The Sin of Strength

“Man is certainly a sinner, but his sin lies not in those weaknesses which can be spied out, but in his strength. Goethe and Napoleon were sinners, not because they were unfaithful husbands, but because of the use of their strength. The Bible never spies out little sins, it deals with more serious issues than scandal columns of the newspapers. What are these sins of strength?”

- Edwin Robertson

-The Shame and the Sacrifice: The Life and Martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

When we think about our own sins don’t we usually think about what strengths we posses? I know when I ponder my sin and failures I tend to focus on the areas of my life that I see weakness in. But when I think about the areas of my strengths, I don’t tend to notice my own sin. The strange things is when I look at others I see where they sin in their strengths. Think about it for a moment, when you look at the people around you, don’t you see those who sin in their strengths? The boss who is a good manager can be a person who has to be in control of everyone. The person, who is a good communicator, spends too much time talking about others and spreads gossip. Someone who is good at confidentiality and keeps what is said to them, but secretly is judging others unmercifully.

What about you? What are your strengths? What strengths are taken to an extreme, bringing about a pattern of sin against God and others? I think it is hard to see our sinful nature being acting out in these areas. It’s easy to see it in our area of weakness. In areas where we overindulge, lack will power and self control, but in our abilities, we can be blind in how we hurt others with them. I think it is probably because pride blinds to them. It’s easy to see pride in others, but very difficult to see it in ourselves. Pride is much disguised, hard to pick out and harder to overcome. But when we look at those around us, we can see their pride a mile away. And I am sure those around us can see our own pride clearly.

The sin of strength can be acted out in being unwilling to ask for help. What talents do you posses that you would never ask another for help in? What area do you need growth in, but others see you as strong, so you don’t want to be humble and ask for assistance? Everyone has talents and strengths, no matter how large or small they are, and with these there is always the potential for sin. The sin of pride, the sin of selfishness, the sin of not giving God the credit and honor He deserves, but accepting the glory for ourselves. There is the sin of looking down on others because they aren’t as talented or as strong as you are in certain areas. Think for a moment, why were you given this strength for to begin with? Was it not to help those who are in need? Was it not to help those who are weak? But unfortunately we can boast of our strengths and keep our weaknesses hidden. Humility is not the sign of being weak, but actually is takes more strength to live a life of humility. How could you overcome sin by turning to a life of humility? How could you see your gifts as something to share with those in need, instead of using them for your own pleasure? 

Abiding and Contentment

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4-5

Whom or what are you abiding in today? Where is your source of strength coming from? Think about this for a moment, where does your contentment rest? Another way of addressing the issue is, when someone of something doesn’t fulfill your desires, do you lose your contentment? This may give you a better understanding of where your contentment rest. Many of us say it is in God, but is it really true. It is very easy for our true contentment to rest in our relationships, our profession, our family, or in what we enjoy doing. But what happens when these things disappoint us? Does your contentment run up and down like a rollercoaster based on what others are doing around you? Does it rise up and down like the waves in the ocean, because of your circumstances? It’s a hard question to answer, especially if things are going good for you. And when we are on the other side we may look at what we aren’t getting and lose our focus when it comes to being content in all things. Can we say what Thomas Watson said, “If we have not what we desire, we have more than we deserve.”[i]

Going back to the verse, Abide in Me, is that who you are abiding in today? I think abiding and contentment go hand in hand. When I am abiding in Christ, I am more content, but when I abide in someone or something, I can be tossed back and forth in being contented. Dave Harvey says, “When God acts contrary to our will, disappointment is understandable. But when our desires go unfulfilled and disappointment begins to define us, something else is afoot. It’s called discontentment.”[ii] How about you, where are you at today? When your desires are not fulfilled, who do you turn to? Who or what do you lean on when someone close to you disappoints you and your desires are not fulfilled? Discontentment erodes our trust and faith in God. It erode it when we are abiding in anyone besides God, and when things don’t turn out for what we think is our good, we can blame God. We may not say it out loud but deep down we wonder why God didn’t act in our behalf. The danger in abiding in something else is that we lose our nourishment from the True Vine. We begin to rely on another sinful, fallible, human being that has shortcoming, just like we ourselves possess. The opposite is true when it comes to Christ, He is someone who can provide for us, and rely on, who does have our best interest in mind. Even when we don’t think He does, or when he acts contrary to what we think we need.

