Category Archives: Christianity

Being a Christian is hard. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact. I mean, even the smallest of things is sometimes difficult to do. Take love for example. The scripture is full of commands to love one another. Jesus made it clear that all of Christianity could be summed up in “Love God, Love Others”.  Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:2 to “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing one another in love.” John instructs us to “love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” ~ 1 John 4:7  Peter tells us “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” ~ 1 Peter 4:8. And of course, Jesus himself said “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ~ John 13:35. 

The problem with this is, let’s face it: some people are just downright unloveable. Especially Christians. There are quite a few non-believers that I would rather hang out with than some Christians. Why is it so hard to love some people? And while I’m one who relies rather heavily on grace and not “rules” I do believe that the instructions to love each other are ones to be followed. This is a prevalent theme in scripture. How then can we reconcile our instructions to love each other with our natural tendency to want to arrange for some Christians to meet Jesus sooner than they want to?

Maybe we should start by recognizing what it is about some people that drive us crazy.  We may be surprised (or maybe not) to find that the same things that make us want to do bodily harm to some Christians are the same things that non-believers find so annoying about Christians. They do tend to lump us all in one group. Where Christians can see Charismatics and Catholics as two distinct groups of believers and understand the distinction, most non-believers will just lump us all in the category of “Christian”. Therefore, the idiosyncrasies that are particular to charismatic Christians will also be attributed to Catholics by most non-Christians. So what is it about “Christians” that we find annoying?

Hypocrisy has to be at the top of the list. It is at the top of the list for non-believers. There are people I know who have been Christians for decades, and yet they don’t live a Christian life. They gossip. They slander. They lie. And while I’ll be the first to admit that everyone is dealing with something in their life, these people don’t seem to be just going through a phase or tough time in their lives. No, these people just live where they are. They’re mean. They are just people that are difficult to be around sometimes, much less love.  It’s hard to love hypocrites. Especially when you are the one on the receiving end of their bitterness.

But the fact remains that we are instructed over and over to love each other. By “each other” the Bible is referring to other Christians. The people who tend to get under our skin the most sometimes. How do we love people who are irritating, annoying, time-consuming, needy and abrasive? If you are part of a family, you already know the answer to that question. You see, the Bible also makes it clear that the church is a family. We are called brothers and sisters. Some of us “more mature” (read older) Christians are to be father and mother figures to some of the younger Christians. This also means that some of the younger Christians will be spiritual children to the older Christians. So let me ask you. Did you ever feel animosity toward your brother or sister? Did you ever rebel against your father or mother? Did you ever wish you could return one of your children to Wal-Mart? I can answer yes to all three of those.

My sister and I didn’t get along very well when we were younger. We often fought. And yet, when someone spit in her face in high school, I was the one who came to her defense and hunted the person down like a felon. She was my sister, and while I didn’t always like her, everyone else had better like her and treat her nicely.

Long before I turned 18 I thought I was an adult. As the son of a pastor, there were certain expectations that people had of me. I was determined, as most pastors kids are, to dispel every one of those expectations. I started smoking when I was 13. I began acting out in school and often got after school detention and even suspended. I began cursing around friends in school just to be “cool”. I rebelled against what my parents expected of me. I rebelled against Christianity. And yet, I was the first one to come to the defense of my parents when others would talk about them. When church members would say or do things against my father’s position as pastor, I was ready to defend him to the death. He was my father.

We moved to North Carolina from Florida in 1999. We had only been in North Carolina for a few weeks when my oldest child decided that she wanted to move back to Florida to be with her boyfriend. We were heart broken. We were angry. How could our child treat us this way?

We received a call one Wednesday morning from her two years later. She was in tears and wanted to come home. NOW. We jumped in the car and went down the next day to bring her home. A similar situation happened with our middle child. She decided one day that she didn’t like living at home any longer. She was going to leave home and move in with a friend. A month later, she called at midnight for us to come and get her. We arrived at the home of her friend to find the friend tossing her belongings out the front door. Did I defend her? I sure did! Why? In both instances, my children did something that was unloving. They chose a boyfriend over their father. They chose a friend over their parents. They threw us to the curb in favor of someone else. They acted unloveable. And yet I came to their rescue each time. Why? Because they were my children and even though they had done something that was unloveable, they were still my daughters. And I was perfectly within my right to not like them, but everyone else had better be nice to them!

The same principle is true for us as Christians. We are part of the same family. Not just like family. Real family. God said that we have been adopted into his family as his sons and daughters. As Christians, we are all brothers an sisters. Those of us with siblings understand that the hardest people to love sometimes are our own brothers or sisters. The problem is that often times we don’t want to like our brother. We want to hold a grudge against our sister. This is where Christianity gets hard sometimes for some people. Because we can’t hold a grudge. We can’t stay angry. The Bible says that if we do, it doesn’t hurt the person we’re angry with. It hurts us. Jesus even said that if we are praying while holding something against someone, that we should forgive them so that God will forgive us. (Mark 11:25).

Being a Christian is hard sometimes. It means doing things that don’t come naturally for us, like forgiving someone who has wronged us. Or loving someone who is unloveable.

