Genuine Motivation: Young Christian Man Oct/Nov 2012

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Jesus-Voter Guide The End of Faith Think This, Not That

Are You Man Enough to Worship?

A publication of On My Own Now Ministries, Inc.

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GENUINE MOTIVATION Young Christian Man Oct 2012, Vol. 3 On My Own Now Ministries, Inc., Publisher Rob Beames, Editor Chandler Hunter with Donna Lee Schillinger, Page Design

in this issue...

Are You Man Enough to Worship? by

Contributors Thabite Anyabwile, Rob Beames, Will Dole, Bishop David Kendall, Thomas Mollohan, Tommy Newberry Except where noted, content is copyright 2012 On My Own Now Ministries.

Articles may be reprinted with credit to author, Genuine Motivation and www.OnMyOwnNow.com.

On My Own Now Ministries, Inc. is a nonprofit organization with a 501 (c) (3) determination. Your donations aid in our mission to encourage faith, wise life choices and Christ-likeness in young adults during their transition to living on their own.

We welcome submissions of original or repurposed articles that are contributed without expectation of compensation. May God repay you.

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Thabiti Anyabwile

Press On

No Cheerleaders Here by

Kimberly M. Schluterman Editorial Support

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Will Dole

Can You Relate The End of Faith by

Thomas Mollohan

The Recap

Think This, Not That by

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Promises, Promises

Grace

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Rob Beames

An Election Year Jesus-Voter Guide by

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Tommy Newberry

Cornered by

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Bishop David Kendall

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Are You Man Enough to Worship? by

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Thabiti Anyabwile

t seems “manhood” is an en vogue topic these days. In recent weeks we’ve read of the juvenalization of men, what Al Mohler calls “adultolescence.” We’ve also heard of the need for the church to have a “masculine feel.” Of course, that stands in contrast to the oft—expressed concerns about the “feminization” of the church and, by implication, the feminization of Christian men. It’s clear we’re at a moment in cultural history where the notion of “manhood” defies easy explanation. It’s also clear that the topic is deeply personal, perhaps because so many of us men have grown up either without a good father or even a father, with few male models, and a nagging sense that we have to “prove” our manhood, without exactly knowing what the tests are.

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Feature Don’t get me wrong. There’s no shortage of people willing to jump into the void to tell us what the “tests” are and precisely how one ought to look, talk, dress, and act to be a “real man.” Usually the first to rush into the breach are young men who themselves are the very products of history’s worst period of absentee husbands, fatherlessness and gender confusion. Some of the things on offer really do read like the blind leading the blind. Men barely in their thirties—which is to say, men with more than half their lives left to live and less than half the experience they’ll eventually gain—ready their pens and give us their wisdom. Please excuse me if I sound a little bit skeptical. I’m just one of those guys who came of age in this same era with doubts and struggles of my own to prove it. It’s difficult for me to believe that my peers will have the practical and experiential solutions required.

While I appreciate most their wrestlings with sacred scripture, what I suspect most is Junior’s “practical advice.”

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hardest misanthrope) that “getting this right” makes a great deal of difference for everybody.

So what is “manhood”? I’m scratching around in Genesis–before all the trouble starts—and I’m thinking we might define manhood in terms of three relationships: God (worship), creation (work), and society/family (woman). There’s perhaps a fourth “w” —wealth. We’ll consider how each of those relationships are ruined, restored and renewed across the course of redemptive history.

One way to basically define manhood would be to think of a man as someone who stands in a consistent relationship to God. Any man apart from God is not, in the higher sense, a “man.” He’s a beast really. He lives beneath his calling and purpose because he’s not properly oriented to His Creator. A man, put simply, is a worshipper.

I’m gleaning this from Genesis 1-2. The entire creation account intimates worship. We get hints of it in at least three things:

So why am I writing this (being a 40-something “junior” myself)? Well, I’m not writing to add my voice to the cacophony of 30- and 40-something year old men trying to “fix” this problem. So, right up front, let me say I don’t have “manhood” all figured out. You can stop reading here if you like.

I’m in a Charles Barkley kinda mood on this topic.

I’m not as unqualified about it as Sir Charles, but I’m not offering myself as a role model either.

Honestly, I think the best thoughts are likely to come from 60- and 70-somethings. What I hope to do is think out loud (or think in pixels) about this issue as a form of catharsis and biblical exploration. If there’s something helpful here (I’ll be surprised if there is) then take it and use it. If not, spit out the bones.

