Category: Lies we believe

How does Jesus Expect us to Work out Ephesians 4:32 in our Daily Lives?

Lisa M. Price5 Comments

Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also- Colossians 3:12b-13 NASB

Earlier this week as I was scrolling my social media feed I came across a post on boundaries. I know about boundaries. I read the book on boundaries.  I have even taught a couple of classes on boundaries.  I routinely advise folks I work with in ministry settings to set boundaries. I’m not unaware of what boundaries are, nor am I against setting them. Please don’t send me an email explaining boundaries to me. It will just make me feel misunderstood. 

That out of the way, I do feel compelled to share the experience I had with the Holy Spirit this week. I will warn readers ahead of time, this post might be challenging (offensive) to some. 

Okay, so.

I was reading through the post on boundaries and not really thinking too deeply about what I was reading. I certainly wasn’t bothered or offended by what I read. The author did not say anything I hadn’t heard before. Then (out of nowhere) a verse popped into my head. It was word-for-word perfect in the ESV translation:

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you- Ephesians 4:32

 I have been a Christian for a long time.  I know enough about how the Holy Spirit works to know that when a random verse pops into my head as I’m mindlessly reading an article it means something. At the very least, it means I’m supposed to go a little (lot) deeper and figure what God is trying to say (Hebrews 12:25). 

So, I dug deeper.

The word the Holy Spirit impressed on my heart was tenderhearted. So, I whipped out my handy-dandy Greek dictionary and looked it up. The Greek word for “tenderhearted” means to take pity on someone or to show mercy. Then I looked up “kind” in Greek. It means to be gentle, gracious and good natured toward others. At that point, I decided I might as well look up “forgiving” as well. It means not to exact punishment.  I concluded that Ephesians 4:32 could be translated:

Be good natured and gracious toward others. Take pity on people who don’t know better or don’t do better even when they know better.  Do not exact punishment on people because they annoy or hurt you.

I will not lie. I experienced some conviction. 

It occurred to me that people, even church people (me included) talk a lot about empathy, kindness, mercy and compassion. Nonetheless, it’s fair to say we have lost our way when it comes to living out the biblical commands to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving in our day-to-day lives (Luke 6:35, Romans 13:8, Colossians 3:12). Truth-be-told, many believers (me included sometimes) are taking their cues about how to treat people from the world rather than Jesus. The social media post I mentioned earlier serves as a relevant example. The writer (who I do not know) is a professing Christian who basically made a case for boundaries being the ultimate conflict resolution tool. They suggest that if anyone hurts you or even just annoys you, the best solution is to go “no” or “low contact”.  Conflict solved. The poster openly defined boundaries as cutting difficult people out of one’s life (1stJohn 4:1). 

What? 

Here’s the thing: cutting a person out of one’s life is not setting a boundary (John 13:35, John 15:12, 1stCorinthians 13).  God does not call His people to build thick walls to keep annoying people out of their lives (Romans 12:10). Anyone who believes ending a relationship without a really compelling reason (like genuine abuse) is God’s will or a good example of a biblical boundary is just plain wrong. Boundaries are meant to be like fences with gates that swing open on both sides, not walls that block contact with the outside world. God wants us to figure out ways to maintain and heal relationships not obliterate them (Romans 12:16, 2nd Timothy 2:23-25). Boundaries ARE about setting limits concerning what you will or will not do. Boundaries are not meant to punish people for past sins (Romans 2:1).  Unless a person is currently doing something truly egregious and stubbornly unrepentant (being annoying, rude or stupid is not egregious) Christians don’t cut people out of their lives.   Furthermore, cutting contact or even limiting contact with someone is not conflict resolution. Ending the relationship will halt the conflict, but it will never resolve anything. 

Moreover, what if Jesus started treating us the way we treat annoying people? We would be in all kinds of trouble. Every single one of us is annoying in some truly profound way. We are slow to learn, slow to obey and super stupid sometimes, especially if perfection is our standard.  We need Jesus to take pity on us daily and not punish us for our sin and stupidity. 

God commands His people to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:14-16). One way to do that is to take pity on others for their lack of consideration, wisdom and social grace. No where in Scripture are we told to view frustrating, rude or even mean people as impediments to our peace or as problems to be eliminated. Oftentimes God uses those very people (warts and all) to grow us and mature us into the image of Jesus.  We must never forget that God the commands to love others in spite of their deficiencies and irritating behaviors (John 15:12, Romans 12:10, Romans 13:8, 2nd Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 4:2). 

Just like He does with us. 

Satan’s Best Schemes-Updated for the Next Generation

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment


So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes- 2nd Corinthians 2:11 NASB 

A scheme can be defined as:

An underhanded plot or a plan, program or policy that is officially adopted and followed. 

 Satan has schemes (Ephesians 6:11, 2nd Corinthians 2:10-11, 1st Peter 5:8) and it certainly feels like he has a lot of them.  However, in reality, Satan really only has a short list of policies, programs, plans and plots. All his schemes are clever (in a terrible kind of a way) and cleverly designed to discourage people from getting into right relationship with God and/or keeping them from becoming all they were created to be. 

