Sunday, September 25, 2005
IMPRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
For access to my article by this title, see Christianity Today (Sept. 2005, pp. 80-82). It is also available online.
Monday, April 18, 2005
THE LOVE OF MONEY
On May 10, 2000, the lead news story on WBEZ (Chicago public radio) at 7:00 a.m. was: two winning tickets for the record $366 million lottery jackpot had been sold. On May 12 the top headline story on CNN.com was that Larry Ross of Michigan had won $181 million in the lottery—there he was in the picture, smiling and holding the check. That was the news; it wasn’t supposed to be a cute human interest feature, it was headline news.
I could huff and moan about irresponsible public officials who “tax” bad habits by running a lottery, or complain about short-sighted voters who think gambling will yield a net gain for state coffers, but I have a simpler point: you can tell what we value by the things considered newsworthy. Today’s lottery-mania speaks volumes about the vision, values and dreams of our neighbors (and ourselves?): nothing is more important—and more newsworthy—than the prospect of getting REALLY rich (even if the odds are eighty million to one).
Of course, knowing Jesus has a “payoff” of infinite, eternal joy. But that joy only comes to those who love Christ now, follow him now, confess their pride and greed to him now, and find true security in him now. “Lord, spare us from falling in love with riches. Help us always to see our wealth as your property to be used to advance your church and bless the poor. And help us to love our neighbors who love money so much—in the hope that they might find the true riches of your grace! Amen.”
I could huff and moan about irresponsible public officials who “tax” bad habits by running a lottery, or complain about short-sighted voters who think gambling will yield a net gain for state coffers, but I have a simpler point: you can tell what we value by the things considered newsworthy. Today’s lottery-mania speaks volumes about the vision, values and dreams of our neighbors (and ourselves?): nothing is more important—and more newsworthy—than the prospect of getting REALLY rich (even if the odds are eighty million to one).
Of course, knowing Jesus has a “payoff” of infinite, eternal joy. But that joy only comes to those who love Christ now, follow him now, confess their pride and greed to him now, and find true security in him now. “Lord, spare us from falling in love with riches. Help us always to see our wealth as your property to be used to advance your church and bless the poor. And help us to love our neighbors who love money so much—in the hope that they might find the true riches of your grace! Amen.”
IMAGE IS EVERYTHING
An ad on TV for a hair replacement product makes this closing pitch: “Whatever your age, invest in your image.” Not a subtle appeal!
Now before I take aim and fire at this demonic message, I’ll admit that there’s a measure of simple realism in it: almost all of us pay at least a little attention to our image; we brush (or otherwise organize) our hair, use deodorant, and follow some notion of style when choosing clothes. Who can object to that?
But it’s profoundly different to be caught up in “image,” to feel that your identity and self-worth are somehow on the line when it comes to looking good. Andre Agassi says (for Canon cameras), “Image is everything,” but the humble Christian cries out, “NO.” Substance is MUCH more important than image!
In fact, a preoccupation with image is opposition to God: “The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Outward beauty is but deception if the heart is not pure and right before God (Matthew 23:27-28). This earthly body we long to keep looking young is but a fading flower (Psalm 103:15-16); it’s just a “tent” for our very short stay in this life (2 Corinthians 5:1).
“Search me, O God, and know my heart!” Am I caught up in externals? Are you preoccupied with your image, with how others look? Do you “measure” the people around you by outward appearance or inner beauty? Remember that the Lord looks upon the heart.
Now before I take aim and fire at this demonic message, I’ll admit that there’s a measure of simple realism in it: almost all of us pay at least a little attention to our image; we brush (or otherwise organize) our hair, use deodorant, and follow some notion of style when choosing clothes. Who can object to that?
But it’s profoundly different to be caught up in “image,” to feel that your identity and self-worth are somehow on the line when it comes to looking good. Andre Agassi says (for Canon cameras), “Image is everything,” but the humble Christian cries out, “NO.” Substance is MUCH more important than image!
In fact, a preoccupation with image is opposition to God: “The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Outward beauty is but deception if the heart is not pure and right before God (Matthew 23:27-28). This earthly body we long to keep looking young is but a fading flower (Psalm 103:15-16); it’s just a “tent” for our very short stay in this life (2 Corinthians 5:1).
