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Nov 19
Love0

Our Common Problem

By Christian Living, Discipleship, Faithfulness, Grace, Peace, Sanctification, Sin, Uncategorized No Comments

The small town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, is dying. Literally. A place that used to be home to over 1,000 residents reported a population of just five people in the 2020 census. But why are people fleeing the quaint community? For years the town has been home to several underground coal mines. Unexpectedly, in 1962, a fire began in one of those mines that is still aflame today. Beneath the surface, a hidden inferno is still consuming a particularly slow-burning type of coal that experts expect to simmer for another 250 years! Both the depth and the heat of the fire make it impossible to put out.

As a result, there are hot spots, buckled highways, and parched grass. Most of the buildings in Centralia have already collapsed. Residents permitted to stay are under a court order not to pass their property down to the next generation. The fire and gases are destroying everything good about the hidden borough three hours west of New York City.

Temptation is like that. Deep within all of us at an unseen level there is a burning desire to rebel against God. The fires of enticement want to consume everything good and holy in your life, sometimes even resulting in an abandoned walk with God. No matter how hard we try, the fires of temptation will burn throughout the entirety of our lives.

Most people respond to temptation in one of three ways. Some will just give in to it and reason, “If it feels good do it!” Others will fight hard against it but repeatedly lose the battle. These are those who yield to sin, feel guilty for doing so, and vow to never succumb again, only to renege hours or days later. But some will overcome temptation by the grace of Jesus Christ. Obviously, most want to be in the latter category. But how do we get there? Let me suggest three realities about temptation we must recognize in order to be victorious.

YOU WILL ENCOUNTER TEMPTATION

The Bible says in 1 Cor. 10:13a: No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. That means all people everywhere will face temptation. We need to admit that none of us are exempt from the allurement of sin. Furthermore, temptation in and of itself is not sinful if we do not yield to it.

• Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden.
• Israel was tempted in the wilderness.
• David was tempted in the palace.
• Peter was tempted in Jerusalem.
• Even Jesus was tempted in the desert.

The commonness of temptation also means that our allurements are not unique. Regardless of how we feel, there is nothing new under the sun. You are not the only person who in the history of the world who has struggled with whatever is seducing your heart.

GOD CALLS EACH OF US TO ENDURE TEMPTATION

The Bible goes on to say that God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13b). We often mistakenly assume that those who do not give into temptation know nothing of its power. The opposite is really true. Those who surrender to temptation the most actually know the least about the full burden and challenge it brings. We yield to what pulls our heart away from God because of the desire to find relief from our struggle. When we resist, though, the battle persists with annoyances that do not go away. Yet, this is the narrow road God calls believers to walk. We won’t always succeed in our efforts, but victory rather than defeat should be the pattern of our lives.

YOU CAN ESCAPE TEMPTATION

If we are to endure in faith, we should always be looking for the way escape when we are tempted. The idea is not the God will help us to avoid temptations, but that He will walk with us through them, helping us to persevere. Sometimes we give the false impression that if a Christian loves God, all their previous worldly inclinations will immediately disappear. While some experience that kind of dramatic deliverance, what is more common is the daily battle to resist lifestyles that on contrary to God’s design.

The way of escape is trusting God who promises to help us overcome. It means allowing the Lord, not the culture, to define right and wrong for us. It means that sometimes we run away from people, situations, or circumstances that cause us to stumble. It means we proactively fill our minds with Scripture, remind ourselves of the gospel, and seek the Lord in prayer. It means that we recall how vulnerable we are and continually pledge our hearts to Christ. The question is not will God provide a way of escape to prevent our waywardness, but will we be looking for it instead?

Adam B. Dooley
November 19, 2024

Nov 07
Love0

Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff!

By Anxiety, Hope When Life Unravels, Peace, Prayer, Trials, Uncategorized, Worry No Comments

We know something about anxiety. Sometimes it shows up on an x-ray. You can hear it in the pacing rhythm of footsteps late at night. Troubled eyes and wrinkled foreheads are also telltale signs. Desperate silence and nervous chatter are dead giveaways. I heard about one man who worried so much that his hair fell out – of his toupee! Today’s priorities often fall victim to tomorrow’s problems due to anxiety.

Despite Jesus’ admonitions to the contrary, we worry about physical needs like food and clothing (Matt. 6:25), how long we will live (Matt. 6:27), and the potential trouble tomorrow will bring (Matt. 6:31). The uneducated worry because they don’t know enough. The educated worry because they know too much. The poor worry because of what they do not have. The wealthy worry because they fear losing what they have. The young worry because they don’t want to get older. The elderly worry because they are afraid they won’t get older.

