An exaggerated deference to leaders in the church is a mark of spiritual immaturity and carnality. And an acceptance of such fawning deference by the leader is an evidence of the very same weaknesses.
Paul was shocked by it and vigorously repudiated it. It is not wrong to be greatly loved by those whom one has endeavored to serve, but there is always the danger that devotion may be deflected from the Master to the servant.
Spiritual leaders are to be “esteemed very highly in love for their work’s sake,” but that esteem should not degenerate into adulation. —J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership
The anxious mind thinks, “more information will make me more in control, and therefore bring me peace.”
False.
The anxious mind is often anxious because it has too much to keep track of. Adding more information makes it more anxious, not less.
We know men—talented and gifted men—who could have been truly great, were they willing to discipline their emotions and insecurities.
Talent isn't the x-factor.
Self-discipline is.
Sanballet offered Nehemiah a "seat at the table" when he made ground in his mission (Neh 6).
It was a strategy to distract and then destroy.
This strategy often works.
But Nehemiah said, “No, I’m doing a great work. I won’t leave it and come down to you.”
It’s one thing to take ground—another to hold it.
It’s one thing to start a mission—another to finish it.
Proverbs 19:11 says, “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”
A mature man is in control of his emotions. They have a long wick that burns slowly.
This allows him to overlook transgressions, and not get bogged down in drama.
An immature man, by contrast, will need to get in a few jabs.
He wants to show people up.
He wants to get the last word in.
He wants his audience—often imagined—to see that he can hold his own.
Such men lack glory. They are trying to compensate for their lack of spiritual weight.
As a rule, the way to produce such glory is not to grasp for it by contest, but to seek it through sacrifice.
For instance, a man who makes a habit of letting others have the last word gains far more in the eyes of his audience than a man who clings to proving his case.
Not only does he seem more respectable, he actually becomes more respectable—by not wasting time on going-nowhere arguments.
Practicing letting go of the things that really can be overlooked helps mold you into a man who can rightly deal with those things that can't be.
Where is your focus? To what do you give your attention?
Proverbs 4:25 exhorts us: “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.”
Nothing causes trouble like unfixed wandering eyes. In their commentary, Keil and Delitzsch warn that a “purposeless, curious staring about operates upon the soul, always decentralizing and easily defiling it.”
Scripture is replete with examples of costs of an unfixed gaze. Charles Bridges recounts:
Had Eve done so, she would have looked on the command of her God, not on the forbidden tree. Had Lot's wife looked straight before, instead of “behind her,” she would, like her husband, have been a monument of mercy. Achan was ruined by neglecting this rule of wisdom. David's example may warn the holiest men in the world to have a watchful jealousy.
Again, where is your focus?
Is it straight ahead?
Are you keeping first things first?
Or have you been drawn off mission by mere curiosities and vain chatter?
If so, Hebrews 11 is a great corrective. It lists example after example of imperfect men and women whose faith was fixed on “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (v. 16). Their focus didn’t take them out of the world—but it did lead through it. It anchored and steadied them. It made them strong for this life and the one to come.
Hence, Hebrews 12:1-2 says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Where is your focus? Is it on Jesus?
If it is, you will throw off the weight and sins of this world and run hard.
If it isn’t, you will be enslaved to everything that presents itself.
Follow the counsel of Matthew Henry:
Turn it from beholding vanity; let thy eye be single and not divided; let thy intentions be sincere and uniform, and look not asquint at any by-end.
We have not only allowed news, which is largely propaganda, to distracte or demoralize us.
We have allowed it to de-place and de-locate us.
We have allowed the “space” in which we dwell to become irrelevant.
The last few years have produced a “Lopsided Christianity.”
We’ve seen this in many of the new believers or, more often, newly serious believers who were shaken awake by the pandemic.
They have developed views on biblical sexuality, church-government relationships, and/or end times theology.
That’s not a bad thing. These doctrines are consequential. The problems begin to arise when these doctrines aren’t anchored in historical biblical Christianity.
Consider a few illustrations.
Imagine someone who builds a structure up higher and higher into the sky. Each story places more stress on the structure’s base. The destabilizing power of the wind only increases as you ascend upward. Without a well-laid foundation, theological skyscrapers tumble to the ground.
Imagine someone who only works out part of his body. This results in what is known as an asymmetrical musculoskeletal system. It’s fairly common in self-coached amateur athletes. Their imbalanced workouts can produce impressive results. However, it can, over time, result in intense and chronic pain. Someone without a strong doctrinal core, will find themselves suffering from chronic theological instability.
