Tag: Opinion

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. 

Some Practical Do’s and Don’ts for Making a Spiritual Impact in a Messy World-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.  Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person- Colossians 4:5-6 NASB

In a very real sense, the world has been a chaotic muddle since the day Adam and Eve chose to go their own way and do their own thing (Genesis 3). In that instant the world (and the people in it) fell under the dominion of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3, Ephesians 6:10-12). Consequently, no one should be surprised by the debauchery and folly of humans. 

That said. 

Things are getting worse.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s still good in the world (more on this later). Nonetheless, we are still solidly located in the heart of Satan’s territory and righteousness has lost a lot of ground in recent years. This means good is thought to be evil, and evil is thought to be good by the majority (Isaiah 5:20). It also means leaders lack wisdom and many folks have gone entirely feral. Leaders are moving towards greater control, less personal freedom and a more self-serving view of leadership. Many are okay with domineering leaders simply because they don’t see another way to manage the lawlessness (Matthew 24:12). 

These facts make it more critical than ever for Christians to live like we were called to live and to be wise in how we behave towards others (Matthew 5:14-16, John 8:12, Philippians 2:14-16, 1st John 2:9-10).  Today I want to share a couple of dos and don’ts that will help make that happen.

First and foremost: 

Pray like crazy-

Things are looking up in the spiritual realm. There’s been an uptick in folks repenting and committing their lives to Jesus. There is movement towards a more common-sense view of gender even amongst some non-Christians. Church folks seem to be taking God a lot more seriously. The word sin is making a comeback (at long last). Every single one of those things is an answer to some frantic prayers prayed between 2020 and 2024. That said, this is NOT the time to be complacent where prayer is concerned. Complacency is what got us into this mess in the first place. The enemy despises a spiritual victory and he’s certainly not going to let up because people are getting saved and/or embracing common sense (1st Peter 5:8). The enemy will double down on his agenda. These means we must double down on our prayers (Matthew 26:41, Ephesians 6:10-19, Philippians 4:6). Spiritual wins are never a result of what people do. Spiritual wins are always a direct result of prayer and seeking God’s empowerment. 

Don’t deify politics-

There is a drift in both conservative and liberal spheres towards a form of politics that looks and feels a lot more like religion than old-fashioned politics. Christians simply cannot go there.  I am not suggesting politics are irrelevant. At some point every Christians politics should begin to align with the Bible, if they don’t something is terribly wrong. However.  Politics never once saved anyone from their sin and depravity. Only Jesus can do that. Politics are a social construct corrupted by wrong thinking, self-interest, greed and a desire to control others. This means that if we cling to our politics with the same or greater passion than we cling to our God (Joshua 22:5, Matthew 22:23) there is zero chance we will ever really learn to think biblically about anything. We will also be guilty of idolatry.  God will not bless idolatry. If you live in a country where you can vote, do so. Stay informed on political issues, it’s good stewardship. That said, Christians must be a hundred times more passionate about spreading the gospel than about spreading political ideology. 

Don’t squabble about politics publicly-

Seriously. Just don’t. I have nothing against a lively political debate, I’m even okay with a wee bit of occasional squabbling. It’s how humans work tough stuff out.  However, when Christians bicker amongst themselves about politics online it sends the message that Christians cannot agree on anything, even dumb worldly things (John 17:20-21). If you wish to disagree with a fellow Christian over politics, do it the old-fashioned way. Take the argument offline and debate the issues over a nice meal or a cup of coffee. This keeps things much more civil. It also keeps family business in the family. This policy will assure Christians don’t just look unified. It will actually make us unified.

Seek unceasing and deep transformation-  

When we make a commitment to Jesus our focus should become making Him known. Making Jesus known to the world is the mission of Christianity (Mark 16:15). However, if our desire to make Jesus known is not coupled with an equal (or greater) desire to be transformed into the image of Jesus we will spread an understanding of Jesus that will be more of a hinderance to the gospel than a help (Romans 12:2). Therefore, it is imperative we seek God daily for His help in this area and ruthlessly obey the commands given in Colossians 3, Romans 12 and 2nd Peter 1:5-11. 