Although Satan’s schemes are relatively few in number, he has been refining and honing his strategies since the dawn of humanity (Genesis 3). As a result, he’s a pro at what he does. Satan’s best schemes are (and always have been) unforgiveness, distraction, distortion of God’s plan for sexuality, self-pity, division and idolatry.  There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Nonetheless, in recent years Satan has updated how he presents his best schemes for the latest generation. Following are the newest twists on some of Satan’s old favorites:

Unforgiveness- 

Unforgiveness is a winner for Satan because unforgiveness is a spiritual poison that slowly destroys our souls and makes us unfit to do anything good or life-giving with our lives (Matthew 6:14-15, Matthew 18:21-35). Choosing not to forgive keeps us inwardly focused and trapped in a prison of bitterness and hate that severely limits our potential and turns us into an ugly distortion of what God intended us to be (Hebrews 12:15).  In recent years Satan kicked all this up a notch by rebranding unforgiveness and hate as a weird kind of self-care. Satan (and the people he uses) want us to believe forgiveness is weakness and broken relationships are an indicator of “good boundaries” and “self-respect”.  This lie has led an entire generation into believing that refusing to forgive is somehow healthy and will bring them peace. It’s a brilliant but entirely devastating strategy. 

Distraction- 

There is nothing Satan loves more than a good distraction. Distraction is designed to take our minds off pleasing God and loving the people in our lives (Matthew 22:34-40). Distraction from those two things allows all kind of chaos and sin to take root in our own lives and the lives of the people we love most, especially our children. At one time Satan was limited to distracting us with basic things that still mattered to some degree, like work and recreation. Since the invention of the smartphone now we are frequently distracted from the things that matter most and the things that used to distract us from the things that matter most. The result is lives wasted on futility and meaninglessness.  

Distortion of God’s plan for sexuality-

God’s design for sexuality is not complicated and has not evolved over time. It’s one man with one woman for a lifetime (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:30-31). Satan has never been a fan of this plan because life-long fidelity and devotion will always produce good mental health, strong families and stable societies, and he hates those things.  However, in recent years Satan has put a new and clever spin on sexual deviancy by convincing folks that their sexual choices are not really choices at all but rather genetic and therefore unchangeable. This has led to all sorts of insanity including laws that forbid discussion about sin and how to get free of it. It’s also led to a lot of despair with people feeling trapped by behaviors they could get free of through a relationship with Jesus and some in-depth discipleship training.

Self-pity-

Satan has always adored self-pity because, if it’s allowed to fester, it embitters and ultimately turns the individual against God. When someone allows self-pity to take root, they cease taking responsibility for their own choices and blame God for every problem they have. Instead of looking to God for comfort and help they turn God into the source of all their misery and pain. This in turn makes them feel justified in turning to sin and substances (bitterness, cynicism, drugs alcohol, pornography, etc.)  to make themselves feel better. Self-pity went mainstream a few years back when the powers that be began elevating victimhood into a virtue. People have been taught that there is nobility in being a victim which makes the self-pity that goes hand-in-hand with victimhood a badge of honor rather than a spiritually dangerous indulgence (Ephesians 4:31, Acts 8:23).

Division- 

Satan has always treasured hatred and division. Division destroys friendships, churches and families (Jude 18-19, 2nd Timothy 3:1-5) Now that politics has become a religion to so many, even some Christians feel justified in dividing over the stupidest, most worldly, most temporal thing imaginable: politics. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. 

Idolatry-  

Satan loves idolatry because whatever we worship quickly becomes our number one priority and we will do whatever that idol demands in order to please and appease it. Thanks to a clever crusade courtesy of Satan no one in the western world worships weird little statues anymore. Instead, people worship themselves. Which just happens to be the most dangerous form of idolatry of all. Mostly, because there is no end to the depravity, selfishness and evil that can dwell in the human heart. When a person is living entirely to please self, they can justify a lot of evil in the name of self-care, wellness, good mental health and self-actualization. 

We cannot stop Satan from scheming, but we can resist his schemes (James 4:7, Ephesians 6:13). We resist the schemes of the enemy with holy, righteous, God-honoring behavior and love for all people (Hebrew 12:14, Romans 12:1, John 13:34, 1st Corinthians 13, Romans 13:8).  Resisting Satan’s schemes empowers us to become all God created us to be and, in the process, we show a dying world the way to life.  

It’s a win-win. 

How the Loss of One Truth Sent Western Culture Straight to Crazy Town-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us- 1st John 1:7b-10 NASB

Doctrinal teaching has fallen on hard times. 

Even many Christians are uninterested in learning the details of most doctrinal teachings. The attributes of God, redemption and justification by faith just don’t hold a lot of appeal these days. Although, perhaps, the doctrine that has fallen on the hardest of times is the doctrine of original sin. 

Nobody likes it.

Seriously. 

Even many Christians are uncomfortable with the whole concept. Original sin is a tough sell in a culture that is easily offended and obsessed with fairness.  Original sin is the belief that every human being is morally and ethically corrupted from the moment of conception by Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3, Romans 5:12, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Psalm 14:2-3). The doctrine of original sin teaches all humans are sinners from conception (Romans 3:23, Psalm 51:1-5). This means human beings cannot rehabilitate or fix themselves (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:3-7), we need God to do that for us. 

The above-mentioned gloominess aside, the criticalness of a doctrinal teaching is revealed by what happens when a person (or culture) stops believing it is true.  Most folks in the west stopped believing original sin was a reality about fifty years ago.  There are at least four ways the world has gone crazy town because we ditched the doctrine of original sin, including:

Criminals have become sympathetic victims rather than bad guys- 

Most western societies see criminals as victims and justice for actual victims of crime as unfair and unjust. Original sin teaches that all people (regardless of upbringing) have an inborn inclination towards evil. Conversely, most secular folks believe humans are born perfect and are corrupted by traumatic personal experiences or less-than-perfect parents. Christians believe even unredeemed people have a choice about whether they fully give into their sinful tendencies (Calvinists call this “common grace”). When a culture ceases to believe in original sin, bad behavior is no longer about choices it’s always about trauma and the whole notion of personal responsibility dies an ugly death. A criminal is not a criminal because they chose a life of crime, they are a criminal because of forces outside their control like poverty, abuse, suffering and neglect (Romans 2:5-8). The unintended consequence of this belief system is that our justice system often shows more compassion to lawbreakers than to law abiders (Isaiah 59:14-15). 

