R12: How to come to grips with the real you

Coming to grips with the real you is the theme of the next relationship: sober in self assessment. Ironically this was the theme of a men’s retreat I attended this weekend. There, the example was given of Jacob, wrestling with God and being given a new name. To get to that point however, Jacob had to reap the consequences of his character- the deceiver had to be deceived to be humble enough to see who he really was. Only then could he be ready wrestle with God. During the struggle, he was permanently wounded, but he was rewarded for it.

God has a new name for us too (Revelation 2:17). But we often aren’t willing to humbly admit who we are. We want the blessing without the pain necessary to prepare ourselves for it. But God doesn’t work that way. He cannot reveal who he wants us to be if we can’t see who we are. And that only comes by painfully digging to the very roots of our character. But instead we hide. We bury who we are under the front we present to the rest of the world. We do this for so long we forget who we really are so far underneath.

A week ago I posted a little introduction to myself and my blog. While that gives a simple “who am I” it doesn’t reveal anything about the depth of my character. It does not describe who I am on the road to becoming who God wants me to be. At the time, it wasn’t meant to deliberately hide my character or intentionally not be vulnerable. There are times and places for that. Well, this is that time.

I appreciate the openness Chip Ingram has shown as he shares about his past, his faith, and his struggles to get to where he is now. For myself, I’ve been through many of the same battles. Like him, I am insecure, though it shows itself in different ways. As I “wrestled with God” this weekend, my insecurities were ever before me. This isn’t new. It was revealed during my recovery and I face it every day at my job and in my home. But I bury it. I don’t deal with it. And it finds new ways to cripple me. I don’t intend to put on a false front. And I try to not let my insecurities paralyze me in fear. But I still hold myself back. I’m not as close in my relationships as I need to be. To be blunt, I don’t let anyone in. And that has prevented me from being all that God wants me to be. So I’m going to battle through this. Wrestle with God. And not let go until I receive his blessing. This chapter comes at the perfect time. Join me in this battle. Wrestle with me.

Think: What went through your mind as you read this?
Reflect: What parts of my story [or Chip’s in the book] could you identify with? What aspects of your story are different?
Understand: When was the last time you thought seriously about the question, “Who am I?” What part of answering this question makes you uncomfortable? Excited? Afraid?
Surrender: Ask God to help you see yourself the way He sees you.
Take Action: Write down the top three people and events that you think have most shaped how you view yourself today.
Motivation: Watch the thirteen-minute video on R12 online titled “How to Come to Grips With the Real You” by clicking the R12 button to the right and going to the “Self Assessment” tab.
Encourage Someone: Think of someone who has a low or untrue view of themselves and share two positive character qualities you see in their life. Tell them it’s an assignment for a spiritual formation project you’re working on so they don’t feel awkward.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Chapters 8 & 9 follow-up, It’s All About Me!

I have to follow up on the last two chapters. Each time I’ve sat down to start punching away on my keyboard, my train of thought finds a point and steamrolls me through to the end of the post. And then I realize I never got around to some of the points I wanted to make in the first place. I spent a lot of time on Chapter 8, defining the temptations of the World, and by the length of my post it is no surprise this is one of the longest chapters in the book. Chapter 9 follows with the “hows” to combat the temptations in Chapter 8. And I spent most of this morning’s post instead talking about the “whys”.

Something I inadvertently left out of both of these however is one major roadblock we all have to face in order to “not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.” I mentioned before that both commands here are passive. So while we’re commanded to do this, we’re not expected to do it on our own. So the obstacle to overcoming the world and transforming as God intends is ourselves. This is too important a point to be left out.

Chip paints this perfectly in Chapter 8:

I am personally convinced that much of our worldliness is a total misunderstanding of the real issue. There are far too many people who are stuck in cycles of sin that they repeat over and over again because they think the issue is their actual behavior. Behavior is almost always only the symptom. The real issue is far deeper…

I’m amazed that even in our sin we figure a way to make it “about us.” My sin, my problem, my behavior, my addiction, my struggles, my difficult background, are all words and phrases that focus on us.

