Category Archives: Christian Life

Freedom and discipline

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It doesn’t seem like those two words would go together, does it? People who want freedom in their personal lives usually don’t want discipline. Today’s e-mail devotional from Elisabeth Elliot’s writings, sent out by Back to the Bible, shares some intriguing thoughts along these lines. Here is just an excerpt from the longer article, which is an excerpt from her book All That Was Ever Ours.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who epitomized true freedom in his acceptance, for God’s sake, of the prison cell and death, wrote: “If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses. . . . Only through discipline may a man learn to be free.”

Freedom and discipline have come to be regarded as mutually exclusive, when in fact freedom is not at all the opposite, but the final reward, of discipline. It is to be bought with a high price, not merely claimed. The world thrills to watch the grace of Peggy Fleming on the ice, or the marvelously controlled speed and strength of a racehorse. But the skater and horse are free to perform as they do only because they have been subjected to countless hours of grueling work, rigidly prescribed, faithfully carried out. Men are free to soar into space because they have willingly confined themselves in a tiny capsule designed and produced by highly trained scientists and craftsmen, have meticulously followed instructions and submitted themselves to rules which others defined.

I spent some time living with a jungle tribe whose style of life looked enviably “free.” They wore no clothes, lived in houses without walls, had no idea whatever of authority, paid no taxes, read no books, took no vacations. But they had a well-defined goal. They wanted to stay alive. It was as simple as that. And in a jungle, which can look very hostile indeed to one not accustomed to living there, they had learned to live. They accepted with grace and humor the awful weather, the gnats, the mud, thorns, snakes, steep hills, and deep forests which made their lives difficult. They never even spoke of “roughing it.” They didn’t know anything else. They’d walk for hours with hundred-pound baskets on their backs and when they reached their destination, perhaps in a tropical downpour, they did not so much as say, “Whew!” They knew what was expected of them, and did it as a matter of course. None asked, “Who am I?” They asked only, “What am I to do this next moment?” If it were to hunt or to make poison for darts, a man did that, or if it were to go out and clear new planting space, a woman did that. Their freedom to live in that jungle depended on a well-defined goal and on their willingness to discipline themselves in order to reach it. No one could “give” them this freedom.

I lived with these footloose people in their “jungle” environment–a nonproductive member of their community–and enjoyed a kind of freedom which even hippies might envy. But I was free only because the Indians worked. My freedom was contingent upon their acceptance of me as a liability and, incidentally, upon my own willingness to confine myself to a forest clearing where all I heard was a foreign language.

Having devotions when you’re not feeling very devoted

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Several days ago, I was starting out my devotional time as I usually do by reading the day’s passage from a book called Daily Light for the Daily Path. The verses for that day were mostly about attributes of God. As I got to the end of the page, instead of being thankful and full of praise or uplifted and inspired, I merely thought, rather tiredly, “Yeah, I know that already.” I was immediately rebuked by the coldness of my heart, asked the Lord to forgive me and quicken me, and went back though the verses, praising the Lord for each of the attributes I read there. Then I was thankful, full of praise, uplifted, inspired…and humbled.

There are a few thoughts from this experience I’d like to share:

First, sometimes we feel that “deadness of spirit” when we’re tired or not feeling well. Sometimes it actually works better to go ahead and take a little nap and come back to devotions later. Sometimes we’re just distracted and need to ask the Lord to help us focus. Sometimes we need to ask Him to show us any sin in our lives that needs to be confessed. Sometimes we need to ask Him to forgive us for our coldness and quicken us — a visiting preacher during one summer had an excellent message on the phrase “quicken me,” which recurs nine times in Psalm 119. For example, verse 25 says, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word” (the NKJV and the NASB use the word “revive”).

Secondly, when we come across passages that are familiar to us, we can try to read them with new eyes, as if we’ve never seen them before. If it is a story, like David an Goliath, we can try to picture it happening before our eyes. We can ask the Lord to help us get the lessons from it He has for us.

Thirdly, we need to remember we won’t always find something “new” in the Bible if we have been reading it for a while. We’ll never exhaust it — there will always be new things to learn. But we also need the repetition of the old truths we have learned so we don’t forget them. Over and over in the Bible we see God repeating Israel’s history to them, reminding them of things He had told them before. We see how people drift away from Him when they forget His truth. Sometimes the repetition is a deeply needed blessing. But if it seems “old news” to us, we can ask God to help us appreciate it anew. We can praise Him for it. We often don’t praise the Lord as we should. I’ve wondered at the phrase “the sacrifice of praise” in Scripture, wondering why the Lord called it a “sacrifice.” It may be because it is a “sweet smell” unto Him, or it may be that we have to give up thinking about ourselves and our problems for a while to focus on Him.

Sometimes we think we have to compartmentalize our devotions into reading, confessing, praising, and requesting. There is nothing wrong with that, but we can also let the confessing, praising and requesting flow as we read. When we come to a verse about an attribute of God or a promise, we can praise Him for it right then reflecting back to Him what His Word says. In fact, there is a Hebrew word that can be translated “confession,” “praise,” or “thanksgiving.” When we confess our sin, we say the same thing about it God does. So, too, when we praise Him, we say the same things about Him that His Word does, and as we do, we come to know Him as He truly is, love Him more, and align ourselves more closely with what He wants us to be.

Sometimes it helps to take a break in our usual routine and spend time is the Psalms or in favorite passages or in a Bible study book or do a word study we’ve been wanting to do.

Proverbs 27:7 says, ”The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Sometimes we are too full of other things to hunger after God’s Word as we should. We can ask Him to show us what “junk food” we’ve been filling our souls with so we can replace it with His truth, and to create a hunger in us for Him.

