Perils of Isolationism

"A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.

A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart." (Prov 18:1-2)

Our heart - we are told by society to "follow our hearts". It is a common theme. Even Christians sometimes rationalize decisions as a "burning of the heart".

The Lord is really illuminating the wisdom of Jer 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?". This verse really struck me because the world and even the church at times asks us to follow our heart and our desires.

The verses in Proverbs however, shows the foolish effects of doing exactly that type of thing. When a man pulls back from the body and isolates themselves they are primarily stewing in their own intellect and their own ideas of the world. God's Word becomes less and less meaningful and is supplanted by that man's sin nature because unless we work to maintain our faith, our faith will atrophy and backslide. Left unchecked, it will lead to apostasy.

Sin is sometimes (but not necessarily) a key part of this trend. One of my favorite Christian singer-songwriters abruptly left the industry several years ago to my great dismay. I loved her voice, her music and her songs. After effectively disappearing, she has recently resurfaced with a brand new non-Christian album. The reason for this is because she has been in a same sex relationship and has been living isolated from the church. Essentially, she didn't want to follow the scriptures against homosexuality and ceased fighting against this sin. She mentioned that life is better now because she no longer considers homosexuality a sin to be struggled against. She no longer sings most of her old songs - songs which were about Jesus and redemption. In her case, the desires of her heart were more important than following scripture and she has isolated herself from the church and from any contrary advice to her personal opinion.

That is precisely why we need to have the body of Christ. The Word of God is not convenient. It isn't something that is easy to follow and that is precisely why Jesus said that "narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Mt 7:14) Our sin nature rails against the Word. Speaking personally as a man, left unchecked my own desire to fornicate would run rampant. As men, we are tasked to rein in our physical desires by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not impossible because men do it everyday.

The job of Scripture is to convict us. It is supposed to hurt. Hebrews 4:12 likens Scripture to surgery - it is living and active, sharper than any doubled edged sword it penetrates to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the attitudes and thoughts of the heart. The Word judges us and helps us to see our areas of improvement. It humbles us, but at the same time it strengthens us to become better, living a life of goodness.

We are not to run away from the conviction of God. Yes, we might feel bad and it might be difficult to overcome the specific sin that we are prone to commit, but if we isolate ourselves we are only headed down the path of ultimate destruction. We may feel good that the weight of the struggle is done, but we are no longer walking with the Lord. We will turn to find that we are only walking with ourselves - the voices of wisdom from the Lord have been shut out.

There is one perspective shift that is necessary to make however, and personally I realize that it is quite useful. Traditionally, it has been the church's position that we need to focus on the fight against sin, but I think that makes it a negative thought process. It makes it seems as if we are missing out on something. Instead - I believe we are called to walk in God's path. We must choose to forego sin and to follow Him. We are no longer losing the chance to sin, but we are replacing those actions with righteous behavior and the goodness of the Lord's ways. We have not lost, but we have replaced.

Lord Jesus, I never really knew how twisted our thinking is in our modern world. We stand in direct opposition to You because we desire the easy route where we no longer fight our sin natures, but instead cave in to our personal desires. Sometimes it is a struggle, but let us not consume ourselves with our sins, but instead choose to walk in obedience to You. Let us fill our minds with thoughts of goodness and righteousness and let our behaviors match that intention. Help me to replace any sinful desires with Your good ways. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

Staying Single Minded Despite Fear and Uncertainty

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

(James 1:5-8)

This week, I really feel like there was some spiritual warfare going on between my heart (the flesh) and the Holy Spirit within me. My head knew what was right, but my heart kept pulling my emotions toward fear of the future.

The topic of my angst was centered around my career. For a man, our career becomes an integral part of our identity - and it can threaten our faith because we have the temptation to put our career progress above our relationship with God and family.

Recently, I have had the choice between two jobs. The first was a steady position with a great title and responsibilities, but lousy compensation. Our family would have been eeking out a living, paycheck to paycheck. At the last moment, right before I was going to accept the position, I was offered the chance to work on a long term temp assignment that would wrap in about a year, and offered comp in the range that was comfortable for our needs. But it did not have defined responsibilities.

After some prayer as a family (my wife and I always have to agree in prayer when making a major decision), we felt the temp position was the path God was leading us towards. And so that was the decision we made.