This comes up again in Chapter 9 as we’re reminded that we are not the ones who do the transforming, we are the ones transformed. And this fact, that sounds so simple, is why religion so often fails. We have to remember that religion is a man-made institution designed to draw us close to God. It is man-made however, meaning it is imperfect. And over time traditions set in, cliques form, apathy and ambivalence creep in, and generation after generation see splits, revivals, restorations and the cycle begins anew. Religion does not save. Church programs do not heal. Our fellowship should not be our object of worship. These belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.

So the World tricks us into thinking it’s all about ourselves and religion buys into it. My sin drags me down. But if I do this and I do not do that I will overcome. Our spirituality becomes a checklist, our relationship with God becomes about rules, and we forget the grace of God that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) (Remember that Romans 12 begins with “Therefore…” after following chapters 1-11) This is not to excuse sin. This is not to advocate some private, personal ascension to holiness independent from the Church. This is to plead that we step out of the way and let God do what he wants to do in our lives. When we do, repentance becomes easier, resistance to temptations becomes natural, and holiness becomes who we are.

Think: What action is commanded in Romans 12:2 that results in transformation? How does this action differ from ways you have attempted to be more Christ-like?
Reflect: How would you characterize your mental and spiritual diet? What correlation might there be between areas where you “struggle” and what is going into your mind?
Understand: What is your biggest barrier to renewing your mind? Don’t know where to begin? Don’t have a plan? Don’t have the discipline?
Surrender: Ask God to create an appetite in your heart for Him and His Word. Ask Him to show you where to read in the Bible.
Take Action: Set your alarm clock back twenty minutes each day for two weeks and meet with God to start your day.
Motivation: Listen to “Peace and Power of a Prioritized Life” which shows you a simple but powerful way to read adn hear God’s voice. [Found by clicking the R12 button to the right and going to the Free Resources under the “Separate” tab]
Encourage Someone: Ask someone to make the two-week commitment with you to meet with God first daily. Text each other at noon in order to hold each other accountable.

R12: Chapters 8 & 9 follow-up, It’s All About Me!

I have to follow up on the last two chapters. Each time I’ve sat down to start punching away on my keyboard, my train of thought finds a point and steamrolls me through to the end of the post. And then I realize I never got around to some of the points I wanted to make in the first place. I spent a lot of time on Chapter 8, defining the temptations of the World, and by the length of my post it is no surprise this is one of the longest chapters in the book. Chapter 9 follows with the “hows” to combat the temptations in Chapter 8. And I spent most of this morning’s post instead talking about the “whys”.

Something I inadvertently left out of both of these however is one major roadblock we all have to face in order to “not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.” I mentioned before that both commands here are passive. So while we’re commanded to do this, we’re not expected to do it on our own. So the obstacle to overcoming the world and transforming as God intends is ourselves. This is too important a point to be left out.

Chip paints this perfectly in Chapter 8:

I am personally convinced that much of our worldliness is a total misunderstanding of the real issue. There are far too many people who are stuck in cycles of sin that they repeat over and over again because they think the issue is their actual behavior. Behavior is almost always only the symptom. The real issue is far deeper…

I’m amazed that even in our sin we figure a way to make it “about us.” My sin, my problem, my behavior, my addiction, my struggles, my difficult background, are all words and phrases that focus on us.

This comes up again in Chapter 9 as we’re reminded that we are not the ones who do the transforming, we are the ones transformed. And this fact, that sounds so simple, is why religion so often fails. We have to remember that religion is a man-made institution designed to draw us close to God. It is man-made however, meaning it is imperfect. And over time traditions set in, cliques form, apathy and ambivalence creep in, and generation after generation see splits, revivals, restorations and the cycle begins anew. Religion does not save. Church programs do not heal. Our fellowship should not be our object of worship. These belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.

So the World tricks us into thinking it’s all about ourselves and religion buys into it. My sin drags me down. But if I do this and I do not do that I will overcome. Our spirituality becomes a checklist, our relationship with God becomes about rules, and we forget the grace of God that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) (Remember that Romans 12 begins with “Therefore…” after following chapters 1-11) This is not to excuse sin. This is not to advocate some private, personal ascension to holiness independent from the Church. This is to plead that we step out of the way and let God do what he wants to do in our lives. When we do, repentance becomes easier, resistance to temptations becomes natural, and holiness becomes who we are.

