In Christian bookstores, you can often look over the new releases and get a sense of what’s happening in the broader world of all that’s called ‘Christian.' I did that recently at Focus of the Family Bookstore, and here are some of the titles:

• Take Your Life Back; How To Stop Letting the Past and Other People Control You
• I Shouldn’t Feel This Way; Name What’s Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabotage into Brave Action
• I Declare War; 4 Keys To Winning The Battle With Yourself
• The Bondage Breaker; Overcoming Negative Thoughts, Irrational Feelings, Habitual Sins
• Neighbor, Love Yourself; Discover Your Value, Live Your Worth
• Take Back Your Life; A 40-Day Interactive Journey To Thinking Right So You Can Live Right

What’s the common factor here? They’re all promising to help re-gain control of our thoughts; to help us overcome difficult things like guilt, regret, comparison, and tension. They all promise that if we follow the steps, we’ll be free from what’s negative inside us. It says a lot about our cultural moment when this is what Christian writers and publishers know people will buy in order to find help.

What’s the real solution to a mind that is anxious, frustrated, regretful, and restless? What will all the ideas in those books boil down to if they’re correct? Ultimately, they’ll be rehearsing truths from God. Truths such as, ‘Don’t be anxious; trust God’ (cf. Mt. 6:25-34), and ‘Believe it when God says you’re forgiven’ (cf. 1 Jn. 2:12), and “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tm. 1:7).

What can we do to gain and maintain control of our minds? Ultimately, we gain control by surrendering control—by becoming so thoroughly indoctrinated with God’s ways that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Only that will win the battle over self.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Hypocrisy among disciples is one of the greatest detriments to the expansion of Jesus’ reign in the world. It makes the Way look fraudulent when those who claim it aren’t true to it. And just as it fails intellectually, it’s an enormous emotional problem. It’s like a noxious odor to anyone who recognizes it.

I was reminded of this recently when I pulled up behind a minivan in traffic that had a Jesus fish on one side of the rear window… and a decal with a nasty swear word on the other side. On other recent occasions, I’ve talked to some young adults at work whom I know to be active at church… who complain that their favorite local bar has closed down and they’ll have nothing to do on the weekends. On another recent occasion, an acquaintance whom I know to regularly use profanity and follow his lusts freely… told me that he “pastors” a church here in our city.

That sort of thing just stinks to the mind and heart of anyone who genuinely wants Christ to be served. Like the pungent smell of vinegar or ammonia, it shocks the senses of believers, jarring us and making us want to turn away. And it must surely stink similarly as an aroma ascending before God.

And that ought to remind us just how imperative it is that we live lives of holiness and purity. Because if we can sense it in others’ lives, then how much more will they be put off by the same stench of our hypocrisy? We are a living sacrifice to come up as a pleasing aroma before God (cf. Rm. 12:1)—without a hint of off-putting hypocrisy.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Gnosis. Knowledge. Peter says that if we want to grow in Christ we need to grow in our knowledge. Yet, if you listen too much to the echoes of our culture you might find yourself discouraged in that pursuit. Here’s why:

There are many highly respected and highly visible people in our culture who would claim that it’s not possible to know the will of God. Sure, the most basic truths are discernable, like the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead; but beyond those simplest truths God’s will is just kind of muddy. Some claim that the Bible itself is not clear on most issues. Others claim that the Bible is clear, but that we’ll be forever undone by our own bias and prejudice. Still others make the case that God’s word is intentionally left open to interpretation—that God wants us to draw our own subjective conclusions.

To put it simply, we live in a culture that just doesn’t have faith in our ability to know, understand, and correctly apply the word of God. But culture is wrong.

The Holy has told us clearly that we can know the will of God. Remember that Jesus promised that those who continue in His word would know the truth and it would make us free (John 8:31-32). When writing to the Colossians, Paul prayed that church would filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that they could please Him in all respects (Colossians 1:9-12). That doesn’t sound like something you would say if it were impossible to know God’s will. 

More meaningful to me is what John states at the beginning of his Gospel: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” (John 1:18). The word translated “explained” is the Greek word, “exegeomai,” and it means to open up or unfold. That’s a beautiful idea, isn’t it? Through His life and teaching Jesus has unfolded—He has revealed—the character and the will of God. Be not discouraged in your pursuit of knowledge! You can know the will of God!

