GETTING CHRISTIANITY RIGHT: Finding the Balance We All Need

​By R. Herbert

In our Christian lives we often come face to face with moral choices, options, and “grey areas.” Getting Christianity Right looks at some of the most common and often difficult of those areas – alphabetically, by topic – where what is right is not obvious, and we must find and maintain Christian balance.  The book offers practical Christian advice for a great many situations where we may wonder, “What does the Bible say on this issue?” and “What should I do?” This book has the potential to help you improve your Christian walk in many ways – download a free copy to read on your computer, smartphone, or e-book reader, here.

“… We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light”  (Colossians 1:9-12).

The more we grow spiritually, the more we desire to please God; but how do we most effectively do that?  The New Testament mentions a number of ways in which we should please God – that we cannot please him without faith (Hebrews 10:38), without “walking in the Spirit” (Romans 8:8), etc. But in his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul makes a statement that summarizes the many answers to that question (Colossians 1:9-12).  Paul tells us he prayed that believers “… may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way…” (vs. 10, emphasis added), and he then follows this thought by speaking of four specific ways that, taken together, please God in “every way.”

Paul’s statement is almost startling in both its reach and its simplicity. No other passage in the New Testament claims to tell us how to be completely pleasing to God, so we should look very closely at the characteristics the apostle tells us fulfill this goal.  The four things are:

1. Bearing fruit in every good work (vs. 10).    Paul makes it clear throughout his epistles that although good works do not save us, God expects us to produce good works as a result of being saved (Titus 3:8, 14, etc.).  Throughout the New Testament the expression “good works” primarily refers to works done to help others (Hebrews 13:16, etc.), but it also includes our obedience to God (1 Thessalonians 4:1, Hebrews 13:20-21, etc.). We should also notice Paul’s stress in Colossians 1 is not that “some” good works will please God, but that we are urged to “every good work” – to as many good works as possible! 

2. Growing in the knowledge of God (vs. 10).  Paul next cites our ongoing growing in the knowledge of God and his ways as being central to our ability to please God. It is only as we come to know God that we can learn to properly love, fear, trust, and obey him (Psalm 147:11). Knowledge itself is of no use without application (1 Corinthians 13:1-2), but growing in knowledge can enable us to better grow in good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The first two points  Paul gives for how to please God correspond directly with the apostle Peter’s summary admonition that we should “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18, emphasis added). Paul also stresses these same two characteristics elsewhere in his writing (Philippians 1:9), but in Colossians 1 he goes further to add two more points that we need in order to fully please God:

3. Being strengthened by God (vs. 11).  This is not strength for its own sake, of course, rather  “… that you may have great endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:11, Ephesians 3:16, etc.). Given what Paul says in this verse, there is no question that this strengthening is actually something God must do in us: “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might,” yet we must make this possible by asking God’s help and trusting him in faith to supply his strength. In that sense, this characteristic includes the quality of faith itself, as the basis of our strength, endurance and patience (Hebrews 11:6).

4. Giving thanks to God (vs. 12). The final characteristic that Paul tells us is pleasing to God is deep gratitude on our part: “… giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” In fact, thankfulness is a theme to which the apostle returns numerous times in this short epistle (Colossians 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2) – in this way reinforcing our understanding of its importance in God’s eyes.

So Paul’s four summary characteristics of believers who truly please God are not what many of us might guess. Humanly, we might suppose that never-failing obedience, great sacrifice, frequent or long periods of prayer, or any number of other things that relate to our own lives might be what please God. But Paul’s four characteristics do not focus on our lives – they are all primarily outward looking toward others and God himself.    
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Perhaps we should not be surprised that the things Paul says greatly please God are all expressions of our love for others and love for God.  That is basic enough, but the four specific characteristics Paul enumerates are worthy of our careful staudy – if we truly want to please God, they are among the highest goals for which we can aim.  

They are characteristics that Paul himself urged us to continually seek: “... we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more” (1 Thessalonians 1:4).

The epistle of James was written in difficult times for early Christian believers, and so it is not surprising that the first topic the apostle discusses is that of problems and trials.  James immediately launches into this topic in the second verse of his letter by saying “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). He then continues this subject through most of the first half of his first chapter, closing the topic with the summary “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial” (vs. 12).

Yet within what James says we notice something that might seem odd at first. The apostle tells his readers who are undergoing trials that they should pray (vs. 4) – as we might expect. But, contrary to what we might also expect, he does not encourage his readers to pray for deliverance from their trials or even for strength to survive the difficulties. Instead, James says that if we lack wisdom, we should pray for it.

At first this instruction to pray for wisdom might seem unrelated to the matter of trials, but if we look carefully at the context we see it is not. Directly after saying we should rejoice in trials, James says the reason we should rejoice is because: “the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (vs. 3). It is then that the apostle continues “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God” (vs. 4). 

We should notice the connection there. After saying that trials can lead to our not lacking anything in verse 3, James then says if we lack wisdom, however, we should pray for it.  Bible readers often misinterpret this part of what James says by taking the command to pray for wisdom out of context – as though he counsels us to pray for wisdom in general. But why would James single out wisdom as the one thing we might be lacking? The answer is because it is the one thing  we may need if we are suffering. If we keep his context in mind, we see that the apostle is not speaking about wisdom in general – rather he is addressing the issue of the specific wisdom we need when we are suffering.

So often, when we go through trials and suffering, we do not see the overall perspective. When we hurt it is hard to see beyond ourselves.  But James tells us to gladly accept the suffering God allows us to go through. That does not mean we should somehow try to enjoy the trials themselves, but that we should ask God to help us see what suffering gives us  – if we let it. And we do this through wisdom. We do it by wisely looking beyond the trials we are enduring and keeping in mind God’s purposes in allowing suffering to fall on us. And James knew that trials would come to all of us. That is why he writes “my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials …” –  not “if some of you face trials,”  but when you all do.

The fact is, we will all suffer as Christians – just as those around us who are not believers also suffer; but in our case, it can be to a greater purpose.   Peter tells us exactly the same thing: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed”  (1 Peter 4:12–13).

Of course, this does not mean we cannot pray for help with sicknesses and other trials or that God will not rescue us out of them in due course. James and Peter both emphasize these things (James 5:14–5; 1 Peter 5:10), but James and Peter both tell us we should rejoice in trials while they are present because of what they can lead to – what God can accomplish through them if we stay close or move closer to him when we suffer – in order to better hear what we need to hear and to better see what God is trying to accomplish in us. 

