:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

I used to work in a church office. I’d run ministry meetings, organize volunteers, print the bulletin, and do the 1,000 other things that came up. Sometimes I’d poke through Christian catalogues and stumble upon the July 4th bulletin collection.

Imagine a billowing, majestic American flag with the sun streaming into it from the top right. Now, arrange a looming cross in front of it like a lunar eclipse, and you’ve got yourself a symbol of Christian nationalism for whole family of God.

The message was something like this: Jesus supports America. We might add a footnote: America now has nuclear weapons and God on its side, so watch out world.

Mixing religion with a nation and its politics, whether conservative or liberal, is called syncretism.

Syncretism is defined as:

“the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.”

What Does It Look Like?

While everyone should support the laws and politicians that best jive with their values and beliefs, syncretism with politics and Christianity typically mixes the priorities of America with those of Jesus. The trick is that Christians can support legislation from a religious standpoint and not commit syncretism.

Confused yet?

Here’s where the main difference occurs: Who is leading us? Is God and the Kingdom leading you? Or is it a politician or political party? If a politician is leading you and Jesus is just tagging along, then there’s no telling what kind of nasty things a politician, whether liberal or conservative, will ask him to do.

Conservatives and liberals both ask things such as “Approve this war please Jesus?”

American Jesus replies, “Oh, of course you can America. America’s safety is way more important than my naive ‘love your enemies’ command.”

However, if Jesus is leading us, we can still use politics as a tool at times. Government has a function among us to maintain order, even if we can debate the size and role of that government when it comes to particulars. Therefore, if we want to combat human trafficking, there is a place for legislation that assures human rights.

At the same time, that does not rule out the place of personal and communal responsibility for us. I know that some liberals can fall into the trap of thinking that voting for a Democrat is the end of their social justice obligations. It’s one I’ve made and have struggled to correct.

If we do get into the political game, we can lose ourselves quickly to the sway of Christian syncretism when politics promises to solve our problems and to usher in all of the good things we desire. We just need to sign ourselves up as foot soldiers for a political party to reap the benefits.

Once we associate Jesus with a nation and a particular political party in that nation, we shrink the Kingdom of God. The whole earth is the Lord’s. He does not share his glory and power with any person or nation.

Political syncretism demands that we mix the priorities of a nation or political party with those of God’s Kingdom. The Beatitudes shared during the Sermon on the Mount make for a lousy political platform.

Jesus said: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Politics says: Blessed are the fighters and aggressors…

Jesus said: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Politics says: Blessed are those who respond in kind…

Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Politics says: Blessed are the strong and proactive who take preemptive action…

Politics are not evil in and of themselves. They can be used for good in some circumstances as one tool among many at our disposal. However, politics and national priorities cannot be mixed with God’s Kingdom. The notion of a Christian nation is absurd in that no nation would ever consistently embody the ways of God’s Kingdom. 

Christianity can influence and impact a nation via the Kingdom’s bottom-up agenda. We should want more Christians in America because more Christians will influence our nation to embody the values of the Kingdom.

However, once we join the priorities of the Kingdom with those of a nation, the Kingdom of God will lose every time. Having a cheesy, patriotic bulletin will be the least of our worries then.

The other day I dug into the ways that Christians misuse the Gospel for political and national goals. It was a tough post to write because I don’t want to be the angry truth police guy. I also don’t want anyone to think that Christianity is hopeless.

It’s easy to pick on the things that are negative rather than highlighting what’s in good working order. The latter stories are not as exciting to write or read. However, I felt that an issue like that needs to be exposed because it can subtly undermine the Gospel.

It’s ironic because while at a Christian writer’s conference last week I kept a running list of silly things Christians say/believe and reasons for hope. I had a hunch that the good news would outweigh the bad. They did. While I hit upon one really discouraging note the other day, I still have many reasons to believe that God can use his people to do a lot of good based on what I saw and heard at the conference.

