Loving Life. Laughing Lots. Learning Always. Join me in the adventure of life as I seek to share the funny stories, the thoughtful ideas, and the passionate convictions of 'My Real Life.'
If Adam and Eve are not historical, there is no original sin. If there is no original sin, what is the point of the Bible (if Genesis is myth what in the Bible isn't myth??), what is the point of a Saviour, what is the point of life, what is the point of anything?
We need to be careful in making concessions to "science falsely so called" when it comes to creation and the text of the book of Genesis.
Raise an ANTHEM of praise through a life of purity. Enjoy as Pastor Piper shares this helpful acrostic on the battle with temptation.
I appreciate John Piper's heart for God, his passion for prolific writing and the sharing of God's truth. I would disagree with his use of Matt. 11:12 as an illustration and likely his theology of the kingdom but am grateful for his heart for God and pastoral ministry. I would also add Romans 6 to "Say No" as we 'reckon ourselves dead to sin!'
May God richly bless as we seek to worship Him in our minds!!
Image via WikipediaI have in mind men and women. For men it's obvious. The need for warfare against the bombardment of visual temptation to fixate on sexual images is urgent. For women it is less obvious, but just as great if we broaden the scope of temptation to food or figure or relational fantasies. When I say "lust" I mean the realm of thought, imagination, and desire that leads to sexual misconduct. So here is one set of strategies in the war against wrong desires. I put it in the form of an acronym, A N T H E M.
A – AVOID as much as is possible and reasonable the sights and situations that arouse unfitting desire. I say "possible and reasonable" because some exposure to temptation is inevitable. And I say "unfitting desire" because not all desires for sex, food, and family are bad. We know when they are unfitting and unhelpful and on their way to becoming enslaving. We know our weaknesses and what triggers them. "Avoiding" is a Biblical strategy. "Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness" (2 Timothy 2:22). "Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Romans 13:14).
N – Say NO to every lustful thought within five seconds. And say it with the authority of Jesus Christ. "In the name of Jesus, NO!" You don't have much more than five seconds. Give it more unopposed time than that, and it will lodge itself with such force as to be almost immovable. Say it out loud if you dare. Be tough and warlike. As John Owen said, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Strike fast and strike hard. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" ( James 4:7).
T – TURN the mind forcefully toward Christ as a superior satisfaction. Saying "no" will not suffice. You must move from defense to offense. Fight fire with fire. Attack the promises of sin with the promises of Christ. The Bible calls lusts "deceitful desires" (Ephesians 4:22). They lie. They promise more than they can deliver. The Bible calls them "passions of your former ignorance" (1 Peter 1:14). Only fools yield. "All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter" (Proverbs 7:22). Deceit is defeated by truth. Ignorance is defeated by knowledge. It must be glorious truth and beautiful knowledge. This is why I wrote Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. We must stock our minds with the superior promises and pleasures of Jesus. Then we must turn to them immediately after saying, "NO!"
H – HOLD the promise and the pleasure of Christ firmly in your mind until it pushes the other images out. "Fix your eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1). Here is where many fail. They give in too soon. They say, "I tried to push it out, and it didn't work." I ask, "How long did you try?" How hard did you exert your mind? The mind is a muscle. You can flex it with vehemence. Take the kingdom violently (Matthew 11:12). Be brutal. Hold the promise of Christ before your eyes. Hold it. Hold it! Don't let it go! Keep holding it! How long? As long as it takes. Fight! For Christ's sake, fight till you win! If an electric garage door were about to crush your child you would hold it up with all our might and holler for help, and hold it and hold it and hold it and hold it.
E – ENJOY a superior satisfaction. Cultivate the capacities for pleasure in Christ. One reason lust reigns in so many is that Christ has so little appeal. We default to deceit because we have little delight in Christ. Don't say, "That's just not me." What steps have you taken to waken affection for Jesus? Have you fought for joy? Don't be fatalistic. You were created to treasure Christ with all your heart – more than you treasure sex or sugar. If you have little taste for Jesus, competing pleasures will triumph. Plead with God for the satisfaction you don't have: "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (Psalm 90:14). Then look, look, look at the most magnificent Person in the universe until you see him the way he is.
