Insights Magazine: Number Ten, 2016

NUMBER TEN, 2016

How Do You Handle

THE TRUTH ?

In this issue

6

8 3

Why We Need Integrity Most in the Public Arena charles r. swindoll

6

How Knowing the Bible Protects Me from Deception robyn roste

8

The Devil Memorizes Scripture, Do You? steve johnson

11 11 30 Days to Setting Boundaries

steve johnson

Beyond the Broadcast 15 What If Your Boss is Unfair

and Disrespectful?

Insights is published by Insight for Living Canada, the Bible-teaching ministry of Charles (Chuck) R. Swindoll. Chuck is the senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Texas. His international radio program Insight for Living has aired for more than 35 years. We hope this publication will instruct, inspire, and encourage you in your walk with Christ.

Copyright Š 2016 Insight for Living Canada. All rights reserved. No portion of this monthly publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture passages are taken from the NLT. Unless otherwise noted, photography and illustration by Laura Vanderwel. IFLC is an autonomous ministry and cover image Š shut terstock . com certified member of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities. Printed in Canada.

WHY WE NEED

INTEGRITY MOST IN THE PUBLIC ARENA

by charles r. swindoll

but my passionate plea is that we restore the importance of integrity."

E

ach election year, my mind returns to Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 10:2: “A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left” (NASB).

OK, so that’s a joke. (One that I enjoy telling!) But seriously, consider these words from Solomon’s pen as we near November: He who walks in integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will be found out. (Proverbs 10:9) Go back and read that again. Integrity matters in the public arena. Several biblical examples come to mind.

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OR IDEALISTIC,

microphone

"Call me old-fashioned

By the time Job had reared his family, established himself in the business world, and gotten up in years, he had become “the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3).

Joseph became Potiphar’s personal servant and later was put in charge over all Potiphar owned (Genesis 39:5). Whether before the workers or handling huge sums of money or serving a large group of guests or all alone with Mrs. Potiphar, Joseph could be trusted.

Daniel also comes to mind. When he came up for promotion to prime minister, those who envied him “began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel” (Daniel 6:4). They struck out. There was zero dirt… no cover-up. After every attempt to dig up some questionable issue, “they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption” anywhere (6:4). Like Job and Joseph, Daniel walked securely in his integrity. He never feared being “found out.”

What did these individuals have in common? Perfection? No, each person I’ve named was far from perfect. Easy times?

Hardly. A closer look reveals heartaches and hardships that would make your head swim. Well, how about an impressive presence, carefully choreographed by a publicimage department? Don’t make me laugh.

We could dream up a half dozen other possibilities that some cynic might suggest, but they would be as far off target as those I’ve mentioned.

What these individuals had in common was integrity. It is easy to overlook that essential ingredient among leaders in our times…especially during an election year.

We have grown accustomed to shrugging off secretive and deceptive lifestyles.

We’ve heard so often that finding people who value honesty and model responsibility; who promote fairness, accountability,

loyalty, and respect for others; and who hold to strong, upright convictions is not possible. It’s not realistic. “We’re voting for a president, not the pope,” we’re told.

In response to such an analogy, I’ll quote an ancient Hebrew term: “Hogwash.”

Call me old-fashioned or idealistic, but my passionate plea is that we restore the importance of integrity. It’s been buried long enough. It belongs first on our list when searching for employees in the workplace. It must be a non-negotiable among those we place in leadership positions in our schools, our cities, our states…and, absolutely, our churches and our nation.

Integrity is what wholesome parents strive to cultivate in their children. It’s what great moms and dads look for and long for among those their teenagers date. It’s the foundational quality that all of us expect from the circle of professionals and labourers who serve us. We may not say it every time, but deep down in our souls, we long for and expect integrity. When it is lacking, we feel it and we are disappointed. Integrity is the “given” in greatness.

It is integrity we need, I repeat, not perfection. From our nation’s beginnings, back when great men and women, albeit imperfect, occupied places of leadership, public officials exhibited true virtue…dignity, self-mastery, resoluteness, determination, strength of will, moral purity, and sacrificial patriotism. They were selected and elected because they were examples in public leadership and in private life. Because some have failed to live up to the minimal standard does not change the ideal.

Solomon was right. Those with integrity walk securely…with no fear of being “found out.” We must ask God to help us choose such leaders, and we must strive to possess integrity ourselves, no matter who lives in the White House. If men such as Job and Joseph and Daniel could demonstrate integrity in the worst of times, today you and I can too.

And because we can, we must.

Charles R. Swindoll serves as the senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas.

Handling the Scriptures Accurately

SINGLE MESSAGE

You can prove ANYTHING you wish from the Bible!