So what are we to do? How do we shed the anxiety that plagues us?

First, we need to confess our burden to the Lord. While writing to Philippian believers, the Apostle Paul instructed, “Be anxious for nothing” (Phil. 4:6a). The predicate behind this command is that all of us frequently battle the temptation to despair. A divided mind will pull your heart in completely different directions. We know that God can take care of us, but doubt and concern distracts us from our otherwise resolute faith. Admitting our vulnerability is the first step toward coping with our weakness.

Remarkably, God’s apostle wrote these words from a Roman prison cell. False teachers continually attacked the church he loved, and each day brought the possibility of his death by execution. Yet, knowing that worry signals a lack of trust in God, Paul calls on all Christ followers to be anxious for nothing. Jesus Himself insisted that continually fretting is the behavior of unbelievers who are unaware that God is providentially watching over us.

Second, we need to communicate our needs to the Lord. Through the means of prayer and supplication, we are to let our requests be made known to God (Phil. 4:6b). With no concern for how we sound, we should humbly, even desperately, express our deepest fears and our heartfelt pleas directly to the Lord.

In addition, these inquiries should be seasoned with thanksgiving. The idea is that we worship God before He answers because of our intentional commitment to submit to His will. Doing so reassures us that God is trustworthy and that His will is purposeful and best, even if it is contrary to our desires. Specificity is important here because general prayers lack particular power. Weak generalities and platitudes seldom move the heart of God.

Third, we need to welcome the peace of the Lord. What is the result of our intentional prayers? The unexplainable peace of God guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). This holy serenity is supernatural in its origin and comprehensive in its effect. God promises to intervene in the midst of our trials and troubles by protecting us with his peace. If prayer opens the door to the Lord’s consolation, learning to think correctly enables us to enjoy the relief God affords. Thus, the Bible admonishes, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

If all this seems too good to be true, take a moment to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air (Matt. 6:26-30). Have you ever heard of a bird being treated for high blood pressure? Or stress? Though they do not know where their next meal will come from, God feeds them. Think about the beauty of wildflowers growing in a field. They do nothing to grow and yet they clothe the countryside with their beauty. These natural wonders are here today and gone tomorrow, yet God still covers His creation with them. If the Lord will feed the animals and dress nature with such elegance, how much more will He take care of human beings who bear his image (Gen. 1:26-28)?

Adam B. Dooley
November 7, 2014

Oct 15
Love0

Abusing God’s Love?

By Uncategorized No Comments

Abusing God’s Love?

God created every living soul with an innate desire and hunger for love. Though love will not fill your stomach, quench your thirst, or warm your body, none of us can live without it. In his effort to explain this unique human need, the Apostle John insists that love is from God (1 John 4:7) because God is love (1 John 4:8). The magnitude of these statements is just as great as the likelihood of their misinterpretation. Tragically, some pounce on John’s reassurances as a means of justifying immoral behavior. So, what do these words mean?

The idea that “love is from God” is not a blanket endorsement of all actions that bear the label of love. Every expression of pure, holy love that is consistent with God’s nature is from Him. But according to God, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth (1 Cor. 13:6). The God who loved the world enough to offer His Son as a sacrifice on the cross (John 3:16) takes no pleasure whatsoever in wickedness (Psalm 5:4). In other words, God’s love for us does not result in His turning a blind eye to our sins, but His covering them through the shedding of Jesus’ blood instead (1 John 4:10).

Furthermore, the assertion that “God is love” is not an affirmation that “love is God.” While it is true that God defines love; it is not true that love defines God. Failure to make this distinction blurs the lines of God’s essence and diminishes the complexity and nuances of His glory. Perhaps an illustration will clarify what’s at stake.

One of the more remarkable beauties of the created world is the nightly luminary we call the Moon. Its light is both peaceful and practical as it pierces the canopy of darkness that covers the earth. Yet, would you be surprised to learn that the Moon possesses no light of its own? This celestial satellite merely reflects the light of the sun. Or, the sun’s light is the only moon we see, even though the moon itself is not the sun.

In a similar way, God is love, but love is not God. Love is an accurate reflection of who God is, but it does not capture the totality of our Creator. Sound like semantics? Hardly. God’s love for all people is not a divine stamp of approval of errant lifestyles and wickedness. Certainly, God tempers all His actions with love, but such does not make Him incapable of hating what is evil. According to Solomon, “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers (Prov. 6:16-19).”