Dave Harvey has some good questions to ask on this subject, he says, “How should we respond when blocked ambitions open the door to discontentment? Where do we go when we’re haunted and taunted with “By now, I should have been…”? What do we do when we don’t have what we desire?”[iii]  When discontentment creeps into our soul, it is hard to see past what disappoints us. Self-pity, hurt, longings, and bitterness can keep us stuck there. It can be difficult to grasp what we have when we are disappointed, but doing so we see how much God has given us, we can say like Thomas Watson said, I have more than I deserve. Contentment is based on our abiding in Christ, when we begin to live connected to the True Vine, we can rest. Paul says contentment is something we learn, it is something we must pursue. While we can be grateful for what we have when we see others suffering, contentment is not based on comparisons, it is based on connects. The connection to the Vine feeds our contentment; our ambitions are based on His ambitions. Comparisons help for a while, but we can begin to judge others harshly. Or we spend our time looking at what fruit we are producing or not producing. We lend our eyes with too much attention on what others are doing, judging the fruit and production of others in the Kingdom. Instead we need to place our focus on the True Vine which gives us the nourishment to grow and produce godly fruit; fruit of contentment which brings peace no matter what situation we are in, whether in need or plenty. Once again I’ll ask you, where are you connected to today? Where does your contentment rest? Is it in the True Vine, if so continuing resting in Him, if not, what do you need to abide in Him?

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[i] Thomas Watson, The Art of Divine Contentment (reprint, London: Religious Tract Society, 1835), pp 223

[ii] Dave Harvey, Rescuing Ambition, Copyright 2010, Crossway Books, Wheaton IL, pp 120

[iii] Ibid, pp 121

So Little Prayer...

“Souls are perishing because there is so little prayer. God’s children are feeble because there is too little prayer. We bear so little fruit because there is so little prayer. The faith of this promise would make us strong to pray, let us not rest till it has entered into our very heart and drawn us in the power of Christ to continue and labor and strive in prayer until the blessings comes in power.” 

-Andrew Murray 

-The True Vine

So little prayer… Does this describe your life of prayer? Before you answer this question let’s look at some other areas of our lives. Many areas of the Christians life will bear the answer to the first question. Andrew Murray states that the children of God are feeble because of too little prayer. To understand the word feeble in our life let’s think about the word fruit. How is your fruit bearing today? Think about three areas, witnessing for Christ, worship and conduct. How is your fruit in these areas, is there abundance, some, or feeble amounts of fruit being displayed? Before you answer we must remember that fruit is not produced by self-effort, but on reliance upon God. One can be strong in self-effort to glorify God, but deep down it is an effort to glorify self. One can look strong in faith, but truly be feeble in its exercise. Feebleness when it comes to the spiritual life is not focused on how strong the person is, but how dependant they are upon God. Think back to the beatitudes:

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:2-12

Those who are called blessed are not those who by their own strength have overcome, but those who are weak who looked and were dependant on God’s strength. We look too much to the outer person to see if they are weak or strong, but God looks at the heart. Our feebleness or strength is not by self-effort, but by dependency. The world looks at the feeble things of this world as weak, but God uses the weak things to confound the strong. (1 Corinthians 1:27) Now ask yourself are you feeble, or strong? Are you producing fruit for the kingdom by your strength of self-effort or by dependency upon God?

Now we can go back to our original question. I think the person who lives by self-effort and desires to be self-sufficient tends to have a weak prayer life; they tend to pray too little, but why? There can be many reasons for this in the life of the Christian. It can be because of discouragement since prayers have not been answered. They may have a false belief that they must get things on their own, being self-sufficient because God helps those who help themselves. Maybe because deep down they don’t believe God hears their prayers. Or that God is going to do what He wants, and isn’t affected by the petitions of His children. There are many reasons for our feebleness in prayer. What about you, do you see your prayer life as feeble, or weak? Do you think you pray too little? If the question is no, than praise God, but if your answer is yes, then why do you pray so little? Many times we have excuses for a weak prayer life. We say we don’t have the time, or I don’t see any response to my prayers. When something is important to us, we make the time; we make the effort, don’t we? Or maybe we are afraid of prayer. Is there something inside of you that doesn’t want to draw to near to God today? I mean what would happen if we drew near to God? At one point we say we would have peace in our lives, but we don’t have the time. Is that true? J. Oswald Sanders states, “We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be. True, there are times when we would like to know a deeper intimacy, but when it comes to the point, we are not prepared to pay the price involved.”  There is a price to pay when we draw closer to God, there is the price of time, the price of energy, and the price of faithfulness. What would you have to give up to be more committed in prayer life? What would happen if you were to draw near to God today? What would He ask of you that you are not willing to do or let go of in your life? Are these the things that keep you from having a deeper prayer life? Or is there something else?

