Crossing Over To 2012

"The land into which you are about to cross to possess it, [is] a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, [it is] a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year" (Deuteronomy 11:11-12).

2012 is new territory for us all. It is a land of grace and living in the Land of Grace is never dull. Egypt is a flat land. A person can travel one mile or a hundred and the landscape never changes. Canaan, on the other hand, is a land of diversity. There are mountain peaks and valleys, ups and downs.

That’s how life will be in 2012. There will be happy days and hard days, but all the ups and downs of our lives are controlled by our Loving Father because our “steps are established by the Lord.” Your Father loves you so much. Take that truth with you each step of the way through 2012. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, (He says) thoughts of peace, and not evil, plans to give you a future and hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

The year ahead will be a year of divine supply. In Egypt we had to dig our own irrigation ditches, trying to produce life from the labor and struggles of our own hands. In the Land Of Grace, our Father sends what we need from heaven. Our part is to receive by faith all that He wants to give and wants to do.

2012 is a Land of Grace, and it is our land. It is a land about which “the Lord your God cares.” Every square inch and every millisecond of time during the coming year is what He wants to share with you. Let’s claim it by faith! Let’s march into the new year, free from fear and full of hope. Let us go into it with the deep settled confidence that victory is ours, that there is nothing left to fear and that there is power and glory awaiting us!

May you and your family realize His rich blessings in 2012. Thank you for journeying with us on this grace walk as we continue to share His life and love with the world.

Do We Each Have An "Evil Twin?"

Before I understood my identity in Christ, I often experienced self-condemnation in my life because of the sins I would commit. I was an easy mark for the enemy because it took so little to cause me to feel like I must be basically evil. Perhaps it would be that I had become impatient with my children, started an argument with my wife, had a lustful thought, or a thousand other sins that could cause me to go into the “God, what is wrong with me” mode. I felt like I had a split personality, desiring at times to live a holy life and at other times wanting to act any way but holy.

I knew I wanted to follow Christ, but felt that at the core of my being there was something evil. I was completely sincere in my spiritual life, but I saw this “evil twin” lurking within me waiting to get out if I didn’t keep a tight grip on him at all times. I thought that in some way I was my own worst enemy. I sometimes heard it reinforced by Bible teaching which referenced that oft-quoted “theologian” Pogo, in saying, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” I believed every word of it. After all, my experience certainly seemed to validate that I was my own worst enemy.

Maybe you feel the way I have described and even believe that way, but I hope your beliefs will be changed. Otherwise, you’ll remain in the same bondage of self-condemnation that I often experienced. The truth which will set you free is this: You are not your own enemy. There is nothing wrong with you. There is only something wrong in you, which is indwelling sin. Have you felt evil at times? That doesn’t mean you are evil, but only points to the presence of indwelling sin which is inside you.

Paul boldly affirmed, “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good” (Romans 7:21, emphasis mine). He did not say that he was evil, but only that evil was present in him. Twice in one verse he cites the location of this indwelling sin, saying, “but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members” (7:23, emphasis mine). Paul said the power of indwelling sin was in his body.

Friends of mine once discovered that the wife had cancer. The husband continually kept those of us who are friends updated on her progress through email. He often described the cancer as “that invader” and “that bastard,” a word not to be taken in a profane sense, but used to describe an illegitimate life, just as the word is used in the Bible. The cancer is an invader which threatened her health (and ultimately took her life) and had to be attacked with a vengeance by medical professionals.

So it is with the power of indwelling sin, which is in our body. It is a “disease” which every one of us inherited, going all the way back Adam. It is a “bastard” life which will only be overcome as we continually receive the ministry of the indwelling life of Jesus Christ. Paul made an interesting observation in Romans 5:10: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” In this verse he speaks of two aspects of salvation.

On the one hand, he affirms that we have been reconciled. He says that the cause for this reconciliation was the death of Jesus Christ. It is by the death of Jesus at the cross that we have been forever delivered from sin. However, Paul doesn’t stop there, but goes on to say that “we shall be saved by His life.” Not only have we already been reconciled to God by Jesus' death, but we also shall be saved by His life. From what? From the power of sin. It is by the indwelling life of Jesus Christ that we are continually saved from it. Jesus is the miracle cure for the cancer of indwelling sin, which is in our body. We all have received the remedy for sin by the death of Jesus Christ, but many aren’t taking advantage of the ever-present cure for the power of sin in our lives. That cure is the life of Jesus Christ within us.

As we apply by faith the sufficiency of the life of Christ over the power of sin, we will walk in victory. He has come to cause the sin of our lives to go into remission forever. Peter declared that, “. . . whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” Acts 10:43, KJV (In the King James Version, note the promise of the remission of sins in Matthew 26:28; Mark 1:4; Luke 1:77, 3:3; 24:47; Acts 2:38; Romans 3:25). Sin has no power over us as we rests in the sufficiency of Christ.

You don't have an evil twin living inside you. The key to living the life for which you were created is to recognized your identity in Christ and live each moment out of that identity, as your authentic self. Any other approach deprives the rest of us out of all you have to offer the world as a unique expression of Divine Life.

Beautiful Savior

"Beautiful Savior" sung by the St. Olaf Choir
With the exception of The Hallelujah Chorus, this is the most beautiful choir anthem I've heard. For years, it was one of the songs I listened to every morning at dawn.

Believers & Unbelievers

Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity

I've often spoken of the differences between how Christians in the Eastern world understand some things in contrast to how those same things are generally understood in the west. This interview with an Archbishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church touches on some of those differences.

It's important for each of us to remember that just because something we hear is new to us and different from what we've been taught doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong. I've been amazed by the opposition I've received from some "grace people" for saying the very things this man is saying, (although not nearly in such an articulate and scholastic way). To summarily dismiss a teaching we haven't heard as "false teaching, heresy, unorthodox,"etc. when, if we're honest, we've never seriously studied the topic being addressed is intellectually lazy at best and hypocritical at worst. Not every body believes like you do. And they hold their views with the same love for Christ, the Bible, academic study and reliance upon the Holy Spirit as the rest of us have.

Hear this man with an open mind. He explains how we've jumped the track in many ways in the Western Church world.

Chapter One from my book, "Grace Walk"

CHAPTER ONE
MISERABLE MEDIOCRITY


It was on October 6 at 1:00 in the morning. I was lying on my face in my office crying. God had used the previous year to bring me to a place of absolute brokenness. I had prayed for God to make me stronger, but He had a different plan. He was making me weaker. So here I lay, broken and hopeless. In seventeen hours I would have to stand in my pulpit on Sunday evening and face it. God, why did I tell them that I would
give a "State of the Church Address"? I knew I would either have to build a straw man of success or else tell the truth. I didn't have the strength to pretend or the courage to be honest. So I prayed and cried. When I finished, I prayed and cried some more.

It didn't make sense. Had God brought me to this church only to deliberately set me up for failure? Couldn't He see that I was doing everything I knew to do for Him? I couldn't imagine what more He expected from me than that I do my best. And I had done my best. God, what more do you want from me? Silence. At this moment He seemed light years away. The weight of failure was suffocating. Not just the failure as a pastor. I felt like a failure as a Christian. If dedicating my whole adult life to Him to do His work wasn't enough, what more did He want?

I had left a church in Alabama where I felt very successful. The people there loved me and affirmed me often. Our church had been recognized for its numerical growth. We led our denomination in baptisms in that county. I had received recognition from the Jaycees for being an "outstanding young religious leader." I had served on various denominational committees and held office in our minister's conference. For five years, the situation had met my emotional needs and caused me to feel that I was successful.


Then one Saturday afternoon the telephone rang. "Would you be willing to allow our pastor search committee to attend your church and hear you preach? Then we would like to have lunch together with you and your family after the service." I had declined this kind of invitation numerous times in the past few years. Yet I sensed during the first conversation with the chairman of this pastor search committee that I should let these folks come and see what would happen.

After many weeks of contact with each other, I decided that God was indeed bringing us together. A few months later, Melanie, our four kids and I found ourselves following a moving van across I-20 toward Atlanta. The church we were moving to had been declining in attendance for several years. But every church where I had served had consistently grown. I unpacked my books, my sermons and my church growth programs, anxious to get started so that with God's help we could get this thing underway. I had moved from a small town to the big city and there were lots of people just waiting to be reached!

