Responding to Politically Chaotic Times

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Steve Foster

I have been so disoriented the past few days. What is happening in our nation is mind-boggling. Heart-breaking. Soul-wrenching.

Of course, recovering from the coronavirus in the midst of all this only makes my mind more fuzzy.

But I have been on my knees praying for our nation. I have been praying for wisdom on how to think, how to respond, how to live.

And God brought me back to His Word.

It is our north star.

It is our authority.

In fact, this is the time where you find out if your submission to and dependence on the Word of God is real or just lip-service. Do you run to His Word or to your latest news outlet? Do you take every thought captive to the Word of God or are you too captivated with social media posts?

Scripture is clear.

In the midst of a deceptive time, when evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, you cast your anchor firmly in the Word of God.

None of us are immune to deception. That is what makes it so powerful, so pervasive, so dangerous. The deceived never think they are deceived. They claim that they know the truth. They claim a special kind of gnostic knowledge of what is “really happening.”

Don’t go down that road.

Don’t fall for the gnosticism of conspiracy theories.

Go to the Word of God.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Scripture is sufficient.

Scripture grounds you.

Scripture re-orients you.

Scripture equips you to live.

Here are seven biblical principles that speak to our unique times.

1. Be careful of those who say that they have had a dream or some kind of special prophecy.

“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.

“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream;
And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lord.
“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:25-29)

Anyone can claim to have a “dream,” a special word from God. People have been doing it since Jeremiah’s day, 3000 years ago. But the true standard is the Word of God. A dream is like “chaff” compared to the wheat of God’s Word. A dream is like a faint flicker compared to the consuming fire of God’s Word.

Can God speak through a dream? Sure. It can happen. But at its best a dream would point someone to Jesus Christ and to His Word. A dream more often than not is the making of our own thoughts and desires, regardless of how “holy” or “spiritual” it may appear to be.

It is the sign of our age that many people like having their ears tickled with tantalizing dreams that affirm what they already want to hear.

2. Our hope is not in political power or individuals. 

Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem? (Isaiah 2:22)

If your faith is shaken by the results of a political election, then your faith is in the wrong place. God’s purposes are not altered by a political election.

In fact, God raises up leaders and takes them down for His own purposes.

The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account,
But He does according to His will among the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can fend off His hand
Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ (Daniel 4:32b, 34b-35)

The church has never done well when it has sought for or aligned itself with political power. And the church certainly does not do well when it depends on political power for its hope and its confidence.

Earthly power is deceptive…and intoxicating.

We participate in politics as faithful citizens of this nation…but we only trust in the name of the Lord as citizens of a greater kingdom. A kingdom that is eternal and unshakeable.

3. God often ordains for His people to be purified through difficult times.

Jesus never promised that things would be easy in this world. In fact, He promised just the opposite.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Yes, we should be concerned about what is going on in our nation. Yes, we have reason to believe that religious liberty may be threatened. But no, we do not have reason to fear or to act in a way that is contrary to our calling.

Habakkuk was a man who lived in perilous times. He cried out for God to answer. And God answered by announcing judgment on the nation through the Babylonians.

And the message to Habakkuk was simple and clear: The righteous shall live by faith.

God’s ways are higher than our ways…and we trust Him.

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

4. Every action of the believer must be governed by the Spirit of God.

Here is the test for evaluating any movement: is it of the flesh or of the Spirit? What does it produce?

The works of the flesh. Sexual immorality. Moral license. Idolatry. Hatred. Contention. Envy. Outbursts of anger. Selfish ambition. Dissension. Drunkenness. Rioting.

The fruit of the Spirit. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

Being “spiritual” has nothing to do with mysticism, strange manifestations, and loud proclamations. It has everything to do with one’s character and fruit. A Spirit-filled believer is one who is singing songs of praise in his heart, giving thanks for all things, and relating to others with an attitude of submissiveness.

That is the test.

5. Revival comes through brokenness and repentance not anger and cynicism.

Strong leaders call people to brokenness and repentance.

Strong leaders call people to faith in God alone.

Weak leaders call attention to themselves.