First, we see that man is created “in the image and likeness of God.” He creates them “male and female,” both with this distinctive characteristic of being in His likeness and image.

Centuries of ink have been spilled on attempts to define what this means precisely. For our purposes, we can simply say that man shares some communicable attributes of God that are designed to image forth God’s glory and to facilitate communion with God. Man is the only creature created by the hands of God. Everything else springs from divine fiat. But with His hands, God scoops man from the dust and then he breathes the breath of life into him, making him a living being (Gen. 2:7). There’s intimacy and relatedness in this text, the foundation of communion with God.

What I’d like to do is whittle my way through a basic biblical definition of “manhood.” Obviously we need to answer this question because the culture remains confused about it. And we need to answer this question for the integrity and flourishing of men, their families, and the church.

Everybody seems to understand (except the

Second, we see hints of worship in the different names used for God in Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis 1, as God creates by His omnipotent word, the writer primarily uses the name Elohim. But in Genesis 2, he switches to the name “Lord God,” or YHWH Elohim. Why the switch? YHWH is God’s covenant name. It’s

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Foremost a name implying a relationship, a bond, or intimacy. Here in the very creation of man—both male and female—we have the suggestion of a covenant relationship with God revealed in God’s name. Man was created to live in that relational bond. The act of creating under His covenant name foreshadows God’s intention that man be oriented to Him in worship. If the act of naming implies authority, then God’s naming Adam and Even under His covenant name suggests a worship relationship that orients man to God in a communion wherein man exists under YHWH’s authority and love. “Manhood” is, then, the state of existing in and enjoying such a covenant relationship.

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.

Third, we see the call to worship God as a defining aspect of manhood in the creation account of Sabbath rest. God ceases from His labor after the sixth day and rests on the seventh.

God establishes this seventh day as a day of rest, blessing it and making it holy. It’s the first thing the Bible tells us God makes holy. One theologian describes the Sabbath as a “temporal shrine.”

Rather than a stone or brick shrine for worship, it’s a sacred “space” in the rhythm of time itself.

It’s a space in time specifically designed for man’s communion with His Lord. We’re not surprised then that later in redemptive history the Sabbath becomes a sign of covenant relationship between God and Israel (Exod. 31:13, 17) and that defaming the Sabbath becomes an egregious offense against God himself.

As part of the Mosaic Law, the Sabbath points us beyond the day itself and beyond the temporary and temporal rest of this life to a much greater reality. The Sabbath is a type of Christ, a picture of the rest we’re to find in the truest man and True God, Jesus Christ. Consider Colossians 2:16-17: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the

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reality, however, is found in Christ.”

The dark shadow of Genesis 2′s Sabbath is cast backward by the hard substance of the body of Jesus Christ.

He has become our rest (Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:1-3), an unending and always satisfying rest. In Him, every day becomes a Sabbath, a temporal shrine of constant worship and communion with God through the Holy Spirit.

We have ceased from our labors and entered this rest through faith. This, it seems to me, was what man was created for: perpetual Sabbath and communion with God. If he doesn’t enjoy this, then he’s not himself; he’s not a man.

Now I’m multiplying words here and I’m bound to misstate or even sin in my much speaking.

But I hope I’m traveling the old paths. It seems to me that from Ecclesiastes to Westminster the clear minded saints and divines have told us this basic thing: manhood (and womanhood) means full-grown worship. How does the writer of Ecclesiastes put it after surveying everything old under the sun? “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). Or consider the first question of the catechism: Q1. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.

Or as Piper likes to edit it, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” What we’ve perhaps failed to do is to read these texts and to learn from our catechism questions in a way that makes specific application to the question, “What is a man?” When the Bible talks about the entire duty of man, or when the catechism queries the chief end of man, they refer to mankind or humankind collectively, but no less to manhood and masculinity specifically.

The apex of manhood is worship. Duh, right?

I know I’m not breaking any new ground here,

Feature but it seems to me we ought to start our basic thoughts about manhood where the Bible starts.

And the Bible starts with God and with everything’s relationship to God, especially humanity and men. This is important for me, if for no one else.

You see, I’m tempted to want to run to “practical things” and to try and assess “what is masculine.”

And I miss the point: The truest man is the worshiping man. Worship of God has implications for everything else considered “manhood,” thus we can’t skip the worship of God and expect to get anything else correct.

