The Bolt from the Blue

By Elizabeth Prata

SYNOPSIS

A young man on his honeymoon in Florida was tragically struck by lightning, highlighting the unpredictability of death. The piece reflects on the inevitability of mortality and emphasizes the importance of preparing spiritually for death through repentance and faith in Jesus. Life’s fleeting nature calls for persistent devotion to God.

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven— A time to give birth and a time to die; (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

From Fox news: “Very sad update: A 29-year-old Colorado man, visiting Florida on his honeymoon with his new wife, was tragically killed by lightning on New Smyrna Beach. The storm was located 6–8 miles inland, and conditions at the beach were partly sunny when he was struck while standing in ankle-deep water. It was what’s known as a “bolt from the blue.”

Death didn’t concern me when I was younger. ‘All that’ (not daring even to say it’s name) seemed so far away. It won’t happen to me yet was my never-voiced thought. But wasn’t it Elbert Hubbard in 1900 who said “Do not take life too seriously—you will never get out of it alive.” Death is a fact and people die suddenly, instantaneously, and in strange ways, said Adrian Rogers, in a sermon I heard 20 years ago and never forgot. “The Day Death Died“.

The grass withers, the flower fades,
When the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40:7).

Death can come at any time. It’s not only the elderly, the stage 4 cancer patient, an Alzheimer’s grandfather who pass on. Sometimes death takes its sweet time arriving. Other times it comes as a bolt from the blue.

This young couple had their lives in front of them. Not even 30 yet. Just married mere days before. Their happiness was as sunny as the skies overhead. Yet death came. It arrived and left quickly, striking down the happy man and causing untold pain for those he loved still staring in shock.

The man was no doubt happy at the moment he met eternity. Yet happiness is no insulator from death. For those with a dread diagnosis, sadness, melancholy, and resignation to the inevitable are part of their life from that moment on. The tunnel if life is narrowing with each passing day. They see it coming. But the happy man, looking to the boundless ocean, seeing it as it is- a great bowl of infinite possibilities, endless waves of joy, never saw his end coming. Perhaps he was thinking about he children he and his new wife would have. Or perhaps thinking of their future together as a united couple, growing old together, not even knowing that their growing old would only be minutes long.

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die…(John 11:25-26a)

There are two points. One is that Jesus left his proper place in glory to pour Himself into human flesh, live a perfect life, and die agonizingly and unjustly so he could absorb and exhaust all of Gods wrath for sin. This act of holy and inexpressible sacrifice opened the door to heaven for sinners, if they repent and go through Jesus.

Secondly, HAVE you repented and trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior? He prepared for His duty in the Incarnation every day. He taught, prayed, obeyed God, waited for His time, and died. What are you doing to prepare for the inevitable death that will come? As we have seen, it may not be far off. Or it may be far off and you must be patient to see the Savior. Either way, preparing by first repenting unto salvation is critical. Then, our chief duty in this life “is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” says the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Prepare for our eventual reuniting with Him by diligently seeking His face so as to grow in His likeness.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Always working for the Lord. Always, constantly. Don’t sleep, drift, waver, or stumble.

Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

True Friendships

 

By Jill Briscoe

We can learn from the Bible what strengthens friendships and what kills them. For example, taking offense easily kills friendship. Amy Carmichael, in her little booklet If, says, “If I take offense easily–if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Again Amy says, “If I do not give a friend the benefit of the doubt but put the worst construction instead of the best on what is said or done, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” And, “If I can hurt another by speaking faithfully without much preparation of spirit and without hurting myself far more than I hurt that other, then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

Good forgivers make good friends too. This is not contradicting what I have said about saying things that need to be said. Remember, “faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Prov. 27:6, KJV). But when necessary hard things are said, afterward forgiveness is needed to heal the rough edges of those painful conversations. Sometimes we even have to forgive our friends for being faithful friends and telling us the truth!

David had two good friends, Jonathan and Nathan. Jonathan loved David to death. In Jonathan’s eyes, David could do no wrong. We all need that sort of friend. Nathan loved David too. But when David did something wrong, Nathan called him on it! We need a “Nathan” too.

Encouragement isn’t always “soft.” I well remember a great friend of mine listening to my litany of woes and then saying firmly but kindly, “Have a good cry, then wash your face, get up, and get on with it.” It worked. The word “encourage” means to “put courage into.” She surely put it into me!

We also need to be a Jonathan and a Nathan for others, as well as looking for those types of friends for ourselves. In fact, if we try to offer these two elements of friendship we will probably find the real friends we are looking for. In other words, be a friend and you will find a friend!

A friend loves at all times, and it is this element of “Calvary love,” as Amy Carmichael puts it, that helps us listen to our friends’ loving encouragement and act on it. Paul said, “I have you in my heart” (Phil. 1:7) and then proceeded to correct and rebuke his friends. When you know someone loves you and has you in their heart, you can hear their words of correction. It’s called “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15) or sometimes we call it “leveling in love” but when it happens you aren’t “leveled.”

Remember this bit of advice...Real friendship needs to be based on biblical principles, and it also needs to be practical. For example, we can offer words of encouragement but we also need to think of concrete ways to help. It’s more than talk–it’s offering a meal if your friend is sick, a ride in your car if she needs it, help with her kids if she is exhausted and needs a break. Sometimes your help will be verbal. As Ecclesiastes warns, however, there is “a time to be silent and a time to speak” (3:7).

A friend of mine took a risk on our friendship by talking to me about a problem that had arisen. First (she told me afterward), she fasted and prayed about whether to talk to me at all. That is a good start. Second she told me she decided she would not say anything more than she had to say. The old saying, “The less said, the sooner mended” is a very sound principle! My friend did it right, and said it right, and I was pleased to respond to her. What does “Calvary love” mean to you? What are some ways you can make this a reality in your friendships?

Don’t shy away from the prophetic books

                                                       Posted on May 15, 2023

By Elizabeth Prata

Prophecy gives us urgency. It reveals God’s plan and offers us the wonder of seeing it fulfilled to the jot and tittle, from the past by reading the Bible, and the future as we await His return. Prophecy shows us His holy anger, of which we must fear. We gain comfort and hope- think of Simeon and Anna in the temple, eagerly awaiting the Consolation of Israel, their hope and comfort fulfilled before their eyes as Mary and Joseph came to present the babe. (Luke 2).

