To Wish His Good

Ray Ortlund post: What might it look like to love our enemies?

“I imagine somebody will say, ‘Well, if one is allowed to condemn the enemy’s acts, and punish him, and kill him, what difference is left between Christian morality and the ordinary view?’  All the difference in the world.  Remember, we Christians think man lives for ever.  Therefore, what really matters is those little marks or twists on the central, inside part of the soul which are going to turn it, in the long run, into a heavenly or a hellish creature.  We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy hating.  We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it.  In other words, something inside us, the feeling of resentment, the feeling that wants to get one’s own back, must be simply killed.  I do not mean that anyone can decide this moment that he will never feel it any more.  That is not how things happen.  I mean that every time it bobs its head up, day after day, year after year, all our lives long, we must hit it on the head.  It is hard work, but the attempt is not impossible.  Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves – to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured; in fact, to wish his good.  That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him: wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying he is nice when he is not.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, 1958), pages 92-93.

Bring Us Back to Gospel-Sanity

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer for Re-salting the De-salted

     You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  Matt. 5:13-16

     Dear Lord Jesus, at times I fantasize about running off to Switzerland to live in a community of chalets, inhabited by non-codependent Christians, with few emotional needs and plenty of discretionary cash. We’d enjoy good music, food and conversation, without any of the crazy-making of an ingrown church, or the voices of political pundits, or the traffic of a big city, or the taxes of a wasteful government. That’s actually a confession of sin, not a prayer request.

     For starters, I know I couldn’t afford to pay for such a selfish fantasy. More importantly, I realize this isn’t the lifestyle for which you’ve redeemed us. The church belongs to you, Jesus; she’s your beloved Bride—as broken as she is. Yet, as with everything else, we often take the church into the idol factory of our hearts and retool her to serve our agenda rather than your purposes. Forgive us, Jesus. Forgive me.

     You’ve called us to live as the “salt of the earth.” We’re not garlic, paprika, or sugar; we’re salt. Salt preserves and fends off decay. Salt heals and soothes—it has medicinal value. Salt brings flavor and enhances other flavors. And salt only “works” when it’s out of the saltshaker. Alas, my own prayer convicts me.

     Jesus, how does a believer lose their saltiness, or for that matter, how does a whole church family lose their vision and passion? What’s involved in flavor loss? More importantly, what does renewal look like?

     Come, Holy Spirit, come. We need you to stir our hearts. Only you are powerful enough to re-salt the de-salted; to bring us back to gospel-sanity; to restore in us the joy of God’s salvation; to reengage the disengaged with God’s plan for our communities, the cities, and the nations.

     How we praise you that our cry is your pleasure. Before we ask you know our need. Do exceedingly beyond all we ask and can imagine. So very Amen we pray, in your merciful and mighty name.

We Must Not Lose Heart

Joann Pittman post:  11 Lessons from the Church in China

As the church in China continues to grow and mature, opportunities to partner with congregations in the West continue to grow as well. In many cases, these partnerships provide opportunities for churches in China to learn from the experiences of the churches in the West. This is a good thing.

But partnerships go both ways, so it is also good to consider what the church in the West has learned and can learn from the church in China. I recently posed this question to a number of foreign workers involved in serving the church in China: what specific lessons can the church in the West learn from the church in China?

For my purposes here, the term “church in China” refers to the community of believers in China, whether in the registered “Three-Self” churches or unregistered house churches. Further, “the church in the West” is also a broad term that merely reflects the background and context of most of our readers. These suggestions would also be applicable for churches in other parts of the world, such as the Global South.

I've compiled the responses into a list of 11 lessons. Some have been edited for style and clarity.

1. God’s ways are not our ways. Before 1949, optimistic missionaries to China imagined that, under the most favorable conditions, there would be 15 million Christians in China. God had a different plan. Today, it is several times that number. 

2. The true nature of the church. Much of the spectacular growth took place after believers had been stripped of everything we normally associate with church: Bibles, church buildings, denominations, pastors, and trained leaders. What remained was a core group of committed disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, worshiping, fellowshiping, learning, and serving together—the true marks of the church. 

3. The role of suffering in the lives of believers. During the darkest days of persecution Christians learned to walk the pathway of the cross. We do not actively seek suffering, but when it comes we know God will use it to purify us for his glory. 