James also gives us examples from the Scriptures to remind us of this truth:  “Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:10–11).  Having given us these encouraging words, James reminds us, once again, of his basic point:  “Is any one of you suffering? He should pray” (James 5:13). But James does not call us to pray primarily for deliverance when we suffer – he calls us instead to pray for wisdom to understand why God allows us to suffer, to see what we need to learn and change, and to see what God will accomplish in the end. 

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”  (Ephesians 4:4–6).
 
One of the key teachings of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is that of unity. The apostle emphasizes, among other things, that there is “one faith,” and “one baptism” (Ephesians 4: 5).  Ironically, however, this particular section of Paul’s writings is sometimes misunderstood in a way that limits Christian unity and interaction. The apostle’s words are misconstrued as a call to doctrinal purity and to mean there is only one faith (“ours” and not “theirs”)  and one baptism (the way we do it, not how others perform the rite).

Doctrinal purity is important, of course; but it is hard to find a scripture to show that minor matters of doctrine trump the unity that God desires within his church.  Many attempt to find such scriptures, however, and often settle on Romans 16:17:  “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”  This verse is often used to attempt to show that even minor matters of doctrine are more important than unity, but that is really the exact opposite of its meaning. Paul is actually urging us to see that the divisions and offenses caused by some are contrary to doctrine – it is people who divide the church who are to be avoided, not those who may differ in understanding of minor points.

Some feel that every detail of doctrine as they understand it is important and cannot be negotiated, but Paul makes a clear distinction between the essentials of the gospel that cannot and must not be compromised (Galatians 1:8) and minor issues of understanding  (Philippians 3:15) that do not necessarily separate individuals from the body of Christ. 

But to return to Ephesians. To understand why Paul speaks of “one faith” and “one baptism,” it is vital that we keep in mind the context of what Paul is saying. Throughout Chapter 4, and throughout the whole epistle, Paul stresses the need for unity in the church and, not surprisingly, Ephesians has frequently been called the “epistle of unity.” 

Paul begins Ephesians by pointing to the great goal of unity (Ephesians 1:10) and continues throughout chapters 2 and 3 by stressing the unity God has made possible between Jews and Gentiles (note especially Ephesians 2:14-18) and concluding  “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6, emphasis added here and below). In Ephesians 4, Paul then broadens the concept of unity to the whole church, instructing us:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it (Ephesians 4: 3–7).

Seen properly in this context, it becomes clear that far from meaning that there is only one faith (ours and not theirs) and one baptism (the way we do it, not how others perform the rite ), Paul seeks to unify the body by emphasizing its unity in all things.  Just as there is “one Lord,” so there is “one faith” and “one baptism,” etc. These are all examples of things that unify us rather than divide us.   In other words, we all worship the same Lord, we are all part of the same faith, and all share the same way of life -  our essential beliefs and actions show the unity we have, or should have, in Christ.

The whole of Ephesians is written from the perspective of the unity we share, the unity which is the basis of our relationships in Christ, despite our differences.  And Paul is not blind to those differences but sees them as part of a unified body of Christ: “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16) “for we are all members of one body” (Ephesians 4:25).  That is perhaps why Paul ends his epistle by saying “Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love” (Ephesians 6:24).
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Doctrinal accuracy is important, of course, but we must always be careful that we do not overuse the concept so that minor matters become a hindrance to unity in the body of Christ.  The Sermon on the Mount indicates the kingdom of God is not so much about the pure in doctrine as the pure in heart. Ultimately, it is the presence of the Spirit of God within us and our way of life, not the minor details of our beliefs, that define our identity as members of the body of Christ. 

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​“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me”  (Revelation 3:20 ESV).

These words of Christ are among the best known in the Bible and are the subject of many religious quotations.  We all know them, but we usually think of them out of context – as an invitation to open our hearts and minds to Christ and to turn to him in conversion.  As Christians we need to understand that the context of the verse has much more to do with where we are now than it has to do with our initial conversion!

In Revelation 3 the apostle John records the words of Christ not to the unconverted, but to the church at Laodicea – a church described as being lukewarm and in real danger of failure:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Revelation 3:15-18).

It is within this context, immediately after this scathing rebuke, that Christ says:  “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock ...” (Revelation 3:19-20).  The context in Revelation 3 makes the specific meaning of this metaphor clear.  Christ tells his followers who have become lukewarm that he still stands at the door and knocks – we still have the opportunity to open that door wide and to fellowship with him.

The fact that Christ extends the analogy to say that if we open the door he will dine with us –  “I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me”  (Revelation 3:20) –  is also an important part of his message. Eating together was a mark of true and intimate fellowship in New Testament times and Jesus uses the analogy with purpose.  He clearly tells us that no matter what our present relationship with him, we can improve it at any time if we so choose, by opening the door.

The only warning we must give ourselves is that the opportunity does not last forever.  In Luke 13 we see Christ inverted the analogy of the open door in a very potent way: “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.  Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” (Luke 13:24-27).

Notice again the image of the meal.  These are people who had dined with Christ at one time, but had since fallen away from close fellowship. Elsewhere in Luke, Jesus urged his disciples to be: “like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him” (Luke 12:36).

So we see in the teachings of Jesus a frequent use of the analogy of the closed door that must be opened, a door we may open if we choose, but a door that will not always be possible to open.  In Revelation 3, Christ tells his Church that the opportunity for close fellowship with him is available, but that we must not only open the door to him at our conversion – we must keep that door open till the end. To some he says “be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19), but to all of us he says we must continue to keep the door open to him.

How do we know if our door is open?  If we are “contented Christians” – if we are doing only what our conscience or our church expects –  if our expenditure of time, effort and love is often or usually less than it could be – if we do not feel a need for more – we need to ask ourselves if, like the Laodiceans,  we feel we “do not need a thing” (Revelation 3:17) and we have begun to close the door.
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It is only when we keep the door of our hearts and minds open to him that we will have the kind of fellowship with Christ that he characterized as the sharing of a meal together.  That fellowship is something to which the whole of the Book of Revelation points.  It is the reason it tells us “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9a). But if we truly want to participate in that fellowship and want him to open the doors of that dinner to us, we, in turn, must keep our door open to him!

The Bible clearly teaches that sin causes suffering (Deuteronomy 11:26-28; etc.), but does that mean all suffering is caused by sin –  as some claim? Even sincere people who are committed to doing what is right can sometimes wonder if they are at fault when things do not go well for them – or  even judge others who are experiencing ongoing problems.

There is no question that we do often bring suffering upon ourselves. We all recognize that if we break certain health principles, for example, we will probably suffer as a result. First Peter 4:15 also tells us, “If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler” – showing that wrongful behavior of many types can lead to self-induced suffering.