A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a pastor were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute, yelled to the passengers that they had better jump, and then he bailed out. Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining. The doctor grabbed one and said “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out. The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.” He also grabbed a parachute and jumped. The pastor looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace.” The little boy handed the parachute back to the pastor and said, “Not to worry, Pastor. The ‘smartest man in the world’ just took off with my back pack.”

Isn’t it funny how smart we think we are sometimes? I’ve noticed something common to new parents. Their children are usually smarter than any other child who has come before. I know mine were. Something happened to them when they hit puberty that erased any hope of intelligence that I had though. We usually tend to think rather highly of ourselves. At least in relation to everyone else. They’re the stupid ones. It’s always their fault that we make mistakes. If we could just pack them up and ship them off somewhere the world would be a better place. Except for that place we shipped them off to. Sometimes I think we place too much emphasis on them.

How many times have you been sitting in church listening to a message and thinking about someone who needed to be there to hear it? I know I do that just about every week. Here’s another question. When was the last time you left a church service challenged to change because of what you heard? If you’re a typical church attendee you are not challenged to change any aspect of your life according to a recent survey. In a 2010 survey, only 17% of church attendees said that the weekly sermon frequently changed their attitudes towards others or helped them look afresh at controversial or topical issues. Sixty-two percent of those questioned said sermons frequently gave them a sense of God’s love and helped them to understand Jesus; two-thirds said they “frequently” looked forward to the sermon; and 84 percent said the sermons should be rooted in the Bible. The conclusion of the research team was that sermons are better at helping people reflect than at challenging them to act. While reflection often precedes action, the action seems to be missing.

Why is it so difficult for us to accept change, especially when it involves our behavior? We have become creatures of habit rather than creatures of the Creator. I heard a message recently about the state of the world. It was an evangelistic message that focused on the number of lost people in the world. The speaker illustrated his point by telling us that there were 5 billion people worldwide who still do not know Christ. He said that if you were to line those people up at the front of the church, front to back, the line of people would reach to the East coast of the US. If you were to build a bridge, the line of people would extend all the way to Europe. In fact, the line would reach all the way across Europe, and into Asia. From Asia, if we were to build another bridge, the line of people would extend back to the opposite coast of the US, stretch across America and come right back in the door of the church. In fact, the line of lost people would do this not only once, but 37 times! Now, you would think that after hearing a statistic like that, and visualizing a line of people spanning the globe 37 times who were going to Hell, the church would mobilize. People would begin witnessing like never before, inviting their friends and neighbors to their church, warning them of the dangers of continuing a life without Christ! Pastors who heard this message would place a renewed emphasis on evangelism in their churches and begin making an impact on their communities. Churches all over the country would be bursting at the seams. No – we came back from that conference and quoted that statistic to those who weren’t there. We used it as a sermon illustration. We told others the same thing that we had heard. We disseminated the information, but we remained unchallenged and unchanged. I say we, because I am in the same boat. We didn’t begin witnessing, we didn’t invite our friends and neighbors, we went about our lives as usual. Within a few months, the illustration and any sense of urgency for the lost we got from that conference was gone.

Why is that? How can we sit in a church every week and hear a message that we apply to others, but remain unchanged ourselves? What would it take for us to recognize the need for change in our own lives? Why do we not confront sin in our lives when it is pointed out to us? I think it’s because we have become comfortable in our sin. See, we tend to hold our own sin so close to us that we can’t even recognize it. On the other hand, we’re very quick to point out the flaws in others. Let me give you an illustration. Pick out someone else in the room. Now, look at their face. Can you see their nose? That’s their sin. It’s easily visible to us. Now, while still looking at them, can you see your own nose? That’s your sin. It’s so close that you can easily see around it, while the other person’s sin is… well…. as clear as the nose on their face.  You can accomplish a similar illustration by holding your finger, pointing up, out in front of your face. Can you see it? Now, bring your finger, still pointing upward, up to your face and touch your nose. Now look at the other side of the room. Can you still see your finger?

I think that if we were to recognize our own sin for what it is – sin – we would be more apt to change our behavior. We hold our sin close. If we were to step back a little and see it the way others do, would we do anything different? If we were to just listen to the message every week with ourselves in mind rather than projecting it onto others, would we do anything different? I’m sure we would. The thing is, we often don’t see the necessity of change when a change comes along.  And while change for the sake of change is never good, the times in my life that I have grown the most have been during and after times of change.  I have mentioned the death of my Father in previous posts. That was a difficult time of change in my life. I could no longer call him for advice. I no longer had him to fall back on financially if I faced a financial challenge. He was not there to offer unsolicited advice on situations that he observed. I no longer had a rudder to help steer me, parent me, in the right direction. However, those changes, while very difficult to go through have helped shape me into a better man, father, leader and husband than I would be today if he were still alive. Without my Father to fall back on financially, I have had to make better financial decisions. Without him to call for advice, I have been forced to choose more wisely when making decisions. Without my dad around to offer advice based on his experience, I have had to go through some difficult times and gain some experience of my own.  And I am better for it.

Not that I don’t wish with all of my heart that my Father were still here to see his great grand children, or to witness some of my accomplishments or just to share life with. However, in the midst of difficult change, I have become better for it. The same is true for each of us. Once we give up the sin that we hold so close to us, we realize that we have become better for it. Addicts don’t think that they can live without the thing that they are addicted to. It’s not until after they are free from the addiction that they realize how much better off they are without it.