M – MOVE into a useful activity away from idleness and other vulnerable behaviors. Lust grows fast in the garden of leisure. Find a good work to do, and do it with all your might. "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord" (Romans 12:11). "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Abound in work. Get up and do something. Sweep a room. Hammer a nail. Write a letter. Fix a faucet. And do it for Jesus' sake. You were made to manage and create. Christ died to make you "zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:14). Displace deceitful lusts with a passion for good deeds.
In a recent Deans' Chapel at the Word of Life Bible Institute I challenged students with a presentation I call "No Christians Allowed." I don't know about you but I am tired of being a hypocritical professing Christians. My personal testimony haunts my memory of times near and far when I spoke with my lips and denied with my life. I want to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, one who seeks to live according to the standards set out in God's Word - the Bible. I don't want to simply be a Canadian "Cultural" Christian.
Now the reality is (if we are truly honest with ourselves) - we are all hypocrites. Christians or anyone with any spirituality at all (which includes everyone) consistently and perfectly lives up to their professed faith. A part of the human condition is that we are all hypocrites at times and to some degree. The challenge is not fueling the flame of our natural hypocritical bent.
“For neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible.”
– John Milton -
I heard a quote a number of years ago that has greatly impacted my life (blessings to Casey at E3 Resources, the creators of the Evangecube, for sharing it with me):
"What I say I believe is NOT what I believe. What I believe is defined by my actions and my integrity."
Just as the Apostle James tells us in the second chapter of his epistle,"Faith without works is dead."Faith without works is not 'in progress', 'on hold' or 'good enough.' Said another way, if I do not have faith, I do not have works and if I do not have works, I do not have faith. I am not saying that we work for our faith but that works are a natural and necessary by-product of genuine faith.
That being said, to live is to express faith. All of the things we do, say and think reflect what we trulybelieve.
WOLBI Students are going to be able to tell where I am in my OT reading by this (and you should be much farther!) but Isaiah 30 impacted my life today.
Isa. 30:1-2 paints a picture of God's people, Israel, as absolutely rebellious and in an out-of-control, downward moral spiral multiplying sin upon sin. Pretty ugly, huh?! What was so bad to call for such a scathing accusation? They took counsel (mentioned again in vv. 9-11) and sought help from others (Egypt in this case), not God.
Throughout Scripture we are giving many examples of this same accusation. Abraham despite God's powerful promise (Gen. 12, 17, 22) tried repeatedly to intervene and 'help' God (offering Eleazer and Ishmael as his heir and fulfillment of God's promise!). Moses struck a rock the second time and it cost him the promised land, Uzziah lost his life as the wrong man carrying God's Ark in the wrong way, and Elimelech pays with his life for trusting Moab rather than God's 'house of bread'-Bethlehem in time of famine.
Jeremiah 17:5 says, "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord."
How common is it for us to do the same? We say, "I know God's Word says...but I really 'feel' that this is what God wants me to do." Or, "But everyone I talked to has told me that I should do this." How often do we run to others to bail us out of physical, emotional, financial, or social trouble instead of the God of the universe?
The alternative is given to us in verse 15 of Isaiah chapter 30 - returning to and resting in God. Doesn't John 15:5 say the same, "...without me (Jesus) ye can do nothing."
What are you trusting in today? On what are you basing life decisions? Only God and His Word provides the reliable, secure, and blessed resources for life on Earth.
Let's run to God to do things His way, in His time, by His counsel as we seek His counsel in His Word. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Jer. 17:7
I grew up with what I thought was a drug problem, my parents always drug me to church. Studied at New Brunswick Bible Institute. Married my High School, long-distance sweetheart. Have 3 beautiful kids. Serve at WOLBI as Dean of Men, Dean of Ministry, and Professor of Bible Survey.
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