I pulled out my box of sugar stick sermons and previously proven programs and went to work for God. But what happened was surprising. Nothing happened. This was a new experience. I was puzzled by the fact that attendance wasn't growing. I reassessed the situation, prayed harder for God's help, took a deep breath and launched
my second wave of church growth plans. We had sanctified pep rallies with our Sunday School teachers, strategy sessions with church leaders and long range planning discussions with our newly formed Dream Team. But as the months passed, the dream began to look more like a nightmare. As I approached the end of my first year as pastor, I had told the people that I would share this "State of the Church Address" on my first anniversary. Now in examining the measurable progress during the past year, it seemed that our church was in a sorry state. For the first time in seventeen years of being a pastor, a church I served had declined in attendance during my first year there! I was appalled!

There is a dull pain that can't fully be described when one feels like a failure, especially in a culture that places so much importance on success. A line from the movie City Slickers really hits the mark for a lot of people. Mitch, the character played by Billy Crystal, is talking to a friend at work on his thirty-ninth birthday and says: "Do you ever reach a point in your life when you say, this is the best I'll ever look, the best I'll ever feel, the best I'm ever gonna do, and it ain't that great?" If you have never felt that way, you're made of something different from the rest of us. American culture demands that we be successful. People often measure your significance by what you have accomplished with your life. From the time your parents applauded your first step until now, you have been conditioned to seek approval and acceptance from others by what you do. That fact puts unbelievable pressure on you to succeed.

This demand to be successful doesn't stop at the doors of the church. Many Christians are struggling to make their life count for Christ, only to discover that the Christian life somehow just isn't working out like it's supposed to do. They have been sincere about their commitment to Christ and have given it their best effort. Yet, if the truth were told, they are frustrated because they can't live up to what they think a Christian ought to be. They have concluded that their spiritual life is about as good as it's ever gonna get and it ain't that great.

There Must Be More Than This!

Charles Trumbull described his spiritual frustrations this way:

There were great fluctuations in my spiritual life, in my conscious closeness of fellowship with God. Sometimes I would be on the heights spiritually; sometimes I would be in the depths. A strong, arousing convention, a stirring, searching address from some consecrated, victorious Christian leader of men; a searching Spirit filled book, or the obligation to do a difficult piece of Christian service myself, with the
preparation in prayer that it involved, would lift me up; and I would stay up — for a while — and God would seem very close and my spiritual life deep. But it wouldn't last. Sometimes by some single failure before temptation, sometimes by a gradual downhill process, my best experiences would be lost, and I would find myself back on the lower levels. And a lower level is a perilous place for a Christian to be, as the Devil showed me over and over again.

Sound familiar? Doesn't this describe the way we have all felt at times in our Christian life? It may describe the way you feel right now. I became a Christian at the age of eight, but Trumbull's description of his Christian experience pretty much parallels the way mine was for the next twenty nine years after I trusted Christ. I don't think I've been alone in that experience either. Many who have professed Christ as their Savior have secretly wondered, "Is this all there is to it? Surely the Christian life is meant to be more than I am experiencing!" We all know that we are supposed to be experiencing some sort of abundant life that Jesus described. Yet many find themselves living a life of mediocrity instead of victory. How to get from here to there is sometimes foggy.

The problem isn't that Christians aren't interested in a victorious Christian life. Most just don't understand how to experience it. Matt was a young man who struggled
with an addiction to illegal drugs and to alcohol. I had given him all the pat answers about reading the Bible more and praying harder. But here he was again sitting in my office, wanting my help. "It's not that I don't want to live for God," he said. "I pray for Him to help me and I really mean it, but things just never seem to change." I knew he meant it. His sincerity was obvious. That's what frustrated me. I had told him the same answers over and over again, but they weren't working for him. In a way, I could see a caricature of my own life in Matt's experience. I wasn't addicted to drugs or alcohol. My sins were far more respectable than that. But in spite of all my efforts to be free, I could still point to areas of my life where I felt enslaved. Until God revealed the key to enjoying victory in the Christian life, I did a lot of things to try to experience victory. I have come to realize that Matt and I weren't alone in our frustration. Maybe you can relate to some of these efforts to find the sense of fulfillment you have hungered for in your own life.

If At First You Don't Succeed. . .

We live in a culture that commends effort. From childhood each of us learned that we shouldn't give up. Don't be a quitter. Keep trying until you accomplish your goal. One company even advertised a motto which said, "We try harder!" In the natural world, trying harder is commendable and often effective. But God's ways really aren't
our ways. Sometimes they seem to be opposite from ours. In the spiritual world, trying harder is detrimental. That's right. Trying will defeat you every time.

No Christian has a problem with the previous paragraph as it relates to salvation. If an unsaved person were to suggest to you that he is trying hard to become a Christian, what would you tell him? You would probably make it clear to him that a person is not saved by trying, but becomes a child of God by trusting. You would tell him that there is absolutely nothing he can do to gain salvation. It has all already been done. Salvation is a gift to be received, not a reward to be earned. If a man tries even a little bit to gain salvation by his own works, he cannot possibly become a Christian. Paul said about salvation: "And if by grace, then it is no longer works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work" (Romans 11:6). In other words, it has to be either grace or works. Christians are saved by grace and trying hard has absolutely nothing to do with it.

But many Christians who understand that trying is detrimental to becoming a Christian somehow think that it is essential to walking in victory after salvation. A later chapter will demonstrate in depth that victory is not a reward, but a gift. But let's go ahead now and hit the nail straight on the head by saying that a person does not experience victory in the Christian life by trying hard to live for God. It just won't
work! I know because I've tried it. Have you tried to live for God? Did your efforts cause you to experience real victory? I rest my case . . . temporarily.

I lived many years of my Christian life trapped in what I call the motivation-condemnation-rededication cycle. From the earliest years of my Christian life I had a mental picture of what I thought I should be. But in my mind there was always a wide gap between where I ought to be and where I was. Sometimes when I was especially motivated I would feel that the gap had narrowed a little. When I was winning people to Christ or spending a lot of time praying and studying the Bible, I felt that I might actually one day be able to achieve my goal of being a victorious Christian. But inevitably the time would come when my motivation level would diminish and my fury and fire would die down. That always led to a sense of condemnation. Even when I had really done nothing wrong to cause the condemnation, I would often feel guilty for not doing all the things that I believed I should be doing. The devil would have a field day with me during this phase. Sometimes I would become spiritually indifferent. I often wondered if I would ever be consistent in my Christian life. I would wallow in my misery until I couldn't stand it anymore, then would finally rededicate myself to God, confessing my sins and spiritual slothfulness. I would pray, and with genuine contempt for my inconsistency, would ask God to help me to be more consistent. I would promise to read my Bible more, pray more, win more souls, whatever I thought it took to get back on course. I resolved to try harder than ever to live for God. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I never experienced real peace about my Christian life. If I read five chapters of the Bible, I felt that I should have read ten. If I led one person to Christ, I thought it should have been two. My wife, Melanie, used to tell me, "You'll never be satisfied." I was a classic Type A personality trying hard to do something for God. It was a miserable ride on a spiritual roller coaster!

Many people have acknowledged that their experience is much like the one I have just described. They live in this vicious cycle, moving continuously from motivation to condemnation to rededication. Does this describe your spiritual life? Constantly spinning around and around in this circle will make you sick after a while. But I want to give you hope. There is a way to get off this ride! It may sound unbelievable, but it's true. I know because I jumped off this nauseating roller coaster myself and I can't begin to describe how wonderful I have found the Christian life to be since then. We will talk more about this later. In this first chapter, I just want you to see whether the problems I have experienced in my Christian life fit your situation.

You Know The Rules!

An important cornerstone of a civilized society is law. Without laws to govern
the behavior of its citizens, a nation would live in chaotic anarchy. The dictionary defines law as: "a rule or order that it is advisable or obligatory to observe." We have all been taught throughout life that if you don't obey the rules, you will be punished. Whether it's a child sneaking cookies before dinner or an adult driving seventy in a fifty five mph zone, if you get caught breaking the rules you pay the price. Living in a world where we are taught from the cradle to the coffin that we must obey the rules, it is a natural process to transfer this system of law over into our Christian life.

The law of God is good because it accomplishes an important function. But many Christians have misunderstood the purpose of the law. The law was given to cause men to see their own absolute inadequacy to live a life that glorifies God. The Law in the Old Testament revealed to Israel the righteous standard that God demands. The story of the Hebrew people chronicles their repeated failure to live up to God's laws. Remember that God is omniscient and knew before He even gave the law that they wouldn't keep it. Through the law God revealed that righteousness cannot come from external regulations. We all understood that at the time of our salvation, but somehow many seem to believe that the rules change after a person is saved. Some people who are quick to point out that keeping religious rules won't cause anybody to become a Christian have come to believe that keeping certain rules will help you grow in your Christian life. These folks generally spend their lifetime trying to improve their spiritual performance.