- Jonathan Banning

Most Bible readers have heard often about the importance of context when reading and studying. For some believers, that means just a verse or a sentence before and after the specific thing we’re looking at. But often, the context of a particular passage includes a whole section of the book that it’s from.

That’s what we have with this week’s daily Bible readings. All week long, we’re following Israel’s journey from the Red Sea (which they crossed in ch. 14) to Mt. Sinai (where they’ll receive the Law, starting in ch. 20). I recently heard the Exodus simply outlined in three parts: the road out [of slavery], the road between [slavery and freedom], and the road up [to God’s promised rest]. We’re with them on ‘the road between’ right now.

As we said in this week’s Reader’s Guide, this is where Israel will begin to show their true colors… which aren’t pretty. They complain about God when they find places with no water (15:22-26, 17:1-7). And they disobey his simple instructions about manna, messing up in two ways: first, by trying to gather too much and hoard it for themselves (16:19-20), and second, by expecting to gather it on the day when he told them to rest (16:27-30). And if you know the rest of the wilderness story, then you know these events are only the beginning of their problems.

What was their core problem in these events? In all of those cases, they failed to trust that God would provide for them. They complained because they didn’t trust him to provide. They hoarded because they didn’t trust him to provide. They worked rather than rested because they didn’t trust him to provide.

Do we trust him to provide for us? What does our anxiety level reveal as the answer to that? What do our giving-versus-hoarding habits reveal as the answer to that? What do our work-versus-rest habits reveal as the answer to that? How are we doing at putting our full trust in our God while we live in this life—our very own ‘road between’ salvation and promised rest?

- Dan Lankford, minister

One of the main reasons (some might even say the reason) that Jesus so often ran afoul of the religious leaders of his day was this: He had total faith in God’s word and will, and they just didn’t.

When they pointed out what they saw as flaws or sins in his life, he showed them repeatedly that if they truly believed God’s word in their hearts, they would be happy to see his ways, hear his words, and accept his gracious dominion as their Messiah. But instead, they saw him as a sinner, because their faith was in their own ways rather than in what God had said.

Jesus pointed this out to them powerfully in Mark 7. When they criticized him for not living “according to the tradition of the elders” (Mk. 7:5), Jesus showed that they had more faith in that tradition than they did in God’s actual words. And their problem is always the problem when humans go beyond the word of God: we “leave the commandment” (v. 8), we “reject the commandment” (v. 9), and we “make void the word” (v. 13). He was very clear: in believing that their additions were required to make God’s word work as it should, they had rejected him. They lacked faith in him.

Hearing Jesus say that ought to be a check on our own faith. 
Are we satisfied with God’s will just as it is, or do we feel that we need to fence spirituality a little more properly than he has done? We too can fall into thinking that God’s words are sometimes not clear enough or conservative enough, so we make our own ‘traditions,’ thinking that we’re helping him. But let’s be warned: The Pharisees and scribes did that because they lacked faith in God, and we’d better be diligent not to fall into the same trap. Let’ be like Jesus and have total faith in the perfection of God’s word and his will.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Spiritual growth is a never-ending process. It’s like a marathoner’s pursuit of the perfect race—the faster they go, the faster they want to go. There’s always something more to reach for. As Peter said, the attributes of a quality spiritual life are always increasing (2 Pt. 1:8). This can be a daunting reality, but it need not be, because as we work toward growth in one attribute of spiritual life, growth happens in others simultaneously.

Knowledge—gnosis in the Greek—is one of those springboard qualities: when it grows, other growth happens. If we’ll let it, knowledge increases our virtue, steadfastness, self-control, etc. This is what God wants for us and from us. The apostles spoke freely and often about saints growing in the knowledge of God (Rm. 15:14, 1 Cr. 12:8, Ep. 1:17-18, Co. 1:19, Philemon 1:6, 2 Pt. 1:2). They didn’t want them to just believe and remain ignorant—they wanted them to possess deep understanding of God’s word, his will, and his Way.

But someone might be thinking, “Isn’t knowledge bad for Christians? Doesn’t it make people prideful? Aren’t we supposed to be about love and not about knowledge?” I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that anyone who would ask this is well-meaning, but the simple answer is, “No.” There are only a very small handful of times when learning/knowledge is negatively portrayed in the New Testament, and they’re usually when someone had an attitude or faith problem; not that they were just “too smart” (such is the case where Paul said, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”). Knowledge of God and his word doesn’t inherently make us prideful—that’s a choice that each of us have to make. The pursuit of Bible knowledge, of worldview understanding, and of spiritual discernment ought to be a hallmark of Christians. In fact, that’s God’s stated purpose for church leaders: that they would build saints up “until we all attain to... the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ep. 4:13).