Think: What action is commanded in Romans 12:2 that results in transformation? How does this action differ from ways you have attempted to be more Christ-like?
Reflect: How would you characterize your mental and spiritual diet? What correlation might there be between areas where you “struggle” and what is going into your mind?
Understand: What is your biggest barrier to renewing your mind? Don’t know where to begin? Don’t have a plan? Don’t have the discipline?
Surrender: Ask God to create an appetite in your heart for Him and His Word. Ask Him to show you where to read in the Bible.
Take Action: Set your alarm clock back twenty minutes each day for two weeks and meet with God to start your day.
Motivation: Listen to “Peace and Power of a Prioritized Life” which shows you a simple but powerful way to read adn hear God’s voice. [Found by clicking the R12 button to the right and going to the Free Resources under the “Separate” tab]
Encourage Someone: Ask someone to make the two-week commitment with you to meet with God first daily. Text each other at noon in order to hold each other accountable.

R12: Could your mental diet be killing your soul?

Before I move on to the next chapter, I have to cover some more ground from last time. The post was pretty long as it was and I neglected a few points that tie us into today’s topic.

While I spent a lot of time describing those things that compete with God for our affection, I didn’t talk much about us being lovers of God. If our faith is weak or nonexistent, or if we’ve been hurt by the religious (and often blame that on God) why would we choose to love God over the pleasures of this world? 1 John 2:17 touches on this, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Even if we don’t believe in God, we know that our lives are going to end. On one hand, that means that our pleasures in this world are all we have and we should chase after them exhaustively. On the other hand, it means that whatever pleasures we enjoy in this life are meaningless since we’re just going to die anyway and we will have no memory of those pleasures. God offers a third option, an eternity with him where the pleasures of this world are insignificant in comparison to the joys of being united with our Creator in heaven. Now, that’s hard to wrap our minds around. God could just as easily be the Flying Spaghetti Monster with a promise such as this. So we need to establish why we should take God at his word.

Remember that Romans 12 begins with “Therefore, in view of God’s mercy…” after following a crash course of Jewish history and theology in chapters 1-11. We have to know who God is and what he has done, both throughout history and personally in each of our lives. Then the opening paragraph of Romans 12 ends with “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” There’s a promise at the end and we have to trust that God has our best in mind.

But the world wants us to think differently. This is the focus of Chapter 9- the battle in our mind. The world fools us with its pleasures into thinking “to feel, to have and to be” are ends, not means. So our goal should be those pleasures instead of experiencing those pleasures as our goals are of a higher calling. Take sex, for example. Sex is great! Sex is fun! Sex feels good! (How many more times do I have to type sex for my blog hits to triple?) And sex was designed by God for us to enjoy. But he gave us the context of marriage, or for the more liberally minded (though I do not agree) the context of a monogamous relationship. Here the “joy of sex” is not the ends, but the means to emotionally and spiritually bond with your spouse. It can be effectively argued that the best sex is when you are most giving (verbally, emotionally, or physically) and the worst is when you are the most selfish. There’s a reason for this. It is not the ends, but the means to an end.

You could describe any of yesterday’s temptations the same way. We need to eat and food tastes good, but food is not an end, but a means to nourish our bodies. And so on, and so on.

So there is this battle in our minds that tries to convince us that these temporary pleasures are worth sacrificing eternal joy. And we are easily duped. “I’m sad right now, what good does eternal joy do me now when who knows how long I will live or if heaven is even real?” So we give into wordly pleasures to satisfy the right now.

So we need our thoughts to be eternally minded. We need to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:15) and “whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) We need to win the battle in our minds.

But how? By feeding it spiritual thoughts. Think about a 40 hour workweek, 6 hours of sleep every night, and two hours of church on a Sunday. The balance is filled with errand-running, TV watching, bill paying, and if there’s enough time you might actually sit down for meal. And if not, you can always get something on the road. What dominates your attention? What is filling your mind during these times? So you need a steady diet of spirituality to overcome the diet of the world that dominates our time. We can’t read our Bibles 24/7 or lock ourselves away in a monastery or convent. But we can read the Word every day, we can surround ourselves with spiritual people every chance we get, we can listen to spiritual music, we can “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) by guiding our thoughts towards seeking God’s will- asking yourself WWJD.