Here, I think, is a besetting sin for men. We … find it far too easy to be passive in our worship of God, and far too easy to think of our lives as primarily secular with a little spiritual devotion sprinkled on. It’s far too easy for too many of us to “let the women teach the children how to worship God.” And we find it far too easy to think of spiritual exercises in the home and church as drudgery and duty, with no joy. Perhaps the reason we find it easy to abdicate in these areas is because we’re not convinced that expressive, joyful communion with God and worship are really “manly.” Moreover, perhaps we find it easy to duck worship because deep down we feel insecure about worshiping God. Follow me here: If “manhood” is about appearing strong and unmoved, and “worship” has become a feminine construct, then we’re not surprised that these worldly notions destroy both worship and manhood. But it is not worship that is feminine, but apathy toward worship that falsifies claims to manhood. It seems that many men confuse this all the time. Just as Satan would have it.

Our enemy is the most subtle beast in the field, and he’s been wreaking havoc on men and manhood since Adam. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that we spend so much time debating what is “feminine” or “masculine” worship or what practices belong to “manhood” rather than actually worshiping the Lord in the freedom He gives. We’re too often preoccupied with the idea of manhood and masculinity and too seldom preoccupied with the privilege and joy of actually being men—in all the diverse splendor with which God has fashioned men. Isn’t it a curious thing that we read about

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manhood more than we apply ourselves to living it out? We think carefully about the latest books on the subject while we barely think about the latest opportunity to praise God for real. It’s a demonic diversion for far too many of us.

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that reading good books on the subject is unnecessary or unhelpful.

Reading is fundamental. In fact, prayerful reading is an act of worship. But I am suggesting that one quality peculiar to adolescent living is a lot of talking and information-gathering and not a lot of application and consistent habit of life. Manhood is about worship, and worship is not a Sunday morning exercise only. It’s what you do with your entire life. Manhood and worship are a consistent Godward orientation, a life consecrated to His will and purpose, a life of glory seeking—His, not ours.

Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Grand Cayman Islands and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition. This article was reprinted with permission of the author. Check out the other articles in the “Manhood” series at Pastor Thabiti’s blog.

It is not worship that is feminine, but apathy toward worship that falsifies claims to manhood.

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Press On

No Cheerleaders Here by

Will Dole

Photo courtesy of souldiersmediacenter

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“ he world provides no cheerleaders on the pathway to godliness,” so says pastor and author Kevin DeYoung in his new book The Hole in Our Holiness. As I read that quote I was struck by the simple and yet profound truth it contained.

It reminded me of a couple verses, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who

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find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV).

These words of Jesus ought to be very sobering to us. This is most definitely not what we commonly hear in most Christian circles. Jesus does not say, “The way is easy and simple as one prayer that leads to life.” That’s certainly what we want Him to say. We want our cute and friendly Easter Bunny Jesus to come bringing salvation to everyone hiding it under their pillows next to the chocolate eggs. But instead He tells us the way is hard, and what’s worse, not

many will make it. Most will choose the easy road. Most will look at the hard road and lose heart. Many head for the wide gate. Many head where the world will provide them with cheerleaders.

I want to do two things with this article, but first I want to make clear what I do not intend to do. I do not want to puff up Christians with some sense that because they are on the hard road, they are superior to anyone else. Nothing could be further from the truth. Paul says in Philippians to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because God is the one working in you, both to desire His pleasure, and to work towards it. It is not something innately great about us that enables us to walk the hard and rewarding road to life.

It is the Spirit of God at work. This should not puff us up, but rather it should humble us and make us thankful that God would have mercy on us.

What I do want us to consider as we look at the seventh chapter of Matthew is our perception of Christianity. More than our perception, we need to consider how we communicate what Christianity is to others. I believe we are being very foolish, if in our presenting the Gospel to unbelievers, or in our encouragement of young believers, we paint a picture of following Jesus that is rosier than the one Jesus paints.

We can see this very easily in areas such as “prosperity preaching.” What sense does it make to say that the God who humbled Himself and took on human form as a poor, homeless peasant, would bring us wealth just for believing in Him; and the one who would not remove the thorn in Paul’s flesh, would give us healing if we conjure up enough faith. This is obvious enough, but there’s a common theme of contemporary Christian music which says having Jesus in your life “makes you happy.” Please don’t misunderstand me. Those who have an eternal hope in Christ should certainly be happier than our neighbors and family and friends who have no such hope. In light of

Paul’s command to “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15), while on a hard road filled with persecution in a sinful world, there will be much weeping as well. It is not all sunshine and lollipops and we do no one any favors by pretending that it is.