Spiritual growth is a never-ending process, so let’s keep learning, brothers and sisters. Let’s keep adding some more knowledge of the things of God to our faith.

- Dan Lankford

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak…” (James 1:19)

——————

Allow me to state something obvious: Some people are good at listening, and others just aren’t. That’s not to say that it’s an unchangeable destiny for either; it’s a skill that can be acquired. But I think we all recognize the varied skill levels when we encounter them.

Some people have a seemingly innate ability to stay engaged when someone is talking to them, to ignore potential distractions, and to truly focus on another person as they speak. They ask questions to show they’re thoughtfully connected. They care sincerely about the other person’s interests (cf. Phil. 2:4). They are slow to bring up their own opinions and interests. And they take the time to listen longer because they want to learn the person, not just to gather information. As a result, they tend to be a hub of deep conversations and close relationships. They possess an aura where powerful, personal, transformative conversations are had.

But for many, that’s just not our natural way. We quick-filter what we think is the relevant highlight of a conversation and then mentally rush ahead. We give follow-up statements rather than asking follow-up questions. We think about what we’ll say next instead of what the person has just said to us. We are quick to criticize or disagree, even before we’ve heard the fullness of the other person’s perspective. And we often miss out on appreciating who the other person is because we don’t really hear them. As a result, our relationships can remain at surface-level. People keep us at arm’s length because they feel that, rather than pulling them close to us by listening well, we have kept them at arm’s length.

Obviously, one of those behavior sets is much more like Jesus’. He always put more stock in individuals than in crowds, and he frequently took time to pause everything else and give his full attention to one person. Think about the afternoon that he spent with Zacchaeus (Lk. 19:10). What was it that made Zacchaeus receive the Lord joyfully (v. 6) and ultimately repent of his sins and turn to a life of generosity (v. 8)? In that story, Jesus paid attention to him. How does one person pay attention to another in that sort of life-changing way? By being “quick to hear” and “slow to speak.”

So here’s some practical advice for all of us to grow in this skill: When someone talks to you, ignore distractions and focus on them and what they’re saying. Ask questions about what they think, what motivates them, and what’s important to them. Listen to their answers when you ask questions—to the information, the tone, and the approach they take. Listen to ideas and beliefs that are different than your own, and don’t always feel the need to correct them right away—often, it can wait. Listen to the person’s heart behind what they say, and learn to see both their good and their flaws with wisdom.

Being heard is often much more important to a relationship than being taught, advised, or even encouraged. Often, the most compassionate and authentic thing we can do is listen skillfully. People who are “quick to hear, slow to speak” are living out the wisdom of God in their relationships, and that sort of behavior always leads us into his good blessings.

- Dan Lankford, minister

How serious are you about living like a Christian? And before we go any further, let’s be clear about what that question is really asking: It’s not about how serious you feel or believe that you should be about it, but about whether your life shows real Christian living. Maybe we could put it another way: If the God of the Bible—who knows all things, even our thoughts—were to describe your life, how serious would he say that you are about living the kind of life that a Christian should?

There are two eternal temptations for people who claim that Christ is their master: 1) To be so serious about morality that they convict every weakness or imperfection as a damnable sin, whether the Bible describes it as such or not. 2) To react to that by being so lax about matters of faith that we fail to live up to the standard of godliness to which we’ve been committed.

Neither of those are what we’re called to.

But it’s that second one that I think needs to be emphasized more in our current world. More and more, we seem to live in a world that takes an exceedingly casual approach to Christianity. It’s received with joy, but, all too often, at the cost of its requisite sobriety. And if we’re guilty of that, then we need to get our priorities straight and realign ourselves with true devotion of holy living that God has always required of his faithful ones.

