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Insights Magazine is published by Insight for Living Canada, the Bible-teaching ministry of Charles (Chuck) R. Swindoll. Pastor Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading program in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry. We hope this publication will instruct, inspire, and encourage you in your walk with Christ.

I’ve never met a self-important, arrogant individual who has been well mentored.

Cover & Article Photo: Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

The Enduring Value of a Mentor

by Charles R. Swindoll

There we sat, a cluster of six. A stubby orange candle burned at the centre of our table, flickering shadows across our faces. One spoke; five listened. Every question was handled with such grace, such ease—each answer drawn from deep wells of wisdom, shaped by tough decisions, nurtured by time. And pain. And mistakes and mistreatment. Honed by tests, risks, heartbreaks, and failures. Decades in the same crucible had made this man’s counsel invaluable.

His age? 72. He had weathered it all—all the flack and delights of a flock. He had outlasted all the fads and gimmicks of gullible and greedy generations. He had known the ecstasy of seeing lives revolutionized, as well as the agony of lives ruined and the heartbreaking monotony of lives unchanged. He had paid his dues—with the scars to prove it.

We sat for more than three hours hearing his stories, pondering his principles, and probing his conclusions. The evening was punctuated with periodic outbursts of laughter followed by protracted periods of quiet talk. As I participated, suddenly, I was 26 again—a young seminarian and pastoral intern existing in a no man’s land between a heart full of desire and a head full of dreams. Long on theological theories but short on practical experience, I had answers to questions no one was asking and a lack of understanding about the things that really mattered. I was in great need of being mentored.

In flashbacks, I saw myself in the same room with this man 30 years earlier, drinking at the same well, soaking up the same spirit. Thirty

years ago, Ray Stedman had been my model; now he had become my mentor.

I’ve discovered that when individuals are young and gifted, the most common tendency is for them to drift toward arrogance and, sometimes, raw conceit. Almost without exception, when I detect conceit in individuals, I think to myself, They haven’t been mentored . Mentoring can inhibit drifting. I’ve never met a self-important, arrogant individual who has been well mentored. Arrogance doesn’t survive mentoring. A mentor points out blind spots and reproves you when you need to be confronted about your pride. A mentor won’t back off. A mentor relentlessly presses for excellence. A mentor cares about your character.

That was Ray. Thoroughly human and absolutely authentic, he had emerged a well-worn vessel of honour fit for the Master’s use. And that night around that little orange candle, I found myself profoundly grateful that Ray’s shadow had crossed my life.

Ray wasn’t my first mentor—nor would he be the last. When I began high school, I stuttered so badly I couldn’t finish a sentence. The last place I wanted to be was in front of an audience! You know what made the difference? A mentor named Dick Nieme.

When I began serving overseas in the Marine Corps and found myself unwillingly separated from my newlywed wife, I was self-focused, disheartened, lonely, and disillusioned. Seventeen months later, I returned home transformed... and impassioned for ministry. The differencemaker? A mentor named Bob Newkirk.

Another of my mentors, Dr. Howard Hendricks, said that every Christian needs at least three individuals in his or her life. We need someone who has come before us who mentors us. We need another beside us who shares our burden. And we need someone beyond us whom we’re mentoring. Otherwise, we grow stagnant.

How about you? Do I write to any today who feel past their prime and rather useless? Any empty nesters with no one left to influence? Let me assure you: you haven’t lived this long for nothing! There’s a younger generation in the family of God who yearns for your time...who needs your wisdom... who longs for a trusted mentor willing to impart the thumbprint of character on them.

Why do I say this with such conviction? Two reasons. First, it’s biblical. In Paul’s final letter to Timothy, we read these words: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2, NASB 1995). Entrust literally means to hand over “something to someone...for safekeeping.” I like that image. We invest the truth like a trust in the lives of others. We have a valuable message we pass along to others. Paul the Apostle entrusted his heart, soul, truths, confrontations, encouragements, affirmations—his very life—to Timothy.

