Risky Prayers

I woke up rather early this morning, and since returning to sleep seemed unlikely, I was praying about various things. After a while I found myself using phrases that I don’t normally use because they seem too risky. It is far easier to pray safe, benign prayers. Here is part of my prayer:

Lord, Creator, Sustainer… You raise up kingdoms and nations and You bring them down. You raise up those kingdoms that will glorify You, and You bring down those that don’t. And it’s not just the big kingdoms, but all the smaller “kingdoms” of our denominations, churches, homes, workplaces, hobbies… We build our own Towers of Babel for our own glory and satisfaction. But anything that doesn’t glorify You is an idol that must be torn down. Do what You desire with these things. We don’t want to stand in Your way. We don’t want to hold on to programs or traditions or habits or even the praise of man. While we don’t like to see the end of anything that appears good or beneficial, we want Your will more. It is Your name, Your kingdom, and Your will that matter, not ours.

I repeat, this is not my usual way of praying, and I’m sure I’m not alone. It almost seems crazy to give God free rein to do what He wants, but then again, He is God and is going to do so anyway. Surely it is better to admit to ourselves and to Him that we don’t know what is best, that we have mixed motives, and that we are not the ones in control of this world or our own lives. If we truly thought about the words of the Lord’s Prayer and its implications, we might be more reluctant to pray it frequently. It is no comfortable prayer.

Another risky prayer I encountered this week was Psalm 51. “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (7, 10 ESV). If we’re honest, do we really want God to take away our bad habits, favorite sins, and wrong desires? There have certainly been periods of my life when all I really wanted from God was for Him to remove my guilt but not the desire to sin. “Clean up the outside, but leave my heart alone.” C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:

“I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted Him to do, and we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone… But this is the fatal mistake. Of course we never wanted, and never asked, to be made into the sort of creatures He is going to make us into. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us” (174-75).

It gets a little dangerous and uncomfortable when you start praying the words of Scripture. It is easy to pray “bless them,” “be with them,” “protect them,” but those phrases are almost meaningless in the way we tend to use them. Do we dare to pray things like:

• With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments! –Psalm 119:10
• Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in Your ways. –Psalm 119:36-37
• Reprove and discipline me according to Your love. –Revelation 3:19
• Show Your greatness and Your holiness and make Yourself known. –Ezekiel 38:23
• Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with boldness. –Acts 4:29
• We pray to God that you may not do wrong… Your restoration is what we pray for. –2 Corinthians 13:7, 9
• Open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the power of God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith. –Acts 26:18

If we want to see God at work in our lives and in the lives of those we love, let’s stop praying comfortable prayers. I yearn for God to be glorified in my life through the visible evidence of His grace and mercy in justification and sanctification. I don’t want to settle for comfortable Christianity.

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” -2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

A Timely Prod

I’m reading a book that presents a clear and convicting picture of the church in America today. Following are a few paraphrased quotes:

On raising children- “Every parent wants their child to be fully educated and prepared for the world he is entering, but he is left to collect his religion on his own. The study of Christianity has formed no part of his education, and any attachment he may have to Christianity is merely the result of his place of birth and the church membership of his parents. When such is the hereditary religion handed down from generation to generation, it cannot surprise us to observe young men of sense and spirit beginning to doubt altogether the truth of the system in which they have been brought up, and ready to abandon a faith they are unable to defend.”

On spiritual knowledge- “What is more important than our eternal destiny? When God, by grace, has granted us such abundant means of instruction, how great must be the guilt and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance! …Yet we expect to be Christians without labor, study, or inquiry… And when finally summoned to the judgment seat of God to give an account of our lives, what plea can we have in our defense if we remain willingly and obstinately ignorant of the way which leads to life?”

On human corruption- “Endeavoring to justify what he cannot deny, ‘Whatever I am,’ he contends, ‘I am what my Creator made me. I inherited a nature depraved and prone to evil: how then can I withstand the temptation to sin?’”

On self-evaluation- “It seems in our days to be the common opinion that a man can admit in general terms the truth of Christianity without knowing much of the details, and if he is not habitually guilty of any of the grosser sins against others, we have no great reason to question the validity of his claim to the name of Christian.”

On stewardship- “They assume religion can claim only a stated proportion of their thoughts, and time, and fortune, and influence… the rest is their own to do what they will with. They have paid their tithes, the demands of the Church are satisfied, and they may surely be permitted to enjoy the rest without molestation or interference.”

On sanctification- “Instead of keeping at a distance from all sin, in which alone is our safety, they do not care how near they approach what they believe to be the boundary line. If they have not actually passed it, there is no harm done… They will of course be constantly, and almost insensibly, pressing the limits and moving farther and farther toward forbidden ground… ‘Mortify the flesh with its affections and lusts’ is the Christian principle, but a luxurious course of habitual indulgence is the practice of the bulk of modern Christians.”