Vicki came after the service one Sunday morning with tears in her eyes. "Steve, can I talk to you a minute?" We walked downstairs to the office area and sat down. Nervously fidgeting with a crumpled Kleenex, she began to cry. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I have rededicated myself to God over and over again. I'm reading my Bible, although I don't seem to get much out of it these days. I set my clock to get up early and spend time in prayer. I even agreed to work in the children's church so that I could serve the Lord there. But I still feel empty. I've asked God if I'm unhappy because of some sin in my life, but I can't think of anything. Why don't I have the joy that Christians are supposed to experience?" Vicki is typical of many Christians. Instead of experiencing joy in Christ, she was trying to find fulfillment through her Christian lifestyle. Her lack of contentment caused her to believe that God must not be pleased with her.

I can certainly relate to her experience. For many years I thought that God accepted me more when I served Him like I thought He wanted me to do. I knew that he always loved me, but felt that He probably didn't really like me sometimes. I pictured God sitting up there keeping His patience like a parent whose anger is about to explode if the kid's conduct doesn't improve soon. So when in the motivation phase, I
would do as much possible to gain His approval. I remember one time agreeing with a good friend that we wouldn't eat until we led someone to Christ. We started out visiting hardened "prospects" and gradually worked our way down as we became increasingly hungry. We finally got a kid on a bicycle in the park to pray the sinner's prayer and immediately made a bee line to McDonalds! Sometimes I would fast and pray for hours and hours. Once I spent three days in my office without coming out. At the end of my "time with God", I was starving, smelled bad and had bad breath, but didn't feel any closer to God! Don't miss my point. I am not suggesting that it is wrong to witness to unsaved people, or to fast and pray. I am saying that it was ridiculous to have thought it was somehow possible to behave in a way to cause God to accept me more than He already did. Since God already fully accepts us in Christ, there is nothing we can do to score brownie points with Him!

I have talked with many Christians whose lives are like mine has been. I can't count the times that I have heard people describe a lack of fulfillment in their Christian life and then conclude that the answer was to get back in church, or witness more, or start tithing, or pray more, etc. Take it from a man who did all those things and still felt unfulfilled, polishing your performance is not the answer! Some of the most miserable people in the world are folks who are drowning in a sea of religious activity. The sad part of it is that they are absolutely sincere in what they are doing. Can you relate to the kind of attitude just described? If you can, stay tuned, because I've got some good news for you!

Why Can't I Be Successful?

Some people might think that ministers should have it all together, but I'll go ahead and let you in on a secret. Sometimes I haven't had it all together. In fact, at times I've felt that it was all falling apart! Preachers are just like other people in many ways. Our son, David, had a friend come home with us after church one Sunday afternoon. He went back home that evening and told his mother, "They're just like us!" It's good he figured that out early in life. Pastors don't speak King James English at home. We sometimes yell at our kids and argue with our wife and worry about our bills. Sometimes we act like idiots, laughing at silly things. Some of us are Trekkies. We know about Indiana Jones and Rambo. We might even have an opinion about David Letterman moving from NBC to CBS.

Get the picture? I'm just a regular guy like you. There is something else I suspect we have in common. Probably you and I both have had the desire to be successful in our spiritual life. The popular belief is that success comes by commitment and hard work. That's true in the business world. If a person dedicates himself to
accomplish something in business, he has every reason to be optimistic about his chances in our free enterprise system. But it doesn't work that way when it comes to our spiritual life.

The criterion for measuring success in the world is production. If a person produces impressive results in business, he is considered successful. Successful people have learned what to do to accomplish the desired results. But here is where we get into trouble in the Christian life. Christianity isn't built around performance and production, but is centered on the person of Jesus Christ. When we transfer a worldly approach to experiencing success to our Christian life, it won't work!

You may not be a pastor, but I want you to see how this faulty understanding of success has infiltrated the modern church. When Paul met the brethren, he greeted them with the words "grace" and "peace." Today pastors sometimes greet each other with words like, "How many are you running now? What's your budget? How many baptisms did you have last year?" I am embarrassed to admit how often I have asked these questions in the past. My concept of success in the church was tied to production and performance. I had the same understanding of success in my personal life. I thought that to be a successful Christian, I must read the Bible enough, pray enough, do enough evangelistic outreach. More production and performance. My whole life was wrapped up in rules and routine. Have you experienced this in your life? It was a thrilling day when I finally came to understand that Christianity has nothing to do with rules and routine. Christianity is a relationship! God never intended for our focus to be on performing and producing. He only desires that our focus be on the person of Jesus Christ!

There is a generation of Christians today who measure the success of their spiritual lives by whether or not they live up to religious rules. Their focus is on their performance. They want to live up to the standard they set for themselves, but can never do enough. No wonder there are so many who feel defeated!

When any Christian tries to live by rules, the outcome will be the same as it has always been. He will discover that he just can't measure up, regardless of how hard he tries. The law is intended to leave you saying, "I just can't do it. I've tried and tried, but I just can't live a successful Christian life." If that's how you feel, then you might be closer to enjoying success than you know. Your sense of failure may be the catalyst that God wants to use to bring you to a new understanding of the meaning of success. By the time you finish reading this book, you just might find yourself beginning to have a different understanding of spiritual success.


For a long time I thought that to experience success in my Christian life, it was necessary to work harder. But I have discovered that the key to enjoying success is not strenuous work, but spiritual rest. This is a paradox in Scripture. We must rest while we work! Many Christians have the problem of feeling like a spiritual failure. Satan knows that as long as he can keep you feeling and thinking like a defeated failure, you will behave like one. But there is a way you can enjoy a successful Christian life every day! I'm not talking about sinless perfection, but I am saying that there is a quality of Christian living that I didn't know existed until twenty nine years after I was saved. I don't blame you if you don't believe it yet. Just don't close your mind to the possibility that there might be more to the Christian life than you experience right now.

I was sincere all those years I struggled to do something for God. And God graciously gave me some wonderful times in my Christian life and in my ministry. Then came the days when He began a work in my life greater than anything I have ever known since I became a Christian. But it wasn't a happy process. In fact, God's work in my life had brought me to this place where I lay on my floor wondering whether or not I would continue in the ministry. My feelings were beyond disappointment or even discouragement. I felt despair. God, if this all that ministry will ever be, I want out. I just want to quit. I know now that God must have smiled. That's exactly what He had been waiting to see happen. Now what He would do in my life would make the former days look mediocre at best.

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The Vice of Values

I've really begun to enjoy life since I gave up my Christian values. For many years my life was built around those principles which I believed embodied the essence of the Christian life. I thought it was a noble cause to boldly defend those values. I lamented the fact that our country has abandoned its Judeo-Christian ethics. But discovering how to walk in grace has totally reshaped my perspective. I now recognize that no value system, Christian or otherwise, can express the essence of Christianity. The end result of a life built on Christian values is only a caricature of New Testament Christianity. It is not God's purpose that our life be built around a system of values. It is His desire that our life be built on the person of His Son. Value systems may influence behavior, but God is not interested in systems of living. He is interested in relationships. An intimate relationship with Him will produce a godly lifestyle. However focusing on behavior will never create intimacy with God.

Two Trees In The Garden Of Eden

The basis of a lifestyle built around a system of right and wrong originates with the dawn of man. God's purpose in creating man was that He might enjoy mankind, expressing His loving nature to him and through him. He lovingly placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and gave them reign over the garden and all that was in it. One aspect of freedom is choice. Where there is no choice there is no real freedom. Consequently, two trees were placed in the garden from which man could choose to live. The choice made by Adam and Eve would not only determine their own destiny, but the destiny of all future generations.

Genesis 2:9 describes the trees in the garden:

"And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

It is not coincidental that these two trees were in the center of the garden. The tree that Adam and Eve would eat from was to determine the standard which would be central in controlling their actions each day.