Above all, I think, we shouldn’t wait until we’re “feeling” more “devoted” to sit down with the Bible. A former pastor of ours once said that one of his best times of prayer occurred when the last thing he felt like doing was praying, but he went ahead and just started out by confessing that to the Lord. Somehow in the process the Lord melted his heart. As I mentioned in the beginning, just going back through some verses I had just read and asking the Lord to forgive me and quicken me opened them up to me in a new way, and my heart was completely different afterward than it was the first time through.

In John 6:63 Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” It is His very Word that the Holy Spirit uses to quicken us. The last thing we need to do when we’re feeling low spiritually is to avoid the Bible. That’s exactly what we need to revive us.

Why are we so surprised?

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I am going to be very discreet with details for privacy’s sake, though the family I am thinking of doesn’t have computer access and doesn’t read my blog. Some folks I know are in counseling for a serious family situation. When a very glaring, obviously wrong way of handling something was pointed out to one of them, she couldn’t see the correction needed over hurt that someone would say she did something wrong.

Another friend who was acting in a very petulant manner over an issue went into an enraged fit when someone commented on her anger.

Why are we so surprised when someone points out to us that we’re doing something wrong? We’re sinners — we naturally do wrong. We’d be the first to admit that we don’t have it all together yet. We probably know deep down that we have blind spots to some of our character flaws and that we tend to excuse or justify negative traits in ourselves that we see as faults in others (i.e., I’m determined but another who acts the same way is stubborn.) But let someone try to correct us, and they are being hateful, petty, or, one of the favorite adjectives in today’s Christianity, judgmental.

True, some people are judgmental. Some are busybodies. Some correct too much or too easily. Some people who mean well can correct in an unkind or hurtful way.

I have to admit, when someone points out something in my life that needs correction or attention, my first response is not, “Thank you! I am so glad the Lord laid that on your heart to share with me.”

But it probably should be.

The only reason I can think of that I don’t respond that way is pride.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. Proverbs 9:8-9.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Proverbs 12:15.

A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise. Proverbs 15:12.

The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. Proverbs 15:31-32.

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. Proverbs 25:12.

I used to tell one of my sons who had trouble receiving correction in his early teens that if he didn’t acknowledge that a certain action or attitude was wrong, he could not correct it or change it. I often shared with him Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

If we can get past the sting of hearing criticism and prayerfully examine it to see if it is just, then we can confess it to the Lord (and to whomever else we might need to confess it) and correct it and grow in wisdom and character — and stop causing a problem in other people’s lives by continuing on in the fault.

Isn’t that much better than hanging on to our hurt and indignation?

When there is no hunger for God’s Word

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In something I read online recently, a new Christian wrote of his intense love for the Word of God, taking it with him to work and on vacation and making every attempt to read it every day. He continued, “I cannot for the life of me understand people that say that they are saved [and] never open the book. Can we truly be living our lives for Jesus Christ and not (or rarely) open the word of God? How does a Christian learn to know God just by going to church or praying? I have a Christian friend that told me, ‘I already read the whole Bible once.’ Does the average newer Christian read the Bible for a few years and then put it up? Am I just a Bible nut? I hope and pray that 25 years from now, I still hunger to read his word (God willing I am still here).”

New Christians can really put us to shame, can’t they?

If a professing Christian has absolutely no appetite for God’s Word, it would indeed be good for him to check his heart and make he truly does possess new life in Christ.

Yet there are things that can affect spiritual hunger just as there things that can affect physical hunger.

1) “Spoiling our appetite.” Moms throughout the ages have told children they can’t have a treat before dinner because it would spoil their appetite. When we’re full of other things, we won’t hunger for God’s Word. Proverbs 27:7: “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”

2) Illness. Many physical illnesses can cause a loss of appetite. We need to ask the Great Physician to examine us, search our hearts, and see if there is anything in our lives quenching our hunger for Him and His Word. Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 119:25: My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

3) Service. “But I thought service was a good thing!” It is, but not when it causes us to replace time with Him with our service. Mary and Martha are our classic examples of the difference between busy (and frustrated) service vs. choosing “that good part” of giving time and attention to sitting at our Lord’s feet. (Luke 10: 38-42).

4) Distraction. Sometimes people can get so busy they forget to eat. Mark 4:19 lists three “distractions” which “choke” the Word: cares of this word, deceitfulness of riches, and lusts of other things (Luke 8:14 calls that last one the “pleasures of this life.”) We need to “cast our cares on Him” (I Peter 5:7) and remind ourselves of what the Word says about the deceitfulness of riches and keep pleasures in their proper perspective.

5) Hardness of heart. I don’t know that there is a physical parallel with this one, and I am in danger of mixing my metaphors, but the parable of the sower speaks of one whose heart is “stony ground.” I think the parable is likely referring to an unsaved person, but throughout the Bible God’s people are told to “harden not your hearts.” Hosea 10:12 says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”

6) Enemies. People can neglect or abuse their responsibility to feed others under their care. Prisoners of war have been given very little to eat, and then found themselves eating loathsome things because they were so hungry they’d gladly eat anything. Satan can use some of the other things already mentioned, but the parable of the sower mentions that, “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:19). Again, this is referring to a lost person (Luke 8:12), yet there is a parallel for saved people. When we hear or read the Word inattentively, sleepily, or hurriedly, we won’t understand it and whatever truth we were supposed to have gotten is caught away.

What’s the best way to develop (or redevelop) an appetite for God’s Word? Seek God’s help to diagnose and deal with any issues that are quenching our hunger for it. Then just start partaking of it. I used to hate to drink water, but due to health problems with caffeine and sugar (not to mention calories), I began to drink water rather than soft drinks with meals when we were out. I came to not mind it so much, then to actually like it. I grew up not eating broccoli, but developed a taste, and then a love for it in college just by continuing to try it. We need to set our priorities and put everything else in its proper perspective. We need to partake of it even when we don’t feel hungry for it, just as we need to eat to keep up our health and strength even if we don’t feel physically hungry. Perhaps a reading of Psalm 119 would whet our appetites by reminding us of how great and good the Word is and of what we’re missing when we neglect it.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. I Peter 2:2.