On wasted time- “Life rolls away with too many of us in a path of ‘shapeless idleness.’ Its recreations constitute its chief business… amusements are multiplied… year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy… Meanwhile, knowing that we are not giving in to any flagrant vice and are not neglecting the basics of religion, we persuade ourselves that we need not be uneasy. We don’t fall below the general standard of morals, so we therefore allow ourselves to glide down the stream without realizing its consequences.”

I think many will recognize these traits within our churches and perhaps in our own lives. Now here’s the kicker—this was written by William Wilberforce in England in 1798 under the title, A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. The more things change, the more they stay the same. It illustrates the fact that we must be highly intentional about preaching, teaching, and living out the truths of Scripture. “Unless the affections of the soul be supremely fixed on God; unless it be the leading and governing desire and primary purpose to possess His favor and promote His glory, we are considered as having transferred our fealty to a usurper, and as being in fact revolters from our lawful Sovereign.”

It’s not enough to go to church regularly or to bear the name of Christian if we are not in fact seeking to follow Christ wholeheartedly. The enticements, distractions, and habits of this world will surely cause us to drift away from our faith if we are not actively working against them. May we not get complacent about the pursuit of God and the path of life.  

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Unplugged

I made the decision this week to delete the Facebook app from my phone, which will greatly curtail (though not eliminate) my use of Facebook. There were several good reasons to do so, some of which are as follows:

1) It is easy to waste vast amounts of time scrolling through hundreds of posts with varying degrees of importance. I could be spending that time in Scripture, prayer, writing, practicing piano, or many other more profitable pursuits.

2) It is dangerous to let one’s ego hang on public opinion. A negative comment, careless post, or an inappropriate image can quickly turn into a black cloud of anger, pride, shame, or other sins, and obscures the fruit of the Spirit. My identity is in Christ, not online.

3) It is human nature to make comparisons, and comparing the worst of what I know about myself with the best of what everyone posts online is sure to lead to negative thoughts. I don’t need to know about everyone else’s perfect family vacations when I’m sitting home alone.

4) Social media is predominantly superficial by its very nature. We all present the face we want the world to see. Yes, in some cases that may lead to deeper communication offline, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

5) Social media gives the illusion of intimacy where none exists. Knowing a few facts about someone or laughing at cat videos they’ve posted is not a relationship. The church already struggles to nurture authentic relationships, and social media is not helping. As Sam Allberry put it, friend has moved from being a noun to a verb meaning “to share one's contact details.” We’re still just as lonely and isolated as ever, we just have more things to distract us from recognizing that fact.

Bruce Hindmarsh said,

“Our spiritual condition is one of having spiritual ADD. We are more easily distracted from the important issues of our lives moment by moment. The nature of digital communication is that we are endlessly distracted.”

I don’t know if my decision will be long-term or not. Such resolutions tend to creep away over time. I just know it is the right thing to do right now. I know I can’t love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength when I am also wondering how many new comments there are to read or when I’m trying to think of amusing responses. I also can’t love my brothers and sisters in Christ well when I am annoyed with them for something they have posted or when I realize how little they know of who I really am beneath the surface.

I yearn for more intimate relationships with a few close friends and for closer communion with God. I haven’t seen that happen to any significant degree in however many years I’ve been on Facebook. Not that there haven’t been good things there—encouraging words, inspiring quotes, reasons to laugh, prayer requests and answers to prayer. Social media can be a good thing, but it is not an ultimate thing.

“I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:35 ESV).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

True Family

I’m writing this at Appalachian Family Camp. As I was thinking about why I enjoy Family Camp, the first thing that came to mind was the opportunity to spend time with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Though none of my biological family attend camp, I am not alone there. I had a similar feeling at the recent Triennial Convention. There is a unique sense of unity and fellowship among believers in Christ.

I wonder sometimes whether the local church has lost sight of the family-hood we have in Christ. I wonder if your church is like this—after the service ends on Sunday there are a few minutes of conversation in the sanctuary or foyer, but before long each family gets into their own vehicle and goes home and they don’t see each other again until the next church-sponsored event. Aside from a few limited exceptions, there is not much effort made to reach out beyond the boundaries of the family units. Parents get so tied up with their family responsibilities that they forget that there are those who have no family around. The busyness of daily life overshadows the eternal reality of our relationships in Christ.

In the creation of the man and woman, God gave them the commission to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28 ESV). Throughout the Old Testament, family units were really important. In the Exodus each of the tribes had a specific place to camp each time they set up the Tabernacle. If a woman lost her husband, there were provisions for her to be integrated into his brother’s family in order to carry on the family name. Boaz is the classic example of the kinsman redeemer in the book of Ruth.