And finally, don’t be content with how things are. We must make a daily practice of asking God for more in our lives, our churches and our families.  We cannot let ourselves be content with a little bit of revival, a smattering of Bible knowledge or a dash of righteousness. This is not the time for half-hearted attempts at seeking God or doing His will. This is the time to go after God’s presence, His righteousness and His will for our lives with everything we have in is. 

What do we do with 1st Timothy 4:1 People?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God- Hebrews 3:12

As a general rule my regular Bible reading includes a chapter out of a book I’m reading as well as a Psalm or two. Additionally, I have this thing I call an “openness” policy when it comes to Bible reading. This “policy” isn’t anything super special, weird or spiritual.  It just means that if my Bible falls open to a particular verse as I’m flipping between my regular Bible reading and the Psalms, I give it a read. This ensures I have a regular Bible reading routine AND I give God space to speak to me through something I didn’t intend to read that day.  

Sometimes He does. Sometimes He doesn’t. This morning He did.  As I was flipping between 1st Peter chapter two and Psalms three my Bible fell open to this:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons- 1st Timothy 4:1 NASB

This verse led me down a thought-provoking little rabbit hole. I began looking up words in the Greek and quickly discovered the word translated “depart” sometimes translated “fall away” in English is a far more robust word in the Greek. It doesn’t just mean “to leave” or to “quit something”. It means to “defect from loudly” and/or to “revolt against” the thing you’re leaving. 

This is kind of where we’re living right now. 

Most of those who have left the church in recent years haven’t just departed quietly from church world and gone on with their lives. Most have left with guns blazing (metaphorically speaking) and have staged a revolt against all things Christian. Many are filled with fury and vitriolic criticism aimed at churches and church leaders. They hate all things traditionally Christian and are determined to see the Church “reformed” and transformed it into something entirely different than what is found on the pages of the New Testament. 

This begs a question: 

What do we do with “former Christians” who are critical of the church or who want to see the church radically transformed to better suit the values they currently hold dear? There are at least three things we should be careful to do when dealing with former Christians. The first is:

Listen- 

Please understand I am not saying we should automatically do everything the angry unbeliever thinks ought to be done. That’s crazy talk. That said, there is always value in listening with a discerning ear (Proverbs 18:5). Thoughtful, discerning listening often uncovers a world of hurt and pain lying just beneath the vitriol and hate of those who have left the church. When this happens, we have an opportunity to discuss what led to the departure and perhaps even do a little repair work in the process. Loving people enough to listen is pretty much always a good idea.  (1st Peter 4:8). However, it is critical we exercise wisdom and discernment as we listen. We must carefully separate any anger they have towards God’s decrees concerning right and wrong and people who may have done them wrong. If a person hates God because He limits their personal freedom in some way that is not our problem (Psalm 68:1).  We should pray for those people and leave them to God. However, if someone hates the way they were treated by God’s people we ought to at least try and repair the damage. 

Be humble when humility is appropriate-

Christians screw up. All the time. In the last couple of decades there has been a lot of mess in Church world. There has been a plethora of corrupt and/or inept leadership. The church has also been inundated with some well-intended but poorly thought-out programs/bandwagons such as the purity movement. On top of all that there’s been hordes of legalism and very little grace for those who would have benefitted from some. If you’re dealing with a defector who was a victim of bad leadership, mean Christians or crummy doctrine it is totally appropriate to admit wrong where wrong was clearly done and apologize on behalf of the church for the pain they experienced. 

And finally:

Do not negotiate with terrorists when it comes to issues that really matter- 

Christians should do their best to show love and respect to those who oppose God. No one in the history of Christianity has ever been won to Jesus (or won back) with ugliness, contempt or meanness (Romans 13:7, 1stPeter 2:17). 