I like being heavenly minded. I think of seeing the face of Jesus, singing to Him with all the redeemed. I think of the street of gold, the saints of the past I’ll get to know, and so much more. Being heavenly minded also means seeing the justice of God as He renders it in the final judgments. Judgment, wrath, and hell. There but for the grace of God go I… He took my ragged and pitifully polluted life and turned it into something glorious for the Father. He put in me a new heart and my soul daily being cleansed of sin.

In all the ways above and many more, prophecy demonstrates His glory.

I encourage you all to read and study the Book of Revelation. It is not difficult, and the Spirit will make it clear. You know, it is written in that book that we receive a blessing if we read the Book of Revelation. Zechariah has as much prophecy in it related to the final days on earth as Revelation does, if not more. I enjoyed Steve Hadley’s verse-by-verse sermons from Zechariah. There is so much prophecy in the Old Testament. I guess I should just say that the entire Bible is wonderful. Some say that a quarter of the whole Bible is prophetic. There is history, Law, narrative, poetry, wisdom, and prophecy. Something for everyone! So get to it today, don’t shy away from prophecy, especially Revelation.

Prophecy puts me in my place. I am a crumb, saved by grace, and at His perfect appointed time, placed within the Age of Grace to do His will, and perhaps gloriously see His return while I’m alive. What a privilege. Share Jesus with another, His prophetic timetable is moving quickly toward the climactic moments on earth.

CHRISTIANITY IS NOT ABOUT FEELING COMFORTABLE

 

by Bill Muehlenberg

PostedJun 11, 20How many times have you met professing believers who tell you they are “comfortable” – or “not comfortable” – with something related to scriptural truth or biblical morality? They seem to have decided that truth and error, right and wrong, are to be decided solely on the basis of how they feel – if they are “comfortable” about it or not.This is what passes for Christianity today in far too much of the West. The Christian life is now all about feelings – about emoting. If something does not pass your emote-o-meter, you reject it. And if it passes, you embrace it. This is the tragedy of contemporary Christianity.How many times have you met professing believers who tell you they are “comfortable” – or “not comfortable” – with something related to scriptural truth or biblical morality? They seem to have decided that truth and error, right and wrong, are to be decided solely on the basis of how they feel – if they are “comfortable” about it or not.

How many times have you met professing believers who tell you they are “comfortable” – or “not comfortable” – with something related to scriptural truth or biblical morality? They seem to have decided that truth and error, right and wrong, are to be decided solely on the basis of how they feel – if they are “comfortable” about it or not.

This is what passes for Christianity today in far too much of the West. The Christian life is now all about feelings – about emoting. If something does not pass your emote-o-meter, you reject it. And if it passes, you embrace it. This is the tragedy of contemporary Christianity.

I encounter this all the time, and it grieves me greatly. Imagine how much more it grieves Almighty God. He designed us to walk in truth, to believe truth, to celebrate truth, to align ourselves with truth, and to speak truth. Yet most of us couldn’t give a rip about truth, and only worry about if we are “comfortable” with something.

Never mind the words of John when he said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4). If John were alive today he would have to write, “I have no greater grief than to hear that my children are walking in their emotions.”

Since when are we to base our lives as believers on how we feel about something? Since when is something to be accepted or rejected based on how “comfortable” we are about it? This has absolutely nothing to do with biblical Christianity. It is always better to be hurt with the truth than to be comforted with a lie.

Yet so many Christians today do not operate this way. They are running on an emotional autopilot. Whatever gives them happy feelings they run with, and whatever gives them icky feelings they eschew. No wonder the church is in such a mess today.

And we find examples of this all around us. For example, on many occasions Christians have spoken with me about the biblical doctrine of hell. They ask me what my feelings are about it. I first remind them that my feelings have absolutely nothing to do with the matter.

What does matter is what God has spoken about this issue. And given that he has spoken much about this throughout the Bible, we all better stand up and take notice. And even more importantly, given that Jesus spoke more about the realities and terrors of hell than anyone else in the entire Bible, then we really better take heed to this.

Here we have all these Christians who claim to be followers of Christ, yet on one of the themes he spoke about the most often, these Christians have decided that they will not agree with Jesus, simply because they are not comfortable with the teaching.

Their emote-o-meter is running off the charts, and therefore they have effectively decided to put their own feelings ahead of the clear teachings of Jesus. They sin doubly here: they trust in their own fallible feelings instead of the infallible Word of God, and they shake their fists at Jesus Christ, the one they claim to be a disciple of.

Yet they still somehow think they are great Christians! Go figure. I guess they are “comfortable” with that. It gives them a warm, spongy feeling inside, so it must be right. How can their feelings lead them astray? How can their emotions ever be wrong?

And it is not just clearly defined doctrinal issues they assess with their mere feelings. Matters of biblical morality are also decided in this fashion. What is right and wrong is determined entirely by how they feel about things at a given moment. The homosexual issue is a clear case in point.

Forget all the explicit teachings in Scripture about human sexuality in general, and the sin of homosexuality in particular. They have decided – based only on how they feel about all this – that sodomy is peachy, gender is fluid, marriage and family can be anything you want, and sexual sin really does not exist.

All that based simply on one’s emotions. I have chatted with so many of these people. They are “comfortable” with homosexuals and homosexuality. They have no problem with these things because of their lousy emote-o-meter. Instead of testing everything by the inerrant Word of God, they simply feel their way through life.

And these same folks have told me how “comfortable” they feel about having moved on from the faith of their fathers. They actually celebrate the fact that they no longer believe what their Christian parents believed. They have moved on. They are “progressive”. They are going with the times. In other words, they are running on emotions.

It is always easier to run with your deceptive and fleeting feelings than with the unchanging, solid rock of the Bible. These Christians have simply forgotten about – or more likely, completely ignored – warnings such as found in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

The deceitful and misleading emotions have now become the defining means by which most believers today live their lives and establish their convictions. Truth means nothing to them, but feelings everything. They are so far bound by their fleshly emotions that they in fact end up suppressing the truth in unrighteousness as Paul warns about in Romans 1.