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HOW KNOWING THE BIBLE

PROTECTS ME FROM DECEPTION by robyn roste

A

s a teenager I played a computer game whose hero, through the skilful application of Scripture, has to rescue a city overcome with deception.

At first it’s easy to spot the lies and save the citizens. But as the game progresses the lies become harder to recognize and the hero requires more and more help through prayer, Bible verses, and the support of those already rescued.

I saw the game as silly and fun. It wasn’t until later I noticed the impact it made in how I read the Bible and applied Scripture to my life, even to this day. It taught me to listen to what people say and then check it against what the Bible says.

When you hear something nearly true, or partly true, it’s easy to accept it as true.

That’s the thing about deception: sometimes it’s hard to spot, as small as uneasiness or something not sitting quite right.

For example, how often do you hear or say, “God helps those who help themselves,” “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” or “Money is the root of all evil,” and attribute it to the Bible? Do you ever stop and wonder where it’s found? Knowing what the Bible says is critical to being confident in your faith and strong in the face of the world’s chaos.

The phrase "God helps those who help themselves," seems to come from Aesop (620-564 BC) in his fable Hercules and the Waggoner. In this tale, Hercules tells the Waggoner "the gods help them that help themselves." Not biblical. What does the Bible say? "Those who trust their own insight are foolish, but anyone who walks in wisdom is safe " (Proverbs 28:26), and "This is what the LORD says: 'Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD'" (Jeremiah 17:5). It seems

like the Bible disagrees with the idea that God helps those who help themselves, and instead urges us to depend on God. And what about "Cleanliness is next to godliness?" The earliest records of this quote point to the Methodist founder John Wesley who lived from 1703-1791. Although this could be the citing of a biblical concept from Leviticus, which frequently speaks of cleanliness and impurity, or the idea of cleanliness in relation to the cleansing of a believer's life found throughout the New Testament (1 John 1:9, John 15:3, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Ephesians 5:26-27), this exact quote is never found in Scripture.

“Money is the root of all evil,” is trickier.

The expression derives from 1 Timothy 6:10a, which says: “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” You could say this boils down to mere semantics, but it’s an important distinction. By changing the subject of the sentence from the love of money to money, the meaning changes.

The Bible isn’t saying money itself is evil but the love of it, which is the root of all kinds of evil.

Words are easy to mix up, and you may think it doesn’t matter because people know what you mean. But what if they don’t? And what if your word choices change the meaning of your sentences causing conflict or offence? Knowing what you mean and meaning what you say will help you avoid misunderstandings.

Learning to understand the Bible as well as apply it to your life isn’t easy. It takes a commitment and discipline many of us would rather avoid. But it’s worth the effort because knowing what God means and says will protect you from deception.

Robyn Roste is the media and marketing manager at Insight for Living Canada.

by steve johnson

R

ecently, I communicated with a woman whose husband left her for someone else and subsequently filed for divorce.

When she confronted him with Scripture regarding his adultery and divorce he countered, also citing Scripture. He referred to the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 saying, “Jesus didn’t tell her to leave the relationship she was in.” He used this as his justification even though Jesus clearly tells the woman in the story to “go and sin no more.” On the one hand, that he knows some Scripture is commendable.

But the fact that he twists it to suit his own perverted actions is deplorable.

Using the Word of God for sinful ends is nothing new. Would it surprise you to learn that our enemy Satan has memorized Scripture and uses it to tempt us to sin?

In Genesis 2-3, Satan knew what God commanded Adam and tempted the first couple by reciting a twisted version of God’s words back in the form of a question. Eve attempted to respond to Satan with what God actually said, but only offered a loose paraphrase, omitting some significant truths.

Again, Satan used God’s Word when he confronted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). In the process of trying to tempt Jesus to sin and thereby cause Him to fail as Messiah and Redeemer, Satan quoted

Psalm 91:11-12 saying, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’” (Matthew 4:6) In this passage Satan used Scripture for his own devilish purposes. He tried to manipulate Jesus into claiming a promise of God in a way it wasn’t intended. Jesus had just asserted His faith and dependence on the Father by refusing to turn stones to bread. So Satan tried a reverse tactic and in effect said, “OK, so you want to prove you are dependent on the Father? Jump and let Him protect you! God’s Word says you can.”

“Ignorance of God’s Word and not having it hidden in our hearts makes us sitting ducks in Satan’s shooting gallery.”

Satan was using the authority of Scripture to suggest Jesus would be justified in risking His life arbitrarily and then expecting God to protect Him. The Devil’s tactic here was to purposely set one Scripture against another, stressing one passage and disregarding others that should go with it.

