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Cancel Culture vs the Gospel

by JacobSeptember 23, 2023September 23, 2023Christian Living

The first time I remember seeing something like “cancel culture” was when I was in middle school.

I grew up in Missouri, and back in 2012, a man named Todd Akin ran for senate. Akin was a socially-conservative Republican seen as a viable challenger to incumbent Missouri senator Claire McCaskill, a centrist Democrat. I remember Akin doing quite well in the polls until he made a comment during an interview about “legitimate rape.”

Well you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.
– Todd Akin, quotation via Wikipedia

In the days and weeks that followed, all anyone could talk about was Akin’s comment about “legitimate rape.” News channels, radio broadcasts, and websites ran virtually wall-to-wall analyses of the interview, the vast majority of them negative. Political attack ads proliferated.

One of my friends (probably 13 or 14 years old at the time) even said something like, “I used to like Todd Akin, but now I support Claire McCaskill.”

The enormous backlash that followed this interview completely torpedoed Akin’s campaign, and he ended up receiving less than 40% of the vote in a state that largely embraced (and still embraces) traditional values. And when Akin died in 2021, many news outlets ran a headline stating, “Ex-U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, sunk by ‘legitimate rape’ remark, dies.”

Not only did Akin’s comments doom his political aspirations over 10 years ago, they left a permanent stain on his reputation that has outlived the man himself. No amount of apologies (and he made lots of them) could atone for the grave sin he committed when he uttered a single phrase: legitimate rape.

He was cast out. Judged with finality. Made irrelevant.

He was cancelled.

The Spirit of Cancel Culture

As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in Missouri. I went to a small school and graduated with a class of around 70 students.

In that small school, reputation was everything.

I remember that everyone had things they were “known for.” One of my classmates, for example, liked to wear his jeans pulled up to his belly-button. People denounced him as “gay” and didn’t like to associate with him (even though he wasn’t really gay at all). He was an outcast. They dared not try to actually get to know him.

In middle school, another one of my classmates did something that was mistaken by other students as something entirely different, and the rumors started spreading like wildfire. This classmate became an instant pariah. He was bullied, excluded, and eventually ended up moving schools a year or two later. All for one action he supposedly committed — but didn’t really do.

There are other examples I won’t go into. But the point I’m trying to make is this: in an environment like that, your entire reputation – that is, how people see you, interact with you, and relate to you – could literally hinge on one single event.

Do something that others don’t like, and you’ll be shut out.

Yes, they will slam the door on you. People will stop inviting you to things. They’ll quit talking to you and they’ll quit sitting by you at lunch. You’ll be frozen out of the social ecosystem, and nothing you say or do will get you back in.

That was sort-of the environment in the school I went to growing up.

This is also the “spirit” behind cancel culture.

In today’s world (I’m talking about in the United States in particular), there’s a very strong sense of being “in or out.”

Say the right things, do the right things, act the right way, and you’re “in.” People will support you and say good things about you and listen to you. But the moment you do something that runs counter to the grain of the culture, people will turn on you.

That is what is meant by ‘cancel culture.’

They’ll blast you on social media, news sites will say horrible things about you, and your reputation will plummet. When someone (typically a high-profile person, such as an athlete, artist, or politician) crosses the line, there’s an initial shockwave of fire and rage.

But then comes the ice.

People stop paying attention to you. They automatically disregard what you say or do. They ignore your attempts to get back into the good graces of society. You’re forever branded by the one thing you said or did that was “wrong” — even though you may have since said and done a hundred thousand things that were “right.” Whenever your face appears on the screen or your name flashes across their social media feed, they automatically write you off as discredited and out of favor.

They cancel you.

Just like the dog-eat-dog social world of middle school, today’s broad American culture seems to be all about who said what and who did what. And if you say or do something wrong – whether it’s truly wrong or just wrong in the sight of the people as a whole – you’ll be treated like an outcast at a small school: iced out, excluded, and remembered permanently for that one slip-up.

This is the spirit of cancel culture.

Commit a single sin – a compromising photo from 30 years ago, an poorly-worded remark, a Freudian slip – and it’s over. You’re condemned. And there’s no way to be forgiven.

You’re just done.

Maybe I am overstating or oversimplifying things, and it’s worth noting that everyone seems to have a different view of what exactly constitutes “cancel culture.” But from my point of view, cancel culture is basically middle school social behavior applied to broader culture. It’s petty, fickle, childish, and leaves no room for disagreement, healthy debate, or forgiveness.

You’re either in or out.

Fortunately, we as Christians have a powerful antidote to this toxic aspect of society.

The Gospel Opposes Cancel Culture

Consider the central message of the Gospel. I think Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15 sums this up rather nicely:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
1 Timothy 1:15, ESV [emphasis mine]

Indeed, the core message of the Gospel – or “good news” – is that Christ came to save sinners. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for anyone. For we are all sinners, and we have all fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

That is the kicker. Mankind, you see, has been on a streak of rebellion against God ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden. Every time you and I sin – when we tell a lie, act selfishly, give into lust, and so much more – we are rebelling against God.

Don’t you think that rebellion against the Creator of all things (you and me included) deserves punishment? Doesn’t that, of all things, make one deserving of being ‘cancelled?’

When I look at cancel culture, I see a vindictive system of punishment. Sure, sometimes people say and do things that really do deserve our righteous anger. I am not excusing their behavior. If someone makes racist statements, that’s wrong. There’s no getting around it. If someone is having an affair or abusing women (or men) in any way, that’s flat out wrong.

Again, no way around it.

But what does cancel culture tell us to do when someone says or does something wrong – either actually wrong or just perceived as wrong?

Flame the person, ice them out, and force them out of relevancy.

And no matter what they say or do, don’t let them back in.

Once you fall from grace, you are beyond hope of redemption.

This is the message of cancel culture. You cannot be redeemed. One sin, and you’re out. There’s no forgiveness, only consequences.

But what of the Gospel? The Gospel gives us the opposite message. It opposes cancel culture.

The Gospel tells us that, because of Christ’s sacrifice, if we are willing to come to Him and cast our faith upon Him, God will forgive us and cleanse us of any and all sins (1 John 1:9). What a breath of fresh air!

You see, you can be a murderer. You can be a rapist. You could even be guilty of crimes against humanity. You could be a far, far worse person than anyone who has ever been “canceled.” But if you will only turn to Jesus and depend on Him for your salvation, He delivers you and forgives you.

And Christ also commands us as believers to be forgivers as well.

Again, this directly opposes the harsh and vindictive attitude of cancel culture. Cancel culture says there is no forgiveness for sins. And it thrives off of – nay, is even built upon – the unwillingness of the masses to even consider forgiving people for their transgressions.

Yet the Gospel tells us that we ought to be forgivers. We ought to be forgivers of others, and we also ought to be people defined by love towards those who wrong us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ says “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44, ESV).”

Does ‘love your enemies’ sound like cancel culture? Does cancel culture tell you to ‘pray for those who persecute you?’ Does cancel culture tell you to forgive those who have wronged you?

I rest my case.

Cancel culture is about revenge, hatred, and judgement.

The Gospel is about forgiveness, love, and mercy.

The two could not be further apart. And in the end, the Gospel – not cancel culture – will prevail.

Our Hope

In the end, I suppose cancel culture and the Gospel represent two distinct paths.

Cancel culture offers no hope. It is all judgment and no mercy. It is powerfully toxic.

Yet the Gospel offers all the hope in the world. It is the application of mercy where there should be judgment. It is powerfully life-giving.

We are beings made in God’s image, and we are fundamentally meant to live in relationship with God. That means we’re fundamentally meant to be forgivers and practitioners of mercy. I’m not saying that sin doesn’t get in the way (and get in the way a lot), but the healthiest thing we can do is live out the truths contained in the Gospel.

If you want true joy, you won’t get that by shaming others and “canceling” people. You’ll get it by lending mercy.

If you want true happiness, you won’t get it by hating others for something they said or did in the past, even if it’s something that you feel personally attacked by. You’ll get happiness by forgiving the person for what they’ve done.

If you want true life, look to Christ as the source of your life and your strength. Don’t look to the so-called “might” of the culture to stamp out people who cross the metaphorical line.

There is no life in hatred. And there is no place for hatred in a well-lived life.

Live your life to God’s glory and abide in the truths of the Gospel. Don’t be shackled to the chains of cancel culture which may reward you momentarily but leave you – and the rest of society – more broken than before.

True life is found only in Christ. Run to Him!

An Observation on Sin

by JacobNovember 13, 2022November 13, 2022Uncategorized

Sin is – and always has been – a major topic in Christian theology. In fact, sin is the reason why Jesus had to come and give His life. Sin is what nailed Him to the cross. And sin is what consigns a person to an eternity of punishment, unless he turns to Christ to be saved.

Sin plays a central role in the lives of human beings.

Every human being is touched by sin, and the entire world – all of the seas, landmasses, trees, animals, and plants – lives on in an imperfect and fallen state brought about by the sin of Adam and Eve. Sin forms a motif, a repeating theme, which weaves its dark and calamitous music throughout the threads of time. It is present everywhere you look. Read the pages of history, and you’re reading an account which involves sin. Look at the headlines on the newspaper, and you can bet that sin is involved somehow.

So far as we are concerned, sin is an inevitable part of the world, though it is vitally important to remember that followers of Christ are set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). Sin permeates the world, but Christ is able to overcome sin, and He delivers those who follow Him from sin. That doesn’t mean that Christ followers can attain sinless perfection in this life, but it does mean that Christ fundamentally transforms the relationship of His followers with their sin.

But this reading isn’t intended to fully explore the role of sin in a Christian’s life – though maybe I’ll write a post on that sometime in the future. Instead, I just want to offer a simple observation on sin.

What is Sin, Really?

Sin gets talked about often. But what is it?

The most straightforward definition of sin would be this: sin is anything that displeases or disobeys God. To put it Biblically, we can say that sin is anything that does not originate from faith in God (Romans 14:23). Sin is also a ‘falling short’ of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

So sin can be anything. It doesn’t have to be the act of stealing, intentionally hurting someone, lying, or cheating. Sin can be simply wanting things your way. It can be laziness, gossip, or any other form of selfishness. It can be a casual disregarding of an important task. Even decisions that look ‘Godly’ on the surface – if not made in faith – can be sin.

Sin is what happens when we don’t measure up to God’s standard.

Perhaps this is why, in Isaiah 64:6, it is written “…all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Even so-called “righteous” acts – giving money, giving up your time, or helping others – are polluted if they do not come from a place of faith in the Lord. Does this mean that these are bad things? No. But it does mean that, unless coming from faith, these things too are ‘polluted garments’ – or, in other words, still sin.