The Tree Of Life

The tree of life is a picture of the Lord Jesus. A basic principle of biblical interpretation is that the Old Testament is understood in light of New Testament revelation. The New Testament affirms repeatedly that Jesus is Life. The reason a person possesses eternal life when he is a Christian is because Christ lives within him. To receive Him is to receive Life! Jesus said that he came so that we might have life (John 10:10). As we abide in Him, His life flows out of us like rivers of living water. It isn't a flow of Divine Life that we struggle to produce. His life just naturally flows out of the Christian who is abiding in Him. God intended that Adam and Eve should live by His life all their days. As long as He was the only source they had in this world, questions of right and wrong would have never arisen. Eating from the second tree is where the trouble for mankind began.

The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil

God placed a multitude of trees in the garden. There was only one tree from which Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The prohibition was for their own good. Remember that God created this tree and gave them a choice because without the choice there could be no freedom. God wanted man to choose Him. That choice would provide eternal life. But Adam and Eve were told that in the day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. So the choice was clear — life or death. They could either continue to live in total dependence on God or choose independence from Him. Satan came along and convinced Eve that God was withholding something good from them and she ate from the forbidden tree. Adam did the same and suddenly their eyes were opened. For the first time they became conscious of good and evil. From that day forward every deed of their life would be evaluated by a value system built around the concept of right and wrong. However that was not God's original plan. His desire was that they simply allow Him to be the source and authority of their life.

Back To The 1990's

Now let's jump back into the twentieth century. As a result of Adam's sin, his descendants today still live by the choice he made. Building one's life around a value system defined by right and wrong is prevalent in every culture, from the most primitive to the most advanced. Every society defines right and wrong according to its own standards and people's lives are judged on the basis of conformity to those standards. Yet God's purpose for man today hasn't changed from His design in the garden of Eden. He still wants our lifestyle to find its source in His life, not in laws dictating right and wrong.

When a person becomes a Christian, he possesses the divine life of Jesus Christ. His life is ours. As we abide in Christ, His life flows out of us producing a righteous lifestyle. If we aren't abiding in Him, actions become irrelevant. Before I understood that Christ is my life, my whole lifestyle was characterized by an obsession with right and wrong. Yet if one is not abiding in Christ, every action is wrong. To abide in Him is to walk in faith while to fail to abide in Christ is to walk after the flesh. Any time a Christian does things on his own, it is sin regardless of how his actions may appear. This is exactly what Paul meant when he said that "whatever is not of faith is sin." Sins are not the root of the problem when we fail to abide in Christ. They are the symptoms. The real issue is that we are living out of our own sufficiency. It's living independently of Him that is real problem.

Contemporary Christians are involved in endless debates over questions of right and wrong. Is it wrong for a Christian to drink wine? How about a daiquiri? Can a Christian listen to rock group Guns n Roses? How about country singer Garth Brooks? Should a Christian attend R-rated movies? How about PG movies with bad language? The list is never ending. When we realize that the heart of the matter is that our lifestyle should be an expression of the life of Christ within us, we come to realize that we have been asking all the wrong questions!

We must recognize that even good behavior which isn't an expression of Christ within us is a sin. Remember that the tree was of good and evil. Christians are quick to acknowledge that the deeds of human goodness demonstrated by one who isn't a Christian means nothing to God. Romans 8:8 says that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Why? Because they are living out of their own resources, not by faith in Christ. The Bible teaches that "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 6:6). God isn't impressed by human goodness. Human goodness is nothing more than self righteousness. Even if one is a Christian, when he lives from his own resources, his good deeds are nothing more than self righteous behavior. Do you see the problem? His fruit comes from the wrong tree.

Ask The Right Question

The definitive question in the life of the believer is not, "Would it be wrong for me to do this?" The appropriate question is, "Am I trusting in Christ at this moment, trusting Him as my very Life Source?"

(This is an excerpt from my book, Grace Walk, published in 1995. The book has been printed in 12 languages. You can get a copy here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=33 )

The Deer's Cry

Lisa Kelly (Celtic Woman) sings this song beautifully. I couldn't find a video that shows her singing it but this one gives the lyrics. It's my favorite of all the Celtic Woman music.

The Voice

Lisa Kelly has an angelic voice... I love this song, which points us to THE VOICE which calls us to Himself so that we might find peace through His wounds. It's sad to think that some can only hear the Divine Lover's Voice if He speaks in a religious dialect.



"The Voice" Lisa Kelly of Celtic Women

I hear your voice on the wind
And I hear you call out my name

"Listen, my child," you say to me
"I am the voice of your history
Be not afraid, come follow me
Answer my call, and I'll set you free"

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice, I will remain

I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone
The dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow
Ne'er do I sleep thoughout all the cold winter long
I am the force that in springtime will grow

I am the voice of the past that will always be
Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields
I am the voice of the future, bring me your peace
Bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice that always is calling you
I am the voice

I am the voice of the past that will always be
I am the voice of your hunger and pain
I am the voice of the future
I am the voice, I am the voice
I am the voice, I am the voice

Robert F. Capon On Grace

Here's an excerpt of an interview Tim Brassell, pastor of New Creation Community Church, in Portsmouth, Virginia, did with Christian author Robert Farrar Capon and published in Grace Communion International's magazine, "Christian Odyssey."

If you aren't familiar with Robert Capon or with Grace Communion International, you'd benefit from knowing both. Capon's books can be found on amazon.com and you can find GCI at www.gci.org


RC:"Nothing separates us from the love of God." We think there must be some breaking point where God would give up on us. "Well, what about if we…?"

Sin is not a problem with God. God solved all his problems with sin before the foundation of the world, in the beginning—and it’s done. The iceberg that lies under the surface of history is the Son of God; redemption is the mystery behind all history. Sin is a permanent irrelevancy. And God is the one to say, "Look, I have taken away the handwriting that was against you."

I like the translation in Matthew, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." What do we do when we don’t forgive somebody else’s debts, or literally, their sins? We carp on what they owe us. We look at the chits that we have saved. This is what you owe me and you haven’t given it to me. There is an IOU I hold against you, and I gotta have this…. Well, it’s not that way with God. With God, it’s done—there is no handwriting against us. It’s done. He’s not holding IOUs.

TB: So why do we have such a love affair with legalism?

RC: It’s something that’s afflicted the church from the start. Humans have a hard time believing that God doesn’t hold IOUs. But Paul says the law cannot save. He says, "He has made him to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

TB: Have you found an effective way to present the gospel to a legalist?

RC: No (laughter). The reason I say no is because all that you’re going to do is present it and shock them. If you try to do it in a winsome way, which I always do, and try to do it to show them the freedom of it, then you’ve got a chance. A small chance, not a big one, but you’ve got a chance—because, when it happens—people go, "Wow!"

I was made visiting professor of something or other in religion at the University of Tulsa for the fall term back in the ’80s or ’90s. I had two classes. One was a 39-week beginning course. I taught the parables, and I had, I would say, everybody against me. All these youngsters were against me because what I was saying was against everything they had ever heard. I pounded and pounded and pounded for 39 weeks. I went through every parable.

One young lady came up to me at the end and said: "You know, when I first came here I didn’t like anything you said, because it contradicted everything I knew. But, you have done something. For the first time in my life I see that it really is good news" (laughter). They thought the gospel was bad news! That’s what legalism does to people.

Tim Brassell: Can a pastor take grace too far?

Robert Capon: No. A pastor can’t take grace too far. That is, not unless he claims that sin doesn’t matter. If he claims that, he’s abusing grace, because sin does matter. It matters to me, the sinner. It matters whether I leave myself stuck in it.

Suppose a mother has a kid who comes in all muddy. She just washes off the mud. She loves her child and doesn’t wait to see whether the kid decides if he wants to live with mud all over him. She just washes it off. And if she is a faithful, true mother, she will continually take that mud into herself and say, "Well, this is my son, and I will stick with him."

TB: Mothers are like that.

RC: Yes. The point is that sin is mud. It’s a cover-up or cover-over of your true being as a person. And Jesus has washed it away. He’s erased the sins. He’s washed them away.

He Took It Out of Us And Into Himself

Here's a wonderful picture of the atonement of Jesus Christ. In this clip from "The Green Mile," John Coffey (J.C.) draws the lethal toxins from her and into Himself. He shattered the dimension of time and took into His own body that which was causing her to perish. She was helpless to do anything for herself and needed only to "be still" and trust in his work. Taking it away from her, he made her whole and radiant with beauty.

Make You Feel My Love

I know I've posted it before, but I so love this song. Can you hear The Voice behind the voice?

Have You Heard of Confirmation Bias? It May Be Blinding You.

WAIT! DON'T WATCH THE VIDEO YET...READ THE PARAGRAPH BELOW IT FIRST...