4. Faith in God’s power and provision. When our "clay jar" is broken, the power of God is revealed through our weakness (2 Cor. 4:7–10). Christians in China are marked by a deep prayer life and total dependence on God.

5. The true mission of the church. God has preserved and prospered his church in China for one chief purpose—to spread the gospel to the unreached peoples of China and beyond. 

6. Where there is proper exposition, study, and application of the Word, the church (and individual Christians) can grow and thrive despite challenging cultural environments. Despite restrictions and attempts to control the spread of religious faith, church growth has been explosive.

7. God still moves and works in supernatural ways we read about in the Bible but don’t often see in our daily lives. Many Christians in rural China have told me of the role healing has played in the spread of the gospel. When faced with an illness some, in desperation, plead for Christians in their villages to ask their God to heal them. The Christian invites them to church; the congregation prays; they are healed; they embrace Christ. Such testimonies can be heard throughout the Chinese countryside. 

8. Jesus is all we need for a joyful life. Though many Christians in rural areas have nothing materially, they are the happiest and most joyful people I know. They love Jesus; he is truly is the center of their lives. They may not have the latest car (or any car) or smartphone, but they have him. 

9. The zeal for evangelism. Sharing the gospel has remained a top priority for the church in China despite the growing pains of the last 20 to 30 years. The church takes advantage of opportunities to share the good news with a lost world. For example, Western culture has influenced many of its churches to believe that holidays like Easter and Christmas are family-focused, causing us to turn inward. The Chinese church, however, looks at every holiday in the church calendar as a gospel opportunity. Large evangelistic programs are planned and lost friends are invited to church. Such events are usually packed with students, many of whom later say it was a first step toward their coming to faith.

10. Spiritual growth comes through the testing of our faith. It is not easy being a Christian in China. Temptations and obstacles mark every arena of life. It is one thing to become a Christian in China, but to actually live out your faith is incredibly hard. To live with integrity in a culture abounding in corruption, bribes, and back doors is a hard road to walk. The growth of both individual Christians and the body as a whole has resulted in a resolve that leads Chinese Christians to stand firm and push forward.

11. The cross is central to the faith, and persecution and suffering are marks of true discipleship. This reminder is especially helpful as the society around us in the "post-Christian" West becomes increasingly secular and antagonistic to biblical truth and morality. We can learn from our brothers and sisters in China that we must not lose heart. 

He Knows What He Is Doing

Stephen Altrogge post: When God Messes with Your Life Plan

Creating life plans is big business these days. For a sum of money, you can hire a Life Coach (Life Guru, Life Master, Life Sensei, whatever it’s called), and they will then help you construct a master life plan. The life plan will probably contain some, or all, of the following items:

• A grandiose life mission statement, which makes you sound pretty awesome.
• One-year goals, five-years goals, and life goals.
• Specific areas of focus in your life (spiritual, physical, familial, etc.)
• A specific trajectory for your life. In other words, a specific description of where you want to be in five years. Most likely, this will include a specific job, a specific level of income, a specific geographic location, and perhaps a specific Body Mass Index.

And the reality is, even if you don’t have a formal, written, life plan, you have a life plan in your head. We all do. You have an imagined future in your head. You want to have a family, have kids, get a college degree, start a business, travel Europe, etc. You get the point. I don’t have a formally stated life plan, but I want to accomplish certain things. I want to attain a certain level of comfort and stability for me and my family. I want my life to actually mean something. To reference a well-known author who seems to get quoted a lot on this site, I don’t want to waste my life.

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m all for planning. Without plans, little of enduring value gets accomplished. Those who fail to plan, often find themselves binge watching on Netflix.

But the reality is, there are many times when God intentionally messes up my life plan. And that’s a really good thing.

One Messed-Up Life

God really messed up Joseph’s life plan. His brothers threw him into a dry well, then sold him into slavery. The wife of his Egyptian master tried to seduce him. When he refused her advances, she turned him over to the Egyptian cops, who then tossed him in prison. He spent years in prison, waiting to be released. I don’t imagine that Joseph included prison time in his life plan. Finally, after many years of painful waiting, God exalted him to the second in command in all of Egypt.

When all was said and done, what did Joseph say to his brothers?

Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:19–20)

God messed up Joseph’s life plan, and it was a really good thing. He did for Joseph what Joseph could never have done for himself.