But when Jesus came, a new type of family came into being. The first glimpse we get is when Jesus is twelve years old and stays behind in Jerusalem. At Mary’s question, “Son, why have you treated us so?” Jesus answered, “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:48-49). He wasn’t dissing His mother, but was pointing to a higher reality.

After He started His ministry, His family came looking for Him. His response was, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers? …Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12:48-50). Jesus prioritized spiritual family over biological family, yet the church today seems to have done the opposite. Church programs tend to be geared toward families, perhaps with the intention of keeping whole families involved in the church. But the end result is that individuals are not connected to the church outside of their immediate family. And when they leave home they also leave the church.

Our culture is increasingly mobile, and individuals often don’t stay in one community for a lifetime as they once did. Unfortunately many churches have not caught up with this trend. When a new person or family comes to church, they can have a hard time really connecting with others. I’ve been at my church 20 years now, but I still often feel like the new kid on the block. Other folks have come and gone because they felt like they didn’t belong.

It is hard to change a long-standing church culture, and I don’t know what all the solutions are. I think it begins with frequent reminders that spiritual family is eternal, while biological family is temporary. Then we can build on the eternal foundation by reminding one another that we are responsible for building each other up in the faith (1 Thess. 5:11), caring for one another (1 Cor. 12:25), bearing one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), encouraging one another (Heb. 10:25), and stirring one another to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24). Until we accept that responsibility and begin to live it out day by day, we won’t truly begin to experience what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Fruitful Growth

A recent issue of Christianity Today included the article “The Science of Sinning Less” which cites various studies on self-control. The author states, “One key recent discovery is that self-control is an exhaustible but buildable resource.” Like a muscle, self-control that is exercised regularly becomes stronger. I’m not sure that’s really a new discovery, but there is truth there. And while that is good to know, it doesn’t address the fact that Scripture talks about self-control not just as self-effort but as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). That led me on a search for a description of biblical self-control and how it should work. Here are some of the quotes I found:

David Mathis wrote,

“True self-control is a gift from above, produced in and through us by the Holy Spirit. Until we own that it is received from outside ourselves, rather than whipped up from within, the effort we give to control our own selves will redound to our praise, rather than God’s… Ultimately, our controlling ourselves is about being controlled by Christ. When ‘the love of Christ controls us’ (2 Corinthians 5:14), when we embrace the truth that he is our sovereign, and God has ‘left nothing outside his control’ (Hebrews 2:8), we can bask in the freedom that we need not muster our own strength to exercise self-control, but we can find strength in the strength of another.”

John Piper put it this way:

“The key to a transformed mind is the steady gaze at the glory of Jesus Christ. For that to happen, we need a double work from the Holy Spirit… We need the Holy Spirit to work from the outside in by putting before us Christ-exalting truth in the gospel, and we need the Holy Spirit to work from the inside out by humbling our hard hearts. Both have to happen.”

One particularly helpful article was written by Ed Welch in The Journal of Biblical Counseling. He wrote:

“[Genuine] self-control… is not the same as relying on yourself and working up the willpower to control yourself. Instead, self-control is a gift of the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a side effect of the fear of the Lord… The real prize is Christ Himself. So, with Jesus in view, we do those things that are important, true, and good, rather than those things that feel urgent but are ungodly… Although our cravings go deep, they are no match for the Spirit of the living God. This, of course, does not mean that the battle is over and we can ‘let go and let God.’ Rather, it means that we are now empowered to engage in the battle. As the Hebrews were promised the land, but had to take it by force, one town at a time, so we are promised the gift of self-control, yet we also must take it by force. Only the grace of God takes self-control out of the realm of hopeless self-reformation into that of great confidence that we can be transformed people.”

For practical application, Welch suggests:

“[The] desire for self-control must be accompanied by a plan… It is one thing to make a resolution; it is something completely different to repent diligently, seek counsel, and, in concert with others, develop a plan that is concrete and Christ-centered. The heart of any plan, of course, must be Jesus Christ. Self-control is like any other feature of wisdom in that it is learned by contemplating a person… Rather than give us twelve steps on which to rely, he gives us a Person to know. As Jesus is known and exalted among us, you will notice that self-control becomes more obvious. The double cure for sin is the foundation for all change. That is, in the gospel, we have been released from both the condemnation and the power of sin.”

As we contemplate Jesus Christ, His soon return, and the surpassing worth of knowing Him, may we find His fruit steadily increasing within our lives.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14 ESV).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Standing Firm

Lately I’ve been thinking about Truth; not just facts but Scriptural truth as taught and personified in Jesus Christ. Jesus prayed for His followers, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17 ESV). Biblical truth matters for all who call themselves Christians, and yet there are so many ways in which Christians fail to cling to the truths of Scripture out of fear, conformity, or ignorance.