Divine hatred also appears in the prophetic book of Zechariah: “‘Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.” In the book of Revelation, God singles out the blasphemy and sexual immorality of the Nicolaitans while affirming the Ephesians, “you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate (Rev. 2:6).”

For many, love can become nothing more than an idolatrous expression of narcissistic behavior that contradicts the holiness of God. Some recklessly diminish the sacredness of marriage in their pursuit of selfish love (Mal. 2:16). Others dismiss the natural function of their gender for the pursuit of dysphoric love (Rom. 1:26-27). The deeds of the flesh which war against the Spirit of God, including immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these (Gal. 5:19-21), can all be justified if we twist and manipulate both the definition and expression of love.

Identifying love as the motive for disobedience, however, does not make vile actions more honorable to the Lord. Citing God’s love as a justification for ignoring what God says is a gross misinterpretation of Scripture. Christians do not worship love; we worship the God who demonstrates love toward us even while we are sinners (Rom. 5:8).

The human tendency to abuse the gift of God’s love should not cause us to cease marveling over the wonderfully profound nature of the Lord. Though God will judge all sinners because He is holy, He is patient toward us, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He rejects the wicked (Psalm 11:5-6), but He provides His Son as a way of escape (Rom. 10:13). In fact, there is no greater love than laying down your life for your friends (John 15:13). Who can fully comprehend the depth and magnitude of God’s love? The hymn writer said it best:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Adam B. Dooley

October 15, 2024

Sep 19
Love0

Too Heavenly Minded?

By Uncategorized No Comments

History credits Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. with the assertion that some Christians are so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good. The same sentiment found its way into Johnny Cash’s 1977 album The Rambler when he recorded the song “No Earthly Good.” But is the idea true? Is the opposite possible? Despite contemporary notions that Christianity is a plague on society, believers anchored to eternity have often led efforts aimed at the betterment of society in the here and now.

Though secular elites now posit the modern university as the alternative to religious superstition, many of America’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning were started by devout Christians. The vision of the Puritans birthed Harvard and Yale. The motto of Princeton, started by early Presbyterians to train ministers, still reads, “Under God She Flourishes.” Brown University was the dream of the earliest Baptists in America. Dutch Reformed believers boast of Rutgers University. The same religious influence is just as obvious across the Atlantic. Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh all have thoroughly Christian roots. Sadly, a robust commitment to Scripture has waned in most of these organizations, but their origins remain clear, nonetheless.

Ever wonder why so many hospitals bear denominational labels or are run by Christians? At the risk of being overly simplistic, caring for the sick is intrinsically a Christian idea. Our contemporary hospital system is the fruit of a Judeo-Christian ethic. As early as the fourth century, Christ followers began ministering to those who were ill in their homes. Albert Jonsen, in his Short History of Medical Ethics, reminds us that the first Christian hospital appeared during the same period at Caesarea in Cappadocia. Currently, over 700 faith-based hospitals exist in the United States.

The same pattern exists for orphanages. More than 8000 faith-based adoption agencies currently serve our nation. On the other side of the equation, evangelicals are twice as likely to adopt as are their secular counterparts. Names like Amy Carmichael and George Mueller are historical reminders of heroic saints who started orphanages and schools in order to rescue endangered children.

I do not mean to imply that only Christians do noble things; nor do I wish to insinuate that followers of Jesus have never fallen short of the standards and expectations of Scripture. Sometimes, even in the name of God, believers justify the unthinkable and bring shame to the name of Christ. Yet, the notion that casting an eye toward heaven leaves Christ followers blind to the needs around them is contrary to reality. In fact, the most committed believers seem to be motivated by their eternal hope, not despite it.

William Wilberforce worked tirelessly to end slavery. Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted Adolf Hitler and rescued Jews from the Nazis. Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing. Clara Barton established the American Red Cross. John Witherspoon helped craft the Declaration of Independence and promoted the virtue of freedom in a moral society. On and on I could go, but the point is that eternal priorities do not distract from the common good, they promote it.

In his letter to the Colossian church, the Apostle Paul captured the impetus behind the Christian pursuit of making the world a better place—Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve (Colossians 3:23-24). In other words, eternal rewards accompany eternal life. Though salvation is a complete work of grace that cannot be earned or deserved, God is eager to celebrate our faithful acts of obedience. The privilege of being in God’s family brings with it the responsibility of living fully yielded to the Lord.

A similar instruction appears in Paul’s Corinthian letter as well—we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:9-10). Our longing to see God should inspire us to please God. The more heavenly minded we are, the better off our friends on this earth will be.

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