So here are some significant reasons why Christians have hope…

There was an emphasis on suffering…

No one shared a prosperity Gospel. One speaker said, “Some of you have not suffered enough to write and minister as effectively as you one day will.” That is a powerful statement that hits upon the results of joining Christ in the fellowship of his suffering.

There was a diverse crowd…

This was a fairly diverse conference both ethnically and theologically. While some of the political junk got in the way at times, I was encouraged to see a diverse group of Christians working, worshipping, and hanging out together.

There was an emphasis on mission…

The Christians at this conference were actively seeking to share the Gospel with others. Time and time again I was challenged to go deeper in my walk with the Lord and to use my gifts for his work. That was probably more significant for me than the excellent writing workshops I attended.

There was an emphasis on solid research and writing…

The workshops I attended shared valuable advice on how to write good articles and books without resorting to unfair arguments, bad facts, and other emotional tricks. The workshop leader, who struck me as rather conservative politically, shared the ways he writes charitably about the political left and the nuances he found in the midst of his research.

There is an openness to the Holy Spirit…

If the people of God remain open to the leading of his Spirit, then we have the greatest reason for hope provided his people continue to let him lead.

While we find plenty of things to avoid or disavow, there are some great reasons to have hope in what God can do among and through his people.

What signs of life and hope have you seen in the past few weeks?

Over the past weekend I had a chance to hear a variety of Christians speak about writing and our call to be ambassadors for Christ. For the most part I was encouraged by the sincerity, kindness, and insight shared among these believers.

However, at certain key points I heard speakers, some who spoke to large crowds, sharing a kind of counterfeit version of the Gospel that almost left me in tears. I’d like to address this matter, but I want to avoid words like “danger” or “threat” that just inject venom and anger into these discussions. I’d rather just say that I heard some sincere followers of Jesus clouding and possibly distorting the Gospel and particularly our motivations for sharing it.

I’ll spend the majority of my time focusing on my understanding of the biblical witness concerning what the Gospel does and why we should share it. I’ll end with a few words of caution about ways Christians have distorted these ideas.

What Does the Gospel Do?

The Gospel reconciles us with God. I think we can all agree on that. As we join others who share the same Spirit and relationship with God, we form the people known as the church. We have all been saved and sustained in the same way.

The Gospel makes us citizens of God’s Kingdom, which is the other worldly and this worldly place where his will is done. When we pray, “Your will be done, your Kingdom come,” we are asking God’s Kingdom to expand on earth as his will is done.

Why Should We Share It?

We share the Gospel because Jesus asked us to do so, because it is the way others can be saved, and because God intensely loves his creation and longs that all would come to know him. We don’t share the Gospel to preserve our churches, to ease our egos, or to give a soul fire insurance. We want others to know the joy and freedom that comes from knowing Jesus today, sharing in his sufferings, and moving toward eternal life with him.

What’s at Stake

In getting back to our problem of a distorted Gospel. I heard several speakers challenge the Christians present to preach the Gospel in order to preserve America’s Christian character and to prevent God’s judgment from falling upon us. One speaker made it clear that Democrats were to blame. Such teachings cloud the real reasons why we should share the Gospel and what it accomplishes.

I used to think that America was a Christian nation, so when I speak of Christians who operate from this assumption, I can identify as a former insider. The trouble is that the Kingdom of God cannot be affiliated with the agenda of any one nation since the Gospel is Good News for “all people” and “all nations” are blessed through Abraham.

In addition, classifying America as Christian at its founding raises serious historical questions since many founders were deists, slave owners, and generally greedy and corrupt. While some may have resembled evangelicals today, crediting good fortune to Providence—a common practice among the founders—did not make someone a Christian.

Christian sociologist Bradley Wright has also found that there is a much higher proportion of Christians in America today than during the Revolution. We could point at some places where Christianity impacted the founding of America, but calling America a Christian or godly nation from the start is a mistake that only white Americans could make. Our African American friends have much to teach us in this regard. America’s history is not a fall from grace spurred on by Democratic politicians. It’s more realistically a mix of high and low points.