But we have to build strength to overcome. Like I said, just based on time, the world dominates. So we need to train our thoughts. We can’t just open the Bible randomly and be encouraged by a Proverb. We need to study something specific, otherwise we’re just spinning our spiritual wheels. Likewise, we need to train our minds to always be thinking about God’s will by filling our thoughts with Scripture. This comes from memorization. I admit I’m not good in this area. But Chip gives a very compelling example of why and how this benefits.

We also have to cut out the junk. I love Doritos. I can’t get enough when I eat them. But they don’t satisfy any craving. So when I eat them, I want more and more and more. Junk food is like that. I can’t live off of Doritos, I need real sustenance. Likewise, the world feeds us junk. We can’t live off of it and it doesn’t satisfy. So we need to cut back on TV, music (most of what fills the Pop charts is moral filth), gossip in the workplace, etc.

In encourage you to find the junk in your life and cut it out. Feed yourself some real spiritual nourishment that satisfies. And “be transformed by the renewing of your mind

(Not going to do TRUST ME yet. This subject demands another post. Look for it later today.)

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Could your mental diet be killing your soul?

Before I move on to the next chapter, I have to cover some more ground from last time. The post was pretty long as it was and I neglected a few points that tie us into today’s topic.

While I spent a lot of time describing those things that compete with God for our affection, I didn’t talk much about us being lovers of God. If our faith is weak or nonexistent, or if we’ve been hurt by the religious (and often blame that on God) why would we choose to love God over the pleasures of this world? 1 John 2:17 touches on this, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Even if we don’t believe in God, we know that our lives are going to end. On one hand, that means that our pleasures in this world are all we have and we should chase after them exhaustively. On the other hand, it means that whatever pleasures we enjoy in this life are meaningless since we’re just going to die anyway and we will have no memory of those pleasures. God offers a third option, an eternity with him where the pleasures of this world are insignificant in comparison to the joys of being united with our Creator in heaven. Now, that’s hard to wrap our minds around. God could just as easily be the Flying Spaghetti Monster with a promise such as this. So we need to establish why we should take God at his word.

Remember that Romans 12 begins with “Therefore, in view of God’s mercy…” after following a crash course of Jewish history and theology in chapters 1-11. We have to know who God is and what he has done, both throughout history and personally in each of our lives. Then the opening paragraph of Romans 12 ends with “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” There’s a promise at the end and we have to trust that God has our best in mind.

But the world wants us to think differently. This is the focus of Chapter 9- the battle in our mind. The world fools us with its pleasures into thinking “to feel, to have and to be” are ends, not means. So our goal should be those pleasures instead of experiencing those pleasures as our goals are of a higher calling. Take sex, for example. Sex is great! Sex is fun! Sex feels good! (How many more times do I have to type sex for my blog hits to triple?) And sex was designed by God for us to enjoy. But he gave us the context of marriage, or for the more liberally minded (though I do not agree) the context of a monogamous relationship. Here the “joy of sex” is not the ends, but the means to emotionally and spiritually bond with your spouse. It can be effectively argued that the best sex is when you are most giving (verbally, emotionally, or physically) and the worst is when you are the most selfish. There’s a reason for this. It is not the ends, but the means to an end.

You could describe any of yesterday’s temptations the same way. We need to eat and food tastes good, but food is not an end, but a means to nourish our bodies. And so on, and so on.

So there is this battle in our minds that tries to convince us that these temporary pleasures are worth sacrificing eternal joy. And we are easily duped. “I’m sad right now, what good does eternal joy do me now when who knows how long I will live or if heaven is even real?” So we give into wordly pleasures to satisfy the right now.

So we need our thoughts to be eternally minded. We need to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:15) and “whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) We need to win the battle in our minds.

But how? By feeding it spiritual thoughts. Think about a 40 hour workweek, 6 hours of sleep every night, and two hours of church on a Sunday. The balance is filled with errand-running, TV watching, bill paying, and if there’s enough time you might actually sit down for meal. And if not, you can always get something on the road. What dominates your attention? What is filling your mind during these times? So you need a steady diet of spirituality to overcome the diet of the world that dominates our time. We can’t read our Bibles 24/7 or lock ourselves away in a monastery or convent. But we can read the Word every day, we can surround ourselves with spiritual people every chance we get, we can listen to spiritual music, we can “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) by guiding our thoughts towards seeking God’s will- asking yourself WWJD.