This week, I felt the remorse of the decision and let it stew within me. The situation I'm in is great, but I was fearful. The big thing on my mind is the uncertainty of the future because I don't have defined responsibilities that clearly project growth in my career. What will happen once the contract runs out?

I was eventually prompted by the Holy Spirit to this verse in James above. I knew the choice I made was what was prompted to my wife and I via prayer, but I still let myself fantasize about the path not taken. "What if I had done the other thing? - my career would be so much more defined," I lamented. I was the definition of an unstable man.

As Christians, there are many crossroads that we will come to where we will pray and ask for wisdom. The Lord gives wisdom liberally to all, and in this case, my wife and I agreed independently that God was telling us to take the temp job. When we make that choice to follow God's prompting, we must not be double-minded. We are never promised a perfect path without any warts. Anything in life will have its specific good and bad facets.

Instead, we are to be committed to that which the Lord has told us to do. As long as it lines up with scripture, and we are not sinning against Him (such prompting is to be completely ignored as it doesn't come from God), we need to stay the course until we receive a clear message that the season we are in has ended, and it is time to move on to the next thing God has lined up.

If we are to allow ourselves to be simply driven to and fro by the whims of life, we will not accomplish the work of God. Similarly, if we were to only follow our own desires of the heart, we will never listen to God and we will only accomplish our own narcissistic goals. (Remember: The heart is deceitful above all things - Jer 17:9. We must not trust it!)

Because we have given our lives to God, we must seek to follow the Lord in His path. It won't always be pretty, but it is the place where He desires us to be - and it will lead to the fulfillment of what we have been created for.

Recently I faced a crossroads with two different jobs. God answered my wife and I, giving us His wisdom - and I have chosen to walk His path. That is that. The alternative has faded and is gone. However, the promises, peace and protection of God lie ahead on the way that I am walking now. I don't know why it is better (and sometimes we will never know), but I do know that my path is set before me. As long as I trust in Him, He will make my path straight.

Lord Jesus, forgive me for being double-minded and thank You for leading me to this verse which has calmed my soul. You are Lord of all and are in control over everything, and I don't have to worry or be afraid. Thank You for standing with our family and for always providing us with more than we need. We have not had to take even a dollar of welfare or assistance and yet we have been more than fine. Let us be more and more like You, living wisely - being unmoved, even in the storms. In the name of Jesus Christ, which contains all wisdom - AMEN.

Getting Beyond the Tithing Rules

8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, In what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it." (Mal 3:8-10 NKJV)

Tithing is a pretty touchy subject for Christians (these days, what isn't touchy when discussing Christianity?), mainly because it is one that is so difficult for the believer to conform with.

It's easy for me to look around at what I have, or look online at my bank account and think of everything that I have as "mine". Because I have applied myself to build these things up and purchase what I have, I don't want to do anything that will lessen what's "mine".

But, is that attitude really Biblical?

In scripture, we find:

"The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of hosts" (Hag 2:8)

"The earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." (Ps. 24:1)

The concept of personal ownership is really temporary and an illusion. God owns everything, and although we work, earn, and are allowed to steward personal property (hence "thou shalt not steal"), He is ultimately the one who provides for us. In addition, when we become Christians, we are laying down our whole lives before His throne to do with as He pleases. That includes all of our "possessions".

So if we don't truly own anything, what does that make the tithe? On the surface, it is essentially giving back 10% of God's money to Him. For myself, the tithe is a constant reminder of the Lordship of God, and a recognition that everything is truly His. Malachi speaks of blessings because of the tithe, and preachers always like to focus on that aspect, but I really don't think that should matter one iota. Everything we receive is from the Lord anyway, so we should focus on the condition of our souls and the level of our faith.

When our souls balk at tithing, I think it's useful to ask ourselves, "If I am willing to entrust my eternity to the Lord in faith that He will save me, why in the world would I care about giving back 10% of what He's given me?" We become so entrapped by our possessions that we have a tough time giving cheerfully to the Lord. ("The Lord loves a cheerful giver" 2 Cor 9:7)

There does seem to be a lot of confusion out there because the New Testament doesn't specifically mention the tithe, and there are those who believe that such commands are no longer scriptural because it wasn't specifically repeated by Jesus. However, the Lord did say:

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." (Mt 5:17)

So in this case, I don't think it's useful on either side of the tithing argument to look at hard and fast rules of application. If a person's heart is unable to give cheerfully, I don't believe the Lord will honor the gift. However, if the tithe is given out of spirit of submission and obedience, then it is a gift that the Lord will accept and bless (see Cain and Abel). The importance above all is our heart's condition when we give the tithe, not the want/fear of a blessing or curse, and not for the guilt that we may feel if we don't do it.