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job 23:12

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

The community of believers

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Catez at Allthings2all asked recently about examples of loving Christian community.

I have known many people who have said, “I don’t know how people make it without a church family” after being abundantly ministered to. Let me hasten to say that I know all churches are not perfect. In fact, I know no church is perfect. How could any be when they are all made up of sinful human beings? I want to say more about that later, but first I want to focus on the positive.

Let me just share ways that I have seen people being ministered to by their local churches over the 32 years I have been a Christian. In many of these examples, I was on the receiving end, but others I have just seen or heard of. When I was a teen-ager, someone picked me up for church until I got my driver’s license. Someone paid my way to a Christian school for two years. People “took me in” and made me feel part of the family of God. One family in particular exercised hospitality, invited me often into their home, and just by their love and example greatly influenced me and demonstrated what Christian family was all about. Some invited me to come along and paid my expenses when they took a group to visit a Christian college. One family continued to pick up my sisters for church after I went away to college. Some anonymously contributed to my college education and showed love and interest in me whenever I came back home. The ladies gave me a bridal shower before I married. My pastor married us without charging us anything for his services or the use of the church (he also sang a solo and a duet with another lady at my wedding. 🙂 ) His wife assisted me and helped me with the rehearsal dinner. His daughter had helped me get ready for college, making a list for me of what to take, answering questions, showing me how to register when we got there, introducing me to her friends, etc. Though my family members were never members of the church, and though I moved away from that area when I got married at 22, in the 27 years since, I have been able to call on that pastor in any crisis my family has gone through, and he has visited, prayed for, and witnessed to them. Even after he retired, I called on him when my mother passed away, and he graciously and gladly preached her funeral.

In the years since then my husband and I have been a part of three different churches, changing churches only when a job change necessitated a move to another city. We’ve had pastors, pastors’ wives, and older believers who we felt we could call on at any time to ask questions or counsel of. We’ve had people who prayed, visited, brought meals, watched children, cleaned homes, and other things when people have been sick or just had a baby. Two instances of that especially touched my heart. When I came home from the hospital after encountering TM, along with all of these other ministrations, one lady came over with a puzzle and just spent time with my children putting it together. They had been run through the mill being carted to different people’s houses and back and forth to the hospital, and this dear friend, in her sweet quiet way, came over and just spent some unhurried quiet time with them at our home. Then, I was unable to walk without aid for a long time, and I couldn’t get up and down the stairs without help, so I was confined to one floor (we lived in a split-level) unless my husband was home to help me. He got the equipment to put hand rails along the stairways and called a friend at church who was a …well, I don’t remember if he was a contractor or had a home improvement business or what exactly. But he worked on homes, anyway, and my husband called to ask if he had a stud-finder that he could borrow. This man wasn’t home when my husband called, but his wife took the message. That evening as were eating dinner, this man brought his crew to our home and put up handrails along both stairways and also in the bathroom. Something that practical was such a blessing. Jim could have done it, but it would have taken longer and been a lot more trouble: this man and his crew were able to do it all in no time.

Recently at our current church, an older man passed away. His disabled daughter was in a nursing home, unable to attend the funeral. One lady from church went to stay with her during the funeral; several people called her from their cell phones during different parts of the funeral to see how she was doing; someone called from their cell phone during the message at the funeral and let her listen to it over the phone, and somehow it came through clearly enough that she could hear the whole thing.

Other types of ministries I’ve seen are sending care packages to college students and servicemen from our church; an older lady who went to visit all the new moms from church in the hospital when they had their babies; collecting and sending gifts to missionaries; the teens doing yard work at an elderly neighbor’s home; a group painting a widow’s house; bridal showers and baby showers.

Another personal example just came to mind: a couple of years ago I ended up needing to go to the ER in the middle of the night when my husband was out of town. I called on a friends from church who lived nearby: the wife was a nurse, and I asked her some questions to ascertain what to do, but it was something I had dealt with before, and we agreed I needed to go to the hospital but didn’t need to call an ambulance. I asked if she could take me, and she readily said yes. My younger children were asleep; my oldest was of age that he could stay with them. This lady’s husband, if I remember correctly, offered to come and stay with the boys, but I felt that wasn’t necessary. I did ask him, however, if he could be “on call” for them to call him if they needed anything, and he agreed. This lady took me to the ER, and then came back to stay with me. We ended up getting home in the wee hours of the morning, and she had to work the next day. But from this and many other instances where I have seen them graciously and willingly help others, I feel that I could call on them in any time of need. When my mother passed away and we had to make a quick trip to TX, my oldest son was facing college finals and just didn’t feel that he should come with us. This couple again agreed to be “on call” for him while we were gone and had him over for dinner one of the evenings we were away. Another friend, upon hearing that my my had died, brought us over a couple of batches of muffins to help with breakfast the next couple of mornings as we packed and then left, and she brought a meal over the night we got home.

I could go on and on with these many practical areas of ministry. Some of them have been through an organized church committee (most meal situations come through that vein — many churches have found it helpful to make up some kind of committee of folks willing to do this that they can call on during times of need so that these efforts can be more organized and the recipient doesn’t end up with 3 meals on one night or something); other instances have been the result of an individual or a couple’s thoughtfulness, sensitivity to God’s leading, and willingness to pitch in and have their gifts, talents, and time be used of the Lord.

But besides the practical, there is a wealth of spiritual benefits. I don’t know how many times the church family has prayed someone through a crisis. I can’t tell you what it means to know that I can share a prayer request with the church or with individuals there at any time, people who will not only pray that one time, but will continue to pray and show an interest. This was a testimony to my mom when she was experiencing a health crisis — problems from diabetes that looked like it was going to lead to some kind of amputation of her foot. I sent out an emergency e-mail to just about every Christian I knew, both friends from church here, previous churches, college days, online friends, etc. Many of them wrote back that they were praying; some even wrote out a prayer for her. I printed all of those out and sent them to her. It meant so much to her that people who didn’t even know her were praying for her. She credited God’s answering their prayers with the fact that she only lost three toes and not her whole lower leg. This was one of the factors in her heart softening towards the Lord.

