Don't Believe the Lie
by Jerry Parries
Dance of the Dirty, Rotten Sinners
by Chad West
Healing Our Image of God as Father
by Alex Early
Between Two Worlds
by Steve Brown
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
by Steve Brown
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
There are two worlds—two realities—and we cannot find our identity in both. Maybe it’s a good time to be reminded of who we are and how we can live.
I know it’s not a happy thought, but everything is going to decay and die. Nothing and no one is exempt. You can use the most expensive cosmetics, eat the best health food, have access to the top doctors, and exercise every day… but you are still going to die. This world is all going to pass away.
There is a second world. And it’s more real than this one. It will
never pass away. Occasionally it breaks through in the laughter of a child, in the final moments before falling asleep, and in the silence. That’s when we hear the sound of soft-sandaled feet.
In one world, there is death; in the other world, there is life. In one world, there is decay; in the other world, there is growth. In one world, there is manipulation; in the other world, there is freedom. In one world, there is force; in the other world, there is power. In one world, there is self-interest; in the other world, there is love. In one world, there is termination; in the other world, there is eternity.
So how can you, as a Christian, live supernaturally in that second world?
YOUR IDENTITY
If you’re a Christian, your identity is not in this world. It is found in Christ. You belong to him.
There are only three areas where you can find your identity. You can find your identity within yourself, but how long can you continue to tell yourself, “I’m great, wonderful, important and valuable”? Someday that will fall apart. You can play that game but not for long.
You can find your identity in other people. A seminary student told me about speaking in church one time. Half of the congregation started laughing and couldn’t compose themselves. The student thought they were making fun of him— What did I do wrong? What did I say? He finally looked down to notice a lizard climbing up to the top of the pulpit…to stare him in the face. He thought, Oh, my terrible pride. When we base our identity on other people, we can get devastated.
You can find your identity in Jesus Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Your identity is in Christ. You are valuable because he died for you. Your identity is in another world, an eternal world.
YOUR EFFORTS
Where you invest your effort counts. We are called to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is.”
Importance is never measured by worth, but by action. If my identity is with Christ, then I’ll invest my effort in that.
What is important to you? Don’t think about it. Do it.
What is important to you? Don’t
tell me. Show me.
We live, as it were, here in a small, cheap, one-room apartment…that is temporary. But our destination is a magnificent dream home. It will last forever. That is the direction of our effort.
YOUR MIND
In fifty years, all of us will be dead (some of us sooner than others)… and we won’t even leave a hole. That really puts things into perspective. What do you think about? How much do you engage your mind in ultimate and eternal issues?
God has given you, as a believer, the time and opportunity to focus your mind. Jesus said, “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:30-34).
I recently whined and complained to a friend about how I didn’t have enough time to do the things I wanted to do. It finally dawned on me that if I thought my time was less important, I wouldn’t be so upset about it. I had a pride problem. I just couldn’t let go of my control in order to be still enough to turn my mind to things of eternal value.
Wouldn’t it be great if we spent some time alone with God? We would then be able to turn our thoughts to the ultimate issues of the other, eternal world. Take time to be quiet. Take time to be still before the throne. Take time to listen. Take time to put things into perspective in the light of God’s presence.
YOUR POWER
Your life is “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Not only that, your hidden life will be revealed someday when Christ returns. It is a hidden power source that the world cannot now see.
A friend told me a story about his young daughter. One day she asked him after church, “Daddy, what did the preacher mean when he said that you have Jesus inside you?” He said, “Well, it means that when you put your faith in Christ, he comes to live inside.” My friend’s daughter, with a funny look on her face, then asked, “How big is Jesus?” Her father answered, “I don’t know. I guess he’s about 6 feet.” The little girl looked down at her little body and said, “You know, he’s going to stick out.”
That’s the point. Christ sticks out. Others may not see it but he sticks out. Christ is our power source. Our problem is that we try to get our power from other places…and always end up tired and frustrated.
Isaiah 40:31 is true—physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles; They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”
YOUR HOPE
This is not all there is. People will keep on dying until the clouds open up, the sky is torn asunder, the trumpets sound and the King of kings returns. He who has been our secret power source will then become the revealed power source of the entire universe.
Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). This means we shouldn’t be surprised by cancer, divorce, struggles with our kids, financial problems and the like.
Jesus’ statement doesn’t stop there though: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
So laugh. Live in God’s love, grace and freedom. You have something to look forward to. The other world will invade this world. Jesus Christ will return.
What do we do in the meantime? “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
So laugh. Live in God’s love, grace and freedom. You have something to look forward to.
DON'T BELIEVE THE LIE: 5 Lies the Enemy Tells the Believer
by Jerry Parries
I want to encourage people not to give up on God. Jesus really cares about your situation and He is pulling for you to win. When we are discouraged, we sometimes seek solutions in unhealthy places. When you are in pain physically or mentally, you want relief, and if we are not careful, we will medicate ourselves with unhealthy things. We have all done this. Our only hope is to run to the Father during these times and hide in Him.
Psalm 20:1-2 In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm. May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you
from Jerusalem.