However, that’s not the whole picture. It was the limited understanding of Job's friends in this regard that caused them to presume he must have done something wrong to be experiencing such pain and misery.  But the conclusion of the book of Job shows God’s displeasure with those friends and that Job’s suffering was not really caused by wrongdoing at all (Job 42:7-9).

There is, in fact, a great deal of biblical evidence to show that individuals can and often do suffer as a result of circumstances beyond their control that have nothing to do with their righteousness or lack thereof.  Sometimes we suffer as a result of sheer chance.  Jesus himself confirmed this in what he told his disciples when they asked about people who had suffered because of political upheaval or physical accidents:

“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! … Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!” (Luke 13:2-4).

Jesus continued to explain that such extreme cases should remind us of the uncertain nature of life and the need to repent, if we have not already done so; but he was adamant in stressing that such suffering may be the result of chance rather than sin.  

In other cases, the Bible makes it clear that illnesses and other difficulties come upon us and are used by God to ultimately help us –  as in the case of the apostle Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) –  so this suffering can hardly be seen as being the result of failure on the part of others or ourselves.

There is another section of Scripture, not so well known, that can also encourage us that suffering need not be equated with God’s displeasure.  The prophet Jeremiah was given a vision by God regarding the people of Judah –  both those who had been carried into captivity in Babylon, and those who had not. In this vision, the people in captivity were symbolized as a basket of good figs, and those who were not taken captive as a basket of bad figs.  God then told Jeremiah:

This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’ (Jeremiah 24:5-10)

From the perspective of those who had escaped captivity, it may have been natural to think that those who had been deported and were now suffering captivity were still the objects of God’s displeasure.  In actuality, the opposite was true.  Those who had suffered deportation were spared a later, more thorough, destruction and – despite their present suffering – were now closer to God and his favor than those who had not suffered, but who would eventually be punished.

We find scriptures such as these throughout the Bible – showing time and again that suffering is not a sure sign of God’s displeasure.  Suffering that comes upon us may happen as a result of time, chance, the actions of others, or simply genetics.  The Scriptures warn us to be sure, whenever possible, that we do not suffer as a result of our own foolishness (Psalm 107:17, etc.), and if we find ourselves experiencing ongoing problems, it is always a good idea to reflect on our lives to see if some of those problems are self-induced (Ecclesiastes 7:14). But we should never simply presume that suffering experienced by us or by others is self-caused. 

If suffering does come, we should strive, like Job, to trust that God has a purpose in what he allows us to experience.  As the apostle Peter assures us: “the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10).  

The analogy is often made that the Bible is a letter from God and this metaphor works in many ways, although it’s not actually found in the Bible itself.  But the Bible does make a clear analogy about a letter from God that is often overlooked.  That analogy is found in the apostle Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians:

“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).
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In this passage Paul uses the analogy of believers being a letter in a particularly interesting way. First, he tells the Corinthians that “You … are our letter, written on our hearts … known and read by everyone” –  meaning that they functioned as a “letter” representing the visible results of Paul and his co-workers’ labors to all who knew them.

Paul extends the analogy of the believers being a letter from God in several ways.  While the NIV translates his words to say the Corinthian believers were “the result of our ministry” (vs. 3), many other versions translate more literally that this letter was  “delivered by us” (RSV, CSB, NET, ESV, etc.) meaning that Paul and his co-workers acted as the letter carriers for the message. 

In New Testament times, letters were commonly written on parchment with some form of pigment mixed with oil, or on papyrus, or even pottery fragments. Less commonly, letters were carved or written on tablets of wood.  Paul tells us this letter from Christ was written “on our hearts … with the Spirit of the living God” –  stressing the living nature of the medium as well as the message, and also showing that this “letter” was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies that God would write his laws on people’s hearts with his Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26).  

The letter, Paul tells us, is a letter of recommendation: “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter…” (vss. 1-2).  While Paul had made use of letters of recommendation before his conversion (Acts 9:2; 22:5) and often wrote letters of recommendation for others (Romans 16:1-2; 1 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 8:16-24; etc.), he himself now needed and carried no such letters.  Yet, he says, the Corinthians who had heeded his teaching were a letter of recommendation for him to anyone who needed such a letter.

So, Paul’s analogy of the believer as representing a letter from God is one that he develops in some detail, and it is an analogy that we can think about.   Although Paul was writing specifically to the Corinthian church, what he says obviously could apply to any believer.  In a very real sense, we are all “letters” from God to those around us – either recommending Christianity or failing in this regard.

We can, in fact, extend the analogy to ourselves in a number of meaningful ways.  We can ask if we, too, are “known and read by everyone,” or is the message God desires to impart through us obscured in some way – just like a letter that has become smudged and illegible?  All wrongdoing not only makes marks on our own characters, but also makes “blots” on the letter that God desires to send through us. 

Being a “letter from God” is a wonderful but a very sobering responsibility.  Whatever we do in life and whatever kind of father, mother, employer, employee, friend, or co-worker – or even stranger – we are to those around us becomes an inseparable part of the message that is sent through us.  Fortunately, the letter is not written by us, but by God.  Yet we must do our part to be made into the kind of message he wants to give others, or we degrade the message and it may appear more like “junk mail.”
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A little later in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul states his point directly: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us … “ (2 Corinthians 5:20).  In the analogy he uses earlier, those chosen by God are called to be a letter from God – a concept that we can all profit from.  The Bible may be regarded as a “letter from God,” but – to paraphrase a well-known quote – we may be the only “letter” from God that many people ever read. 

Have you ever noticed that in his famous description of the nature of love in I Corinthians 13:4-7, the apostle Paul begins and ends his list of love’s qualities with the same trait?  That trait is patience.  Although Paul uses two different words – showing different aspects of this important quality – they both mean patience. It is often said that “the Greeks had a word for everything,” and ancient Greek actually had two words for patience, both of which were used by Paul. 

Patience with people

The first of those words was makrothymia which is composed of makran (“far away”) and thymos (“anger”) – in other words, to put one’s anger far away.  This involves patience with others, particularly in the restraint of anger – when patience is often needed most.  It does not connote the patience of those who cannot do anything about a situation, but that of those who have the power to act against the object of anger, perhaps even to exact revenge or punishment.  This is the patience of those with power to affect others; it is the patience of those who could react with negative action, but who choose not to do so in love.

It is the patience husbands need with their wives and wives with their husbands, of parents with children (and sometimes children with parents).  It is the patience employers sometimes need with employees and those who work with those for whom they work.  It is the patience we should have when someone irritates or hurts us in any way – great or small – and we feel a desire to retaliate.  It is the kind of patience that every Christian must develop, and that we may need many times in a given day.

