Insights Magazine: Issue Two, 2023

In this issue

Insights is published by Insight for Living Canada, the Bible-teaching ministry of Charles (Chuck) R. Swindoll. Chuck is the senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Texas. His international radio program Insight for Living has aired for more than 40 years. We hope this publication will instruct, inspire, and encourage you in your walk with Christ.

Copyright © 2023 Insight for Living Canada. All rights reserved. No portion of this monthly publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture passages are taken from the NLT. Unless otherwise noted, photography and illustration by Tim Schellenberg. IFLC is an autonomous ministry and certified member of the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities. Printed in Canada.

believer who wades through God’s favour and God’s blessing and God’s bounty day after day, week after week, year after year can begin to court the dangers of erosion.

A

The Only Cure for Personal Erosion

by Charles R. Swindoll

I

don’t remember much about high school chemistry. Truth be told, most of it was Dullsville to me. Downright boring. But one experiment I’ll never forget.

We boiled a frog.

My chemistry teacher, Mr. Williams, gathered the class around an oversize beaker half full of water. We took this little frog and dropped him in. The frog kicked around and swam from side to side. Our teacher slid a Bunsen burner underneath the beaker, lit the flame, and kicked up the temperature. Then we waited and watched. (It was the only time I remember every one of us in class paying attention.) The water started getting warmer... and warmer...and a little warmer...and, finally, tiny bubbles started to rise. The little frog by now had slowed his kicking, eventually stiffened, and, ultimately, boiled to death. If I remember correctly, the thing turned white at the end. Pretty gross, and not something that would happen in today’s classrooms!

Our teacher told us that if we had dropped that amphibian into boiling water to begin with, it would have hopped right out. But by putting it in nice, comfortable, tepid water and slowly turning up the heat...the frog eventually stewed in its own grease. I have no idea how that related to chemistry. But its implications for the church are permanently branded into my brain.

If we took most evangelical believers from the 1930s and dropped them into a mainstream, 21st-century church, it would be a

complete shock to their systems. They would scramble to get out immediately! How did such a difference come about over the years? Many local churches tolerated a rise in our secular temperature, and in the passing of decades, the church in general has drifted from its biblical convictions. Often without many people knowing it was happening, postmodern thinking progressively replaced biblical beliefs. What occurred? In a word: erosion

Part of our problem as evangelicals is that we surround ourselves with all things Christian: Christian friends, Christian books, Christian activities, Christian coffeehouses, Christian clichés, Christian music, Christian stores, Christian bumper stickers. What’s next? Putting Christian gasoline in our cars?! (Well, we would if we could.) Everything in our world to us is Christian. The danger? Before long we begin going through the motions of religious activity, and all the while we’re trafficking in unlived truth. When that occurs, we have stopped taking God seriously. Erosion has begun.

Is it really possible for a Christian to become overexposed to spiritual things? Yes, if having blessings from God in such abundance makes us hardened to them . It can happen. Our business goes well. Our health is good. Our children are fine. Our marriage is strong. Our church is great. The music is enjoyable. Our pastor is solid. Our home is lovely. Our cars are new. Our schools are safe. Blessing after blessing after blessing....

“But!” Jesus interrupts—as He did to the century-one church at Ephesus. “I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4 NASB1995).

How does this kind of personal erosion occur? Nobody ever picks up a phone, calls a friend, and says, “Hey, today I feel like ruining my life.” We don’t do that. But we do, on occasion, entertain thoughts like, I don’t want the lordship of Christ to touch this area of my life. This is mine! After all, look at what’s happened as a result. Life isn’t that bad. I can handle it . And we allow a subtle but destructive drift—the dethroning of His authority and an enthroning of our own. It happens because we’ve gotten bored and passive in our Christian hothouse.

A believer who wades through God’s favour and God’s blessing and God’s bounty day after day, week after week, year after year can begin to court the dangers of erosion. How? Things get to be predictable. They become routine. You grow cynical. And before you know it, you can be lusting while you’re singing a gospel song. Something is wrong if you can sing the words of Jack Hayford’s song, “Majesty,” and your soul isn’t stirring deep within you. Something has drifted far off course if, when you sing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” there isn’t a sense of awe and respect for your heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s what concerned Jesus so much about the first-century Ephesian church—they adopted a perfunctory, ho-hum, business asusual attitude about life and ministry. May I remind you? Jesus has that same concern for us in the 21st century.