They become excellent evangelists – for secular humanism. Thus they have become enemies of the gospel. Instead of helping people and aiding them to be set free by the truth, they keep people imprisoned in their sin. But hey, at least they are “comfortable” with all that!

By running with emotions, they have rejected the living God as revealed in Scripture, and invented a god in their own likeness. This is a god who accepts everyone, loves everything, hates nothing, and is stirred by nothing. This is the polar opposite of the God we read about everywhere in Scripture. As I just read the other day in Psalm 5:4-6:

For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.
The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.

This God – the one true God – would not make these progressive Christians feel very “comfortable”. Indeed, such a description of God would trouble them greatly. Their emote-o-meter would crash and burn over such truths. They would reject such a God immediately because he does not line up with their worldly feelings.

So truth is spat upon. This means that the God of truth is spat upon as well. Emotions trump everything. ‘Sorry God, but you need to get with the times. Don’t you know that God is only about love? A love that accepts everything and everyone and never is disturbed about anything?’

That of course is not real love. Nor is it real Christianity. One’s comfort levels have nothing to do with real Christianity. As Doug Groothuis once said: “Since the truth may not be what we would prefer. It is revealing that so many people today express approval by saying, ‘I’m comfortable with that,’ and disapproval by saying, ‘I’m not comfortable with that.’ Comfort is important when it comes to furniture and headphones, but it is irrelevant when it comes to truth.”

Quite so. Or as Adrian Rogers put it: “It is better to be divided by Truth, than to be united in error. It is better to speak the Truth that hurts and then heals, than to speak a lie that will comfort and then kill. It is better to be hated for telling the Truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is better to stand alone with the Truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. Better to ultimately die with the Truth, than to live with a lie.”

Comfortable Christianity is really a contradiction in terms. There is nothing comfortable about carrying your cross, denying yourself, crucifying the flesh, and running against the ways of the world. The truth of the gospel is always uncomfortable. The sooner we learn that lesson, the better.

As C.S. Lewis rightly said: “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.”

Or as he said elsewhere: “I haven’t always been a Christian. I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

Are Christians Meant to Feel Guilty All the Time?

KEVIN DEYOUNG | MAY 11, 2010


I imagine there are plenty of Christians who rarely feel the sting of conscience or the pangs of regret. But I also know many, many Christians (including the one I see in the mirror) who easily feel bad for all the things they are not doing or are doing less than perfectly. In fact, I’m convinced most serious Christians live their lives with an almost constant low-level sense of guilt.

How do we feel guilty? Let me count the ways. We could pray more.
We aren’t bold enough in evangelism.
We like sports too much.
We watch movies and television too often.
Our quiet times are too short or too sporadic.
We don’t give enough.
We bought a new couch.
We don’t read to our kids enough.
Our kids eat Cheetos and french fries.
We don’t recycle enough.
We need to lost 20 pounds.
We could use our time better.
We could live some place harder or in something smaller.

What do we do with all this behind the scenes guilt? We don’t feel stop-dead-in-our-tracks kind of remorse for these things. But these shortcomings can have a cumulative effect whereby even the mature Christian can feel like he’s rather disappointing to God, maybe just barely Christian.

Here’s the tricky part: we should feel guilty sometimes, because sometimes we are guilty of sin. Moreover, complacency as Christians is a real danger, especially in America.

But yet, I don’t believe God redeemed us through the blood of his Son that we might feel like constant failures. Do Peter and John post-Pentecost seemed racked with self-loathing and introspective fear? Does Paul seem constantly concerned that he could be doing more? Amazingly enough, Paul actually says at one point “I am not aware of anything against myself” (1 Cor. 4:4). He’s quick to add, “I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” But it sure seems like Paul put his head on the pillow at night with a clean conscience. So why do so many Christian feel guilty all the time?

1. We don’t fully embrace the good news of the gospel. We forget that we have been made alive together with Christ. We have been raised with him. We have been saved through faith alone. And this is the gift of God, not a result of works (Eph. 2:4-8). We can be so scared of antinomianism, which is a legitimate danger, that we are afraid to speak too lavishly of God’s grace. But if we’ve never been charged with being antinomian, we probably haven’t presented the gospel in all it’s scandalous glory (Rom. 6:1).

2. Christians tend to motivate each other by guilt rather than grace. Instead of urging our fellow believers to be who they are in Christ, we command them to do more for Christ (see Rom. 6:5-14 for the proper motivation). So we see Christlikeness as something we are royally screwing up, when we should it as something we already possess but need to grow into.

3. Most of our low-level guilt falls under the ambiguous category of “not doing enough.” Look at the list above. None one of the items are necessarily sinful. They all deal with possible infractions, perceptions, and ways in which we’d like to do more. These are the hardest areas to deal with because no Christian, for example, will ever confess to praying enough. So it is always easy to feel terrible about prayer (or evangelism or giving or any number of disciplines). We must be careful that we don’t insist on a certain standard of practice when the Bible merely insists on a general principle.

Let me give another example. Every Christian must give generously and contribute to the needs of the saints (2 Cor. 9:6-11; Rom. 12:13). This we can insist on with absolute certainty. But what this generosity looks like–how much we give, how much we retain–is not bound by any formula, nor can it be exacted by compulsion (2 Cor. 9:7). So if we want people to be more generous we would do well to follow Paul’s example in 2 Corinthians and emphasize the blessings of generosity and the gospel rooted motivation for generosity as opposed to shaming those who don’t give us much.

4. When we are truly guilty of sin it is imperative we repent and receive God’s mercy. Paul had a clean conscience, not because he never sinned, but, I imagine, because he quickly went to the Lord when he knew he was wrong and rested in the “no condemnation” of the gospel (Rom. 8:1). If we confess our sins, John says, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We aren’t meant to feel borderline miserable all the time. We are meant to live in the joy of our salvation. So when we sin–and we’ll all sin (1 Kings 8:46; 1 John 1:8)–we confess it, get cleansed, and move on.