When you are faced with a changing situation in your life, how do you react? How will you react in the future? None of us is comfortable with change. We don’t know what’s on the other side of the change and that is uncomfortable. But we must realize that often, on the other side of that change is a better organization, a better marriage, a better us. We’re not as smart as we think we are. How do you face the challenge of change?

Ever feel stuck? In a rut? I heard a well-known Christian speaker state recently that there should be no such thing as an unhappy Christian.  They said that we should never use the words ‘unhappy’ and ‘Christian’ in the same sentence.  On the surface, that sounds right, but it’s easy to say something like that when you’re doing what you love to do for a living and making quite a bit of money in the process. My focus is not so much on the money, but, let’s face it, too often we think that we shouldn’t use the words ‘money’ and ‘Christian’ in the same sentence either. I think that what this speaker probably intended was to say that Christians should not live unhappy lives. Do we get unhappy? Sure we do. We live in the same world as everyone else. The difference is that we don’t live unhappily.

Unfortunately for some Christians, they are not doing what they love to do for a living. They are stuck in a dead-end job that brings no fulfillment, they struggle to make ends meet every month, they have families, school functions and then they also volunteer at church. The fact is that we all live in the same world and face the same daily situations, whether we’re Christians or not. We all have stuff in our lives, from the mega-church pastor to the sunday school teacher to the worship leader to the pew warmer. Even the speaker mentioned above. Everyone has something going on in their lives. But there should be a difference between how Christians face their stuff and how non-believers face theirs.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus has once again offended the Pharisees. He has just healed a blind man on the Sabbath. In answering the Pharisees accusation that He has broken the Law, Jesus answers that He entered the world to bring judgement – not only to give sight to the blind, but to show those who think they can see that they are really blind. Then in Chapter 10, He goes into a story about how anyone who does not come into the sheepfold by the gate is a thief. He explains that those who came before Him were thieves because they were false teachers, like the Pharisees. Then in verse 10, He says this, speaking about His sheep: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” My focus is drawn to the last part of that verse. Jesus says that while false teachers come to steal and kill and destroy, Jesus has come to give us a ‘rich and satisfying life’. Do you know any Christians that are living a rich and satisfying life? I know a few, but they seem to be fewer than the ones living a miserable life. How do we reconcile a rich and satisfying life with a dead-end job, problems with our marriage and bills that seem to pile up? I think it’s a matter of faith.

Faith is a word that has taken a bad rap because of its mis-use. God is not some genie in a bottle that grants our every wish simply because we have faith that He can or will. God is still God. However, the correct application of faith has everything to do with the statement that Jesus made. Hebrews 11:6 says that we must not only believe that God exists, but that we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You see, those who diligently seek Him not only know about God. They know God. Knowing God’s character changes everything for a Christian. Diligently seeking God means that one has spent a great deal of time in the Bible, since it is God’s Word to man. They have also spent a great deal of time in worship, since worship is where we get to know God intimately. They have also spent a great deal of time in prayer, since prayer is how we communicate with God. Like any other relationship, a person does not generally get to the point of knowing God in the first 6 months of salvation. It takes time. But then, so does life. By spending time with God through the Bible, worship and prayer, we learn God’s character. It is through this knowledge that we react to life’s  challenges differently.

Are you in a dead-end job? As a Christian, you are aware of the story of Joseph, who was unfairly sold into slavery, but ended up becoming the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt – the superpower of the day. You know the story of Abraham, who left his family and everything that was familiar to him and followed God even though God didn’t give him a map. I could mention all kinds of things we deal with – marriage problems, money difficulties, family dynamics – the list could go on for pages. The point is that Christians are aware of the vast love that God has for us. Sending His Son was one of the ways that He demonstrated that love. We know that God genuinely cares about our day-to-day lives. He cares about our dead-end job, our financial difficulties, our relationship problems. He knows about all of them, and He cares. That knowledge alone should be enough for us to experience the rich and satisfying life that Jesus came to give us. Our purpose extends far beyond the borders of our job, our family or even our lives. I know so many Christians who praise loudly in church on Sunday and then talk about how they don’t know if they are going to make it on Monday. Unfortunately, those around them are well aware of both their profession of faith in God and their lives of unbelief.  This is what James meant when he said “faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17)  

Faith is really just taking God at his word. It is knowing the character of God so well that you can trust him to be there even in the most mundane parts of your life. Sometimes it means getting a new perspective on your circumstances. Take the apostle Paul for example. Paul oftentimes had to work to support himself. He said in 2 Thessalonians 3:8 that he “worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you”.  But how does he describe himself to those to whom he writes? As a tentmaker? No. He is Paul, an apostle in Galatians. He is Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus in Romans. He is Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus in Colossians. Maybe some of us need to remind ourselves that we are not John, stuck in a job we hate. We are John, a disciple of Jesus Christ called to lead a small group. We are not Chris, working third shift for minimum wage. We are Chris, a disciple of Jesus Christ called to play the drums and lead the people of God into his presence.

Faith is more than blind belief. It is standing on what you know to be true, even if circumstances tell you differently. It is knowing that because of Jesus, our joy is complete (John 15:11). It is being “Joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12). It is being ” …hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Cor. 4:9-10). Knowing that “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). It is living as if these things were true, because they are.

