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Be the hero of your own story. That’s kind of how we’re encouraged to look at life today. The idea that if you believe in something strongly enough, if you’re willing to put yourself out there and take risks, you can make things happen in your life - whether it’s in the business world, your relationships, your own sense of well-being. You can achieve your goals, and people are going to see it and acknowledge your success.
The Bible is filled with stories like that - or at least stories that seem to fit that description, and the one that seems to stand out the most is the story of David and Goliath. But I think it’s easy sometimes to miss the message, particularly in a culture where we tend to make everything about “us.”
When we see this story referenced today, particularly in more secular contexts, it tends to focus on self-confidence and trust, not being intimidated just because the obstacle looks imposing. It focuses on the idea of a long-shot winning against the odds. We use this story to explain why tiny colleges often send undermanned teams into a game and upset clearly superior teams with better resources and athletic skill.
Except there’s more to that story, as any Bible school student will tell you. Because in reality, David isn’t the true hero of this story!
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This year, one of the most popular topics of discussion concerns the quality of our political discourse - or the lack thereof. As our election approaches, we watch debates where shouting, name-calling, and interruption take the place of intelligent discussion of policy - or in most cases, we brag about how we DIDN’T watch it. If you’re on social media, it’s almost impossible to escape the bitterness and frustration so many are expressing toward both sides of the political aisle.
And despite whether you were “rooting” for one side or the other, even if you believe that one party is behaving itself in a more seemly manner than the other, most of us seem to come to the same conclusion:
We deserve better.
But it’s worth asking the question: do we really deserve better? If we’re really being honest about ourselves, about our culture, and about how it got this way, the reality is that we’re getting exactly what we deserve. Because when we look to human leadership, seeking deliverance from our troubles from some other person or political group or human ideology or concocted utopian fantasy, this is what we get: flawed leaders pandering to flawed people to give those people what (they believe) they want.
But what people want - what they believe they deserve - is rarely what they need.
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We’ve talked a lot about motivation this year, and clearly that’s one of the greatest challenges to living a life that demands excellence, but doesn’t always provide us with regular progress reports on how we’re doing. One of the biggest issues we often have – just like with physical training is that unless we have a clear-cut goal in front of us with measurable progress points, we may find ourselves wondering if what we’re doing matters at all. Is the work I’m putting in worth it? Am I really better off now than I was when I started?
We understand in physical applications that how other people are training has no impact on my outcome, but we often miss that point in spiritual applications. When people around us aren't living up to the standard, acting hypocritically, worshiping superficially, it sometimes makes us doubt our own level of effort - maybe even provoke us to leave the faith altogether!
Our responsibilities to grow and serve God don't change based on what anyone else does. Discouragement can catch up to us when we take our eyes off Jesus and start worrying about whether anyone else is doing what they need to do. -
No one likes the "workout" guy. The one always decked out in gym clothes, talking about his training, his diet, his routine, and always willing to point out ways that you could get into better shape, too! We know we need to do better, and we sometimes don't like being around the constant reminder of our shortcomings.
But do we let that attitude seep into our lives as disciples? After all, no one likes the person who wears his religion on his sleeve, and Jesus said not to do our works to be seen by men. And we're raised in a culture that tells us religion is best when kept to yourself.
Our challenge is that God calls us to be fanatical in our devotion, in our pursuit of virtue and righteousness, in our desire to do good works in this life. Do we feel compelled to tone that down for the world? Or do we drive ourselves to be that person who lives and breathes the gospel of Christ? -
Do you ever have days when you just don't feel like putting in the work? You know that whatever work you put into your training that day is going to be half-hearted and probably not as effective as you'd like. Do you go through the motions? Or do you take a step back or take the day off?
This can be a tricky question in our spiritual lives, because when we try to act in a Christ-like way, but we don't feel Christ-like while doing it, it can feel like we're faking it. And in an age where "being real" is valued and holding back is considered fake, or not being true to yourself, is it ever OK to "fake" our service to God, doing works even when our heart isn't in it??We have to start from the understanding that doing things God's way, with the right attitude and heart, is never going to be our default setting. As we've pointed out many times on this podcast, Paul described his life as "buffeting his body daily and bringing it under subjection." Paul didn't take the attitude that if things were hard, he needed to take a step back and do a self-care day. or to re-evaluate whether the difficulty was pointing him toward a truer version of himself that he ought to embrace rather than deny. Instead, he fought harder.