As I write this, I anticipate two familiar objections. The first goes something like this: “My life has already eroded so badly, there’s no sense in turning back.” Take the time to ponder Paul’s words, written while he was in Ephesus: No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted

beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

You know the tragedy of this verse? Its familiarity. Our acquaintance with it often keeps us from relying on its promise or applying its truths. Nothing is too far gone for the Lord to turn it around. It is never too late to start doing what is right. Erosion may have occurred in your life, but Jesus is there with His arms wide open. He is waiting for you to return to your first love. God longs for you to begin again with Him.

The second objection I anticipate comes in these words: “The erosion you have described, I fully understand...but it will never happen to me.” If that represents your outlook, I point you to the verse Paul penned just prior to the one above: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

I like the way The Living Bible renders this verse: “Oh, I would never behave like that.” It’s the voice of a novice...it’s the attitude of the naive...and I’ll just shoot straight with you: it stinks of pride .

Don’t kid yourself. Look at what happened to the Ephesian believers, and the great Apostle Paul had taught them! It can happen to you, my friend. And it can happen to me . If you really see yourself as impervious to erosion, then, ironically, the process of erosion has already started

Let me ask you: have you left your first love? Have you lost the delight of your walk with God? Has it become “business as usual”? Maybe a little boring?

You may be busy in the Lord’s work, but you now realize you have lost the awe of it all. The joy of ministry has fled away; now you’re simply maintaining a schedule. I urge you to take a moment right now and examine your motive: why do you choose to say yes

so often to those who make requests of you? I’m not referring to decisions between the good and the bad , but to choices between the good and the better . Realize that when you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else. Here’s a new thought: by saying no to the good things, you allow yourself room to say yes to far more important priorities.

If you’re not taking God seriously as much as you used to, can you detect an area of erosion that has begun to occur? Would you be honest enough to call it by name, painful as that may be? If you neglect to take time to evaluate yourself, you will never notice your own drifting. The change is too slow, too silent, and too subtle...not unlike that frog as it began to boil in the beaker.

Before this day is over, I urge you to find a quiet place and ask yourself these two questions:

• Is Jesus really the first love of my life?

• Does He truly make a difference in how I live my life?

God’s mercy is here, and He will help you through it. Honestly acknowledge where you

are. He won’t rebuke you for coming with that kind of honesty. On the contrary, He welcomes you. Look at the beautiful prayer King David expressed after experiencing a miserable bout with erosion: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

That is called repentance. It’s the only cure for personal erosion.

Adapted from Charles R. Swindoll, The Church Awakening (Nashville: FaithWords, 2010), 209-210, 229-233. Copyright © 2010, 2012 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Visiting the Real Twilight Zone single CD message

What will happen to us when life is over?

When to Prioritize Self-Care Over Caring for Others

by Steve Johnson

For Christians there is a tension between caring for others and self-care.

Most of us are familiar with the Bible’s exhortations and commands to love, care for, give to, and serve others.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3–4 NIV)

Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ...whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. (Galatians 6:2,10)

Taking these verses to heart, there are Christians who pour themselves out to serve others to the point of burnout or breakdown. They believe that when it comes to their Christian service “It is better to burn out than rust out!” But they’re so burnt out you can smell the smoke!

What about doing what is necessary to charge one’s own physical, emotional, and spiritual batteries? To put this issue another way, many people are kind to others but they aren’t kind to themselves. How do we find the balance between caring for others and self-care?

No one is more loving, compassionate, and people-oriented than Jesus. Even He experienced this tension. There were times when

Jesus had to break away from ministering and giving to the crowds in order to look after His physical and spiritual well-being. The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. (Mark 6:30–32)

Jesus invites His disciples to come apart before they came apart!

In the struggle to find balance in life, there were even times when Jesus tried to get away for rest and refreshment but couldn’t.

So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. (Mark 6:32–34)

Having been through a time when I experienced burnout, I learned that finding balance between self-care and caring for others is not just a nice thing to do. It’s really a matter of survival. I learned the basic recharging prin -

ciple of intentionally doing something different—even opposite of what I normally do.

This applies to four areas.

Spiritual

This is foundational. As those made spiritually alive by the Spirit of God we need to commune with, and abide in Christ through His Word and prayer. Scripture tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus exemplified for us the necessity of making time to do this. It keeps us spiritually vital and will positively impact every other area of our being.