There are people who have taken an interest in us and in our children, who have invested time to teach, preach, watch the nursery, head up children’s ministries, ladies ministries, men’s prayer breakfasts. Although I have benefited greatly from hearing sermons on the radio or a CD at times, especially when I’ve been home sick or home with sick children, there is something special about the whole church being taught and instructed along the same lines each week that you just don’t get at home alone with the radio.

Then there is the blessing of seeing examples of living the Christian life, of marriage, of parenthood in others at church. As a single college student, then a young wife, then a young mother, then having preschoolers, elementary-aged children, then teens and college students — all along the way I have been able to observe godly people in my own stage of life as well as the next stages. I’ve had people I could ask questions of whose lives and “track record” I had witnessed with my own eyes.

Again — I could go on and on. God set up the Christian community called the church for all of these reasons and more. It’s a place where people can practice the Bible “one anothers”. It’s a place where older men and women are instructed to teach the younger. The church has been compared to a building, a body, a family. It’s a community that God gave gifts to and that God wants us to exercise our spiritual gifts in. Sure, many of these things take place in the larger community of believers as a whole, but these epistles were originally written to individual local churches.

It’s also, as I said at the beginning, a place of fallen human beings. So there will be failures. There will be people who slip through the cracks and get missed by some of these ministrations. There will be people who fail to do their part. There will be people who not only fail their brothers and sisters in Christ but who actually hurt them. What then? Is that a reason to forsake the church? Is that a reason to be bitter?

You know, I don’t ever see a justification in Scripture for bitterness. People will fail us; God never will. If other people don’t see our need, He does. We can appeal to Him to either meet the need or send someone who will. And what then about those fallen humans? Well, we remember that we are fallen and that we fail, too. We do unto others as we would have others do unto us when we fail — we exercise compassion and grace. We forgive as we have been forgiven, knowing that we have been forgiven so much more than what anyone else has done to us. Sometimes we confront the Christian brethren who have wronged us. Sometimes God wants us to take it, to suffer wrongdoing as graciously as Christ did, with the love that covers “a multitude of sins“.

So what do you do if your church is not an actively loving community that ministers to its members?

Well, first of all, pray. God may want you to go somewhere else, or He may want to turn your church around.

Then be patient. Likely it will take time: everything won’t change overnight.

Then, as God directs, speak up. The first deacons were ordained when one part of the church felt like ministry to them was neglected and they told someone.

And then, be willing to be the first to step out, the first to minister to others. Maybe it will catch on. If you have seen a need that God has burdened your heart about, maybe He is directing you to do something about it. Don’t panic, He will give the direction and grace and everything else as it is needed. Many ministries have been started because one person saw a need. Don’t be the one to sit back and say, “Somebody should…..” without being willing to be that somebody.

“Christ …loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25) to redeem it from sins and to manifest Himself through it to its members and to the world at large.

The language of Christians

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It’s funny how things will come up in a particular category from different places around the same time.

Some time ago on a Christian forum I saw reference to John Piper’s apology for publicly using inappropriate language. I even saw someone say that it was ok to swear because John Piper did. Well, first of all, I would consider his word choice in this particular incident unwise and even profane, but not “swearing.” But, as I discussed a few days ago, we shouldn’t make decisions about how we act based on how other Christians act (but because weaker brethren do this, that’s one reason we need to be careful in our actions).

Since then on various Christian sites I’ve seen language I was surprised to see.

My oldest son and I have talked from time to time about how language changes. For instance, he uses the word “crap” to mean “junk,” as in, “I need to clean the junk off my desk.” When I was growing up, that word was little better than a word still recognized today as profane and still, thankfully, bleeped out on network TV. Because of that, I cringe when I hear him use it (I cringed to even type it out here) and would prefer he not use it: his argument is that it doesn’t mean what it used to, it’s become a common term, and so it is ok now. (This post is not about my son — I just bring up this incidence by way of illustration because a lot of people think this way.)

There are many terms today that, though they are becoming more mainstream, have vulgar origins, and, even if they are not considered outright vulgarity today, they’re still considered not the best speech. I come from a public school background and, unfortunately, know of some of those vulgar connotations. Yet I know some people these days can use those terms in innocence, not knowing where they came from. And the way society is these days, perfectly innocent terms can come to have a risque double meaning. There are some secular message boards I don’t frequent and comedians I don’t watch because of that kind of thing. Once one of my sons got into trouble at school for using a particular term. He said he didn’t know what it meant, and, thankfully, the principal believed him. He picked up using it because other kids were. Of course, we had to counsel him that it’s not wise to do that. But the term itself was perfectly innocent in its exact words — neither my husband or I had ever heard it used in a negative connotation before. My husband had to ask a co-worker what it meant.

Some people will point out that there are terms used in the Bible that we would consider vulgar today. True, but in the day the Bible was translated those words weren’t considered vulgar, so I don’t think that’s justification for using them commonly today.

So what’s a Christian to do? Well, first of all we consider what the Bible says about speech. There is not a list of words that are ok and words that should be banned, but there are Scriptural principles about our speech. There is much more than can be included here, but here are a few of them:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:29-20).

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man (Colossians 4:5-6).

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Mattehw 12:36).

In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you (Titus 2:7-8).

The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words (Proverbs 15:26).

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones (Proverbs 16:24).

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him (Proverbs 29:20).
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness (Proverbs 10:32. The NASB puts it this way: The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked what is perverted.)

The tongue of the just is as choice silver (Proverbs 10:20a).

There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health (Proverbs 12:18).

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit (Proverbs 15:4).

This passage doesn’t deal specifically with the tongue, but it is an overriding principle that should guide everything we do:

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved (I Corinthians 10:31-33).

