The fight-or-flight response and what it does to our thinking.

When you feel ganged up on, it's easy to lose control and act unbecomingly. I know. I've done it far too often.

When we're in such situations, we tend to get the same sort of fear as an animal backed into a corner. The fight-or-flight response kicks in. Catecholamine hormones, such as adrenaline or noradrenaline, perfuse the body and facilitate immediate physical reactions and vocalizations, associated with a preparation for violent, muscular action. Our digestive systems shut down, along with the parts of our brain associated with cognitive deliberation. We literally lose the ability to calmly reason.

In effect, in such situations, we truly lose our senses. It's important to quickly realize when we're getting into such a situation, and to take control by gently neutralizing or simply exiting the situation. A graceful departure is of some value, before we lose our minds and say something we regret.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit." (Pro 18:21)

Is mankind wholly depraved?

There is often the thought that mankind is wholly depraved, yet Jesus identified a class of people that He appreciated, saying,

"But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." (Luke 8:15)

Having a good and honest heart is certainly not an attribute of being totally depraved, so let's show that by holding Jesus fast and bearing fruit!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! What are your resolutions? I liked this quote by Francis Chan: "Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." What does really matter? Here are two items that really cut to the chase of Christianity, so let's work on them

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  (Mt 28:19-20)

"Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their tribulation; to keep oneself unstained from the world." (James 1:27)

We're Christ's team in 2016! Let's do it!

Am I genuinely concerned? Are you?

It's true that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Pure and undefiled religion truly is taking care of widows and orphans in their distress; keeping ourselves unstained by the world. (Jms 1)

Paul wrote of Timothy and said that he sent him because, "I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.  For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus."  (Phil 2)

Let's be genuinely concerned for the welfare of those around us, which is the interest of Christ Jesus!

What if I've already sinned so much that it's impossible to change?

Many Christians let their past failures accumulate to the point where they have a hard time resisting temptation. They think, "What difference would one more sin make?"

There's a way to beat that. 2 Cor 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."  That's a beautiful statement, but God alsosays, "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 6:11)

We ARE new creations. We ARE dead to sin. But we have to actually believe it—we have to consider it, buy into it, and act in faith on that. Do you really consider yourself as dead to sin? If not, start today. 

When should I stop getting drunk?

Boy oh boy, God is a heavy hitter when it comes to His people. Take a look at this gauntlet that He throws down in front of us and tell me if ya like it! I know that I thought it was flat-out impossible and insane for a while:

"For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.  In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you." (1 Pet 4:3-4)

So God just tells it like it is, huh? There are no excuses! Time's up, now move on into Godliness! By the way, my main point for this is actually that, if you have bad habits and stop, you might see your old party/sin buddies get kinda mean. Guess what! That's a good thing. Time to make new buddies! And it's a sign that you're growing. If the old crew doesn't see a change in you, you've got a problem! :)

I can watch as much porn as I want!

Something awesome about being a Christian is that I can do home and watch as much porn as I want. I can drink as much alcohol as I want!  Wait, are you confused? Is this some grace-type post? Nope! It's even better.

The Psalmist pleaded, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me!" (51:10)  So beautifully, God promised in Ezekiel, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (36:26)

That new heart is invaluable. 20 years after starting in AA, an alcoholic will introduce himself as still being an alcoholic—the desire is still there.  As Christians, God's power can change our very desires, if we embrace it. We can go home and think, "There is no way that I'd want to drink. There's no way I'd want to ever watch porn!" Our heart can feel sick at the very thought. And that is a huge blessing. 

What difference will one more sin make?

Many Christians let their past failures accumulate to the point where they have a hard time resisting temptation. They think, "What difference would one more sin make?"

There's a way to beat that. 2 Cor 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."  That's a beautiful statement, but God alsosays, "you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Rom 6:11)

We ARE new creations. We ARE dead to sin. But we have to actually believe it—we have to consider it, buy into it, and act in faith on that. Do you really consider yourself as dead to sin? If not, start today. 

A funny picture about drinking.

"Half the day I wonder if it's too late for coffee. The other half, if it's too early for alcohol." (From a FB picture.) Even many Christians use alcohol as an escape from their worries. That escape accomplishes nothing, though, and Luke 21 explains,

“Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life...But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (34;36)

Instead of going to a drug for escape, let's go to our Father in prayer! 

A personal reminder about patience.

A personal reminder to me, today. Sometimes it's easy to wonder how in the world I can have patience with some super-bad sinner, but then I have to remember how much patience God has with me. I must "bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation." (2 Pet 3:15)

The safest road to hell—by CS Lewis.

Have you ever seen a Christian let bad habits slip in—and then after a while they're just totally gone? CS Lewis said, "The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts"

It's rare that a Christian just plummets away from Christ. Instead, it's usually gradual. Often their fellow Christians don't even risk confronting the sin, being scared to lose a friend or to cause offense. Heb 2:1 and 1 Thess 5:21-22 say in part, "we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it," and "examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thess 5:21-22)

Let's pay close attention to what we've heard, and remember that part of what we've heard is that we need to keep out brothers and sisters from stumbling off alone into the darkness. Be there for them, even if it's tough.

It's all about the fruit.

The parable of the soil that I mentioned from Luke 8 is VERY interesting, but sometimes we can kind of think, "Ok, so the person who is baptized and confesses and yadda yadda, that's the best soil. That's what I'm lookin' for." For romantic interests, it can be tempting to say, "Ok, so I've gotta have this guy/gal become a Christian, then I know it's a definite match made in heaven!"