Weak leaders cast blame and stir up dissension.

God revealed to Solomon, the Son of David, this vital truth:

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

If anger motivates our actions, then it cannot produce the righteousness of God.

If cynicism characterizes our outlook, then it cannot be rooted in the sure hope of Jesus Christ.

6. We are called to win the world not condemn it.

Our Savior did not come to condemn the world but to save it.

And we are called to do the same.

We have no business spending our time judging unbelievers. That is God’s business.

For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. (1 Corinthians 5:12-13a)

Our business is to live such exemplary lives that we adorn the gospel of God.

Our business is to do what is honorable before the sight of all people and to pursue peace with all people as a way of displaying the character of Christ.

Our business is to let our speech always be with grace that we might know how to respond to everyone who asks us about the hope that is within us.

Our business is to see no one according to the flesh but to see them as people made in the image of God and those for whom Jesus Christ died.

Our business is to shine the light of Jesus Christ through our good works that others might glorify God.

Our business is to become all things to all people in order that we might win them to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our business is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

7. Loving God and loving people is the mark of true believers.

The Great Commandment is the Great Commandment. It does not change depending on the times or the circumstances.

Without love, whatever we do…no matter how great it may seem…is worthless.

Without love, whatever we say…no matter how good it may seem…is just an irritating noise.

And the character of love is evident.

It is patient.

It is kind.

It is not proud or boastful.

It is not rude.

It does not demand its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but in the truth.

It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

This kind of love never fails.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all will know that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

The world is given permission to evaluate us based on our love. When we fail that test, then the world has every right to question where our true discipleship lies…whom we are truly following.

In chaotic times, the church returns to its roots, its foundation, its creed.

We only have one God.

One Messiah.

One Savior.

One Lord.

One hope.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Posted in Government/Politics | 2 Comments

The Rise & Triumph of the Modern Self

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Steve Foster

How did we get here?

How did our culture become so politically polarized, so sexually obsessed, so enamored with socialism and the deconstruction of almost every vistage of the past?

How did we get to the point where it is not only possible but also culturally celebrated for a biological male to proclaim, “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.”

These are the questions that Carl R. Trueman seeks to answer in his book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.

For those who are looking for some historical context to our present situation, then Trueman’s book is a great resource.

Every age has had its darkness and its dangers. The task of the Christian is not to whine about the moment in which he or she lives but to understand its problems and respond appropriately to them. (30)

The Characteristics of Our Age

Trueman describes our age as an age of “expressive individualism.” We live in a culture in which there is a “prioritization of the individual’s inner psychology–we might even say ‘feelings’ or ‘intuitions’–for our sense of who we are and what the purpose of our lives is” (23).

Over the course of history, people have formed their identity within the context of the society in which they lived. Drawing from insights by Philip Rieff (professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania), you can summarize Western history with a movement through four different phases of identity formation.

  1. Political man. Early Greek and Roman cultures developed their identity within the context of the nation-state.
  2. Religious man. In the medieval age, people developed their identity within the context of the church.
  3. Economic man. The Renaissance and Enlightenment led to a period in which a person was defined by their economic power and wealth.
  4. Psychological man. With the rise of Romanticism, and then later post-modernism, people began to define themselves primarily by their own interior thoughts and feelings.

This last shift is significant. Whereas in the first three ages, a person gained their identity from outside themselves and from society at large. In this final age, a person looks inward.

In the worlds of political, religious, and economic man, commitment was outwardly directed to those communal beliefs, practices, and institutions that were bigger than the individual and in which the individual, to the degree that he or she conformed to or cooperated with them, found meaning. The ancient Athenian was committed to the assembly, the medieval Christian to his church, and the twentieth century factory worker to his trade union and working man’s club. All of them found their purpose and well-being by being committed to something outside themselves. In the world of psychological man, however, the commitment is first and foremost to the self and is inwardly directed. Thus, the order is reversed. Outward institutions become in effect the servants of the individual and her sense of inner well-being. (48-49)

Translating this into our present culture…now, the emphasis is not on being a good citizen in the nation, learning how to think and how to live in church and in school, and working hard for the benefit of one’s family and society. Instead, all of these institutions in society exist simply to make me feel better, to affirm who I am, and to reinforce what I already think.