And that’s not even going into the sections about lying tongues, flattering lips, wise words, angry speech, etc. But there is plenty there to indicate to me that I should seek to have wise gracious speech that brings honor and glory to God and that isn’t profane and vulgar. I don’t think that means I need to speak formally or sound like the King James Bible in my everyday speech. But I should definitely take the high road. If I know something has a vulgar background or connotation, I don’t use it. Coming from an unsaved family, school, and background, I can tell you lost people aren’t impressed when Christians use certain language in order to sound like “one of the guys.”

James 3:8a tells us, “But the tongue can no man tame.” We need God’s help to tame it.

Personally, I use these two as a prayer:

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips (Psalm 141:3).

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

Fundamentals and secondary issues

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I mentioned in an earlier post on fundamentalism and separatism that there are fundamentals that we cannot budge on — the Deity of Christ, for example, or the way of salvation — but there are other issues about which good people can differ.

This is something I guess I’ve known probably most of my Christian life to some degree. But it really came home to me several years ago when we had moved to a different area, visited several churches, and the one most like us in faith and practice was still very different in many respects. There were things that were considered important and just basic in my own heart and in the church I came from that were not in this new church, though we agreed on “the fundamentals.” Many of those things were issues I could have lived with, so to speak, if it were just my husband and I. But I didn’t want my children to be confused. It’s awkward to try to explain to children why they can’t participate in an activity the church allows or dress the way others at church do, etc.

I used to (naively) think that since there is one God and He speaks with one voice, then all Christians should be on the same page. 🙂 So these differences were really troubling to my spirit until one day I just cried out to God. I was going to have to come to some kind of understanding and peace about this or I was going to have to leave the church. I took a spiral notebook and my Bible and spent I don’t know how much time going over Scripture, jotting notes and verses, and drawing principles from those verses. Though there are other applicable passages, probably the premiere one is Romans 14. Now, right off the bat some people who are familiar with that passage will brush it off, thinking, “Oh, that’s dealing with the weaker brother.” It is. But that’s no reason to dismiss it when we’re not dealing with what we think are weaker brother issues (and, really, when it comes to differences of opinion like the ones I am talking about, I don’t think we really need to do a lot of posturing about which one is the weaker brother. I have seen conversations along those lines which really seem to be born out of pride.) It is not that the principles Paul brings up only apply to a weaker brother situation: it is rather that he is applying universal Christian principles to that particular situation.

So what are some of those principles?

1) Don’t despise or judge the person whose conviction differs from yours.

Romans 14: 2-4:

2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

Really other Scripture is on the side of the person who feels he can eat all things, but Paul doesn’t tell that person to convince his weaker brother of that. There may be a time for that kind of discussion, but Paul warns in v. 1 against “doubtful disputations.” If we can extrapolate the principle being applied here away from the specific application about what to eat, Paul doesn’t tell these people to hammer it out until they come to a consensus. He tells the person who has a conviction about an issue not to judge the one who doesn’t. Why? Because he is also God’s servant, God has accepted him, and he’s answerable to God. And that’s where most people camp when they come to this passage. But those truths also apply to the other, the one who doesn’t have the conviction, who feels it is ok to do whatever it is they have a difference about. He is told not to despise the other. We think of “despise” as meaning “really, really hate.” But in the KJV the word despise can mean to think down about. Checking this verse in the NASB, it says, ‘The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat.” And this, frankly, I see violated just as much as the other. The one who doesn’t do whatever is not to judge the other; the one who feels it is ok to do whatever is not regard the other with contempt.

2) Be fully persuaded in your own mind.

Romans 14:5: One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Whatever one’s convictions are, he needs to come to a conclusion in his own mind. He needs to be fully persuaded. He shouldn’t change convictions with every conversation he has on the issue. He needs to pray and study the Scripture.

3) Do whatever you do as unto the Lord.

Romans 14:6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

It was new to me, when I did this study, that people could be on the opposite sides of the fence on an issue and both be doing what they did as unto the Lord. But that needs to be the issue: to do it as unto the Lord, not as unto what this or that person says.

4) We are all accountable to God.

Romans 14: 9-12: 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

5) We have to be careful not to make someone else stumble in what we allow ourselves to do, and
6) Conscience is not infallible, but it should not be violated.

Romans 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Sometimes people take verses 2-12 as a blank check for Christian liberty, feel they can do whatever they want, and anyone who has a problem with it is judgmental and Pharisaical. But Paul says there is a consideration here, and that is whether our actions, what we could allow in good conscience, might cause someone else to stumble who does not feel that same liberty. The Christian life is not one of claiming my “rights” to the detriment of other people. He gives an example of that in I Cor. 8 with the situation of meat offered to idols. Again, the overriding principle is they key here. The chapter is not just about meat offered to idols, and therefore we can breeze past it because we don’t have that situation in America. The principle is how we act when one Christian’s conscience is affected by something that another’s is not. We don’t run roughshod over conscience in the name of Christian liberty.