Two More

God really messed up Abraham and Sarah’s life plan. He allowed Sarah to be infertile and barren for years. He took them out of their homeland, away from their family and friends. Finally, after many years of earnestly waiting, God promised them a son. Then God made them wait some more. Finally, their hopes and dreams were realized when their son, Isaac was born. Then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Talk about a wrench in the life plan.

After God rescued Isaac, and all was said and done, God made the following astonishing declaration to Abraham:

By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:16–18)

God seriously messed up Abraham’s life plan, and it turned out to be a really good thing. God accomplished for Abraham what Abraham could never have accomplished on his own.

He Knows Exactly What He’s Doing

The moral of the story? God really, truly, knows what he is doing. He usually takes longer than we would like. He often leads us through strange territory. Sometimes he defers, or even destroys our dreams. But God, our loving, tender, delightful Father, knows exactly what he is doing. He is accomplishing more in you and through you than you could ever think or imagine.

Are you in a place you never expected to be? Has God taken you on a path you never would have willfully chosen? Take heart. God hasn’t deserted you. He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t made a mistake. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows exactly what you need and where you need to be.

The truth is, God’s life plan is always better than mine.

Fullness of Joy

Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

Ps 16:1-2 [Message]

My Power is Perfected in Weakness

Jon Bloom:   The Priceless Grace of Pressure

Pressure is one of the more resented of God’s graces.

I’m not wired to appreciate pressure. But I am wired to need it. I find that when the pressure is on, I often wish it were off. But I also find that when the pressure is off, I tend to waste more time. I have a persistent misconception that I am more creative when the pressure is off. But, while that may be true for a few things, as a general rule it has not been my actual experience. Necessity tends to produce resourcefulness. Deadlines tend to induce creativity. Leisure tends to induce indulgence and procrastination.

Not everyone is wired the same way. There are more driven temperaments that have an inner compulsion to get lots of things done no matter if there are deadlines or not. Bless them. But in my observation, those temperaments are rare. Most of us will tend to do less if less is required.

It is, no doubt, an effect of the curse, a manifestation of the pathological selfishness that is part of our fallen natures. But that being the case, the discomfort of pressure to prod us forward is a gift to be desired, not an annoyance to be avoided.

Biblical Pressure

Read the Bible and you’ll find that, post-fall, it is one story after another of pressurized saints. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, Naomi, David, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus’s disciples, the apostles, all dealt with significant pressure. Paul felt a daily pressure of concern for all the churches and that kept him praying without ceasing (2 Corinthians 11:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). The press of adversity and affliction called for the exercising of faith, the one thing without which we will never please God (Hebrews 11:6).

When God chooses his servants, he tends to give them an oversized workload. Yes, God works for those who wait for him (Isaiah 64:4), but you’ll note that waiting on God is rarely experienced as a leisure activity. It typically involves being placed in an overwhelming situation that requires a steeling of the nerves of faith to wait. Yes, we are to serve in the strength that God supplies (1 Peter 4:11), but that serving can still push us beyond what we think we can handle to show that it’s God’s gracious supply, not our own strength, that is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) and to show that we hope in the God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:8–9).

He “knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). And so he gives us some seasons of green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23:2). But rarely as many as we would wish. And often not when we think we need it. God knows far better than we do when we really need refreshment when we need to be pushed. It is precisely because God knows our frame, and what kind of dust we really are, that he mercifully doesn’t relent the pressure — because when the pressure is off, we have a tendency to forget our need for God (1 Samuel 12:9; Revelation 3:17). Our proneness to wander is curbed by the priceless grace of pressure.

An Answer to Our Prayer for “More”

I have noticed a pattern that when I ask God for more — to know more of his grace, to trust his promises more than my perceptions (faith), for a deeper understanding of his word, for greater discernment and wisdom, for more love for others, for more self-control, for more of his Holy Spirit’s empowerment — what I receive is more pressure. And frequently the kind of pressure I receive is often not what I thought I was asking for, so I am at first confused and sometimes sinfully frustrated. Because my conception (my imagination) of what “more” I needed was different than God’s.

For example, I’m distractible. I probably fall somewhere on the spectrum of ADHD. Therefore, I can intuitively assume that life would be better if I had less demands. But that’s not the Lord’s assessment. Instead, he has assigned me to lead a family of seven, help lead an internet ministry, help pastor (bi-vocationally) my local church, be a legal guardian for my disabled sister, and try to manage all the things that come with just normal life and my own spiritual struggles. My labors are not heroic. Others I know certainly do more. But I have prayed often about whether God wants me to do less, and he keeps directing me to the same answer Paul received about his thorn (though I blush at even alluding to such a comparison): “my grace is sufficient for you, my power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Over the years, I have found this to be true. I often feel pressed, and at times anxious. And yet there has always been enough grace. In fact, the grace is often the very pressure I am tempted to resent. Distractibility doesn’t improve with less pressure, it just runs freer. Pressure forces focus and helps me to make the most of my time (Ephesians 5:16).