We have moved, roughly speaking, from thinking of institutions as molds that shape people’s character and habits toward seeing them as platforms that allow people to be themselves and to display themselves before a wider world. (49)

Thus, we have become a world where the individual reigns supreme. I am free to define who I am in all aspects of life (e.g., identity, spirituality, sexuality, gender, etc.) and no person, church, school, or institution can tell me differently. If they do, then they are oppressive and hateful and no longer a “safe place.”

This is where we are…but how did we get here?

The Key Developments in History

It is important to realize that we did not get to this point overnight. The worldview that dominates our current cultural thinking, “our social imaginary” as Trueman calls it, has been developing over the past 300-400 years.

Thus, there are no “quick fixes” to our present condition. No political election is going to solve our problems. The challenge we are facing is a clash of philosophies, ideas, worldviews, ways of thinking, ways of seeing history, ways of seeing reality itself.

Ironically, just as Protestant theology owes much of its theological roots to a man from Geneva named John Calvin (1509-64), our present narcissistic, hedonistic culture has its psychological roots in another man from Geneva, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78).

Rousseau’s philosophy could be summed up in one of his famous statements:

Man is born free and everywhere is in chains.

The key idea in Rousseau’s philosophy is that man is purely good in his essential nature and that only the society around him corrupts him. Rousseau wrote a book entitled, Confessions, in which he directly contradicted the views of the early Christian writer and influential theologian, Augustine, who wrote his own Confessions.

We might summarize the basic difference between the two men as follows: Augustine blames himself for his sin because he is basically wicked from birth; Rousseau blames society for his sin because he is basically good at birth and then perverted by external forces. (111)

This is a tectonic shift.

If man is basically good in his essential nature, then the only way to account for all the conflict, corruption, abuse, oppression, and suffering in the world is to ascribe it to the “evil” of external institutions.

I am not the problem. Society is. And the society that is particularly a problem is the one that tries to restrict me or to tell me what is right and wrong.

This is the beginning of “psychological man.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) carries Rousseau’s views further, identifying religion (specifically Christianity) as the societal institution that hinders happiness and the true self.

To Shelley, the biggest problem with Christianity is that it limits sexual freedom which is the pathway to true happiness.

Love withers under restraints; its very essence is liberty. 

Such a statement sounds beautiful and convincing but, at the heart of it, Shelley is arguing for the complete liberation, not of love, but of sex. Shelley hated the institution of marriage and the family structure and sought their destruction. If the purpose of life is personal happiness… and sex makes a person happy… then a person should have sex with whomever he/she wants for as long as it brings happiness. Once a sexual relationship no longer brings a person happiness, they should move on to someone else.

Thus, psychological man effectively became sexual man.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) became the central figure to affirm this philosophy as he defined every aspect of a person’s identity and every stage of a person’s life as being sexual in nature. As Freud would declare in his book, Civilization and Its Discontents:

Man’s discovery that sexual (genital) love afforded him the strongest experiences of satisfaction and in fact provided him with the prototype of all happiness, must have suggested to him that he should continue to seek the satisfaction of happiness in his life along the path of sexual relations and that he should make genital erotism the central point of his life. (205)

Wow.

In Freud’s mind, sex is life. Or to be more exact, genital stimulation is life.

The final pieces to the puzzle can be traced to Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900).

With Marx and Nietzsche, the very foundations of morality and history are attacked.

If there is no God, then there is no absolute truth. There is no moral standard. Thus, the moral standards that you see in a society are simply the oppressive rules of the majority doing what they can to maintain their power.

Or as Marx put it, the history of all existing society is the history of class struggles.

Thus, everything is political…everything is a struggle for power. And the goal of the oppressed in society (those who don’t have the power) is to revolt and overthrow the institutions, rules, standards, or values of the people who are perceived to have the power.

Everything must be destroyed. History. Government. Education. Religion. Marriage. Family.