Indeed, sin doesn’t have to ‘look like’ sin. It can be anywhere and everywhere. It can take virtually any form. Once again, sin is a ‘falling short’ of God’s glory. And we fall short – yes, even Christians – of this lofty goal all the time.

But if we peel back the layers a bit further, I think we can make another observation about sin.

In addition to being a failure to measure up to God’s standards, sin is also often a twisting – a deviation, or perversion, if you will – of what God has declared good.

Think about it.

What is the most famous sin in the Bible? While this is a rather subjective question, I think that infamous title may well go to the sin that started it all: the sin of Adam and Eve.

Sin: a Twisting of What is Good

In addition to being a failure to measure up to God’s standards, sin is also often a twisting – a deviation, or perversion, if you will – of what God has declared good.

In Genesis 2, God laid boundaries. He said (speaking to Adam), “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17, ESV)”

In other words, God told Adam that he could have anything he wanted from the garden, but he could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why? Because eating from that tree would certainly result in Adam’s death. Clearly, God deemed the act of eating from trees in the garden to be a good thing – after all, He permitted it. But God set a boundary and said, “It is NOT good that you would eat from this one particular tree.”

God was implicitly declaring that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a twisting of a good thing. It was a falling short of His design and His standard. And for Adam to fall short of this design would be to bring death upon himself.

Now, as we all know, Adam and Even wouldn’t stay sin-free for very long.

In Genesis 3, the serpent (whom most scholars agree to be Satan) deceived Adam and Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Listen to the serpent’s words:

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6, ESV)

Note: the serpent’s (Satan’s) lines are bolded for emphasis and ease of reading.

Not only was this the first sin, but it was also the first temptation. Something deep within Eve (and Adam, for that matter) wanted to eat of the forbidden tree. God declared something off-limits, and when Satan showed up, the first thing he did was speak to this dark desire within Adam and Eve’s hearts. There was a desire to disobey God, and to turn a good thing – eating fruit from a tree – into a sinful thing (disobeying God’s directives).

In other words, this was a twisting of good.

Most of us know what happened after Adam and Eve ate of the tree. God came into the garden, pronounced curses on Adam, Eve, and the serpent, and then fashioned clothing for Adam and Eve before sending them out of the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve took a good thing – eating fruit – and then twisted this good thing into a disobedience of God. It wasn’t the act of eating that condemned them; it was the act of going against God’s design.

How This Plays Out in Our Lives

You can think of sin as a deviation (or twisting away) from God’s design. God creates a good thing, but then the lies of Satan and of the fallen world come into play and twist our behavior into sin.

Have you ever heard a saying that goes something like, “The most dangerous lie is the one that is closest to truth?” Take a moment to ponder this statement. A good liar is skilled at infusing truth with falsehood, balancing the two in such a way that even those with good judgement might be fooled.

In the same way, some of the most dangerous sins are those which do not at first reckoning appear to be sin. Or, at the very least, they may “fly under the radar” so as to be paid little attention to.

For example, much is made today in the Christian community of the sin of lust. And rightly so – lust is a potent sin with the potential to wreck lives and destroy testimonies. We rightly identify lust as a sin that must be run away from. It must be fled from. Lust is a twisting of God’s design for sexuality, and it leads to ruin.

But what about the sin of idleness? Or the sin of self-righteousness? These sins are talked about occasionally, but not as frequently or severely as those of lust or outright hatred. They are certainly not as warned against as the more “grievous” sins.

Yet these sins too damage lives and damage testimonies.

Perhaps worst of all, they can – and do – damage our relationship with the Lord. Sin is still sin, and the consequence of all sin is brokenness. Think back to our earlier example of the fall of Adam and Eve. The simple sin of eating from a tree which God placed off-limits was enough to poison countless billions of human beings with sin. The sacrifice of Christ was necessary because Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

One sin would have prompted the need for Christ’s atonement. One sin – whether the sin of murder or that of telling a simple white lie – is enough to mark a person for God’s condemnation, and thus put him or her in need of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Sin swims about in all forms in this world, and we must be wary of all of it. From the most grievous and public sins to the most hidden and “light” sins, Christians are called to live crucified lives and to take up their crosses daily (Luke 9:23). Some of the most difficult to spot and difficult to deal with sins are those which are a simple twisting of a good thing.

Wrapping Up

Christians are called to walk in the light, as we read in 1 John 1:7. To walk in the light requires a holding fast to Jesus Christ, a clinging to Him and a fleeing from sin. It requires a rejection of counterfeit things and an embrace of God’s way of life.

Indeed, God has a design for all things. He has a design for our relationships, our words, our lifestyle, and the way we conduct ourselves. And the only way to truly live in His design is to lay down everything we are to follow Jesus.

Apart from submission to the Lord, we will embrace a twisted version of what God has declared good. If we do not walk with Him in fellowship, we will not follow Him with our lives.

Practically speaking, what does this look like?

Avoid Sin by Reading God’s Word

First and foremost, if we want to embrace God’s design (rather than chase the counterfeits of this world), we will need to read His Word regularly. The Scriptures provide the mind and counsel of God, and we must anchor ourselves there. In 1 John 4, we read, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1, ESV).”

This passage was written to a group of early Christians struggling with false teachers who preached a distorted Gospel. The Gospel they preached was a derivation, a falling short, of the true Gospel.

In the same way, sin is a distortion of God’s design. So how should we keep ourselves from it? We must test our hearts and our desires with the standards of Scripture. Only by focusing our lives through the lens of God’s Word can we expect to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.

Avoid Sin by Being in Community

In addition to saturating ourselves in the words of Scripture, we ought to also surround ourselves with Godly community. Throughout the New Testament, God’s people are likened to sheep and spoken of as a “flock.” When one of the sheep wonders off, it is in great danger. Sheep outside the flock and removed from the protection of the shepherd are extremely vulnerable to attacks and accidents.

Similarly, Christians who aren’t participating in Godly community find themselves especially vulnerable to sin. This is especially true for those who aren’t only outside of community, but outside the care of a ‘shepherd.’

As Christians, we’re all under the care of Jesus, but God also places earthly ‘under shepherds’ – that is, pastors and elders – to care for us and disciple us. These people are placed in our lives to guide, teach, and oversee our spiritual development. They are there to instruct is in the way of God, to encourage us in doing good, and to bring it to our attention when we sin.

Living within the confines of Christ-loving community helps a person to walk ‘in the light’ and to avoid falling for the counterfeit goods of the world.

Avoid Sin by Being in Prayer

Finally, it is vitally important for a Christian to be in prayer. Prayer is our direct line to God.

I once heard someone say, “Nobody has a direct phone line to the Almighty.” That is simply not true. We can’t talk to God as we would to a person on the telephone, but we do have the ability to communicate directly with Him in prayer. Each and every one of us can intimately connect with the Lord right now, if we turn to Him in heartfelt prayer.

Martin Luther, the famous 16th century theologian who sparked the Protestant Reformation, is believed to have once said, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day.” As you can see, prayer is of great importance in our fight against sin and our fight for God’s best.

While you probably don’t need to spend two hours each morning in prayer, you do need to be praying regularly. Scripture tells us to “Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).” Scripture tells us to make prayer the pattern of our life, not just the last resort when things are going south. Christians who spend much time in regular prayer are more joyful and more holy than those who don’t.

Avoid Sin by Focusing on What is Better

As I bring this to a close, I want to make one final observation: that it is worth it to pursue God’s design and to resist sin. As a sinner of 23 years, I understand that the world is tempting. There are things that you want to do that you know are wrong. There are moments spent sweating as you resist the temptation to do things.

When I was in college, I saw people often walking around with shirts on that said “Worth it.” While I don’t know exactly what the meaning of these shirts was, I think I can make a pretty good guess. When someone had this shirt on, he or she basically implied, “I’m a good time. I’m worth it. You may feel shame and dirtiness about what you did with me tomorrow morning, but I assure you… it’s all worth it.”

But guess what? It isn’t worth it. Sin is never worth it. Sin will take you further than you want to go and keep you for longer than you ever wanted to stay. Sin – a twisting of God’s design, a counterfeit of good things – can never satisfy you. It pulls you in and entices you, but it is empty, and ultimately leads only to ruin.

I say these things because – if you’re reading this – I care about you. And I can tell you that sin robs you. It promises pleasure and riches, but robs you and leaves you poorer and more desperate than you were before. It says, “Worth it,” but ultimately kicks you to the curb.

With that in mind, I would submit to you that the costly way of Christ ultimately yields far more joy than the cheap way of sin. Submitting to Christ and saying “no” to yourself is costly – make no mistake. It requires sacrifice. It involves pain. Dying to yourself and your desires is rarely fun, if ever. But just as sin looks great but ends in ruin, sacrificing your life for Christ looks like ruin but brings abundant life.

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus speaks about the “wide way of destruction” and the “narrow way leading to life.” To be sure, the road to destruction is easy. It’s wide, well-paved, and full of others living what they think to be their best life now. But the narrow way? It’s windy, rough, and thin. There aren’t as many travelers there. Yet in the end, that narrow way leads to life.

Today, I would simply like to end by saying this: yes, the narrow road – the road of self-denial and crucified living – is difficult. It’s painful. But in the end, it is the ultimate “Worth it.”

By choosing the goodness of God over the counterfeit goods of this world, you will be choosing a life of joy and riches in Christ. And in eternity, you will enjoy the fruits of your labors in a way that we cannot imagine so long as we dwell on this world.

God bless.

Tagged : Bible / Broad Way / Following Christ / Jesus / Narrow Way / Sin

Christian Persecution in America

by JacobSeptember 10, 2022September 10, 2022Christian Living

Christian Persecution is coming to America, though it may take a different form than you’d expect. With this in mind, how are we to live as followers of Christ?

By many standards, American Christians have easy lives.

American Christians do not live beneath the dictatorship of Kim Jong-un. They are not at risk of being thrown into labor camps or executed for their faith.

American Christians do not live in the tumultuous country of Afghanistan, where the Taliban threaten to wipe out anyone who doesn’t conform to their ideals rooted in an aggressive strain of Islamic fundamentalism. In Afghanistan, Christians must be wary at all times, for anyone – a neighbor, a friend, an acquaintance – might turn them over to their enemies.

American Christians do not live under the harsh oppression of Somalia, which is dominated by conflict and by hatred of non-Muslims. In Somalia, there is no such thing as a ‘safe place’ for those who follow Christ. Every day brings the potential of imprisonment or even execution for these Believers.

Truly, American Christians have it better than many other Christians.

In the United States, a follower of Jesus is free to go to church, attend Bible study, and evangelize on the streets. A follower of Christ is free to talk with non-believing friends, family, and co-workers.

Christians can advertise their faith openly, and there are no laws on the books that prevent them from doing so, except in specific circumstances.