Having said that, we should not ignore the possibility of God’s judgment. The Old Testament shows that time and time again God will judge a nation that neglects the poor, allows corruption, attacks its enemies without mercy, and concentrates wealth among the few to the detriment of the many. These are real, bi-partisan problems to consider in America.

Nevertheless, we should seek righteousness and preach the Gospel not as a means to preserve America or to keep America as a Christian nation. That turns the Gospel into a self-serving, political tool that unintentionally brands unbelievers and sometimes Democrats into religious terrorists who are calling down God’s judgment on America and only the true patriots will hold off destruction through their preaching.

In a sense, this kind of thinking turns the objects of God’s desire, those who do not know him, into enemies who are ruining our country and our place as the keepers of our country. Christians are servants who are called to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. Even allegiance to one’s country cannot be allowed to cloud the goals and motivations behind our calling.

I won’t say that such teachers are ruining Christianity or America, but they are distorting their Christian practice with political agendas and suspect history. As I stated in Coffeehouse Theology, an unexamined context can influence our theology and fool us into thinking that we are free from its influence.

Sadly, there are still some evangelicals who are failing to consider how American culture and particularly conservative politics are skewing their understanding of the Gospel and our mission as believers. They can be Christians who happen to be American patriots. That’s a different conversation. Our problems come when they create a Christian patriotism that uses the Gospel as a means of preserving America.

America is not the light on a hill. The light is Jesus shining through his people—a people that is not limited to those found in America.

Today is my 31st birthday, and it also marks the one-year mark for our time in Connecticut. A lot has changed over the past year, and I’ve learned many a hard lesson.

In many ways I feel like the writing/publishing industry gave me a bloody nose. I had certain plans and goals for this past year that were not realized, but we’re still standing and I’ve learned so much. In the past three months I’ve had enough significant breaks and lessons that I feel like I have something solid to build upon.

In addition, I have learned that my writing location is vitally important for my creativity. Sitting in our new apartment with its large, south-facing windows, my writing has taken off. I can feel the muse stirring within. Ideas, characters, and scenes are coming together much faster.

It’s also been encouraging to see how our marriage has grown and strengthened in the midst of all the changes that our new lifestyle brings—she as a graduate student and myself as a full time writer.

However, there are three really big surprises in my walk with the Lord from the past year that make me stop and pinch myself. Here’s the run-down:

We live in Connecticut.

While dating Julie I used to drive through Connecticut on my way to visit her and often sat in traffic jams. While there I would dream of Connecticut falling into the ocean, or Long Island Sound, so I could drive straight from New York to Massachusetts. And now I live in Connecticut.

The thing is, parts of Connecticut are pretty nice. We’re in the hilly northeast section that has a lot of small towns and farms. It’s not Vermont, but we’ve found many things to enjoy. During walks in the woods we find old stone walls and apple orchards, the local farm movement is growing, and we’re not too far from the ocean.

Connecticut is not our ideal location, but it’s been a good place to live for the past year, even if the snow here really sucks for cross-country skiing.

I’m using my love of gardening for ministry.

While in my church’s ministry garden last night, I dug up a section of lettuce that failed to beat out the weeds and replanted it with beans. As I prepared the row for the beans on that cool summer evening, I realized there was no other place I’d rather be. Later today I’ll drop off a small harvest from our ministry garden at a local soup kitchen, the second share of what will hopefully be a growing harvest.

It blows my mind to realize that God has given me not only a passion for gardening, but a way to use it in ministry to others. Our 700 square foot garden may not produce too much food for the local soup kitchens, but I can see the seeds that are being sown. Even if the harvest is modest this year, I am happy to be part of what God is up to in our area.

God continues to push me deeper into who he is away from who I am.

Over this past year I continue to learn to place the most value in knowing God. While trying to sell our house last fall, God taught me to seek him before seeking solutions to my problems. In addition, it’s been easy to seek success in my work before seeking success with him.

I feel like there are steps forward and backward in this regard, but it can be a joyful process to the degree that I learn to delight in him and his presence rather than my own fleeting accomplishments. That is a tough lesson to learn, but it has lasting consequences.