So sometimes, we do the work even when we don't feel like it. We treat people kindly when we'd rather be arguing or insulting them. We change our behavior to accommodate the needs of others, even when they don't deserve our consideration. We worship, pray, and study our Bible even when our minds seem rooted in physical things and won't let us wholly focus on God.
It's the practice of "taking every thought captive to obey Christ," as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:5. It is the very essence of training for godliness.
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Today's talk is in many ways a message for myself. Because as you may or may not have noticed, we haven't done a podcast in a while. And probably doesn't surprise you to know that podcasts hosts struggle from the same problems that you do, and in many cases when we talk about issues, we're talking to ourselves as much as we are anyone else.
And today is one of those days. Not surprisingly, the topic is procrastination.
If you're like me, it's easy to be overwhelmed by information, instruction, advice, inspiration, warnings, and every other type of motivational messaging tell you what's wrong with your life, what's wrong with society, what's wrong with government... Basically everything is broken, and everything needs to be fixed TODAY! You may be getting stressed just reading this!What do we do when we feel overwhelmed with choices, with problems to solve, opportunities to chase? We all know the answer, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it: Pick one.
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We all understand the importance of accountability and support, but we often don't look for it in our spiritual lives. But spiritual training and growth requires just as much support and encouragement. If we truly want to grow in our faith, it's vital to find an accountability partner that can help us past the difficult stretches and keep us focused on the goal of becoming the person God calls us to be.
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In Ephesians 5, Paul writes "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." Since the days seem pretty evil right now, with the coronavirus keeping many of us at home and some of us dangerously sick.
But Paul is talking about a different kind of evil, and it's one that has a particular relevance for us this month as we settle into our homes with everything we need to keep ourselves occupied and comfortable during a quarantine. It might feel as if we have an opportunity to take a "staycation" - but are we also quarantining ourselves from God? -
We all understand the phrase "no pain, no gain" in our physical training, or even in other aspects of our lives where we're trying to achieve something. Nothing worth having ever comes easily, or without some sort of pain along the way.
It's harder to accept that when we don't see how our pain is directly linked to that goal. When we find ourselves suffering in our life, we sometimes struggle to explain why we should have to to deal with it, why God would allow it in our lives, and why he won't get rid of it - especially when he promises his children that he will watch over them!
The book of Job deals with this question, but not in the way we often would prefer. We learn that sometimes good people DO suffer, and bad people DO succeed. But even when it seems that God is allowing injustice, the book directs us back to the true cause of all suffering, and that is the problem of sin.
Even if we haven't committed some horrible, grievous atrocity, we've still sinned. And Job calls us to use that as a reminder of our need for a redeemer, and to draw closer to God. God may not relieve our pain on our timeline, but he has promised not to leave us if we'll remain faithful through hardships that should make us stronger throughout our lives. -
We often don't like the idea of being predictable, but it's a quality that Christians ought to embrace - provided they're predictable for the right reasons. We're called to show the character of Christ in all we do, and that means consistently seeking to do God's will, serving others and exhibiting godliness in everything we do. That doesn't mean we live dull lives, or that we live as if we're in a rut; in fact, it calls us to live in a way that continually takes us out of our comfort zone!
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Check out our website at www.trainingforgodliness.net!
To start Season 2, I wanted to go back to the beginning and think a little about the name of the podcast. It's the phrase that the apostle Paul uses in 1 Timothy 4, where he encourages Timothy to stay focused on the word of God and on the goal of growing in his faith. He compares those efforts to physical exercise, except that this type of exercise has benefits that are eternal, and that impact every aspect of our lives.But just like a physical workout, we get out of it what we get in. We can’t expect to improve physically if we never stretch ourselves to the limit. If we want to be godly, we’re going to have to put in the work, whether it be in our study, in our prayers, or in our willingness to deny ourselves the things in life that aren’t healthy – that are a detriment to achieving that ultimate goal of being with God!