But is this changing?

I believe it is – at least in a way.

A Growing Hostility

200 years ago, the United States was a nation composed overwhelmingly of Christians.

Of course, not everyone lived out their faith. As is the case in all periods of time, from the time of Christ to the present, there were those who attended services on Sunday but did terrible things the other six days of the week. There were pretenders – and probably a great number of them.

But by and large, the United States of two centuries ago was a Christian culture. At least in name.

Life revolved around the church, and to not attend church was to be seen as an outsider or even a pariah.

Today, things have, well… changed.

According to a Gallup poll, the percentage of Americans who counted themselves members of a church, synagogue, or mosque fell below 50% for the first time in survey history in 2020.

According to a 2021 study done by Statista, only 22% of Americans attend church or synagogue services every week. In comparison, those who ‘seldom’ or ‘never’ attend make up a combined 56% of the American population. A majority.

Whereas church attendance was socially expected as recent as the early 1900s, the tables have since turned dramatically. Today, church attendance is seen by many as strange, outdated, or even a complete waste of time.

Why would someone go to church on Sunday? Don’t we only get 2 days a week off, anyway?

To those of us who follow Christ, these attitudes are not new. Even fifty years ago, one would have been able to feel the metaphorical turning of the tide. America’s shift away from Christianity has been long in the making, and a consistent drop in religiosity has been observed since the end of World War II.

But that drop-off has radically accelerated over the last 10-20 years.

In that same span of time, there has been a growing cultural hostility towards Christendom.

One particular pop-culture example that I can think of right off the top of my head occurs in the wildly-popular movie Avengers: Infinity War, where Peter Quill (aka “Starlord”) is asked, ‘What master do you serve?’

To which Quill sarcastically replies, ‘What am I supposed to say, Jesus?’

Quill’s retort – which is loaded with mockery – could be seen as a sort of dig towards Christianity. To use a contemporary buzzword, it is what we might term a “microaggression.”

But I digress.

Pop-cultural expressions of disdain towards Christians aside, direct opposition towards Christians has taken many other forms.

Today, it is not uncommon for those who use Facebook to see others – perhaps even those they consider friends – sharing overtly anti-Christian material. This has become especially prevalent since the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, as some pro-choice advocates have directed intense hostility towards ‘conservative’ or ‘evangelical’ Christians.

Additionally, further pressures are arising in society that make it increasingly difficult for Christians to live easy lives.

For many Christians, co-workers or classmates are creating hostile environments where faith is mocked or even openly derided. For other Christians, required activities at work or school directly test their faith. To participate in some of these activities would be equivalent to allying with sin.

These things are becoming more common with time, and furthermore, the trend is accelerating. The America of today (September 2022) is far more hostile to Biblical Christianity than it was even ten years ago.

Truly, Christian persecution in America is on the rise. And with that being said, there are some things we must discuss.

A Qualifier: Christian Persecution in America is Still Mild

Some who read this article might immediately say, ‘Persecution? What are you talking about? American Christians have it easy. They are still privileged and protected.’

To that I will say the following: you are right.

When I write about Christian persecution in America, I am not likening said persecution to that dealt with by those in harsh Islamic regimes or at the hands of Marxist governments. As followers of Jesus, we still lead historically-easy lives.

But we are noticing a shift. There is a pattern change.

Instead of overt government persecution, American Christians are experiencing cultural hostility. Faith in Christ will not get an American killed, jailed, or even fined (at least not yet). Faith in Christ won’t get you formally blacklisted or forced underground, without friend or companion.

Compared to what many Christians in world history have had to deal with, we still have an easy road.

But the fact is that life is getting tougher for American Christians – and it’s only going to get tougher, not easier.

But such a difficult life need not be one filled only with heartache and pain.

Rather, it can also be a life lived to the glory of God in a way that might not otherwise be possible if persecution were not taking place.

The Blessing of Persecution

The New Testament was written to a persecuted church.

In the earliest days of the Christian Church, persecution came from both the Romans and the Jews. After all, Jesus was turned in by Jews and crucified by Romans. Following the death of Christ, the Church spent its earliest days in the crosshairs of hatred and violence from both the Pharisees and the Romans.

Consequently, persecution was a big topic in Scripture. In Matthew 5, Jesus said,

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:10)

Luke 6:26 has a slightly different take on this, as Christ says,

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23)

Later on in Luke 6, Jesus says,

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." (Luke 6:27-31)

In Christ’s day as in our own, the natural human response to persecution was to either (1) run away, or (2) fight. How much more true is this when persecution runs deep – when it jeopardizes our lives or the lives of our loved ones?

I think we really need to stop and put the words of our Savior into context here.

In the decades following Christ’s death, Christians were slaughtered for their faith. I doubt that many Americans (unless they’ve been overseas to a persecuted nation) truly understand what this was like. There are men and women who literally had friends, spouses, children, and parents stolen from them and murdered… all because they confessed Jesus Christ as Lord.

Imagine if one of your loved ones was murdered simply because they followed Christ. How would that make you feel?

I’m sure the words ‘angry,’ ‘sad,’ or even ‘vengeful’ wouldn’t even begin to describe it.

We as American Christians get angry when an atheist reviles God on Facebook. And, perhaps, rightly so. But this is absolutely nothing in comparison to what the first Christians went through.

And yet, Jesus’ words spoke to them just as much as they speak to us.

Jesus called upon the first century Church to bless and pray for their persecutors.

Seriously?

Bless and pray for those who just drug your best friend off to prison? Bless and pray for those who got you fired from your job, reducing you to a beggar on the street? Bless and pray for those who had your sister killed, all because she refused to renounce Christ?

When we frame it this way, Christ’s words sound like insanity. It is one thing to say, “I will pray for that man who cursed at me because I mentioned Jesus to him.” It is quite another to say, “I will bless the person who killed my son for following Christ.”

Yet Jesus calls His people to radical kindness and radical obedience. And this obedience looks like the faithful and steadfast endurance of persecution, no matter how horrible that persecution gets.

Why?

Because hidden within persecution is blessing. The faithful endurance of persecution requires a total reliance upon the Lord. And total reliance upon the Lord brings us to a place where we are entirely at His disposal.

In a way, persecution is like fire. When it comes, much of what we are is burned up. But what remains is more valuable than gold or precious stones. What remains is like refined silver, purified for the glory of our God. When your faith is tested, God is refining you.

One of the things God is always trying to teach us is to love as He does.

Godly love looks totally different than the love we find in this world.

The love of the world is reciprocal. It is easy to love those who love you. In Luke 6:32, Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.“

If you love someone because she showed you kindness, you’re not showing any special form of love. If you love someone because he took you in and provided for you, you’re not showing the world anything it doesn’t already have.

But when you love someone – when you pray for them, bless them – despite their hostility and hatred of you, that’s when the love of God comes in. Because we are incapable of this apart from Him. This is the love that makes those in the world shake their heads in disbelief, in shock.

It is the love that, ultimately, often works as the way in which God reaches even the hardest of hearts.

Moving Forward in a World of Persecution

As this nation continues to shift in an increasingly un-Christian and even anti-Christian direction, persecution will only heat up. Barring a miracle – a widespread revival the likes of which have not been seen in decades or even centuries – our country will continue to sink into darkness.

People will grow more hostile.

Whereas today animosity towards Believers may be primarily channeled via social media and snarky comments, the persecution of tomorrow will be more overt. Some jobs and schools might make intrinsically anti-Christian activities mandatory. Some states will pass laws that regulate what can and cannot be preached from the pulpit.

Some localities might come close to banning the preaching of what we know as Biblical Christianity.

And all the while, a generation will rise up around us that is totally unfamiliar with the message of the Gospel. This will be a generation that has largely never seen the inside of a church, a generation that has no qualms about saying ‘I have no religion,’ when asked.

Already, this has begun. But it’s going to get a whole lot more intense.

This will be a generation that openly derides the Christian faith, treating the Bible as an outdated book of fables (at best), to an engine that justifies oppression (at worst).

So what is our role? What is our job as Christ followers? How are we to handle this?

1. Be Thankful

In all honesty, I see the coming environment of persecution as a good thing for the Church.

Historically, Christianity (and I mean true, Biblical Christianity – not watered-down cultural Christianity) has flourished under pressure.

When Christian persecution in America grows to a level where being a faithful Christian has real, life-altering consequences in society (i.e. loss of your job, fines, social exclusion, or school discipline), we will notice the death of “cultural Christianity.”

We will see the demise of the “nominal churchgoer:” the person who goes to church on Sunday, but doesn’t really care about the things of God.

What this will look like is a mass exodus, a mass falling-away. People will continue to leave the church in droves. Magazines and news outlets will report that Christianity is failing, and is soon to be a relic of the past practiced only by one in hundreds or even thousands.

Much will be made of the death of Christianity – a religion long suffering from illness, but now on its deathbed.

But all the while, God will still be at work.

In the heat of persecution, God will draw hearts to Him. He will work in ways we have not yet seen in this nation. As those of us who remain faithful to Him are forced into tighter corners, we will savor His truth more. We will cast ourselves upon Him more often.

For those that remain in His service – that is, the true Church – the era of American Christian persecution will be an era of both physical danger and spiritual blessedness. There will be a rich harvest of souls as we work in the hostile environment of the culture. We will get the opportunity to interact with people who have never been taught the Gospel. We will see converts come out of lives of sin and darkness.

As darkness abounds, light will shine all the brighter.

Just because persecution is coming – whatever form that persecution takes – doesn’t mean that God is somehow losing. Rather, He is refining His people. And He will continue to bring people into His service in miraculous ways.

Be thankful.

2. Be Prepared

In 2 Timothy 4, we read,

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:2-5)

2 Timothy, which was written by the Apostle Paul to Timothy, was an exhortation towards the younger evangelist. It was an exhortation for him to be ready for the service of Christ.

Although 2 Timothy was written by one man (Paul) to another (Timothy), there is much for us to take away.

You see, Timothy shared the Gospel in a far more difficult environment than what we have in the United States. In fact, he shared Christ in an environment far more hostile than any we are ever likely to face in the United States, at least in the foreseeable future.

And in this tough environment, Timothy needed to be ready.

He needed to be ready at all times to ‘reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.‘

In a similar manner, we are called to be ready at all times. As the metaphorical skies grow darker outside, our light will shine out all the more. But we need to be prepared.

We need to be prepared to lay down our lives in patient love and servitude. We need to be prepared to answer tough questions, confront tough realities, and give answers (even if the answer is, ‘I don’t know’) to those who are hurting and broken.

In 2 Timothy 4:5, we read, ‘As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.‘

To bear witness to Christ is to be involved in a work. It’s a job. It’s a calling. And it’s a more important calling than any other you may have on your life. We need to be ready to “do the work of an evangelist,” and to “fulfill our ministries.”