Conscience is not an infallible guide, despite what Jiminy Cricket says. 🙂 One former pastor used to try to humorously illustrate that this way: he would say that if he were in a jungle and met up with some cannibals, he would not tell them to let their conscience be their guide, because they would have no conscience about eating him. 🙂 In one of Isobel Kuhn’s books, she related how that the Lisu people were very gifted musically and could sing in parts naturally. As many became Christians she enjoyed teaching them hymns. Once she asked them about using a particular gourd that others used as a musical instrument. The Christians were horrified, saying that they couldn’t do such a thing because the non-Christians used them during immoral acts. Conscience is affected by what we have been taught about right and wrong. But to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. A gourd in and of itself is not unclean. As long as those Lisu Christians esteemed it as unclean and wrong, though, they should not override their conscience and use it. It may have been that with time, spiritual growth, and patient teaching from Scripture, they would have come to see that and have no problem using it with hymns; on the other hand, they may have concluded that, though it wasn’t sinful in itself, it was still associated with the heathen lifestyle and should not be used. But it was wise of the missionary not to push the issue. She could have tried to talk them into it, but if they used it still having a conscience against it, they would have been sinning, according to I Cor. 8 and Romans 14:13-21. That may be one of the reasons Paul warned against doubtful disputations in Romans 14:1 — not only do they generate more heat than light, but it is possible to “talk someone into” doing something that their conscience isn’t really convinced of yet (I don’t think that means we can’t ever discuss differences of opinions on these issues, but we have to be careful and gracious about it, not disputing or being pushy or opinionated). Both of these passages seem to me to be saying that it is not the particular thing in question (i.e., meat offered to idols) that is important for the stronger Christian, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and we should therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. In I Cor. 8:13, Paul says, “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” Sometimes the stronger Christian needs to defer to the convictions of the weaker so as not to cause them to sin, because the bigger issue is not that I have liberty to do it: the bigger issue is treating our brother charitably and not wounding his weak conscience. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ (I Cor. 8: 12). These issues, these differences are not what make up the Christian life, but rather righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (v. 17).

Why shouldn’t one violate conscience?

Romans 14: 22-23: Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Conscience can be instructed and retrained, and as we learn more of God’s Word our conscience should be adapting more and more to what we are learning. But we shouldn’t do something as long as we have any doubts about it, according to these verses.

Once a guest speaker at a church we were members of several years ago shared this story. He was there for a family conference and would be well known in fundamental circles. His wife was with the Lord by then, but he said at one point several years earlier she had come to him saying that she felt she should not wear earrings any more. He had no problems with earrings (and you can make a case Scripturally as to why they are ok, but I won’t just now.) He told her to do as she felt led. Some time later, just as the Iron Curtain was coming down in the Soviet Union, he and his wife had an opportunity to go over there. Another team from our church then also went over in the earliest days and came back saying the things that this man said, that the Christians there felt that women wearing a lot of jewelry and make-up were “worldly.” As this team returned every year, they toned down the jewelry and make-up so as not to offend, and this pastor’s wife, because she came to them that way already, had an open door to minister to the women there. Now, did those Christians need to come to understand that jewelry and make-up were not in themselves worldly and that they shouldn’t judge on that basis? Sure, eventually. But there were many other larger issues that they needed to deal with first, and this pastor’s wife and ministry team were wise to lay aside their liberty in that area in order to minister to them in ways that they needed first.

Does that mean no Christian women should wear jewelry or make-up? No, not at all, but I think if a particular Christian woman is trying to minister to someone who has a problem with that, it might be wise to set it aside for a time.

Then we get into the question of, “Well, it seems like everyone is convicted about something. Are we supposed to go around not doing anything?” Well, that would be overdoing it. It is tricky, to be sure. But with prayer and the Holy Spirit’s guidance and an attitude to do others good, I feel sure the Lord will show us how this all applies in each case.

But, getting back out of the weaker brother issues and going back to applying these principles at large, we do need to realize that people can differ over when and whether the Rapture will occur, pants on women, movies, homeschool vs. public school vs. Christian school, courtship vs. dating, birth control vs. none, Bible translations, etc. etc., etc., and we can still regard each other as good Christians who love the Lord. Unity doesn’t mean we all do everything exactly the same way. But we have unity in the diversity of personalities and preferences and gifts. And we love each other in the Lord, handling our differences with grace.

Doctrine

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I mentioned in my post about fundamentalism and separatism that I was going to write later some thoughts about “secondary issues” (or the non-fundamentals). But I have been thinking for the last several weeks about doctrine. I write and/or compile a newsletter/booklet for our ladies group, and one regular column for the last few years has been called “Women of the Word,” dealing with reasons to read the Bible, how to’s, devotional tips, Bible studies, etc. I went back and looked up a couple of columns I had written about doctrine and want to include them here before I go on to secondary issues. After all, we need to know doctrine — God’s truths — before we can exercise discernment, and we need discernment to know what is fundamental and what is secondary, what we need to stand firm on and what we have room to differ on.

So, first is one written in October of 04:

Our “favorite” times in the Word are often the “warm fuzzies” — when we feel especially blessed, loved, comforted, encouraged, or secure in what we have read. And those times are, indeed, wonderful. But as we read, we should be looking for more than “warm fuzzies” — we should be looking for truth about our God.

I was thinking recently that it is too bad that churches are too often divided into those preaching “doctrinal” messages or those meeting “felt needs” when really they should go together. We can’t truly meet spiritual needs without the truth, the doctrine, of God’s Word. When a trial comes and people feel forsaken, what most comforts but the precious truth that God will never forsake us? When a lie seems the only way out of a tough situation, what keeps us from it but the knowledge that it will displease a God whose essence is truth?

A.W. Tozer once wrote that “there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.” He further felt that “wrong thoughts about God are in reality a form of idolatry.” I think that’s true.

When we don’t worship God for Who He truly is, then we are worshipping a god of our own making, and that is idolatry. Now, of course, all of us are imperfect in our knowledge of Him and are, or should be, ever growing in Him, and He’ll correct our understanding along the way. But that is a little different than not knowing Him for Who He is due to neglect or misapplication of the Word.

Our thinking has much bearing on our intimacy with God. We can’t know Him aright apart from what He has revealed of Himself in His Word. As we learn more of Him, we love Him and worship Him more, and what seemed like “dry doctrine” then does become something that warms and thrills our hearts as the Holy Spirit brings that truth to mind.

And, the more we behold Him, the more we are changed into His likeness. II Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

So, don’t be afraid of that word “doctrine.” II Timothy 4: 3-4 says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” That is a warning to us not to turn away from sound doctrine, but also possibly an admission that sound doctrine needs to be “endured.” Learning doctrine may not always feel warm and fuzzy, but the Holy Spirit will use it in our lives in blessed ways.