That being said. 

Those who have departed the faith are (unbeknownst to them) under the influence of deceiving spirits. They are (again, unknowingly) devotees of “doctrines of demons”. Therefore, they tend to loathe God, God’s standards of right and wrong and anyone who upholds those standards. Most defectors wish to transform Christianity into something trendy, woke and very twenty-first century. Practically speaking, this means opposing traditional marriage, toppling gender norms and celebrating abortion as a “gift”. It always means encouraging and celebrating all forms of sexual expression, no matter how weird and deviant they may be. Period. 

We simply cannot negotiate with spiritual terrorists. It’s that simple and nothing personal. We must obey God above all else (Acts 5:29). This means God’s word cannot be modified or tossed out by those who lack spiritual understanding. It is our responsibility as Christians to “contend earnestly for the faith” and to “make a defense” for what we believe (Jude 1:3, 1st Peter 3:15). This must be done kindly and firmly, and always without apology. 

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 “Why” Every Christian to Needs to Understand-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Yet the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us”- 1st Samuel 8:19 NASB

Every once in a while, the good Lord taps me on the shoulder and quietly lets me know that I am not completely finished with something I assumed was over. I know it’s God speaking because I am unable to let the thing (whatever it may be) go mentally or emotionally. 

Such was the case with last week’s blog post. 

I wrote about a rather grim warning Jesus gave regarding the sorry state of Christian leadership in the end times (Matthew 24:48-51). The overall point of the post was that the Church is almost certainly (at least to some degree) walking in the reality of Jesus’ warning. There is a shocking excess of selfish, hurtful and just plain crummy leadership in Christian circles. This is obviously not okay. Christians need to think about this, even if the leadership we are following or practicing is awesome. This is because Christian leadership impacts how unbelievers view both God and the church.  The epidemic of crummy leadership in the Church is without a doubt one of the reasons so many have defected from the church in recent years. 

In my mind the subject was exhausted.  

Nonetheless, Monday I had a niggling sense there was more God wanted me to say on the subject. I prayed about it and by mid-afternoon I understood what was missing from the original post.

The why. 

The why is the reason or reasons hiding behind a problem or issue.  Why’s matter.  Anytime we do not understand the why of something the problems associated with that thing tend to repeat themselves. Such is the case here. Crummy spiritual leadership is not new problem. Bad leadership has been the bane of both Jewish and Christian history. In first Samual eight we see the first recorded occurrence of the problem. 

Most of us are familiar with the story.

The Israelites decided they wanted a king to lead them.  The people longed for a human leader who had all the answers. They wanted someone who was bright and well spoken. Someone who understood what do and how to get it done. Samuel warned them that if they went that route, evil, self-absorbed men would move into that role, and they would pay a heavy price for their choice (1st Samuel 8:11-18).

 In a very real sense, many Christians want the same thing the Israelites wanted. Christians want leaders who look good and represent our churches well. Christians want leaders who will clearly state the will of God for our lives. We want someone to seek God on our behalf and give us moral and spiritual direction. It’s not bad to want leaders. Leaders can be a gift from God unless the desire for a leader is born out of one of the following reasons:

Spiritual laziness (sorry I know this one is harsh)-

God wants all people to seek Him. Once a person gets into relationship with God then He wants His people to want an intimate relationship with Him. One aspect of relationship with God is giving God the praise and honor He deserves (worship). However, another critical aspect of relationship with God is asking Him about stuff. God wants us to get into the Bible and learn it.  He also wants us to ask Him for wisdom and insight into our problems and struggles. When we do these things, we get to know God better and it gives invaluable insight into what we should and shouldn’t do in our particular set of circumstances. When we learn to do these things on a regular basis, it builds relationship with God, it increases our trust in God and it gives us the wisdom we need to do life well (Daniel 12:3, Psalm 37:29-31). Seeking God for ourselves does not end the need for human leadership but it does make us better able to lead ourselves because we are literally getting advice and guidance from the God of the universe. That being said, sometimes people don’t want to do the work necessary to build closeness with God, because it’s hard.