So it is probably not coincidental that this is the very first quality Paul tells us love consists of – the patience of those who are provoked, but who choose restraint.  It is a primary quality without which love for others cannot exist, and one that we must always remember is foundational to love itself.

Patience with circumstances

Paul ends his list of the characteristics of love with the second form of patience. The word he uses to close his list is hypomonē which fuses hypo (“under”) with monē (“remaining” or “enduring”) and connotes the idea of “remaining under” suffering or difficult circumstances. In the New Testament the word is often translated “persevering” (Romans 5:3-4, etc.), but it is a particularly rich word with a wide range of meaning.  In Luke 21:19, for example, we find it translated “Stand firm, and you will win life” (NIV, emphasis added), though the King James translates this verse a little less clearly as “In your patience, possess ye your souls.”

This kind of patience represents the attitude of those who are not in a position of strength, but of weakness – a position of being unable to do anything to change the situation they are enduring.  This is the patience of the Christian undergoing persecution for his or her faith – whether the persecution comes from the individual’s government, job, neighbors, or even their own family.  It is the patience of those dealing with long-term illnesses, injuries, poverty, loneliness, depression, or any other kind of suffering. 

If it is not coincidental that Paul begins his list of love’s qualities with makrothymia, the patience we must have with individuals, it is equally likely that he intentionally ends his list with hypomonē, the patience we must have with situations.  If we cannot love others without the first type of patience, it is probable that we cannot love God without the second kind – and we certainly will not be able to continue in the way of love without the perseverance that hypomonē connotes.  That is why the word is found in Jesus’ parable of the seed, in which “… the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15, emphasis added).

It begins and ends with patience.

All too often we think of patience as a virtue, but perhaps only a minor one - a distant cousin of the great spiritual virtues such as faith and love.  Yet careful consideration of the structure of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 shows us that love itself begins and ends in patience and that this quality is pivotal to effectively loving others and loving God.  Romans 15:5 tells us that God is a God of patience and if we are to become like him, patience – in its two forms – is a quality we must strive to develop with his help.  As Paul himself wrote in his letter to the Colossians, we must live: “… being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance (hypomonē) and patience (makrothymia)” (Colossians 1:11).

One of the primary laws of success is not to try to pursue too many goals at one time. When we attempt many goals at once, we tend to stretch our efforts too thin – and if we are not careful, we can become mediocre in everything we do.  As a result, many leadership experts stress that it is best to focus on one major goal at a time and to put most of our efforts into that single, primary, goal.

So how does this fact balance with what we are called to do in our Christian lives?  The apostle Paul actually gives us at least three major goals for which we should be aiming – and we are not given the luxury of tackling one goal at a time!  But let’s look at those biblical goals and then consider how we can fulfill them without lessening our success with any one of them.

Goal One: Perhaps the primary goal Paul gives every warrior of the Way is to glorify God. The apostle made it clear when he wrote: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).    In context Paul is talking primarily about food and drink, but the words “whatever you do” add a breadth of application that clearly means we are to glorify God in everything we do – and of, course, everything we think or say.  That’s a huge goal, but it meshes perfectly with what Jesus himself said about the greatest commandment being to love God (Matthew 22:36-38).  If we truly love God, we will be seeking to glorify him in every aspect of our lives.

Goal Two:  Although the first goal of the Christian life we looked at is already incredibly broad, we can now add on a second goal: helping and strengthening others.  Just as Jesus taught that after love of God we must love our neighbor (Matthew 22:39), so Paul stresses the importance of loving others through helping them in whatever way we can: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).   We should note that Paul urges us not only to apply love in our dealings with everyone – but also especially to do what we can to strengthen fellow believers.

Goal Three: We already have two major goals to contemplate, but Paul adds a third one: being a light to unbelievers.  This is fulfilling the “Great Commission” Jesus gave his disciples before his ascension (Matthew 28:18-20), and it is called a “great” commission or goal for good reason. As Paul wrote: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth”  (Acts 13:47 and see also Acts 26:18, Philippians 2:14-16).  In a figurative sense, of course, “Gentiles” includes all who are not part of “spiritual Israel” (Galatians 3:7, 6:16, etc.) – in other words, all unbelievers – another huge goal.

So the biblical evidence is clear. As Christians, we are given not one, but at least three major goals, and we are expected to fulfill them all! But given what we said at the beginning of this article, how can we possibly fulfill three such massive goals without diluting our efforts and producing only mediocre results in what we accomplish?  Fortunately, the Bible answers this question in a very encouraging way.  Unlike physical goals which usually require focused attention and effort that can be applied in only one area or another, the New Testament makes it clear that if we are diligently working toward one of the three goals we have been given, we will, in effect, be working toward them all.

Consider a small example of this.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his disciples: “… 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” (Matthew 5:16, ESV).   Did you see it?  If we are fulfilling the goal of letting our light shine before others, we will also be fulfilling the goal of bringing glory to God!  Paul made exactly this same point when he wrote that through the spreading of the word: “… the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15).

Putting this example in a practical context means that helping a stranger or a fellow believer in some way not only fulfills the goal of serving and helping others, but our action also glorifies God – whether the person we help knows we are a Christian or not.  A little reflection on the three goals we have been given will show that every one of them overlaps and interacts with the others in the same way.
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This does not mean that we need only attempt to do one of the things we have been given to do in our Christian lives, but it helps us to see that unlike attempting physical goals we can successfully accomplish multiple spiritual goals at once.  That is one of the most encouraging things we can know about the Way to which we have been called, and it is a powerful antidote to feeling that we are responsible for managing long lists of spiritual goals.  We are given multiple goals, but when we strive to fulfill any one of them, very often we are working on fulfilling them all.

​There are some areas of life where understanding needs to precede action.  When we visit a doctor or other medical professional, for example, we want them to understand what the situation is and what is needed before they take any action in prescribing medications or treatments.  In cases like that, understanding obviously has to come before action. 
     
But in other areas of life we find situations where this “normal” way of things is reversed, and we simply have to act before we understand, counterintuitive as that may sound.  Falling in love might be a good example – we have to experience love before we can really understand it.  Following God’s instructions is often one of these situations. No amount of philosophizing can help us understand why it really is more blessed to give than to receive, for example – it is only when we do give that we begin to understand how we are blessed in giving. But it is easy to forget that sometimes action has to come before understanding. We may make the mistake of not acting on what we see in the word of God because we don’t understand why we should do or not do a certain thing.