The second reason I believe in mentoring is because I am the product of it. These men I’ve mentioned—as well as a few more—made a major difference in my life. They saw potential where I did not. They encouraged me to become someone more than I was. They reproved and corrected me. They pointed out my “blind spots.” They modelled what I longed to become. They made me want to be a mentor myself. As a result of being mentored, I learned the value of being vulnerable, open, unguarded, and honest—a person of authenticity.

I’ll never forget that evening with Ray Stedman, now more than 20 years ago. As I said goodbye to Ray that night, I walked a little slower. I thought about the things he had taught me without directly instructing me, the courage he had given me without deliberately exhorting me. I found myself wanting to run back to his car and tell him again how much I loved and admired him—my mentor. I wish I had done that.

And as I stood there alone in the cold night air, I suddenly realized what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Resting in Christ

Resting in Christ single CD message

What Journaling Can Do for You

by Charles R. Swindoll

In 1957 as I was packing to head overseas to serve in the Marine Corps, my brother tossed me a book. It was titled Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot. Reluctantly, I took the volume. Once I started it, however, I couldn’t put it down.

The best parts of the book were the journal entries of Elisabeth’s husband Jim. I determined that if a man could have that kind of intimacy with God, right to the point of death—and could leave the legacy of his thoughts in written form for the whole world—then perhaps there was something to keeping a journal.

I began journaling during my 16 months overseas. I saw my “thoughts disentangle themselves over the lips and through the fingertips,” a little saying I learned from a mentor who gave me my first journal.

As I have journaled off and on over the years, life has been distilled for me through time. I want to capture those thoughts and have a record for the little hands of a grandchild or great-grandchild to move through when reading about their granddaddy. Best of all, I want to keep a journal because it is an intimate conversation with God.

Here’s an example of something I wrote in the front of one of my journals: “Personal journal of my experiences as I waited on God for His guidance, beginning September 19, 1993, ending June 30, 1994.” That was one of the most tumultuous periods of my life as I sought the Lord’s will about my future ministry.

This journal also contains letters from close friends. It holds my resignation letter to a former church, as well as my feelings that followed

reading that resignation. The journal contains a chart I put together about the future of Insight for Living Ministries. Moving on, I find a letter from my youngest son and the inauguration ceremony notes at the beginning of my presidency at Dallas Theological Seminary. And right in the midst of it all, a prayer: “Lord, I praise Your name. This has become the breakthrough I needed and had asked of You as I waited.”

The journals I kept during that time cultivated a deep serenity in my quiet moments with Him. I was often reminded of what my mother used to say: “Roots grow deep when the winds are strong.”

Why do I share all of this with you? I want you to see how diverse my journal is. Some of the pages are hilarious! Don’t leave with the impression that if you begin to journal, you’ll become grim. You won’t. I think the discipline frees us and liberates us to enjoy life with the God who has given us the full spectrum of emotions. Webster’s defines journal as “a record of experiences, ideas, or reflections kept regularly.”1 Kept regularly. You have deeper thoughts than you realize, but they escape you because you don’t capture them. If you’ve never kept a journal, you may wonder how to start. Easy, really. Open it to the first page, put your pen to the paper, and write the very first thing that comes to mind. This isn’t an essay contest. No one will grade you. In fact, no one will see it but you. (More on that later.) You aren’t required to write anything profound. Just write. In that place of solitude, let the words begin to flow. Perhaps you can start by writing a brief prayer to your heavenly Father. A journal is not a record of how you’re spending your time; it’s actually a record of your spiritual journey. Don’t confuse it with your calendar, your organizer, or even your diary.

A journal is an exercise in which the process, not the product, is the most important result. That’s why I do not use a computer. I urge you to pour your thoughts onto paper, by hand, without concern for grammar or spelling or punctuation, without worry or apology, without thinking about how it will read later. The journal is a tool to help you and the Holy Spirit make the best use of your time alone.