It’s time we got our joy back. Too many Christians are living a defeated, depressed life. That’s not the life that Jesus died to give us. We belong “To him who is able to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy…“

Christians like to use the comparison that Jesus used in Matthew where He says “You are the salt of the earth…” I wonder how many of us have really thought about this. I have seen people use this scripture at times to justify weird or spooky behavior. I have seen it used to justify being obnoxious when sharing our faith. I have also heard it used correctly, in context, but then countered with the thought that we should avoid all contact with non-believers. What was Jesus talking about in this scripture?

When Jesus spoke this, it made perfect sense to His listeners. They had the cultural context to understand it. We don’t have that context, because our salt comes from Food Lion in boxes or bags. We then pour the salt into salt shakers which we use to season our food. To the crowd that Jesus was speaking to, salt was gathered primarily from the region around the Dead Sea. What would often happen is that reeds growing along the bank would become caked with salt as the water receded and evaporated from the reeds, leaving them coated with salt. These reeds would be gathered and then used to preserve food. They would rub the reed on the food, coating it with a layer of salt. As the reed was used, less salt would remain on it. When it had ‘lost its saltiness’, the reeds would sometimes be used as flooring on the upper levels of the houses. This is probably what Jesus meant in the parable when he said “…But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

How does this relate to us? Pretty much the way we think it does. Christians are the preservative of the earth. We also change the flavor of things we come in contact with, especially relationally. If this is the case, it strikes me as odd that we do some of the things the way we do. We gather in churches and keep to ourselves. The unchurched are welcome to join us, but they typically have to come to us. We don’t meet them where they are.  That’s like putting the broccoli into the salt shaker. I’ve realized something when discussing this with several pastors over the years. All of them made it clear that the unchurched were welcome in their churches, yet few of them were actually intentional in their efforts to attract the unchurched. There is a difference between people being welcome and being intentional in attracting them. For example, I’m welcome to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch, but they are not intentional in attracting overweight men in their 50’s. While they won’t stop me from purchasing their products, they are not intentional in their efforts to market their products to me.  In fact, the CEO said earlier this year that there are people who do not belong in his clothes – namely overweight people. I agree. The same is true for churches. While unchurched people may be welcome at our churches, if we really want to reach them, we need to be intentional in our efforts to have something to offer them. And some churches have made it clear that there are some people who do not belong in their churches – namely unsaved people.  There is an excellent article here about being intentional in reaching unchurched people.

Another teaching I’ve heard is that, as Christians, we should avoid all contact with unbelievers. They will only drag us down to their level. It’s a good thing that Jesus didn’t subscribe to this thought process. He associated with all kinds of sinful people. He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. He hung out with the wrong people according to his accusers. The difference is that while Jesus hung out with these people, He didn’t do what they did. He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, but he wasn’t. He hung out with sinful people, but He didn’t sin. I’ve never heard anyone say “That broccoli made my salt taste like broccoli!” The salt makes the broccoli taste saltier, but the broccoli doesn’t make the salt taste broccolier. I just made that word up by the way.

Now – I realize that there is a time to cut ties in a relationship that is affecting you negatively. Andy Stanley gives five warning signs that you need to break off relationships:

1. It dawns on you that your core group isn’t moving in the direction you want your life to be moving.
2. You catch yourself pretending to be someone other than who you really are.
3. You feel pressure to compromise.
4. You hear yourself saying, “I’ll go, but I won’t participate.”
5. You hope the people you care about most don’t find out who you were with or where you have been.

You can read about this in more detail here.

However, I don’t believe that the Bible teaches us to cut all ties with non-Christians. What good is salt if it remains in the salt shaker? We need to both flavor and preserve the earth. We can’t do that by remaining separate. We should be involved with our neighbors. Most of us work secular jobs. We should have unsaved friends. We need to be careful not to allow sinful behavior to creep into our lives, but I believe that if we heed the previously listed warning signs we can avoid that. We need to  the salt of the earth. We are the preservative that keeps the enemy at bay. We have a great message. Let’s not keep it to ourselves. If non-Christians don’t observe us living a life of joy and peace, what is going to attract them to the gospel? Church? Not unless they come with us, and they won’t typically come with us unless there is a relationship established first. Where did we ever get the impression that we were to be separated from unchurched people? The Bible does tell us that we should not be “unequally yoked” to unbelievers, which refers to Deuteronomy 22:10, which says not to plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. The reference is clear, the ox was a ceremonially “clean” animal, while the donkey was “unclean”. The two different animals would not have plowed a straight line because they were different animals with different strengths and temperaments. The same is true when we “yoke” ourselves to an unbeliever; when we marry or even enter into a business partnership with an unbeliever. We cannot pursue a straight line because we are different creatures. And yet the ox and donkey grazed in the same fields. When we paraphrase John 17, we get the “In the world but not of the world” scripture reference. But if you read John 17: 14 – 19, it is clear that Jesus is sending us into the world!  He states clearly, ” 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” We are to be IN the world.

Let’s be the salt of the earth. Let’s flavor and preserve the earth, not by remaining in our salt-shakers where we’re relatively safe, but by being shaken onto our culture, by being shaken onto those around us, by being shaken into our places of employment, by being shaken into every aspect of our lives. As you go through your day, who will you flavor today? Who will you preserve from the decaying effects of a fallen, sinful world? Who will you be the salt for today?