Parenting gets weird-

For generations parents have understood that kids are born with a tendency towards rebellion, bad behavior and disobedience (Proverbs 22:15, Ephesians 6:1). Even godless societies agreed it was the parent’s job to squash rebellion and steer children towards law-abiding behavior and decency. When parents stopped believing children were rebellious from birth all of sudden, they were forced to blame themselves and their own broken upbringing for the bad behavior of their kids. This has created a weird approach to childrearing where parents live in fear of traumatizing their children with any kind of discipline or even disapproval (Proverbs 13:24). As a result, children are oftentimes quite awful, and parents are unspeakably miserable when they should be enjoying one of the ultimate blessings of human existence (Psalm 127:3-5) 

Becoming our most authentic self suddenly seems like a great idea-

The death of original sin gave birth to the whole notion all people should do their best to “become my most authentic self”. This whole idea of finding our authentic self is unbelievably popular today. Nobody even questions whether this is something we ought to be doing. However, if one looks a little deeper at the fruit of this view it becomes clear that “being my most authentic self” is at the root of transgenderism, sexual deviancy, adultery, many divorces and most child neglect.  This is because as fallen beings our most authentic self is our sin nature. Consequently, our most authentic self is typically weird, sinful, selfish, vulgar and wants what it wants when it wants it (Ecclesiastes 6:1, Genesis 6:5). None of this nonsense should be celebrated or pursued. 

Everyone gets their own truth- 

Believing the lie that people are inherently flawless, logically leads to the belief that what each individual person thinks or believes is always right and true. Because no one wants to start calling people out for being wrong, we have instead conceded that everyone is entitled to their own individual truth. The truth each individual holds does not have to be provably true it just has to be believed by the individual. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to determine that eventually my “truth” will conflict with someone else’s “truth” at some point. This is when things get ugly because we all know deep down inside there cannot be multiple truths.

The fruit of denying the reality of original sin is clearly rotten. Sadly, we cannot force unbelievers to believe any Christian doctrine. However, as Christians we can see to it that we are walking in truth (John 8:32) and teaching truth to the next generation. When we walk in truth we instantly become the salt and light this world needs (Matthew 5:13-16)

Myths Christians Believe about God Guaranteed to Produce Spiritual Chaos-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, to remain on at Ephesus so that you would instruct certain people not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths- 1st Timothy 1:3-4a

One definition of a myth is:

An unproved or false collective belief.

Most myths are relatively harmless, others not so much. It’s no big deal to believe in the loch ness monster. Believing that myth will likely have zero impact on your life (other than people thinking you’re a bit odd).

However. 

There are myths that do cause all sorts of problems. The most destructive myths are the myths we believe about God, ourselves and how we ought to relate to or interact with God. These myths keep us ensnared in wrong thinking, sinful patterns and relational dysfunction.  Because spiritual myths impact how we live out our faith we must take time to examine our behaviors and thinking on a regular basis. Routine self-examination prevents us from wandering from the truth (2nd Corinthians 13:5). 

Following are just a few of the most damaging spiritual myths out there:

God just wants me to be happy-

God has nothing against happiness. In fact, it could be argued by the sheer number of celebrations God mandated in the Old Testament that God loves celebrations and delights in human happiness. However, happiness is not God’s number one goal for our lives.  Mainly because God is far more concerned with our holiness (Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 4:27, 1st Peter 1:14-16). God’s number one goal for us is to become as much like Jesus as humanly possible (Romans 8:28-29, Romans 12:2). Becoming like Jesus is no easy task for sinful people, sometimes it takes a little bit of adversity and hardship to make it happen. God allows hardship and difficulty because it reveals our selfishness and wrong thinking. When these things are revealed, we have an opportunity to let go of sinful behaviors and wrong thinking and put on new behaviors and attitudes (Colossians 3, Romans 12). If we let go of old behaviors routinely, over the course of time we will begin to look and act like Jesus. 

I should never pray for myself- 

This myth sounds super-spiritual, after all what could possibly be more spiritual than choosing to pray only for others?  It’s not spiritual. Believing this particular myth pretty much guarantees that you will never become a spiritually mature Christian. This is because there are some things you know about you that no one else could possibly know.  No one else could know if you covet, have a critical spirit or have a problem with lust, and all of those sins will trip us up and keep us from becoming mature in Christ.  Don’t get me wrong, it is critical we pray for one another (James 1:16). However, it is equally critical we ask God to help us to grow past the sins and wrong attitudes that are tripping us up and keeping us from authentic transformation.   

It’s a sin to be tempted-

I have met a surprising number of individuals who believe that being tempted to sin is the same as sinning because of what Jesus said about lusting in Matthew 5:28. The conclusion these folks draw from Jesus’ teaching is that if they have already committed adultery (or whatever) in their heart so they should just go ahead and do the deed. This is terrible theology that ignores a whole pile of Scripture that commands us to resist temptation rather than give into it (Ephesians 6:13, Hebrews 12:4, James 4:7). 

If I share about Jesus (or biblical truth) and people reject Him (or it) I’m doing something wrong- 

To be a Christian, we must accept some hard truths. We must believe we are sinners and that we have no way to save ourselves (Romans 3:23). We must also accept the fact that God expects us to repent of our sins and live life His way (Matthew 3:12, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30). Some people find these truths to be too much and reject them. It is critical we understand people rejected Jesus when He shared hard truths (John 12:48, Luke 10:16) and servants are never above their master (John13:16). Therefore, it makes sense that sometimes people will reject truth no matter how well or compassionately it is presented. Our job is to present truth as honestly and winsomely as possible and to pray for those who reject truth. Sometimes they come back when they are ready to live those truths out.