The last post in my Christian Survival Guide series dealt with the details of overcoming sin, and today I’ll cover the defensive measures we can take against sin in the future:

Finding a Permanent Solution to Sin

There will be times when we forget about God’s victory over sin, slip into our old sinful habits, and then repent. Sin can make inroads even after we have claimed the victory and experienced God on the mountaintops of our lives.

While we can claim the spiritual victory over sin and break its iron grip on our lives, we can still submit to our old desires. It’s like a cancer patient rushing out of the recuperation room to beg the doctor, “Please put that tumor back in, we had such a good time together!”

However, even after breaking sin’s hold in some pretty significant ways, I have learned in my experience that there is another step to the process of defeating sin. We can essentially tell sin to not only go away, but to never come back. While our ultimate victory comes when we are connected to Christ our life-giving vine, the Gospels relate stories in which Jesus not only cast our demons, but he instructed them to never come back.

In other words, Jesus took both offensive measures and future defensive measures against evil spirits. In a sense, he bound them. Now, here’s where the intellectuals such as myself can become suspicious. I know some of my friends probably think I’m full of it, and these passages have been twisted to mean all kinds of wacky stuff, but Jesus gave his followers authority to bind things on heaven and earth. That extends to the spiritual realm when we are dealing with sin.

This is a tough area to speak with complete certainty, but I do know that the light came on for me in my own struggles with sin when I realized I could not only defeat sin through the power of Christ, but also “bind” it by his authority. That doesn’t mean I’m a perfect, super-Christian now, but I have never made so much progress in my Christian life until I learned to say to my sin, “Get out, and never come back!”

I often think of this authority in terms of closing the door on sin and locking it out. However, that means we can still choose to unlock and open the door to sin. Perhaps we can reach a place where we never consider opening that door, but I can’t speak to that personally.

The next post in this series will tie all of this together to make sure it sticks…

We continue to look at how Christians can stop sinning. Previously we identified persistent sin as a problem and then talked about the information we need and the desires that drive us. Today we’ll talk about the spiritual battle of sin.

If that sounds a little far out or unnecessary to you, then you really need to keep reading and give this some thought and prayer…

Solving The Enforcement Problem with Sin

So, if you’re following me now and you have your facts and desires straight, perhaps you still feel like sin has you under its dark, smudgy thumb. I’m with you on that. It’s nice that God wants you to be free and that God is able to offer us greater intimacy and joy than anything we can find here on earth, but don’t you wish it was easier to wipe the power and effects of sin from our lives?

He’s given us everything we need for godly living and we love him deeply, but somehow we still can’t connect our facts and desires with reality. Sin is a tricky little bugger.

This is where we need to get spiritual. We are in a spiritual struggle with evil spirits that want to wreck us, as in that guy prowling like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. Peter knew a thing or two about that when Jesus warned him that Satan wanted to tear him apart. There are spiritual forces in this world who desire to control us, who want nothing more than to become idols who receive worship and loyalty.

Now, in moving forward we can make two mistakes. One is the intellectual mistake of ignoring this spiritual warfare business because we once saw a preacher on the television wearing a snappy suit who hit a lady over the head with her crutch to heal her.

I’m from the intellectual tribe, and I’ve been in churches where I’ve had to dodge flailing plastic swords and waving flags while people shook and wept—stuff that has left me suspicious of this spiritual warfare business at times. However, whether we encounter the fraudulent or the odd, the scriptures make it abundantly clear that we are engaged in spiritual warfare that requires God’s spiritual resources if we want to win.

You do want to live a holy life in intimacy with God, don’t you?

The other extreme leaves the intellectual behind and moves more according to emotion, feelings, and finds spiritual significance in things like rocks, a word from God, and, if you’re really a lost cause, toast. That isn’t to say that God can’t speak through prophetic words or through unusual means. A charismatic friend of mine once said that God used a donkey to speak his message and he’s been using asses ever since.

Speaking of which, God has even used to share specific messages with folks.

