Archive for March, 2005
Saturday, March 19th, 2005
Happy is the man who doesn’t give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love him.
James 1:12
My tempations have been my masters in divinity.
Martin Luther
Rick’s first key sentence for the day:
“God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality.”
I can relate to that. The times I’ve grown in patience are times with kids who wouldn’t cooperate with parental guidance. The times I’ve grown in love are times when I’ve had to put aside my own needs - and been tempted to just live for myself. The times I’ve grown in self control are when I’ve been tempted to live without perameters of conscience.
How Temptation Works?
Rick gives us Satan’s predictable four-point pattern of temptation, based on the story of Adam and Eve. Desire, Doubt, Deceipt, Disobedience. Hey I didn’t realise that Satan was a modernist stickler for numbered plans of action, with each step starting with D in the English language.
Desire. Satan identifies a desire inside of you.
Doubt. Satan tries to get you to doubt what God has said about the sin.
Deceipt. Satan deceives us into believing his replacement of God’s word.
Disobedience. We finally act on the sin we’ve been toying with.
Some cynicism aside, there is a recognisable pattern here - recognisable because it plays over and over again as we find ourselves acting against our better judgment. Action starts from within, not from some outside force. The doubt and deceipt parts of this scheme are faced by addicts of all sorts as they struggle with the temptation to re-engage with their addiction.
I’m not a person who looks for the work of the devil every time something bad happens, or every time some one is tempted. We don’t need any supernatural intervention for us to succumb to destructive patterns of thinking or behaviour. However I believe there are times when it appears that Satan attempts to twist our perception of events.
I was preparing for a worship service last year when I noticed that key people in the church were starting to get gnarly. One woman, normally with a heart of gold, comes in angry and cynical. It turns out she’d offered to help a guy on the street and he’d responded by attempting to grab her bag. Another key leader walks in cursing and threatening to shoot homeless people. I immediately gathered these people together and prayed with them, helping them clearly resist the temptation to succumb to fear and hostility. We called on the power of God to overcome evil.
Rick Warren’s Three Tips on Overcoming Temptation
1. Refuse to be intimidated.
Martin Luther reputedly said, “You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair”. Just as I wrote this sentence, a giant moth flew in through the door. And out again. That’s how it is sometimes with desire. You can’t predict when it will appear.
I’m not with Rick on his explanation of the origin of evil thoughts. He recommends that readers not condemn themselves when they have bizarre or evil thoughts - they come from Satan he says. I think that assigning blame to Satan leads us to a naievity about our own emotional complexity. Hurts and hopes are part of being human. The reality we face is that our hopes and hurts can become distorted and lead us to destructive behaviour.
It is clear, reading through the Bible and exploring the lives of Jesus-followers, that we are all complicated beings capable of the best and the worst of thought and behaviour. Even in the middle of noble gestures and intimate moments with God we can succumb to arrogance!
2. Recognise your pattern of temptation and be prepared for it.
Good move. Jerry Jenkins wrote a book called “Hedges: Loving Your Marriage Enough to Protect It” in which he reminds us of the need to be realistic about situations in which temptation is harder to beat. As a speaker and workshop leader on the road I found this very helpful in the area of marital faithfulness. The same principles apply to other areas of temptation such as time waste, over spending, and distraction from important relationships and tasks.
3. Request God’s Help
Rick refers to the ‘microwave prayer’ - the prayer that goes to God in times of trouble, 24 hours a day. It’s quick and to the point - “Help”. The one word prayer. It’s a prayer I’ve prayed often. It’s short for “give me strength”, “guide my thoughts”, “lead me in my actions toward others”, “help me find the words needed for this situation”, “fill me with your love”, “keep me from going over the edge”.
Final question for the day:
What Christ-like character quality can I develop by defeating the most common temptation I face?
I’ll have to think about that…
Posted in Discipleship | No Comments »
Thursday, March 10th, 2005
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us
an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:17 (New International Version)
It is the fire of suffering that brings forth
the gold of godliness.
Madame Guyon
“God has a purpose behind every problem.” Rick’s first sentence for today’s chapter. I can relate to that. It’s so much more helpful than saying that God has planned every detail of our lives. It moves us beyond asking “why” to asking “what now, Lord?”
We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes.
Romans 8:28-29
I appreciate the unpacking of these words of Paul in Purpose Driven Life. Rick uses the analogy of using the ingredients of a cake to make something palatable, even though individually they make be distasteful or unpleasant. I’ve also seen the analogy of a weaving of a tapestry, in which seemingly random threads are tied together to make a beautiful pattern.