This underlines one of the great dangers with constant guilt: we learn to ignore our consciences. If we are truly sinning, we need to repent and implore the Lord to help us change. But if we aren’t sinning, if we are perhaps not as mature as we could be, or are not as disciplined as some believers, or we are making different choices that may be acceptable but not extraordinary, then we should not be made to feel guilty. Challenged, stirred, inspired, but not guilty.

As a pastor this means I don’t expect that everyone in my congregation should feel awful about everything I ever preach on. It is ok, after all, for people to actually be obedient to God’s commands. Not perfectly, not without some mixed motives, not as fully as they could be, but still faithfully, God-pleasingly obedient. Faithful preaching does not require that sincere Christians feel miserable all the time. In fact, the best preaching ought to make sincere Christians see more of Christ and experience more of his grace.

Deeper grace will produce better gratitude, which means less guilt. And that’ s a good thing all the way around.

Obedience versus Relationship

 

Obedience to God is all about relationship
By James Washington For The St. Louis American



I’m sure I’ve written on this before, but I thought the significance of obedience was important enough to repeat here. It occurs to me that obedience to God is, or certainly should be, an exercise in ‘want to’ as opposed to ‘have to.’

The analogy given in church is simple enough. When parents enforce rules and discipline with regard to their children, if the child is to respond out of respect and love, a relationship must exist between parent and child.


If a wholesome relationship does indeed exist, then the child’s love for the parent will result in that child wanting to comply.

If all one does is obey the rules because of the consequences and punishment associated with disobeying the rules, then the rules generally get thrown out the window when the rule-maker is no longer around.

I guess what I’m saying is that when grounded in love, people want to respond favorably according to the wishes and will of the person who is the object of that love. By our very nature we want to look good in the eyes of someone we’re trying to impress.

Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.’’ John 14:23.

Examine this use of the term “obey.” What Christ is saying is the same thing that many a mother and a father believe about their kids.

First and foremost, we all know the things that would upset mom and dad. We know this because they spent a lifetime (yours) instilling values and integrity into your character.

You might still do things they wouldn’t condone, but you certainly know the difference between the right and wrong of it because of your upbringing. That upbringing, if nurtured in the spirit of love, reveals to all of us the source and nature of the consequences and the resulting discipline.

It’s all about love. Y’all know that ‘this is going to hurt me more than it’s gonna hurt you’ thing.



Christ is merely reminding us that if you love him, then obeying his rules, his teachings, which were given to us out of the love of the Father, should come from the heart. Our desire to please should override our mere compliance to the rules.

The point is obedience to God has so much more to do with wanting to do the right thing for the right reason, than doing the right thing because it is law, punishment notwithstanding.

One is the result of relationship and the other is the result of fear of consequence.

Throughout scripture, Jesus constantly refers to the love of the Father. How many of you do what your mother would expect of you and your mother has been dead for many a year? How many of you pass those same expectations along to your kids? Why?

I submit that you do this because of the relationship you had/have with your mother. That’s why I’m convinced that the key to understanding obedience to God is establishing, or for many of us re-establishing, a relationship with the Almighty. This is achieved by studying his word, getting inside of his commandments and examining the life of Jesus Christ, who because of a love thing with his Father, carried out Hhs Father’s wishes to the letter.

“I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.’’ John 14:30-31.

To obey should be an act of love. Our goal should be to understand God’s love for us and to simply do our best to return it; acting accordingly, so to speak.

May God bless and keep you always.

Hymn Prayer

 From noon of joy to night of doubt our feelings come and go;

our best estate is toss'd about in ceaseless ebb and flow.

No mood of feeling, form of thought, is constant for a day,

but Thou, O God, Thou changest not; the same Thou are always.

I grasp They strength, make it my own, my heart with peace is bless'd;

I lose my hold, and then comes down darkness and cold unrest.

Let me no more my comfort draw from my frail grasp of Thee:

in this alone rejoice with awe, They mighty grasp of me.

Thy purpose of eternal good let me but surely know;

on this I'll lean, let changing mood and feeling come and go;

glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul, not sad when clouds o'er cast,

since Thou within Thy sure control of Love dost hold me fast.

John Campbell Shairp, 1871

The Holy Spirit

 Without the Spirit we are without . . . . . . . 

* joy

* the awareness of God's love for us

* the conviction of who Christ is

* the ability to communicate the gospel in a life changing way

* the conviction of sin

* guidance

* healing

* an intercessor with the Father

* the gifts of the Spirit

* the fruits of the Spirit

* the pledge (or inner proof) of eternal life

Catherine Marshall (Beyond Ourselves)

As Russia Invades Ukraine, Pastors Stay to Serve, Pray … and Resist

JAYSON CASPER|FEBRUARY 24, 2022 

“In our churches—whether it is Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical churches—there are more new people. Not only on Sundays or Saturdays, but also during the week,” he told the Australian Bible Society news service. “On evenings when we have a Bible study, new people are coming. They want to pray, to hear something that brings hope or comfort.”

Rick Perhai, director of advanced degrees at KTS, said the international church he pastors in Kyiv has several leaders recommending the congregation continue its worship this coming Sunday. Some of their expat members have fled; others want to stay and join the fight.

He laments that the enemy is seeking to destroy Ukraine as its Christians grow more and more poised to carry the gospel to surrounding nations. Nonetheless, he is praying for the Russians, asking for God to grant them repentance.

But his petition is also imprecatory.

“Pray that the nation of Russia would tire of their tyrant’s rantings at home and abroad,” Perhai said, “and that they would remove him.”

Dyatlik also requested prayer for “the truth,” citing all the “perspectives” in the media.

“We did not invite the war. The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin brought it to Ukraine. … There is moral evaluation of the acts of aggression like this,” wrote the theological educator. “These acts have biblical definition and biblical evaluation. Please pray for the spiritual discernment about these things.”

Dyatlik closed his prayer letter with requests for believers on both sides of the conflict:

Please pray about Russian Christians that they would raise their prayers and voice toward Russian government to stop the aggression; [that they] would not keep silent; please pray for the Western governments, of the US and European Union.