Yet the Bible is very clear about the reality of “action before understanding” when applied to its teachings.   Notice, for example, how David expressed this fact in the Psalms: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding” (Psalm 111:10). This is not saying that if you have good understanding you will follow God’s ways (though that is true, of course), but that following God’s instructions leads to understanding them.  Another verse that makes this same point is found in the book of Exodus. According to many translations, directly after God gave the Ten Commandments and other laws to ancient Israel the people said: “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7 NKJV). But the Hebrew literally says “we will do and we will hear” or “we will do and we will understand.”  Here again, as in many other instances, doing comes before “hearing” – action before understanding.

In the New Testament the principle is spelled out even more clearly. The Gospel of John records Jesus saying: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” (John 14:21).  This does not mean something esoteric and mystical – by “showing” himself to those who are obedient, Christ simply meant that they would come to understand and know him, just as we say “Ah! I see it now” when we come to understand something. But once again, the order is action before understanding.

In fact, this principle lies at the very heart of much of what the New Testament tells us. Compare these two very important verses in the book of Acts: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38); “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32).    Now the apostle Paul taught very clearly that: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14).  When we put these verses together we see that we cannot understand spiritual things until we receive the Spirit of God, and we have to act – to repent and be baptized – before we can receive the Spirit.  So action must come before full understanding even from the very beginning of the Christian life.

The important thing for us to remember is that this principle does not only apply to us as new Christians – it applies to us every time we see some new guidance in God’s word.  The instruction may be clear as to what we must do, but we may only understand the guidance once we follow it – that is simply the way God often teaches us.  

Many of the individuals mentioned in Hebrews’ great “Faith Hall of Fame” chapter (Hebrews 11) understood that faith means we must sometimes act before we understand – we must obey before we fully comprehend.  These people seem to have learned a lesson we all must learn in the course of the Christian life: that faith often enables our obedience and our obedience often enables our understanding. 

​​We all know the apostle Peter’s admonition that we “grow in grace and knowledge” (2 Peter 3:18), and most of us try to strike a balance in seeking both in our lives. Yet we often tend to gravitate toward one or the other –  focusing on the development of our Christian walk or our biblical understanding.

Some Christians spend a great deal of time in study of the word and may even fall into the ditch of seeking knowledge at the expense of growing in grace*. Those who make this mistake may become involved in some of the more obscure aspects of the Scriptures such as prophecy, and this becomes their main focus.  On the other hand, there are other Christians who move toward the opposite extreme of neglecting the responsibility of study of God’s word when they fall into the ditch of believing that “all you need is love.” 

Clearly, as Peter tells us, we need both grace and knowledge, and this is a principle we find often in the Scriptures. The apostle Paul elaborated on it when he wrote that our goal should be: “… that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). But what we may fail to understand if we tend to gravitate in one direction or the other is how the two areas of spiritual growth interact. Growing in grace can actually increase our spiritual knowledge, and growing in knowledge can increase the fruit of grace in our lives. If that sounds counterintuitive, consider the following scriptures.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness” (Titus 1:1, emphasis added).  Here, in the very opening of his letter to Titus, Paul stresses that furthering knowledge of the truth leads to godliness.  This concept is simple enough – we cannot please God without knowing what it is that pleases him –  but it is a concept that we should always keep in mind if we are to be truly growth oriented. 
 
Yet knowledge is only half of the equation for spiritual growth. Notice what Paul states in his letter to the Colossians regarding those he taught:

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3, emphases added).  In this profound scripture Paul shows the opposite truth to that he stressed to Titus. Here, we see that being united in love forms the basis of knowledge and understanding of Christ.
  
The fact that we can only have true knowledge of God  if we live in love is also repeatedly stressed by the apostle John (1 John 1:10-11, etc.). Notice one example of this teaching: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). It is through knowledge of Christ’s sacrifice that we come to understand and to be able to emulate true love in our lives.  John reiterates the connection between love and knowledge a few verses later: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). 

We need both grace and knowledge, love and truth, or however we might categorize these two primary aspects of Christian growth. And we need to remember that not only are both vital, but also that growth in one often leads to growth in the other. 

Once we understand this principle we gain insights into many biblical stories. In the Old Testament, for example, we see Job, who evidently walked perfectly before God (Job 1:1, 8), yet who still had to learn lessons (Job 42:5).  In the New Testament we see many examples of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who had knowledge but who needed to grow in love (Luke 11:42, etc.).
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Our lives need to exhibit both grace and knowledge, but fullness of growth in one of these areas often involves continuing to grow in the other. 
 
* In this context, grace refers to our walk before God (as in John 1:14) rather than the grace he extends to us.

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When the expression “a life of prayer” comes to mind, people usually think of a devout figure whose life is characterized by frequent and extended prayer.

But there is another very different possible meaning that we should always remember is contained in this expression.  In a very real sense our lives are part of our prayers: we pray what we live, not just what we say.

Although we may not find a biblical verse that makes this statement in exactly those words, we find many scriptures that make the principle clear.  For example, the apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters … to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1).  When we remember the many biblical verses that equate prayer with sacrifice (Psalm 141:2, etc.), what Paul writes takes on even clearer meaning –  that just as our prayers are given as offerings or sacrifices to God (Revelation 8:4), the sacrifice of our “bodies” –  our lives –  is also part of our worship.   Paul urges us to make our lives  just as much a pleasing offering to God as our verbal prayers.

The Christian writer and preacher A. W. Tozer referred to this principle when he wrote: "We cannot pray in love and live in hate and still think we are worshiping God."  Tozer’s comment is well known, but he followed it up with an analogy that is not so often quoted and which summarizes the broader principle:

Let us suppose we are back in the old days of the high priest, who took incense into the [temple sanctuary] and went behind the veil and offered it there. And let us suppose that rubber—the worst-smelling thing I can think of when it burns—had been available in those days. Let us suppose that chips of rubber had been mixed with the incense, so that instead of the pure smoke of the spices filling the temple with sweet perfume, there had been the black, angry, rancid smell of rubber mixed with it. How could a priest worship God by mixing with the sweet-smelling ingredients some foul ingredient that would be a stench in the nostrils of priest and people?

Tozer’s  analogy is a good one, and we might well contrast it with what Paul instructs us in Ephesians:  “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2).   Paul shows here that our walk – if it is in the way of love –  is equivalent to a fragrant offering or sacrifice, just as that of Christ was. 

But the principle of our lives being prayers is not just an analogy that we can dismiss or overlook. The relationship between our lives and our prayer “offerings” is as important as it is direct. We see this from the beginning of the biblical record with the story of Cain whose offering was rejected by God:

The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:4-7).