However, we can lose our grip when delving into the spiritual. Some have clung to a supposed “word from God,” that only ruined their lives completely. We have scripture and fellow believers to keep us grounded, and while we should fight sin by spiritual means, we should not forget the teachings of scripture and the church when we engage in these spiritual struggles.

And so, keeping these extremes in mind, we can engage in the enforcement of God’s will and power with the sin that plagues us. Christ has broken the power of sin with his Resurrection, and so we have his power at our disposal because the Spirit is in our lives. So, for starters, we can claim the power of the cross and Resurrection. And even more than that, we are free from the dragging influence of sin when seeking out God. And this is where we will find the victory over sin.

We don’t defeat sin by fighting it ourselves. We defeat sin by letting God defeat it as we cling to him. Sin cannot touch us when we our heavenly father is residing in our bodies, his new temple. Therefore, the trick to living in holiness is to seek God with stubborn tenacity whether or not we feel like it.

We have the information at hand: he loves us and desires that all people should know him. There are no caveats, no loop holes that exclude you or me. And therefore, we are welcome into his presence because of his Son’s work and the Spirit’s ongoing influence.

As we enjoy intimacy with God, we can ask him to expose sin for what it is. In other words, as I’ve prayed about my own struggles with lust and anxiety, they have been revealed as spirits of adultery and fear. Claiming the biblical truth of Christ’s victory as my own, I told the spirit of fear and the spirit of adultery to leave.

While they pester me from time to time, in the years that followed those decisive moments of revelation I have experienced new-found freedom from these sins that nagged me for years because I’m entrusting the spiritual battle against sin with God. My time with God that resulted in renewed spiritual insight into my sin struggles brought about a decisive breaking of sin’s hold in my life.

Now we know the facts about holiness and sin, the emotional end of things, and the way we fight sin, but must sin always be an ongoing struggle? Can’t we move beyond this daily fight against sin? I’d suggest that we can, and that’s what we’ll discuss tomorrow…

After a few days off to move into a new apartment, I’m continuing my Christian Survival Guide series that addresses common problems that hinder Christian growth. 

Last week I talked about the problem of not being able to stop sinning, and my response began by addressing the information we need to know about Christ, the cross, the Resurrection, and the implications for our victory over sin…

So now that you read the post about being free from sin, I’ll bet you’re free from sin forever. I mean, I practically quoted the Bible in a stealthy way that presented the good news of salvation in a nice little section that exposed sin for what it is and made the goodness of God practically irresistible, right?

Who would go and sin after reading all of that?

Well, the answer is me—and you. Most Christians know this stuff. Some of us may live relatively sin-free, but for the majority of Christians, sin is tough to shake. We go through our lives crippled by these dark powers that sometimes tug at us in the dark and other times rise to the surface in very public, humiliating ways.

The trouble is that no matter how much information we consume from the scriptures, we run into a desire problem. We know the truth, but giving in to sin feels good or even inevitable.

Like a persistent pimple, sin attaches itself to us and convinces us that it’s part of our lives. And in fact, we can’t imagine our lives without it. We desire the pleasure, the rush, and the comfort that our sins bring to our lives in the moment, even if we are wracked with disappointment and guilt afterwards.

However, sin often sets up shop in our lives because our desires are out of wack—we lack a desire for God. This is something that John Piper addresses in his book Desiring God. Piper is right on the mark in saying that we latch on to sin–expecting it to bring us pleasure.

The problem all along is we don’t know what true pleasure is since God is the source of true and lasting joy. Once again, God is not in heaven trying to shut us down from having a good time. In fact, he wants our desires to be oriented in healthy directions that will lead to the good pleasure he has created in our world—pleasure that does not result from being completely consumed with ourselves and our desires.

I remember a friend who returned to visit family while away for a few years. When he gathered with his former church he felt the joy of God’s presence and wept with joy because he’d forgotten how wonderful it is. If I’m seeking after sin, then I have a desire problem that can only be completely fulfilled by worshipping God, confessing my sins, and enjoying him.