There's a point about understanding biblical truth that this video illustrates very well. For you to really get the full impact of the point I'm making, you'll have to work with me on this and follow these instructions:

1. Start the video and watch it until the eight second spot and then immediately pause the player there. Go ahead and do it, then come back to this point.

2. What do you see in the video? The frame of a box? Are you sure it's a box? How sure are you? One hundred percent? Fifty percent?

3. If you stop here and go no further, you'll forever be convinced that what you've seen is a box, but it's not. You have not been watching a box frame on this video. You may be fully convinced you're seeing the image clearly, but you're not.

4. Press play now and watch the rest of the video.

What you've just experienced is called "confirmation bias." It's a psychological mindset which causes us to connect mentally to evidence that reinforces what we already believe while dismissing any evidence that would contradict our existing beliefs. You can google this subject and find out all about the early tests done in the 1960s that revealed the bias and find many examples on the Internet about it.

The reason I'm bringing it up here is because I find confirmation bias is a strong deterrent that keeps people from seeing some truths in the Bible. There are things we have believed for a long time, maybe even all our lives. But what if some of the things we believe are wrong? What if there's another way to look at it that would still recognize the Bible to be the authority on our understanding but would be a completely different viewpoint?

There are some things I believed for a long time that I don't believe anymore. I now see those things differently. Sometimes, when I share those topics, people will say, "But the Bible says . . . !" Of course, I already know that the Bible says what they're telling me. It's not that I don't know what the Bible says. The point is that there may be another way of "seeing" (interpreting) the text than what these folks have previously considered.

The thing about confirmation bias is that it's hardwired into our psyche is such a way that we often have a knee-jerk reaction against any evidence that contradicts our current viewpoint. In other words, we simply will not hear it. We know what we know that we know and we don't want to be bothered with information that goes against what we think we know.

So we react without giving the other viewpoint any serious investigation or sometimes even without a fair hearing. We hurl our stockpile of Bible verses that we already know which (to us) supports the view we currently have. There may be another way to understand those verses, but if we are confronted with a different way of seeing it, we often abandon that verse and flee to the next one that we think will support our existing view.

It's as if when we read the Bible, the verses that support what we already believe seem to be highlighted or italicized while the verses that might disprove and dismantle our current belief are skimmed over, almost as if they are invisible. Our bias serves to reinforce our view by causing confirming evidence to jump out at us while blinding us to any evidence that might threaten our current view.

It's important to see that bias in yourself. We all have it. Recognizing that fact can do a couple of important things in us. First, it can cause us to realize that, despite the fact that we may be very sure about our view, we could be wrong. We would all benefit from holding our viewpoints in humility. To say, "I just believe what the Bible plainly says" is often an arrogant cop-out. When we make that statement, are we implying that the other person is ignorant? That they don't really believe the Bible? It's not a weakness to possess humility when it comes to our understanding. Despite the western world's demand for ironclad, definitive, it-can't-be-any-other-way answers, there is a reason sincere, God-loving, Bible-believing, educationally-equipped students of the Bible have differed throughout history. Maybe if we recognize confirmation bias in ourselves we will be more respectful to those who differ with us.

The second thing it can do for us if we recognize the reality of confirmation bias in ourselves is to open our minds and hearts to learn truth we haven't known. To be open isn't to be gullible. Of course, we are to examine truth in light of the Scripture but instead of doing that we sometimes slam the door of our minds shut the moment we hear something that's new to us. If we aren't changing, we aren't growing. It's that simple.

What if there are some truths the Holy Spirit wants to teach you that contradict what you believe right now? Are you open to that? To replacing something you believe now with another belief the Spirit teaches you? Are you willing to change? Sometimes I encounter people who actually become angry when they are confronted with teaching that is new to them. Their anger shouts of their insecurity in their beliefs.

Others are too heavily vested in the religious culture where they live to change. There's a price to pay when we go against our religious culture. I've learned first hand that when we change, we will encounter rejection from some who don't agree with us. Go with the flow of grace and it just might carry us out "outside the city gates."

Sometimes when we think we are defending the truth, what we're really doing is frantically hugging our sacred cows. Our bias has caused us to idolize our traditions and our traditions have galvanized our inability to learn truths that are new to us.

Don't be gullible. Don't believe what anybody teaches you without studying the Bible for yourself. Many who are wary of teachings that are new to them have never considered that the things they currently believe are held by them because their religious culture indoctrinated them without their having seriously studied the subject for themselves. They have learned by religious osmosis, not by Spirit-led instruction.

I was speaking in Mexico one time and learned that many of the people there had been told by their pastor, "Don't listen to him!" When I stood to speak on the first night, I said, "Your pastor is right. You shouldn't listen to me, but you shouldn't listen to him either. Listen to the Bible. Listen to the Holy Spirit. If what he or I say is biblical, then listen to that. But don't take our word for anything - neither of us."

Who are you listening to these days? Your tradition? Your denomination? Your family upbringing? Maybe it would be a good idea for all of us to recognize and admit that we indeed do have a confirmation bias that causes us to unconsciously connect to the things that affirm we are right and we bypass anything that would suggest otherwise.

May His Spirit cause each of us to hear His Voice and to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," even if it means that we have to admit that we've been wrong -- very wrong about some things. Don't be so sure you're seeing a box. Sometimes we need to look further into the matter to know what's really there.

A Wideness In God's Mercy

Hymnwriter, Frederick William Faber wrote this in 1854. It's called "There's A Wideness In God's Mercy." Great lyrics!

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in Heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Savior;
There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

’Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
It is something more than all;
Greater good because of evil,
Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts! why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty,
But is mightier than it seems;
’Tis our Father: and His fondness
Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Savior who would have us
Come and gather at His feet?

An Article I Wrote That Was Published in New Man Magazine

Here's an article that was printed in "New Man Magazine," formerly the magazine of "Promise Keepers."


The Scandal of Grace
by Steve McVey

"Why are so many Christians stuck in a cycle of condemnation and rededication? Because the truth is hard to believe: When God forgives, it’s a done deal."

After I became a Christian, I said the following prayer hundreds of times: “Dear Lord, I’m so sorry. I want to ask Your forgiveness for how I have failed You in my Christian life. Lord, You know my heart. I want to serve You faithfully, but I can’t stay on track. Help me, Lord, to live for You. With Your help, I promise to start doing the things that glorify You. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Maybe the words varied over the years, but the essence of the prayer was always the same. It started with me groveling in self-condemnation, asking for forgiveness. Then came the rededication part of my prayer, when I asked God to help me keep my promise to do the things He wants. Sometimes I was specific about the stuff I vowed to do -- things like reading my Bible in a year or getting up early to pray every morning. Once I even promised to not eat until I had verbally witnessed to at least one person. By the end of the day, I decided that a gospel tract left for the waitress could count toward that quota.

I don’t pray that way anymore. Every time I prayed like that, I sensed a gnawing awareness that it wouldn’t be long before I was praying the same prayer again. Yet I always had a heartfelt desire to please God. It finally dawned on me: I didn’t have a heart problem; I had a head problem. I wanted to keep my promises. I just didn’t know how.

In the last few years, God has begun to reveal spiritual truths to me that have totally transformed my life. These biblical truths will set a person free to live more effectively than he would with a lifetime of rededication prayers.

1. Realize that you can’t keep your promises. That may seem like a strange first step toward the goal of keeping promises, but it’s true. Miss this one and it’s like being told you didn’t touch first base when you come across home plate. Consider this question: If we could keep our promises, wouldn’t we have done it by now? How many times have we made the same promises? Let’s face it, rededication to keep promises won’t work. If it did, we wouldn’t find it necessary to keep rededicating ourselves.

Many of us have struggled with promise-keeping for one reason: We have focused on our performance more than on Jesus Christ. We have tried to keep our promises, but the Bible teaches that effective Christian living doesn’t come by trying. It comes by trusting Christ to express His life through us. He is the only One who can successfully keep promises. Before we can be effective promise keepers, we must become promise receivers. The Bible is clear about God’s promise: the One who has given us His life will be the One who lives it for us. Only Jesus Christ can effectively live the perfect life. He lives inside believers today and wants to reveal His perfect life through us (See 1 Thess. 5:24; Gal. 3:3-5).