Finally, please pray about Ukrainian Christians, that we will serve and live as the community of hope in a full sense of this term; that during these terrible times we would invite more and more people to the relationships with God and His children, to the relationships of love, hope, encouragement, support; that our minds and characters would continue to transform into the character of Jesus Christ.

Western nations have roundly condemned Putin, and readied sanctions. Reports circulated of Russians lining up at ATMs to withdraw their cash, fearful the nation would be cut off from the international banking system.

Meanwhile in Donetsk, where 25 missionary teams have been working to establish churches, gas lines require a wait of hours for a rationed supply of five gallons. Grocery stories suffer empty shelves, as Ukrainians stock up on emergency food and water.

Bandura conveys his supervisor’s two main prayer requests.

“First, to stop the aggressor,” he said. “But then for peace of mind, to respond with Christian character and not from human hate.”

Colossians 4:5-6

During these times of unrest, civil disobedience, pandemic, economic downfall, etc. I find myself vacillating between discouragement, compassion, anger, fear, contempt and concern. 

I remember that I am not an American first. Nor am I a conservative or a liberal or a mom or a wife first. I am a child of God - first and foremost. My view of this world, this country, my community and my church should be through the eyes of Jesus, not my own. 

And so I turn to God's word to figure out how He would have me behave, especially toward unbelievers. So much richness and wisdom to be found there. I remember how He has told us to ask for wisdom and He will give it to us. Here's a good article that I believe encompasses the scriptures I found.

Proper conduct towards unbelievers

by Matt Slick
12/01/08

"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone," Col. 4:5-6(NIV)

How do you behave with and toward unbelievers? Do you like them? Do you hate them? Do you tolerate them? Are you concerned about their salvation? Do you act like them when you aren't in Christian company? Do you snub them if they aren't holy? Some Christians think that being kind to unbelievers is like throwing pearls before swine. Then there are Christians who stand on street corners, in malls, and in front of abortion clinics to witness to unbelievers. Others just don't care one way or another. Where do you fit in? Do you share your faith using hugs or headlocks? Honey or a hammer? Or do you even share your faith at all?

The Word of God is very specific about how you as a Christian are to conduct yourself toward the non-Christian. Turn with me to Col. 4:5-6 and we will read together what God wants you, as a Christian, to do.

The literal translation of Col. 4:5-6 is

In wisdom, walk toward the ones outside, redeeming the time. Let your word be always in grace, having been seasoned with salt, to know how it is necessary for each one of you to answer.

1. God wants you to conduct yourselves with wisdom toward unbelievers, v. 5
   1. First of all, before anything else is said, we need to focus on something very important: the cross of Christ.
      1. It is because of the cross and our redemption found there that we are able to seek to be wise and good towards unbelievers.
      2. The sacrifice of Christ has cleansed us from our sins, forgiven us our trespasses, and enabled us to be gracious and kind by changing us. As we were once against God in our unbelief, God was gracious and kind to us. Because of Jesus we are to be kind to others.
   2. Literally, the Greek says to "walk in wisdom toward outsiders."
      1. To the Jew every non-Jew was an outsider. To the Christian, every non-Christian is an outsider; that is, outside the church. Outside of a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
      2. The context of the church: "In the days of the early church believers were often slandered by these outsiders. Christians were called atheists because they served no visible gods, unpatriotic because they did not burn incense before the image of the emperor, and immoral because, of necessity, they would often meet behind locked doors."
      3. Today there is still an attack on the church. Christians are called bigots because they condemn homosexuality, intolerant because they oppose abortion, religious extremists because they condemn sin, and narrow-minded because they believe there is one "one faith, one Lord, and one baptism" (Eph. 4:5).
      4. Yet, in spite of these attacks we are to remain humble, loving, caring, kind, and gentle. If we are not, if we do not show love and forbearance in the face of cruelty, insult, intolerance, and ridicule, then you are not showing the world that we know Jesus?
   3. That is why it is so important to have wise conduct before unbelievers.
      1. One reason is so you aren't made a fool.
      2. The reputation of the gospel depends on you.
      3. The world judges Christianity by what it sees in you.
         1. 1. Are you representing it well with kindness, holiness, consistent reverence to the Lord?
      4. Also, unfortunately, the world judges Christianity by what it sees on television where lies about Christians and Christianity are broadcast as the pagans version of the "gospel truth." All the more reason to live holy lives.
         1. 1. I remember years ago watching Miami vice. It opened with two Christians preaching. There was this bad guy who tripped and fell at the feet of two "Christians" who had Bibles and had been preaching. When the bad guy fell at their feet, the Christians started hitting him with their Bibles, kicking him, and yelling mean things at him.
            2. On another show, "Renegade" there was coffee house scene where a Christian couple behaved rudely, bigoted, cowardly, and stupid.
      5. Nevertheless, in spite of the insults, you are to be wise.
   4. God wants your conduct to be with wisdom. This conduct is your manner of behavior. This means you are to be
      1. sympathetic (this could be in counseling, listening, etc.)
      2. compassionate and humble (1 Pet. 3:8).
         1. "To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;"
      3. loving
         1. "Don't repay evil for evil, or insult with insult, but with blessing repay the evil cast at you" (1 Pet. 3:9).
      4. patient - you are to be considerate and longsuffering with the unbeliever.
      5. know when not to speak
         1. That is often one of the hardest things to do. It is so often the best thing to simply listen to a person and wait for a better opportunity.
      6. If your conduct is indeed with wisdom, then the name of Christ will not be maligned.
         1. The unbeliever will have no basis to mock Christ, His church, or His people.
         2. And, he may be brought into the fold of Christ.
2. God wants you to make the most of the opportunity with unbelievers, v. 5
   1. Literally, the Greek says "redeeming the time," or "buying up the opportunity." The sense then would be "Do not just sit there and wait for opportunity to fall into your lap, but go after it. Yes, buy it."
   2. There is definitely a time to be aggressive in your relationship with an unbeliever.
   3. I would hope that as Christians you would not become complacent about evangelism. God uses the Gospel to call His people out of the world.
   4. The time is short and the world is evil: Ephesians 5:15-17 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
3. God wants you to let your speech to always be gracious with unbelievers, v. 6
   1. Paul is asking the Colossians to be careful with their tongues.
      1. Careful when they speak in public and private, no gossip.
      2. Careful when they speak to an equal or someone in power, no slander.
      3. Careful when they speak to the poor and the rich, no favoritism.
      4. Careful not only when speaking of the gospel but also when speaking of the weather, the economy, politicians, the authorities.
         1. In all your conversation be good.
   2. Gracious: God wants you to be careful, gracious, kind in your speech.
      1. Grace is getting what you do not deserve. Give them kindness, love, compassion, and patience.
   3. And note the word "always."
      1. In all situations at all times.
         1. playing a sport, watching a movie, driving, shopping, business, in church, out of church, at work....
   4. Being gracious means to be kind, gentle, positive, helpful, and insightful.
   5. A further description of this kind of gracious speech is: seasoned with salt, v. 6.
      1. Those whom the Lord calls "the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13) must not be tasteless.
      2. I work at a place where all the people around me are unbelievers. Their conversations are often vile, crass, filled with not so clean jokes. All to get that sense of belonging and being "in" with the rest of the group..
      3. Don't be like the ungodly around you.
      4. Salt prevents corruption.
         1. Elsewhere Paul said, "Do not let any corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Eph. 4:29).
4. God wants you to know how to answer everyone, v. 6.
   1. Speak the right word and the right time to the right person.
      1. 1 Pet. 3:15 says, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
   2. Part of having answers means being wise.
      1. Proverbs, as well as the rest of Scripture, is the only source of true wisdom. With wisdom, you will be able to properly answer in times of counseling and heartache, joy and sorrow, and in times when morality is an issue.
   3. Part of having answers means knowing doctrine.
      1. The Catechisms are excellent teachers of doctrine.
      2. Know the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, the gospel message, the resurrection, the return of Christ, and the rest of what the Bible teaches.
   4. Part of having answers means studying difficult issues.
      1. Study evolution, cults, and other religions.
      2. You don't have to master them, just be familiar with them.
5. And don't forget, in your wisdom and grace toward them, pray for them.
   1. They need to be granted the faith that God gives (John 6:28ff)
   2. They need to be granted the repentance that God gives (2 Tim. 2:25).
   3. They need to be granted the belief that God gives (Phil. 1:29).
   4. You can make a difference in your prayers (James 5:16).
      1. A...The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