However, there’s more to this sin problem, and in our next post we’ll look at the ways we can actively fight sin when it shoves its way into our lives.

Yesterday I began a new series addressing common problems that Christians face. I’m beginning my survival guide series with a series of posts address the problem of not being able to stop sinning. My last post framed the discussion, and today we’ll take our first step toward overcoming the problem of pervasive sin.

Let’s have a look…

Sin and the Information Problem

Sin can be credited in part, but not as a whole, to an information problem. If sinless perfection rested on knowing the right stuff, then we could all get seminary degrees and be set. Having passed through seminary myself and knowing many others who have, I can assure you that seminary is not the silver bullet required for sin. However, it is good to orient and resource ourselves with the facts of our situation.

God is not a kill-joy handing down a list of restricted activities like some kind of micro-managing boss who wants nothing more than to control the minutiae of our lives. He’s not sitting up in heaven laughing at those silly Christians who are missing out on all of the fun to be had with unrestrained sexual exploits, excessive drinking, and raging anger. We may be a bit naïve and silly at times, perhaps we’re even suckers, but we’re not suckers because we miss out on catching venereal disease, vomiting on someone’s front lawn after a binge, or punching through sheetrock.

God declared creation good and then part of his creation became greedy and obsessed with its own glory. Our ancestors allowed their evil desires to rule them and these desires took shape as sin.

We have followed in their footsteps ever since. We are tempted by evil desires, we give in to them, and we sin.

The information we need concerns the nature of sin, temptation, and our evil desires. These are not the norm for God’s good creation. And more than that, God has done something about them. When dreaming up a sin solution, we tend to think in terms of the nuclear option that blasts sin out of our world once and for all, burning every bit of sin from each person. God doesn’t work like a nuclear weapon, and like petulant teenagers who can’t go to the dance, we resent him for it.

If you’re an American like me who operates on a grand, industrial scale, you’re probably disturbed by God’s “uncaring” way of dealing with sin in an “inefficient” way.

The metaphors have changed over time, an invasion, a virus, a rebellion, but the core information we need remains the same. We need to know that God has not made his world to be ruled by evil desires, openly indulging in the destructive, self-serving powers of sin.

We need to see things for what they are: we are beings shaped in the divine image of God who were made to live in loving relationship with our creator and our fellow beings. When we resist this calling, we fall away from the good world that God intended for us. Sin turns us into hideous creatures who are alienated from God and others.

Far from being free to do as we like, sin becomes a cruel master that will rule our lives, alienate us from God, and prevent us from the true joy of our calling. We find moments of pleasure by indulging in sin, but part of our problem is a lack of information.

Letting sin have its way cripples us in ways that have long-term consequences we cannot even imagine. We have been made in the image of God to perform good works, to enjoy a saving relationship with him through the work of Jesus and the Spirit, and to testify to that love by word and deed.

The scriptures tell us that sin is not the norm, and that God has in fact given us everything we need to live godly lives. Christ has born sin on his body while on the cross, defeated it by rising from the dead, and imparted his life-giving power through the Holy Spirit.

Sin is a defeated foe. We don’t have to submit to it. In fact, we can live with God in such a way that sin becomes the furthest thing from our minds since we’re consumed with the love of God. Who would knowingly seek out a cruel, evil witch/warlock when the most beautiful and kind woman/man in the world desires to be with you?

Our problems with require more than an information fix, and that’s what we’ll address next…

A New Series…

You know how most Christians tend to have the same problems and many of them sort of persist?

They’re the elephants in the room when we get together. Even if we don’t struggle with particular sins or Christian disciplines, we may counsel plenty of friends who have these struggles.

A few months back I decided to write up a kind of survival guide for overcoming these common threats to our Christian walks. These sins, doubts, fears, and short-comings can nibble away out our faith and keep us from intimacy with God, following Jesus daily, and completing the mission he has given us here on earth to proclaim his Kingdom.