What I do matters more than what I think- 

What we do does matter. I am in no way an advocate of cheap grace or easy believe-ism. However, all our wrong behavior starts with what and how we think (Matthew 15:18-19).  Therefore, if we change our behavior without getting our thinking in alignment with God’s word we will always go back to the wrong behavior (Proverbs 26:11). 

And finally,

What I do in church is my ministry-

 It is, but it also isn’t, our true ministry is what we do and how we behave when we aren’t in church. Ministry is how we treat people and live our lives. Our ministry is the level of kindness, generosity and integrity we show to the world.

Getting free of these spiritual myths empowers us to be free to be all Jesus wants us to be (John 8:32). 

How Doubting God’s Love Leads to a Crazy Cycle and how to Fix it-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever. For the Lord loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly-Psalm 37:27-28 NLT

God loves me. 

Personally.  

He loves you too—personally—God loves every individual human on earth so personally, deeply and passionately that He has been motivated to do some kind of crazy things. Like taking on human form so He could willingly die as a sacrifice for the sins of people who were and still are mostly ungrateful and disinterested in Him (John 1:4, John 3:16, Hebrews 2:14-17). God loves us so much He didn’t care that we didn’t care.  He still chose to die on a cross so He could pay the penalty for the sins of every human who has ever lived (Romans 3:23). As a result, literally anyone who chooses to put their faith and trust in Him will be forgiven for their sins (no matter what they are) and spend eternity with Him (John 3:36, Romans 6:23)

That’s a lot of love. 

All that is the key reason Christians believe (and teach) that God doesn’t just love people, God IS love at the core of who He is. 

BUT…

What if someone does not believe God loves them? What if that someone is a Christian? 

It happens. 

Lots of Christians struggle to believe God loves them personally, sometimes without realizing it. Typically, at the root of this kind of doubt doubt are bad experiences, unrelenting trials, trauma and/or deep loss. These kinds of experiences can leave believers doubting God’s love for them. This has a massive impact on how we live out our Christian faith.  

Maybe you’re one of those people who doubts God’s love. Maybe you know someone who doubts God’s love for them. 

This matters because we cannot be wrong about ANYTHING—even a dumb thing—without some sort of consequence. If being wrong about a dumb thing (like what the weather is going to do) has consequences, then being wrong about something as serious as God’s love is bound to create some ugly issues. 

Truth-be-told it’s almost impossible to trust someone when we don’t believe they love us or have our best interest at heart. So, when painful life experiences cause us to doubt God’s goodness and love, it can cause us to stop trusting God. When that happens, we start doing things outside of God’s will for our lives to protect ourselves from further pain and loss. Oftentimes, we stop asking God for wisdom and guidance, instead, we make plans and ask God to bless them. 

This is always a bad idea. It causes us to do dumb, harmful things. We get into bad relationships and make poor financial decisions. When we doubt God’s love we end up running around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for something or someone to help us do life instead of simply asking God to help and then trusting Him to provide the help we need. 

This leads to a crazy cycle. 

 When our prayers don’t get answered the way we were hoping we stop praying. It then gets harder to hear God’s voice. Which simply reaffirms our (wrong) belief that God doesn’t care. We end up doing more of our own thing than God’s thing. This leads to more negative consequences which lead to further belief God doesn’t love us. Which leads to more of the same bad stuff. 

I told you it was crazy.  

To break the crazy cycle, we must tell ourselves the truth, so that we can get back to a place where we are trusting God (Proverbs 3:5-6). It’s simply a fact that God does love us (Romans 5:8, Romans 8:37-39, 1st John 3:1, 1st John 4:9). God doesn’t lie about anything, so He wouldn’t lie about loving us (Numbers 23:19). It’s also critical we acknowledge the reality that God does not CAUSE people to do evil and hurtful things (Ephesians 6:12, Psalm 145:9). Humans have freewill and sometimes they use their freewill to hurt others (Genesis 50:20, Psalm 27: 1-14, 2nd Timothy 3:1-5, Revelation 21:8). Unfortunately, innocent people get caught in the crossfire of all that freewill. 

God grieves when that happens. 

 It’s also critical we understand that God loves us too much JUST care about our personal happiness. God doesn’t want us to be miserable. He’s not a jerk. However, ultimately, God is much more concerned with the state of our souls than with our momentary happiness. God’s primary desire for all people is that we become conformed to the image of Jesus so that we are ready for all the good things God has prepared for us in eternity (1st Corinthians 2:9). Unfortunately, human beings are a stubborn lot. Sometimes our stubbornness leads to some self-inflicted hurt. 

But that doesn’t mean God doesn’t love us. It just means He will use anything, even self-inflicted pain or our own foolishness to mold us into the image of Jesus.

And finally,

It really helps to cultivate a heart of gratitude when we are doubting. Gratitude is a game changer when doubt creeps into our hearts. Thankfulness opens our eyes to all that God has done and is doing in our lives. A healthy dose of gratitude can literally evaporate spiritual doubt. Gratitude is seeing and acknowledging our blessings. When we do that, we cannot help but know that God is good.

The Trouble with the Grumblies-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life- Philippians 2:14-15 NIV

I recently began reading a fictional story about the Exodus. 