In today’s news, Lifeway will probably stop carrying Eugene Peterson’s books because of his recent comments that he doesn’t think homosexuality is wrong: “…it’s not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.” For someone who considers himself a theologian and a Bible translator to make such a statement is baffling. [Update- Peterson has since retracted his statements.] Yet there are many who agree with him for one reason or another. When those who proclaim to be Christians can’t even agree on what the Bible actually says, our witness in the world is greatly hindered.

Ed Shaw, a person who experiences same-sex attraction, wrote in Same-Sex Attraction and the Church:

“We have a plausibility issue: what the Bible clearly teaches sounds unreasonable to many of us today. And so it is (not unreasonably!) being rejected all over the place. A few high-profile leaders in our churches have already broken ranks…” (21).

“But what helped me was that, back then [the 1990s], embracing a homosexual lifestyle was clearly a no-go area for an evangelical Christian like me… The parameters set out for me were crystal clear—celibacy and a daily battle to avoid even a hint of sexual immorality in what I thought or did (Ephesians 5:3)… And although I found the consequences of that clarity immensely hard, the lack of ambiguity was incredibly helpful. It made the choice I’d taken seem plausible” (25-26).

Whether we’re talking about homosexuality, marriage, the sacraments, the nature of God, the structure of the church, or any other matter addressed in Scripture, we should be clear about what the Bible says and how it should inform our beliefs and actions. Then from the solid ground of Scripture we should have no fear in stating our beliefs.

It seems to me that fear is a driving force behind a lot of people who are bending to cultural norms. I understand that we don’t want to cut off opportunities for ministry and sharing the Gospel, but I think that we are presuming too much about our own ability to convert people. Only the Holy Spirit can bring someone to repentance and faith, not any human effort. Trying to sugarcoat Scripture is not sharing the Gospel. If a clear statement of the truth of Scripture causes someone to pull away, then it is still in God’s hands to soften their heart. If the seeds we are trying to plant are not grounded in Scripture, then they shouldn’t be bearing fruit anyway, and I don’t think God will allow them to bear fruit if it compromises His Word or His sovereignty and glory.

Jesus came as the embodied Word of God (John 1:1-14), and because of the Spirit’s work in the early believers we have the written Word as our foundation for faith and practice. The Word matters because it is the Truth of God. If we choose to abandon the truths of Scripture we might as well stop calling ourselves Christians, because it is not Jesus Christ we are representing but ourselves. Jesus repeatedly stated the importance of abiding in the Word:

• “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
• “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples… If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:7-8, 10).
• “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul reiterates the fact that only God can open the eyes of the blind. Our responsibility is to be true to the Word of God:

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (4:2-5).

May we not be tempted to tamper with the Word, but “do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.

Still Waiting

I was reading in John 9 of the man born blind. “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (2-3 ESV). Obviously this man and his parents were not completely free of sin, but their sin was unrelated to his blindness. We can’t read too much into this, but it is apparent that the brokenness of this world is used to display God’s works. He uses all things for His purposes (Rom. 8:28). He can use physical, mental, and emotional brokenness, and He can even use our sinfulness in ways that will bring Him glory.

I’m sure I’ve contributed to my own “blindness” through the ways I’ve behaved or things I have mistakenly believed, but the story doesn’t end there. Each piece of my story is an opportunity for God to display His glory. Whether He heals the brokenness or not, He gets the ultimate glory for whatever works He does in and through me. There are parts I am fairly certain will not be “fixed” in this lifetime, but that will just make eternity that much better. Some things I’ve experienced in the last few days have made me yearn even more for the day when all will be made perfect—where people won’t misunderstand one another or say things that are incorrect; where we won’t overreact to words or deeds because all the old wounds will be healed; where we won’t have anything to hide from one another; where fear will be a thing of the past; where our bodies and minds will function perfectly as God intends. I long for that day to come.

As I was skimming through some Scriptures I’ve read this week, it struck me how often we take Isaiah 40:31 out of context. “They that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with winds like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” That is an inspiring picture, but we can’t divorce it from verse 30, “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.” In this life we are guaranteed to encounter weariness, exhaustion, pain, and trials. The promises of verse 31 won’t truly be fulfilled until we receive our new bodies and the earth is made new. Even Jesus grew weary while He walked this earth.

So we are called to persevere in faith until that final day, trusting that everything will be made clear and God’s purposes are revealed so that He will be glorified. There are days I don’t want to persevere, days when everything seems pointless and hopeless. But I’m reminded, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Heb. 10:36). I imagine the man who’d been born blind got tired of the routine of his life. The man who’d been an invalid for 38 years (John 5) certainly had reasons for complaint. I wonder how much the difficulties in Joseph’s life influenced the way he manipulated his brothers (Gen. 42-44) before he revealed who he was? (Somehow I don’t think God told Joseph, “Let’s string them along for a while until they really appreciate your position”!)

One day “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). But until that day we endure, we wait, and we pray for His will to be done and His glory to be revealed.

© 2017 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.