A journal is an exercise in which the process, not the product, is the most important result.

Keep in mind that it is your journal, not something you write for someone else. I do not record my journey with God with the hope that someone will publish it someday. Yet my journals will become a part of the legacy I leave for my family after I’m gone. These words represent my deepest thoughts. They are my best and most intimate expressions, all handwritten. Journaling is worth the discipline it takes to cultivate the reward of intimacy with the Almighty. Remember Jim Elliot? In his journal are statements like, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”2 It’s those kinds of thoughts the Lord will give you when you discipline yourself to journal. I want that for you. Deep roots. Journaling will help make that happen.

1. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2007), see “journal.”

2. Jim Elliot, The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revel, 2004), 174

Discoveries

by Charles R. Swindoll

“C

an you see anything?”

What a question to ask! Howard Carter’s mouth and eyes were wide open when his aide asked it. His head was stuck into a timeless tomb. Beads of perspiration popped out on the British archaeologist’s brow. For six straight years he had been digging. Endless trenches. Tons of rubble. Huge chunks of worthless debris. Nothing!

It was 1922. For more than a score of centuries, archaeologists, tourists, and tomb robbers had searched for the burial places of Egypt’s pharaohs. It was believed that nothing remained undisturbed—especially in the Royal Valley where the ancient monarchs had been buried for over half a millennium. Because nobody felt there was anything left to be discovered, Carter carried on his pursuit, privately financed, with

only a few scraps of evidence to keep him going. Somewhere...somehow...he was convinced there was one remaining tomb. Twice during his six-year search he was within two yards of the first stone step leading to the burial chamber.

Finally—EUREKA!

Can you see anything?

That was like pilot Michael Collins on July 20, 1969, asking Armstrong and Aldrin, “Do you feel anything?” as moon dust formed puffy white clouds around their boots.

Peering into silent darkness, Howard Carter saw what no modern man had ever seen: wooden animals, statues, chests, gilded chariots, carved cobras, unguent boxes, vases, daggers, jewels, a throne, the wooden figure of the goddess Selket...and a handcarved coffin of a teenaged king. In his own words, he saw “strange animals, statues, and gods—everywhere the glint of gold.” It was, of course, the priceless tomb and treasure of King Tutankhamen, the world’s most exciting archaeological discovery. More than 3000 objects in all, taking Carter about 10 years to remove, catalogue, and restore. “Exquisite!” “Incredible!” “Elegant!” “Magnificent!” “Ahhh!” Words like this must have passed his lips dozens of times when he first whispered his way through that ancient Egyptian cocoon.

just the right expression to describe a feeling

the reason your stomach churns in certain situations

getting to know your child’s “bent” a technique that saves time and energy a simple way to communicate something complicated motivating those who work under your direction finding relief from needless guilt

There are few joys like the joy of sudden discovery.

Solomon talks about the greatest discovery of all. He puts it in words that describe the activity of a guy like Howard Carter—except in this case, he isn't searching for King Tut. Listen: My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.

(Proverbs 2:1–5, NASB1995)

There are few joys like the joy of sudden discovery. Instantly forgotten is the pain and expense of the search, the inconveniences, the hours, the sacrifices. Bathed in the ecstasy of discovery, time stands still. Nothing else seems half so important. Lost in the thrill of the moment, we relish the inexpressible finding—like a little child watching a worm.

Such discoveries have many faces... the answer to a lengthy conflict insight into your own makeup understanding the “why” behind a fear

Talk about a discovery! Hidden in the Scriptures are priceless verbal vaults. Silent. Hard to find. Easy to miss if you’re in a hurry. But they are there, awaiting discovery. God’s Word, like a deep, deep mine, stands ready to yield its treasures.

Can you see anything?

Is God Really in Control?

by Insight for Living

Do you ever find yourself wondering,

“Does God really have things in hand here, or is my life spinning out of control?” I have. Trusting in Jesus Christ at age 18, I soon concluded that if I simply did enough of the right things, my Christian life would be a steady climb toward maturity. Numerous setbacks and failures later, I still believed God was in control and had a purpose through it all.