With this in mind, I would call on all of us – myself, my family, and anyone reading this article – to start preparing. Get in the Word. Get in prayer. Don’t neglect the things of God any longer. Spend time with Him, receiving His strength and His mercy.

We will need it in the days to come.

Be prepared.

3. Be Mournful

For all I’ve written about being thankful, I believe there is also a place for mourning as Christian persecution in America rises to ever-increasing heights.

Why should we mourn? And for who?

We should mourn for those around us who don’t know Christ. We should feel a burden for their souls. As hostility towards Christ and His followers intensifies, we would do well to remember that the worst effects of this hostility will fall not on us, but upon those who direct it towards us.

Those who are hostile to God, those who persecute His people, are those who are most to be pitied. Unless saved by God, they will spend a lifetime in hatred, before departing for an eternity of all-consuming punishment. These people will live miserable lives, scratching for anything they can find in the world that might bring them pleasure.

We see this today already.

Those who have the most worldly possessions are also often miserable. Those who seek after drugs and alcohol get wrapped up in lives of sickness, poverty, and crime. Those who hate Christ cannot find rest. They can self-medicate, they can distract themselves, and they can turn to the vices of the world to cope, but they cannot find rest.

This will only get worse with time.

As the world turns against God, the world will be digging itself into a hole. Misery will abound. The great lie of Satan is that God withholds good things, and that true pleasure and goodness is found by going around Him.

As the world buys the lies of Satan, its situation will only deteriorate – not improve.

This should burden us and sadden us. It should inspire us all the more to repent of our own sin and reach those who are sinking. We ought to have our hearts broken over the brokenness of the world, and over the disastrous effects of sin – both towards ourselves and towards those who don’t know God.

Be mournful.

Christian Persecution in America: a Conclusion

In John 16, Jesus says,

"Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:32-33)

Looking ahead to the future, we might be tempted to be either angry or fearful. We might be tempted towards anger at seeing the destruction of cherished traditions. We might be tempted towards anger at the thought of living in a world that hates us, and doesn’t hide that hatred. We might be tempted to be fearful of what may happen.

How bad will things get? Will the government ever outlaw Christianity? Will there come a time when I must choose between my job and my public profession of faith? What then?

These fears are rational, but I don’t think that God wants us to either bury them or dwell on them.

Instead, reflect on what Christ said in John 16: ‘…take heart; I have overcome the world.‘

Ultimately, our sense of security and worth comes from Jesus. This world will approach us with every manner of things. In the world there is temptation. Temptation pulls us to turn our backs on the Lord.

In the world is also hatred and vitriol. Such hatred pulls us to feel angry, powerless, and discouraged.

But Jesus Christ, our model in all things, dealt with everything we will ever deal with and more. Christ dealt with slander and accusations. He dealt with temptation. He dealt with being thrown in prison, wrongly convicted, and brutally murdered.

And even after His resurrection, Christ has been present with His Church throughout centuries upon centuries of persecution, hatred, slander, and slaughter.

But His words remain the same: ‘Take heart; I have overcome the world.’

Does this mean that we are immune from the things of this world? No. But if we cast ourselves on Jesus Christ, if we fully lean into Him, we will be able to take heart.

There’s a reason why history is full of examples of people who were beaten, jailed, or enslaved for their faith, yet came out the other side all the more in love with Christ.

It’s because Jesus has already overcome the world.

Nothing can touch Him. Nothing threatens Him. Nothing happens outside His knowledge and His ability to deal with. And He is able to care for all the needs of His followers, whatever situation they find themselves in.

We still live in the world, and we have to deal with the world, but Christ has overcome the world. Whatever suffering we must endure in this life is but for only a short time. And even the worst suffering ever endured by a follower of Christ will be but a light affliction when viewed in light of the reward that is coming.

Take heart, Believer.

Christian persecution is coming to America, but our Lord will have the victory. And as we follow Him, as we serve Him, we too will share in this victory. And so will all those who we bring into the Kingdom as we serve Christ.

Take heart.

Tagged : America / Bible / Christian Persecution / Christianity / Following Christ / Jesus / Persecution / United States

God Gave us a Spirit of Power – Not Timidity

by JacobMarch 24, 2022March 24, 2022Christian Living

The Lord does not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power. Here’s a look at how the Holy Spirit empowers us to move past our fears.

Continue readingTagged : Bible / God / Holy Spirit / Jesus / Spirit of fear / Spirit of power / Spirit of timidity

The Cost of Not Following Christ

by JacobJanuary 7, 2022January 7, 2022Theology

Following Christ is costly, as He demands your life. Yet not following Him is a grave mistake that is infinitely more expensive.

Some years ago, I came across this video:

The video, titled ‘It Will Cost You Everything’ is an 11-minute long exhortation to count the costs of following Jesus Christ. It brings up an oft-ignored aspect of the Christian life – that to follow Jesus, one must count the costs and be willing to give up everything for the sake of Christ.

This is true.

Christ demands absolute obedience, and a total selling out to His lordship. Simply look to the Gospel of Luke, where we read the following:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-27)

How often is it that we focus upon this piece of Scripture? It doesn’t preach well, does it? It doesn’t sound as rosy and positive as ‘God’s plan is always health and safe living.’ Here we learn that those who would be Christ’s disciples must be willing to forsake everything for the sake of Jesus. We must live a “crucified” life.

That’s what it is to follow Jesus.

Following Christ is Difficult

Following Jesus is not easy. It is not necessarily a life of wealth, health, and prosperity. It is not a life of great popularity. In fact, Paul even remarks in 1 Corinthians that,

...If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:17-19, emphasis mine)

In other words, if Jesus has not truly been raised from the dead (that is, He isn’t who He claimed to be), then we’re the most pitiful people in the world. Here we are, living a crucified life where we no longer satisfy the demands of the flesh and follow life’s broad, easy way… and all for nothing? What an awful way to live!

Of course, Paul goes on to write in the next sentence that we do have every reason to hope. Christ is raised, God is God, and our eternal reward is coming. But if this were not so, then we would be living a life of immense sacrifice for no good reason at all.

Following Jesus is expensive, the Bible says. You have to give up much. You don’t just ‘get in’ through the narrow gate and walk the narrow way that leads to life without submitting to Christ and laying down your life. Following Christ will be tough. It’s not for the faint of heart. It is costly.

But NOT following Him is more costly.

Following Christ is Costly… But NOT Following is More Costly

As humans, we stand at the crossroads between two choices: surrender to Christ and be saved, or run from Christ and experience eternal punishment. God gives us the choice between the two. We can choose one or the other, but we will make a choice… whether we realize it or not.

Choosing to follow Christ is costly. To turn to Jesus will ultimately require us to give up some things. As Steve Lawson says in the video shown at the beginning of this article, it will cost us everything. All our possessions, hopes, dreams, desires, talents, strengths, and weaknesses will eventually be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It may take us some time in getting there (and we will never be perfect at it in this life), but obedience and increasing holiness will be the pattern of the life of a Believer in Jesus.

It’s a costly life. But what are the costs of not following Jesus? Let’s find out.

The Cost of Not Following Christ

When one chooses to not follow Jesus, he may initially experience what we might call “rewards.”

Without Jesus, the man is free to pursue his own desires without any resistance at all. He has no moral code obligating him to a higher standard of righteousness, save for the laws and morals that society places on him. There is no voice in his heart pleading with him to quit his sin. There is no community around him holding him to a great moral standard.

If he wants to drink and do drugs, he can do so. If he wants to make lots of money and spend it on his pleasures, he may do so. If his desire is to have as many relationships as he can, he may do that too. Of course, he probably feels worse and worse all the time as he pursues his pleasures, but the world offers those pleasures for a reason: they’re a distraction from the spiritual damage brought on by such a lifestyle.

As his life draws to its end, we may compare it with the life of a man who accepted Christ. Whereas the Christian has little wealth, the unbeliever has great wealth. Whereas the Christian didn’t experience “the world” – that is, the pleasures of an ultimate focus on the self – the unbeliever did.

The unbeliever might even say, “Sure, I’m no saint. But I lived my life to its fullest, and I enjoyed my time here.”

While the Christian had to learn to control his body and say ‘no’ to his desires, the unbeliever spent his entire life in full pursuit of that which made his flesh happy. While the Christian had to obey a greater Master, the unbeliever was free to do as he pleased.

The conclusion? From an outsider’s point of view, one might say that the unbeliever has come out ahead. He denied himself no pleasure and allowed himself whatever he wanted.

But here’s the rub: life has only just begun.

The True Costs Compared

When the unbeliever dies, a terrible fate awaits him. Dying without Christ, the unbeliever stands condemned before God. He pleads with God, perhaps even begs God to spare him the fate of those who do not accept the Lord. Yet God will not. The unbelieving man had every opportunity to believe upon Jesus, but he didn’t do so.

I will not go into detail on what the unbeliever experiences next. However, we must understand one thing: we ALL have an eternal destination. We will go to a place in which our consciousness, our soul, never dies. There are only two places in which to spend this eternity: either Heaven or Hell. In Heaven, those who believed in Christ will experience pleasures that nothing in this world could ever equal or even come close to. In Heaven, there will be perfect bliss and perfect pleasure for all eternity.

But in Hell? In Hell, we have a complete and total absence of pleasure. Scripture tells us that the torment of those in Hell never pauses. There is no cheerful smile in Hell; there is no joy, no happiness, no rest, and – worst of all – no hope.

Thus, the choice becomes clear. We have a choice between the following:

A lifetime of imperfect pleasure (up to 100 years long, if you’re lucky), and an eternity of torment, or
A lifetime of obedience to God (which is NOT always drab and dull), and an eternity of the richest pleasure and life we could possibly imagine.

As we stand back and survey these options, I am reminded of the account in the Bible where Esau, the brother of Jacob, sold his inheritance for a bowl of stew. This man literally sold his entire inheritance for a small bowl of mush. And it probably wasn’t even that good, either. Talk about a bad trade! I’m sure we all would recognize it as such. But if we refuse to accept Christ because “the cost is too great,” then we are doing the same thing Esau did all those years ago.

Why Do People Reject Christ?

A sad truth of the world this: many people are confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and come away having rejected the Savior.

Why?

I mean, wouldn’t everyone desire eternity in paradise? Why reject Christ, when He offers you an eternity of treasure and life and joy?

Simply put, most people reject Christ because they cannot bring themselves to give up their life to Him. They are like the rich young ruler of Mark 10, who walked away from Jesus with sorrow in his heart because he couldn’t give up his earthly possessions for the sake of the Lord.

Those who reject Jesus are rejecting the claim He has over their lives; they reject His Lordship and authority. When you become a follower of Christ, you are purchased by Him at the cost of His life. He owns you. He becomes your Lord and your king.