2. A godly identity, not good intentions, must sustain our lifestyle. My own prayer of rededication always focused on my sense of sinfulness and my perceived need of God’s repeated forgiveness. Many men regularly pray to receive God’s forgiveness. We sometimes feel like there is a bad guy deep within us who is eager to come out. We ask the Lord to help us, hoping to suppress that “old man” so that he cannot have his way in our lives. But we fail again, either by doing what we should not have done or not doing what we should have done. And so we conclude that the “bad guy” within us has escaped our control and must be put back in his place. Then, once again, we seek forgiveness and recommit ourselves to keeping various spiritual disciplines.

This scenario sounds logical, but it is far from the teaching of the Bible. You don’t have a “bad guy” deep within you. To the contrary you are righteous at the very core of your being (See Rom. 3:22). The Bible refers to us as “saints” 63 times. God would not call you a saint if you were rotten at the core. At the cross, God took our old sin-filled spirit, with which we were born and crucified it (See Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3; Rom. 6:6). He then placed His own life into us, imparting to us His nature (See 2 Pet. 1:4). We now have a new identity. God did not simply change us; He created a brand-new person (See 2 Cor. 5:17).

When we live independent from Christ, we are doing what Paul called walking “according to the flesh” (See Rom. 8). In other words, we sin. We then see that our sin is not consistent with who we really are, but only how we function when we are not depending on Christ to animate our lives. So it is possible to behave in a way that totally contradicts who we really are.

The Bible teaches that we are righteous by nature (See 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 4:24). When you believe that fact, it will begin to totally transform how you live. You will find yourself practicing godly behavior, not because of disciplined determination, but because that is how you want to live -- and because freedom from condemnation opens the door to God’s power. You will not act out of good intentions, but from a godly identity. Ultimately, people behave according to what they truly believe.

3. Experience the freedom of forgiveness instead of the curse of condemnation. My rededication prayers often began with the words, “I’m so sorry. I want to ask Your forgiveness.” I believed that it was by my continuous confession that I maintained a righteous standing with God. Much of my time was spent begging for forgiveness. Even when I could not think of any unconfessed sin, I thought that surely there must be covert sins down in me somewhere.

Like many today, I believed that when I was saved God forgave me for all the sins I had committed up to that point. Then it was like He deposited forgiveness in a heavenly account with my name on it. From then on, every time I sinned all I had to do was make a withdrawal by asking for God’s forgiveness. If I asked, He would forgive. Until then, I was unforgiven.

That perspective puts a person in a bad predicament. If remaining in a state of forgiveness depends on one constantly asking to be forgiven, our focus must be on ourselves at all times. After all, what if we sin and then suddenly die before getting forgiveness again? It’s hard enough to keep up with the wrong things you might have done, but to never miss doing something you should have done? Talk about pressure!

The liberating truth of the New Testament is that we are totally forgiven. God did not deposit forgiveness in an account for us at salvation. Because of the cross, He emptied the whole account on us! God is not restricted by time. He saw the sins of our whole lifetime and placed them upon Jesus at the cross. God has poured out forgiveness for the sins of a lifetime upon us. One might ask, “Do you mean that our future sins are already forgiven?” That’s exactly what I mean. Remember, when Jesus died for our sins 2,000 years ago, they were all future sins.

This is where God’s grace can seem absurd, even scandalous. After all, if all future sins are already forgiven, why not just go and sin all over the place? But the amazing fact is that, when we receive forgiveness as a finished work, it has the opposite effect. We see ourselves as the forgiven “new men” that we are in Christ, and we set our minds on that fact. The love of Christ expands within us, and He motivates us and empowers us toward a Christlike life.

We are called to utter dependence on Christ, completely living by faith. It is humbling. But without it, we will never really know where we stand with God. When we stay in that place of certainty in Christ, the works of righteousness will burst forth. It will move us to repent (change our minds and our behavior) when necessary, confess our faults to others and seek forgiveness of people we have wronged. In other words, we will grow in living a life of love.

This ancient truth will sound new to some, because certain scriptures have been misinterpreted which weaken the truth. We have often blurred the lines between the Old Covenant (before Christ’s death) and the New Covenant. When we cross that dividing line and embrace New Covenant grace, we will discover how radical His grace really is.

The reality of grace is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions. It is the truth that Jesus spoke about, a radical forgiveness that enraged the Pharisees but delighted the humble and needy follower.

So if we want to keep our promises, we must start trusting. Let us choose to enter God’s rest and receive His love. Then we will discover that we begin keeping our promises, not because it is our duty, but because it is our delight.

(New Man Magazine Copyright Strang Communications Co., USA. All rights reserved.)

My Article A Magazine Wouldn't Print

A while back I was contacted by a nationally recognized magazine and asked to write an article about building a strong marriage. I was asked to write about how that a house/marriage is build by laying the right "planks" like reading the Bible together, praying together, going to church together, etc. In my email response, I asked the editor if she was familiar with my ministry and what I teach and was told that she was.
So I wrote the article beneath this paragraph in anticipation that it would be published two months later. I learned later they had changed their minds and decided not to use my article.

People really want to be given a list of things to do, but as this article states, victory in marriage or any other area of life doesn't come from "Spiritual To Do List." Victory comes through a Person.

Here is the unpublished article:



"Lord, send me a good looking girlfriend.” This was my constant prayer. Forget the war in Vietnam, racial tensions at home, or a hotel called Watergate. When I was sixteen years old, those things paled to insignificance compared to my desire for a girlfriend. My prayer took priority over everything else. After all, I’d never had a girlfriend and it wasn’t cool to be without one at sixteen.

One Sunday morning while I was sitting on the back row in Sunday School, the answer to my prayers walked in the door. It was a visitor I had never seen before, but as soon as I saw her I knew that this would be a great place to start my dating career. After church that day, despite my bumbling attempt at asking her out, she said yes.

The first date seemed to go well, so I decided to try again for a second date. Again she said yes. Then she said yes for a third date and a fourth. I dated that girl every week for three years. Then I married her. She was the only girl I ever dated. Melanie and I have now been married for many years and have four children and three grandchildren.

The odds of two teens staying married, and happily married at that, are very unlikely. I’m no expert on the subject, but after nearly three decades of having both scaled the heights and plumbed the depths of marriage, I’m convinced that the key to a happy marriage can be identified in one word — Jesus.

On the day Melanie and I were married, knowing nothing about how to build a strong marriage, God prompted us to agree upon one thing. In a day before anyone had even heard the phrase, “prenuptial agreement,” we agreed on one tenet of marriage. It was the decision that Christ would be the Source of our relationship. On our wedding night, the very first thing we did when we arrived at the hotel where we would spend our honeymoon was to kneel together beside the bed in prayer. We gave our marriage to Jesus that night.

It wasn’t human wisdom that caused us to do such a thing. It was an God given understanding that we had better depend upon Him because all we knew about our marriage was that we loved each other. That act of unified agreement, that one decision, was the only prenuptial agreement with which we entered into marriage. But it was enough.

We have reached a place where the divorce rate inside the church has surpassed the number outside the church, evidence that we must be missing a big piece of the puzzle in experiencing the “happily ever after” for which we all hope. The Bible says that “Unless the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.” What does that statement mean in practical terms?

Marriage might be compared to a house. It is important to have strong planks in building a house. All of our lives, Christians have been told about these planks. Believers already know the importance of praying together as a couple. We recognize the need for the primacy of God’s Word in our relationships. We understand the value of being a part of a church family. We have been taught how to do everything from budget our money to argue, all from a Christian perspective. These things aren’t new to anybody who has even casually been exposed to the church. Yet the divorces continue.

The problem in modern marriages may be discovered by examining the foundation of the house. Strong planks mean nothing unless they stand on a strong foundation. They will only stand until a strong wind comes along and blows them down. Couples can read the Bible, pray, go to church, study every method known to man for maintaining their marriage and still find themselves in divorce court. Don’t you know couples at church who ended up divorced despite the fact that they were doing all the right things externally?. Does this suggest that the planks of Christian behavior are unimportant? No! It simply points to the necessity of a proper foundation and religious disciplines aren’t it.

What is the foundation upon which an enduring and loving marriage must stand? It is nothing less than the life of Jesus Christ. Christian marriages aren’t about doing all the right things. That may describe a religious marriage, but an authentic Christian marriage is founded on an intimate union two people share with Jesus Christ. Marriages inside the church are failing because many have made a subtle shift from Jesus to religious activity. Many have a long inventory list to ensure they possess all the planks of spiritual disciplines, but have forgotten about the foundation of Christ Himself.

Church attendance is not enough. Neither is praying together, nor reading the Bible. Learning effective communication skills won’t hold a marriage together. There isn’t one Christian who doesn’t know the value of these things, but they simply aren’t enough when standing alone. They must rest upon the foundation of Christ’s life being expressed in and through marriage partners individually and together.