The second point is that Christians should take heart! How often in our efforts to grow in Christ-likeness or to follow God where He leads us do we begin to question our faith? This is usually due to difficulties, roadblocks or hardships that we encounter. Jesus’ message to us in these situations is clear: we’re on the right road!

Paul, in both Galatians and 2 Thessalonians, exhorts us not to lose heart in doing good. Brothers and sisters, do not lose heart, but be strengthened. The hard road to life is worth it. We see it dimly now, but there will come a day when we will pass through the narrow gate into the eternal company of our heavenly Father and these momentary afflictions will seem light in comparison. Long for that day and stay on the road. Take heart! There is no need for the world’s cheerleaders when we have Almighty God to look to for encouragement and aid.

I believe we are being very foolish, if in our presenting the Gospel to unbelievers, or in our encouragement of young believers, we paint a picture of following Jesus that is rosier than the one Jesus paints.

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Can You Relate

The End of Faith by

Thom Mollohan

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urrents of popular opinion sweep about us like white-water waves swirling down a narrow ravine of everyday living. They threaten to sweep us off our feet into the wild seas of disillusionment and disappointment even while reach for more dependable things.

When we finally find the rock of love and mercy that Jesus is to those who believe in Him, we discover a firm place to plant our feet—the solid rock on which we stand.

Have you ever pondered what makes a life capable of trust? There was the time when Jesus met a father whose son was oppressed by an evil spirit. His heart’s cry was for his little one to be delivered from the ceaseless pain and weight of horror that held the boy in bondage. How he must have longed to see him set free from the endless nightmare! But he was about to encounter the power of God. When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

“What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if

you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. (Mark 9:14-27) I have heard that faith and despair are the opposites of one another. But I am inclined to believe that hope is the real opposite of despair.

Despair pulls us down and threatens to mire us in a pit of hopelessness, but hope is the fuel that helps us to run another mile, try yet again and wake up each day with the confidence that night will at any moment yield to dawn’s light.

Consider the shroud of fear that must have enveloped that father’s heart as each day he saw his son’s condition sink into greater pain and deeper sorrow. Consider how his hope must have dwindled more as each promised cure proved to be vain and empty. Despair must have become that man’s closest companion as the glimmers of hope were finally snuffed out.

Medicine had failed. Good works had failed.

Even religion had failed. His son was still held hostage to powers of darkness, unable to function and never permitted the blessing of wonder in his eyes, the miracle of giving and

receiving love in his heart or even a moment of peace for his agonized mind.

The one great desire of this father’s heart was to simply see the day when his child would be in his right mind, finally capable of joy in a life that had only known torture; but he had run out of options.

Then the man reached out to Jesus. “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us,” he says in verse 22. He had no hope and he wasn’t sure that he had any faith left. But that’s the difference between hope and faith. Hope is an expectation for something better that inextricably produces an emotion a lot like joy.

But when our expectations fail to materialize and when our dreams do not come to pass, the icy fingers of despair seize us. When hope fails us, faith becomes vital. Faith is often mistaken for hope—they are cousins, after all. But faith is not so much an expectation as it is a conviction that what we believe in is worth believing in, even if all the evidence of our experience runs counter to it. Hope is what we’re reaching for, but faith is the decision to reach for it when all is dark.

In other words, faith is a choice. The hurting and sorrowful father who met Jesus reached out to him.

Why? Because he had nowhere else to turn. Hope had produced nothing so he said to Jesus, “If you can….” Somewhere inside him was a tiny kernel of belief that spurred him into this encounter with Jesus. If he had not risked believing that Jesus might be able to change his world, he would not have dared to ask.

Usually when this passage is read, a sense of rebuke is perceived in Jesus’ reply, “If You can?”

Perhaps it was. But even if it was, it must have been far more gentle than we’re inclined to recognize in our initial reading of it. Jesus saw in this man’s heart something that the man did not even know he had: the capacity to believe. In him was the ability to choose to trust Jesus, no matter how often he had been disappointed in the past. The expectation that Jesus could free his son may have just about not existed, but the man could choose to trust that Jesus Christ could set his son free.