And in doing so, He – not you – has the right to use your life as He sees fit.

Of course, this is costly. It means giving up the rights to your life in the here and now. But look at what you gain! When your life becomes hidden in Christ, it is truly safe and truly saved. When one rejects Jesus, he is rejecting what is best for him. When a man or woman turns away from the Savior, he or she is embracing the lie that the cost of following Jesus is too great.

Instead, we might ask a counter-question: why would anyone NOT follow Jesus, when the cost is so little?

The Splendor of Following Christ

Think about it. This world is fraught with trouble and difficulty. Life has its highs and also its lows; that much is true regardless of whether you believe in Christ or not. So in the end, can we really say that living without the yoke of Christ is that much more pleasing than living with His yoke upon us?

In my own life, some of the happiest people I’ve ever known were those who were sold out for Christ. These were the men and women who truly gave everything they had to “buy the treasure” that is the Kingdom of Heaven. These people gave up much, but were happier than those who chose to reserve everything for themselves. Do the unbelievers – those who count the costs of following Jesus as too great – really come out better in this life?

I would say that the answer is “no.” Following Jesus requires sacrifice, but it comes with great joy and great abundance of life… even in this life. The unbelieving crowd often claims, “Christians are so heavenly-minded that they’re no earthly good.” They say, “Worrying about the afterlife is no way to live this life.”

Yet it is Believers who often prove to be the happiest, healthiest, most generous, and most impactful souls in the world. Jesus’ demand for obedience may seem to be the death of our own happiness, yet full submission to Him seems to also yield the greatest joy and pleasure we can hope to experience in this life.

In the end, following Jesus will prove costly. It may cost you success, promotions, friendships, easiness of life, and physical pleasure. It might even cost your very life.

But when the two options are weighed in the balance – the option of following and the option of not following – it becomes clear that one choice is a sham that results in neither the best this life has to offer, nor the next.

When you choose to follow Jesus, you are making nothing less than the most rational choice a human being can make. And you can rest assured that Christ – who has bought you with His blood – has only your best interests at heart.

Tagged : Bible / Cost / Following Christ / Following Jesus / Heaven / Hell / Jesus

What is Biblical Manhood?

by JacobSeptember 22, 2021September 22, 2021Christian Living

Biblical manhood is sorely lacking in our world today, but what does it mean to be a man of God? We’ll examine the basics in this introduction.

Please note: this article only covers the basics. There will be more articles posted to this site soon that deal with different topics related to being a Biblical man. It's a wide-reaching topic with many different avenues to explore!

As a young man myself, Biblical manhood is a topic that sits near and dear to my heart.

What does it mean to be a Christian man? What is Biblical manhood?

Let us cut right to the point: being a man of God is about putting Christ first in everything you do. That may sound like a ‘well… duh!’ statement, but hear me out.

There are two super-broad callings that God assigns to human beings in adulthood. If you’re female, you’re called to be a woman of God. If you’re male, you’re called to be a man of God.

These two callings have a great deal of overlap. Both men and women are called to submit fully to Jesus. Both are called to love sacrificially. Both are called to respect and honor other people. Both are created with equal worth before God, and both are equally vital in this life.

Without Biblical womanhood, things go wrong. Without Biblical manhood, things go wrong.

Now, while both of these roles are very similar in some ways, they’re also very different in others. Here are a few examples:

Men (as husbands) are called to be the “head” of their households. Women (as wives) are called to submit to their husbands. (Ephesians 5:23-24).
Men are called to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Women are called to respect their husbands. (Ephesians 5:25-32).
Men are called to provide and protect their families (1 Timothy 5:8).

Obviously, these are not exhaustive. There are many further distinctions made between men and women in Scripture. Suffice it to say that (a) the callings of Biblical womanhood and manhood are equally important and are alike in many ways, and (b) these two callings are also different and distinct in many ways.

The Distinct Calling of Biblical Manhood

Many in today’s culture will take issue with the idea that the callings of men and women are separate. However, you cannot get away from this idea in Scripture. If we’re being true to everything the Bible says, we must admit that Biblical manhood and Biblical womanhood are distinct callings of equal importance and equal worth.

Anyone who teaches that there is no distinction between manhood and womanhood is teaching incorrectly. On the other hand, anyone who teaches that manhood is superior to womanhood (or vice-versa) is also teaching incorrectly.

They’re separate, vital, and equal. Both are absolutely essential. Both are necessary. Both have many things in common.

But they’re distinct.

For men, the calling of Biblical manhood is inherently leadership-oriented. We are called to submit fully to Jesus in all that we do, and out of this submission, we are called to lead sacrificially.

If you’re an adult male who believes upon Jesus Christ, congrats: you’re a leader. You may or may not know it yet, but that is what you’re called to be. You may not feel ready for it yet, but that’s what you’re called to be.

Now, don’t get me wrong – biblical womanhood also involves leadership. But it’s generally exercised in a different way.

When I say “leadership,” I mean that men are called to get out in front and plow the proverbial snow off the roads so that others can walk behind them. Biblical manhood is about bearing burdens so that others don’t have to.

The Nature of Biblical Manhood

A man of God is called to lead. But before we can talk about leadership, we have to talk about the essence – or the nature – of genuine Biblical manhood.

To do this, let’s first look at what it is not.

One of the world’s most common misconceptions of manhood is that it is all about rugged individualism, self-reliance, muscle, and testosterone.

Take the American “ideal” of a man: he is tall, muscular, drinks beer, plays/watches sports, dominates at the office, takes home a big paycheck, has a trophy wife (or girlfriend), drives a sleek and sporty car, and puts his own sensual pleasures above all other things.

He needs no one, and – perhaps by association – no one truly needs him. He’s a free agent who can do his own thing on his own time.

How do I know this? I’ve watched a lot of TV, seen a lot of movies, and met a lot of people. If you’ve been immersed in American culture for any significant length of time, you will have to nod your head in agreement with what I’ve just written.

Our culture subliminally tells men that there is something wrong with them if they’re not muscular, sexually promiscuous, fun-loving, and money-oriented. According to the popular culture, a man ought to be someone who can get whatever he wants whenever he wants.

And that has been our ideal – more or less – since the 1950s. But here’s the problem: it’s wrong.

The American ideal of a man is something birthed out of consumerism. If you read back through the description written above, you will find that you can distill it down to one base essence: a man is defined by what he consumes.

This is why you can watch NFL games on TV and every commercial is about beer, cars, and medicines designed to increase a man’s sexual performance. The message is this: your manhood is defined by what you consume.

Want to be more manly? Drink this beer.

What to be more manly? Buy this car.

Want to be more manly? Take this medicine and have your share of fun.

Pop culture manhood is about consumption. But Biblical manhood stands in sharp relief to this.

Biblical manhood is about what you PRODUCE.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Men of God are supposed to be givers, not takers. They’re producers, not consumers. A man of God should not ask himself, “What can I get out of this?”

Rather, he should ask himself, “What can I give?”

Biblical manhood is about what you produce; it’s about adding value to others’ lives. Therefore, a Biblical man is first and foremost a servant. Nowhere was this more perfectly modeled than in the life of Jesus Christ, who is our ideal for what true manhood looks like.

Jesus, though He was unlimited in power and incomprehensible in intellect, humbled Himself to the point of dying on the cross for us. He endured not only physical pain, but spiritual anguish and the mockery of the world.

In fact, if you could go back in time to the day Jesus was crucified, you would find that virtually nobody considered Him a “success.” Instead, they would say He died for nothing. They would label Him at the very most a dangerous heretic, and at the very least a blundering fool whose life was marked by delusion.

How could someone with such power – after all, He claimed to be God – meet such a shameful death? Even in the days of ancient Rome, the popular culture’s ideal of masculinity was corrupt.

Jesus did not die a wealthy man. He did not die a powerful man, except in the eyes of those few who truly followed Him. He did not die a glorious death. His end was met on a cross, at the hands of executioners. The Roman ideal for death would have been one of heroic sacrifice in battle, where one laid down his life for the good of his fellow soldiers.

To the eyes of the world, Christ did not die an honorable or glorious death.

He died in shame, in dishonor, and – though He claimed to be God and claimed to bring a new kingdom to the world – was instead arrested, beaten, and killed. To all who watched, it seemed that this man had a mission… and failed in the most miserable and lowly ways possible.

But you and I know the truth.

Did Jesus really fail in His mission? Of course not! His life was not marked by delusion, weakness, and failure (as the pop culture of His day thought), but rather consistent humility, servanthood, and sacrifice. That is our template for manhood.

Truly, we have some big shoes to fill.

What does the life of Jesus Christ teach us about what it looks like to be a man? It teaches us that we do not define success in terms of dollars signs, possessions, or sexual partners. We do not define success in terms of power or position. We don’t even get to define success by what others think of us.

We define our success as Biblical men by one standard only: are we living for Christ, and in doing so, are we laying our lives down for the good of others?

That is the benchmark by which we measure Biblical manhood.

Biblical Manhood is About Leading Well

Leadership – particularly the leadership that should be embodied by men of God – deserves a long article in its own right. I fully plan on writing one soon. But as we near the end of this post, I’d like to simply touch briefly on the necessity of leadership.

Biblical men are leaders. But this leadership is not about “getting your way.”

Because our culture’s ideal of masculinity is corrupted, our culture’s ideal of leadership is also corrupted. Many people believe that leaders are those who always come first, who get the biggest portions, and who receive the most favorable treatment. They believe that leaders are those who, either by seniority or competence, deserve and receive the “best.”

But nothing could be further from the truth.

That is what our culture says leadership is, but it’s not true leadership. The culture’s view of leadership is one where the leader is being served, whereas Biblical leadership is all about serving others.

Jesus is our foremost example in this area. Just as He perfectly modeled Biblical manhood, He also perfectly modeled the Biblical standard of leadership.

As was shown earlier, Christ’s life was a constant example of sacrifice and servanthood. He was the leader of all leaders, the most perfect leader the world has ever seen.

And what did it get Him?

Well, it got Him crucified. Christ’s leadership was a constant laying down of His own interests for others. Christ did nothing from selfish ambition and nothing for the sake of gaining fame or fortune. He did everything out of sincere love and deep sacrifice.

This is our example.

Christ exemplified Biblical manhood, and – in doing so – Biblical leadership. As a man of God, your call is to die to yourself and use your strength to stand up for others. It’s a call to seek the welfare of your family, your friends, and your neighbors before yourself.

It is a call to imitate Jesus, and while we will never perfectly do this, it is up to us to submit to Him as best we can, trusting Him to empower us to live a life of service and worship.