This next one was just from January of this year:

Often when we read our Bibles, we’re looking for comfort, encouragement, strength, assurance of God’s love, care, guidance, and protection — and the Bible is a wonderful source for all of those things. But one of the most important reasons for reading and studying God’s Word is to learn correct doctrine. Immediately the word doctrine can bring to mind dryness, dullness, and argumentation. But if we think of doctrine as a manifestation of God’s truth and character, we can in turn worship Him by knowing and sharing the doctrines of His Word.

So often I have heard some of the sweetest people make some of the most off-the-wall comments about truth, and I have been so surprised by the lack of discernment. I remember a news report about cult leader David Koresh quoting one woman saying she was drawn in because of how well he knew his Bible. But just in that short news report Koresh made several unbiblical statements. Sometimes celebrities whose behavior and public statements contradict the Bible are quoted as spiritual sources.

One of my former pastors, Jesse Boyd, used to say that (at least in his day) bankers were trained to recognize counterfeit bills not by studying the various counterfeits, but by studying genuine currency so well that they could tell if any bill differed from it. If we know God’s Word and His truth well, we won’t be led astray and we can help share God’s truth with our children, neighbors, relatives, and others within our sphere of influence.

We have to remember, though, to let our speech be always “with grace” (Col. 4:6) and to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). We don’t need to “pounce” on every comment or reference another person might make, but graciously seek what the Lord might have us say. We also have to distinguish between clear doctrine and those areas where good people can differ or personal preferences.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians 4:14-15).

For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law (Proverbs 4:2).

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few (Acts 17:11-12).

Fundamentalism and separatism

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Normally I try to keep this blog pretty controversy-free. It’s not that I don’t have strong opinions on certain subjects, but there are plenty of places on the Internet to discuss and debate issues, and I didn’t want this to be one of them.

However, I do see a lot of misconceptions about these two subjects pretty often. A few weeks ago someone was blogging about a religious leader who took a Biblical principle far beyond what the Bible meant, and someone in the comments wrote a disparaging remark about “those fundamentalists.” The man was hardly a fundamentalist, but that term seems to be applied to anyone who is religiously unreasonable and excessive. In one Christian forum I often saw fundamentalists referred to as “KJV-only and dresses-only.” Not so. 🙂 And then somewhere else I saw separatists referred to in a negative way as a stumblingblock or a hindrance. I would have to say some separatists may be so, but there is certainly a principle of separation in the Bible (more on that later). I am not linking back to those posts because I don’t want to send controversy back to those sites, and I am not really writing this to answer them back. I just want to talk about what these words actually do mean.

I thought about writing a post about fundamentalism right after starting my blog, but just hadn’t yet sat down to do it. This will not be a great theological essay but rather a simple homemaker’s viewpoint. I have been a fundamentalist for 30+ years, before I ever knew there was a word for it. I didn’t grow up in a fundamentalist home, so this isn’t something I was raised with. The church where I was saved was an independent, fundamental Baptist church. I wrote in my testimony how I was saved and led to this church. It was at this church I was first encouraged to read the Bible through and to study the Scriptures for myself. My own studied confirmed to me that what I was taught at that church was Biblical. I attended a fundamentalist Christian college and have been in fundamental independent Baptist churches ever since.

A fundamentalist basically means someone who holds to the “fundamentals” or essentials of the faith, and these would be: that the Bible is inspired from God and is our standard of faith and practice, that God created man, that Christ was born of a virgin, That Jesus is the sinless, holy, only begotten Son of God the Father, that Jesus’ death was the atonement for our sins, that He rose again from the grave, that people are saved, born again, by repenting of their sins and believing on Him as Lord and Savior, and that the Holy Spirit is the comes to live in the hearts of believers when they are saved.

Beyond that, it is hard to paint all fundamentalists with the same brush strokes. Some are KJO; some are not (the ESV seems to be pretty popular right now. I’m currently using the NASB for devotions). Some are dresses-only for ladies; some are not. Some are Calvinistic; some are not. Some use only the old-standard hymns; some use Southern gospel; a few use CCM. Some homeschool; some do not. Not all Baptists are fundamentalists and not all fundamentalists are Baptists. The two times we have moved to a new town as a family and began the process of visiting independent fundamental churches, though they have essentially the same statement of faith and very similar church constitutions, their practice, standards, and personality run the gamut. Fundamentalists generally, historically are more conservative than New Evangelicals (or Evangelicals — the “New” seems to have been dropped), but that’s not always so in every respect.

Fundamentalists are often accused of being legalistic and Pharisaical. I think that partly comes from a misunderstanding of what legalism is. True legalism is a depending on what one does either for salvation or, after salvation, for a right standing with God, rather than depending on His grace. But these days often if Christian A has a stricter standard that Christian B, Christian B accuses Christian A of legalism. And that’s just faulty. (More on that in another post later.)

One of the major differences between fundamentalists and evangelicals is the doctrine of separation. Yes, some people carry it way too far and separate themselves into a corner, and that’s wrong. But the basic doctrine is rooted in Scripture. Here are a few of the passages indicating it:

II Thess. 3: 6: Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

II Thess. 3: 14-15: And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

I Cor. 5:9-11: I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

In the I Corinthians passage, Paul says in the verses above and below that one in chapter 5 that he does not mean that we should never interact with “fornicators, coveters, extortioners, idolators,” etc., because if we did we would pretty much have to leave this world (and in other Bible passages, particularly in the example of Christ’s ministry, we’re shown that we are here to minister to them and show them His love). But Paul says when a person is a professing believer and yet engages in these activities, we’re not to fellowship with them. In the first verse in that chapter he refers to one in the church who was living in an incestuous relationship, and in v. 2, he says, “And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.” He tells them in v. 4-5, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” This would be the end result of a church discipline situation outlined in Matthew 18: 15-20 (interestingly, the promise “That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” is in this context.) The purpose has to do not only with the purity of the church and the need to shelter believers from being led astray, but it is also restoration. In II Corinthians this man did repent, and Paul had to tell the Corinthians that they needed to accept him back.