• Many of us need a more thorough grasp of repentance—being truly brokenhearted when we sin, and not just shrugging it off and thinking, “Oops. Good thing that’s not a big deal.”
• We need to make real changes in our behaviors—getting self-control and actually doing the right things rather than excusing ourselves by just thinking, “I guess I need to work on that” or “I’m too tired/stressed/overwhelmed/committed/distracted for that sort of thing right now, but God understands.”
• We need a more serious approach to the Bible—that it’s more than supplementary material to our lives, it is the words of eternal life and of sincere Christian living. It’s worth knowing it deeply for our own sakes and for the sake of teaching others.

So seek the truth. Read it. Understand it. Face it honestly. Accept it. Turn toward it. And live it.

What does that require of each of us? It requires prayer. Work. Dedication. Thoughtfulness. Prayer. Hard choices. Repentance. Time. Prayer. Guidance and correction from spiritual leaders. Focus. Humility. Self-control. Prayer. Lots of Bible reading. Deep christian friendships. Accountability to others. And prayer.

If the gate is narrow and the way is hard, then we had better put our all into it.

- Dan Lankford, minister

When I was a teenager, I spoke like a teen, I thought like a teen, and I reasoned like a teen. That era of my life sorely lacked purpose. I just “went with the flow,” doing whatever seemed exciting, fun, or rewarding at the time. I didn’t think often or very seriously about how my choices would affect others or where they would ultimately lead me in life.

But when I became a man, I put away teenage-ish things. At least, I’m trying to.

One of the hallmarks of maturity is learning to live with purpose, on purpose. And if we’re going to add arete—moral excellence—to our way of life in the sight of God, then we must embrace a purpose more dependable than our own ever-changing whims and wishes.
The Bible gives us this wisdom in several ways.

When Barnabas first spent time with the saints in Antioch, he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord “with steadfast purpose” (Ac. 11:23). And in the rest of the New Testament, we can see that they did! Antioch was a sending church. They commissioned, encouraged, prayed for, and supported missionaries that went all across the north coasts of the Mediterranean to teach about Jesus. They did what Barnabas taught, and many heard the Good News as a result.

This wisdom is woven into several of the metaphors used to describe God’s people, the church: a field (1 Cr. 3:9), a temple (2 Cr. 5:1), a priesthood (1 Pt. 2:9), the branches of a tree (Rm. 11), and household pots and containers (2 Tim. 2:20-21). Those things all serve a purpose beyond themselves. Branches bear a tree’s fruit. Pots and pans are made for specific uses. A priesthood serves their god’s/God’s pleasures. Et cetera. All of them serve an end, just as our existence serves an end: to give God glory.

The time for living life by whims and wishes is past, brothers and sisters. We should never expect that sort of thing of ourselves, even in our teenage years. Those who live with excellence will seek to know, understand, and fully embrace the purpose of glorifying God to motivate us to excellent Christian living. That’s the kind of arete that succeeds in spades and that doesn’t grow weary as years go by.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Three times in the Exodus narrative, an individual or group bows the head and worships God.

• The first is when Aaron announces that God has heard them and has come to set them free from slavery (Ex. 4:31).
• The second is when God explains the punishment he will inflict upon Egypt on the night of the Passover (Ex. 12:27). 
• The third is Moses himself, at the moment that Yahweh reveals himself as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:6-8). 

These passages show us a pattern for worship. Not a pattern for corporate worship (church assemblies); rather, for personal worship. They show us the importance of worshiping God in our hearts and from our hearts. They show us worship as an act of the mind and the heart and the body, by which we laud and magnify God. At the moments in which they were truly impressed by God, the Israelites humbled themselves (“bowed their heads”) and lifted him up (“worshiped”).

Do you ever do that? Do you ever take a pause in your life to just praise God, either in your heart, through singing, by reading a psalm of praise aloud toward his throne, or by some other act of adoration? This is an important practice for his people, and it’s one that I fear (though I don’t know for sure) we neglect. Our worship assemblies are crucially important, but they are only a part of a whole life that is given in service and worship to him (cf. “spiritual worship,” Rom. 12:1).

The frequency and and depth of private worship may be a stronger indicator of our devotion to God than our attendance at worship assemblies. Like Paul and Silas praising God and singing hymns while in prison… or James’ prescription for a saint to “sing songs” when he is joyful… or the Psalmist who speaks of praising God for his wisdom “all the day”… Our daily lives ought to be defined by adoration and praise for God. It’s more than corporate religious activity; we too ought to frequently bow our heads and worship YHWH, just because he is worthy of adoration from our hearts.

- Dan Lankford, minister