Pray for More!

If knowing that praying for more grace may result in more pressure, we may be tempted not to ask for more. When we feel this way, we must repent. Because we do not know as we ought to know (1 Corinthians 8:2). No good thing will God withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11). Only a fool prefers evil over good, or even less good over more good. We don’t want to be fools.

Jesus promises that if we ask in faith and in his name, the Father will grant what we ask for our joy (John 16:24). Yes, our joy! God only gives us the priceless grace of pressure so that we will share his holiness, bear the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:10–11), exercise love for others (1 John 4:7), put their needs before ours (Philippians 2:3), and to push us toward himself — our exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

So let’s pray earnestly for more of whatever God wishes to give us. Let us boldly pray “whatever-it-takes prayers” and take whatever he gives us. And if he graciously answers us with more pressure than we expected, let us not resent it, but recognize it as a gift to help us strive to enter the rest that is coming (Hebrews 4:11).

Beauty of Marriage

Marshall Segal post: Your Wedding is Still Something Worth Wanting

Maybe marriage isn’t all that great after all.

When divorce rates are high and the surviving marriages around us seem broken, messy, and unhappy — and there are plenty of other good things to keep us busy — lots of young men and women in their twenties and thirties have basically given up on marriage.

With all the pain, failure, and friction, it simply can’t be worth it, can it? Surely I can find other ways to enjoy love, companionship, and even the feeling of a family. That’s what Facebook is, right? There are other ways for me to be known and loved, and marriage really isn’t necessary for my happiness or significance here on earth.

That last sentence is true, but I fear my generation is missing some important things about what marriage really is and why it’s worth all the time, patience, and even heartache. Lots of single people my age — myself included — need to be reminded that marriage is spectacular and needed, and that’s because it is God’s. The beauty of marriage far surpasses the functional, social, relational, and, yes, even the sexual benefits. For believers in Jesus, the importance and allure of matrimony ought to be deeply spiritual, missional, and eternal.

Come One, Not All

Now, marriage is not for everyone. The Bible is wonderfully clear on that matter (1 Corinthians 7:6–7). God has lovingly and specifically called, set apart, equipped, and sent lots of unmarried men and women into the world for a lifetime of bearing witness to the satisfying sufficiency of Christ. Paul made no apologies for skipping marriage himself, and he celebrated those who joyfully made the sacrifice with him.

Freedom from caring for a spouse and children is a good and dangerous weapon in the church’s mission to spread the fame of Jesus (1 Corinthians 7:32–35). Those called by God and commissioned by him to this life of singleness need not despise marriage, though. Even though the realities and blessings found in marriage might be foreign to them this side of heaven, they have every reason to rejoice that marriage exists and that it continues to have such a prominent place in God’s purpose and work in the world.

Five Supernatural Reasons to Pursue Marriage

So twenty-something or thirty-something, don’t let worldly trends convince you marriage is a small and unnecessary accessory to the full and happy life. Before you pour yourself deeper and deeper into your career instead of pursuing a partner, consider these five reasons your wedding is still something worth wanting.

1. When God made the world, marriage was a good and productive part of his perfect creation.

There was a day — or at least a few hours — when marriage was pure, undefiled, free from sin and selfishness. In fact, the whole world was that way. God had looked on his creation, and it was good — complete, flawless, rich, and filled with life (Genesis 1:31). And a central part of that truly utopian world was marriage — a man and a woman joined together as one in a God-ordained, God-filled, and God-glorifying union (Genesis 1:27).

Marriage wasn’t an optional, incidental arrangement in God’s agenda. It was right there at the center, tying together the two most significant characters in this new and epic story. For sure, sin has broken and marred what was good and pure about that first marriage. But Paul says — quoting Genesis 2 — that from the very beginning, the mystery of marriage is that it’s meant to represent Jesus’s relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:32). This means sin wasn’t a surprise in God’s design for marriage. Rather, it tragically, but beautifully, served to fulfill God’s good design. Marriages today, though flawed, are still carrying out, though imperfectly, the glorious purposes God gave them in the Garden.