But we have to build strength to overcome. Like I said, just based on time, the world dominates. So we need to train our thoughts. We can’t just open the Bible randomly and be encouraged by a Proverb. We need to study something specific, otherwise we’re just spinning our spiritual wheels. Likewise, we need to train our minds to always be thinking about God’s will by filling our thoughts with Scripture. This comes from memorization. I admit I’m not good in this area. But Chip gives a very compelling example of why and how this benefits.

We also have to cut out the junk. I love Doritos. I can’t get enough when I eat them. But they don’t satisfy any craving. So when I eat them, I want more and more and more. Junk food is like that. I can’t live off of Doritos, I need real sustenance. Likewise, the world feeds us junk. We can’t live off of it and it doesn’t satisfy. So we need to cut back on TV, music (most of what fills the Pop charts is moral filth), gossip in the workplace, etc.

In encourage you to find the junk in your life and cut it out. Feed yourself some real spiritual nourishment that satisfies. And “be transformed by the renewing of your mind

(Not going to do TRUST ME yet. This subject demands another post. Look for it later today.)

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Are you a faithful lover?

Woah, getting personal, aren’t I? But that’s not the kind of lover Chip Ingram means in his book, Living On the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality, aka LOTE: The Book. No, in this case you are God’s lover, a member of Christ’s bride the Church. So are you faithful?

The second relationship in R12 is Separate from the World. You cannot even begin to address this relationship without turning your Bible over to 1 John 2: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (v 15-17) We need to examine this Scripture to define the world, and Chip does an excellent job of this using some handy alliteration.

“The cravings of the sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does” is the NIV translation. Look at NASB to break this down more specifically, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life”. Three temptations, of which we can all relate. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life can be simplified as the temptation to feel, to have, and to be. Even further: pleasure, possessions, position; satisfaction, security, status; food, fortune, fame; girls/guys, gold, glory; or sex, salary, status. I list each of these so that hopefully one (or more) stands out to you whereas “lust of flesh, lust of eyes, pride of life” can be unrelatable because “it sounds religious”. I think the examples given show that this is not religious, but a struggle common to anyone who resides in this place we call the world.

Ministering to addicts, I relate most to the first temptation. I’m hesitant to us “sex, salary, status” because the first is more than just sex. Yes, that’s probably most common, but addiction is also about the need to feel good, or to mask feeling bad by feeling numb and calling that “good”. The warning is to HALT, if you’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired you’re most vulnerable to giving in to your addiction. You’re driven by feeling. But this isn’t limited to chemical addiction either. One of the examples above is “food, fortune, fame”. In fact, I was reading an article on weight loss yesterday that used the HALT example as a warning to not emotionally eat. If either of these don’t relate to you, you can always fall back on the standard “sex”. Even there, it’s a mask to cover up emotion. Pornography and masturbation is so appealing because it requires no commitment (other than a credit card!) and therefore, no emotion. Affairs begin under the same principle, but eventually real people have real emotions and someone, on either side of the affair, is bound to break.

As my family’s primary bread-winner, the second is also very tempting. I want them to be comfortable, to not have any needs. I get down on myself when things are tight as if it’s my fault. I beat myself up if there’s a patch of dead grass in the lawn, or if there’s a burned out light bulb that I haven’t yet changed. I am always giving in to this second temptation because in these cases, I lament that “the grass is greener on the other side” (especially if my grass has dead patches!). We look at the size of our home and want to upgrade. Yesterday at work, I parked next to a bright cherry-red Corvette, my dream car since I was a boy. I could not wait to get an HDTV, even though we don’t have cable or satellite. I could go on and on, but I’m sure I don’t have to. You could fill a page yourself of all the things you want because of the “lust of the eyes.” And it’s all for security. We’re fooled into thinking that “things” will make us secure and happy. That “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” But we also know that “you can’t take it with you.” The Ash Wednesday saying, “remember man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is to remind us that the trinkets of this world are meaningless. “The world and its desires pass away…” Needtobreathe has a great song to close their most recent album The Outsiders. I love the chorus to Let us Love: (emphasis added)