The story is written from the point of view of Aaron (Moses’ older brother and the first High Priest). The writer (Francine Rivers) focuses on what Aaron may have felt or thought. It (almost) goes without saying that no one could actually know what Aaron (or any other dead person) thought or felt.  Therefore, like all fictional stories about the Bible, it should be read with a healthy measure of discernment and not be given the same credibility or authority as the biblical account.  

That little disclaimer out of the way.

I am enjoying the story. It’s made me think more deeply about a biblical account that truth-be-told has never been one of my favorites. 

The story itself is a great story. After generations of brutal slavery in Egypt (Exodus 1:8-13). God chose Moses to liberate the decedents of Abaraham, Isaac and Jacob. God sent a series of plagues to mock the Egyptian gods and punish the daylights out of Pharaoh for his sin and stubborn refusal free God’s people (Exodus 5-12). God worked things out in such a way that when the Hebrews departed Egypt their oppressors gave them gifts that more-or-less set them up to begin their new life. As they were leaving God parted the Red Sea to allow the Hebrews pass through while the Egyptians who reneged on their promise to let the Hebrews go were drowned (Exodus 14). Then God miraculously provided for the Hebrews physical needs by sending them honey-flavored wafers each morning (Exodus 16). God also sent a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night to guide them exactly where they needed to go (Exodus 13:21-22). 

It’s good stuff. Until its not. 

The bad news is that it took the Hebrews approximately fifteen minutes to totally forget every good thing God had ever done for them. Rather than expressing gratitude, wonder and awe at God’s miraculous provision and care the people got a nasty case of the grumblies and found fault with everything God did and provided.

It’s super gross.

 In its most basic form grumbling is complaining. However, grumbling never ends with a bit of belly aching. It always includes ungratefulness and finding fault with God and others (especially leaders) (Romans 1:21). 

Grumbling is bad.  

Grumbling and the nasty things that go along with it (fault finding and ingratitude) were the reasons God let the Hebrews wander in the desert like a bunch of fools until the entire generation died (Numbers 14:28-34). Grumbling was at the root of every unpleasant consequence the Hebrews experienced throughout Exodus and Numbers. Unfortunately, grumbling is not strictly an Old Testament problem (John 6:43-66, Jude 1:16, 1st Peter 4:9). Sometimes people see grumbling as “discernment” or “an awareness of issues”. The difference is that discernment always sees a solution whereas grumbling faithlessly focuses on the negative.  Grumbling and fault finding are sins anyone can fall into, sometimes without knowing it. Following are just a few reasons to be on the lookout for the sin of grumbling in our lives:

Grumbling transforms our hearts-

Grumbling inevitably transforms people into an awful version of themselves. Once a person starts down the path of grumbling and faultfinding their heart undergoes a profound and ugly change. They become blind to the good and their complaints (even if they are groundless) begin to feel reasonable and even wise. Grumbling always leads to a profound lack of self-awareness in ourselves.

Grumbling is indicative of bigger problems-

Grumbling is typically the fruit of a heart that has either lost connection with God or never had it (Matthew 7:17-19, Matthew 12:33). Consequently, grumbling is always a sign of underlying sins like pride, bitterness, jealousy, selfish ambition and thanklessness (Psalm 31:18, James 3:14-16)

Grumbling destroys families, churches and friendships – 

Unhappy families, dysfunctional churches and fractured friendships always have one thing in common: at least one grumbler. Grumblers never keep their feelings or opinions to themselves. Nor do they work out the problems they have with people in a healthy way. Instead, they gossip, backbite and nurture their anger until it hardens into bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). This inevitably produces division and strife. Division and strife lead to broken relationships, fractured families and split churches (Acts 8:23, Galatians 5:15, 2nd Corinthains 12:20, Ephesians 4:31, Proverbs 16:28). 

Grumblers have issues with authority-

One way to know if you (or someone else) is a grumbler is to take a hard look at how you/they respond to authority. A grumbler almost always develops an issue with the authority if not right away, over time. Grumblers long for control, therefore, they struggle with authority. They want the final word, and they struggle to submit to anyone—even God. 

Yikes. 

Here’s the thing:

Grumbling is bad. Really bad. Nonetheless, it’s not hard to prevent grumbling or even to stop it once it starts. Loving God through a daily practice of worship, praise and thankfulness is the antidote to grumbling, fault finding and lack of appreciation for our blessings. If we combine praise and gratitude with a commitment to dealing with issues quickly and forgiving others from the heart, we are guaranteed to keep the grumblies at bay. 

The Spiritual Lies that Keep Christians from Experiencing “the Abundant Life” Jesus Promised-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind.  And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it- John 1:4-5 NASB

In John chapter ten Jesus makes a truly incredible statement about Himself, salvation and how the Christian life is intended to work itself out in the lives of His followers. Jesus calls Himself the door to life and says that if anyone comes to Him that person “will have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:9-10). 

It’s an astonishing declaration.

Seriously.  There’s a reason there are so many tee-shirts, throw pillows and refrigerator magnets emblazoned with John 10:10.  However, current reality begs a critical question: if Christianity is all about an abundant life why are so many Christians so dang miserable and obviously not experiencing this “abundant life”?

 It’s because we’re doing it wrong. 

Really, we are. My goal here is not to be offensive just honest. It is true there are some Christians are doing the Christian life right but most just aren’t. This demonstrated by the fact that many Christians (by my estimation eighty percent or more) live double lives. They struggle with a big giant ugly sin or problem they don’t want anyone to know about. It might be a cruddy marriage, a drug or alcohol problem, a porn addiction or some other issue with sexual immorality. Some secretly battle debilitating spiritual doubt. These and other issues prevent believers from enjoying the benefits of the abundant life Jesus promises. 