My initial thought as I read the account is, “Wow! That’s pretty good. I wonder how many of us could use Scripture like that?”

But then I catch myself. Many of us do use Scripture like this—regularly, although often unintentionally.

Our problem is we don’t know Scripture well enough. I’ve been among many Christians where the Bible is being discussed but I rarely hear verses quoted accurately and in context. Instead, (and I’ve been guilty of it too) I hear, “Doesn’t the Bible somewhere say something like…?” This amounts to bits of out-of-context verses paraphrased and strung together like a necklace, supporting presuppositions contradicting what Scripture says in the plainest of language elsewhere.

Jesus didn’t fall for Satan’s deception. He knew that a text out of context becomes a pretext and by mishandling Scripture Satan could make the Bible say anything he wanted it to. Jesus knew that to cast Himself down to prove something was not God’s will and to expect protection while acting in disobedience is putting God to the test—something He says is wrong (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Got a pretty good grasp on the Bible?

Test your Bible trivia knowledge with our fun Searching the Scriptures Bible Application Quiz. insightforliving.ca/quiz

Dealing with the Devil the way Jesus did shows us a great principle of all true interpretation: Scripture must be explained by comparison to other Scripture. Jesus used God’s Word hidden in His heart—accurately memorized and understood—to fend off Satan’s lure to sin. Jesus doesn’t try to reason His way around Satan’s ploy; He states the truth already given by God in His Word.

Ignorance of God’s Word and not having it hidden in our hearts makes us sitting ducks in Satan’s shooting gallery. The man I referred to earlier continues in sin having justified his actions by distorting God’s Word and Eve was deceived when she failed to accurately recall what God said.

The Devil has memorized the Bible but uses it deceitfully. Jesus shows us how we can stand firm against Scripture-twisting— by memorizing accurately and recalling faithfully. This is the only way to effectively stand against temptations. It is something we dare not forget.

Steve Johnson is the executive director at Insight for Living Canada.

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TO SETTING BOUNDARIES

This inductive study is designed to create a better understanding of setting boundaries. For the next 30 days read the questions and allow them to spark deeper personal reflection and life change.

I

n interpersonal relationships, a boundary is what separates people from each other so they can have separate identities, responsibilities, and privileges. Healthy boundaries define our identities, create necessary space between individuals, define expectations, and show respect for others. Personal boundaries help us say yes to the good and no to the bad.

DAY 1

Read Genesis 1:1; Acts 17:24. Boundaries are rooted in the nature of God, who is distinct and separate. How is this important when it comes to your idea of God?

DAY 2

Read Isaiah 6:1-5; 64:6-7. God is holy and sinless, opposite of us.

How does God set a boundary in relation to sinful man? What is the purpose of this boundary?

DAY 3

Read Psalm 24:1-2. What is the basis for God’s boundaries and standards? How does this give Him the right to set boundaries? How are boundaries tied to ownership?

DAY 4

Read Psalm 24:3-6. What boundaries does God set for who can come into His presence? What is the consequence of not living up to His standards? Who’s responsible for that?

DAY 5

Read Genesis 1:27; 2:15-16. God made us in His image as responsible beings capable of understanding consequences. How is this foundational to your understanding and setting of boundaries?

DAY 6

Read Genesis 2:15-16; 3:12-13. God gave Adam and Eve freedom within a boundary. How is keeping a boundary also a means to your protection, happiness, and freedom?

DAY 7

Read Genesis 3:8-13. How do Adam and Eve respond to their failure to honour God’s boundary? How does overstepping boundaries go along with failing to take personal responsibility?

DAY 8

Read Exodus 20:1-20. God defines His boundaries all through Scripture telling us what He thinks, feels, plans, likes and dislikes.

Who’s in charge of your boundaries?

DAY 9

Read Job 1:10. Boundaries are often for protection. What things in your life do you value and want to protect? What boundaries have you put in place for protection?

DAY 10

Read Mark 3:31-35. How does this demonstrate Jesus’ boundaries?

What other example of His boundaries can you think of? What example does this set for you?

30 Days to Setting Boundaries

DAY 11 DAY 12

Read Mark 10:14. Which of Jesus’ boundaries did the disciples violate? If you become angry because someone violates your boundaries, have you sinned? How did Jesus model assertiveness?

Read Matthew 6:6. Why is this an important boundary to set? What other steps can you take in order to protect your walk with the Lord?

DAY 13

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17. Who you are is rooted in your identity in Christ. How do boundaries flow from this? How are they determined

by God’s standards?

DAY 14

Read 2 Corinthians 6:14; James 4:4. What boundary is identified here? How does it flow from your identity in Christ? How do proper boundaries aid in your spiritual growth?