Those passages all deal with disobedient brethren, with those who are professing believers but are not walking in obedience to God’s Word. There are other passages that talk about separation from unbelievers. Here’s the man one:

II Cor. 6: 14: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Again, that doesn’t mean we don’t interact at all with the people mentioned here, but we’re to avoid an “unequal yoke” (which includes marriage between an unbeliever and a believer but includes other types of “yokes” too.)

The doctrine of separation is clearly there. The trouble comes in two areas: what we separate over and how we do it. As I mentioned earlier, some separate over many things other than the fundamentals and go way overboard (I was kicked off a Christian ladies’ message board once for talking about how going to a Christian college had blessed my life. These ladies believed that a Christian woman should not go to college, that remaining under her father’s authority meant remaining physically at home until she married. I had never heard of such at the time. When I tried to convey why I felt that was wrong, I was removed for “causing people to sin.” Yes, that was extreme. But that’s not true of most fundamentalists — and I don’t even know if those women would have called themselves fundamentalists anyway). Separation over homeschooling vs. Christian schools vs. public schools, courtship vs. marriage, use of birth control or not, Bible translations, dresses or pants, and all other secondary issues ought not to be: we need to practice grace and allow that people can have different opinions on these things and still love God and be right with Him. It’s not that these issues are not important — we need to prayerfully consider what God would have us do in each instance and study any Scriptural principles involved. But in issues where the Bible doesn’t clearly speak or convey an issue to consider, we need to allow for grace.

As far as how we separate, separation doesn’t mean that when we see someone like this coming down the sidewalk toward us, we walk across the street and avoid them. It doesn’t mean we treat them hatefully. Paul said in II Thess. 3: 15 “Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.“ In all honesty I struggle some times with exactly what it does mean. But I am pretty sure that it at least applies in a ministry related setting. For instance, years ago a famous evangelist had someone open his meeting in prayer who had previously publicly denounced the virgin birth. Personally I think that was wrong. I head up our ladies’ ministry at church, and if I had a neighbor with whom I had serious doctrinal differences, I could befriend her, talk together over the fence, have yard sales together or whatever, but I would not ask her to speak at our ladies meeting. I hope that makes sense.

The Bible does teach that believers should be unified, but it also teaches separation over disobedience to the clear teaching of the Word. That may sound contradictory, but if we remember that one of the purposes of separation is restoration, it makes more sense. Perhaps we can understand it this way: we want unity within our own families — that won’t mean agreement over every little thing, but in our hearts and in major things we want to be unified, to not have disagreements. But if one member of the family decides to go off and do something wrong, that unity is disturbed until they get that thing right. It doesn’t mean we don’t love them any less when they are rebellious, but like the father of the prodigal son, we’re waiting and watching for them to return and run out to meet them and embrace them when they do.

I was going to write a bit more about secondary issues, but this post is way long already, so I will save that for another time.

The Storm and the Rainbow

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Yesterday had been grey and drizzly all day. When I was waiting in the car line at my son’s school in the afternoon, a computerized voice on the radio broke into the regular programming to warn of a fast-moving storm which had conditions that could produce a tornado, and a tornado warning was in effect for the next 45 minutes. Right on cue, raindrops began splattering hard and fast against the windshield, and as I drove up to where my son was waiting, he made a mad dash for the car. Just then I saw another mother and friend herding several children into the cafeteria. She saw me, made a swirling motion with her hand, and mouthed, “Tornado.” I nodded to indicate that I had heard the warning, but I felt sure we could make it home all right. We only live a short distance away — 3 minutes if the lights are green, 10 minutes at most.

As I drove towards the main road, though, I saw low, dark, swirling clouds that had not been there when I came to the school. The rain pounded harder and harder, the sudden onslaught almost flooding the roads. My original plans had been to take my son home and then go run an errand for which I knew he would not want to accompany me, but with the conditions, I decided I’d better stay home until this storm blew over. I had almost not taken the tornado warning seriously, but now it looked as though a tornado could materialize out of the sky at any moment, and I was anxious to get home.

Just before we got to the turn into our subdivision, I was aware of a bright light behind us. The sun was shining! As I waited in the turn lane, I thought I saw a bit of color — I had to blink a couple of times, and it seemed like a rainbow appeared almost right before my eyes. It was a perfect arc, seeming to start on one side of a little red brick church and going over our neighborhood, coming down on the other side. It looked like you could reach out and touch it. It made you want to go look for the end of it just to see if it touched the ground.

Then I noticed that, though the rain had slowed, just above the rainbow the sky was still dark grey. The sunlight was coming from behind us. Just below the rainbow, the sky wasn’t daylight blue, but it was definitely lighter and brighter than the stormy sky. It made the whole area under the arc look like a light-filled globe. I wished I had my camera, but probably neither my camera nor I had the skills to capture the beauty of it.

690382_rainbow.jpgI have always loved the ethereal beauty of rainbows, and I’ve always loved associating them with God’s promise in Gen. 9:11-17. When my older boys were toddlers they would say the rainbow was “God’s pwomise.” Yet this morning, thinking about the rainbow yesterday being the dividing line between the grey skies and the brighter sky, I realized that God’s promises are often the dividing line between hope and despair in the storms of life. Whether a sudden squall of disaster assails us or a slow-brewing storm erupts over us, only the solid, unmoving, unchangeable promises of God keep up anchored. He has promised that He loves His children and always will. He has promised to supply our needs. He has promised sufficient grace. He has promised to work all things together for good to those who love Him. He has promised new mercies every morning and unfailing compassion. There are multitudes of His promises that we can cling to through the storms of life that will make our skies brighter in comparison to the storm clouds above.

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Isaiah 25:4.

The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Nahum 1:3.

Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psalm 107:28-31

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. Psalm 57:1-2.

(Rainbow photo courtesy of the stock.xchng)