We have forgotten our faith journey is our own-

Every single human being will stand before the judgment seat of God ALONE (Matthew 25:14-29, 2nd Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 9:27). We will not have a spouse or spiritual leader holding our hand for support or taking some of the heat (or praise) for our choices. We are all responsible before God for our own faith journey. This fact makes an overreliance on human leadership foolish at best. 

We don’t want to do the hard work of growth-

No wants to be wrong or make a bad decision. However, personal failure serves a valuable purpose. When we make a bad decision and take responsibility for the choice we grow and learn. When we humble ourselves after a failure, wisdom begins to take root in our hearts (Matthew 23:12, James 4:6-10). When we become overly dependent on human leaders for our spiritual direction, we rarely learn from the mistakes we see others making. Instead, we tend to become judgmental towards their failure and prideful about our own decision making (Matthew 7:1-3). This makes us dumb and lacking in compassion. Not good. It’s better to learn and grow from our own failures. 

The desire for good leadership is not always bad or sinful. Leaders serve a purpose (Hebrews 13:17). However, it is critical we understand Christianity was never meant to have a middleman. When Jesus died the veil in the Temple that separated the most holy place was torn in two, ripped from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). This miraculous act signified the end of the middleman and the beginning of a time when all people could communicate with God and learn spiritual truth for themselves. When we are communing with and learning from God, we protect ourselves and those we love from the devastation of bad leaders. 

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. 

The Very Worst Thing a Christian can Settle for-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day- 2nd Corinthians 4:16 NASB

Settling.

It’s a notion most modern people are a bit uncomfortable with. 

The whole concept of settling smacks uncomfortably of losing— or at the very least not trying hard enough. We teach our kids from the time they are capable of conscience thought not to settle for a single thing. Humans learn early on to continuously strive for more stuff, to work our tails off, to do our very best and by golly to win—no matter the cost.

Okay, so the Bible is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the issue of settling. Contrary, to what most of us were taught growing up, the Bible is clear: settling can be good and healthy as long as we are settling for the right stuff. God loves it when we make the choice to settle for being content with what we have (1st Timothy 6:6) Living a quiet life without a lot of self-aggrandizement or ballyhoo is a good and God-ordained thing to settle for (1stThessalonians 4:11, 2nd Timothy 2:2).  God rejoices when His people settle for doing good with the time they’ve been given (Psalm 37:3, Ecclesiastes 3:12). It’s always good to settle in and sit in the presence of God (Luke 10:38-42). In fact, that kind of simplicity is what we were made for. 

However. 

It occurred to be recently that most people (me included) are quick to settle for the one thing we should never settle for.  All the while shunning the very stuff we ought to eagerly settle for, because all the things God wants us to settle for are guaranteed to bring us joy, peace and contentment. This painful realization came as I was making my way through Romans. The verse that got me thinking about all this appears to be unrelated to the whole notion of settling, but it’s not. It said: 

Love must be free of hypocrisy- Romans 12:9a

It hit me pretty much out of nowhere that I have settled for exhibiting a surfacy (hypocritical) kind of love that looks and says all the right things but is not really heartfelt or sincere. Then it hit me, again pretty much out of nowhere that I tend to settle for all sorts of surfacy things. Not all the time, but often enough, it ought to shake me up. 

Yikes. 

I have been known to settle for surfacy goodness, all the while the gunk inhabiting my heart is far from honorable. I have settled for going through the surfacy motions of worship while my mind was on my to-do list. I have settled for surfacy courtesy while I harbored a less than gracious spirit. I have settled for surfacy joy that lacked any kind of depth and never really reached my soul. I have settled for looking good rather than being good, in myself as well as in my children while they were growing up.

Yikes. 