As a last resource, please feel free to check out Paul Washer’s teachings on Biblical manhood. You can find them on YouTube and on other online sites. Here’s a shorter video that serves well as an introduction:

God bless.

Tagged : Bible / Biblical manhood / Christian man / Jesus / Leadership / Man of God / Servant

The Godly Will Experience Persecution

by JacobSeptember 2, 2021September 2, 2021Christian Living

The Bible tells us that all those who desire to live a godly life will experience persecution. Here’s a look at how we should handle persecution as followers of Christ.

I went on a mission trip when I was a sophomore in college. While on the trip, our team took an evening to watch a movie called The Insanity of God.

I don’t remember a whole lot of the film, but I do remember the story of a man named Dmitri.

Dmitri’s Story: a Life of Persecution

Dmitri was a Russian pastor who served the Lord during the days of the Soviet Union’s harsh crackdown on religion. He was arrested one evening when Communist officials broke into his house during a religious service.

The Soviet government had him transported to a state prison 600 miles away. The prison was filled with 1,500 hardened criminals.

The next 17 years would be the toughest years of his life.

During that time, he was relentlessly beaten and tortured by prison guards for his faith. He was also mocked and hated by the other inmates, who were convinced that Dmitri’s continued worship of Jesus was nothing more than a make-believe fantasy.

But Dmitri persisted.

One day, the guards discovered a piece of paper in Dmitri’s cell. On the paper, he had written down every Bible verse and promise of God that he could remember. The guards were irate. They started to drag Dmitri from his cell, fully intending to kill him.

But suddenly, all 1,500 prison inmates came to the front of their cells and raised their hands in worship, singing the same song that Dmitri had sung every morning during his 17 years at the prison.

Shocked, the guards froze in their tracks. They stared at Dmitri and said, “Who are you?”

Dmitri looked them directly in the eye and replied that he was a child of the living God.

Shortly after this incident, he was released.

All Who Desire to Live a Godly Life Will Experience Persecution

Dmitri was, quite simply, a man who desired to live a Godly life. His focus was not on the world.

His focus was on God.

The apostle Paul found himself in the same boat. A fiery evangelist during the time of Rome’s fiercest persecution of Christians, Paul was often arrested, beaten, tortured, and ostracized for his faith.

In 2 Timothy 3, he wrote these words:

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [2 Timothy 3:12-13, ESV]

If anyone was familiar with persecution, it was Paul. In fact, the letter of 2 Timothy was written during a period of imprisonment for Paul, likely from a prison cell. Paul spoke often about his experience with persecution and his time spent “in chains.”

But why, really, was Paul persecuted so intensely?

It’s for the same reason that many of Christ’s followers have been persecuted throughout history: because the world hates them. The world is at enmity with God.

Jesus Himself tells us that the world hated Him first. Therefore, it will hate His followers as well.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [John 15:18-19, ESV]

This is the fundamental reason behind persecution: the world hates God. If we love God and keep to Him, the world will hate us by association.

That is a fact.

When Paul was writing the letter of 2 Timothy, he did not say, “Those who desire to live a godly life might be persecuted.” Instead, he asserted it as an inarguable truth.

All those who desire to live a godly life WILL be persecuted.

God and the world do not see eye to eye. Therefore, there will always be deep conflict between them.

What Does Persecution Look Like?

If you’re a Christian in the United States or much of the rest of the Western world, you are probably unfamiliar with the level of persecution that Paul and Dmitri endured.

You’ve probably never been arrested, beaten, or imprisoned for your faith.

You’ve probably never gone to sleep with the nagging worry that your door would be kicked down in the middle of the night by the secret police.

But even for those of us who live in nations that prize freedom of worship, persecution is still to be expected. It simply changes forms.

Persecution might look like others disliking you for your faith. If you put Jesus first, then you’re likely to become an outcast among many groups in society. You may have others who ridicule you or make fun of you for your devotion to Christ.

People may bash you for your unwillingness to participate in the same activities they do.

Persecution might also look like being discriminated against in the workplace. It is becoming increasingly common for employers and managers to see devoted Christians as “Jesus freaks,” who will try to force their religion on others at every opportunity.

As a result, practicing Christians are often passed over for promotions. Some may even be fired for things related to their beliefs.

In recent times, a worrying trend in the United States (and much of Europe) has been a trend towards restricting religious liberty in the field of business. There are many laws being passed that outlaw “discrimination” against people of un-Biblical sexual lifestyles.

Although these laws may be well-meaning, they have the effect of forcing Christian business owners to cater to lifestyles that they do not support.

If the Christian sticks to his beliefs, he may face severe financial penalties or even lose his business.

Indeed, persecution of Christians in many Western nations is on the rise. Whereas Judeo-Christian morality used to be the expected norm in the West, this morality is fast becoming hated and even persecuted. Our nations are becoming increasingly hostile to Christians because they are becoming more and more worldly.

Simply remember what Jesus said: the world hated Him first, and it will hate us too.

Persecution, in some form or another, is unavoidable.

Standing During Persecution

Thankfully, the Scripture gives us encouragement when it comes to persecution. And our God, being a good Father, does not leave us out to dry.

Perhaps the greatest piece of encouragement comes at the end of John 16.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. [John 16:33, ESV]

From this, we can glean a sort of recipe on how to stand during persecution. Here’s point number one:

1: Be anchored in the Word of God.

If you really want to be able to stand against the insults, hatred, and persecution of the world, you will need to be saturated with the Word of God. Notice how Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.”

If we desire strength to stand, we need to first look at the sayings of Jesus. And where do we find that? In the Bible!

The more we devote ourselves to reading God’s word and knowing Him, the more sturdy and anchored we will be in Him. Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

To stand during the trials of this life, we first must be rooted in the Word. We must know our God, having gained faith by hearing His Word.

2: Know that persecution is coming.

It is one thing to ride a bike when the training wheels are on. It’s quite another to ride a bike without the training wheels.

Oftentimes, we receive the Word gladly and we share it with others. We love the sweet fellowship. We love to talk about Christ with those who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We need this fellowship – it is vital for our walk in Christ.

How disappointing is it, then, when we try to talk about Christ with someone at work or in public and they call us a religious freak? How much does that let the air out of our proverbial tires?

It’s easy to become discouraged when we expect the Christian life to be a cake walk. Aside from knowing our God, the second thing we have to do is this: we need to expect trials and persecution.

Life as a follower of Christ is not easy. It requires great sacrifice and endurance. Those who tell you that your life will magically get easier once you devote yourself to God are not telling you the whole truth.

Does our life get easier? In many ways, yes. We have the joy of fellowship with our Creator and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But we also experience persecution. We will draw the hatred of those who don’t know God.

In many ways, life will get harder… significantly harder.

Will this be uncomfortable? Yes. Will it ever get easy? No. But we need to expect it. We need to know that it’s coming – for all of us. For every Christian, there will be experiences of persecution and difficulty. We should get ourselves used to this and acquainted with this fact.

We will have troubles. But…

3: Take Heart in Jesus

We can read the Word, engage in fellowship, and get acquainted with the fact that persecution will happen. But none of those things will do us much good if we aren’t constantly looking to Christ.

Jesus’ call at the end of John 16 is a call to assurance. It’s a call to rest. We don’t endure persecution on our own.

When you’re called names for your faith, you aren’t standing alone. When you’re excluded from groups or shut out of promotions, you’re not standing alone. You are not an island.

Jesus is always there.

But we have to look to Him.

When things get tough, we must look to Him. We must behold Him, keeping Him always in our sight. We must remind ourselves that He’s there to bear our burdens with us.

And, ultimately, He has overcome the world.

You see, it is easy to let the world get the best of us. Think back to Dmitri. Wouldn’t it have been so tempting for him to renounce his faith? Wouldn’t it have been tempting for him to look at the might of the prison, the guards, and the anti-Christian Soviet government, and simply lay down in defeat?

I don’t know about you, but I would have been tempted. And I’m sure he was as well.

Where is my God? He must have asked. Why have I been in prison for 17 years, away from my family for 17 years, unable to preach and unable to witness?

It is so easy to lose heart during persecution. It is so easy to behold the might of whatever is persecuting you – the government, your business, your friends, your family – and to be deeply discouraged.

But no matter how big the mountain may seem, Jesus has overcome it. He overcame everything when He died and rose again. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, killed, and then resurrected, He defeated the powers of darkness.

Does darkness still have a hold on our world? Yes. But it’s a temporary hold. It’s a slipping hold. Satan is losing. It may look like he’s winning; it may appear that Satan is busy making 1st downs while Christians are being sacked.

But Satan is losing.

And in the end, he will be exposed for what he is. His works will be destroyed and his power will be broken. All the persecution you endure will be compensated for and then some.

If you’re experiencing persecution, dear Believer, please know this: it is not for nothing. It serves a purpose. God has a reason and a plan. God will be with you.

He does not forsake you.

This life is temporary; it’s nothing more than a vapor… and then it is gone.

Your 60, 70, 80, or 100 years of struggle here are nothing compared to the glory that is to come.

So stand strong, Believer, and let us take up our cross after our Lord. Let us “strive on to finish the work that we are in.”

God bless you.

Tagged : Christianity / Experience Persecution / Godly / Jesus / Persecution / Religious Freedom / Worship

Safe Christianity?

by JacobAugust 25, 2021August 24, 2021Uncategorized

Do you have a “safe Christianity?”

What I mean is this: is your Christianity comfortable? Is it tame? Is it neatly compartmentalized, where your time with God is totally separate from work, school, family, friends, or leisure? Is it risk-averse, where you feel the need to keep it “private,” lest you risk offending anyone?

If you’re like most others – including me – this is an all-too-accurate description of your faith.

This faith is tame, calm, beneath the surface, tucked out of sight, and unlikely to do anything big. It’s that special family heirloom which is placed in a box and then hidden on the top shelf of a closet.

It’s something that could be so powerful, yet we relegate it to be just another facet of our busy lives.

Here in Western civilization, we’ve developed a rather unique brand of the Christian faith over the last hundred years or so.

This is what I’m talking about: we’re obsessed with being comfortable.

If a new church is being built, we haggle over minute details.

How many stalls in the bathroom? Where will the speakers go in the worship center? How many lights in the entrance foyer?

Sometimes, debates such as these can cause splits within the church. It can literally drive people to leave because they didn’t get their way.

In our personal lives, we might consider it “bold” to wear a T-shirt with a cross on it, or to listen to Christian music where someone else may just pass by and hear.

We rarely – if ever – share our faith with others. Even with friends, we often don’t broach the subject.

To do so would risk offending them. And we can’t have that.

But guess what?

This “safe” faith that so many of us possess is not only weak; it’s also not what Jesus wants for us.

Jesus did not come to die on the cross for our redemption just so we could tuck our faith away in a corner and live life like everyone else.