“Search me, O God, and know my heart!” Am I caught up in externals? Are you preoccupied with your image, with how others look? Do you “measure” the people around you by outward appearance or inner beauty? Remember that the Lord looks upon the heart.
HOW SATAN RUINS PRAYER
C. S. Lewis offers some round-about wisdom in his book, The Screwtape Letters. Allow me to extend the devious counsel of the senior demon to his apprentice about how to ruin a Christian’s prayers:
· Get him to pray from selfish motives (James 4:3).
· Make him doubt that God is willing and able to grant his request (James 1:5-8; Mark 11:24).
· Get a man to treat his wife disrespectfully or harshly—that will block his prayers in no time (1 Peter 3:7).
· Sell him the idea that God never refuses the prayer of “faith,” and just watch him flounder when he doesn’t get his way (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).
· Send him into prayer feeling pretty good about himself and looking down others (Luke 18:9-14).
· Urge him to bury that unconfessed sin—to pretend it will just go away (James 5:16).
· Help him dwell on how much others have wronged him, and then withhold forgiveness (Matt 6:12, 14-15).
· Tell him he’s the master of his destiny and answers to no one. That’ll lead to rebellion soon enough, and then God will leave him alone (2 Sam 21:14; Ps 66:18).
· Persuade him to give up quickly if he doesn’t get results—that way he’ll never see God’s blessing (Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-8).
· Get him to pray from selfish motives (James 4:3).
· Make him doubt that God is willing and able to grant his request (James 1:5-8; Mark 11:24).
· Get a man to treat his wife disrespectfully or harshly—that will block his prayers in no time (1 Peter 3:7).
· Sell him the idea that God never refuses the prayer of “faith,” and just watch him flounder when he doesn’t get his way (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).
· Send him into prayer feeling pretty good about himself and looking down others (Luke 18:9-14).
· Urge him to bury that unconfessed sin—to pretend it will just go away (James 5:16).
· Help him dwell on how much others have wronged him, and then withhold forgiveness (Matt 6:12, 14-15).
· Tell him he’s the master of his destiny and answers to no one. That’ll lead to rebellion soon enough, and then God will leave him alone (2 Sam 21:14; Ps 66:18).
· Persuade him to give up quickly if he doesn’t get results—that way he’ll never see God’s blessing (Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-8).
Friday, January 07, 2005
EZEKIEL’S REFRAIN
When did you last read Ezekiel? If it’s been a while, you might not remember how the prophecies of judgment and destruction go on and on and on. Why? Because God is just—sin must be punished. And God is holy, so he reacts with revulsion and righteous anger at the corruption that pours out of the human heart. Still, it’s all quite sobering, this flood of divine wrath against Judah, Ammon, Moab, Egypt, Philistia, to punish peoples who defy or ignore him.
In the midst of it all this refrain occurs over and over: “Then they will know that I am the Lord” (e.g., 24:24; 25:7, 11, 17; 28:24, 26; 29:6, 9, 16, 21; 30:19, 26; 33:29; 35:4, 9, 15). In other words, God will use and even cause calamity in order to jar his enemies (or even his own people) into recognizing their sin and realizing that Someone Else is in charge.
Pride kept many from humbly looking to God (e.g., 28:1, 5, 17; 32:12); sometimes people forgot about God altogether (e.g., 23:35); and then there were the hypnotizing effects of wealth that prevented trust in the Lord (e.g., 27:25-27). Sins of all kinds took hold. The Lord’s response was to use the superpower Babylon to bring rebels to their knees (later he would punish Babylon, too). This, of course, was severe treatment, but it was a severe mercy, a healthy “reality therapy” reminding people who was the Lord and who wasn’t. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked (33:11); his pleasure is in seeing the wicked turn away from sin and live!
Same is true today: God whispers in our pleasure and shouts in our pain. He wants us to know—for our good—that he is on the throne of the universe. So is he the Lord of your life?