DAY 15

Read Matthew 5:37. Having clear responses is setting the most basic boundaries. “No” is a complete sentence. How do your words give others a sense of where you stand?

DAY 16

Read Proverbs 29:25. Fear often keeps people from setting boundaries. How does remembering your identity and to whom you must give account help overcome fear?

DAY 17

Read Proverbs 19:19. Setting boundaries sometimes makes others angry. Whose problem is the anger? Why is it important not to react or change your boundary in the face of anger?

DAY 18

Read 2 Corinthians 6:17. What boundary are you to set in relation to non-believers? Why is this important? What is the purpose behind this type of boundary?

DAY 19

Read Romans 13:1-4. What is the purpose of boundaries in society? What happens in society if there are no consequences for overstepping laws?

DAY 20

Read Romans 14:1-4. A person with healthy boundaries takes responsibility for his own life and allows others to live theirs. What boundaries regarding non-moral matters have you encountered?

TIP: Keep your Bible handy and refer to it as you read the questions

DAY 21

Read Romans 14:14-23. 1 Corinthians 10:27-33. The Lord gives you freedom to choose boundaries when it comes to non-moral matters.

What limits are put on that freedom?

DAY 22

Read Philippians 2:1-8. How do you maintain an attitude of humility toward others and regard their interests and boundaries while respecting who you are and your boundaries?

DAY 23

Read Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 7:1-6. What boundaries does a healthy marriage require? What are the consequences of violating these boundaries?

DAY 24

Read Ephesians 5:33. How can boundaries help a married couple love and respect each other as they are commanded? What boundaries can help married people protect their marriage?

DAY 25

Read Proverbs 19:18; 22:6. Why are boundaries necessary in parenting? What does setting healthy limits for children do for them? How do boundaries develop a child’s separate identity?

DAY 26

Read Galatians 6:2. How does this verse show your responsibility to others and the excessive loads they may be carrying? Whose excessive loads are you helping to carry?

DAY 27

Read Galatians 6:5. Everyone has his or her own responsibilities to carry. How is this different from Galatians 6:2 and helping carry others’ excessive burdens?

DAY 28

Read Galatians 6:2, 5. How does understanding the distinction made in these verses help you make a distinction between what is your responsibility and what is not?

DAY 29

Read Galatians 6:2, 5. What problems arise when you fail to understand what is your personal responsibility and what is another’s? How can you set boundaries if you have overstepped?

DAY 30

Read Ephesians 4:26. How do you respond when someone violates your boundaries? How is stating what your boundary is more effective than saying what you don’t want?

30 Days to Setting Boundaries

WHAT IF YOUR BOSS IS UNFAIR AND DISRESPECTFUL? “Life is not divided into sacred and secular categories.

Everything we do is for God’s glory.”

- CHARLES R. SWINDOLL

If you are or were once employed in the of working for someone who doesn’t treat workforce, you understand the value of a people well? How should we respond?

Peter advocated that Christians “subgreat boss...someone who is caring, equitable, and respectful. In many ways, the mit to all human authority,” (1 Peter relationships we have with those in author- 2:13). When it comes to work, we don’t ity over us determine whether we enjoy have to believe our bosses are inherently (or don’t enjoy) our work. When essential good people who don’t make mistakes or characteristics are lacking in those at the naturally avoid wicked desires. We can top, our jobs can become unpleasant and recognize the fallenness of these men unsatisfying, creating a challenge to our and women, even as we give the respect attitudes. Being caught in the midst of this due to them.

When it comes to working with diffiawkward dilemma forces us to ask, How should I respond to this kind of leader? To dis- cult bosses, most often we need to resist cover the surprising answer we must first our natural inclinations, lest we fall into examine the truth about our work as set sin ourselves. A few practical lessons will help direct our thoughts in these situaforth in Scripture.

Work is fundamentally a good gift from tions so our lives become characterized God. As we consider our thinking about by Christlike perseverance. work, four statements can help us move • First, resist when you are called upon to do what is wrong. The Lord doesn’t expect toward a more well-rounded vision. us to engage in sinful behaviour • First, Jesus Christ is Lord over all of life • Second, resist when your conscience is • Second, life is not divided into the being violated categories of sacred and secular • Third, resist when innocent people will be • Third, the nature of your work is good, affected by your doing evil not evil Are there certain attitudes about work • Fourth, the way you do your work is a direct in general that you need to change? reflection on the One who called you to do it But what about those occasions when What are they and how will you seek to we find ourselves in the difficult situation change them?

“What If Your Boss Is Unfair and Disrespectful?” is from Chuck Swindoll’s series What If...?

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