For some of us what stands in the way is ourselves, but at other times there is another who looks to block our intimacy with God. Satan looks to block our path when it comes to our prayer life; he looks to keep us distant from God, because he knows this will make us ineffective for the kingdom of God. When it comes to times when you feel the need to prayer, what happens in your heart and mind? Are there objections, things to do, places to go, or things to read? Does your mind put up roadblocks in times of prayer? While some want to blame Satan for everything in life we must guard ourselves against this kind of thinking, because it looks to put the responsibility on someone else outside of ourselves. It doesn’t matter if is it spiritual warfare, or our own resistance to prayer, because when we don’t pray, we are the ones who are responsible for our lack of effort.

Back to the question I first asked, “so little prayer… does this describe your life of prayer?” For some of us today, the answer is no, for some of us the answer is yes. If your answer is yes, than what truly stands in the way of you having a deeper prayer life? What would happen in your life if you were committed to prayer each and every day? Is there something you need to give up to have a deeper intimacy with God; is it the television, the computer, books, magazines, or time with others? Is it sin, selfishness or self-sufficiency in your life? If your prayer life is feeble today, then we must remember all of us have different reason for this, but we all have the same response, we must rely upon God to deepen us in our time of prayer, and we must rely upon Him in our time of prayer. Self-effort to improve our prayer life will bring about little or no change. We must come to God, expecting Him to act, even if our prayers are small, and short. We must look at what hinders us, and then turn from it.

In closing I want you to think about something today, what does your prayer life cost you today? For those who have an active prayer life, what is the cost? For those who pray too little what is it costing you and others? What is it costing your spiritual life and the life of others around you whom you neglect in prayer? No matter what side you fall on with the question of pray, both sides have a cost, is it a cost that you are willing to pay? So little prayer… does this describe your life of prayer?

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:1-3

Who are You Worshiping?

I was listening to John Piper one day and he talked about how we worship what we spend our time think and worrying about the most. What we occupy our minds with is who or what we truly worship. We are called to love the Lord God with all of our hearts, with all of our soul and with all of our minds. So what we spend our time with, thinking about the most and talking about more than anything else is who or what we are worshipping. A disturbing trend in the Christian community these last few years is the excessive focus on what the President is doing, or not doing. When I look at Face Book, Twitter or other social networks, it seems to be the talk of the town. Christians spend more time discussing what our leaders are doing more than they do talking about Christ. How much time do we spend on watching the news, reading the paper and listening to talk radio about what is happening in Washington?

While Christians wouldn’t admit this, he has become their new savior. Going back to Piper’s definition on worship, he fits into many believers lives. How the enemy doesn’t need to trap us in sin, or keep us fearful in sharing our faith. He just needs to put someone in front of us who we disagree with, and we will spend our time focusing on what they are doing, verses focusing on what God is doing in our lives. Jesus said to go into all nations, making disciples and baptizing them, He didn’t say, go into the workplace, your homes, your communities, and tell everyone what you oppose, baptizing them in your opinions. How has our preoccupation with nation leaders stopped us from carrying out the Great Commission? Do people around you know more about what you are opposed to, verses what you believe in? Do people tend to avoid you because of you constant conversation on politics. Do they see you as a Democrat or a Republican, verse a Christian?

I wonder what would happen to the church if we even spend a third of our time in prayer and study, that we spend on reading the paper, Face Booking or listening to talk radio. I have been reading a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He lived in Nazi Germany, and opposed to what Adolf Hitler was doing. The thing about him is that he spent the majority of his time working in the Confessing Church, not wondering and focusing on what Hitler was doing. He focused on the Kingdom of God, and how to develop leaders in the church. While he was not ignorant about the political movement of his time, his energy was placed on what God was doing in Germany. Bonhoeffer did what he could when it came to opposing the Nazis, but he didn’t lose focus. He used his time building the Kingdom of God, verses watching, and knowing everything the enemy was up too. His focus and goal was to glorify God.