There are all sorts of reasons Christian’s struggle. Usually, at the root of the problem there is a lack of proper discipleship training coupled with belief in one or more common spiritual lies. 

Starting with:

I can do what I want-

Christians have been taught for decades that it doesn’t really matter what we do because God is going to love us no matter what. Like most spiritual lies this one has a seed of truth at its center. God’s love is immutable (unchanging, unalterable, permanent). This means there is nothing anyone can do to make God stop loving them. Period. However, the aim of the Christian life is not to simply to be loved and adored by God (being loved by God is a byproduct of the Christian life not the goal). The aim of the Christian life is to be transformed into God’s image (Romans 8:29, Romans 12:1-2, 2nd Corinthians 3:18). Here’s the thing: ultimately, we are the sum of our choices. We become what we do (Psalm 125:4-5, Jeremiah 4:22, Jeremiah 13:23, 1st Timothy 6:17-19). If we want to live an abundant life, we need to do our best to live the life God calls us to live in Scripture (Colossians 3, Romans 12, 2nd Peter 1:3-11). Choosing to ignore scriptural teaching is direct disobedience that keeps us from becoming like Jesus. Disobedience is also the fast-track route to becoming an ineffective and profoundly miserable Christian (1st Samual 15:22, Psalm 51). 

The right thing can wait-

 Oftentimes we (me included) are fully aware there is something specific God wants us to do (forgive, pray, connect with someone, help someone). Because God almost never asks us to do anything that’s easy or convenient, we will put the thing off until “later”. Too often “later” means never. When we don’t follow through on God’s instruction, we never experience the elation of having God work through us. Experiencing God’s power working through us is the most satisfying thing in all the world. It always leads to a desire for more (Psalm 119:60). 

It’s okay to do the Christian life alone-

One of my routine spiritual practices is to say the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) every day. It reminds me who’s in charge and what life is really all about. One surprising feature of the Lord’s Prayer is that there are no singular pronouns such as “I”, “my” or “me” in it. Instead, Jesus uses the plural pronouns “us” and “our”. This is not an accident, poor translation or crummy grammar.  It’s a clue we should pick up on.  Christianity (if it’s done right) is not just a private thing we do with God, it’s a corporate thing we do with God and the “the body of Christ” in community (Romans 12:5, 2nd Corinthians 12:12-27). On a practical level this means all of us should have a church we routinely attend, at least one close friend with whom we can be honest about our sins (James 5:16) and a group of Christians we love and feel accountable to. 

I don’t have to apply all the truth I know-

You do.  At least if you want to hang on to that truth. Jesus makes it clear that wisdom and truth are “use it or lose it” propositions (Luke 18:18).  Furthermore, the more willingly we apply the truth we know the more truth we will be given. Unfortunately, many Christians (me included sometimes) believe they can hear a truth and ignore it until obedience becomes expedient. The problem is that obedience is NEVER expedient and so we will never obey if we wait until it works for us. 

And finally,

Holiness is legalism.  

It’s not.

Holiness is a powerful state of existence we get invited into by the most powerful creature in all of existence (Ephesians 1:4,1st Peter 1:15). Holiness is choosing to be like God: set apart, unique and different in the very best sense. Holiness is partnering with God to fulfill His purposes in this world. Holiness is living out what we were made for and it’s the secret to doing Christianity right. 

What is a Spiritual “Loin” and how do we Gird Them?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free- John 8:32 NIV

I am not a Bible translator. 

However.

I do know enough about the Bible and Bible translation to know there are words and phrases frequently misunderstood by readers due to an awkward translation from the original language (Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic) into English.  Occasionally a translation issue arises because there is not a truly suitable English word to use in place of the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. Most of the time translation problems occur because the translator really is simply attempting to make a difficult concept easier to understand or less weird for the modern-day reader.

Ephesians 6:15 is (in my opinion) an example of this.  

In Ephesians 6:14 Christians are told to “put on the full armor of God”. The purpose of doing so is to prepare ourselves spiritually to stand our ground against the devil and the various schemes he plots against us. In verse fifteen most contemporary translations tell us the very first step in the “putting on” process is to have: 

 “the belt of truth buckled around your waist”.

Here’s the thing:

I do not like to Monday morning quarterback in a field I am not an expert in.  Mostly because it me makes look like a prideful, dumb jerk. Nonetheless. In my opinion using the word “waist” here lacks accuracy and has led to some confusion as to what the passage is actually saying.  

 In the original Greek, the NASB and a few older translations, it simply says:

“Gird up your loins with truth”. 

There are some really good reasons translators would choose waist over loins. Loins is a weird word. It just is. It makes people uncomfortable and it begs all sorts of questions, such as: 

Does the word loins mean what I think it means? 

How does truth protect my “southern regions”?? 

What does that have to do with any of this? 

For reals. 

The Greek word used in this passage is osphus and it means exactly what you think it means. It means loins, as in loins. As in our inner thighs or to put it more bluntly (and accurately) the part of our bodies that we use to make babies.  

So. 

Here’s some facts we know about our physical loins:

Our loins are the most personal, private place on our physical bodies.  No one (except a few weirdos) shows their loins to complete strangers. Having our loin area exposed is humiliating, so we keep them covered up. Normal people do not make a practice of discussing their loins with anyone. It’s just too weird and personal.  If our loin area gets punched or kicked, it hurts. Really bad. It does not matter if the person is male or female— a blow to the loin area devastates a person’s ability to function, sometimes for a good while. 

Here’s the thing. 

We all have spiritual, emotional and psychological places every bit as vulnerable and sensitive as our physical loins. We all have areas of shame and regret. We have all had experiences we don’t like to talk about—or even think about. When one of those places is exposed or hit in some way (triggered), it hurts like the dickens and we feel broken and shattered. 

