Maybe you go to church or maybe you don’t. Maybe you call yourself a Christian or maybe you’re not even sure you want to. What you do know is that you live with a sense of guilt and confusion. You lack any lasting peace and wonder if it will ever change.
Guilt sometimes leaves us with the vague feeling that we are not good enough and that we deserve whatever happens. But sometimes it leaves us angry and confused about why others seem to have peace and seem so sure of their relationship with God while we live with constant doubt.
The problem with guilt is that it’s more than an emotion. It is a state of being. We are all guilty before a holy God. And there is only one remedy and one road to real peace.
What’s going on in your heart and mind? Is there peace and trust? Or worry and anxiety? Is there forgiveness and grace? Or anger and bitterness? What can we do when anxiety or other negative emotions threaten to have their way?
Even if you haven’t followed along lately, I hope you’ll take the time to read this post. Our thinking is so important and learning to think biblically makes all the difference in our emotional condition.
Our perception, the filter through which we “see” everything has a tremendous effect on our lives. I often tell people in counseling that we are affected much more by what we think about what happens to us than what actually happens to us. So how do you view the events of your life? What is your filter? Are you looking through the lens of Scripture or through the world’s lens? Are you seeing through the sovereignty of God or through a self-focused lens?
A few years ago, we found ourselves caught in a battle against an enemy that could only be seen under a microscope. Chances are there are still pockets of resistance in that battle. Some medical and others that are more political and social. And there are lessons we think we learned that we might be tempted to forget now that the heat of the battle is over.
But … is there a spiritual parallel?
Could we have pockets of resistance in our spiritual lives, too, areas where we have failed to let go of “old man” habits or justified something as good enough?
If so … like the Israelites, we’ll read about today, might those things be thorns in our sides and hindrances to our walks with God?
We all understand that the things of this world can distract us from our devotion to God. But seemingly good things, like our religious activities and our service to Him, can make us too busy and distracted, as well. Could there be something in your life and mine that has been distracting us from wholehearted devotion to God? Could this be a bigger problem than most of us have realized and something we need to evaluate?
I talked to a young mom recently about Christian parenting. She is struggling with a strong-willed child and looking for some answers. When I began sharing biblical principles, she told me, it’s a different world today where parenting is concerned. What did she mean? Should parents today ignore parts of the Bible’s instructions on parenting? If not, how can we be obedient to Scripture and, yet, wise in the world in which we live?
Last fall the leadership team at our church met to plan out the following year. We talked about goals, scheduled events, and budgeting issues. Most people understand that planning is important. Sadly, even evil men and women spend time planning to do evil. But, what if we could make another kind of plan, a plan to do right rather than wrong, a “spiritual obedience plan,” if you will?
As I thought about this subject, it brought to mind parachuting. When a parachutist jumps out of a plane, he first wants to know that his parachute was packed properly and in working order. But, even then, he knows that things can go wrong. So, there is a plan “B,” a reserve parachute. In a way, a spiritual obedience plan can be both. It can guide us through the normal tests and temptations of life, help us to form new habits, and because it is written out, it can serve as that reserve parachute when emotions are running high.
So, what might it involve, how can we make one, and could it actually help us grow and steady us in tough times?
A couple of years ago, a missionary visited our church to talk about his organization’s work in an African nation where Christians are routinely murdered, women and girls are raped and disfigured, and where the missionaries themselves are marked for death. Doing right by sharing the gospel in a place like that is risky, to put it mildly.
But the Christian life lived well is a life of risky faith. Sometimes that involves a call to a foreign mission field or some other dangerous ministry, but it also takes risky faith to turn the other cheek or forgive with no guarantee you won’t be hurt again. It takes risky faith to obey God when it makes little sense to your natural way of thinking or to stand up for the truth in a world of compromise. So, how can you trust God more as you seek to do right in a world where doing right is risky?
Do the challenges in your life make you desperate for God? Do they cause you to evaluate what is really important? And do you turn to Him in the midst of rising inflation, heart-breaking news stories, and financial and cultural issues? Or do you spend your time complaining and focused on worldly solutions? I have to ask myself the same questions.
If the latter is true, could many years of prosperity and comfort have infected us with a deadly disease? Jon Bloom describes this disease as “spiritual leprosy, damaging spiritual nerve endings so that we don’t feel the erosion and decay happening until it’s too late.” Has it robbed us of our thirst for God and replaced it with a taste for the things of this world? Did it deaden us to the realization that we are desperate for Him? Could it even have revealed something much more serious? If so, what can and should we do now?
Things happen in life. Sometimes we’re sinned against. Someone hurts us. A friend betrays us. Other times, it’s a temptation. Someone or something looks good to us. We think we’re not getting something we need … or want. Like Eve, we see something that’s desirable. We may even believe God is withholding something good from us. How will we respond? We’re at a point of decision.
How will you handle your next point of decision and what can help you make a better decision?