“I do believe; help me in my unbelief!” he cried out to Jesus. He knew he could choose to trust him, but wrestled mightily with the despair in his path which beaconed him NOT to trust Jesus. How nice it would have been right then for him to have some

small smattering of hope to help him. But there wasn’t any. In the end, he simply had to choose to trust Jesus. And when he had come through the tumultuous trial of deciding to trust the Lord, he found that at the end of an inward journey that took only a moment in time, Jesus was there to meet him and reward his choice. Jesus is, after all, the end of our faith. In every one of our own faith journeys he is the great reward and ultimate conclusion of our struggles to trust him with our lives.

We are, in more ways than we can count, just like this man whose son was given back to him alive and well, turning his torment into joy. We each must enter seasons where night steals from us the certainty that there is a reward waiting for us.

We each must enter valleys where we feel robbed of our voices, suspect that we are not heard in heaven and fear our ears cannot hear the voice of God. Our hope may fail us. The sensation of faith may leave us. We may be powerfully tempted to give up and give in to our own shrouds of hopelessness. But with God’s help, we can choose to trust him nonetheless as we persevere in our journey. And as we do, we too will inevitably find that the end of our faith, the grand goal of even our darkest moments, is an encounter with God that surpasses what we had once hoped for and places us squarely in a closer fellowship with our Savior.

Belief in a thing, even a good thing, is not a sturdy place to stand, but our belief in Jesus allows us to rise above confusing circumstances bringing us to the high ground of fellowship with God. So if you have no hope left or if you are sorely tempted to throw in the towel, remember that you too can choose to trust Jesus. You too can cry out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” You will discover that Jesus is ready to meet you in the midst of your trial and draw you closer to him.

Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past 16 ½ years and is the author of The Fairy Tale Parables and Crimson Harvest. He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church and may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis. com.

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The Recap

Think This, Not That by

Tommy Newberry

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healthy body produces energy. Likewise, a healthy mind produces joy. This is not an accident. If you want to experience vibrant health and abundant energy, it is essential that you consume certain foods and drinks and refrain from consuming others. The same is true if you want to lose weight or put more muscle on your frame. You have to say yes to the foods that lead you toward your goal and no to those that lead you away. Very simply, you need to eat this, not that. And while, for the most part, this is now considered common sense, it is not always common practice for those desiring to reshape their physical bodies or increase their energy levels.

Progress toward joy begins the same way, with a firm decision to cut back on joy-reducing thoughts and increase joy-producing thoughts. In short, you have to change your mental diet. You have to think this, not that. After all, joy is the sum and substance of emotional health.

Many well-meaning individuals desire to be leaner or more energetic but then continue to indulge in a diet and lifestyle that takes them in the opposite direction. Consequently, they do not reach their goal. Many with the goal of increased joy run into the same predicament:

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they keep consuming a mental diet mismatched with their goal. In both instances, there is a major disconnect between desired objectives and daily behavior.

Joy is a state of mind that must be purposely cultivated if you are to live and love and influence others as God intended. Fortunately, joy does not depend on the outer conditions of your material life, but rather on the inner condition of your mental life. Joy is the result of something strikingly simple, though not necessarily easy: consistently thinking joy-producing thoughts.

Is this within your grasp? Is it even possible for anyone to accomplish? Before you answer, let me remind you that few endeavors worth pursuing come easily to anyone, and the attainment of a joy-filled spirit is no exception. There are risks in shooting for this gold standard of faith in action.

There is a high price to be paid, and it must be paid in advance. Certain comfort thoughts will need to be relinquished. Counterproductive habits will need to be abandoned. Tenured excuses must be surrendered.

Since you are free to choose what you think about, and you have billions of options, what specific thoughts should you increase to become joy filled? What specific thoughts should you

decrease? What kinds of thoughts will distress your soul? What types of thoughts will nourish and hydrate your soul?

At any given moment we can consciously choose to: • think excellent thoughts, not mediocre thoughts; • think focused thoughts, not scattered thoughts; • think fresh, exciting thoughts, not stale, boring thoughts; • think compassionate thoughts, not harsh thoughts; • think innovative thoughts, not common thoughts; • think loving thoughts, not indifferent thoughts; • think energetic thoughts, not exhausted thoughts; • think constructive thoughts, not destructive thoughts; • think helpful thoughts, not hurtful thoughts; • think successful thoughts, not failure thoughts; • think faith thoughts, not fear thoughts; • think fit thoughts, not fat thoughts; • think bold thoughts, not comfort thoughts; • think opportunity thoughts, not security thoughts; • think giving thoughts, not getting thoughts; • think serving thoughts, not self-centered thoughts; • think grateful thoughts, not entitled thoughts; • think abundant thoughts, not lacking thoughts; • think responsible thoughts, not irresponsible thoughts; • think reconciliation thoughts, not retaliation thoughts; • think principled thoughts, not popular thoughts; • think positive thoughts, not negative thoughts; • think thoughts of victory, not thoughts of defeat; or • think about the promises of God, not the problems of this world.