Let us love
Like we are children
Let us live
Like we’re still living
In a world we know,
is burning to the ground


Finally, I relate to “the pride of life” as a professional. In fact, my primary Love Language is words of encouragement. I need to be recognized, lifted up, appreciated. But I cannot compromise my convictions to gain approval. I cannot cheat, gossip, or cut corners to get ahead. The hardest thing for me to do at my job is to sit back and just let things happen on their own. I don’t get the calls I think I should. Yet when I surrender my career to God’s Will, in other words when I stop trying to advance myself, I find myself in the exact places I’m trying to go simply by chance opportunities opening themselves up. This is a constant prayer of mine, to “not think of [myself] more highly than [I] ought, but rather think of [myself] with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given [me].” (Romans 12:3) I’m nothing special at my job. My work isn’t ground-breaking, it just is what it is. I’m owed nothing. Hard things to say, but necessary to keep myself from falling into this temptation.

I know you can relate to at least one of these. Most likely, you can relate to all three. But you’re not alone. Here’s a homework assignment. Look at the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 and compare his temptations to this list and your own struggles. Be reminded that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 14:15) To go further, look at the temptation of Eve and be reminded that “no temptation has seized you except what is common to man.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

So humbled, recognize that the command in 1 John is not about following any specific rules or “planting hedges” to protect ourselves from the world. The issue isn’t about what we do, but what we love. Our primary love should be God alone. Anything, or anyone, else is adultery.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?” (James 4:4-5)

Think: What’s the single biggest issue, related to the above, that has surfaced in your life?
Reflect: How does seeing the world as a seductress change its appeal? How does reframing sin as a “relational issue” versus “breaking the rules” make you feel about times when you sin?
Understand: Which of the temptations above are you most vulnerable?
Surrender: Ask God to give you the courage to come out of your denial and rationalizations and be ruthlessly honest with yourself and Him. Remember that it’s not about rules, but about relationship.
Take Action: Do a three, five, or seven day media fast. Break away from TV, radio, the Internet and see what happens (Romans 13:14). [this will make it hard to follow this blog, but if you’re really struggling with any of the temptations above, it is well worth it]
Motivation: Listen or read “How to Break Out of a Destructive Lifestyle” from the Miracle of Life Change series found under the Separate “Free Resources” found by clicking the R12 button to the right and then the ‘Separate’ tab.
Encourage Someone: Download the message/chapter summarized here for someone you know it would help [or send them a link to this blog!].

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Why is the Christian life so difficult?

Reposted from last week to get back on a M-F schedule…

The title speaks for itself. I could leave it there and open up for discussion on Romans 12:2 and satisfy [last] week’s blog carnival on self-control all at once. But I won’t leave it there. We need to answer this question. We need to know how to overcome.

Chapter 7 in Living On The Edge lays the groundwork to answer this in future chapters, I’m sorry to tease. But the set up is just as valuable. We can’t answer this question because we don’t know why it’s an issue to begin with. This week’s blog carnival is on self-control. The question is bound to be asked, “why, as Christians, do we still struggle with sin?” Chip Ingram poses that the reason is because we do not understand the struggle. As I mentioned last time, I learned from the book Wild At Heart that our struggle against sin has three enemies- Satan, the World, and our sinful nature. Chip comes to the same conclusion but words it differently- the who, where, and what of sin. If our religious tradition focuses only on one, or even two, of these but not all three, we are destined to fail. This is because Satan wants us to fail, we live in a world designed to discourage us, and we desire comfort that satisfies our sinful nature. We need to overcome each of these.

Chip goes into the grammar of verse 2, but I’ll spare you. One important point in each of the verbs is important though: “conform” and “transform” are both passive. That means it’s not us doing it. The world conforms us with external pressure and only God can transform us by the power of His Holy Spirit. So much of my struggle against sin is relying on my own strength. I will always fail so long as I continue to rely on myself. Trying hard to ‘do right’ or be religious cannot overcome Satan’s schemes or the World system.

So we need to come to terms with who overcomes and how. It is not us. It is not our church. It is not some self-help book or any special preacher or brand of Christianity. It is Christ alone. And we need to ask ourselves why. To be more moral than someone else? To be more holy? Will that elevate us to some closer level to God? No! We need to remember that God is our Father and as His children He only wants the best for us. So we turn ourselves over to him so that we can “test and approve” His will.

More on how next time.

Think: did you learn anything new in this discussion?
Reflect: why is the Christian life so difficult? What specific schemes of Satan in this World appeal most to your sinful nature?
Understand: how do you currently battle the temptations of the World? What works for you? What doesn’t?
Surrender: share honestly with God where you struggle most. Ask God to reveal whomever or whatever s keeping you from the fullness of your relationship with Christ.
Take action: address whatever God reveals to you as an answer to this prayer. Ask for forgiveness and claim 1 John 1:9.
Motivation: listen to the audio message How To Get God’s Best for your life by clicking the R12 button on the right.
Encourage someone: invite someone struggling spiritually over to your home for dinner, to a Bible study, or just to coffee to catch up.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Why is the Christian life so difficult?

Reposted from last week to get back on a M-F schedule…

The title speaks for itself. I could leave it there and open up for discussion on Romans 12:2 and satisfy [last] week’s blog carnival on self-control all at once. But I won’t leave it there. We need to answer this question. We need to know how to overcome.

Chapter 7 in Living On The Edge lays the groundwork to answer this in future chapters, I’m sorry to tease. But the set up is just as valuable. We can’t answer this question because we don’t know why it’s an issue to begin with. This week’s blog carnival is on self-control. The question is bound to be asked, “why, as Christians, do we still struggle with sin?” Chip Ingram poses that the reason is because we do not understand the struggle. As I mentioned last time, I learned from the book Wild At Heart that our struggle against sin has three enemies- Satan, the World, and our sinful nature. Chip comes to the same conclusion but words it differently- the who, where, and what of sin. If our religious tradition focuses only on one, or even two, of these but not all three, we are destined to fail. This is because Satan wants us to fail, we live in a world designed to discourage us, and we desire comfort that satisfies our sinful nature. We need to overcome each of these.

Chip goes into the grammar of verse 2, but I’ll spare you. One important point in each of the verbs is important though: “conform” and “transform” are both passive. That means it’s not us doing it. The world conforms us with external pressure and only God can transform us by the power of His Holy Spirit. So much of my struggle against sin is relying on my own strength. I will always fail so long as I continue to rely on myself. Trying hard to ‘do right’ or be religious cannot overcome Satan’s schemes or the World system.

So we need to come to terms with who overcomes and how. It is not us. It is not our church. It is not some self-help book or any special preacher or brand of Christianity. It is Christ alone. And we need to ask ourselves why. To be more moral than someone else? To be more holy? Will that elevate us to some closer level to God? No! We need to remember that God is our Father and as His children He only wants the best for us. So we turn ourselves over to him so that we can “test and approve” His will.

More on how next time.

Think: did you learn anything new in this discussion?
Reflect: why is the Christian life so difficult? What specific schemes of Satan in this World appeal most to your sinful nature?
Understand: how do you currently battle the temptations of the World? What works for you? What doesn’t?
Surrender: share honestly with God where you struggle most. Ask God to reveal whomever or whatever s keeping you from the fullness of your relationship with Christ.
Take action: address whatever God reveals to you as an answer to this prayer. Ask for forgiveness and claim 1 John 1:9.
Motivation: listen to the audio message How To Get God’s Best for your life by clicking the R12 button on the right.
Encourage someone: invite someone struggling spiritually over to your home for dinner, to a Bible study, or just to coffee to catch up.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Are you getting God’s best?

Reposted from last week to get back on a M-F schedule…

The first part of Romans 12 focused on Surrender and the first relationship is with God. The second part of Romans 12 focuses on Separate and our relationship with the World:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

My eyes were opened reading Wild At Heart when it was pointed out that we have three enemies. Often we focus all of our attention on Satan and use his schemes to excuse our own sinful nature. But the third that is often neglected, is the world, but they all go hand in hand. Romans 12 calls our attention to fight two of the three. Fight our sinful natures, transforming our minds, by resisting the temptations of the world.

