for them to know, amongst other things, "[God's] incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He"—don't miss this!—"exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand..." (1:19-20)

Napoleon didn't have power like that. Hitler didn't either. They could kill and destroy, but they had no power of resurrection and heavenly enthronement. Their empires came to an end. Christ's reign has barely begun—in the light of eternity.

If this power is for us who have the Holy Spirit living inside, what does that mean?

The picture above is of windmills, which I pass on the way to my parents. What is significant about these sources of power is that they have no power in themselves. If their bolts were too tight so their arms would not spin, they would merely be towers of medal. Useless. But, as they yield to the strength of the wind, they pass along power to light homes, to milk cows, and to give comfort and help to those living around them.

As I mentioned in another post, my pastor has been preaching on (sin, but also) the fact that God created humans as dependent beings. In the fall, we chose a pseudo-independence thus cutting ourselves off from all that we need.

"When—Listen!—a necessarily dependent creature attempts to live independently, he cuts himself off from the very Source of true knowledge and experience, which can only come from God Himself...Man did not actually achieve independence when he sinned. Nothing changed in regard to that, b/c we are of necessity, by creation, dependent creatures. And so nothing has changed simply because we decided to go our own way...We simply cut ourselves off from the necessary and essential supply that we must have as dependent creatures. When a dependent creature tries to live independently it is a DISASTER." ~Dr. Rich Liverance

What does this have to do with power?

The point is this—we are like windmills. Unless we yield to the strength of the Spirit of Christ, we have no power on our own. As we realise our dependence—not a crutch, but full life-support—God pours His strength in us, turning on the light for whole communities—the SAME power that raised our Messiah from the dead.

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

Once our dependence frees us to the "blowing" of the Spirit, we will experience this power at work in us. This is why the Apostle Paul gloried in his weakness.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Why did Paul boast of his weaknesses? Because it was by them that he realised his dependence on God. When he put his dependence on God, then God had the freedom to flow His power through Paul. As my dad would say, Paul learned to "plug himself into the Source." 

GETTING PERSONAL

What are the weaknesses with which you struggle? Do these weaknesses cause discouragement (like mine so often do to me)? Maybe that's because we are trying to be INDEPENDENT of God. Maybe we all need to realise—deep in the core of us—the truth we so glibly claim—our ONLY righteousness comes from Him.

PLUG INTO THE SOURCE

Let's lift our arms of dependence up to our Father and be moved by His power to change our world—one life at a time.