It would be tempting (and easy) for everyone (including me) to write me off as an insincere buttheaded jerk. However, I don’t think I’m alone. If I were a betting woman, I would bet good money I have lots of company. It’s one of those ugly characteristics of the human condition no one likes to talk about: we all have this tendency to settle for surfacy goodness instead of doing the spiritual work needed to actually be good. Human beings naturally gravitate towards fake goodness rather than fulfilling our God-given purpose to be like Jesus. 

At the root of the problem is our nature (Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 1:18-32, Romans 3:23, Romans 7:18, 1stCorinthians 2:18). We are sinners and because we are sinners true, heartfelt, gut level goodness does not come naturally to humans, even redeemed humans (Matthew 10:18, Psalm 53:3, Romans 3:12). That said, nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26) nor is the problem with God. The problem is always with us. We are reluctant to do the work because the work always involves a personal honesty, self-examination and willingness to allow our hearts and minds to be changed on issues. 

However.

If we are in Christ and really want to be more than surfacy good. It can happen. God never commands anyone to do anything they are unable to accomplish (Colossians 3, Romans 12, 2nd Peter 1:3-11). The key to inner transformation is self-analysis or looking beneath our behavior. Behavior is important, God cares a great deal about what we do.  However, behavior is rarely the best measure of inner goodness. Feelings are (oddly enough) often a better barometer of our inner goodness than behavior is. If we self-examine and recognize we have the right behavior but a terrible attitude we need to take our negative feelings to the Lord in prayer and ask God to give us the right heart. Then we need to keep praying and repenting and asking for heart change until we get to the point when our feelings begin to match our behavior. It will happen. It may not happen overnight but if it’s what we really want it will happen. 

At the heart of surfacy goodness is hypocrisy and there is nothing Jesus hates more than hypocrisy (Matthew 6:2-16, Matthew 23).  Further complicating the matter is for Christians surfacy goodness can lead to a religious spirit. When we have a religious spirit looking good is all we care about. 

I’m not a big believer in New Years resolutions. That said, there is value in setting spiritual goals and doing what it takes to meet them. The goal of genuine, heartfelt goodness is a goal every Christian ought to set. 

How do Christians Keep the Dumpster-Fire From Raging out of Control?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is- Ephesians 5:15-16 NASB

The world we live in is a flaming-hot-dumpster-fire. 

I say that a lot. 

Probably too much. In my defense, lots of people say it a lot. It’s an axiom that’s becoming more and more of a thing all the time. It’s also true. Sane people (our numbers are dwindling) clearly see the lines between what is okay and not-okay are blurring (Jeremiah 4:22). This has happened because there is an ever-growing number of outwardly normal people who cannot tell the difference between good and evil anymore (Isaiah 5:20).  

Take a current news event as one small example:

There’s this guy (Luigi Mangione) who killed a guy (Brian Thompson) because he hates the health insurance industry. Luigi Mangione didn’t have a beef with Brian Thompson. He didn’t even know Brian Thompson. For the record, I don’t believe there are “good” reasons to break the sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13, Mark 10:18-20). Nonetheless, there are exceptional situations, like when someone kills your child or your mom or your wife or your brother, when murder FEELS slightly less dastardly. 

This was not an exceptional situation. 

Further muddying the waters are the folks (scads of them) who sincerely believe murder was justified in this case because the man who was assassinated was a well-paid health insurance executive.  Then there are the weirdos who immediately started crafting amoral little social media posts where they daydream out loud about having sex with the guy who killed a guy for no reason. 

Like I said, it’s a dumpster-fire.

 Jesus’ people are to be the “salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-16). Salt has all sorts of uses, but a primary purpose of salt is to stop decay. Light illuminates what is true. This sums up our job description neatly. We are to keep society from going off the rails and tell the spiritual truth. That’s it. However, it is getting more and more difficult all the time to do what we’ve been told to do, mostly because the flaming-hot-dumpster-fire is getting hotter all the time.

Sigh. 