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Have you ever been a situation where you were tired or frustrated or struggling, and you just wanted to vent about it? We've all done that from time to time, and usually we do it so we can get acknowledgement that our struggle is real. That life really is hard. And sometimes we're hoping that someone will assure us that things will be better, they'll get easier.
That’s what I think about a little when I read a story in Jeremiah 12. Jeremiah has been prophesying to God’s people for years, with no response, no repentance, no indication that he was accomplishing anything. And in fact, the people he was trying to save were threatening his life. They were contradicting him, turning people against him. And all the while Jeremiah could see the end that awaited them.
And he asks “Why does the wicked prosper?” When are you going to punish these people for the evil they’re committing?
God's response in v. 5 is: “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?"In other words: if you're complaining about how bad it is now, how will you respond when it gets even worse?
God doesn’t sugar coat things for him, doesn’t set false expectations - any more than Jeremiah is allowed to set false expectations for the people.
We look around the world and see the ungodliness increasing, and the persecutions of Christians increasing, and the negative attitudes that we have to prepare for any time we talk about the commitment and the virtue and the sacrifice required in serving God. Maybe it's just about the hardship in our own lives that we're going through that may not be directly related to our service to God, but the ongoing hardships we face make it harder for us to focus on the blessings we have in Christ. Wouldn't it be great to hear "this is the worst of it. If you get past this, everything will get better?"
And God tells us the truth, and His message over and over seems to be that we need to be prepared for the idea that at least on earth, there's no promise of an easy life.
That’s not stay that we are left to deal with hardship and persecution on our own, or that we'll never get a rest or a respite. As hard as Jesus worked, he still called for his disciples to rest from time to time, as he did himself.
And if sometimes it seems like God is challenging more than providing rest, it's because He’s encouraging you to keep going, as we read in Hebrews:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."
No one in that cloud of witnesses is cheering you on from the side of the race course saying "it's ok, the race gets easier in the next mile." They're encouraging you to keep going even if it gets harder. Because quitting isn’t an option - not when we know what Jesus has done for us, and what he has waiting for us if we make it to the end. James tells us to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” If we can get through this trial, we’ll have strength to get through the next one, too.
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The Bible recommend meditation, but it's not really the same idea as what we see in Eastern philosophy, where meditation basically involves clearing your mind of thoughts, calming and slowing your body and becoming more in tuned with the cosmic forces of the universe.
The idea of Biblical meditation doesn't involve emptying our minds of thoughts, but rather filling them with the right kind of thoughts - thoughts focused on God.
This is something we’re called to do as Christians. And in a culture where we’re constantly bombarded by stimuli, whether it’s entertainment, information, or just noise, it’s rare that we ever take the time to be still, to remove ourselves from everything going around us, and just think about God. Not a free-form thinking where I imagine God is whatever I want Him to be, but rather thinking about how God presents Himself to me through the word.
As it happens, when we're meditating on the right things, it's absolutely a way to achieve peace - but a peace springing from our faith in God, rather than a faith in human ability to achieve some form of enlightenment.
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The book of Ezekiel can be a difficult read, with a number of images and descriptions that are hard to understand. But there's one figure that ought to seem somewhat familiar to us.
In Ezekiel 2 starting in verse 8, we read:
“But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey."
What does this image mean - what am I supposed to get out of Ezekiel eating a scroll? As it turns out, this is a pretty common image in the Bible, and it seems to be the same idea that we get from reading about Jesus' discussion with his disciples in John 6: Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. In essence, the word of God personified in Jesus is instructing his followers to eat his flesh. And his point I think is exactly the same as what the Lord is telling Ezekiel.
It’s not enough to simply read the word, or hear the word spoken to you. You need to internalize it, absorb it, make it a part of yourself. It should be the thing that sustains you – the thing that gives you life. -
When we read through the Bible, it’s easy to get a little discouraged when wading through the books of the prophets. After all, God never calls prophets to go tell his people that they’re doing great.
But even though Jeremiah is writing to a nation that was punished for their sins some 2500 years ago, there’s a lot in Jeremiah’s messages that we ought to pay attention to in our own lives. Because in a lot of ways, the religious world of Jeremiah might have looked a lot like we see today in many of our own churches.