The solutions are there. God’s power is available for us. So it’s time to challenge our doubts, short-comings, and fears. It’s time to lay hold of his power for us and to embrace the fullness of life Jesus promised us.

Let’s begin…

Part of One of “You Can’t Stop Sinning”

You know that guy at work who rarely does his job. He mocks you and the other peons who slave away while he plays games on his computer and shuffles papers, somehow convincing your boss that he’s a valuable asset. And so you get together with your colleagues while the coffee is brewing and talk about that sniveling, lazy jerk and his long, crooked nose.

Talk is too sedate a word for it. You slam him. You roast him alive like a fat pig. You make him the butt of your jokes and the target of your slander. He’s the worst kind of person and you always feel better about yourself whenever you’re done tearing into him.

And yet, you know deep down that a Christian shouldn’t mock this man’s character, lacking though it may be. And perhaps you shouldn’t make fun of the way he eats his hard-boiled eggs, the way he slurps his coffee, or the way he shoves his wispy black hair away from his forehead with a brush of his hand. No, the Christian way is to love this man rather than insulting him behind his back.

The tongue being a restless evil aside, you still think he kind of deserves it. It’s just words after all. Really, you haven’t done anything all that terrible. And as you hide behind justifications, you arrive at the real truth of the matter. You don’t want to stop slandering him. In fact, you can’t stop. It’s natural, easy, and feels good, as if you can undo his grievances against you by the power of your words.

But perhaps you haven’t struggled with words. Perhaps your struggle is with lusting after a neighbor along your block. He or she often walks past your house in the evening, and you find yourself thinking about this person in very inappropriate ways. It may be the scent of his cologne that lingers or that titillating blouse she wears that sparks your imagination and leaves you burning.

While you’re alone at home he sneaks into your thoughts with a seductive look or when you’re driving home from work your heart beats a little faster at the thought of seeing her today. This infatuation is both terrifying and wonderful, fulfilling some deep-seated desires that crave to be fulfilled even if they seem endless in their demands. You can’t help but give in to them because you’re not really hurting anyone, and worse than that, you don’t feel like you can resist them. The urges are too strong, your will too weak, and those exciting moments of surrender to lust are too exciting.

In either scenario, sin has taken hold and become a master of sorts. It isn’t that slander and lust are harmless sources of fun and fulfillment that God doesn’t want you to have. It’s that you’re actually enslaved to them, letting them control you, shape you into a different sort of person, and keeping you from the good things God has planned for you. When sin becomes an irresistible force that we cannot fight, we have a tremendous problem that must be addressed without delay.

The next post in this series will deal with sin and our information problem…

The Destination is Not Up to Us…

When I moved from college to seminary, I had a picture in my head of what I would be like as a mature Christian. Since most of my money was paying for a seminary education, you’d better believe I thought a vast biblical knowledge would be a key part of that.

My experience is that God often has something else in mind from what we imagine. In fact, it’s hard for us to predict what God’s destination will be for us.

I think seminary was a really important part of my growth, but it wasn’t the decisive factor I thought it would be. So far as I can tell, the most significant moments of my Christian growth have always been tied directly to learning how to pray or meet with God.

My biblical knowledge was important, but these moments of meeting with God drove that truth home.

Life is a careful balancing act of doing what we believe God has called us to do, while remaining flexible to his leading and his new destinations. Perhaps faithfulness is the art of being flexible with the results and clinging to God alone.

Ten years since I entered seminary, I am at a completely different place in life than I would have expected. I have no complaints, but it has been humbling to watch some of my plans and goals crumble. However, in holding to my plans loosely, I’ve learned there is joy to be found in the new places God calls us to.

We should pursue whatever it is that God places on our hearts, but it’s equally important to let go of our chosen destinations if God chooses to send us elsewhere. Life is this constant process of letting go of one thing in order to embrace another only to find that you will soon need to let go of the new thing in order to embrace another.

On and on it goes.

We’ll get beat up and frustrated if we make our lives about the things we’re aiming for rather than God. This is a lesson in the Kingdom. Christ is all and in all, and we have nothing without him.