svgmissionary.com

A Battle Plan for “Look Away Moments”

87T8CJMC4P

As a single missionary I’m well aware that integrity online (as far as what I will or won’t watch) is a very serious issue. That’s why I have accountability partners, Bible verses to use when temptation comes, and the latest Internet filtering software for all my electronic devices. It is a little uncomfortable asking my parents to put a password on a new internet filter, but it keeps from much more awkward conversations taking place later.

Having a battle plan against things like pornography is absolutely necessary…yet it’s getting to the point where I need a battle plan for what comes on every night.

I happen to love television drama’s that have long story lines and plenty of action; think something like Lost (in its first three seasons), or 24. That’s why I loved streaming services like Netflix that allow me to watch my favorite episodes over and over again. Eventually I got tired of watching those programs though so the search began to find a new favorite action/drama program.

The good news is there’s no shortage of tv shows that fit these requirements

The bad news is there’s also no shortage of things in those programs that don’t honor God

While these programs don’t show pronographic material the relationships in most of them are patterned after the worlds philosophy that simply uses one person after another for your own benefit. This subtle message doesn’t destroy as many lives as porn, however in a way it’s more dangerous because people watching it begin to view others (particularly the opposite sex) as people to be used instead of honored.

Apart from that there were “look away moments” where I had to either look away from the screen, or turn it off (including things like profanity and violence). At first they only came once in a while, but I began to notice look away moments becoming more and more frequent. While dramas may have more of these then others it’s becoming incredibly difficult to find shows that don’t have look away moments, and in a few years I’m afraid it will be almost impossible.

Because the morality of television is dropping lower and lower in my opinion it’s time for Christians (men in particular) to develop an intense battle plan against those “look away moments.” A plan that involves a simple but difficult choice…if it’s not news or sports don’t watch it. Now I am aware men watch a LOT of sports so this doesn’t seem too difficult, however watching just sports is a conscious choice or commitment to place massive limits on what enters your mind.

This commitment led me to start an experiment Saturday by only allowing myself to watch sports and news for two-weeks, up till now things have gone well and I’ve kept up my end of the bargain except for NCIS last night (old habits die hard). Lord wiling by the end of those two-weeks it will be a habit so sports will make up 98% of my television viewing.

I’m not doing this today because NCIS is filled with “look away moments” but because the days coming when all our programs will be filled with “look away moments.” And if we wait till then to start looking away it will be too late.

The Fear of Man

When My Life Becomes an Emotional Cup

SAMSUNG CSC

Saturday I finished reading “When People are Big and God is small” by Dr. Ed Welch to prepare for discipleship sessions in St. Vincent on dealing with anxiety. While this book began as a foundation for teaching material, the Lord used it to convict my own heart, which is surprising since this is the second time I read it 🙂

One of the most convicting thoughts that came from the reading was I viewed myself as someone who had a constant psychological need for love and acceptance. Welch describes it as being a psychological cup of needs.

Pieced together, a popular view of a person looks like this

Our basic shape is that of a cup that holds psychic needs

These tend to cluster around the basic needs of love and significance

When these needs are not met we begin to feel empty

We must be careful who fills these needs…we can fill it with people, or we can fill it with Christ (“When People are Big and God is small” pg.136, par.4)

In my case the cup needed to be filled with a feeling of success or significance. While this isn’t necessary filled with the love of people (though sometimes it was) I did fill it with.

Any kind of ministry activity…for years in my opinion if I wasn’t busy all day then God wasn’t using me
The acceptance of others through my online communication…likes, comments, or blog views showed me I was being successful
Awesome ministries stories…The kind that look just awesome in blogs or prayer letters
And being able to rip through my “daily to-do list”

However there were days when I couldn’t find anything witty to say on Facebook or the blog, there wasn’t much real ministry going on, or I just didn’t have the motivation to get things done. This always resulted in a mad dash to find something….anything….that could fill my psychological cup.

The biggest problem with viewing ourselves as cups is 95% of the time we fill it with other people like friends, family, or spouses. So instead of relationships being about ministry, they are about filling our need to feel accepted. In extreme cases this means demanding love or encouragement of others.