If you are feeling this way, run to the arms of Jesus. He will help you. Don’t allow the negative feelings to overtake you. As my wife says, “Emotions are good passengers, but horrible drivers.” Don’t trust your feelings. The enemy uses feelings to derail you from God’s divine purpose in your life. Whatever you do, don’t believe the lies that the enemy tells you.
Remember that you are loved by God, beyond what you can imagine. The favor of God is over your life, and God gets pleasure pouring His grace over your life. Every Sunday I have our church repeat, “God is 100% pleased with you because of Jesus Christ!”
Understand that the enemy’s job is to keep feeding you lies about yourself and to convince you that God is not pleased with your life. There are 5 lies you will hear over and over.
Lie #1 “The church is not effective.”
The Bible says He will send you help from the sanctuary. It is in the church where you get your strength in fellowship with like-minded believers. The joy of the Lord remains
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our strength. This happens when you are connected to a good church.
Lie #2 “God will not be faithful to you.”
“God won’t keep His promises” is a lie from the pit of hell. God will always keep His promise to His children.
Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
God is so faithful to His word, the Bible tell us in 2 Timothy 2:13 (NLT). If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.
Lie #3 “God is not going to answer your prayers.”
James 5:16 (NKJV) The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
The word “fervent” means having or displaying a passionate intensity. While God is hearing us, some of us have stopped praying with passion and intensity. Please remember. Psalm 34:15-19 (NKJV) The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. You are righteous because of what Jesus has done for you, and every time you open your mouth the Father hears you.
Lie #4 “Your sins are not forgiven.”
This is the reason Jesus came to earth, His total purpose was to forgive you and take away your sin. Your sins are rescinded, you are right now Holy, blameless as you stand before God without a single fault.
Colossians 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
Do you believe that right now you are Holy, blameless without a single fault? This is the good news of the Gospel.
Colossians 2:14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
Lie #5 “We are not worthy of God’s love and blessing.”
1 John 3:1 (NLT) See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
Can you see God loves you so much that He has made you one of His children? That’s love. So, I encourage you to rest in God’s love. He is 100% pleased with you! Never believe the lies of the enemy. You are perfect in the sight of God!
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by Chad West
We hear about sinners sinning and we shake our heads and cluck our tongues. The fires await them, we think.
Then we bury our heads in our bibles and smile at how very holy we are. We attack people who believe differently than us as if they had erupted from a crack traveling up from hell itself. And we feel satisfied with ourselves and sing our songs and thank our God we’re not like them.
At times, God will show me something that I’m wrong about. I find myself humbled and thankful that he would be so kind to love me amidst such ignorance. Then, I encounter someone who is still wrong about that thing, and
I immediately judge them for not being as spiritual as me. There’s something about us that habitually turns the best of gifts from undeserved grace into deserved veneration in our minds. So we start to believe that God’s love began as grace but soon began to sprout from God’s admiration of our goodness.
The love of God should leave us breathless. Hit us square in the gut, silencing our doubts and fears of never being fully accepted. It should be the water which nourishes our faith. But the awe has worn off and we’ve patted God on the shoulder, telling him that we’ll take it from here. And, now, it's pride which feeds us, fertil-
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izing our hate. The one so deep in debt no amount of work could pay it back, freshly forgiven, is running the streets, pointing fingers at all the other debtors. We were all born ugly and we’ve found our beauty. Should we then use it to shame others? Because God’s goodness has been superimposed over our evil, is our evil now acceptable? When we can’t do what God desires of us, we don’t then humble ourselves before God as logic dictates, we raise up superficial deeds that can be easily accomplished as that which God desires. We baptize our opinions as law and wedge them into legitimate Scripture. These clownish replacements for God’s righteous demands make us feel superior, and so we stand judge over anyone who dares oppose us. But, until the church rejoices with the weak, shouting, “You too?” instead of scowling behind pious masks, we say Jesus’ death was a band-aid.
If it were ever about us, and our goodness, God would have sent a holy scoreboard for each believer. Instead, it is about what Jesus did. Just because we’ve accepted his love doesn't mean we’re better than others. We are humble receivers of a great gift.
We are the hungry, and having found food, we arrogantly judge other beggars for still being so hungry. What could be more beautiful than the undeservedly-loved shouting, singing and whispering that the loveless are loved too? Instead of berating them for their lack, we should nourish them with the happy news. But first we have to remember who we are and who God is. We are Sinful. And our sin runs deeper than too much drinking or marital unfaithfulness. Those are just symptoms of who we are. Our entire nature is evil. That’s what we’ve been saved from—ourselves. So, there is no room for pride.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
God forgave us so that our sin is no longer the issue. We no longer have the demand of impossible rules to earn the favor of God. It was given to us freely by Christ. So what makes us so prideful? Is it because we can’t accept that it’s all free? Is it because we feel better thinking we’ve contributed? Believing spirituality is as easy as wearing nice things to a church service.