Conclusion

So what difference do these verses make in your lives? Plenty. Your conduct and speech before an unbeliever is vitally important. Your conduct should be with wisdom, your speech with grace.

I know a Christian who years ago worked with an unbeliever. For two years, this Christian answered the unbeliever's questions; he was gentle and kind in his conduct in all situations and always tried to point his friend to Christ. He sought to be wise and gracious. Today that unbeliever has become a pastor. The Lord used that Christian, his wise conduct, his gracious speech, to help bring another into His kingdom. To Jesus be the glory. Amen.

Two Ways to Pray about the Coronavirus Crisis

March 16, 2020
Beck Ewing






Mar 15, 2020 was declared a National Day of Prayer for the Corona Virus Crisis. And

God wants us to pray. But instead of just asking God to preserve our lives and way of

life from this virus, we should be spending significant time and prayer on two topics that come from the question:

“Are we and God really on the same page?” or '“Is God leading us to change?”

In times of crisis and decision, we quote II Chron. 7:14 “If my people.” Great verse. And we do want God to heal our sick and our land. But it’s as if we blind ourselves to a very important requirement to that promise: “If My people shall...turn from their wicked ways.” So we beg God to deliver us or give us a favorable election; and then if God doesn’t do what we wanted, we chalk it up to the “mysterious ways of God” rather than the fact that we did not change at all.

So what does God want from us? The Promised Land was God’s destination for His people Israel. But they rejected that destination, because they didn’t want to do what it would take to inherit the kingdom He wanted them to have. If they had learned the lessons they were supposed to learn along the way— of trust, dependence, obedience, and holiness— then they would have been ready to obey and enter. But they were more concerned about surviving, getting through, and ending the difficulties than they were about learning about God and what He had for them. So, God doomed them to wander the wilderness where they had been before, now with a sense of futility and pointlessness. Today, God’s intended destination for us is His Kingdom come on Earth as it is in heaven. But when we reject the destination God has for us, we end up waiting out life without destiny, instead of living life with purpose.

We like to think that we are in control of our own destinations, that we can have lives of our own choosing as long as they aren’t “too sinful.” And maybe, for a time, we can. But ultimately, God guides our destiny, and He will not leave us alone to be satisfied with lesser things than His Kingdom.

When crises, change, or scary callings come our way, how do we respond?
Do we cling to what we have at all costs? Are we just concerned about surviving and maintaining the status quo? Instead, we must realize that God may be trying to break through our preoccupations so that we will seek His Kingdom in a new way that we had not seen— or even wanted— before.

So what are the two questions we needing to be praying about besides deliverance:

#1 What do we need to change about ourselves?

If we are honest with ourselves, we know that the Christian church (including ourselves) are not where we need to be. Here’s just some of the areas we know we fall short in:

Sins of what we don’t do:
*Not Sharing Jesus with the lost within our own communities
*Not showing love and not being involved with our neighbors, coworkers, etc.

*Replacing the Kingdom with the American Dream

*Isolating ourselves from the real problems in our towns
*Living self-serving, self-centered, and/or not willing to sacrifice personal comfort

Sins of what we do
*Ignore or participate in abortion, sex trafficking, pornography
*Indulge in obesity, laziness, and materialism

*Divorce, hold prejudices and grudges, gossip
*Tolerate corrupt government and business
*Support godless educational systems


God’s healing can come when His people repent, so we can’t point the finger at those who don’t know Him yet. Let’s hold ourselves accountable for our own sins and that we do so little to stop evil from happening in our country.

But if we know we are in such bad shape, why won’t we change? Like Israel, we often trust in our heritage and our weekend religious services to give us a free pass. But just like we shouldn’t wait until after we completely overload our hospitals before we address an outbreak, we shouldn’t wait until God brings harsh judgment before we finally take our own sins and the condition of the lost around us seriously.