But as my career, ministry, relationships, and spiritual life hit a series of dead ends, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe I had just been fooling myself. Instead of God being in control, maybe my life’s course had no real purpose after all. Maybe my mistakes were more than God could handle.

Haven’t we all looked at our lives at times and thought, “Can anything be made of this mess?” On the outside, at least, life at times looks bleak and chaotic. It often looked that way to people in the Bible. Think of Joseph sitting unjustly in a prison cell, David on the run from a murderous Saul, or Hezekiah facing an overwhelming Assyrian army outside the gates of Jerusalem. How had things gone so wrong? Was God’s plan still on course, or had He taken a vacation?

One of the writers of Scripture addressed this issue in a most unusual way. The book of Esther never mentions God, yet it relates a part

of Jewish history that has God’s fingerprints all over it. It’s as if the writer wanted to emphasize that God is active behind the scenes, even when things seem out of control.

Things definitely seemed that way for the Jews living in Persian exile. Being dragged off to a cruel foreign land was bad enough. Now, the king’s right hand man had talked him into signing a decree to exterminate the Jews. The details of the plan just happened to become known to a Jew named Mordecai living in the capital city. And this man just happened to have raised a beautiful Jewish orphan girl named Esther. Among countless candidates, Esther was the one selected as queen by the king, who incidentally had just demoted his previous queen.

This young woman—still a girl, really— had the inner fortitude to risk her life by approaching the king on behalf of her people. And the king just happened to have been reading the records of the kingdom, where he discovered that Mordecai had never been rewarded for uncovering a plot against the king’s life. So when Esther pleaded for the lives of her people, the king, who loved her, was now favourably inclined toward the Jews. Thus, the Jews were miraculously saved and their enemy sentenced to be hanged.

What a story of intrigue in the king’s court! And what a story of a young woman whose

faith caused her to trust in God’s providence, even when God’s plan for His people looked as though it would be permanently derailed.

The New Testament writers assure us that our Father does indeed have everything under control in our lives. Paul wrote that believers in Christ have been “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11, NASB1995). In other words, God has a plan, and nothing is going to derail His plan as a whole and for us individually.

However messy things

look on the outside, God is at work behind the scenes in our lives to accomplish His eternal purpose.

First, stay in God’s Word. When things get really bad, flood yourself with God’s Word. It’s the only way to consistently see things from God’s perspective instead of our earthly perspective. Second, don’t try to read the tea leaves. Don’t try to figure it all out. We’re not very good at it, anyway. Besides, when we try to make sense of what appears to be senseless, we are choosing to trust what we can see rather than the God we cannot. Accept that we are incapable of comprehending the complexities of so vast a universe.

The apostle acknowledged that life in this fallen world is a frustrating mess (Romans 8:20–23), but he says we can be assured that God is using even the smallest details and most insignificant events to accomplish His good purpose in our lives. That purpose is that we become like Jesus (Romans 8:28–29).

However messy things look on the outside, God is at work behind the scenes in our lives to accomplish His eternal purpose. And He will accomplish it, for His own glory (Ephesians 1:12). Even our mistakes, many though they may be, won’t thwart His plan. “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, italics added).

Like Joseph, we may ultimately understand in this life why God allows events to transpire as they do (Genesis 50:20). Or like many Old Testament saints, we may never be able to put the puzzle together this side of heaven (Hebrews 11:35–40). But that’s okay. We are not the tapestry-makers. God is.

Currently, we see only the back side of our life’s tapestry—a disorderly tangle of yarn. When we are tempted to doubt that a beautiful picture is actually being created on the other side, here are some things we can do.

Third, trust our heavenly Father. Trust that He is sovereign, that He does have everything under His control. And trust that He is good, that His heart is only a heart of love for us, and that He is weaving “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” for us (2 Corinthians 4:17).