Safe Christianity is not really Christianity.

Safe Christianity is NOT Biblical Christianity

In Revelation, Jesus gives seven messages to the seven primary churches at the time. All of the churches had their problems (the church is composed of fallen humans, after all), but perhaps the strongest-worded message that Jesus gave was to the church in Laodicea.

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. [Revelation 3:15-18, ESV]

When I read this passage, I cannot help but think about the current state of the Church in America (and the rest of the Western world).

We are neither hot nor cold!

This is the essence of “safe Christianity.” Safe Christianity is lukewarm. It seeks to keep one foot in the world and another foot in the Kingdom.

Safe Christianity is noncommittal.

It doesn’t take any risks for the glory of God. It doesn’t hold to Christ when things get tough. It doesn’t truly believe that there is power in our faith!

Safe Christianity dwells among the ranks of the prosperous. It especially relishes air-conditioned buildings, comfortable pews, ornate walls, rock concert worship services with bright lights and smoke machines, and preaching that is all talk and no action.

Now, do I mean that churches that have some of these things are necessarily “lukewarm” churches? No! Not at all.

But if your first focus is on the bright lights, good coffee, or emotional preaching, then a little red flag ought to go up.

What I truly intend to say is this:

Safe Christianity will never push you. It will never challenge you. It is a spectator sport. You get to sit there, eat bagels and drink coffee, and watch a performance.

It doesn’t go any deeper than that.

This is NOT Biblical Christianity. Not even close. Safe Christianity – which is, I daresay, the largest faction of Christianity in America today – is not what Jesus has in mind for us.

It’s neither hot nor cold. It exists among the ranks of the prosperous, those who are more concerned with their bank accounts than with doing the will of God.

It turns church into little more than a social club, something that you just “do” because it’s the “right thing to do.”

Does this sound like your faith? As I look in the mirror, I realize that this sounds an awful lot like my faith.

I have a lot of growing to do, and so do you!

True Faith: What Jesus Wants From Us (and For Us!)

We’ve already talked about the un-Biblical nature of “safe Christianity.” But what does real faith look like?

It’s simple: real faith will throw in with Christ!

What do I mean by this? Real faith is all about following Jesus and joining forces with Him. It’s about following Him no matter where He leads us.

Real faith risks a lot. It risks friendships, job security, and safety. It risks offending others.

Real faith compels you to share your resources generously with those around you. It compels you to put your time, money, effort, wisdom, and gifts to good use.

It compels you to give up your very life for the sake of Jesus. It compels you to die to yourself.

When you commit your life to Jesus Christ – when you become a disciple of His – you are signing away ALL of your rights, privileges, resources, and freedoms.

It’s true. You are giving everything you have to Him.

He died on the cross to save you and redeem you. The Bible tells us that He literally “purchased” us. He bought us.

We’re His. Everything we are is His.

This is not safe, is it?

Think about it. Is it safe to give complete control of your entire life to someone else?

No. In fact, giving your life to someone else is complete foolishness.

Unless that “someone” is Jesus Christ.

As it turns out, giving your entire life to Christ is the single most logical and rational thing that anyone could ever do. You see, this entire world is passing away. In 70 or 80 years, it’s very likely that both you and I will be dead.

Everything we’ve ever worked for – money, power, influence, fame, relationships, etc. – will be gone.

In 200 years, it’s likely that nobody will remember who we even were.

Without Jesus, we will NOT make an eternal impact. Our safe Christianity would tell us, “Keep one foot in the world! Work to make money, to gain power, to show others who you are. Go to church, study the Bible, but make sure that you’re prioritizing you over everything else. Don’t risk anything! Don’t share your faith; stay in your lane.”

Such a line of thinking may seem reasonable, but it’s foolish.

If you keep to comfort, to money, to achievement, you won’t do anything of real eternal significance. But if you yield all you are to all Jesus is, you will. He guarantees it.

It may sound “dangerous” to go all-in with Christ, and it is. It may (and probably will) cost you friendships, promotions, comfort, and an easy life.

But it’s worth it. To do otherwise is to follow a worthless path.

Jesus wants us to be on fire for Him. He wants us out there in the thick of things, winning souls and leading others to Him. He wants us to make disciples of all people. He wants to leverage our resources, skills, strengths, and even weaknesses for His higher purposes.

He wants us to live in radical obedience to Him, even obedience to the point of death.

That is the type of faith Jesus wants from us. And it’s the type of faith He wants for us.

You see, when you’re living life dangerously and “on mission” (and all of us should be), you will be blessed by Him in ways you never would have thought possible.

Your fellowship with the Creator of the universe will be sweeter than you ever thought possible. Your bond with other true Believers will be deeper than you ever felt before.

Safe Christianity has little risk and no reward.

True Christianity has high risk, but with infinite reward.

Today, dear Believer, I challenge you to do this: commit your life fully and totally to Jesus Christ. Throw yourself at Him. Instead of seeking comfort, seek Him. Instead of seeking to have one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom, hop over entirely to the Kingdom and seek Him.

Be radical in your faith and obedience to Jesus.

It will cost you much – in fact, it will cost you everything – but you will gain so much more than you lost.

God bless!

Tagged : American Christianity / Bible / Following Christ / Jesus / Safety / Western Christianity

The Power of God

by JacobJuly 16, 2021July 16, 2021Uncategorized

God is powerful. I mean really powerful. In fact, the power of God is something that we cannot really comprehend. Just when we think we’ve got some kind of handle on it, something new is revealed and our minds are blown again.

Sometime last spring, I stumbled across what is perhaps, in my opinion, one of the greatest sermons of all time. It was given by a preacher with the name of S.M. Lockridge in the early 1980’s out of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, California. I think it’s only an excerpt (click here to listen on YouTube), but it sure is impactful.

Anyway, a major theme that runs through this message is one that I needed – and continue to need – to hear. You see, Lockridge quotes many Bible verses throughout this 14-minute long video. He visits the Old Testament, where he references Psalms and Isaiah. He also visits the New Testament, quoting from Matthew, Revelation, and Mark. And all throughout these verses, he is proclaiming a message of great consequence….

God is powerful. All powerful.

He is so great, so far above us in every way, that we cannot even begin to comprehend His outstanding glory and might. He is to us as the sun is to a speck of dust.

Just think about that for a moment.

Genesis 1 tells us that He created the world in seven days. A huge ball of rock, metal, soil, and water, weighing in at a combined 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds, and He just snapped His fingers and it appeared! By contrast, the biggest structures in human history took decades, even centuries, to build. If we were to unite today as a species and direct all our efforts into constructing the biggest thing ever, we couldn’t build in a century what God did in a split second.

But our Creator didn’t stop there.

While He was forming the earth and separating out its seas and continents, He also created the entire universe. Now the universe is an unfathomably huge place – it’s so wide, our most powerful telescopes cannot see to its end. Light is the fastest thing known to science, and it takes 4 years to travel to earth from the nearest star aside from the sun. It’s estimated that the light from the edge of the observable universe would have to travel for over 12 billion years before reaching us.

Yet God created it all with the gesture of His hand. It takes the fastest thing in the universe an unimaginable amount of time to cross it, yet God just pointed his finger and said, “let it exist!” And it obeyed. Atoms popped into being, energy formed, stars and planets and solar systems came to be. He spoke, and it was so. The great nothingness obeyed Him at His word.

He is extraordinary, and worthy of all praise simply on the nature of who He is.

Now, here’s where things get even more mind-bending: that same God who made the earth also made you and me. The same God who can think an entire planet into existence knitted you together in your mother’s womb. He knew how all your days would turn out before they ever came to pass. And furthermore, although we are all sinners, this God gave us His only Son. He sent Christ to come, live a perfect life, and then die on the cross so that we would be justified and made alive in Him. The God who made the sun, the moon, the earth and the stars… He also made you. He lived for you, died for you, and arose once more for you.

Is that incredible or what?

Here in this world, we’d be absolutely shocked if the president, the prime minister, the king or the queen – whoever our leader is, wherever we live – came up to us, addressed us by name, and offered to take us out to dinner. We’d be shell-shocked. Beyond stunned.

Yet what many of us fail to realize – and I myself used to be one of them – is that we do have a King who knows us. We have a King who cares about us. We have a King who laid down His very life on Calvary so that we could live forever with Him.

That King is Jesus Christ.

That King has supremacy over all creation. It says in Colossians 1:15-17,

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Yes, all things hold together in Him. The stars shine because of Him – He is the one who allows them to go on doing so. If Christ gave the word, the sun would suddenly cease to give its light. If He gave the word, water would flow uphill. If He gave the word, the planets would fly out of their orbits and careen into the blackness of outer space.

All things, everything that ever has been or will be, hold together in Him. And that same Christ desires a relationship with you.

He desires you to lay down your life and come to Him, surrendering all you are to all He is. He is Lord, and He is Savior. He is Friend, and He is King. He is everything, or He is nothing. He gives life, and without Him there is none.

He calls to you. Will you answer?

For the Christian, will you answer His call to keep up the fight? Temptation is powerful. We all make mistakes: I have made them, you have made them. Our adversary, the devil, is always working against us. He’s warring for our joy, for our very life, and he is seeking whom he may devour. Do not let him devour you. Hold strong to the Lord, serving Him with a willing heart, no matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve slid. God is powerful enough to deliver you and set you upright. If He spoke the universe into being, imagine what He can do with your life if you’ll let Him.

Now, to the one who does not believe, will you answer His call in your heart? You can fill that emptiness within you with a lot of things. You can fill it with drugs; you can fill it with money. You can fill it with relationships, or even volunteer work. You can fill it with a career, or with achievement.

But it’ll never be enough.

Only Jesus Christ is sufficient. Only He can truly fill you with light and with love, with peace and contentment.

Come to Him. For He says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10). Lay down your life, surrender to Him, and know true peace, joy, and contentment forevermore.

Tagged : Bible / God / God is good / Jesus / Power / Space / Universe

Psalm 51: Create in Me a Pure Heart

by JacobJuly 16, 2021July 16, 2021Christian Living

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51: 10-12)

Even the most devoted Christians fall victim to sin.

Sometimes, it comes upon us suddenly and with little warning. We stub our toe and say something we shouldn’t. We hear about what happened to one of our family members and a flash of red-hot anger wells to the surface. Perhaps we even sin without fully knowing it – driving over the speed limit (and thus breaking the law), or failing to give thanks to God for something He provided for us.

‘Minor sins’ such as these (and I put the term in quotes because these transgressions are no less sinful than any others) are often looked upon in daily Christian life as nuisances. They’re typically the reason we sit down and say to ourselves ‘well, we are human, after all.‘ But at the end of the day, we can be rest assured these sins are forgiven us. It’s quite easy for us to look past a stray curse word or even a speeding ticket. When it comes to ‘nuisance sins,’ we often have little trouble resting in the power of Christ Jesus.