In Cain’s case God rejected a physical offering because of his not doing right, but the New Testament makes it clear that the same applies to our verbal prayers: “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will” (John 9:31). The Book of Hebrews gives a clear example of this interaction between our everyday and prayer lives: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.  And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).  Our sacrifice of prayer and praise is directly linked, Hebrews says, to our walk, our behavior and our deeds.

The Bible’s teaching is clear, then:  our everyday life is part of our “prayer” life and God “hears” what we do just as much as what we say.  It is often said that our private lives must match our public prayers, but our everyday lives must match our private prayers, too. One of the greatest ways we can improve our prayer lives is to bring our everyday lives into alignment with them. It’s a fact that gives new meaning to the old question, “How’s your prayer life?”

*Download our free ebook on prayer,  YOUR CALL:  USING THE DIRECT PRIVATE LINE OF PRAYER here.

There is an old story, I am not aware of its origin, that each day as we go into the world we pass through one of three doors.  The first door is the dark way, the door of evil intentions, which leads to harm for ourselves and  others. The second door leads to neither good nor bad intentions, and the third door leads to the good intentions of serving and helping others.  The interesting thing about the story is that it continues by telling  us that most people go out into the world each day by way of  the door of no intentions – intending neither bad nor good -  but when we do so, we invariably return by way of the dark door. 

There is certainly some truth to this simple little story.  How many times have we gone out into the day not intending anything in particular only to sooner or later run into traffic, coworkers, messages or  whatever that rouse us to frustration, anger, fear, doubt, or other negative feelings or actions.  According to the story, it is only as we go out into the day through the light door – the door of intending to do good – that we will return by way of the middle door, or, if our intentions are maintained, through the door of good intentions.

The story has a point, but its weakness is clear. We all know that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions" (as first stated by Bernard of Clairvaux), and that of themselves even the best of intentions usually are not enough.  Simply put, the door of our own good intentions really only leads to a partial solution to the problem of how our lives will really play out. 

But the old story can remind us, of course, of the words of Jesus which carry a much more profound lesson.  The Gospel of John records Christ's words: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture”  (John 10:9).  This was part of the parable Jesus told of the sheepfold with the sheep and the door they entered in and out of.  But the words fit our old story well, too.

It is only as we go out into the world through the power of Christ – the true door – that our good intentions will be more fully realized and maintained.  That takes conscious thought and determination, but if we remind ourselves daily of  the door through which we need to walk, we will be much less likely to go out through the door of wrong intentions or that of no intentions at all.  ​

​“When Jesus … saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).

It’s easy to read right over simple verses like this in the New Testament and not notice things.

First, it’s easy to miss what is actually said  – that Jesus didn’t just have compassion on the sick in the multitude, he had compassion on the whole crowd, which led to his intervening wherever there was a need.

That means that Jesus didn’t just see and have compassion on the noticeable members of the crowd – the blind, the lame and those clearly afflicted with diseases and problems. It means he had compassion on the ones who were helping carry the lame, lead the blind and support the weak. It means he had compassion on the ones we might not notice as readily in a crowd – the shy, the grieving, the lonely and the discouraged.

Second, it’s easy – of course – not to see what’s not said.  When we read the accounts of Jesus’ works, we tend to read them in a vacuum; but we have to remember how much the Gospel writers are summarizing each incident.  When Jesus had compassion on the crowds, we get only the highlights of the healings – a kind of Gospel triage in which the most important healings and significant signs were recorded.  But in having compassion on the crowds – not just the sick in the crowds – would Jesus not have noticed people with less obvious problems and had compassion on them also?

Surely Jesus saw the loneliness in the eyes of some and, having compassion, offered them a warm and accepting smile. Surely he saw the discouragement in the faces of others (Luke 18:24) and offered a few words of encouragement.  In every case in the New Testament where we are told Jesus had compassion on people, he followed it with action; and having compassion on the crowds doubtless meant he interacted with and helped many more than the few people on whom he performed miracles of  healing.

Perhaps we may feel we do not interact with crowds in the same way, but the totality of people we see and pass by as well as those we actually meet and with whom we interact in a day is often a small crowd, and for some of us a large one.  If we are followers of Jesus, do we have compassion on that daily “crowd”? Do we seek to encourage and to smile, to check that people are all right?  These may seem like small things and may seem hard to do in our over-crowded and impersonal world.  But following in Christ’s footsteps means doing the things he did to the extent we can. 

We know that God pays attention and knows the hairs on our heads, though we don’t tend to think of that in perspective of the teeming world  of billions in which we live. But God does see every face in the crowd, and in his physical life the Son of God doubtless did his best to do so also.  We are not just a face in the crowd to God, and no one in the crowd should be just a face to us.

“You are the light of the world…” (Matthew 5:14).

As Christians we are all aware of Jesus’ words that his followers were to be the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), but how do we accomplish that – what exactly is involved in being the light God wants us to be?

Fortunately, the apostle John answers that question for us in his first epistle. John begins his letter, in fact, by stressing that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:10). He continues in the second chapter of his epistle by showing that it is our responsibility to not only reflect that light, but also to live in it – to become part of it – and he shows us how we can know that we are being successful in this:

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them” (1 John 2:9-11).

If we look carefully at what John tells us in these verses, we see that he presents three tests, three ways we can know that we are, indeed, “in the light” and able to “be” the light we are called to be.  First he gives us the most basic test of love, stressing that if love is manifest throughout our lives we are living in the light (1 John 2:9).
  
Next, John shows that a person living in love is living in obedience – there is nothing in them to make them stumble (1 John 2:10). This is not to say that we are perfect, of course (1 John 1:8), but that our way of life is one that seeks and follows obedience to God: “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:6-7).  John makes the need for obedience even more explicit in the following chapter: "We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person” (1 John 2:3-4).  

Finally, although it is easier to miss than the first two points John makes regarding our relationship with the light,  John speaks of those who do:  “… not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them” (1 John 2:11).  The point here is that those who do not walk in the light are in darkness – meaning they do not see and understand spiritual things as they should.  They do not understand the truth. To put the same thought positively, if we are walking in the light, we will have an understanding of spiritual truth. This thought underlies John’s comment later in his letter that: “… whoever lives by the truth comes into the light …” (John 3:21).  Living in the light involves understanding and living by the truth.
 
The apostle Paul made this connection even more directly when he wrote: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel…” (2 Corinthians 4:4). In fact, Paul’s writings dovetail with those of John perfectly in this matter. Notice what he tells the Christians at Ephesus: “for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9). These points are exactly those mentioned by John in only slightly different wording. Combining John’s three aspects of walking in the light with Paul’s summary of the “fruit” or result of living in the light, we see: love=goodness, obedience=righteousness, truth=truth.
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These, then, are the three tests and proofs of our walking in the light.  If we really are walking in such a way that the light of God may be seen in us, we will be walking in love, obedience, and truth.  Other scriptures make it clear that one or the other of these aspects is not enough.  We can have truth without love, we can have obedience without love, and we can love at least to some degree without obedience or truth. Both John and Paul show us that we must have all three of these aspects of light in our lives, and that it is not enough to see the light, we must also be the light.