Have you ever felt like just giving up? Every year, my wife, Penny, and I take a couple of days and head to the mountains of western North Carolina. We get a cabin up in the woods and just chill. There is spotty internet available and not a lot to do, but that’s fine with us. We spend a couple of days just reading our Bibles and books that have gone unread. We pray. We talk. We get focused. It never fails that each year our trip coincides with a point in our lives where we are ready to just give up. So we go into survivor mode. We separate ourselves from our everyday lives. We go off somewhere alone and make the time to communicate with God. We regroup. We speak some and listen more. And it never fails that we return from that trip with a new perspective, usually beat into us by God during those few days away from the normal busy-ness of life.

I don’t think that we are all that unusual. I suspect that all of us hit a wall at some point in our lives, and, like us, it may be an annual thing. For others, though it is a weekly or even daily thing. They live in survivor mode. If they can only get through this time, or this challenge everything will be OK. But it isn’t. Something else pops up. Another battle that has to be fought and won. You know the people. “I know God is in control, but… I hope I make enough money to pay my bills this month. The chances of surviving this surgery are 70%. I’m probably one of the 30% who won’t make it. This day (every day) is just horrible! Nothing ever goes right for me!” You know them. They’re the ones who make everyone else want to be a Christian because their life is so miserable. I apologize for the sarcasm, but the point is they are mis-representing what Christianity is really all about.

While I think that everyone needs some time occasionally to focus, some of us live there. The thing is, I don’t think that’s how God intends for us to live. I don’t believe that God wants us all to be rich and live lives of ease, but I also don’t believe that God wants us to just survive this life so that we can have a better one when we die. I don’t think we were meant to be survivors. If I read the Bible correctly, we are not here to just survive until Jesus comes back. Jesus said that he had come so that we might have life to the full.  Abundant life. A rich and satisfying life.  (John 10:10) I think that we, myself included, go on the defensive sometimes when we should be playing offense. For those of you who enjoy sports, you will recognize that there is a difference between a team playing to win and one that is playing not to lose. Especially when it is your favorite team! When my team starts playing not to lose, they play it safe. They don’t take risks, they rely on their strengths. They are wanting to survive. Play out the clock. On the other hand, when my team is playing to win, they are taking risks, looking for a big play and relying on faith – hoping that they will get a break. They play harder. They want to be on offense, not on defense. They want the ball. They want to be at bat. They go to the puck instead of waiting for it to come to them.

The same is true for us in life. Sometimes we’re just playing not to lose. We go on defense, separating ourselves from community and life in order to regroup. We don’t take risks, we rely on our own strengths to get us through. We’re just playing out the clock waiting for “it” to be over. Just hoping that Jesus comes back today so that all of this will be over.  When I read about the Christian life in the Bible, I don’t see survivor mode. 1 John 5:4 doesn’t say Everyone born of God survives the world. It says “Everyone born of God overcomes the world.” In Revelation 3:21 we don’t read To him who survives I will give the right to sit with me on my throne. It tells us that “To him who overcomes I will give the right to sit with me on my throne.” So how do we go from survivor to overcomer? We stop playing not to lose and start playing to win.

God told Paul that His strength was made perfect in Paul’s weakness. In other words, instead of relying on our own strengths, we need to rely on God’s. In 2nd Kings 13:18 we read a story about Elisha. He told King Jehoash get a bow and some arrows. After demonstrating what he was doing by having the king shoot an arrow out of the window, representing victory over the kings enemies, Elisha told the king to strike the ground with the arrows. King Jehoash struck the ground three times. Elisha became angry and told the king that he would only defeat his enemy three times – once for each time that he had struck the ground with the arrows. This would not be enough to defeat the enemy. King Jehoash was playing not to lose. I heard a pastor explain recently that he thinks the reason the king only struck the ground three times was because he knew that with each victory there would be a battle.

How often do we feel like giving up because with each victory we know there will be a battle? Once we get through this period in life there will be another one right behind it. Another battle to be fought. So we play not to lose and become content with defending ourselves against our enemy. We play it safe and rely on our strengths to get us through. The thing is, we not only don’t have to live like this, we’re not supposed to. The Bible makes it clear that when faced with the challenges of life we are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). We forget who we are. I would like to remind you of who you are as a child of God. You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). You have a God who supplies all of your needs (Philippians 4:19). When it comes to adversity, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. (Philippians 3:13).  You are no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1). You are destined to complete what God has begun in you (Philippians 1:6). You have received a gift that is to be used to serve others (1 Peter 4:10). You don’t have to worry about anything, but instead have a peace that only God can give to see you through times of anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7). You have been given life to the full, a rich and satisfying life, more and better life than you ever dreamed of (John 10:10).

I could go on. The thing is, we are not meant to be survivors. We are designed to be overcomers. Do we get behind in the game? Sure we do. Sometimes in our humanity we just feel like giving up. It’s during those times that we need to make the decision to play to win, not just play not to lose. Get your life back, play offense. Don’t wait for victory to come to you, go to victory. Don’t rely on your own strengths to get you through, rely on God’s strength, which is the greatest when you are weakest. Be who you were created to be. You are not meant to be a survivor. You are an overcomer. Don’t play life not to lose. Start playing it to win.