But what happens when our sins aren’t so small? What happens when we’ve really crossed the line, when we feel that we are so far from forgiveness that we might as well give up?

King David answers this question for us in our selected passage of this post: Psalm 51:10-12.

King David’s Series of Sins: a Background (2 Samuel 11:5-27)

One calm evening, with his entire army out at war, David took a stroll upon the roof of his palace and saw a beautiful woman bathing nearby. Enticed by her beauty, he sent someone to go and find out about her. One thing led to another and the two – King David and Bathsheba – slept together. Of course, the king was interested in nothing more than simply enjoying her for one night, and so he sent her back home the next morning. But some time later, he received what must have been a heart-stopping message: I am pregnant.

Now, this situation was complicated even further by the fact that Bathsheba was married. And not only was she married, but she was the wife of Uriah, one of David’s high-ranking warriors. David knew that he could not have the truth become known, so he started plotting to cover up his misdeed.

First, he attempted to send Uriah home in the hopes that he would make love to Bathsheba, thus covering up David’s role in her pregnancy. But Uriah did not go home, instead electing to sleep outside the palace.

David’s next plan was to get Uriah drunk, once again hoping that he would go home and spend the night with his wife. However, the solider did not return home as the king had anticipated.

Finally, feeling completely exhausted for options, David arranged for Uriah to be taken into battle. During the fight, the Uriah’s unit was commanded to suddenly fall back, leaving the solider behind to be killed by the onslaught of enemy forces. The plan worked just as David had hoped: Uriah was killed, excuses were made, and the cover-up was complete. When Bathsheba heard word of her husband’s death, she mourned, and then David took her as his wife.

However, according to 2 Samuel 11:27, “…the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”

Psalm 51: Following David’s Lead

As any moral person can attest to, what David did was not only bad; it was very bad. Planning the death of an innocent person is nothing short of despicable.

But unlike many sinners found throughout the Bible (cough, cough, Pharisees), David did not remain unrepentant. In fact, Psalm 51 was written as a plea towards God for forgiveness. It portrayed a man who was broken and sorrowful in the aftermath of a series of sinful actions and decisions.

Because of this, the chapter serves as a shining example for what to do when we feel like we’ve stepped beyond the ‘acceptable’ limit. Whether it’s a nasty word you said against someone, a conflict gone too far, or even the committing of a crime, you are not beyond God’s forgiveness.

With this in mind, let’s look at repentance and hope in light of Psalm 51.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God…”

To properly understand David’s plea for ‘a pure heart,’ we first must understand God’s will for our lives regarding purity. There are many verses in the Bible which speak to purity or some version thereof, exalting its virtuous place in the Christian life. Here are just a few of them:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." - (Matthew 5:8)

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." - (1 Timothy 4:12)

"How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word." - (Psalm 119:9)

Clearly, purity is an integral part of God’s will for us. And given that it is of such importance to a healthy Christian lifestyle, we would be well-served by following David’s lead and asking God for a clean heart.

In my own experience with sin and darkness, I know that one of the biggest things getting in the way of my repentance is a certain ‘dullness’ of heart that follows the disobedience. I will commit a sin and then feel a dirtiness that causes me to run from confessing it.

It is during these times that I often bow my head and say something to the effect of, ‘Dear Father, I know that what I have done is wrong. Moreover, I know that I had every opportunity to stop it from happening, yet I still chose the pleasure of sin over the beauty and truth of your Word. I am sorry. I pray to you, Father, that you would create in me a pure and clean heart so that my focus might return to you.’

Psalm 37:4 tells us that God will give us the desires of our hearts. If one of our desires is to see our heart made right with God, then He will most certainly grant that request. Pray for your heart to be made pure, and God will wash it clean!

“…Renew a steadfast spirit within me…”

If the restoration of purity to our hearts is the first order of business after sinning, then the ‘renewal of a steadfast spirit within us’ comes soon after. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines steadfast as ‘firmly fixed in place: immovable.’ A second definition of the word, varying slightly from the first, is ‘firm in belief, determination, or adherence; loyal.’

When these definitions are looked at in light of the context of the verse, it becomes clear that they’re both pointing towards something which is firm, strong, and steady. In other words, the proper antidote for a sin-stricken heart is for one’s spirit to be renewed and strengthened by God.

Consider this: one of God’s foremost desires for us is that we would seek Him with all our hearts. How better can this be done than through a spirit which is strong and resolute? If I am being told to run a marathon, shouldn’t I be in shape first?

Paul often likens the Christian walk to a race. He tells us to ‘Run in such a way as to get the prize’ (1 Corinthians 9:24). So if we’re running a race – a spiritual race in which the prize is eternity with Jesus Christ – then having the strength and endurance to do so is paramount. And we ourselves do not possess this quality of strength; rather, it is given to us by God. As Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Our salvation was and is entirely through God’s grace. It’s all about Him. And when we are called to the Christian walk which follows salvation, we are also called to make sacrifices. We are called to lay down our lives. But God tells us that He will never leave us, not even until the end of the age. We don’t ‘run the race’ purely out of our own strength. If our salvation was solely through God’s will, then our strength and renewal will also be through God’s will.

So if you feel as though you’re beyond forgiveness, follow the example of David, and ask God – with all sincerity and humble reverence – to strengthen and sustain your spirit. He will answer you. After all, if our God is for us, then who can be against us?

“…Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me…”

Oftentimes, one of the most potent feelings we experience after committing a sin is that of a disconnect from God. We turn our heads to the ground and wonder ‘How can a holy and pure God love me after that?’

Although having a repentant attitude towards sin is vital in the Christian life, one of the greatest things about our salvation is that we don’t need to be trapped by feelings of guilt and sorrow. Christ has, once and for all, freed us from these through His work on the cross. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” An entire article could be written over this one line, but its essence can be summed up in a few points.

Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow are different. They produce different mindsets, have different effects, and yield different results.
Worldly sorrow is inherently self-based. It dwells upon sin’s negative impacts on the sinner himself, and, in many ways, it is a form of pride. Such sorrow is of no redeeming value in a person’s life.
Godly sorrow is the opposite of worldly sorrow. Instead of brooding over the sin’s personal impacts for long periods of time, one recognizes it, confesses it, and then receives God’s forgiveness. Because all sins will be forgiven for the person who is a follower of Christ, (Mark 3:28) the transgression has been washed by the sacrificial blood and is no more.
Although Godly sorrow will produce repentance and genuine forgiveness, it does not stop sin from taking its toll in this life. All of us are capable of making decisions, including bad ones, and each decision carries consequences.

As we bring our focus back to the verse at hand, we see that David was pleading for the Lord to remain in him. In doing so, he was practicing Godly sorrow. Did he feel bad for what he did? You bet. And was he full of regret? Of course he was. In fact, the prophet Nathan informed David that his rebellious act would result in the death of the child which was conceived (2 Samuel 12:14). David then did everything he could to save the child – fasting, lying on the ground, and praying for days on end – but it was to no avail.

Once the son had died, David rose from his fast and worshipped God. When questioned by his servants regarding his behavior, (it would have been customary to fast after the death of the child) David said, “Now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23).

David not only fully repented of his actions in the presence of God, but he also gave his sorrows and grief to Him. Instead of dwelling on his sin’s consequences, David acknowledged his wrong, asked forgiveness, and – most importantly – centered himself back upon the Lord.

“…Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

It’s a fundamental fact of human nature that we often lose sight of what’s important. Starting a new job, for example, may come with feelings of great joy and great potential. You might even feel limitless in those first few days. Yet after a time, most people tend to settle into a routine, and their work turns from enjoyable to tolerable to downright monotonous. The novelty has worn off, leaving nothing behind but mere duties to be fulfilled.

Sadly, the same thing can happen to our walks with Christ. What was once full of wonder and excitement can, after a period of time, become commonplace. This is exactly what happened to David before the events of 2 Samuel 11 and 12 even took place; in fact, 2 Samuel 11 opens by informing us that David remained behind while his army was out at battle. In his boredom and complacency, David sought out the companionship of Bathsheba, setting the whole series of events into play. The king had lost his joy in God, and was now seeking to replace it with sinful actions.

A lack of joy in God is one of the root causes of sin. If we don’t have our eyes set on Him, then who (or what) will we turn to? Human beings have a built-in desire to worship something greater than ourselves – just look at how many religions we have across the world. If we aren’t setting our sights on God, we’ll turn to idols and substitutes. Ephesians 4:27 covers this idea very well by saying, “Do not give the devil a foothold.”

In my own personal experience, I’ve battled against various temptations and desires which are at their strongest when my joy in God is at its weakest. The more I would give in to these sins, the lower in quality would be my experience with God. Imagine your relationship with God as a living thing, and then imagine sin as a poison. The more poison you put into the relationship, the weaker and less healthy it will be.

David knew this truth all too well. When he committed adultery with Bathsheba, lied to cover it up, and ultimately arranged the death of Uriah, he was suffering from an already-weakened relationship with God. The more he sinned, the worse his relationship got, until he reached the point where in his repentance he cried ‘God, please! Please restore your joy to me, please give me a spirit that loves you and is willing to follow you!’ God’s response (through the prophet Nathan) was essentially the following: I forgive you, and I have made you whole again. The consequences of your sin will still remain, but I have healed your spirit.

If you’ve committed a major sin, or you’ve been locked in a pattern of sinning, God is waiting. He’s working in your heart; He is leading you to see the error of your ways. He loves you with an everlasting love, and it brings Him no greater joy than to see His children walking in Him with delight.

If you truly desire to be made new again, to set your sin behind you, to renew your faith as David did, then simply confess this to God and receive it by faith. The more you pray, the more you read the Bible, and the more you apply scripture to your life, the greater your joy in the Lord will become. After all, Matthew 21:22 says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Our Lord is a God of love. Will it be easy to follow Him? No. Is our walk always full of happiness and prosperity? Not in the slightest bit; believers around the world both past and present often experience some of the worst persecution imaginable. But by turning our hearts back to Him, and focusing ourselves on Him as David did, He will heal our hearts and spirits from sin’s horrible stain. And one day, when we meet Him in heaven, our sin will be wiped away completely, just as He promises! Every tear, every ounce of pain, every trial – it will all be made right in the perfection of eternity.

As I bring this to a close, I’d like to leave you with one last verse: Matthew 28:20, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God makes us a promise, and He will never go back on His word. Trust Him, turn from your sin, and ask for your heart and soul to be made clean.

Thank you for reading.

Tagged : Bible / Christian / Create in me a pure heart / Jesus / King David / Love / Psalm / Psalms / Pure Heart / Sin