​“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good … she took some and ate it…”  (Genesis 3:6, emphases added).

And so began the story of human gratification – a pattern that is repeated  over and over in the biblical story:

“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful  and they took them”  (Genesis 6:2, emphases added).

“When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her …”  (Genesis 34:2, emphases added).

In all of these examples – and many more – we see the same pattern repeated.  The  Hebrew words for “saw” (ra’ah), “good”or “beautiful” (tov), and “took” (laqach) are identical in each case.  We see the same pattern of  stimulus and response, seeing and taking – with essentially nothing between them.

We have expressions for this pattern today –  “impulse buying,”  “see and grab,”  “instant gratification,” and so on.  The very number of such expressions shows how common the pattern is in our society. Yet if we go back to the biblical accounts, we find something interesting. The pattern of see+take  or see+act so often recorded in the narrative books of the Bible is said almost invariably of those who rejected or did not know God.
 
When we look at the accounts of those who followed God, we see stories that just as invariably show a different pattern: “see+consider+act.”  This pattern is often clear in stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and other servants of God.  Look at a single example:

In 1 Samuel 24, we find the story of how David saw an opportunity to kill Saul, who was hunting him, but after brief reflection, did not.   This has everything to do with instant gratification.  David had already been anointed to replace Saul as king (1 Samuel 16:1-13), and it was only a matter of time before David would become king in Saul’s place.  In this instance there was a very rational reason to go along with the drive of “see+take.” Yet David resisted the desire to take Saul’s life, considered the situation, and waited once he saw God’s will in the matter (1 Samuel 24:3-6).
 
In examples like this we see the people of God placing thought and the application of knowledge between seeing and acting – and time and again they are credited for righteousness in doing so.  The nature of the opposite approach is also repeatedly made clear. Take a single example of that also:  “Desire without knowledge is not good— how much more will hasty feet miss the way!” (Proverbs 19:2).  We can see and desire, but if we do not think about what we need to consider – apply knowledge to the situation – then our hasty feet “miss the way” which is so often a synonym for sin throughout the Hebrew Bible.

This pattern of delayed versus instant gratification, of placing thought between seeing and taking or other forms of action, is not just something that applies to wise shopping habits – it is a principle as broad as life itself.  Interestingly, while God doubtless does not need to delay before acting, we find scriptures that indicate that he nevertheless does pause and consider. We see him waiting before acting  in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:20) and in the days of Lot (Luke 17:28).  And we see God’s way of seeing, considering, and then acting extolled in the Psalms:  “But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand …” (Psalm 10:14, emphases added).
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Even God considers between seeing and acting.  How much more should we!

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me”  (Revelation 3:20 ESV).

These words of Christ are among the best known in the Bible. The subject of many religious paintings and quotations, we all know them, but we usually think of them out of context – as an invitation to open our hearts and minds to Christ and to turn to him in conversion.  As Christians we need to understand that the context of the verse has much more to do with where we are now than it has to do with our initial conversion!

In Revelation 3 the apostle John records the words of Christ not to the unconverted, but to the church at Laodicea – a church described as being lukewarm and in real danger of failure:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Revelation 3:15-18).

It is within this context, immediately after this scathing rebuke, that Christ says:  “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock ...” (Revelation 3:19-20).  The context in Revelation 3 makes the specific meaning of this metaphor clear.  Christ tells his followers who have become lukewarm that he still stands at the door and knocks – we still have the opportunity to open that door wide and to fellowship with him.

The fact that Christ extends the analogy to say that if we open the door he will dine with us: “… I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me”  (Revelation 3:20b) is also an important part of his message. Eating together was a mark of true and intimate fellowship in New Testament times and Jesus uses the analogy with purpose.  He clearly tells us that no matter what our present relationship with him, we can improve it at any time if we so choose, by opening the door.

The only warning we must give ourselves is that the opportunity does not last forever.  In Luke 13 we see Christ inverted the analogy of the open door in a very potent way: “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.  Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” (Luke 13:24-27).

Notice again the image of the meal.  These are people who had dined with Christ at one time, but had since fallen away from close fellowship. Elsewhere in Luke, Jesus urged his disciples to be: “ …like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him” (Luke 12:36).

So we see in the teachings of Jesus a frequent use of the analogy of the closed door that must be opened, a door we may open if we so choose, but a door that it will not always be possible to open.  In Revelation 3, Christ tells some in his Church that the opportunity for close fellowship with him is available, but that we must not only open the door to him at our conversion – we must keep that door open till the end.  To some he says “… be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19), but to all of us he says we must continue to keep the door open to him.

How do we know if our door is open?  If we are “contented Christians” – if we are doing only what our conscience or our church expects –  if our expenditure of time, effort and love is often or usually less than it could be – if we do not feel a need for more – we need to ask ourselves if, like the Laodiceans,  we feel we “do not need a thing” (Revelation 3:17) and we have begun to close the door.
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It is only when we keep the door of our hearts and minds open to him that we will have the kind of fellowship with Christ that he characterized as the sharing of a meal together.  That fellowship is something to which the whole of the Book of Revelation points.  It is the reason it tells us “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9a). But if we truly want to participate in that fellowship and want him to open the doors of that dinner to us, we, in turn, must keep our door open to him!

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa

Even if we cannot change the world, Mother Teresa’s famous saying encourages us that we can still have an effect, can still change some things for the better.  But we are too often content to make a few ripples in our own corner of some small pond of life, and we don’t take advantage of just how far ripples can spread.

In their 2006 book,  Outflow:  Outward-Focused Living in a Self-Focused World,  Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping use the analogy of Christ’s commission to his disciples, recorded in the Book of Acts, to spread the Gospel by being  “…my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts1:8b).  Sjogren and Ping relate these outward-flowing ripples to our relationship first with God (Jerusalem), then family and friends (Judea), our community (Samaria), and our whole personal world (the ends of the earth). 

It’s a neat analogy, though for the purposes of this article I would prefer to modify it a little for several reasons. While we certainly need to develop our relationship with God, we don’t carry the message to him in the same way we do the other levels, and for most of us, ancient Judea’s prickly relationship with Samaria doesn’t exactly match that of us with our community.