 This week I spent a lot of time thinking about/praying about all this. Amid my musings the Lord impressed on me a couple things we can all do. All these things are simple but none of them are necessarily easy. None will change the world overnight, but they will over time. Doing them ensures we meet the requirements of our job description. 

It all begins with:

Living like we actually believe in God- 

Seriously. This all we have to do to be salt and light in a sin-sick world. When a person lives like they believe God is real they DO what He tells them to do. They know what sin is and avoid it like the plague. They are quick repent when they do sin (1st John 1:8-10). They love people and because they love people, they are very careful to ride the line between treating others with respect and kindness and telling them truth about where their actions will take them (1st Corinthians 13, Romans 6:23). All of this, if done consistently will make a difference in how the average Joe and Jane view Christianity. This will inevitably lead to more conversions. More conversions mean a smaller dumpster fire. Always a big win. 

Just saying “no” to conditional obedience-

Conditional obedience is attaching qualifiers to our compliance to God’s commands. Our obedience is conditional when we say (out loud or in our hearts): “okay God, I will do life your way if you provide me with a good job, great friends, a good spouse, devoted adult children and a nice place to live”. Conditional obedience is choosing either consciencely or subconsciously to quit obeying God the second God ceases to act as our blessing machine (John 3:36, 1st Peter 4:17) and at some point, He will because we are His servants He is not ours. Conditional obedience completely lacks faith (Hebrews 11:6). It is proof positive that we either don’t really believe in God at all or we don’t really trust Him to run the show. If we don’t trust and believe in God, we can’t expect the world to either.  

Keep the main thing the main thing-

Jesus is the main thing. He is ultimately what the Christian life is all about. Christianity is not about building a following. Nor is about having the world think well of us. Our business as Christians is to know Jesus, obey Jesus’ commands, glorify Jesus every chance we get and lead other people into relationship with Jesus. Period. When we choose to do these things all the time, we become a blessing to God and a protective force that illuminates spiritual truth for the world (Matthew 25:21). 

And finally:

We must be willing to bring up the main thing even when the dumpster fire world flies into a rage because we dared to bring up Jesus. It is not enough for Christians to live good lives, nor is it enough to be compassionate, big-hearted and peaceful. All of these things are good, all of them are critical to our practice of Christianity. However, the main thing is still the main thing and bringing up the main thing is the only way to slow down the raging dumpster-fire. 

The Spiritual Superpower Every Christian can Have-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ- 1st Peter 1:13 NASB

The New Testament contains many thought-provoking little tidbits that are not really substantial enough to qualify as a complete verse. These are more like little phrases— many of them have a lot of gold to mine. 

Here’s one of them:

But we have the mind of Christ- 1st Corinthians 2:16

 This little phrase begs a whole bunch of critically important questions, including: 

Are all Christians just given “the mind of Christ” at the moment of salvation? 

Did the Corinthian Christians have the “mind of Christ” or was Paul just wishing they did or hoping they would figure it out? 

Does the English phrase “mind of Christ” mean something especially special in Greek? 

If we don’t automatically receive the mind of Christ at salvation, how do we get “the mind of Christ?

So. 

Context is useful in grasping the deeper meaning here. This little snippet is a tiny fragment of a greater conversation Paul was having concerning some super stupid things the Corinthian Christians were doing and thinking. Therefore, it is safe to assume Paul is not commending the Corinthians for having “the mind of Christ”. Nor is the mind of Christ is something all Christians are given as a part of the initial salvation package. Although, the mind of Christ is obviously something every Christian CAN have and should go after. I was a bit surprised to discover the phrase “mind of Christ” means pretty much the same thing in Greek as it does in English. Basically, it means “to think like God”. Consequently, if someone has the “mind of Christ”, they will see events, life and people the same way God does. 