"Have I truly laid my life down to the Lord, or am I trying to keep something for myself?" With that question reiterated, the deeper question becomes, "Am I still in bondage to the world?" The answer for the rich young ruler in Luke 18 was, "Yes, I cannot let go of my great wealth to follow Jesus." And again, that seems to be the real test of the tithe -- Knowing that we have submitted everything to God, observing that the tithe was in place throughout the Old Testament, recognizing that there is still a great work to be performed here through the church which naturally should be funded, can we not give back 10% of what God has given to us?

For myself, my desire is to say, "Yes Lord! I will give whatever You ask!" But my flesh recoils at the thought of all that I won't be able to purchase without that money. So I know that there will be struggles with this always, but it all comes down to submission to Christ and knowing that my life is His. Once I gain some perspective, then serving Him through giving becomes a joy once more.

Lord Jesus, help me to check my heart constantly and root out the selfish desires which so easily threatens to overwhelm a state of obedience and submission to You. I know that the tithe is key to bringing ourselves into alignment with You and keeps us from becoming ensnared with the lust for worldly gain. Thank You for Your wisdom in knowing our wicked hearts so well that You have given us these guidelines to follow. In Your amazing name, AMEN.

The Folly of Trusting Our Hearts

"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool" (Prov 28:26)

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer 17:9)

We live in a world that commonly says, "Follow your heart", and the message is constantly pounded into our brains. Consequently, we have a tendency to make snap decisions based on the whims of our emotions rather than on Biblical wisdom or consultation with the Holy Spirit. The result over time becomes a lifetime of destructive choices and haphazard living resulting in the culmination of nothing.

Ultimately, our lives will be judged on one simple question, "Did you believe in Jesus Christ, and accept His gift of salvation by making Him Lord of your life?" There will be many who will say, "Lord, I believed in you...but I was too busy following the whims of my heart to truly make you Lord of my life. I believed, but never altered my lifestyle to conform to your Word." And there is no salvation for such as those because even demons believe in Christ Jesus, but they are damned because they refuse to worship and follow Him.

Why do we live? Is it merely to follow our own lusts and fulfill our wants? Or are we preparing ourselves for an eternal kingdom under the throne of God? What good is all that we gather or even create during our lifetimes, if we end up living the type of life that destroys ourselves for eternity and destroys others in the process?

By the above statements, you might think that I think so highly of myself and believe that my life is righteous, but it is actually the complete opposite. Every day of every moment, I am reminded of how vile and wicked my heart is. No man is above the temptations of this world, and they are a continual pull - of which my heart is easily a willing partner. Many times I fail to check my temptations, but I pray that for life's major decisions and choices, that I do have the wisdom to stop and be measured in my decision making (not that I have never failed in this regard either).

Despite myself, I do know that my heart is for the Lord. The Christian life is not devoid of failures, but rather it is one that strives to be bettered by them while conforming ourselves to be more like Christ. Because we love Him, we want to be like Him. Not that our actions have any saving power, but rather the willingness to change and submit is just an indicator of the fact that our hearts are given to the Lord. He ultimately has done the salvation work on the cross, and His resurrection reflects His power over death.

So what I'm reminded today is that I need to fill myself with God's word and meditate on the scriptures constantly in order to make God's ways the default system within me. Otherwise, I would always be pulled this way or that way by my wicked heart. Every commercial or advertisement would be an easy sell for such a state of mind, and I would ultimately be sold off piece by piece to all the shiny baubles of this world.

Lord Jesus, I know that my heart has been in desperate need of reformation as I have been stagnant and in a state of atrophy in regards to my faith and in the knowledge of Your wisdom. Whatever happens in my life is secondary to living out a life in submission to Your Lordship. Please help me to do that daily, to live in conformity to your wisdom and not by the flighty whims of my heart. By the unchanging power of Your name, AMEN.