Another figure was the apostle Paul; he lived in the time of Nero, one of the most ruthless emperors of the Roman Empire. Paul only mentions him once or twice, and what he says was to pray for him. Paul’s goal and mission was to spread the Gospel to those who were lost. What is your mission today? Is it to spread the new of what you  are opposed to, and most likely with only those who agree with you, or is it to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who are lost and perishing? This doesn’t mean we oppose what is wrong in the world, but have we lost track of what is important? Do we fight flesh and blood, or do we fight against darkness in the heavenly places? Is our focus on the temporal or on the eternal? Do those around you know what you are opposed to verse what you believe in? Are you carrying out the Great Commission or are you living out the great omission? Who has your attention today, Christ or our President? Spend some time thinking about John Piper’s definition on worship and look deep down inside yourself and ask the burning question, who I am worshiping today?

The True Vine

I have been reading the True Vine by Andrew Murray; the theme over and over is "only be a branch." It can be hard at times to figure out what God calls us to do or be. What is my responsibility and what is His? So many times I think I get this mixed up, and begin to think about what I need to do, what I need to be in life, instead of waiting to see what God is doing in my life, and follow Him. I can feel convicted at times, but I think sometimes not enough, because I look at what I am doing, instead of what He is doing. 

Following is hard, especially when you don't know exactly which step to make in life. It is easy to follow Christ when the road is clear, or when you see His steps in front of you, and they are marked out. It becomes difficult when the day is foggy, when there are so many voices competing for my attention, when self wants its way, and not sure if it is God directing or my selfish nature directing me. Something I read today challenged me, it said, "The bottom line is that you either make decisions out of love for others or love for yourself." How many times have I made decisions which seemed to be loving, but was only love for myself. How many times have I looked to serve or help others, when in fact I was only serving my own desires and pleasures? 

This brings me back to the Andrew Murray quote, "only be the branch." He later on says, "The Vine reveals itself within the branch, thence comes the growth and fruit. Christ dwells and works within His branch; only be a branch, waiting on Him to do all, He will be to you the true Vine. The Father Himself, the divine Husbandman, is able to make you a branch worthy of the heavenly Vine. You shall not be disappointed." When we are only being the branch, we don't look around at our situations, circumstances, and issues in life and fret. The branch doesn't worry about how he or she is to grow because they know the nourishment comes from the Vine. The Vine is taking care of the circumstances of life. The Vine is working out the issues we posses. The Vine is working behind the scenes of our difficult situations. When we are only being the branch we lean and depend upon the true Vine, we look for His direction even when the fog is so thick we can see our hand in front of our face. The branch doesn't look to get it's nourishment from other vines when it feels desperate, or when things are not going as we think they should. The branch stays connected to the true Vine, and stays away from those false vines that promise much but deliver little, or no comfort. 

Thinking about this, what Vine are we clinging to today? Are we attaching ourselves to vines that feed us lies about God, or distortions of His truths? Are we feeding off vines that only feed our selfish motives and desires? Or is our nourishment coming from the true Vine of Christ? Do we love others for their good or ours? When I think about the last questions, which is a true indicator of what vine I am attached to today. Do I love others for their good, for their benefit, and their welfare? Am I saying no to what I want and yes to what they need? These are hard questions to ask because so many times we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are caring for others, when we are only caring for ourselves. 

The Helping Enemy

Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.  He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'  Luke 10:30-35

When we read or hear the account of the Good Samaritan, we always see it from the perspective of the one doing the rescuing. We think about what it means to be a good neighbor to those whom we hate, dislike, or don’t get along with. Today I want you to think about what it meant to the Jewish man who was robbed, beaten and left for dead. As he lay there, his two countrymen passed him, but not just two common fellows, but two supposedly godly men. These were two men called of God to help those in need, a priest, and a Levite. Now their fellow Jew was racked with pain, almost dead, and they passed him by, how much more painful it was for him when those who were his own kindred left him for dead.

Now the Jewish man probably wondered how he would ever survive, he prayed to God to help him, to bring alongside him someone who would help him in his powerless. As he sees a priest come down the road he begins to have hope, this is apparently an answer to prayer. As the priest sees him, he goes out of his way to pass him on the other side of the road, to avoid dealing with him. The agony of his suffering grows worse and he begins to despair, but continues to cry out to God for help. A little later he sees another man coming down the road, and he begins to praise God for sending help, but to his astonishment, his fellow countryman does the same as the last one, and passing him by on the other side.

As his muscles tense up from the pain he could no longer bring his eyes to Heaven; he has given up, and begins to sob in despair. He then hears the sound of footsteps coming down the road. He looks up in hopes of rescue, but his facial expression moves to disgust. He has been beaten and left for dead by robbers, two of his countrymen have passed him by, and now a man comes down the road who he has been taught to hate his whole life; a man who has been taught also to hate the man who lies there half dead. As the Jewish man sees the Samaritan, he turns his face away, expecting some insult, or even an addition kick from him. His despair turns to hatred and resentment over him as he approaches. To his astonishment, the Samaritan doesn’t insult him, or even afflict more pain upon him, but has compassion on the hurt man. He doesn’t see a Jewish man he has been told to hate, or one who has hated him his whole life, or one who has insulted him before, but he sees a man in need, one who cannot help himself.

The Jewish man doesn’t know what to say, or what to think. Maybe he would have rather laid there to die, rather than be helped by his enemy. Even worse, he is in a position of powerlessness, and needing help by one he has hated. As the Samaritan bandages up his wounds, pours on oil and wine, the injured man is perplexed, maybe even resentful by the actions of his long hated enemy. As time passed, he is taken to an inn to be taken care of by the inn keeper. Right before the Samaritan is about to leave, the eyes of the two men meet, this time, not in anger, by one is grateful for the compassion of his enemy, while the other shows his love, rather than his learned hatred. While the Jewish man laid there hurting in his flesh, another pain in his heart flourished, the pain of humiliation. Humiliation in knowing he might not have done the same for the Samaritan, a pain which shows him that his enemy is a better man than he. As he lay there, wondering why he was helped by him who he would have insulted, ridiculed, or even done worse things too, he realizes that the Samaritan was more godly then those who he has known all his life, more than the priest, the Levite, and even himself.  Days later as he leaves the inn, limping, still in pain, he sees a Samaritan walking down the road, instead of looking at him with prideful disgust, he looks on him as another man, just like he was. The pain of the beating had taught him a valuable lesson in living out his faith. While he may never see the Good Samaritan to thanks him for saving his life, he did begin to understand what it means to love those even when they don’t love you. The man had suffered a beating and left for dead, but he also suffered a wound to his own pride that would never heal, but reminded him each day to love his enemy, even if that means to accept help from them.

Wings of a Bird

Don’t look for a woman who has wings like a bird or a beautiful butterfly. You can chase and pursue with all your might. No matter how fast you run after her each and every time you begin to get close she spreads her wings and lets the wind carry her were it may. You chase once again but you chase only after disappointment, which you will always catch; and despair will be your closest friend. Flee from fantasizing about being with one whom resembles a perfect picture painted by an artist. One who has all the right textures and colors to cover herself up with. Who looks all so perfect to the eye and agreeable to the heart. A mask may well hide the cracks underneath but no one gets close enough to truly understand the complexity of the art of illusion. Do not ponder upon the one who shines bright as a star in the evening sky. She gives off her beauty with all her brilliant lights. A heavenly creature that seems to lighten up the dark sky of your heart. But remember she is a million miles away and can only be seen from a distance. While she is bright and beautiful, you will never feel the warmth of her touch or see the glow of her heart except from a distance. Depart from the one whom is like a bench at the softball field where you could sit there for hours on end. Because she enjoys the one who will sit for a while, but don’t worry, you won’t sit for long. Each player has his time on the bench and a time in the game. Soon the season is over and a new player is rotated in. And all you have left are the memories of the glory days that haunt you from the sidelines, yelling to you to wait, wait for another chance at bat while life passes you by. Missing out on what God desires for you as you sit on the bench of bitter desires, longing for someone you can never have but you still long for the game to quench your thirst from loneliness and frustration.

There is one lady who is worth the wait. She is the one whom is like a flower who grows day by day. More beautiful then all the wings of a bird and butterflies. More stunning then a painted portrait at a museum. And brighter than any star in the night sky. More exciting that any ball game could ever be. She has no wings to steal away to the sky or play books and strategies to keep the players in the game. She is like a flower because she is constant day and night. Even though she does go through seasons, she does what God commands. And that is one simple thing, she grows were she is planted.

Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness--with good works. 1 Timothy 2:9-10