What you have is not the shaping of a new culture but rather the ascendance of an anticulture.

Put all of this together and you have the historical progression of thought from the pscyhological to the sexual to the political.

  • My identity is who I feel I am on the inside and what brings me the most pleasure and fulfillment.
  • My greatest pleasure and fulfillment is found in sexual freedom.
  • My sexual freedom is hindered by the societal structures around me (particularly Christianity) which makes rules to preserve their own power.
  • Thus, societal structures are the enemy to my personal fulfillment and need to be deconstructed and destroyed.

The proliferation of technology has fed this progression by giving our culture the illusion that reality is shaped around what I want and feel.

Thus, in this kind of world, it is perfectly natural for a person to say, “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.” I create my own reality. I create my own identity. My feelings are sovereign. And anyone who doubts this or refuses to affirm this must be phobic, hateful, and part of the hegemonic power trying to control me.

So where do we go from here?

As a Christian teacher and historian, Trueman’s goal is to give us historical context for our present culture so that we can respond appropriately. A good missionary understands the culture he/she is trying to reach.

As believers, one of the things that we have to be careful of is responding to a Freudian-Marxist culture which makes everything about power, personal feelings, and politics with our own pursuit of power, personal feelings, and politics.

…In regarding all history as a political struggle determined by economic relations, Marx makes all intentional human activity political. Everything, from religious organizations to the structure of the family, is politicized. There is no private, prepolitical space in Marx’s world. And that is now basic to the world of today, where all things are politicized, from kindergartens and Girl Scout troops to adoption agencies, sports teams, and pop music. (197)

Ironically, while many Christians see the danger of Marxist ideology in our society, what they don’t realize is that, by responding with a political mindset that sees getting political power as the key to changing the culture, they are inadvertently affirming the basic premises of Marxism.

We certainly are to be involved in the political process as good citizens of our nation but, as Christians, the “weapons of our warfare” must always be spiritual and not political and we must be known by our allegiance to Jesus Christ and our love for one another not our political allegiance, our party affiliation, or even our moral preachings.

Trueman doesn’t pretend to have a full-proof, step-by-step strategy for winning our present culture. In fact, he is brutally honest with the nature of our challenge.

If the message about the self is that of expressive individualism or psychological man, and if that message is being preached from every commercial, every website, every newscast, and every billboard to which people are exposed on a daily basis, the task of the church in cultivating a different understanding of the self is, humanly speaking, likely to provoke despair. (404)

The ubiquitous nature of our sex-obsessed, media-saturated, entertainment-driven culture is impossible to counteract with human methods. Instead we must go back to the mindset and lifestyle of the early believers who lived under the totalitarian thumb of the Roman empire. We must hold firmly to who we are in Christ. We must ground ourselves in the truths of Scripture. We must live authentic lives in loving community. And we must be willing to stand against the tides of the culture.

In a specific sense, Trueman advocates that we need to recover both natural law and a high view of the physical body (405).

We need to see that there is an authority outside ourselves, above us, which determines what is right and wrong. We can’t live based on what we feel is right or what seems to make us happy (the culture of expressive individualism) but based on God’s higher law, the authority of Scripture.

We do not create our own truth or our own reality. Instead, we submit to God’s truth and learn to live in reality as it is.

We also need to understand the importance of the body in our Christian theology. We are embodied creatures and what we do with our bodies, particularly sexually, impacts us at all levels.

The early church transformed the Roman Empire, slowly but surely.

By existing as a close-knit, doctrinally-bounded community that required her members to act consistently with their faith and to be good citizens of the earthly city as far as good citizenship was compatible with faithfulness to Christ. (407)

May we do the same in our present culture.

Posted in Recommended Books | 2 Comments

Resolved for 2021: JOY!

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Steve Foster

Most people would agree that 2020 has been a stinker of a year. We gladly bid it farewell.

We are hoping that 2021 is better…but there are certainly no guarantees. In fact, the challenges we are currently facing may continue and some things may even worsen.

That is not pessimism but reality.