Physical

We all need a proper proportion of food, exercise, and rest. Most of us have no trouble feeding ourselves. The issue is whether we are fueling our bodies with junk or healthy fuel and how much. Exercise and movement are increasingly important as we age. I believe that when it comes to movement, “First you don’t, then you can’t.” Keep moving even if it’s difficult! Having said that, I constantly remind myself that rest is an activity too. So when it comes to rest are you getting enough?

Emotional

engaging our emotions in different directions through regular doses of hearty laughter, uplifting socialization, and periods of silence and solitude.

Mental

Our brain is always working but it needs to work in different ways for re-creation. If your brain is usually engaged with words, give it some numbers to mull over and vice versa. If your work is abstract or people-oriented, do something with your hands to move your brain to think differently and stimulate the creative part of your brain.

IN THE STRUGGLE TO FIND BALANCE IN LIFE, THERE WERE EVEN TIMES WHEN JESUS TRIED TO GET AWAY FOR REST AND REFRESHMENT

BUT COULDN’T.

I’ve concluded that knowing when to care for others and when to prioritize selfcare is like investing. We take a sum of money and invest it. Then we give to others out of the dividends from the investing. But if we give away the capital, we have nothing left to give. If we want to continue giving, then we have to protect the capital, which represents ourselves.

Caring for others can be emotionally draining. To recharge we need emotional variation,

Steve Johnson is the executive director at Insight for Living Canada.

George Herbert

by Bill Gemaehlich

Ahero of the faith who encourages me to reflect on the redeeming love of Christ as we walk through this season is English pastor George Herbert.

Herbert was born on April 3, 1593, in Montgomeryshire, Wales to Richard and Magdalen Herbert. He was the seventh of 10 children and lost his father at the age of three. His father left a sizeable estate to care for his family and provided the means for George to have an excellent education. At age 12, he entered Westminster preparatory school and was an outstanding student, studying Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He then went on to study

at Trinity College Cambridge where he graduated second in his class with a BA, and then in 1616, earned his MA and became a fellow of the university.

In 1619, Herbert was elected Public Orator of Cambridge University, which was a prestigious post. He then went on to serve for a year in Parliament, but through a series of difficult circumstances chose to leave his political ambitions and followed the Lord to serve as a pastor in the Church of England. In 1629, he married Jane Davners and was appointed the rector of a small country church at Bemerton, where he preached faithfully and cared

Article Photo: Eugene Chystiakov on unsplash.com

deeply for his congregation. Sadly, after less than three years in ministry, Herbert died of tuberculosis at age 39.

Most notably, while at Bemerton, Herbert began to write poetry. As his health declined, he sent his book of 167 poems to his friend Nicholas Ferrar. He wrote in his instructions to him, “If he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul let it be made public; if not, let him burn it, for I and it are the least of God's mercies.”¹

Later that year, Ferrar published the book for Herbert under the title The Temple , and it is still in print today. Through this collection of poems, Herbert is known as one of the greatest religious poets of all time. The central theme of his poetry is the redeeming love of Christ and throughout his work, we find a feast of beauty. He wrote: How should I praise thee, Lord! How should my rhymes

Gladly engrave thy love in steel, If what my soul doth feel sometimes, My soul might ever feel!²

Herbert’s desire was to “engrave” the love of Christ in the “steel” of language for all to see. Through poetry, he gives us a glimpse of the glory of Christ and encourages us to meditate on His beauty. As our country continues to wrestle with its identity let us reflect on the beautiful redeeming love of Christ and ask God to heal our land. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (Psalm 119:18 ESV)

1 Doerksen, Daniel W. “Nicholas Ferrar, Arthur Woodnoth, and the Publication of George Herbert's The Temple, 1633.” George Herbert Journal, vol. 3 no. 1, 1979, p. 22-44. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ghj.1979.0010.

2 Herbert, George. “The Temple,” Sacred poems and private ejaculations, 1633. Cambridge: Thom. Buck, and Roger Daniel.

Bill Gemaehlich is the EVP/COO operations at Insight for Living Ministries

THE CENTRAL THEME OF HIS POETRY IS THE REDEEMING LOVE OF CHRIST AND THROUGHOUT HIS WORK, WE FIND A FEAST OF BEAUTY. Did

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What If Someone Kicks You When You’re Down?

by Insight for Living Canada

In our day, everyone is ready to take offence at one thing or another. Some are offended by certain words, while others are distressed by particular behaviours. Whatever the infraction, it had become trendy to exclaim, “I’m offended!”