How to Stop Expecting Perfection

by Charles R. Swindoll

Not being a bumper-sticker freak, I find myself turned off by most of the stuff people announce on rear windows and back bumpers. But years ago I noticed one I’ve never forgotten. For some reason, it stuck in my cranium as firmly as on chrome. You’ve seen it dozens of times:

CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PERFECT, JUST FORGIVEN.

The last time I saw it was on the back of a car that whizzed by me on the freeway while I was doing about 70 mph. The time before that, I saw the sticker on a parked VW bug

that had a ticket under the wiper because the meter was red.

Now before I emote all over this page, I need to set the record straight. There is no way we are ever going to convince all those outside the family of God that this bumper sticker is true. A few unbelievers understand, but most will never get it. Instead, most non-Christians will continue until their dying day being shocked and angered, and offended and blown away whenever a Christian shows even the slightest crack in his or her life. Of all the things unbelievers can’t seem to understand about Christians, God’s grace and human depravity confuse them the most.

• How can something as marvelous as forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation be free?

• How can that person claim to be a Christian and act like that?

Let’s allow the Lord to do the correcting and the finger-pointing and the demanding and the judging. Let’s grow up and stop being so nitpicking and condemning.

If you’ve spent much time talking to the lost about Jesus, you know how often those two questions get asked. They are stumped when it comes to the seeming incongruity of the grace of God and the humanity of Christians. Why? Because the unbelievers’ whole perspective is horizontal. Their earthly mind-set says: things that are valuable are costly. Therefore, it is inconceivable to them that something as priceless as heaven could be offered as a free gift. And there isn’t much grace running loose on the horizontal plane either.

Also, because the nonbeliever’s whole frame of reference is human-centred, it’s virtually impossible for them to imagine that an individual who claims to be in God’s family is one who still struggles with imperfection. After all, they’ll ask, “If you say God has come into your life and Christ has wiped your slate clean, how come you aren’t perfect?”

That’s the non-Christian way of thinking. They equate salvation with perfection—no wonder they’re confused! But Christians? Hey, we know better...and we certainly should. Being fellow members of one another, we understand that becoming a Christian in no way ushers us into a life of perfection—that erases our humanity and eradicates our depravity. If perfection actually happens at the moment we believe in Christ as our Saviour, then why in the world is the New Testament filled with the importance of obeying God after salvation? Why does it teach about forgiving one another, understanding each one’s failures, accepting their cracks, and focusing on their strengths (few though they may be)? It’s one thing for unbelievers to expect perfection—I can live with their expectation and tolerate it fairly well—but it’s most disconcerting to be pushed into a perfection mould by fellow Christian brothers and sisters!

Oh, I understand that our example is Christ... and that the standard is high...and that our motives are to be pure. But it needs to be repeated again and again and again:

CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PERFECT, JUST FORGIVEN.

How very easy it is to manipulate and victimize our Christian brothers and sisters! How quickly the thin thread of freedom snaps as heavy weights of perfectionistic expectations are laid on us! Christ Jesus never did that with those around Him. When people were near Him, there was incredible magnetism because of His absence of unrealistic expectations, subtle demands, and manipulative devices. Rather than using pressure tactics, He simply accepted people as they were.

Paralysis sets in when we struggle to breathe in the choking context of the perfection-expectation syndrome. Fed by fear and guilt, the Christian becomes a victim of fellow Christians rather than a victor in Christ.

Let’s back off! Let’s relax the stranglehold on each other. Let’s allow the Lord to do the correcting and the finger-pointing and the demanding and the judging. Let’s grow up and stop being so nitpicking and condemning. I love what the late Ruth Graham so wisely said: “It’s my job to love Billy. It’s God’s job to make him good.”

Replace the name Billy with the name of your mate, your parent, your friend, your boss, your missionary—and especially your pastor—and you'll begin to get the drift of the bumper sticker's message. What's more, you’ll be a lot easier to live with.

And so will I.

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