From the perspective of doing the work of God, we might perhaps adapt  Outflow’s  structure to our relationship with our family and friends (Jerusalem), our community (Judea), more distant and less culturally similar communities (Samaria), and the far distant areas of the world (ends of the earth).

But, however we look at this analogy, it provides an excellent framework for us to analyze our own efforts to do the work of God.  Many Christians spend a great deal of time and energy trying to find their “personal calling” – trying to ascertain whether they are called to local outreach or some foreign mission, and even those who are confident they have found or know their calling may sometimes limit their own effectiveness by thinking within the box – and geographic limitations – of the calling they perceive.

Sjogren and Ping’s Outflow analogy helps us to look at Acts 1:8 with fresh eyes – to see a potential for our service at all those levels rather than just at one.  If we think about it, whatever our own area of focus may be, there is nothing stopping us working in some way and certainly praying for every level of the expanding work of the Kingdom.  After all, many of the same disciples who preached in Jerusalem also worked in the widening circles beyond. We, too, can perhaps do physical outreach in our own neighborhood while supporting  in whatever way we can those doing work in distant areas.  The important thing is to understand that we do have opportunities to send out ripples at every level if we will only look for ways to do so. A letter of encouragement to a distant mission team, for example, might help to the same extent as serving in a soup kitchen in our own neighborhood. We don’t always have to choose between near and far; we can often do both.  We just need to remember – we may not all be able to make waves, but we can all make ripples. 

“Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve …”   (Matthew 20:28). 

I sometimes hear words that strike me as particularly saddening: “I’m too old / poor / sick / whatever / to help others.”  Now I understand that our circumstances often do impede our ability to do things. But they shouldn’t ever impede our ability to serve.

The One we follow was dying on a cross when he made final arrangements – not for his own needs – but for the welfare of his mother (John 19:25-27), and there really are not any circumstances in which we cannot serve those around us in some way.  We can always serve – we can always fight for good. 

Too old? Let’s take just a couple of examples from the United States.   Although 87 year old Virginia native Anna Taylor has no special training in serving others or special opportunity to do so, she has worked tirelessly with a pair of knitting needles over the past nine years and has knit over 1,000 sweaters for needy children in impoverished areas around the world.  Likewise, Iowan Lillian Weber in similar circumstances has used needles to sew over 1,000 dresses and other garments for impoverished children in 47 African countries and 31 other countries around the world – and Lillian is 100 years old.

The organization “Little Dresses for Africa” coordinates the efforts of individuals like Anna and Lillian and has helped provide over two and a half million garments to children in need of basic clothing.  If you can use needles, check them out – they have easy instructions on such things as quickly making girls' dresses from pillowcases and boys' shorts from Tshirts.  And the end result is larger than just the clothing itself. In many African countries where the clothes are distributed, there are huge numbers of AIDS orphaned children. In those areas, well-dressed children look cared for, part of a family, and are much less likely to be abducted by human traffickers.

If you are  like me and are not sure which end of a knitting or sewing needle is the front, you can still help spread the word and support work like this. It’s all part of service, it’s all part of the ongoing fight to which we are called.

And the truth is, Christian service is a demanding calling.  It has no overtime bonuses, no vacations, no seniority benefits, and absolutely no retirement. But that just means countless opportunities to serve. The Christian fight is also never over in this life – but that just gives us endless opportunities for victory. The examples given here are just two out of a constellation of opportunities to fight and serve. 

So too old to serve?  Remember Anna and Lillian.  Too poor to serve? Remember you are just as rich in time as the richest person in the world – we all get 24 hours a day.  Too sick to serve?  Encourage those around you – nurses and doctors as well as visitors and other patients.   If we are developing a serving attitude, we will see opportunities to serve in almost any circumstances. The truth is, we should never be too anything to serve or to fight for good. 

From John Ortberg, THE ME I WANT TO BE:  BECOMING GOD’S BEST VERSION OF YOU.  Zondervan, 2010, p. 21.


“How is your spiritual life going?”  

I used to answer this question by looking at the state of my devotional activities.  Did I pray and read the Bible enough today?  The problem is that by this measure the Pharisees always win.  People can be very disciplined, but remain proud and spiteful.  How do we measure spiritual growth so that the Pharisees don’t win?  

 I asked a wise man, “How do you assess the well-being of your soul?”  He immediately said, “I ask myself two questions”:  Am I growing more easily discouraged these days?  Am I growing more easily irritated these days?  

At the core of a flourishing soul are the love of God and the peace of God.  If peace is growing in me, I am less easily discouraged.  If love is growing, I am less easily irritated.  It was a brilliantly helpful diagnostic to assess the health of my soul.  

How would you answer those two questions?

Matthew 6 records one of the best-known sayings of Jesus: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven …. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

It’s easy to read these verses – and to think about them – out of their immediate context, but have you ever noticed what that context is?  In Matthew 6 Christ instructed his disciples on a number of aspects of religious life – beginning with the warning: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).  He then proceeded to elaborate in three areas: giving to those in need, prayer and fasting.

In each case, Christ singled out the religion of those who were not doing right for the right reasons.  In the case of those who gave to be seen giving, he stated: “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:3).  He then went on to talk about those who prayed to be seen of others, ending with the same statement exactly: “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5).  In his final example, Christ spoke of those who fasted for show and religious recognition, and – as you doubtless guessed – ended with the same “… they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:16). 

In every one of these cases, Jesus instructed his disciples to give, pray and fast secretly and assured them that “ …your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18). It is then, at that exact point, that Jesus announced: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven …” (Matthew 6:19-20).  So this injunction follows directly after the repeated statement that those practicing religion for self-gratification or to be seen of others have their reward in the present world, but those who practice true religion will be rewarded by God.

It is perfectly possible Jesus had switched thoughts and the instruction to lay up treasure in heaven stands alone and is simply warning against putting our trust in earthly treasures and possessions. But that thought is not found in the context, and it seems more likely that Jesus was instructing us to conduct our religion for the right reasons so that we have a reward stored with God that will be given to us later ("Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done" – Revelation 22:12), rather than a reward we recieve now.  

In either case, the warning against self-gratifying and self-elevating religion is clear in Matthew 6, but the problem can also be expressed in less obvious ways.  Can we think of ways in which we ourselves may fall down in terms of the examples Christ gave? When praying publicly, do we speak to God or speak words to please or impress those around us?  Do we give when we are asked to give at work or in some other public setting because it would not look good not to do so?  If we fast, do we do so at times others will be aware? Giving, prayer and fasting are only three areas – are there other aspects of our religion that we do with an eye to how those things will be perceived by others?  Christ’s words remind us that God does desire to reward our religion – but only if it is directed at and through Him.