Very simply stated, we tend to bring about what we think about. As King Solomon counseled, “As [a person] thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, nkjv).

Building on Solomon’s wisdom, James Allen wrote that “the outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors which make for the ultimate good of the individual. As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering and bliss.”1 It is my intention that during this forty-day regimen, you will start experiencing more of the bliss that is called joy-filled living. Starting today, release the need to hang on to thoughts that haven’t worked well for you.

It is true that we can think this, not that!

Try this exercise: Think about the person you intend to become. Then on the following page, identify a few specific thoughts that are incompatible (Not That column) with that vision.

In the left-hand column, identify a handful of thoughts that are compatible (Think This column) and helpful. At the bottom, write a short sentence indicating your commitment to improve your thinking.

Excerpted with permission from 40 Days to a JoyFilled Life: Living the 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry. ©2012 Tyndale House Publishers, 288 pp. $14.99 Visit TommyNewberry.com.

Think about what you want, not what you don’t want. Why is this required for joy-filled living?

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Cornered

by

Grace

Promises, Promises

by

Rob Beames

I

t’s the time of year to find out who was blowing smoke. The contending teams in major league baseball are beginning to separate from the pretenders as they approach the playoff hunt in October.

Both college and professional football teams have completed training camps along with all their meaningless games and are now ready to see the results of their off-season efforts, plans and scheming.

The teams are done with promises and speculation.

Countless interviews with coaches, general managers, players, analysts and everyone else with access to a microphone, are over. The end of post-practice and game promises and predictions about what each team or player will do has ended. After the excitement, anticipated potential and the optimism are all

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gone, who will deliver on their promises? We’re about to find out.

Of course, the political promises are still flowing as we ramp up for another election. We can be grateful that these promises only come around every four years. Every year athletes, managers, politicians, actually all humans in general, make exhilarating promises soon forgotten due to disappointment. Our hearts are broken. Our hopes are dashed to molecules. We are left hesitant to trust again.

Someone who keeps promises without fail is rare, in fact there is only One. In the midst of a world of crushed dreams, Jesus boldly beacons us to trust in Him alone, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in

me will never be thirsty…All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away…I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day…and I will raise them up at the last day… I will raise them up at the last day…I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever...so the one who feeds on me will live because of me…whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:35-58, just the promises).

Jesus is just as assertive in stating what He will do as He is in telling the world Who He is. The two are interconnected. Because He is the only Son of God, He is able to accomplish exactly what He says. In contrast to human frailty that repeatedly let us down, Jesus will not.

We continually do things which should cause Him to drive us away, but He doesn’t. Why? He said He wouldn’t. While men promise they will be victorious, but in the end they lose, Jesus says He will not lose anyone His Father has given to Him. He won’t. He will do more than that. Although we will die, we will live forever with Him and because of Him. Apparently He’s serious about our resurrection since He repeats the fact three times in this passage.

He will do all these things and more. This is only a snapshot of the things to come for those who trust in Jesus.

Consider the conditions we must meet to force Jesus to keep His side of the deal—as if that were possible. If we believe in Him, if go to Him, we will live. If these actions aren’t simple enough, we are reminded of the passive role we have in this relationship. If we are given to Jesus by the Father we will not be lost. What action can we take to make that happen? Absolutely nothing! A lump of clay can no more tell his sculptor how to fashion the clay, (Romans 9:20) than we can somehow convince God to give us to Jesus. It is His gift to dead corpses, (Ephesians 2: 8, 9). Still, we must feed on Him, sitting down with Him with our lives as we would sit with Him at dinner time. We sup with Him by communing with Him daily and by taking communion with Him as His church. These are as demanding as accepting an invitation to dine from a close friend.

These are not conditions which by our failing could

void the contract signed by the blood of Jesus. These are promises which He will keep regardless of our failings.

A starving man crawls to a table and is given food.

He lives. Jesus makes our spiritual life this straightforward. He is the bread of life, which means if we merely reach out our weak hands and take His offer, which is as simple as eating—something we often do without thinking and have done since birth—we will live forever. This mysterious undeserved kindness is the best kept secret of all time, hidden in the cavern of His overwhelming love for us.