These are the places Satan likes to hit the hardest (1st Peter 5:8). 

Satan kicks at our metaphorical loins by reminding us of all the stupid sinful things we have done or have had done to us. He tells us the trauma we have experienced left us damaged beyond repair.  He tells us our past or present sin has disqualified us from ever being used by God in a significant way. Satan tells we are defined by what do and if we don’t do enough or do things the “right” way we are failures. He tells us we are worthless and completely lacking in value. 

All Lies. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Straight from the literal pit of hell. 

The first verse in this formative passage on spiritual warfare tells us that the very first thing we must do to defend ourselves against the enemy is to protect our most sensitive emotional places WITH THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD (John 8:32). Satan attacks us with lies about ourselves, about God and about other people and what those people think about us (John 8:44)

If we do not know the truth about who we are in Christ, where our true value comes from and what God really thinks of us those lies will shake our confidence in the goodness and forgiveness of God, and make us want to quit Christianity altogether. It will leave us unable to function spiritually. When that happens, we’re done for emotionally and rendered useless for the good works we were created for (Ephesians 4:10) 

The secret to protecting our spiritual loins is to know who God is and who we are in Christ. We have to know deep down in our knower that God is good and kind (Psalm 84:11, Isaiah 63:7, Acts 14:16-17) We have to realize that when we put our faith in Jesus and His resurrection we were at that moment made clean by Him (Hebrews 9:14, Acts 13:38, 1st Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 1:4). We have to believe that when Jesus forgives us it’s a done deal. God does not go back and relitigate our sin every time we mess up or make a mistake. We have to accept that God’s love for us is real,  unchanging and endless (James 4:7)

We have to believe God is who He says He is. 

The Latest bit of Bad Theology Going Around-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment


She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins- Matthew 1:21 NASB

Theology is not a popular topic these days. Many view theology as a mind-numbing waste of time only relevant to a few eggheaded old guys in sweater vests. 

It’s a lie from the pit of hell.

Theology matters. A lot. 

Good theology is instructive and useful in very practical ways.  Good theology empowers Christians to understand God and love Him more. What a person believes about God and His goodness makes a huge impact on how they work out their salvation (Philippians 2:12). Good theology helps non-Christians to grasp their need for God.  What a person believes about God and His character will influence whether they become a follower of Jesus at all.

Conversely, bad theology is the root cause of spiritual dropouts and at the heart of most spiritual malpractice. When Christians impose their erroneous opinions about God on people who don’t know better those folks inevitably get hurt and become bitter (Hebrews 12:15). Many leave the church, those who don’t leave spread their bitterness and bad theology.  Bad theology drives people away from Jesus by giving them the wrong idea about Jesus. Bad theology blinds seekers to truths necessary to understand salvation. Bad theology can even lead to sin in some situations. 

Most bad theology is not obviously bad. Very little bad theology is an obvious pack of crazy pants lies. If this were the case only very dumb people would get sucked into believing bad doctrine. At its core, most bad theology is really just a small kernel of truth encased in a whole bunch of half-truths and/or errors regarding what the Bible really says. The seed of truth conceals the lies, and the lies blind people to the truth. 

Which brings me to the subject of this post. 

There is a popular Christian teaching making the rounds that is an excellent example of bad theology. Those who have bought into this heretical theology do not know what they don’t know about salvation. What they do understand is probably not adequate to get anyone saved. This teaching revolves around Jesus, why Jesus came into the world and what salvation is ultimately all about. 

The teaching basically goes like this: Jesus came to earth because He wanted to be with us. That’s it. He loves us so much He just wants to be with us. However, He can’t do that until we let Him in. Once a person lets Jesus into their life, He just wants to be with them. Jesus wants to hang out with us and let us get to know Him and experience His presence. 

It sounds awesome, because at the core of this teaching there’s some important theological truth. However, it simplifies some complex realities, skips over some important stuff and, like most contemporary bad theology only focuses on the good stuff that makes its hearers feel good (2nd Timothy 4:3-4). 

It is one-hundred-percent true that Jesus came into the world as baby and grew into a man so He could restore relationship between God and humanity (John 3:16, Galatians 2:20). It is also totally true that God wants to be with us (Matthew 1:23). Human beings were literally created to have relationship with God and reflect His goodness (Genesis 1:26-28, Psalm 16:11, Psalm 21:6, Jude 1:24, Revelation 3:20). 

Okay, so here’s the tricky part:

Jesus did not come to earth as a baby simply so He could “be with” His creation. Jesus already knew enough about humans to know people are much too sinful for a holy God to simply hang out with (Isaiah 64:6, Jeremiah 17:9, Ephesians 2:1-3). God is perfectly holy (Isaiah 6:2-4, Revelation 4:8). God is so holy He cannot be in relationship with anyone who is unholy, unrighteous and unwilling to do life His way.  Jesus also understood that humans are incapable of being good even when God tells them exactly how to do it. God gave the law to help people understand their own unholiness and need for God. Sadly, most folks who followed the law just become bloated with pride and self-righteousness (more giant sins). All people sin. Sin, unrighteousness and rebellion separate us from God forever and make it impossible for anyone to “be with God” (Romans 3:23, 1st John 1:8)

So. 

Because humans are sinful Jesus came to earth as a baby. Jesus is God so He had the power and ability to redeem us: or buy us back from the penalty of sin. The penalty of sin is death and eternity in hell (Romans 3:23). Because Jesus was perfect in every sense and because He was both God and man. He was able to take all our sin, unrighteousness, rebellion, pride and overall ickiness on Himself when He died on the cross. His death paid the price we all deserved to pay for our own sin.  