On the way home from work today I heard Erwin McManus speaking on Jesus and John the Baptist. John was not spared suffering difficulty and death, even though he was right up there with the prophets. So why do we think God will guarantee our comfort or ‘prosperity’?
As usual, Rick provides a point by point ‘how-to’ approach to responding to problems as Jesus would. I guess this appeals to those of us who need lists to remember.
1. Remember that God’s plan is good. Rick quotes from Jeremiah 29, reminding us that God plans to give us hope and a future. Yep, it certainly helps to focus on the long term plans of God. It helped me, in the face of my own daughter’s death, for example, to remember that God is ultimately in control, even though God has chosen to let go of absolute control. In the middle of powerlessness God’s capacity to change the world is discovered.
2. Rejoice and give thanks. I remember a couple of authors back in the 1970s introducing the power of praise. Merlin R. Carothers and Frances Gardner Hunter made popular the phrase “Praise the Lord” and “Praise the Lord, anyway”. It’s not about attributing everything to God’s plan and giving thanks for it. It’s more about finding signs of hope and God’s action even in the middle of catastrophe. I’ve seen this attitude turn into super-spiritual naievity that refuses to genuinely lament before God. It was Jesus who said that those who mourn will be blessed because they will be comforted.
3. Refuse to give up. This is one of my favourite action plans. It’s in the lines of so many songs, like Chicane’s “Don’t Give Up”. And also in the Pantene shampoo TV advert with Rachel Hunter’s famous line, “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen”. As Rick points out, God does not guarantee a smooth life. But God does give us a sense of purpose for the future. Somehow we can work it out.
Posted in Discipleship | No Comments »
Friday, March 4th, 2005
People need more than bread for their life;
They must feed on every word of God.
Matthew 4:4 (New Living Translation)
God’s… gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need.
Acts 20:32 (The Message)
This is one day’s reading I’m not going to find easy to write up. I clearly am coming from a different place than Rick Warren when it comes to thinking about the Bible. But I’m sure we have a lot in common still.
Like many Christians around the world, Rick directly equates God’s Word with the Bible. Like many Christians around the world, I don’t agree with that simple equation, “God’s Word = Holy Bible”.
I don’t believe the Bible is alive. It is not the fourth member of the Trinity. But I passionately and thoughtfully believe that the Holy Spirit is alive, speaking to us in so many ways. And I believe that the Scriptures are used by the Holy Spirit to guide us, motivate us, and give us hope. Above all, they are used by the Holy Spirit to help us connect with Jesus Christ, the Word of God - the one through whom God communicates with us.
Rick says we must accept the authority of the Bible rather than basing our choices on unreliable authorities such as culture, tradition, reason or emotion. All four are flawed by the Fall, he says.
Hmmm. From what I can see as I read the Bible, the stories described within and the ways in which they are written up reflect cultural perspectives, the passing on of tradition, the development of thought about God, as well as a lot of emotion. On top of that, we use all those as we read and interpret the Bible. I agree - these are all flawed by our limited experience as well as our tendency to deceive ourselves. I think the writers of the material put together in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, as much as they were inspired by the Spirit, were flawed and limited.
I think we should read the Bible with humility, listening carefully to the insights we bring with us from culture, tradition, reason and emotion.
Rick says I must assimilate the truth of the Bible. This is done by receiving God’s Word and accepting it with an open, receptive attitude. It is done by reading the Bible daily - so that we get to read of all of it often. It is done by researching or studying the Bible. It is done by remembering the Bible - memorising parts that will help us. It is done by reflecting on the Bible - meditating on it.
Hey I’m committed to the same principles, though I have found that legalism or driven attitudes around them do not bring life. I place my life under the authority of Jesus. I know that he doesn’t rule my life with a list of ‘must do every day’ tasks. His agenda for my life spans days, weeks, months and years.
The opening verse makes sense to me when I read it as:
“Jesus Christ can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need.”
Rick says I must apply the principles of God’s Word. I like his suggestion that we write down an action step after reading the Bible. An action step that is personal (involving me), practical (something I can do), and provable (with a deadline to do it). That would be a useful tool to use in reading the Bible. It certainly helps avoid just growing in understanding without any application in real life.
Rick’s final question is helpful.
What has God already told me in his Word that I haven’t started doing yet? If I read “his Word” as Jesus Christ, it would become: “What has God already told me in Jesus Christ that I haven’t started doing yet?”
Posted in Discipleship | No Comments »