This means the “how” of thinking like God is critical, so critical, it is probably the key to a lot of our spiritual growth and maturity. Without it we will likely flounder spiritually, just as the Corinthians were. Thankfully, there are four easy things every believer can (and should) do daily that will move them closer to the goal of having “the mind of Christ”

Go after discernment (Psalm 119:66, Philippians 1:9)-  

The word discernment and its derivatives are used thirty-two times throughout the Bible. The Greek word for discernment is anakrino. It means “to distinguish, to separate out by diligent examination, to scrutinize.” A discerning individual thinks issues and situations through prayerfully. Discerning people learn to apply biblical principles to all of life. This gives them the wisdom to understand deeper (sometimes hidden) issues in each situation. Furthermore, discerning people understand all of life is connected. Everything we do and think affects everything else, behaviors and attitudes have consequences (Hebrews 12:15).  We acquire discernment through intimacy with Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom (Colossians 2:2-3).  Consistent Bible reading, prayer and the practice of consciously applying the Bible to life gives discernment ample space to flourish in our lives. 

Limit worldly voices in your life-

Everything we do is a direct result of what we think about (Matthew 6:22, Psalm 26:3, Psalm 110:3). What we choose to read, watch, listen to become powerful influences that consciously and/or subconsciously influence how we think and behave. Consequently, if we want to develop the mind of Christ it is wise to exercise caution and discernment about what influences we allow access to our lives. 

Get the word of God in you so it will come out of you- 

The more exposure we have to worldly entertainment and ideas the more worldly our thinking will become. Conversely, the more exposure we have to the word of God and biblical principles the more we think like God. We become what we marinate in. Getting into the word daily and surrounding ourselves with biblical principles ensures we will acquire the “mind of Christ” as we mature. 

Ruthlessly go after congruency- 

Congruency is one of the five (four?) math terms I actually understand. It means sameness. If a Christian’s life is congruent, they are the same all the time. There is no subterfuge, deception or hypocrisy in their lives.  Jesus hates hypocrisy. Jesus mentioned or taught on hypocrisy twenty-one times in the gospels. Not once did He have anything positive to say about hypocrites or hypocrisy (Luke 12:1, Matthew 6:2-16, Matthew 23, Matthew 15:6-8, Matthew 24:51). It is impossible for a person to think like Jesus while doing something Jesus despised. All humans tend towards hypocrisy. Thus, hypocrisy is something we must mercilessly root out of our lives. The only way to root out hypocrisy is with sincere and sometimes ruthless reflection. We must make a practice of scrutinizing not just our actions but also our attitudes and the motives behind our actions (1st Corinthians 11:27-29, 2nd Corinthians 13:5). 

Okay, so full disclosure:

The mind of Christ is awesome, essentially, it’s like having a spiritual superpower. It enables the average Joe or Jane Christian to think like God. This in turn empowers average people to do things and endure things they could never do in their own power and human wisdom (2nd Corinthians 12:9). However, it’s not always all sunshine and gummy bears. As our thinking becomes more like God’s there will be times when the world (and the people in it) will not always understand what we’re doing or why we’re doing it. We need to do it anyway, because when we do the world sees Jesus in us and we please the Lord. 

The Blessing Many Christians are Missing out on-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life- Jude 20-21 NKJV

Weird but true fact.

There are actually classifications of different kinds of sin. 

Seriously. 

That’s how absurdly rebellious the human race is (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:23). There is a very real need for us sort and organize our sin and disobedience (Romans 10:3). 

Insert face-palm here. 

All sin essentially falls into two generally recognized categories. First:

There are sins of omission (James 4:17). 

A sin of omission is electing NOT to do something we know we ought to do. We sin by omission when we ignore needs or when we willfully decline to do good deeds when we can. Sins of omission don’t feel like a big deal to most Christians. In reality they are a much bigger deal than they appear to be on the surface. Anytime we willfully refuse to do what’s right, our heart gets a little bit harder towards God and people. When a human heart becomes hard the possessor of that heart becomes less able to understand God, His word and His will (Mark 6:52, Mark 8:17, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 4:7). This sad state of affairs leaves us a hop, skip and a jump away from much bigger and much badder sins (Proverbs 4:23) Yikes. Equally, as critical, our rewards in heaven will be connected to the good we did (or didn’t do) on earth. Refusing to do good means eternity/heaven will be much less than it could have been (1st Corinthians 3:10-15, Matthew 6:1-4, Matthew 10:44, Matthew 16:27, Ephesians 6:8, 2nd John 1:8). A loss of future reward may not feel like a big spiritual deal now. However, scripture warns it’s something we will be aware of in the hereafter. 