But what if someone hurts us? And what if the mistreatment comes when we’re already down? Because we’ve all gone through such harsh experiences, we should have no trouble understanding how David felt when he went through the misery of being pummelled with stones and cursed in public. Through this ugly scene found in 2 Samuel 16:5–14, we can learn much about how to endure mistreatment.

A Biblical Example of Someone Being Wronged

By this time David was king but his sin led him on a downward spiral. When Shimei, a member of Saul’s clan, heard David was nearby, he took advantage of the opportunity to unleash some pent-up anger, calling David a butcher and a hellhound while hurtling stones at him (16:5–8 MSG).

David had every reason to take offence. His men thought so too. Abishai, a man in David’s travelling party, responded by asking David if he could cut off Shimei’s head.

But David wasn’t offended. Instead, he told Abishai to back off and allow Shimei to continue saying, “Don’t bother with him; let him curse; he’s preaching God’s word to me. And

who knows, maybe God will see the trouble I’m in today and exchange the curses for something good” (16:12).

How to Choose Not to Be So Easily Offended and Respond to Mistreatment

Here are four practical suggestions for those times when you are wronged, mistreated, offended, or hurt.

1. Ask God to give you a tougher hide. We need not be so sensitive

2. Remember God is ever aware even if He is silent. God is altogether sovereign

3. Rely on God’s grace when you deal with people like Shimei. God gives to us from His abundance of goodness and grace

4. Find comfort by resting in God’s mercy. When attacks come, we need somewhere to rest. We find an oasis in God’s mercy

David’s response to a harsh critic provides a way forward for us as believers living in a culture that loves taking offence. It shows us how absorbing the hits of mistreatment from foolish people helps us not to be so easily offended.

“What If Someone Kicks You When You’re Down” is from Chuck Swindoll’s series What If...? You can stream this message online anytime at insightforliving.ca/audiolibrary.

“God will always seem slower than we expect, especially when we’re going through unfair treatment!”

— Charles R. Swindoll

Loving God: Our Ultimate Response

The Heart of the Matter

Knowing God is foundational to our existence. Apart from that knowledge, we are doomed to grope our way through a maze of meaningless earthly pursuits. Only those who know God will find their way to true purpose and meaning. But that is only half the story! Knowing God calls for a response that includes trusting Him, relying on Him, worshipping Him—in a word, loving Him. Scripture is filled with accounts of the God of heaven reaching out to His people in grace and mercy, showing Himself to be strong and compassionate. Each account is a reason to love Him with all our heart, soul, and might.

Discovering the Way

1. A Foundational Statement and Command (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 23–24)

The Shema is the bedrock command for loving God.

2. God of Grace, God of Mercy (Selected Psalms)

Throughout life’s ups and downs, God demonstrates His compassion to those He loves.

3. Man of Gratitude, Man of Love (Selected Psalms)

The life of David demonstrates what it means to love God.

Starting Your Journey

Those who truly love the Lord have experienced His power to deliver and are not fearful.

Those who truly love the Lord have received His peace and forgiveness and are no longer guilty. Those who truly love the Lord have felt His presence in affliction and are loved of God.

“Loving God: Our Ultimate Response” is from Chuck Swindoll’s series series Growing Deep in the Christian Life: Returning to Our Roots.. You can stream this message online anytime at insightforliving.ca/audiolibrary

“Walking with God is a day-by-day commitment that says, ‘Today I’m going to know God better. Today I’m going to love God more.’”

—Pastor Charles R. Swindoll

Puzzle — Fill in the Blank Care for Thee but Not for Me?

Difficulty ■ ■ □ □ Fill in the blanks with these key statements or phrases about caring for others and self-care. The solutions are direct quotes or phrases from the NIV Bible translation.

1. (Exodus 34:21) 2. (Acts 20:35) 3. (Philippians 2:3–4) 4. (Galatians 6:2,10) 5. (Proverbs 4:23) 6. (Luke 5:16) 7. (John 15:5) 8. (Matthews 11:28–30) 9. (Luke 10:27) 10. (Ephesians 5:29)

Puzzle solutions will be posted at insightforliving.ca/puzzle at a later date.

Jesus told His disciples to love one another “as I have loved you” (John 13:34).

Is that an impossible example to follow? You bet it is! That’s why God sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us and empower us with His supernatural love.

Want to learn more? Visit our topical page and let the resources set you on the path of loving with the Saviour’s love.

insightforliving.ca/love