Grace in marriage is divine enablement by the life of Jesus Christ within us so that we can be all that God has called us to be and do all that He has called us to do. Understanding who we are in Christ is the key that unlocks the door to a successful marriage. We are each one with Him, thereby making us one with each other.

The planks can only be effectively put into place when our marriage is founded upon the Person of Jesus Christ. As we learn to abide in Him, He indeed builds our marriage, consecrating our relationship and causing it to be a precious, holy union through which the three of us experience an intimacy which is nothing less than divine. Anything else is simply empty religious ritual.

A Christian We All Should Know

Athanasius

(The following article was written by Tim Kimberley)


“If Christian theology had superheroes,” scholar Kevin VanHoozer writes, “Athanasius would perhaps lead the list.” Why would someone make such a statement? Athanasius is relatively unknown to most Christians today. In order for us to begin appreciating the significance of his life, we need to understand the world from which this little man stood tall.

Athanasius’s World

Diocletian

In 302 A.D., when Athansius was only 6 years old, two men sought an audience with the god Apollo. These weren’t ordinary men, they were two of the most powerful people on the planet. Diocletian and Galerius were both Roman Emperors. They wanted Apollo to help settle an argument for them.
Christianity had been spreading like a virus. They knew the Roman gods weren’t happy with so many Romans becoming Christians. Dicoletian and Galerius wanted Rome, with help from the gods, to be greater than ever. How could they accomplish their wishes?

Diocletian thought the gods would be happy if Christians were prevented from positions of influence. Galerius, however, thought the gods wanted more. Galerius thought the gods would want Christians exterminated. The best way to settle the argument? Why don’t we just ask the head god and see what he wants? The two men asked their questions through the oracle of Apollo at Didyma (modern-day Didim, Turkey).

The oracle told the two men the “impious” on the Earth were making it hard for Apollo to even provide advice. Diocletian and Galerius agreed; Christians needed to be exterminated. On February 23, 303AD Diocletian ordered the newly built church in his city to be leveled. Life was hell for many Christians. The horrendous ways Christians were persecuted and killed during this time period are only for the strongest of stomachs. The executions continued until at least April 24, 303AD when six people, including the lead pastor of a prominent city, were decapitated.

Constantine

While the Diocletian persecutions were still fresh in everyone’s mind, a man named Constantine became Emperor of Rome. The new emperor, shortly after taking office, faced a coup. Maxentius, a military leader, organized a huge force to defeat Constantine. The two forces met on October 28th, 312AD at Milvian Bridge, just north of Rome. Maxentius’s army was twice the size of Constantine’s. The night before, however, Constantine had a dream. He was advised in the dream to, “mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers…by means of a slanted letter X with the top of its head bent round.” Eusebius describes the sign as Chi (x) traversed by Rho (P), a symbol representing the first two letters of the Greek spelling of the word Christos or Christ.

The battle was brief. Constantine’s cavalry and infantry decimated the larger force. The mob of fleeing soldiers pushed Maxentius into the Tiber river where he drowned. Constantine’s seemingly supernatural vision and victory would significantly change the way Christians were treated. Truth is stranger than fiction. No one who endured the Diocletian persecutions could have imagined such a drastic turn-around. Constantine credited his victory to the Christian God.

Just a few months after The Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan proclaiming religious tolerance of all religions throughout the empire. The edict had special benefits for Christians, it legalized the religion and granted restoration for all property seized during Diocletian’s persecution.

The newfound Christian freedom made it possible for everything Athanasius is famous for to transpire.

Arius

Arius was 63 years old when Constantine issued the Edict of Milan. Arius led a church in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was one of the most influential cities of the entire Roman Empire. Arius was one of the most prestigious and popular pastors of the city. Arius started preaching something that would shake the Christian world and dominate almost the entirety of Athanasius’s life. Jeffrey Bingham explains:
Arius was preaching from the Bible, with Proverbs 8:22 as a central verse, that the Son is not eternal with the Father but is created by the Father. That verse reads: “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old.” Arius and his followers argued their doctrine from this verse, which speaks of the creation of wisdom, and from the common early Christian understanding of Christ as “wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:24, 30). These verses…subordinate Christ, the Son, to the Father, who alone is God and who had begotten – that is, created – a Son. Other passages they pointed to in support of their view were Psalm 45:7-8 and Isaiah 1:2 and the words “only begotten” in John 1:14, 18. Thus, according to Arius, it was not true to say “Always God, always Son” or “At the same time Father at the same time Son,” meaning that God the Father and God the Son are co-eternal and both possess the quality of deity. Rather, Arius proclaimed that “before [the Son] was begotten or created or defined or established, he was not for he was not unbeggoten” and that “the Son has a beginning, but God is without beginning.” For Arius, the Son is a creature and is not eternal.

Is Jesus the Creator or is He a creature? Did Jesus have a beginning? Is Jesus truly God? These are some of the most important questions in the universe. Athanasius would spend most of his life, sometimes standing alone, answering these questions.

Athanasius’s Life
Early Years

Athanasius was born around 296AD. Little is known of his early life. A 10th century biographer, the Arabic speaking Severus, spoke about Athanasius’s mother as having worshipped idols and having been wealthy.

Sometime during his youth Athanasius and his mother were baptized as Christians. He was then discipled by Alexander, the head of the Alexandrian church. It was from Alexander that Athanasius obtained not only his cursory knowledge of contemporary philosophy, but also his thorough understanding of Scripture.

Gregory of Nazianzus tells us:

He was brought up, from the first, in religious habits and practices, after a brief study of literature and philosophy, so that he might not be utterly unskilled in such subjects, or ignorant in matters which he had determined to despise…[rather] from meditating on every book of the Old and New Testament, with a depth such as none else has applied even to one of them, he grew in contemplation, rich in splendour of life, combining them in wondrous sort by that golden bond which few can weave; using life as the guide of contemplation, contemplation as the seal of life.

It was now time for Athanasius to step toward the spotlight.

With Alexander at Nicea

The entire Christian world pondered the ideas of Arius. Is Jesus a creature? The greatest creature ever created? Arius believed Jesus predated coming to earth; he even believed Jesus predated the earth itself. The phrase that eventually became the Arian motto, “there was when He was not,” aptly focuses on the point at issue.

Athanasius’s mentor, Alexander, made the first move. Arius was a pastor under the authority of Alexander. Alexander, claiming his authority and his responsibility as bishop, condemned the teachings of Arius. Arius did not accept this judgment. He wrote to church leaders all over the world. Soon there were popular demonstrations in Alexandria, with people marching through the streets chanting Arius’ theological teachings. The local disagreement in Alexandria spread beyond Egypt and threatened to divide the church.

In 325 AD, Constantine decided to intervene. He called a great assembly of Christian bishops from all parts of the empire to meet him at Nicea (modern-day Iznik, Turkey). Constantine paid the travel expenses for all involved. Athanasius, only 29 years old at the time, travelled to the Council of Nicea as the personal assistant to his mentor Alexander.

Athanasius, as he arrived with Alexander, would have seen a spectacular sight. This was the first time in human history that it was safe for the leaders of the Christian Church to get together. It would have been foolish for them all to previously assemble in one location before the time of Constantine. All the leadership could have been whipped out in one strategic swoop. The more than 300 bishops who walked through those doors were true heroes of the faith. In order to understand what Athansius saw, it is necessary to remember that several of those attending the great assembly had recently been imprisoned, tortured, or exiled, and that some bore on their bodies the physical marks of their faithfulness. Davis writes:

As confessors of the faith, some of the bishops bore the signs of the recent persecution on their persons: Paul of Neo-Caesarea had lost the use of his hands because of torture, the half blind and hamstrung Paphnutius of Egypt was kissed by Constantine himself in a touching diplomatic gesture.

Eusebius of Caesarea, who was present, describes the amazing scene:

There were gathered the most distinguished ministers of God, from the many churches in Europe, Libya [i.e., Africa] and Asia. A single house of prayer, as if enlarged by God, sheltered Syrians and Cilicians, Phoenicians and Arabs, delegates from Palestine and from Egypt, Thebans and Libyans, together with those from Mesopotamia. There was also a Persian bishop, and a Scythian was not lacking. Pontus, Galatia, Pamphylia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Phrygia sent their most outstanding bishops, jointly with those from the remotest areas of Thrace, Macedonia, Achaia, and Epirus. Even from Spain, there was a man of great fame [Hosius of Cordova] who sat as a member of the great assembly. The bishop of the Imperial city [Rome] could not attend due to his advanced age; but he was represented by his presbyters. Constantine is the first ruler of all time to have gathered such a garland in the bond of peace, and to have presented it to his Savior as an offering of gratitude for the victories he had won over all his enemies.