Jesus answered:”Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.  ~ Matthew 24: 4-5

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ~ 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ~ 1 Corinthians 11: 3

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. ~ 1 Timothy 4: 1

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ~ James 1: 16

Over and over, we are told in the Bible not to be deceived, and yet, people are still deceived daily. I get email nearly every day telling me about a long-lost relative from Nigeria who has left me millions. I also have to say that the number of iPads I have won on the internet and the number of iPads I own are very different numbers. We’ve heard of the people who go door to door after some tragedy or natural disaster, collecting money for the victims, only to find out later that they were not in fact collecting money for the victims, but instead have created victims by stealing their money. People are deceived all the time. As a general rule, it appears that the human population is overwhelmingly gullible, believing what we are told because we want to believe the best of people. We don’t want to believe that there are people who would use the suffering of others to steal money from us. We do want to believe in the generosity of a long-lost relative with a different last name from a fork in the family tree that we never knew existed before.

I also think that part of the problem is with deception itself. By definition, deception is using trickery or fraud to make people believe that they are doing the right thing. No one responds to the email about receiving an inheritance from a long-lost Nigerian relative because they think that it isn’t true. They have been tricked into believing that they actually have a relative from whom they have inherited a large sum of money.  They believe that it’s true. The victims of the Madoff Ponzi scam believed that they were doing the right thing. From a biblical standpoint, Eve was deceived. She was tricked into believing that she was doing the right thing. She thought that she was furthering her knowledge. And in that she wasn’t wrong. She just didn’t understand the consequences of doing so.

So, if you’re following me here, the Bible tells us not to be deceived about several things – sin, false teachers and even people who claim to be Jesus. The problem is, when we become deceived, we don’t know it until it’s too late. We have been tricked into believing that a lie is the truth. We think that we’re doing the right thing. So how do we not become deceived in the first place? Obviously it’s possible, or God would not have told us in his Word that we should not be deceived. I think the key is that we have to know The Truth in the first place. I don’t mean that we have to be aware that a truth exists. We have to know what The Truth is. Let me put it this way: if someone were to come to me and say that my wife, Mary, just called and wanted me to loan them $20 for gas, I would not be deceived. Why? Because my wife’s name is Penny. How do I know that? Because I have been married to her for nearly 35 years. We have a relationship. I know The Truth concerning my wife’s name. I’m not saying that it’s not possible to deceive me. I too have been the victim of deceptive people.  But the Bible makes it clear that people will attempt to deceive us about some very important things. It also makes it clear that we are not to be fooled into believing the lies that these people will tell us in order to deceive us. If you look at the verses above, each warning is followed by The Truth. It will take a little work on our parts not to fall into the trap of deception, but I believe that we can avoid the typical pitfalls that the enemy uses to deceive us if we will just learn The Truth for ourselves.

In Matthew 24, Jesus is talking to his disciples about his return to earth. He warns them not to be deceived because many people will come claiming to be Jesus. How will we recognize that these people are not actually Jesus? He shows us The Truth in verses 26 and 27.  “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.  For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”  The Truth in this instance is not to believe that Jesus is in a particular place. He says that just as lightning that strikes is visible many miles away, his return will be visible to everyone on the earth at the same time (verse 30). This is how we do not get deceived.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul is giving this church general guidelines for how to behave as Christians: Don’t act like you did before you came to know The Truth concerning Jesus. Apparently, many in this church (like many in today’s churches) were part of the congregation, but were still acting like they used to act. They were no different from unbelievers. They thought they were doing the right thing. So Paul gives them instructions that start with “Do not be deceived…” And then he gives them The Truth.  “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  Paul was aware that this is what was going on in the church. These people thought that they were OK. Paul is telling them that they have been deceived. Tricked into believing a lie. The Truth is that people who do “these things” will not inherit the kingdom of God. How do they know they have been deceived? Because Paul gives them The Truth concerning their behavior.

Proverbs 8: 17 says that those who seek God diligently will find him. We often seek God through the words or experiences of others, and not through our own efforts. The key word in this verse is diligently. If you knew for certain that there was a large sum of money buried in your backyard, would you dig one hole and give up if that effort didn’t produce the money? Of course you wouldn’t. You would keep digging holes until you found the money. You would work diligently to find that money. That’s the sense of seeking that God is talking about here.  If you attended church this past weekend and listened to a message without discovering The Truth about something in your life, then you are not seeking diligently.  Don’t expect your pastor to seek God diligently for you. You need to do your own seeking. It reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy’s routine “You might be a redneck.” Only in this version it is called “You might be deceived”. If you listened to a preacher this weekend and didn’t question anything he said….. you might be deceived.  If you read a book recently and didn’t check to see if the Bible verses were used in context…..  you might be deceived.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about wheat and weeds. A man had a field where he planted wheat. But his enemy came while he was asleep and planted weeds in his wheat. As the wheat grew, so did the weeds. The mans servant came to him and told him about the weeds that were growing in his wheat field. The servant asked if they should go through the field and start pulling up the weeds. The owner of field replied “No…because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” ~ Matthew 13: 29 – 30. There are weeds out there. There are Christians who do not live as Christians. There are pastors who do not preach the gospel. There are preachers on TV who are self-serving businessmen. Certainly not every pastor is a deceiver any more than every preacher on TV is a charlatan. But some of them are. They are weeds in the wheat field. They are there to deceive us. All of us have the propensity to be deceived. As Christians, many of us think we’re doing the right thing when we tune into that guy on TV that we love to hear preach. We think we’re doing the right thing when we attend church and listen to our pastor preach a message. We think we’re doing the right thing when we read a blog like this. The problem is that none of those things are The Truth.  My hope is to point you toward The Truth in this blog, but if you just believe everything I say without searching for The Truth yourself, then I have failed.  Jesus said that he was The Truth. Unless we know that Truth as well as I know the name of my wife, it’s possible for us to be deceived.