There are also sins of commission (Exodus 20:3-17, 1st John 3:17-18, 1st Corinthians 6:9-10)

A sin of commission is a sin we commit on purpose fully aware our actions are wrong. Basically, anything the Bible expressly forbids is a sin of commission. Therefore, it is a sin of commission to steal, covet, commit adultery and lie. Sins of commission are a very big deal. In our Christian culture we tend to downplay all sin, even sins of commission. Anytime a Christian tells a lie, slanders another person, has sex with a someone who is not their spouse or resentfully covets another person’s stuff other Christians tend to say things like “there’s grace for that” and there is. However, there are also plenty of warnings about taking grace for granted and testing God (Deuteronomy 6:16, Luke 4:12, 2nd Corinthians 13:5, Hebrews 10:29). We would be wise to pay attention. 

Seriously.  

Okay so. You’re probably asking yourself:

When are we going to talk about blessings? Is there a point to all this dreadful sin talk?  It’s bumming me out. 

Yes. Yes, there is. Thank you for asking.

There is one sin in particular I wanted to talk about because I am convinced it’s a huge deal. I am convinced our failure in this one area is at the root of our lack of blessing. Our failure in this one area shows up all over the place. It shows up in our failure to pass on our faith to our children. It shows up in our high rates of moral failure. It shows up in our failure to transform our culture. It shows up in the hardness of the hearts unbelievers we interact with. The worst thing about this sin is that it doesn’t really feel like a sin. It doesn’t feel like anything. A respectable Christian can commit this sin every-single-day of their lives and never feel an ounce of conviction and miss out on all sorts of blessings in the process.

This sin is… drumroll please…

 The sin of neglecting to pray or refusing to pray. 

Before you roll your eyes, blow me off and go read something else, hear me out. This one matters. A lot. This is because prayerlessness is one of those rare sins that is both a sin of omission and commission all at the same time. We all have opportunities to pray where we just choose not to. Prayer is also something Christians are commanded to do (Matthew 6:6-13, James 5:16, Ephesians 6:18, 1st Thessalonians 5:17, Philippians 4:6, 1st Timothy 2:1). 

There aren’t very many sins that are a both a sin of omission and commission all at the same time. This makes not praying a huge deal.

I know all the objections (mostly because I have made all these arguments at some point). They are:

I’m busy.

I don’t know how.

Prayer is boring.  

My prayers don’t get answered so why bother?  

At different points in our lives all of the above objections are true. However, none change the fact that we are commanded to pray. The command still stands. I do not wish to heap condemnation on anyone. Rather, I want to encourage everyone everywhere to pray. There was a time when I was guilty of prayerlessness.  I would pray over my food or when life got scary but I lacked a consistent prayer life and it showed. I was spiritually powerless. Then my life went to hell and I learned to pray. Don’t be like me. Don’t be a slow learner. Be better. Be smarter. Get in on the blessings early.

Just start praying. Prayer isn’t a “go big or go home” undertaking. God just wants to hear from you. Start small. Make a practice of praying the Lord’s Prayer when you wake up in the morning (Matthew 6:9-13). Turn off the streaming services and podcasts and pray instead. Pray for your family while you drive to work. Pray for revival as you fold the laundry or wash the dishes or mow the lawn.  Pray for your church/pastor while you walk to get the mail. Pray for your spouse while you get ready in the morning. Just pray.

Trust me. 

The more you pray the more you will want to pray because prayer is addictive.

In a good way.