Did you know even Santa Claus was at Nicea? Yes, that’s right! Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra (modern day Demre, Turkey) was a voting bishop at the Council of Nicea.

For about two months, the bishops discussed the issue raised by Arius. The two sides argued and debated, with each side appealing to Scripture to justify their respective positions. It is unclear exactly how much influence Athanasius, as a non-voting member, had during the meetings.

Eusebius of Nicomedia, holding the same view as Arius, was convinced that a clear statement of his doctrine was all that was needed to convince the assembly. The reaction from the bishops was not what Eusebius expected. The assertion that the Word or Son was no more than a creature, no matter how high a creature, provoked angry reactions from many of the bishops: “You lie!” “Blashpemy!” “Heresy!” Eusebius of Nicomedia was shouted down, and we are told that his speech was snatched from his hand, torn to shreds, and trampled underfoot. According to many accounts, debate became so heated that at one point, Arius was slapped in the face by Saint Nicholas!

The assembly finally decided the best way to articulate the Bible’s teaching on the Trinity was through a creed. Eventually, the assembly agreed on the following creed:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, that is, from the substance of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, not made, of one substance [homoousios] with the Father, through whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth, who for us humans and for our salvation descended and became incarnate, becoming human, suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended to the heavens, and will come to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit.

But those who say there was when He was not, and that before being begotten He was not, or that He came from that which is not, or that the Son of God is of a different substance [hypostasis] or essence [ousia], or that He is created, or mutable, these the catholic church anathematizes.

The Nicene Creed clearly rejected Arianism. Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia were both sent into exile. As the bishops all returned to their parts of the world, they hoped the Council of Nicea would end the controversy.

Defending Nicea as Bishop

Only three years after the Council, Alexander having died, Athanasius became Bishop of Alexandria on April 17th, 328AD. Athanasius became shepherd of one of the most vibrant cities within the Roman Empire. Athanasius would now become the champion for the Nicene cause. He would soon be swimming against the tide. Constantine, being won over by Eusebius of Nicomedia, revoked the banishment of Arius in 328AD.

Eusebius of Nicomedia, Arius, and other Arian leaders knew Athanasius was their strongest enemy. They soon plotted his downfall by circulating rumors that he dabbled in magic. They also claimed Athanasius had killed a bishop named Arsenius, and cut off his hand to use it in rites of magic.

Constantine summoned him to appear before a judge and answer to the serious charges brought against him. Here’s what happened during his murder trial:

Athanasius brought into the courtroom a man covered in a cloak. After making sure that several of those present had known Arsenius, he uncovered the face of the hooded man, and his accusers were confounded when they realized it was Athanasius’ supposed victim. Then someone who had been convinced by the rumors circulating against the bishop of Alexandria suggested that perhaps Athanasius had not killed Arsenius, but had cut off his hand. Athanasius waited until the assembly insisted on proof that the man’s hand had not been cut. He then uncovered one of Arsenius’ hands. “It was the other hand!” shouted some of those who had been convinced by the rumors. Then Athanasius uncovered the man’s other hand and demanded: “What kind of a monster did you think Arsenius was? One with three hands?” Laughter broke out through the assembly, while others were enraged that the Arians had fooled them.

The murder charges were dropped and Athanasius was able to go back to shepherding the people of Alexandria. His freedom, however, would be short lived. Eusebius of Nicomedia had convinced Constantine that Athanasius was dangerous. Constantine sent Athanasius into exile. By this time most of the Nicene leaders were also banished. When Constantine asked for baptism, on his deathbed, he received the sacrament from the Arian Eusebius of Nicomedia.

All exiled bishops, including Athanasius, were allowed to go back to their homes after Constantine’s death.

Exiles

Yet Athanasius’ return to Alexandria was not the end, but rather the beginning, of a long period of struggle and repeated exiles For almost thirty years Athanasius would be considered a hero under one emperor and then have to flee to live with monks in the desert to survive the next emperor. It was at this time that Jerome said, “the entire world woke from a deep slumber and discovered that it had become Arian.”

Athanasius continued to speak, teach and write against Arianism. Although Athanasius never saw the final victory of the cause to which he devoted his life, his writings clearly show that he was convinced that in the end Arianism would be defeated. As he approached his old age, he saw emerge around himself a new generation of theologians devoted to the same cause. Death claimed him in 373AD at the age of 77.

Athanasius’s Thoughts
Shortly after the Council of Nicea, it is believed Athanasius wrote his first works – Contra Gentes (Against the Gentiles) and De Incarnatione (On the Incarnation). These works articulated what he considered the true faith in a climate of growing theological and political tension.

The presence of God in history was the central element in the faith and thoughts of Athanasius. He fully believed God himself had visited our planet. The visit from God in Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be free beings capable of living in communion with the divine.
He beautifully writes, “For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all, the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” He then continues:

There were thus two things which the Savior did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation.

We see the depth, elegance and developed thoughts of Athanasius speaking of the power of Christ:

The marvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far from being Himself contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself…A man cannot transport things from one place to another, for instance, merely by thinking about them; nor can you or I move the sun and the stars just by sitting at home and looking at them. With the Word of God in His human nature, however, it was otherwise. His body was for Him not a limitation, but an instrument, so that He was both in it and in all things, and outside all things, resting in the Father alone. At one and the same time – this is the wonder – as Man He was living a human life, and as Word He was sustaining the life of the universe.

The Arian controversy, for Athanasius, is not a matter of theological subtleties with little or no relevance. In it, the very core of the Christian message and the very core of Jesus is at stake.

Athanasius’s Influence
C.S. Lewis conveys some of the Influence of Athanasius by saying:

He stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, “whole and undefiled,” when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius – into one of those “sensible” synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended to-day and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away.

The anti-Trinitarian world had grown very dark around Athanasius. He himself was a very small dark African. He was nicknamed in his day, “the black dwarf.” This black dwarf stood tall with a bright light and almost single-handedly kept defending Nicene orthodoxy until reinforcements eventually arrived. Men like the Great Cappadocians were soon to arrive on the scene and continue re-awakening the world to the full beauty and power of the God-Man.

Athanasius’s Foibles
Historically, Athanasius is known for his godly life. Gonzalez writes,”His monastic discipline, his roots among the people, his fiery spirit, and his profound and unshakable conviction made him invincible.” Additionally, Weinandy writes, “He was extolled through the centuries as a holy and selfless man of steadfast and fearless faith, of long suffering patience, and of zealous passion for the truth of the Gospel.”

In the early 20th century, however, many contemporary scholars portrayed Athanasius as very sinister T.D. Barnes states, “Like a modern gangster, he evoked widespread mistrust, proclaimed total innocence – and usually succeeded in evading conviction on specific charges.”33 Barnes goes on to explain why most people haven’t heard of this side of him:

If the violence of Athanasius leaves fewer traces in the surviving sources…[the reason is] that he exercised power more efficiently and that he was successful in presenting himself to posterity as an innocent in power, as an honest, sincere and straightforward ‘man of God.’

Barnes makes an argument from silence. In order to survive and even win the day Athanasius surely needed to be a wise, resourceful and clever man. The fact that he ultimately bested his opponents in no way implies that he was more evil than they.

Athanasius’s Effect on Us
The most obvious effect Athanasius has on our life is with our view of the Trinity. Is a correct understanding of the Trinity (one in essence, three in persons) important for you? So many Christians look at the Trinity like a casual dating relationship, “I want to date you, have the warm fuzzy romantic dinners, but I really don’t want to know too much about you. Let’s spend an hour together each week but don’t require me to learn about you. I like what we’ve got going on, let’s not ruin it with information.”

As we spend our lives singing about God, listening to sermons about God, talking about God it seems like we should know who we’re talking about. Athanasius teaches us how vitally important it is to have an orthodox understanding of the Trinity.

Athanasius, additionally, helps us to realize we do not live by public opinion polls. Athanasius was right, he was reading the Bible correctly, but the world around him had gone mad. He had the courage and conviction to proclaim the central truths of God when it was most unfashionable. We need thousands of people like Athanasius. People who love God and love people enough to tell people what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear.