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What do we do now?

Sometimes it seems as if society has completely lost its moral compass. Where do Christians fit in? How do we speak the truth in love when basic values are under attack? I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately, and for me the answer comes back to three simple words that describe what we need at this moment in history:

Tenacious, winsome courage.

Tenacious means we hang on to the truth that Jesus is Lord.
Winsome means we face life with a smile, not a scowl.
Courage means we do what needs to be done.

Tenacious means we keep believing when it would be easier to give up.
Winsome means we don’t lose our temper and say something stupid.
Courage means we speak up for Christ as God gives us the opportunity.

Tenacious means we speak the truth when others urge us to keep quiet.
Winsome means we dare to care for those on “the other side.”
Courage means we refuse to be intimidated by false accusations.

Tenacious means we keep on praying.
Winsome means we remain cheerful when others attack us.
Courage means we do hard things without complaining.

Tenacious means we keep on loving when we are misunderstood.
Winsome means we display grace under pressure.
Courage means we speak up instead of wimping out.

More than ever, we need Christians who stand strong for the truth day after day, with a smile, not a frown, even when it’s not popular. So perhaps this is a good prayer for times like these:

“Lord, grant me tenacious winsome courage as I go through this day. When I am tempted to give up, help me to keep going. Grant me a cheerful spirit when things don’t go my way. And give me courage to do whatever needs to be done. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.

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Someone recently turned in this question: I’ve struggled with assurance of salvation for years. Could it be that I’m not one of the Elect?

Here is my response:

The short answer to your question is that your struggles are proof of the opposite, that you are indeed a child of God. A truly lost person has no desire to know the Lord and would have no concern for the state of his own soul. Such a person would not “struggle” over assurance of salvation precisely because it would not matter to them. The fact that it matters so much to you means that in your heart you really care about the answer. That can only come from the life of God in your soul.

And as for “struggling” over assurance, I think the problem comes from looking in the wrong place. As long as you look at yourself, you will never measure up. Your love for God will seem deficient, your obedience halfhearted, your devotion ragged, your growth in grace dismayingly slow, and your propensity to sin far too great. As long as you look at yourself, you will find many reasons to doubt your own salvation.

Hebrews 3:1 gives us the answer: “Fix your thoughts on Jesus.” We are to look at him and rest our hope upon him. He alone can save us. 

There is another way to say it. God is satisfied with the work of his Son. Are you? 

That puts it in the right perspective. If God is pleased with what his Son has accomplished, we should ask if we are also pleased. If Jesus has done enough to accomplish salvation for us, are we satisfied with him? We must not look at the cross and think, “Jesus did his part. Now I must do mine,” as if someday when we get to heaven, we will put our arm around Jesus’ shoulder and say, “You and me, Jesus. We did it together, didn’t we? You died on the cross, and I mowed the grass at church.” It doesn’t work that way. 

Either Jesus pays it all or there is no payment made for our sin.

I urge you to look to Christ and not to yourself. He alone can save you. There will be times when you feel closer to the Lord and times when you may feel far away. There will be times when your faith will be strong, and times when it will be weak. But those things reflect the vagaries of the human condition. 

Do not look to yourself. Look to Christ and all will be well. 

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.

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Recently Dallas megachurch pastor T. D. Jakes was asked by Oprah Winfrey to give his stance on homosexuality. Given Oprah’s huge audience and vast popularity in our culture, it would be easy to evade that question by trying to change the subject. Here is what Jakes said:

“I’m not called to give my opinion. I’m called as a pastor to give the scriptural position on it. Doesn’t mean that I have to agree with you to love you. I don’t dislike anybody. I love everybody."

When pressed to clarify, he added this:

“I think that sex between two people of the same sex is condemned in the Scriptures, and as long as it is condemned in the Scriptures, I don’t get to say what I think. I get to say what the Bible says.”

I think this is fine way to handle a difficult topic on national TV. On this point T. D. Jakes is exactly right. The preacher isn’t called to give his opinion on anything. He is called to say what God says. 

I know that T. D. Jakes has occasioned controversy over his views of the Trinity and the Prosperity Gospel. Those are important topics that need to be discussed, but I’m not dealing with those matters here. On the key point of how he handled the red-hot question of homosexuality and the Bible, Jakes gave the right answer. 

Good words for every pastor to remember. “I don’t get to say what I think. I get to say what the Bible says.”

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.

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The news that Chuck Colson died today brought to mind a visit to his office eleven years ago.

It happened a few weeks after 9/11 when a team from Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, IL spent the night at Prison Fellowship headquarters in Virginia. The next morning we were given a tour of the facilities, including a brief visit to Chuck Colson’s office. Since he was out of town, we were invited to go in and look around. One of us spotted a sign on the wall right above his desk. It was placed at eye-level so Mr. Colson would be sure to see it when he was sitting down. The sign contained just three words:

“Faithfulness Not Success.”

From somewhere in the back of my mind, I recalled a bit of the story. Early in his Christian life, a friend had given him that sign as a reminder about a Christian’s ultimate priorities. Before his conversion, Mr. Colson gained his fame by serving as Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man.” At one point, he was supposed to have declared that he would run over his own grandmother if it would help re-elect Mr. Nixon. I am sure his grandmother was relieved when Mr. Nixon won by a landslide. The anecdote illustrates something about the competitive nature of modern politics and of modern life in general.

But in God’s economy the values of the world are turned upside down. If you want to save your life, you have to lose it. If you want to become great, first be a servant. If you want true success, first learn to be faithful where you are. Years ago someone gave me a little sign that read, “Bloom where you are planted.” That’s good advice, isn’t it? It’s always easy to daydream about how wonderful life would be if only you lived in another state, or had another husband, or didn’t have so many children, or had another job, or more money, or better health, or a house with a bigger yard, or no yard at all. Living in the “if onlys” eventually breeds unhappiness and can lead to a “root of bitterness” against God and the people closest to you.

When we stand before the Lord, we may be surprised to know that our bottom line and his aren’t quite the same. He won’t ask how much money we made or lost or how many cars we owned or whether or not we climbed to the top of our profession. His question on that day will be much simpler: “Were you faithful in doing the task I gave you to do?” If we can answer yes, our time on earth will have been well-spent. Chuck Colson got it exactly right: It’s faithfulness not success that matters most to God.

His own life proved the truth of those words.

He was faithful, and God gave him success. 

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.