Deception is powerful. That’s why God warns us about it in the Bible. We want to do the right thing, and we think we are doing the right thing, but if we’re walking in unfamiliar territory, we may be deceived. The Bible says that there is a way that seems right… but its end is death.  I urge you to seek God diligently. Set aside time in your busy schedule for seeking. Pray. Read. Seek. Diligently seek. Above all, become so familiar with God and his Word that it would be difficult to deceive you. Seek diligently. And watch that no one deceives you.

I received a call from my newly licensed daughter this week. “Dad. Someone just hit me.” I’m not one who is easily panicked, but I have to admit that my heart jumped just a little. My grandchildren were in the car with her. After determining that everyone was alright physically, I asked her what happened. “I was sitting at a stop light waiting to make a left turn. The guy at the light coming straight through just sat there when the light turned green, then he waved me through to make my turn. After I had turned, he came on through the intersection and hit me.” It sounded a little suspicious to me until her story was corroborated by another driver.

The old adage is true – “Timing is everything.” Another 3 seconds or so and the other driver would not have hit her. Had he moved 20 seconds earlier, she would not have turned through the intersection until he was past. The same is true for us, even when we’re following God’s instructions. I’ve had friends who were told by traveling prophets that they would be great ____________ (fill in the blank) who immediately started rearranging things in their world so that God could use them in that area. It seems that when we hear from God, we get impatient sometimes to accomplish what we know we are to accomplish.

I speak from experience. I am not immune to this phenomenon. From the time I was very young, I sensed that God wanted me to do something. I remember praying in our small church week after week to determine what God wanted me to do. I remember discovering that God had called me to be a pastor, but after seeing what my father went through as a pastor for 30 years at that time, I wasn’t about to be the pastor of a church. In 1990, while my wife was out of the country on a missions trip, I began praying in earnest about God’s calling for my life. It was then that I distinctly heard God telling me that I was to go into music ministry. I can’t say that anyone else in the room would have heard His voice or not, but I did. So I did what any other successful business person would have done. I said “No way!” I was a salesman in the DC area at the time. Behind government, the printing industry is the second largest industry in the DC area. I sold printing. In fact, my sales made up 80% of the business in the company that I worked for and I had just landed a national account that would bring millions of dollars to the company and add many thousands of dollars to my salary. Why would I quit a successful career? I was volunteering in church at the time and was happy to continue to volunteer, but to go into full-time ministry? Not a chance. So, like many great men before me, I asked for a sign. I said “OK God. If this IS God, you’re going to have to hit me over the head with a sign, because I’m not just quitting my job and going into ministry.” That was Wednesday. On Friday, I was called into my manager’s office and told that I was being laid off. Turns out, my national deal was enough to keep the company running three shifts for the next several years. The only downside for them was paying me the commission on the sale. So I was let go. OK God. You have my attention.

I approached the pastor of the church I was volunteering, where, it turns out, they were in need of a music minister. I explained my call from God, my circumstances and told him that I would like to be considered for the position. I was not hired. What was I supposed to do? God Himself had spoken to me and no one would listen. I would just do what He called me to do. So, like Abraham, who didn’t see the promise of an heir immediately, I took matters into my own hands and found a position at another church. Now, 20+ years later, I can see how moving my family over the next several years, placing a strain on my marriage and my family was probably not what God had in mind for me.

Jesus had the same issue, yet He handled it much differently than I did. In John 7 we find a story about Jesus and God’s timing. The feast of Tabernacles was approaching. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, this was the most popular of the three major Jewish feasts. Jesus’ brothers were going to Jerusalem for the festivities and wanted Jesus to come along. Of course, their motive was questionable. They said ” ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” ~ John 7:3-5

The response by Jesus tells us a lot about Him. He said  “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.” God’s timing was not right for Jesus to go to Jerusalem publicly. Why not? We may never know. Perhaps it was because the Jewish leaders were waiting for him. In verse 11 we read that they were watching for Him and asking about Him at the festival. But it’s Jesus’ dig at His brothers that catches my attention. “For you, any time will do.” He was saying “You don’t know the plan of God. You don’t know God’s perfect timing. You are all about you. For you, any time will do.” But by contrast, He said “You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival because my time has not yet fully come.” Fully come. God’s timing was just as important to Jesus as His mission. Jesus knew what His mission on earth was. Could He have accomplished it by going to Jerusalem with His brothers? Maybe, but definitely not how God intended Him to. It would not have gone the way that God intended. It may have taken longer. It may not have impressed something in just one of the disciples that needed to be impressed.

In verse 10 we read that Jesus did go to the festival, secretly, after His brothers had left. About halfway through the 7-day feast, Jesus started teaching publicly. God’s time for Him to do so had come. Jesus just had to wait for three days. What difference did three days make? Apparently it made a difference because Jesus would not go earlier because of God’s timetable. One thing is for sure, when Jesus finally did go to the festival, He made an impression. Throughout the rest of this chapter and into chapter 8 we read about the stir that Jesus caused by His appearance at the Feast of Tabernacles. He got things stirred up. Timing was everything.

Are you waiting for something? Has God placed something in you that you need to accomplish? I believe that we all are placed here to accomplish something. But we have to remember that timing is everything. For me, additional training and experience were necessary for me to accomplish what God intended. I thought I was ready. You may have heard it said that “Those whom God calls He equips.” That may be true, but He doesn’t always equip them overnight. For Jesus, it was a matter of about 3 days. Equipping sometimes takes years. Jesus knew that He had a mission to accomplish, yet He worked to accomplish it in God’s timing, not His own. May you fulfill your calling to build God’s kingdom in His timing. Don’t be one of those to whom Jesus would say “For you any time will do.” Seek God’s timing. If you sense God telling you to move on something now, move now – even if you don’t see everything in place. If you sense God telling you to do something, but don’t sense an urgency, wait for His perfect time to accomplish your mission. Remember, movement does not equal accomplishment. Don’t get frustrated or impatient, because God’s timing is always perfect, and He’s seldom early by our standards. In fact, I’ve found that He is usually last-minute by my standards. But not by His. His timing is perfect and you will not accomplish His perfect will unless your mission is not only accomplished, but accomplished by His timetable.

Have you ever been disappointed with God?  I think that if we’re honest with ourselves, nearly all of us would answer with a resounding “yes!” I know I have. I have even let Him know it sometimes (as if He didn’t already know) by verbalizing my disappointment. Some of us have experienced it differently than others. You may look around you at the injustice in the world and wonder how God could allow such things to happen. You may be one of those who looks at disasters and doesn’t understand how a God of love could allow innocent people to be harmed or even killed by random disasters. You may have lost a loved one after praying for healing. You may be one of the ones who was passed up for the promotion you deserved after praying and believing for God’s favor. There are many scenarios that I could mention, but most of us, if we have been Christians for any length of time, have questioned some of God’s actions, or inaction.

Even Job had his questions regarding God’s answering of prayers. He said ” I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.” (Job 30:20)

Why is it that sometimes when we pray, we don’t get what we asked for? Does that negate Christianity or God’s word? As I’ve said before, we tend to justify God’s actions or inaction, as if He needed our justification. We justify not getting that promotion because God has something better for us. That loved one must have died because God needed them in Heaven, or their work here on earth was complete. My car must be broken down this morning because God was trying to save me from being in an accident. We tend to make excuses for God when He doesn’t come through like we think He should.

Why do our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears sometimes? I think it can be a matter of perspective. God loves us and does want the best for us, but sometimes we allow ourselves to get in our own way. God shows us favor in the smallest of things, but often doesn’t come through in what we perceive to be the big things. I think that it’s because we quite often have our priorities mixed up. What is important to us just isn’t all that important to God. See, God isn’t here to make us happy. He’s here to make us holy. When the reason that we want that promotion is because we want more stuff, it’s we who are concerned with the stuff, not God. God is concerned with our relationship with Him. God is concerned with how we are leading others into a relationship with Him. God is not always concerned with whether we drive a Lexus or a Chevy.

We have to keep in mind God’s purpose for mankind. The reason we are here is to be in a covenant relationship with God. The Bible says that when we become Christians, God adopts us into His family. We literally become adopted children of God. Those of us who have children know that we don’t often share priorities with our children. We don’t always understand the latest fashion craze or musical sensation that is so important to our children. It’s just not that important. It’s not that we don’t love our children, it’s that we are so busy trying to provide for them and help them realize their potential as adults that the latest CD by Wrong Direction doesn’t mean that much in the scheme of things.

The same is true of God. He’s concerned with our spiritual growth and our relationship with Him. This is not another justification for why we don’t always get what we want. It’s found in the Bible. In talking about asking for things in life Jesus says in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [that we pray for] will be added to you. It doesn’t say to seek these things first and God’s righteousness will be added to you. God is concerned with our development, not our enjoyment. Does God want us to be happy? I’m sure He does. Jesus said that He came to earth so that we might have life to the full (John 10:10). But that isn’t God’s primary purpose in redemption. His purpose is relationship. When we ask for things that would assist us in living in, or even being tempted by, sin, God will not answer. Psalm 66:18 says If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; In other words, if I am continuing to allow sinful behavior in my life, my prayers will go unanswered. Just because it would make us happy (temporarily) does not mean that God is somehow obligated to indulge us in selfish prayers.

Getting our priorities straight is only one of the reasons that God may not have answered your particular prayer. This is not a catch-all discussion for unanswered prayer. It is simply an observation on one of the reasons God has not answered my prayers in the past. If we seek God first – put His priorities first – God will often answer those prayers. When He doesn’t, we must learn to trust.

Some additional reading can be found here:

Unanswered Prayer

God’s Perfect Timing

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