These are some of the Jesus’ amazing promises. He will keep them just as He fulfilled the thousands of prophecies and promises through His earthly life and death. He has conquered both death and hell. He has given us His word. He will keep it.

So, what will we do? All we can do is thank Him with great joy. This is our response even when our solemn words fall by the side of the road of selfishness, when our unfulfilled vows are quickly forgotten, or when the shards of our broken promises crunch beneath our feet as we walk along beside Him. Even then He will not drive us away. So, why should we continue to multiply the weight of guilt upon our shoulders by making bigger and better promises which will only expose our weaknesses in the end? We know we cannot trust in anyone else, including ourselves.

If you knew you could trust in a team which could not lose, how would you react? If you knew you could trust in a presidential candidate who would not fail, what would you do? The answer is obvious. It’s yet another reason to sell our stock in mankind, ourselves included, and focus on the strength of Christ in our lives. His promises may not get us out of the jams we create for ourselves, or make us immune to life’s problems, but they keep things in perspective, knowing the best promises are yet to come. His promises are good and they are ultimately good for us. If He says He will—and He did—He will! (I believe He wanted me to remind you of this!)

Why should we continue to

multiply the weight of guilt upon our shoulders by making bigger and better promises which will only expose our weaknesses in the end?

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An Election Year

Jesus-Voter Guide by

D

oes Jesus really care about what happens in the U.S. elections? Do his person and work offer much help to his followers who will or will not vote later this year? What does Jesus know and what might Jesus contribute to this sharpening and exhausting environment of debates, ad campaigns, and mudslinging contests?

One group of people supposes that Jesus is pretty much clueless on all these matters. Or, if not clueless, He is careless, since he has more important, other-worldly matters to pursue.

Another group looks to Jesus for a kind of tipping point support. The arguments are quite compelling as they are, but just to clinch matters, add a saying from the Bible, attributed to Jesus. For them, Jesus spreads on a little frosting to make things sweeter.

A third group comprised of some of the most active on the political scene these days believe in absolute truth. They also believe they have found absolute truth on most matters that are before an unsuspecting or deceived public. For these activists Jesus steps up as the Ultimate Sponsor of their views. He who is the way, the truth and the life obviously would vote this way or for this person.

For earnest Christ Followers, I would suggest, the first two groups have it all wrong. The Lord and Master of all has much to say about just about everything. If He is who we claim then we must not treat Him as though He has only “religious” or “spiritual” advice for any who might be interested. No, He is the smartest person we know. As such, we who follow Him should do just

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Bishop David Kendall

that—follow Him and embrace His wisdom as He gives it and as it applies to whatever the issues might be. We can count on Him for more than an endorsement of our already good ideas.

For Christ Followers, the third group is undoubtedly correct in saying truth is, well, real or true—in some solid and objective way. They are also right to insist that it is possible to know the truth, and they no doubt affirm that Jesus embodies truth and wants to lead all who will follow to the truth. But we must take care that we actually follow Him and must guard against remaking Him to suit some party-line.

I’ve been thinking about what sort of Voter’s Guide Jesus might write for us and offer to us as we approach next November. Before I give you an outline of what I think might be on such a guide, let me acknowledge that many will be disappointed by it. They will be disappointed because the candidates and issues at center stage do not claim the attention and importance for Jesus that they may for us. In reading a guide of His making, we will no doubt sense that He offers it with other priorities and concerns in mind than we often have when we think (or fail to think) about political, electoral matters. You are warned. So, here goes.

First, two general observations about what would guide the specific items Jesus would recommend to us as part of the more general electorate. To begin, I would not expect very many, if any, detailed action plans. This is so for two reasons: first, the most important issues are complex and addressing them is often not reducible to one

simple “action plan” (see below for examples).

Second, all the time Jesus is more interested in moving His followers to full maturity, to help us to grow up in Him, to realize our full potential as children, servants and co-laborers with Him. Growing up and reaching maturity requires the ability to think, to choose courses of action, to develop/express faith, and to act on conviction– all of which works best when we do not see everything as clearly as we might hope and yet must act with courage and resolve. Maturity and fullness come only in such ways.

Second, I would expect a thoroughly Kingdom Perspective since the Kingdom is the gospel summary of Jesus’ message and ministry. A Kingdom Perspective embraces the whole world, and seeks His will done everywhere, not just here. Further, His Kingdom is founded on righteousness, or justice, and love so that no one will go without, and no one will be deprived.