Dr. Welch explains that demand for love this way; “Can you hear it? The love cup lives. Fill me with ______________, then I will be happy. We tend to see ourselves as people who need something from somebody if we are going to change.” (When People are Big and God is small” pg.136, par.3)

This strong desire and demand for the love of others often leads to habits that make them love us so our psychological cups can be filled.

As a child I used to have pity-parties which involved saying I can’t do anything or calling myself worthless. Though I didn’t know it at the time this was a way of saying my psychological cup was low and MAKING SOMEONE FILL IT. Thankfully today I no longer wallow in self-pity but have created more subtle ways of making people fill my cup…the thing is they are still filling it. And each time I rely on other people to meet my psychological needs I become more addicted to their love.

The greatest problem with this addiction is it makes ministry almost impossible. I mean seriously how can I put my heart into the lives of others while at the same time relying on them to fill my cup. Eventually the day will come when two people with dangerously low cups are trying to use on another, and that always ends in disaster.

Should I feel loved and accepted by people? Of course! But God has placed family and friends in my life for a much greater purpose than to fill my cup.

Uncategorized

How I Was Doing My Quiet Time Wrong

The first thing I do every morning after pouring my first (of many) cups of coffee is throw on my housecoat and take the dog outside. By the time that’s finished I usually feel somewhat “human” so I find a quiet corner to have my daily quiet time. Like most of you I love that daily time with Scripture, but am frustrated because some days it felt as if I was in the very throne room of God, then other days it felt as if God was 1,000 miles away.

Of course I’m aware that every day in Sripture isn’t going to be a spectacular experience (like when your reading through the Levitical laws) but it wasn’t till recently I realized my way of reading Scripture made it hard for God to speak.

Before explaining the mistake let me share with you a few sentences God used to reveal weakness in my bible reading. It’s from Grasping God’s Word by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays

Keep in mind we are not yet asking the question “what does the text mean?” We are simply asking “what does the text say?”

These questions are referring to the hermeneutics (interpretation) of Scritpture which first understands the context in that day, then finds biblical principles in it that can also be applied to today…however it can easily refer to our quiet time as well.

Many days while drinking that first cup of coffee I’m praying something like this to God;

Lord what do you want to tell me today?
Lord please speak to me!
What has God been trying to say to me through His Word?

Those prayers are a beautiful thing because they openly confess my need to hear from God on a daily basis. but at the same time it affects how I read Scripture. During my quiet time I ask myself.

what is God saying to me?
what sin do I need to confess?
What promise can I claim?
How does this passage directly relate to what I’ve been experiencing?

In other words I approach the text asking “what does the text mean for me?” Instead of asking “what does the text say.” At first this may not seem like it’s too big of a deal (I mean God does speak to us through His word) however looking for something I view as meaningful keeps me from seeing the theme of the actual text.

For instance this morning I read this in devotions from Leviticus 22.

Lev. 22:4 “ ‘If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed.

Now I could have spent a long time trying to figure out what a sacred offering meant for me in 2016, but this would mean overlooking the fact this passage isn’t referring to the sacred offering (words used six-times), the major idea was who could (or couldn’t) eat the sacred offerings (speaks of eating sacred offerings at least five times.) A biblical principle would be it was something Holy or set-apart only for those priests who were clean morally to eat…anybody else who tried to eat it would die (Lev. 22:3). Yet in my rush to find “something meaningful” that idea will be overlooked.

I’m not saying that approaching Scripture asking “what does it say?” Instead of “what does it mean?” Will make quiet time a more exciting experience. In fact it’s much easier to look for something that speaks to me, because studying the grammar and key words of a passage is hard work.

However it’s as we allow God to speak to us through His Word (instead of reading meaning into it) that we discover key biblical principles. And it’s as we meditate on those principles God will draw us closer to Him.

Witnessing for Wimps

Moving Past “Dump Truck Method” Responses to the Gospel

My second year of Bible College the Lord taught me a very important lesson about how to study for exams. I’ve always been able to memorize things very easily so throughout High-School my way of studying was to write things down on a piece of paper and then review it verbally. The night before most exams was spent walking around my room (verbally going through notes) while the Robin Hood Prince of Thieves Soundtrack played in the background 🙂

During my High School years I (along with many other students) adopted the “dump truck method” of test taking. In other words my memorization style only thought in basic terms (this is the question and this is the answer) instead of thinking about the information (why is this the right answer?). In early years of education like High School its easy to get away with this because having the right answer is enough. However a dump truck method of learning doesn’t work very well in College.