As each of us look toward the future, we all have to face the reality that life promises us no problem-free year…not even a problem-free day. Pain. Grief. Sickness. Conflict. Division. Corruption. Suffering. Tragedy. Death. These are things that confront us every day in the news and they won’t magically disappear on January 1st.

So how do we live in the midst of this reality?

How do we approach the beginning of a new year?

My resolution is joy.

No, not the paste-on-a-smile, superfical, fake social media kind of happiness but the deep, abiding, content, satisfied kind of joy that emanates outward, regardless of circumstances, from a heart at peace with God.

Paul describes this kind of joy in the book of Philippians…and Philippians 4:1-9 provides a summary of how to live a life of joy.

Of course, it is important to point out that Paul is not writing these words while sipping tea in a hammock in Tahiti. He is in a Roman prison, chained to a Roman guard, awaiting a trial before a Roman emperor (Nero) who, for all intents and purposes, is one of the most volatile, psychotic, deranged individuals in history. And this crazed dictator holds the power of life or death for the apostle Paul.

Yet Paul writes about joy.

I think we can learn something from him as we enter a new year.

So with this in mind, here are seven resolutions for 2021.

Resolved: To stand fast in the Lord (4:1).

Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

When I put my hope and confidence in the things of this world…whether that be the government, political leaders, the economy, medicine, my job, my health, my money, my possessions…then I am buliding my life on shifting sand.

All of these things…though important…are temporal and can be changed. rendered powerless, or taken away in an instant.

Joy begins with standing fast in the Lord…making Him your Rock, your fortress, your strength, your refuge.

When fear, anxiety, or anger strike,I need to check my foundation, to see what I am building my hope upon, where I am putting my confidence.

Resolved: To seek to resolve any ongoing conflicts (4:2-3).

I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

Joy is all about relationships…relationship with God and relationship with others.

Thus, if you are letting a conflict fester or feeding your soul with resentment, then joy becomes an impossibility.

In the midst of his treatise on joy, the apostle Paul stops to resolve a specific conflict in the church…a conflict that was prolonged enough and evident enough to be noticed by others.

Now not every conflict can be resolved…reconciliation is not always possible. But being humble enough to forgive and to seek peace, if possible, is always an option.

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. (Romans 12:18)

Don’t carry a grudge from 2020 into 2021. Start the year with a clear conscience and a clean slate.

Resolved: To rejoice in the Lord (4:4).

Abraham Lincoln once said: Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

In many ways, joy is a choice.

It is choosing to rejoice…choosing to give thanks…choosing to praise God for who He is and for the hope that you have in Christ.

It is an odd fact of human nature that we often choose to focus on our hurts…fan the flames of our grievances…feed our bitterness…use our wounds to manipulate or control others…find satisfaction in playing the victim…wallow in self-pity.

Life is hard. Life is unfair. The hurts are real.

But how we choose to respond to them and how we choose to perceive them is up to us.

Regardless of what life may throw your way, you can still find joy in the Lord.

This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

Life is a gift. And every day is a chance to give glory to the One who has given you breath and holds your very life in His hands.

Resolved: To let gentleness govern my relationships (4:5).

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

The Greek word for gentleness (epieikes) is one of those words that is simply hard to translate. It can mean moderation, gentleness, graciousness, or forbearance. Perhaps the best definition I have seen is “sweet reasonableness.”

It is the opposite of contentiousness, always picking a fight, always complaining or upset about something, never listening to (or even inquiring about) the perspective of others.

It is interesting that Paul says “let your gentleness be known.” Paul assumes that every believer in Christ already has this quality. The question is, “Will it define the way that I live and interact with others?” Or do people see me as a complaining, contentious, crabby, or even cantankerous person?

If you don’t know, ask someone who will be honest with you…someone who has disagreed with you recently…what they think? It may be a humbling conversation…but perhaps a needed one.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)

Joy requires an attitude of graciousness, a sweet reasonableness in our relationships.

Resolved: To turn my anxiety into prayer (4:6-7).

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 are some of my favorite verses in the Bible…but they don’t quite work the way we often want them to. We want a quick fix. Whenever we feel anxiety, we want to say a short prayer…and viola…the anxiety is all gone.