Imagine someone who is overweight. They decide to take radical measures. Perhaps they go on a 40 day water fast or get gastric bypass surgery. As a result, they lose massive amounts of weight. Fast forward two years, and they have gained most of it back. Why? Because they only addressed the symptom (being overweight) and not the underlying problem (lifestyle habits).
Many unstable Christians have bad discipleship habits. They do deep dives on some trendy or fringe issue that they are interested in. They primarily consume the “fast food” which is short form media (e.g. reels, podcasts, most social media). They don’t read books on foundational issues that require a slower pace of consumption—and, consequently, also require a degree of meditation.
Hence, they are spiritually unhealthy and often only interested in quick fixes.
Their attention is focused almost exclusively on what scratches their itch, rather than on the full counsel of God.
There is nothing as helpful to laying a sure foundation as strengthening the habit of daily bible reading, daily prayer, and attending weekly public worship. You should start there. However, the next step would be to grow in your knowledge of core confessional theology, systematic theology, and church history.
With that in mind, here are three accessible and moderately short books that will anchor you into biblical historical Christianity:
Confessional Theology: The Westminster Shorter Catechism: For Study Classes. This excellent study guide by G.I. Williamson devotes 2-4 pages to each of the Shorter Catechism’s 107 questions, with a handful of questions for reflection at the end. Williamson’s writing is accessible, irenic, and full of helpful illustrations. This makes the book something that can be slowly worked through in bite-size pieces. Doing so will build the habit of importance of routine reading and meditation. It’s great as a devotional aid for a married couple, or even family worship. You will be more theologically educated than 99% of America if you simply go through this book and answer the questions.
Systematic Theology: Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. This short work by J.I. Packer isn’t a proper systematic theology. However, it does introduce the reader to most of the major systematic doctrinal categories in a concise and understandable way. Similar to Williamson, each chapter tackles a topic in a mere 2-3 pages. This, again, makes it an easy daily read. It’s probably not suitable for family devotions, but it could be good for a married couple to read together.
Church History: Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History. History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme. A knowledge of church history will fill you with gratitude towards your God-fearing forefathers, and also impart to you the discernment to avoid some of the ditches into which they fell. Richard Hannula has done an excellent job in selecting key stories from the early church, middle ages, reformation, post-reformation, modern missions, and recent eras of church history. His writing is clear and the chapters are short. It is suitable for use in a home-schooling curriculum, or for bedtime stories.
Remember, a steady, plodding, and focused practical Christianity is one that will stand the tests of time. Storms will come. The waters will rage. The winds will blow. Anchor yourself to the rock of Christ’s teaching and you will not collapse on the day of your testing.
Has your wife been seduced by the feministic spirit of the age…or is she just spooked by your sudden red pill intensity?
Is it that no one wants to mentor you…or are those who try just giving up when you don’t apply the counsel they give you?
Is it that leaders withhold the encouragement you need…or are you a bottomless pit in constant need of validation?
Is it that you can’t find a healthy church…or are you looking for an impossible ideal that only exists in your mind?
Are you being passed over because your seniors are intimidated by your ability…or do they see some critical flaw in your character?
Either could be true.
Are you asking yourself the hard questions? Are you making time to consider the uncomfortable?
The left weaponizes the right’s desire to police their own. Their entire strategy is dividing a house against itself.
Notable:
How we take in information has a remarkably significant effect on how intuitive or analytical we are in thinking about it. People who read text are more likely to detect mistakes of reasoning in it than people who listen to it being read.
How Postmillennialism Destroyed My Church Plant. A fascinating and insightful little post. “I was calling people to put off having dominion, being fruitful, and multiplying, all so that we could plant a Church that, statistically, would likely not last 20 years. In my head, I heard the refrain ‘I require obedience, not sacrifice.’”
UK university to launch ‘magic and occult science’ degree with feminism, anti-racism ‘at the core’. Few people realize how thin the line is between where we are, and full-blown pagan resurgence. Given what we know about the principalities that are exerting power and influence over the human realm from the heavenly places, and how they have operated at all other times in history, it is hard to conclude anything else. Many Christians think we are still living in, at best, a just-post-Christian society—like paganism still has to do a lot of work to do, to build itself up and break out in our culture. But paganism has been the religion of the masses since 1973 in the West. Once you start killing babies, and the church can't or won't stop it, any pretense of Christian culture is gone.
My mother survived the Nazis. My father survived the Soviets.
Some truly wild stuff going on in the collision between porn and AI:
A call to cut down on the fringe-cringe:
Talk again next month,
Bnonn