2. Christian marriage defies and exposes the ignorant, short-sighted dreams and priorities of our society.

Marriage is under attack, and I’m not even thinking mainly of so-called “same-sex marriage.” Individualism, consumerism, and career-ism have cheapened the perceived value and centrality of marriage. It’s now more often viewed as simply a convenient social complement to a person’s other dreams and ambitions. And it’s regularly (and sadly) evaluated, and even ended, based on whether it’s serving our other aspirations. People are happy to be married if it’s making them happy and helping them accomplish their goals. If it gets difficult or slow or boring or requires more of us, we just withdraw, punish our spouse and kids directly or indirectly, and eventually get out and cut our losses.

Unless, of course, Jesus is the point and power of your marriage. Anyone who’s experienced marriage will testify that it’s hard. That has been true across generations, cultures, and worldviews. Marriages don’t survive for decades on comfort and self-fulfillment, at least not happily. Marriages endure and thrive on unchanging, selfless mutual commitment to one another, and — I would argue — to something bigger, stronger, and longer lasting than the marriage. Christian marriage, therefore, is an opportunity to show the world something — better, Someone — strong enough to keep a marriage together and make it unbelievably meaningful and happy.

3. Christian marriage is the only godly, healthy context in which to experience the miracle of making children.

Bearing or adopting children is not the only way to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ, but it’s proven again and again in history to be one of the most effective ones. You will have a natural, unusual, and God-given authority and influence on your own kids. It gives you the unique ability to structure their growth, speak into their hearts, and model God’s love. And they are a miracle, every one of them. Every new person — formed and sustained by God in their mother’s womb — is a stunning miracle (Psalm 139:13).

Children are a miracle worth making, which means they are a miracle worth planning and sacrificing for. Future generations of men and women will run the world, the church, and your local neighborhood. Who will those future men and women be? What kinds of homes will they experience? What lessons will they learn at age four and twelve and fifteen? When will they hear about Jesus? Who will be the Christian examples in their lives? It’s difficult to overestimate the lasting productivity and treasure of bearing children and training them to be men and women after God.

Of course, there are other ways — countless other ways — to invest in raising up future generations of young people. You can teach. You can mentor. You can support other parents. But nothing really replaces the lifelong, every-moment relationship, commitment, and responsibility of having them in your home, under your roof and care.

4. Among all the means of sanctification, marriage is one of the most effective crucibles for Christ-likeness.

This one admittedly is inspired more by anecdote than a quote from the Bible, but it’s also fair to say it’s a common-sense conclusion. If you put two God-fearing, Jesus-following, but sinful people in such close proximity, with a covenant to keep them from running away, there will be tension, conflict, and hopefully change.

Perhaps the greatest means God has given us, under the Holy Spirit, for making us more like himself are the people in our lives who love us enough to confront our patterns of selfishness, unhealthiness, and sin. Marriage places that loving person with us in the same family, the same house, the same budget, and the same covenant promise. If God is unfailingly faithful to his promises, and the Spirit really is more powerful than our weaknesses, and we both truly want more of God, he’ll be using us to eradicate sin and cultivate righteousness in one another.

5. Christian marriage declares the gospel more humbly, consistently, and clearly than almost any other kind of relationship we have in this life.

God’s counsel for marriage is cross-shaped. The path to the most beautiful, most powerful, most satisfying marriages is the road to Calvary. The Bible is clear that the behaviors and rhythms of the marriage covenant are a billboard of Christ’s forgiving, sacrificial, redeeming love for sinners. Paul repeats this in several ways, speaking to husbands and wives.

The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. (Ephesians 5:23)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31–32)

You rarely see this kind of Christ-like love in other relationships because the stakes are never as high. A husband and wife have covenanted before God to love each other until death. There are no exit ramps or escape hatches. That might sound scary to some, but we were made for this kind of love — covenantal, enduring, lavish, promise-keeping love. It’s how God loves us, and it’s the kind of love that confirms — tangibly and regularly — the gospel we share with our needy world.

Marriage cannot make you complete or happy. Only God will ever satisfy the deepest longings and ambitions you have. But God also made marriage, and he wants lots and lots of his children to experience it, because he loves them. He wants them to make the lifelong promises, to do the everyday hard work, and to enjoy the deep and abiding streams of his grace unique to that relationship.