Finding Peace beyond the Illusion of Control
Everything could fall apart. The darkest things imaginable could happen, except one: that God would lose one of us who has been saved by faith and fail to complete the work He has begun in us. We will see Jesus face to face in all of His glory. One day, all believers will inhabit a place without sickness, without tears, and without death. A place where it can no longer come undone, but this is not it.
There is something about me that always wants to be in control. If I am sick, I want to outlearn the disease and overcome it. If relationships start to fail, I want to be able to charm them back to life. We all desire control. I think this is why we buy into so many fad diets promising snake-oil results. I do not say this as a judgment on eating right; it is wise, but how much stems from the desire to bend reality to fit our ideals? If there is something I can do, then it is something I can control. “I am the master of my ship.” The desire to govern this world has even entered Christian circles. “If you can muster enough faith, all will go right. Positive thoughts create positive results.” The problem is it is not true. We could do all of this, and it could still fall apart. We are not the masters of our destinies.
With every peal of thunder, I realize that I am not the center of the universe. When it comes to orchestrating the master plan for creation, I am no more special than the other 7 billion people on the planet. We all tend to live as if we are, but it is a delusion. You and I could come into contact with something in this fallen world that could end our lives within a matter of days, and there is nothing we can do about it.
Once we are gone, our co-workers would remember us and then replace us. Sure, they may even put up a picture for a few years to commemorate our contribution, but they would continue without us. Our demise would most likely hit our family the hardest, but our children would move on with their lives just like we would want them to. Even the one we love, if the Lord wills, would find someone else to love and with whom to share the rest of their life.
I dislike thinking about these things, but it is good. It reminds me that the world is not yet how it should be, so I should not put my trust and hope in it. There is something eternal that deserves my devotion and attention. Something else should be my refuge.
Though storms swell around us, we have found salvation in the cleft of the rock: Christ Jesus. All the sins that caused us to be fearful of God have been forgiven. The great and righteous judge of the universe has reconciled us to Himself through the cross. Yes, we, sinners, are friends of God. He calls us His children.
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Heart and Mind
Written by Timothy Z. Witmer |
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
It would be a mistake to think that heart and mind are mutually exclusive or that they operate independently. The Scriptures identify the heart, the seat of affection, as the operating system for the rest. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). The orientation of the heart affects our thinking and our actions.When you first hear the terms heart and mind, perhaps you think of the Great Commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). Jesus is reminding His listeners that they should love the Lord with their whole being. While it sometimes seems as though these terms are used interchangeably, they can be distinguished from one another. The soul is often used to describe the entirety of one’s being that continues to exist eternally (16:26). The rest of this article will unpack the biblical nuances of the mind and the heart.
Most simply put, the mind concerns our thoughts. The heart reflects our affections, what we really care about. Concerning the Great Commandment to love the Lord with all our heart and mind, it is clear that we fall far short of this standard. In reality, we don’t even come close. The Scriptures teach that our hearts and our minds are corrupted by sin. Jeremiah teaches that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Concerning the mind, the Bible outlines the noetic impact of the first couple’s fall. Noetic comes from the Greek word for “mind” (nous). Speaking of fallen thinking, Paul writes, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” (Rom. 8:7).
It would be a mistake, however, to think that heart and mind are mutually exclusive or that they operate independently. The Scriptures identify the heart, the seat of affection, as the operating system for the rest. “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). The orientation of the heart affects our thinking and our actions, for that matter. Notice how the two are linked in Genesis 6:5: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The heart is the source of wicked intentions and thoughts. Paul links the two in Ephesians 4:18: “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (emphasis added). The reason for their “darkened . . . understanding” and ignorance is the hardness of their hearts.
Jesus makes the same connection when challenging His enemies on being superficial and legalistic: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). The connection is extended from the heart to our words and behavior.
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He Gave Gifts So That We Will Not Die
Written by A.W. Workman |
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Whatever our cooperative situation with other believers—be it church membership, ministry, the workplace, the family—let’s strive to more often view others through the lenses of sovereign gifts that might at some point save the day.We recently had a mini team retreat where we looked into the spiritual gifting and personality wiring of the different members on our team. At one point, one of my teammates quoted me as once telling him, “You have the strengths you do for a good reason. Sooner or later, they will save the day. We need your gifts, honestly, so that we won’t die!”
While we had a good laugh together about this particular melodramatic wording, I honestly stand by these words. Not only do I recognize the goodness of the diverse natural and spiritual gifts on my team, I need them. Even if we weren’t engaged in church planting somewhere like Central Asia. My belief in the sovereignty of God is such that I know that he has brought these particular teammates, for this particular season, because their gifts and strengths will be the key to making it through tricky and terrible situations. When I will not know how to thread the needle, when I simply won’t know what to do or what to say—somehow, one of them will. And it will make all the difference.
Consider this quote by Corrie Ten Boom: “This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”
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Should We Preach with a Wider Audience in Mind?
Newton genuinely loved his people. And they knew that he loved them. He wouldn’t use the pulpit to clobber them, to share their secrets, or anything of the sort. But he was often among the people and heard their hearts. This would inform his preaching. When he picked a text he likely had a conversation in mind. He always aimed to help his congregation. His passion for Christ and his congregation bled out into the pulpit. He spoke their language.
John Newton was not that great of a preacher. Newton preached during the time of great orators like Whitefield, Wesley, Davies, Tennent, and many more. Those who heard Newton were sometimes surprised that he had such a full congregation. He was sincere, orthodox, pious, but he was not “graceful in delivery”. Richard Cecil, a fellow Anglican clergyman, said this:
With respect to his ministry, he appeared, perhaps, to least advantage in the pulpit; as he did not generally aim at accuracy in the composition of his sermons, nor at any address in the delivery of them. His utterance was far from clear, and his attitudes ungraceful.
So why, in an age when preaching was at a premium, was a middling orator like Newton pastoring a congregation filled with people? Cecil gives the answer:
He possessed, however, so much affection for his people, and zeal for their best interests, that the defect of his manner was of littler consideration with his constant hearers: at the same time, his capacity, and habit of entering into their trials and experience, gave the highest interest to his ministry among them.
Newton genuinely loved his people. And they knew that he loved them. He wouldn’t use the pulpit to clobber them, to share their secrets, or anything of the sort. But he was often among the people and heard their hearts. This would inform his preaching.
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