Can we force others to repent with us? No, but we can start with ourselves and with any who are willing to come seek His Kingdom with us. Which leads me to...

#2 How should we use this crisis to spread His Kingdom?

Whether we nervously stockpile toilet paper or deny a problem even exists, we humans cling to maintaining the life we have.

Sometimes we even use God to justify keeping things as they are, claiming that we are remaining faithful to what God wants despite difficulties. But what if He’s changing the game plan? Can we let go and adapt? Can we embrace what He is trying to do in our lives now?

Crises help us focus on what is truly important. And what’s important is not merely family or survival, it’s God’s Kingdom being realized on earth as it is in heaven. And maybe closing the Magic Kingdom and our church services for a while will change our perspective and help us see what realizing the Kingdom really means.

When God allows pervasive trouble, He is often trying to shake things up and grow His Kingdom. He uses the crisis to cause His people to go a different direction they normally wouldn’t go. Remember how the persecution in Jerusalem caused the believers to....gasp...leave the centralized expression of the Church?! God was using the persecution to spread His Kingdom into other parts in the world.

Here are some ways He may be challenging us to change:

- Changing the way that we do ministry
How can we use this crisis to empower us to bring His Kingdom into our local communities untouched by our church services and even Life Group gatherings? If we disciple more outside of the church walls and groups, then we can plant His Word into communities instead of just inviting them into our gatherings. This shift will then place the responsibility of discipleship back into the hands of all His people and not just the clergy. For instance, we can plant Discovery Bible Studies into families and communities by coaching them over zoom or the phone.

- Changing the way we do church
Is God trying to change the way we worship and equip Christians? Perhaps if we shift away from maintaining multi-million dollar buildings within every 7-10 minute radius, we can devote more of our money to helping and reaching people outside the church.

What if we talk about growing in obedience to God’s Word more than just learning more about it? If we did, we would have to spend less time lecturing and more time having conversations about specific steps in changing and holding each other accountable to them.

And maybe we could spend less time orchestrating worship experiences and spend more time discipling each other life-on-life and developing relationships with those that don’t know Jesus. If we want more authentic Christian community, it will take more relationship. We need to spend more time interacting with people, not just being around people at events.

- Truly loving our neighbors
How do those around us need our help? Let’s turn our inward focus to an outward focus. Some of us are more vulnerable to this crisis than others. Some don’t have a lot of extra finances, good health, or the ability to stay at home with children. We need to meet these kinds of needs around us.

How can we develop relationships with people that don’t know Jesus in this environment? If outside activities are limited, maybe we should use technology like zoom and FaceTime to connect with people (especially lost ones) in ways we haven’t been willing to participate in before: online book clubs, online movie watching, online games, other online discussion groups, etc.

No matter what we end up doing, let’s act wisely, pray, and open our minds. Invent, create, adapt, and embrace change. This is how we work with God to make all things work together for good. We can reach the lost, help those in need, stop injustice and corruption, love each other with extravagance, and empower communities to educate, express artistically, invent, and prosper economically in a way that pleases God and brings wholeness. And when we do, we can finally reach the destiny God has for us: His Kingdom come.

Morning Prayer

O Lord, this is my desire,

to walk along the path of life that You have appointed me,

in steadfastness of faith,

in lowliness of heart,

in gentleness of love.

Let not the cares or duties of this life press on me too heavily;

but lighten my burdens,

that I may follow Your way in quietness,

filled with thankfulness for Your mercy, . . .

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

~ Maria Hare (1798-1870)

How Do You Handle Compliments?

Article by
John Piper


One of my very wise teachers did something I have never forgotten—something I have never had anyone else do since. He apologized for paying me a compliment.

Having heard that my Old Testament professor liked a paper I had written, he was in the midst of telling me how impressed he was when he stopped, mumbled something about the dangers of pride, and quoted a proverb, “A flattering mouth works ruin.” The conversation turned to other things.

I have often thought of this incident as I have faced the problem of getting and giving praise. Some six years later I am coming to see more clearly why my teacher’s apology was wise and loving.

Not all getting is good, so we have the word “greed.” And some giving is bad; so we have the word “bribe.” Therefore praise, which always involves a giving and a getting, may not always be good. It may be flattery.

In a day when the therapeutic and motivational powers of praise are getting such good press, may we do well to ask, exactly what is bad praise?

The Greek word for it (kolakeia) occurs in the New Testament only once. Paul defends his ministry to the Thessalonian Christians: “We never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others . . . (1 Thess. 2:5–6, NASV). It is more than incidental that flattery and greed fall together here.

The idea of flattery is present in Jude 1:16, where Jude accuses certain men of “admiring persons for the sake of their own advantage.” This same Greek phrase for “admiring persons” (thaumazontes prosopa) is used in the Old Testament to describe something God never does, namely, “show partiality.” In Deuteronomy 10:17 and 2 Chronicles 19:7 this phrase is followed by, “neither does he take a bribe.” The NASV translates Jude 1:16, “they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.”

In the Old Testament much more is said about flattery, especially in the Proverbs. In all the texts which are cited, the Hebrew word for flattery is derived from halak which means “be smooth, or slippery.” Our word “flatter” comes from the Old French falter which means “to smooth, caress.”

In the book of Proverbs a man is warned against “the smooth tongue of the adulteress” (6:24), “for the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech” (5:3). The meaning is that “with her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him” (7:21). But wisdom is able “to deliver you from the strange woman and from the adultress who flatters with her words” (2:16; 7:5).

Flattery is dangerous not only in the mouth of the adulteress but in any mouth: “A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin” (Prov. 26:28). “A man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps” (Prov. 29:5; Ps. 5:9). Therefore David says of the ungodly, “With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips” (Ps. 12:2, 3).

After all these warnings, it is not surprising to read, “He who rebukes a man will afterwards find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue” (Prov. 28:23).

As a college teacher, I am a prime target for flattery.

For example, Dick was a transfer student in my New Testament history course. He was behind in his credits and needed to pass my course. For about five weeks Dick took every opportunity to tell me how superior my course was to a similar one at his former college. But after he got a D on the second exam, his praise ceased.