But the parable is actually a lot more specific than that. In fact, it mentions a rocky soil where there are those who, "when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root;they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away." (13)

So what is the result that God's looking for, and that we should look for in others and in ourselves? Well, the "seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." (15)

It's all about fruit. If we always fall to temptation, if we never bear fruit for Christ, we're not what we need to be. So let's bear some fruit today! 

Confessing your sin and praying for one another—a tough struggle!

I used to hide stuff from facebook, because I didn't want my brothers and sisters to know what I was doing. It was shameful.  I know of a couple of people who, like I did, lead double lives. They try and hide stuff, too, while keeping the spiritually good stuff—you know, assembly and whatnot—very public.  I would have grown much faster if I'd had the guts to practice James 5:16, 

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."

Do you have the courage to admit your struggles? Do you know what a relief it is to be able to open up to someone and say, "This is killing me—it hurts so bad and I feel like I just can't!" I got to do that at family camp, and man that was a relief. It builds confidence. Oh, and just as a freebie, if you're praying for someone, you'll be keeping him at the top of your mind. 

What will your footnote be?

My dad chased my brother off with a shotgun. We had three SUVs of FBI agents show up once. His marriages number in the double digits. And when I was young, he "faithfully assembled" as a "Christian," and no one was the wiser because of his charisma. 

I've heard people say, "Man, stay away from her, the family's messed up and so is she."  
2nd Kings records a string of kings who appear as mere footnotes, "Did evil much like his forefathers and then died." "Reigned for a little bit doing evil like those before him and then got whacked." What would you want God to have written about you? "Crazy like her mother, kept sinning, then she died," or, "He was abusive like his father before him, showed up to all the family camps, continued in evil, then he died?" 

If your family is dysfunctional, you don't have to be. You can change your footnote, but you have to admit that you're sick, and that your family is. You have to be willing to go through the pain of confrontation and breaking the cycle, of saying, "Mom/dad, I'm sorry, but I'm going to overcome where you have failed." Look at specific problems in your family, like alcohol abuse, abusive language, partnering with non-Christians, etc., and be on high alert for them in your own life. Change them. Don't quit doing bad, but instead start doing good, because "the one practicing righteousness is righteous." (1 John 3:7) 

What is a good man?

Humanity has a horrible track record of determining what a "good person" looks like. In Athens, pederasty was a common practice, and those who practiced it were thought of as good and even noble for having sexual relationships with adolescent males. What a "good" person looks like to us varies with time, culture, and even emotional attachment. How often have you seen a friend with a total loser but, being "in love," they declare his "goodness/potential/etc?"

The mistake we make seems annoying at worst, but it's more subtle and scary than that: when we compare ourselves to other people to see how good we're doing spiritually, it gives us a picture which is totally wrong and useless. As 2 Cor 10:2 says, "For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding."

Measure yourself against the Word, not against what humanity or your feelings label as good. smile emoticon

Depressed because of a dark world?

Have you ever seen people reveling and enjoying sin and just felt like it was too sad to witness? Has it caused your soul anguish? Perhaps loved ones, even? Habakkuk was surrounded by evil and it didn't seem to him that God was doing anything about it.

"How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted." (1:2-4)

We can feel like this. Take ISIS. Horrible. Yet because of that evil, many are reporting that more Muslims are converting to Christianity now than in the past 14 centuries. God's will, as He told Habakkuk, IS being accomplished. Don't be dismayed, and don't be overtaken by shock and awe. Sometimes evil does surround us, but as General Chesty Puller said, "That simplifies the problem." And it makes our opportunities for good that much greater in number.

When we make light of sin.

When we make light of sin ("But a little [insert sin type here] won't hurt..."), we make light of Satan. Jude 9 says, " But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Satan's a powerful, supernatural evil. Take sin, and thus Satan, seriously and with a sober mind.

Who you really are.

 For this very moment push all your notions of who you are in your own mind out of your head. Look at everything you've done and will do from an outside point of view, with no biases—just your actions and words, the fruit of your life. You're now starting to look into a mirror that reflects not your physical body, but your character and spirit. We're not through yet—we have to know the point of view from which we're looking. Let's read James 1:

"For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." (23-25)

Look at everything again. Assess all those actions, the good and the bad—teaching people the gospel, getting black-out drunk—against the Mirror of the Word. Keep it in your mind; don't forget. That is who you are. What changes do you need to make, not from your own perspective, but from the perspective of that outside observer, and that mirror—from the perspective of God?

"See the young man sittin' in the old man's bar, waitin' for his turn to die."

"See the young man sittin' in the old man's bar, waitin' for his turn to die." That's a line from the Goo Goo Dolls' song, "Broadway," and I think it's ultimately tragic, because it's ultimately true. Millions and millions are living their lives with just one ultimate goal: death, decay; dust. It is sadly true when God says,

"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun." (Eccl 9:5-6)

As Christians, we need to see the plight of those who, though they are sad for the moment in grief over a lost loved one, or happy drinking and partying with friends, are really simply waiting for their turn to die. We need to get out of our comfort zones and show them the spiritual reality behind this physical facade because, "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor 1:18)

Having a hard time growing spiritually?

Let's talk about your love language. You became a Christian...but...you keep going back to the same behaviors. Your life isn't changing like you expected. You're the same person. Your drinking, lying, all the old self—it's still there! The new creation that God says has come seems missing in action. But have you learned a new language?

The best way to learn a new language is to be immersed in it, to have it around you all the time. Many people become Christians, but then they keep all their old friends and habits. Their friends are still out drinking, so they stick with that environment. Early Christians were successful in seeing the new creation because they lived it—with each other. They learned a new language by cultural immersion. If you're having trouble, follow this example:

"Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart." (Acts 2:46)