In the midst of it all this refrain occurs over and over: “Then they will know that I am the Lord” (e.g., 24:24; 25:7, 11, 17; 28:24, 26; 29:6, 9, 16, 21; 30:19, 26; 33:29; 35:4, 9, 15). In other words, God will use and even cause calamity in order to jar his enemies (or even his own people) into recognizing their sin and realizing that Someone Else is in charge.
Pride kept many from humbly looking to God (e.g., 28:1, 5, 17; 32:12); sometimes people forgot about God altogether (e.g., 23:35); and then there were the hypnotizing effects of wealth that prevented trust in the Lord (e.g., 27:25-27). Sins of all kinds took hold. The Lord’s response was to use the superpower Babylon to bring rebels to their knees (later he would punish Babylon, too). This, of course, was severe treatment, but it was a severe mercy, a healthy “reality therapy” reminding people who was the Lord and who wasn’t. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked (33:11); his pleasure is in seeing the wicked turn away from sin and live!
Same is true today: God whispers in our pleasure and shouts in our pain. He wants us to know—for our good—that he is on the throne of the universe. So is he the Lord of your life?
PRAYER IS DELICATE
Prayer is delicate. This is not to say that prayer is weak, because the Bible tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16-18; see also Mark 11:23; Matthew 7:7). But prayer is delicate in the sense that its power is easily unplugged when we give in to sin. Known sin in my life or yours creates a ceiling that our prayers hit before falling flat on the floor:
· Husbands who do not honor their wives hinder their own prayers (1 Peter 3:7; see also 3:12).
· Those who pray with selfish motives do not receive what they ask for (James 4:3).
· If you cherish iniquity the Lord will not listen to you (Psalm 66:18).
· God will hide his face and not answer when his people cry to him and yet practice evil (Micah 3:4).
· When we close our ears to God, he does the same to us (Zechariah 7:11-13).
· If we obey God and spread his love, then he will answer our prayers (Isaiah 58:7-9; see also 2 Samuel 21:14 and Jeremiah 7:16-18).
Of course, even the prayer of the sincere and faithful follower of Jesus may be answered with a “No” or “Not now” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10); the absence of sinful motives or conduct does not guarantee our desired results when we cry out to God (Job and Joseph are among the biblical examples of upright believers who endured great suffering for reasons unrelated to their actions; God's answer to their cries for deliverance was "No, not yet"). By contrast, the Lord, in his sovereign ingenuity, may at times grant certain temporal blessings to those living in sin. But that is not the norm, and the biblical connection between godly living and close communion with the Lord remains God’s standard operating procedure.
And so, for the sake of God’s honor and your spiritual health and joy, search your heart for the pride, greed, hate, anger, lies, fear, lust, idolatry (etc.) that can block your prayers! Confess the sins you find—he will forgive (1 John 1:9), and your relationship with the Lord will be restored!
· Husbands who do not honor their wives hinder their own prayers (1 Peter 3:7; see also 3:12).
· Those who pray with selfish motives do not receive what they ask for (James 4:3).
· If you cherish iniquity the Lord will not listen to you (Psalm 66:18).
· God will hide his face and not answer when his people cry to him and yet practice evil (Micah 3:4).
· When we close our ears to God, he does the same to us (Zechariah 7:11-13).
· If we obey God and spread his love, then he will answer our prayers (Isaiah 58:7-9; see also 2 Samuel 21:14 and Jeremiah 7:16-18).
Of course, even the prayer of the sincere and faithful follower of Jesus may be answered with a “No” or “Not now” (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-10); the absence of sinful motives or conduct does not guarantee our desired results when we cry out to God (Job and Joseph are among the biblical examples of upright believers who endured great suffering for reasons unrelated to their actions; God's answer to their cries for deliverance was "No, not yet"). By contrast, the Lord, in his sovereign ingenuity, may at times grant certain temporal blessings to those living in sin. But that is not the norm, and the biblical connection between godly living and close communion with the Lord remains God’s standard operating procedure.
And so, for the sake of God’s honor and your spiritual health and joy, search your heart for the pride, greed, hate, anger, lies, fear, lust, idolatry (etc.) that can block your prayers! Confess the sins you find—he will forgive (1 John 1:9), and your relationship with the Lord will be restored!
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