Sounds easy, right? It is the world that distracts us and keeps us from “fix[ing] our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) I think of the scene in the Matrix with the woman in the red dress. A pretty good speech for evangelism. But also a good example of the world as our enemy. The truth is, the values, temptations, and “patterns” of this world are contrary to the will of God. We desire to know God’s will, but neglect that the world keeps us from fully experiencing it. So Paul challenges us to “test and approve” it which we cannot do so long as we continue to be tied in any way to this world.

What ties us to this world? Family, friendships, wealth, fame? Lately the Church has established roots deeply into the realm of politics- governing in this world. Sadly this has paralyzed many. Regardless of the nobility of their goals, they will forever be unable to “test and approve God’s will” because of this tie to the world.

So the question is, are you getting God’s best, his good, pleasing and perfect will? If not, what is tying you to this world?

Think: Read Romans 12:2 over slowly, with special emphasis on the last nineteen words.
Reflect: What comes to mind when you think about doing God’s will? Does your mind gravitate to words like difficult, painful, distasteful, or do you find his will to be good, pleasing and perfect? Why?
Understand: How and where have you struggled the most in your journey with Christ? What habits, sins, or setbacks seem to thwart your relationship with Christ?
Surrender: Ask God to begin opening your eyes and your heart to what His good and pleasing will is for your life.
Take Action: Watch How to Get God’s Best for Your Life at the R12 online resources.
Motivation: Write out this prayer, or a personalized version, on a 3×5: Father, help me not to let this world squeeze me into its mold, but transform me from the inside out as I meditate and apply Your Word to my life.
Encourage someone: Write a note to someone who knows Christ, but is not walking with Him. Let them know you care and are praying for them today.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.

R12: Are you getting God’s best?

Reposted from last week to get back on a M-F schedule…

The first part of Romans 12 focused on Surrender and the first relationship is with God. The second part of Romans 12 focuses on Separate and our relationship with the World:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

My eyes were opened reading Wild At Heart when it was pointed out that we have three enemies. Often we focus all of our attention on Satan and use his schemes to excuse our own sinful nature. But the third that is often neglected, is the world, but they all go hand in hand. Romans 12 calls our attention to fight two of the three. Fight our sinful natures, transforming our minds, by resisting the temptations of the world.

Sounds easy, right? It is the world that distracts us and keeps us from “fix[ing] our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) I think of the scene in the Matrix with the woman in the red dress. A pretty good speech for evangelism. But also a good example of the world as our enemy. The truth is, the values, temptations, and “patterns” of this world are contrary to the will of God. We desire to know God’s will, but neglect that the world keeps us from fully experiencing it. So Paul challenges us to “test and approve” it which we cannot do so long as we continue to be tied in any way to this world.

What ties us to this world? Family, friendships, wealth, fame? Lately the Church has established roots deeply into the realm of politics- governing in this world. Sadly this has paralyzed many. Regardless of the nobility of their goals, they will forever be unable to “test and approve God’s will” because of this tie to the world.

So the question is, are you getting God’s best, his good, pleasing and perfect will? If not, what is tying you to this world?

Think: Read Romans 12:2 over slowly, with special emphasis on the last nineteen words.
Reflect: What comes to mind when you think about doing God’s will? Does your mind gravitate to words like difficult, painful, distasteful, or do you find his will to be good, pleasing and perfect? Why?
Understand: How and where have you struggled the most in your journey with Christ? What habits, sins, or setbacks seem to thwart your relationship with Christ?
Surrender: Ask God to begin opening your eyes and your heart to what His good and pleasing will is for your life.
Take Action: Watch How to Get God’s Best for Your Life at the R12 online resources.
Motivation: Write out this prayer, or a personalized version, on a 3×5: Father, help me not to let this world squeeze me into its mold, but transform me from the inside out as I meditate and apply Your Word to my life.
Encourage someone: Write a note to someone who knows Christ, but is not walking with Him. Let them know you care and are praying for them today.

Today continues our “virtual small group” covering the book Living On The Edge. For how this group is going to work, read this entry. For an introduction with disclaimers, click here. For some numbers from Barna to motivate you to continue reading, go here. For the R12 videos, click the R12 button on the sidebar to the right. Finally, as we move forward through the book you can always catch up by clicking the R12 label at the end of each post.