The problem in Jeremiah 7 wasn't that they weren’t worshiping God. The problem was that they assumed that since they were God’s people, they had the temple, and they were offering all the right sacrifices, that it didn’t matter what else they did, or how they lived their lives once they left the temple. -
Most people familiar with the teachings of Jesus can tell you what he considered to be “the greatest commandment.” They may not know exactly where it is, but somewhere in there, Jesus tells us that “You shall love the Lord,” is the most important thing, and that a close second is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And as a result, there are a lot of people have developed an idea that serving God and following Jesus involves having some sort of emotional attachment to Jesus.
We can look at it like the way we love our parents: “I love my mom and dad, but that doesn’t mean I have to do whatever they say! I’m a grown-up now, and can make my own rules and decisions, and their job as parent is to accept all those decisions, and my job is to love them even when they say things I don’t like or act in ways that I don’t agree with.” Basically love is being able to ignore all our differences and care about each other.
That sounds great, and on some level there’s some truth to that. But there’s a lot more to what Jesus is saying there, and sometimes we miss what Jesus is really calling us to do.
Do I truly love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength?
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In the book of John, we read that one of the main objections to Jesus' claims was that he was his own witness - the Pharisees told him in chapter 8 that "you are bearing witness about yourself, your witness is not true." And Jesus acknowledges that he's his own witness, but that doesn't mean he's not telling them the truth - in fact, he's the only one who can bear witness to the things he's telling them, because he's the only one who's been where he has been: in Heaven with the Father.
Jesus requires that we believe his testimony not because he conclusively proved everything he said, but that he proved he was who he said he was: the Christ, the son of God. He proved those things by his miracles, and by the righteous example he displayed every day of his life. Jesus' argument is that once he has proved who he is, then anyone who believes should be willing to accept whatever he says about the kingdom of Heaven, because who else would know these things but God?
Truly believing in Jesus doesn't allow us to cherry-pick what Jesus taught. We can't say "You are the son of God... but I think you're wrong about this." True faith calls us to put our trust in the words delivered by Jesus, the Christ. -
In John 5, Jesus tells the Jewish leaders:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Jesus here indicates the core problem with the religious leaders of his day, and it’s the core problem for so many in today’s religious world who are not interested in the pure, complete message of the gospel: How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Who are we really following? If I’m more concerned with the ideas of scholars, my family, my favorite Bible teacher or prominent religious blogger than I am with reading, studying, and meditating on God’s word, can I truly say I love God? Who am I really following? Is it more important to me to live, to teach, to believe in a way that makes me socially acceptable or in step with what the people around me are doing? Or do I love God’s word enough that I want to understand it for myself, and then conform myself through faith and obedience to the teachings that Jesus says will lead me to eternal life? -
Have you ever heard the phrase “failing upward?” If you follow sports, you’ve probably seen a lot of it – or at least it feels that way. The coaching ranks are rife with people who failed miserably at their last job, got fired, and were immediately hired by someone. If our team does the hiring, the response we usually give is “What were we thinking? Why would we want that guy??”
Generally speaking, we’re not a culture that appreciates failing up. We look at failure as a dead end – it’s defeat, and it is a reflection on someone’s competence and a good reason not to trust them in similar situations again. They’re going to have to show us something pretty impressive to wash away the taste from that previous disaster. And in our own lives, we tend to live in fear of failure – failing up is what happens to other people, not us! And so we don’t go out on too many limbs, we take on tasks we’re confident we can accomplish, and we set goals that we know we can attain.
But the reality is that Bible makes it clear that playing it safe is not an option for a disciple of Christ. The old cliché is that you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, but the more Biblical example is probably in Jesus’ parable of the Talents, where a man is given a large sum of money and entrusted with its use for a time. He’s afraid of what his master will do if he fails, and so he hides the money so that he can give it back without losing any. But God didn’t call us out of the world to break even. We are called to be a people for God’s own possession, one created in Christ Jesus for good works.
So how do we view our failures? And how does God view them? Is He really the “harsh taskmaster who reaps where he hasn’t sown?” Does he really see me as just another instrument to do his work, and we’re only a success if we do as much as some other person in the kingdom? I don’t think any of us believe that – so why do we hold ourselves to that standard?