But spirituality isn’t wearing a tie to church, that’s a cop-out for the real deal of loving so much it may break you in two, knowing that only God can put you back together. Our well-manicured Sunday go-to-meeting clothes are ridiculous replacements for a clean heart that only the death of God can provide. We bite our tongues to keep from saying four-letter words when our tongues are swelled with evil expressions for those not like us. But all any of us has is grace.
All you have is grace.
You are naked and think you’ve succeeded in covering yourself with the abundance of air around you. All you have is grace. We smell of death and the bones inside rattle when we angrily shake our bible at others, but we think the whitewash is good enough. We need a resurrection, not a paint job. We need to lose ourselves in the truth that we are loved not because of what we do, but wholly despite it. All we have is grace.
We are thieves and vandals, adopted by a good man who cancelled our debt and announced to the entire kingdom to put anything more to come on his account. Murderers and whores for whom God danced so violently when we came home that we couldn’t help but laugh and dance along.
The dance of the free.
The dance of the dirty, rotten sinners.
The dance of the forgiven.
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Healing Our Image of God as Father by Alex Early
STRUGGLING WITH GOD AS 'FATHER'
“Our Father in heaven.” Not every Christian can (or does!) pray those words to God with ease. I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately by other Christians in the church regarding how to go about relating to God as “Father” when one has an understanding of a father that is so skewed, so damaged, so beyond repair. Many people grew up with an abusive father, negligent father, or an absent father. For some, tragedy struck and our fathers died way too early leaving some questions unanswered, conflicts unresolved, and memories never made. Thus, for countless squirming saints in the Church, the idea of having or even wanting an intimate relationship
with God as “Father” is not only incomprehensible; it is altogether repulsive. Men are bad, corrupt, and fail. How on earth can I trust my heavenly Father? With things like this in mind, I’m often asked, “Alex, how can my image of God be healed?“
ONGOING RELATIONSHIP?
One of the most famous lines in the Bible is where Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father in heaven.” And he didn’t just teach us to pray those words in a disconnected vacuum; he took it further as he taught us to have an ongoing relationship with God understanding him to be good Father who provides for his children (Matt. 6:26), thus alleviating our daily worries about food, clothing, and shelter. So, for those that didn’t
have a human template to base this on, it is nearly impossible to grasp what Jesus is talking about, isn’t it? So, why’d Jesus teach us to pray this way when he knew that so many of us would struggle? Does he just expect all of our daddyissues to just vanish? And the answer is no. Here’s a couple of thoughts.
LOOK TO JESUS
First look to Jesus. At the Last Supper, Phillip said to Jesus “Show us the Father.” And rather than parting the sky and pointing into heaven, Jesus said something no Jew would’ve ever dreamt of saying, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9). The writer to the Hebrews says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb. 1:3). There are many more places where the Bible makes it explicitly clear that Jesus is God and is the perfect representation of God the Father. So what does that mean? How does that help heal my image of God the Father? It begins by understanding that every time you see Jesus doing something in the Bible,
you are to think “God the Father is just like that.” How does Jesus feel about hungry crowds? He feeds them. How does Jesus treat the woman caught in adultery? He forgives her and gives her her dignity back. And here’s the deal – that’s how God the Father is. So, if you’re struggling with relating to God as your heavenly Father, I’d say start there. Start with Jesus.
SAYING STUPID THINGS AT FUNERALS
My good friend Elliot came down to Atlanta a couple of months ago and spent the whole day with me and Jana. As we were talking he said, “You know, people say really stupid things at funerals, don’t they? Like, ‘Well, they’re in a better place now.’ Or ‘How are you doing?'” He’s so right. People do say really dumb things in really hard places! Maybe it’s out of the nervousness that fills the room where tragedy reigns. Maybe it’s the classic savior-complex that we all have, wanting to save the day and make the pain go away?
The Bible certainly says that God is “Father to the fatherless” (Ps. 68:5). But here’s some advice to Christians seeking to help, don’t just
jump to Psalm 68:5 so quickly. For many, this is a gunshot wound, not a scrape, and people need more than a pithy band-aid-theology that slaps a verse on deep-seated pain. God is a heavenly Father, not an earthly, biological father, and that painful truth becomes all the more real to those who are suffering. If someone’s invited you into their pain, their struggle, first thank them that they’d be willing to let you into such a tender place in their life. It is no small thing to be speaking about God, someone’s soul, and that relationship.
SOME MIRACLES TAKE A LIFETIME
So how do you heal one’s image of God as father? You and I don’t. But God can. That may sound trite, but it isn’t. I’m convinced that the healing of one’s image of God as Father takes time, patience, frustra-
tion, persistence, and vulnerability on behalf of the person who really wants that image of God healed. And it just may take a lifetime. If you’re struggling, I’d say first look to Jesus and get your picture of God by looking at his Son. Second, you need to know that it is okay if this takes a long time. All Christians are on a journey and none of us have it all figured out. Third, being that you’re processing so much, maybe tell your pastor or friend(s) how they could potentially help you in this area by asking you the right questions with the aim of teasing out what’s going on in your head and heart. Questions like, “What do you mean by that statement?” “How does what Jesus said sit with you today?” “How can I be praying for you?”