What this means, among other things, is that a partisan or parochial policy (addressing only a part to the neglect of the whole focus) will nearly always be incomplete and inadequate when assessed in light of Jesus’ Kingdom.

Consequently, policies that aim only or exclusively at one nation’s well being will also fall beneath a Kingdom Perspective. You can see by this Kingdom Criteria how complex matters really are. For example, we must protect our borders—not only or primarily to defend our sovereign territory but also to defend people and families. However, not in ways that make it impossible or unlikely to care for strangers and the oppressed, and not in ways that place our exclusive or primary trust in police or military protection, apart from confidence in God’s word that in welcoming strangers we welcome him.

Another example that comes to mind would be war in general, and the ongoing war on terror in particular. Kingdom people cannot be lovers of war and cannot commit to hawkish ways— period! I am not saying that all who commit to the Kingdom of Jesus will be pacifists and will disavow the use of force categorically. I am saying that the use of force must not compromise

other clear Kingdom priorities and values. Force that is simply retaliatory or preemptive is on principle questionable for people committed to a Kingdom perspective. Military action as a first response would be similarly questionable. The disavowal of, or impatience with, diplomacy is likewise found wanting. OK, so what more specifically might be on Jesus’ Voter’s Guide?

•What (candidate, position or policy) best values and makes possible loving God with our all and loving others as we do ourselves? (Seriously, now, consider this prayerfully and in community with other Christ-followers!)

•What (candidate, position or policy) offers Christ-followers the best opportunities to assist multitudes of others in following Christ as we do?

•What (candidate, position or policy) offers the most hope for the poor of the world and why do you think so?

•What (candidate, position or policy) would seek the good as God defines it for people everywhere, such as justice, redress from oppression, freedom for captives of every sort?

•What (candidate, position or policy) shows the most deference for the most vulnerable?

•What (candidate, position or policy) reflects purity of heart and life, not only negatively in terms of avoidance of things that defile, demean and damage but also positively in terms of passionate pursuit of human well-being and wholeness wherever the humans happen to live?

•What (candidate, position or policy) advocates for and acts in the interest of biblical peace—shalom, not only conflict resolution and the overcoming of tribal/racial/ethnic divides but also the pursuit of conditions that encourage and resource human flourishing everywhere (think here of disparities of rich and poor, the many who are “have-nots” who go without adequate food, water, shelter, and care)?

•What (candidate, position or policy) would applaud and collaborate with those with special concern and abilities to facilitate grace and kindness between parties who are estranged?

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An Election Year •What (candidate, position or policy) reflects a spirit or tone in their advocacy that offers the best chance of finding the good and the wisdom in alternate or even contrary candidates and views?

•What (candidate, position or policy) demonstrates an ability to stand on principle without demonizing those who disagree?

•What (candidate, position or policy) shows a willingness to sacrifice self or group agenda for the sake of higher common good?

•What (candidate, position or policy) best reflects the wisdom that human worth cannot be calculated at the cash register and viable human communities require ongoing self-restraint?

Obviously the list could go on, but this is enough to indicate the tone and tenor of the guide. Now, please note that in all likelihood no viable candidate or party corresponds very well. The electoral situation is indeed complex and murky. As such, there is plenty of room for Christ followers to disagree and draw conclusions that are contrary to each other. So what should we do? Withdraw and not participate?

Discern what corresponds most nearly? Determine what items are most critical now and see where closest alignment is? Collaborate with others in infiltrating all parties to work toward bringing all parties more into alignment with the Voter’s Guide in any way possible, so that no matter what party or candidate wins, there is greater possibility that policy and decisions will be shaped more nearly in conformity to Jesus’ Kingdom?

Well, yes, exactly! You see the challenge and the possibility. With eyes of faith and hearts set on the things that inflame the heart of Jesus, you will see the possibilities. And you will do something.

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The Reverend David W. Kendall is a bishop of the Free Methodist Church. His ministry passion is to communicate the Scriptures as God’s Word in faithful and relevant ways to our world today; and to assist God’s people to be truly the church in the 21st century. He is a contributing editor to The Light & Life magazine, a regular contributor to Illustrated Bible Life, and the author of God’s Call to be Like Jesus: Living a Holy Life in an Unholy World, a 1999 publication of Light and Life Communications. Visit his blog at http://fmcusa.org/davidkendall/