That is not what Paul is talking about.

He is describing a life of prayer…a life of dependence on God…a life of surrender…all in the context of a community of believers who love me, support me, and exhort me when needed.

Anxiety is a window into my heart. It reveals my foundation. It shows me what I fear the most. It exposes my desires. It tells me where my treasure is found.

Thus, when I feel anxiety, it is an invitation to be honest before God, to ask Him to search my heart, to give thanks for all the blessings that I have, to redirect my focus, to be vulnerable with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and to acknowledge my complete dependence on Christ alone.

The peace comes in the surrender to Him.

Joy is the by-product.

Resolved: To fix my mind on better things (4:8). 

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things.

The battle for joy is a battle in the mind.

What do I focus on? What am I feeding my mind on a regular basis?

Many of us are angry, bitter, depressed, or anxious because we are feeding our minds a daily diet of angry, bitter, depressing, fear-producing news and media.

If I begin the day with my phone, the TV, or the newspaper before I take time to meditate on God’s Word, pray, and yield to the Spirit, then it is quite easy to guess where my priorities lie and what my attitude will be like during the rest of the day.

The first hour of your day is often the most important. Give it to the Lord. Give it to activities that refresh your mind. Give it to things that are honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

When you eat a good “mind breakfast,” it sets you up for a joyful day.

And then follow that up with healthy thinking throughout the day. Listen to praise music. Read excellent books. Find good podcasts. Watch better movies and TV shows. Filter the garbage on the internet.

This is the less-traveled pathway to joy.

Resolved: To follow through and do it! (4:9)

The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

It is easy to talk a good game, the proof is in your actions.

Set a reasonable goal and follow through.

Give yourself some grace when you falter.

Saturate yourself with the unfailing love of Christ.

And make 2021 a year of living in joy!

Posted in Random Thoughts | Leave a comment

Ice Cream and the Coronavirus

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Steve Foster

Well, the coronavirus finally hit home.

On Christmas day, no less.

It appears to be the gift of 2020 that keeps on giving.

Our adventure began last Wednesday night. My two sons, my daughter-in-law, and I had a hankering for some ice cream and we decided to visit Creamistry, a new ice cream shop in town.

Creamistry is one of those “experience” ice cream shops where you order your ice cream and then watch them mix it up, stick it in a big metal bowl, and then blast it with -321 degrees F of liquid nitrogen.

Puffs of cold smoke waft through the room and then…viola…some of the creamiest, richest ice cream you have ever tasted is scooped into your cup. It makes Blue Bell taste like ice milk.

The only problem is that it is a little on the pricey side since you are paying for the experience, the big tanks of liquid nitrogen, the puffs of cold smoke, and the hazardous training of the workers…in addition to the cost of your cream and sugar.

Looking at the bright, shiny menu display, I quickly did the math and realized that a large cup at $9 gave you as much ice cream as two small cups at $6 a piece.

Since I was buying, I determined that splitting two large cups would be the better deal…so that is what we did.

My son and daughter-in-law split a Cookie Monster.

And I and my other son split a Sea Salt Caramel Crunch.

Two spoons. One large bowl. And a fight over the last few bites.

The next day (Christmas Eve) my son started feeling bad…headache…fatigue…slight fever.

On Christmas Day, he felt worse.

His symptoms had some of the marks of COVID so I looked up Urgent Cares in the area (who would know that so many of them would be open on Christmas) and made him an appointment. One rapid test later, a nurse with Christmas garb and an Elf shirt confirmed that he had COVID.

It was the strangest Christmas gift that my son ever received.

Immediately I realized that “exposed” was too small a word for my own chances of getting COVID. The taste of cream and caramel were still fresh in my mind and in my mouth. It was hard to doubt that our bowl of creamy caramel crunch probably included another topping I didn’t pay for or particularly want. A heaping helping of spiky coronavirus.

Yesterday that realization was confirmed as I tested positive for COVID as well.

So far I feel okay. Some aches in my joints…slight congestion…a little light-headedness…a bad taste in my mouth…and a general “blah” feeling. To be honest, it is hard to tell what is COVID and what are allergies or simply old age.

