Tuesday, July 24, 2012

De Nile

No, I'm not talking about Egypt's Nile river, but DENIAL . . . one of the biggest hindrances to true joy and holiness in a Christian's life.

 The definition of denial in this context:
"Refusal to acknowledge the existence of something: a refusal to believe in something or admit that  something exists."

It's a game of let's pretend: let's pretend I don't have this addiction. Let's pretend my words aren't knives cutting into the hearts of my children. Let's pretend I'm concerned about someone, not actually gossiping. Let's pretend God is more important to me than my reputation or wealth. Let's pretend I don't have a shopping, overeating, or porn problem. Ouch.

The more days I have under my belt walking this earth (over 18,000), the sadder I feel that so many of us use denial to protect ourselves from the knowledge of our sin.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8.

So you sin. So I sin. Admit it. After we clear that hurdle, the next hurdle is generalizing our sin. "Oh, I sin in so many ways." Yes, you do. It's time to look at them and name them. But didn't Jesus die for our sins? Yes, He did, but that doesn't allow us to continue to sin. And to be in denial about any of our sins is to practice deceit, and that my dear reader, is sin.

Romans 6:11-16 reads,

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."

One area of denial I've been looking in my own life is hatred. I have always been relatively critical: of myself, of others, and rather than grieve over my sin, I have excused it with the lame: I "tells like I sees it." Which is a load of crap. Who died and made me Noticer of all sin? So this sin in my life must be confessed and repented of . . . TURNED away from.

First the confession:

James 5:16 says,

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."

It's pretty hard to confess sin when we hide from it. We may think it's easier to ignore and deny our sin, but this self deception prevents true healing of our souls and propagates a stagnate life.

The confession is not just to God, either. The "one another" means humans, sorry. Here's where pride gets in the way. If say I have to confess sexual or addictive sins, it's pretty hard to tell that to someone else. But it is NECESSARY. Doesn't mean you have to tell everyone, but confession to a trusted friend so she/he may pray for you. This leads to the second step: praying for each other. Such a neglected though vital principle. I submit that we would be freer people if we practiced praying for one another . . . in person!

Psalm 51:3-6 says,

"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

Truth in the inner parts. Truthful with God, with ourselves, and with one another. We are not saved and forgiven so we can deny and excuse our sins.

I like this prayer from Psalm 139:23-24:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

In this prayer is humility, transparency and honesty. A courage to face the music. Jesus was "full of grace and truth" John 1:14. Is anything less required of us?

Jesus told the perfect parable about denial in Luke 18:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed abouta himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Ephesians 4:17-25 says,

"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

Monday, July 9, 2012

Poisoning the Waterhole

I love Disney's Toy Story. At my house, it's my granddaughter's current favorite movie, so I've seen it probably 50-60 times, counting the numerous times I watched it with my own children. Some of my favorite lines are:

Woody: "Tuesday night's plastic corrosion awareness meeting, was I think, a big success. We'd like to thank Mr. Spell for putting that on for us."

Mr. Potato Head: "Hey, Hamm. Look, I'm Picasso!"
Hamm: "I don't get it."
Mr. Potato Head: "You uncultured swine!"

Mr. Potato Head: "Hey, a laser! How come YOU don't have a laser, Woody?"
Woody: "It's not a laser! It's a...it's a little light bulb that blinks."
Hamm: "What's with him?"
Mr. Potato Head: "Laser envy."

Woody: "You are a child's PLAY thing!"
Buzz: "You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity."

Rex: "What if Andy gets another dinosaur? A mean one? I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection!"

Woody: "Stop it you zealots!"

Woody: "Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!"

This last line, while not necessarily funny, struck me as spiritually significant. One of the ways we can "poison the waterhole" is through our words. Negative predictions, complaining, expressions of self-pity and judgmental observations all poison the life-giving waterhole of verbal blessings, faith, hope and belief in a God who "works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28.) When we ignore that verse and say whatever negative, damaging thing that comes to mind, we undermine and negate the life God wants us to bestow upon the culture we're in.

James 3:3-6, 9-12 says, "...the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell...With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salta water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

Have you ever tried to drink salt water? Not only does it go down hard, it also causes nausea, vomiting, and ultimately kidney failure and death. You cannot survive on salt water; it is poison. Much the same way, words can poison, driving out life and blessings.

Tyne Daly once said, "A critic is someone who never actually goes to the battle, yet who afterwards comes out shooting the wounded."  It's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize...much harder to jump in the trenches and help out a situation.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." It's pretty hard to utter critical and negative thoughts while obeying that scripture.

Negative thinking is another form of poisonous activity. More subtle than words, thoughts have at least as much power. These thoughts, though unseen by others, damage us and our ability to live life to the fullest. These defeating thoughts leach out joy (which is our strength: Nehemiah 8:10b), and they determine our words and ultimately our actions.

The writer Peter McWilliams said, “For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction... A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three -- the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings.”

Cultivating life-giving thoughts is a choice and a habit to be pursued.  We must CHOOSE joy over the much easier cynicism.

Ephesians 4:29-32 encompasses both words and thoughts: "Do not let any unwholesome 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. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

Let's replenish our waterholes with clean, sweet water (thoughts and words), that refreshes and strengthens and can be poured out to hydrate a dry and thirsty world.