I actually coasted along the first semester of my freshman year using the dump truck method because my professors had mercy on me. One literally gave us the questions and answers to each exam! However in the second semester I was in for a rude awakening because suddenly having the right answer wasn’t enough, now we had to prove why it was the best answer.

I can remember a professor my Junior year at bible college giving us a reading assignment that would be covered in a quiz the next class period. We were told to read the material carefully in preparation so I studied very hard and felt confident coming in.

The professor however wanted to teach us a lesson in noticing everything in the material (not just the words) so a question in the quiz was “does the author smoke?” Later on I realized in that chapter there was a picture of the author with a pipe in his hand but in my hurry to cover the material I didn’t notice it.

That professor and others at college helped me think through an answer by looking at it from different angles or viewpoints instead of just putting it on paper without a second thought. This change in thinking began by simply making me stop and think about my answer.

Sadly in a religious mission field (area where people have basic knowledge of Scripture but haven’t accepted Christ) we encounter many people who use the dump truck method when the Gospels shared. They have the right answers but it’s just memorized words that spills out of their mouths without really thinking like my words dumped on paper.

Sharing the Gospel in this mission field is definitely a huge part of missions…however part of me wonders if just sharing it should be our goal. Wouldn’t it be better to make them stop and THINK about those words?

Therefore the goal of Christians is the same as my professor in college by moving past the basic answer. I’ve learned asking a follow up question like “if God asked why He should let you in Heaven what would you tell him?” has the same result as my professors question about the author smoking.

With this new goal (thinking about the Gospel instead of just giving memorized answers) we change the way that we share the Gospel though the message will never change. This begins by making the Gospel a conversation instead of a statement.

Uncategorized

Ministering in a Religious Mission Field

This week in an article on “Four Questions Every Church should ask a Missionary Organization ” Elliot Clarke made a statement that I found very interesting.

“The fact is this, for all of our discussion about unreached people groups, most places that we send missionaries already have some kind of Christian influence.”

Clarke with this statement is encouraging Churches to ask missions organisations how they partner with other churches or groups. However he is correct that a huge amount of mission fields today can be referred to as religious [2].

A few months ago I shared the Gospel with a man who after being asked where he would go when he died immediately responded “hell.” Yet he could quote Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23, tell me why Jesus had to come and die (for his sin), and even had a general idea about how to accept Christ. But when I asked if he wanted to accept Jesus his answer was a respectful no.

Sadly missions today is very different that it was in past generations when people heard the Gospel for the first time and excitedly accepted Christ. Today those in mission fields (and even America) can quote the Romans road while loving the most pagan life imaginable.

The conversation with that man who knew all the answers but didn’t accept the Lord reminded me of the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus in John 3. This religious leader knew the foundational truth that Jesus was from Heaven because of His miracles (3:1–2) but couldn’t comprehend the deeper truth that Jesus had to come because he couldn’t save himself (3:3–8), and though he clearly knew the prophecies that proved Jesus was the messiah (3:10–12) refused to believe (3:9).

I truly believe Nicodemus in the back of his mind knew that Jesus was the Messiah come to save the world from their sins. He knew all the prophesies but did not allow that truth to impact his life. So it always stayed in his head never affecting the heart of Nicodemus

Notice that the ministry of Jesus here isn’t so much about sharing the Gospel but about moving past the basic Bible truth (you aren’t a normal man) and revealing the deeper Gospel truth (Christ is God’s Son who would transform hearts though the Holy Spirit). In a way we can follow Christ’s pattern by explaining the truths of Scripture instead of proclaiming them.

In more basic terms we make the person stop and think about what Scripture truly means.

This is a frustrating kind of ministry especially after we have explained the Gospel countless times and it still hasn’t made an impact upon lives. Yet all that work is worth it the moment you see the Holy Spirit lead that person past knowledge to a true relationship with Christ.

[2]: By calling a field religious I mean they have a basic understanding of the Gospel or Christian truth