No real fever…though I normally read in the 97’s or low 98’s and my latest reading was 98.8.

I am not sure if the worse is yet to come or not.

My son is feeling much better so that at least gives me hope that our particular strain may not be quite as severe.

That is a mere hope not a medical evaluation.

I am loading up on Vitamin C, D, and zinc. Drinking my morning fruit smoothie. Staying isolated as much as possible. And praying that all of this passes soon and doesn’t negatively impact anyone else in my family.

The worst part about it at this point is that our family trip to see my parents and siblings was effectively canceled. Thankfully I didn’t carry COVID to them…but, like many things this year, it is another unwanted interruption that makes you want to wish 2020 away and get back to some sense of normalcy again.

All of this has given me time to reflect again. Think. Write. Process.

2020 has been a stinker of a year in many ways. A pandemic. Shutdowns. Division. Anger. Riots. Political angst. Isolation. Anxiety. Depression. Uncertainty.

But it has also been a year that has clarified some things in my own life.

God is still on His throne and I can trust Him.

My hope is in Jesus Christ and not in this world.

Life is fragile and every moment is precious.

Relationships are vital and have to be maintained in every way possible.

Stress impacts people differently and thus compassion and understanding are musts.

Wisdom requires walking the fine line between fear and recklessness, physical safety and emotional health, socially isolating yourself and living your life in freedom.

Technology is both a gift and a curse.

People are more important than politics.

Love is stronger than anger.

Death is a reality and none of us can avoid it.

Eternal life is the greater reality and all of us can experience it in Jesus Christ.

And COVID can take away a lot of things but it can’t take away the joy of being in Christ, being forgiven, being loved, being secure, and being part of something bigger than myself.

Nothing in life is sweeter.

Not even a large scoop of creamy Caramel Crunch ice cream.

Though next time I will pay the extra $3 for my own bowl.

Posted in Coronavirus/COVID-19 | 8 Comments

Praying for a Fully Satisfied, Abundant Life

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Steve Foster

We all want happiness…joy…satisfaction.

It is craving deep in our soul.

Just about every commercial on TV feeds on our desire for the “good life.”

So how do you get it? How do you experience it? Is it even possible?

I believe Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 is the ultimate prayer for the abundant life.

It is perhaps the ultimate prayer of Scripture…outside of Jesus’ prayer of surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Not my will but Yours be done.” But even the spirit of Jesus’ prayer is encapsulated in Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3.

J. Armitage Robinson said of Paul’s prayer:

No prayer that has ever been framed has uttered a bolder request.  

What is Paul’s bold request?

That we would be filled with all the fullness of God (3:19).

Think about it.

Paul is asking that we would experience all that God is…all the glory manifested in His character…all the joy emanating from the eternal fellowship of the Trinity…coursing through every cell of our bodies.

That every ounce of our being would be filled with all the abundance of God.

Wow.

G. Campbell Morgan said of Paul’s request:

To be “filled unto all the fulness of God” is to find the ultimate experience of life. Where this is so, there is no true desire of the soul unsatisfied, no power of the soul unde­veloped or idle. The true meaning of life is discovered, and that not as an ideal…but as an actual experience. It is eternal life; it is perfec­tion; it is satisfaction. 

Is it possible that at the core of all of our longings is a thirst for the living God?

We long for God but mistake it for a longing for something else. So we pursue the “something else” with almost a reckless abandon…sometimes even an addiction…until we realize that it is a dead end.

Our heart still aches for contentment…for security…for joy.

Only experienced in the fullness of God.

In Ephesians 3, Paul gets on his knees and pleads with God to enable the Ephesian believers…and all of us who are created by the same Father in heaven…to experience this divine fullness.

It begins with an INNER STRENGTHENING.

That God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (3:16).

The experience of fullness begins on the inside…not the outside.

We tend to think that only good circumstances lead to the good life…but it is possible to have every possession on earth…and even good health…and not be satisfied. In fact, this is the experience of many “famous people” who are still searching for the good life when everyone around them think they already have it and are desperately pursuing what they have and are not satisfied with.