That’s what it took for God the “be with us”. 

When we skip over the ugly part of the story, we naturally miss the wonder of being with God. Being with God is more than a choice we make. There was a harsh penalty paid so we could get right with God and “be with” Him. This popular teaching sends the message that being with God is a nice option if that’s what we’re into, but there are no real consequences for choosing NOT to “be with” God. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

The alternative to choosing to “be with” God is eternity in hell. Furthermore, many teachers skip over what must be done in return for the privilege of “being with” God. To “be with” God we must admit we are sinners. We must change our thinking, so it aligns with God’s thinking (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 3:8, Acts 3:19). Then we must allow the Holy Spirit to transform us from sinners into the image of Jesus (Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 3, 2nd Peter 1:5-11). 

Any teaching that skips over any of that that is false teaching and the definition of bad theology. 

Three Crazy-Town Beliefs that are Taking Root in the Church-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long- Psalm 25:5

Our world is awash with crazy-town beliefs and deceptive philosophies. I could give a million examples (okay, well maybe not a million, but a lot). 

Here’s one example: 

A majority of folks today (especially those under forty) literally think there is no such thing as absolute, fixed, immutable truth. These folks (most of them very nice people) are persuaded that every individual on earth has their own unique little “truth”. No one can dispute their truth even if their “truth” flies in the face of all sorts of hard evidence to the contrary or contradicts someone else’s “truth”. Thanks to this crazy-town worldview we are now at a place where a significant minority now “identifies” as something they clearly are not (an animal, a different gender, a different race, etc.). These folks are convinced their “truth” is the TRUTH. So much so, they demand the rest of the world enter into their delusion and celebrate their “truth”.  Normal folks can even get “cancelled” if they refuse to enter into these delusions. 

Sigh.

It’s easy to get really judgy regarding this stuff.   

However, it is critical we remember, that at this writing planet earth is very much under the control of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2, Job 1:7, 2nd Corinthians 4:4, Revelation 2:13). This generation is also (in my opinion) living in an age of powerful deception (Matthew 24:3-4, 2nd Thessalonians 2:11, Psalm 4:2).  Therefore, Christians are not exempt from getting caught up in deceptive philosophies or wrong thinking (Colossians 2:8). Some of those philosophies and deceptions are the same the ones our non-Christian friends and neighbors have fallen prey to, others are unique to Christianity.  There are at least three worldly and wildly dangerous beliefs that have infiltrated Christian thinking. These beliefs are taking the church captive and hamstringing the churches effectiveness. They are:

Your authentic self is your best self-

We live in a time and place where individualism is valued above all else. Everyone is encouraged to discover and celebrate their “authentic self”. This sounds great on the surface. It even sounds kind of Christian, after all, God made us all unique individuals, right? Well… sort of. It is true we are all unique creations made in God’s image (Psalm 139:14). It’s also true that it is a beautiful act of worship to discover our giftedness and use it for God’s glory and the good of the church (1st Corinthians 7:7, Hebrews 2:4, Ephesians 4:8-16). However, all humans are—at the core of who we are— fallen, sinful and super messy. This means that when we celebrate someone’s “authentic self” what we are really celebrating is their sin nature run amok.  Oftentimes, we are applauding the very things (chaos and sin) that keep people from finding genuine peace, spiritual transformation and moral virtue (2nd Corinthians 5:17, 2nd Corinthians 3:18). Our aim as believers should not be to become our “authentic” or “true” self or to applaud anyone else’s “authentic self”. Instead, our aim ought to be to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification (becoming like Jesus) and to help others to do the same (Matthew 28:18-20).  Romans 12, Colossians 3, 2nd Peter 1:3-11 give us the blueprint for the sanctification process. If we follow the instruction in those passages we will be successful Christians and our best self. 

Results matter more than character-

Unfortunately, it has become disturbingly common for churches and Christians to disregard the bad behavior of Christian leaders because “good things are happening in the organization/church” or “people are getting saved” (1st Timothy 5:24-25). This whole notion disregards Scripture that tells us that God is deeply concerned with more than results (Proverbs 16:2, James 4:2-4). Anything (even a good thing) done with a wrong heart or bad motives will have little to no eternal value (1st Corinthians 3:10-15, Hebrews 4:12-14). Furthermore, it’s simply a fact that when people “get saved” under a bad leader quite often they end up falling away from the faith when the leader’s behavior is revealed. All this to say, character matters. When character is sacrificed on an altar of “results” the results we get will ultimately be less than what could have been and displeasing to the Lord. Yikes. 

Prayer is irrelevant- 

God commands Christians to pray (Matthew 5:44 James 5:16, Philippians 4:6, 1st Thessalonians 5:17). However, there are a lot of Christians who believe God has already decided and/or already knows how everything is going to work out so there is no reason to pray. These folks literally believe God has commanded them to do something totally pointless that makes no sense. I believe prayer is critical because God speaks to people through situations and in a still small voice every time we ask Him to. Seriously. He does. Every. Single. Time. The more we ask the more He prompts people. Humans have freewill so sometimes they ignore God’s promptings. That’s on them. It’s on us to keep asking for the Fathers will (Matthew 18:1-6). 

What we believe matters. 

A lot. 

Wrong thinking always leads to wrong actions. Wrong actions inevitably yield terrible outcomes. Conversely, right thinking provides spiritual protection and ensures a better outcome. In our age of deception, it is imperative we hold every idea and belief up to the light of Scripture, even the ideas we hear in church or from Christian influencers. If the idea or belief lines up with Scripture we ought to live by it, if it doesn’t it needs to go. 

Seriously.