He came to me later in the semester and explained that he had to pass my course in order to finish school with his class. I told him what the final exam would be like and how to study for it. He flunked it, and came into my office to try to get me to change his grade. After reviewing his scores, I refused.

“I don’t think I could stand to take another Bible course here!” he said as he walked out.

In an instant I knew that all of Dick’s earlier praise had been mere flattery.

Flattery is bad praise. It is bad because it is given with a view to obtaining some advantage (Jude 1:16). Good praise or a good compliment is prompted by a sincere delight in something good or beautiful, and it aims only to bring this delight to completion by expressing it. As author/theologian C. S. Lewis says, “We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the joy; it is its appointed consummation” (Reflections on the Psalms). But flattery does not flow from a sincere delight in the thing praised. It is elicited by some other benefit which it hopes to entice or win through flattery.

Therefore, there is a duplicity in all flattery: “With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak” (Ps. 12:2). Outwardly, Dick gave the impression that he was moved by delight in the quality of my course. Inwardly, the quality of the course was irrelevant. His praise was not a sincere response; it was a device to curry my favor.

His flattery, like all flattery, was one of the many forms of hypocrisy.

Even if the compliments of a flatterer are true, he is still a liar, because he feigns delight in the thing praised when really his delight is in some other hoped-for favor. Here the essence of the flatterer’s sin emerges. There is an emptiness or insecurity in his heart which he is trying to satisfy by finagling human favors. He is not content or secure in God but is covetous or greedy (1 Thess. 2:5; Jude 1:16) for some benefit he can obtain by dishonest, hypocritical means.

His sin, therefore, is that he chooses to pin his hopes on some fleeting approval or advantage which he may obtain through flattery, rather than on the promises of God in whose hands are pleasures forever (Ps. 16:11). He thus exchanges the glorious trustworthiness of God for some man-made security. In so doing, he insults his maker.

Flattery is not only a sin for the flatterer, it is dangerous to the flattered.

Dick’s flattery in the early weeks of the semester was like an advance payment for services he hoped to receive. It was like a bribe, not a wage, and was offered to my pride. It was an attempt to gratify my vanity.

Since pride and vanity crave to be complimented, we are sometimes willing to return a service for the flattery. This service may be in the form of returned flattery (witness the proverbial “mutual admiration society”). Or the service may be a boost in rank, a hike in salary, or (as Dick was hoping) a good grade in school.

It is evident, then, that Dick was not only giving in to temptation; he was also giving a temptation—namely, to me. Pride and vanity are our arch enemies, for they are the arch enemies of faith. Flattery fans the fires of pride and resurrects the old self which Jesus has commanded us to crucify. This is why the Old Testament sage said, “A man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps” (Prov. 26:28; 29:5).

How, then, can we avoid flattery?

One of the marks of a Christian is that his spiritual eyes have been opened to see and appreciate the glory of God in all of his gifts. There is nothing good in all the world that is not a gift from God (James 1:17; 1 Cor. 4:7).

For the Christian there can be no thought of praising men for some things and God for others. In all praise of men and things there should be an implicit praise to God. Only a person who does not love the glory of God resents this. As St. Augustine prayed in one of his moments of supreme eloquence, “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee which he loves not for Thy sake” (Confessions X 40).

Another characteristic of good praise and proper compliment is that in it there is no ulterior motive, no duplicity. Good praise is drawn out naturally by our sincere delight in what is good and beautiful.

When I fell in love with my wife back in college I experienced something very refreshing, namely, the pleasure of complimenting someone without the slightest tendency to be insincere. The question of sincerity didn’t even arise in me because my response to her personality was so spontaneous.

This, I think, is a pattern for all good praise. It is not calculated like a bribe to achieve anything other than the proper consummation of itself. It is the spontaneous overflow of the enjoyment of truth and beauty.

Next comes the nitty-gritty question of when—if ever—to praise children, students, and employees in order to encourage and motivate them. Does this involve duplicity, hypocrisy, bribery? For example, there is no denying that rewarding a child with praise will tend to produce the rewarded behavior again, just as punishment will tend to deter the punished behavior. Given this situation, I would suggest two guidelines.

First, praise should be genuine, that is, it should spring from a sincere delight in the child’s good behavior.

If my three-year-old son climbs down from the lunch table, washes his hands in the bathroom, and climbs into his bed for his usual nap without saying a word to me, my first response is sheer delight in the rightness of his uncoerced behavior. My next response as I tuck him in is to let my happiness overflow in a few words of appreciation and praise.

The overriding motive in praise and commendation always should be the pleasure that comes from bringing to expressing the delight we have in what is good and right. That this spurs the child on remains an inevitable, but quite secondary consequence. If we start calculating our praise to him at what is secondary, the child will perceive our hypocrisy sooner than we think.

The second guideline is this: our goal for our children should be that they come to love what is good for itself and not because it wins the praise of men. The more we think of our praise as reinforcement of their good behavior, the more they will see good behavior as nothing more than a means to getting praise. Therefore, we must seek the sincerity to praise a thing because it is praiseworthy and not because it will elicit more good behavior.

There is perhaps one qualification which would limit this spontaneity which makes good praise. As a teacher I have many occasions when I am drawn by a student’s performance to praise him or her. But there are excellent students for whom another compliment would make their swelling heads explode. In such cases I may check the natural, spontaneous impulse to praise.

In this fallen world, in which we battle daily against pride and vainglory, even praise of a good achievement may engender pride and stimulate vanity. The Christian will always, out of love, beware of feeding the fires of pride. He will seek wisdom from Christ to know when, for his neighbor’s sake, a compliment should be withheld. So there will be times when he sacrifices his own pleasure of praise so as not to “spread a net” for the steps of another.

It is sad that for now the joy of praise is so closely linked to the sin of pride. But it will not always be so. There will come a day when we will be transformed into the image of our Lord. Pride and vanity will vanish. Our delight in each other will be complete and our praise unrestrained. All of this will resound to the glory of God like the praise of a painting to the glory of the artist.John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.