It is an endless cycle of vanity.

In a profound moment of honesty, actor Jim Carrey once said:

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.

Instead the Bible says that the “good life” begins on the inside. It is a joy that radiates outward from the heart not a happiness that soaks inward from outside circumstances.

So we begin our prayer for God’s abundance by asking God to strengthen our inner person through the power of His Spirit.

We ask God to enlarge our soul to receive all that He is.

We ask God to make us a person of character rather than a person of comfort.

We ask God to do whatever it takes to grow us from the inside out.

It is a scary prayer.

Because God’s strength is only experienced in our weakness.

Here is the bottom line: We often don’t experience God’s fullness because we don’t trust God enough to pursue Him alone…to desire Him alone…to surrender to Him alone.

We keep running to broken cisterns instead of to the living well.

But if we truly want Him, then the desire for inner strengthening leads to the next request: FULL SURRENDER.

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (3:17).

It is a simple prayer but it is loaded with implications.

The word for “dwell” in the Greek language has the idea of “being at home with.”

William MacDonald described the request this way:

We enter into the enjoyment of His indwelling through faith. This involves constant dependence on Him, constant surrender to Him, and constant recognition of His “at home-ness.” 

At home-ness.

That Christ would be “at home” in our hearts.

There is a classic story by Robert Boyd Munger, My Heart, Christ’s Home, that captures this idea.

When we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, Christ comes in and takes residence in our hearts. But He may not always feel “at home” in our hearts. Often times we may treat Him like an unwanted guest…or we may restrict Him to certain parts of our heart while keeping some parts hidden from Him…outside His reach…outside His Lordship.

We want Christ…but on our own terms.

We want Him…but only a part of Him.

This is where Jesus’ prayer…”Not my will but Yours be done”…comes into Paul’s prayer.

It is full surrender.

It is saying, “Lord, I don’t like this…I don’t want this…I am not sure what You are doing through this…but I trust You. I surrender to You. You can have all of me because I want all of You. Not my will but Yours be done.”

Jesus’ experienced God’s fullness because He was fully surrendered to His Father.

Our path to fullness follows Him.

With this focus on God’s inner strengthening and a full surrender to His will, then we finally come to the last piece of the puzzle.

ABSOLUTE SATURATION with the love of Christ.

That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height–to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. (3:17-18)

To be totally saturated with the love of Christ.

To be overwhelmed by His incomprehensible grace.

To know a love that surpasses any love that you have ever known before.

To allow yourself to be loved by God.

It is a strange thought…but perhaps our greatest struggle is to allow ourselves to be loved by God.

We keep fighting to earn His love…to look good…to prove ourselves worthy.

When all God wants is for us to fall into His arms and be loved by Him.

As a father, I remember how awesome it was for my children to run to me with arms outstretched, shouting, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” Being happy to see me…to run to me…to want nothing more than to be embraced by me.

Holding someone who desires you fully is to experience one of the greatest joys of life.

Being held by someone who desires you fully is to experience a taste of the fullness of life.

God’s joy is holding you.

Our joy is being held by Him.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Or as Pastor John Piper puts it…God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

Or as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once noted…

Our chief defect as Christians is failing to realize Christ’s love to us.

Stop for a moment and consider this.

Behind my fear…anxiety…depression…anger…frustration…discouragement…is an inability to rest in the sovereign love of God.

The unwillingness to acknowledge my need and to be held in His strong arms.

The blindness to the incomprehensible love that He showed in humbling Himself, entering my world, taking on human flesh, dying in my place, and conquering death to give me real hope.

Offering Himself to me so that I could experience all of Him.

To know Him.

To love Him.

To be held by Him.

That is the essence of eternal life.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

This is what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God.

An inner strengthening through God’s Spirit…

Leading to a full surrender to His will…

Enabled by an absolute saturation with Christ’s love.

It is saying, “God, here is all of me so that I can experience all of you.”

That is the ultimate prayer worth praying.

Because that is the only life worth living.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 2 Comments