When Counselees Ask "Why?"

By Wendy Wood

When Counselees Ask ‘Why’?

By Wendy Wood

A human’s desire to understand the cause or reason for something begins early. Every parent can attest to the “why?” phase that toddlers and preschoolers go through as they seek to understand the world and people around them.  When asked to perform a task like “clean up your room”, your child will want an explanation of the reasoning behind the request. “Why should I clean my room?” When they are looking up at the trees a child will ask “Why are the leaves changing colors?”  As we grow and learn, we continue to seek understanding of our circumstances and especially our suffering. We will inevitably have counselees who ask “why did God allow this to happen?” “Why did my relationship of over a year end suddenly and without explanation?”  “Why did my mom die in a car accident when I was a child?”  “Why is my teenager rebelling when I have parented so faithfully?”  “Why have I had so many trials these last few years?”  Almost everyone who comes to you for counseling will be seeking to understand “why”?

Asking “why?” can be a good question, but it can also reveal a sinful desire for control.  I usually find counselees who think they are asking the question innocently and believe they are desiring to understand God and His ways better, but often it is a deceitful heart that is trying to figure out how to avoid painful circumstances in the future.  When asked from a good desire, the “why” of some situation can be rooted in wanting to see the sin exposed by the suffering.  For example, when a romantic relationship ends that a counselee believed would lead to marriage, the “why did this happen?” question could be a desire to search one’s heart for idolatrous desires or to examine how he/she contributed to the relationship in positive and negative ways and seek to grow in some relational areas. If “why” is used to examine the heart and repent and be sanctified, the “why” questions can be beneficial.

However, asking “why?” can also reveal sinful motives.  Asking “why” might reveal a desire to control future outcomes by trying to figure out how to “outsmart” the situation.  This is really rooted in idolatrous control.  If I can figure out what happened, I can control the next situation.  Rather than submitting to God and being dependent on Him, “why” can become the solution to the problem and God can be eliminated from the situation.  In the example of the broken relationship, if you can answer “why did this relationship end?” with five steps to hold onto a relationship, you can convince yourself you have it figured out and don’t need to surrender your plans and relationships to the Lord.  

Asking “why did ____ happen?” may also be a way of putting God on trial.  By asking “why” in this way, a counselee may be demanding that God explain Himself and that He needs to prove that He is justified in allowing this suffering into his/her life.  Asking God to justify His actions is extremely prideful!  By asking “why” in this fashion a counselee is claiming that God is on trial because he/she knows better than God does and would have made a wiser decision than He did.  We rarely recognize and admit how prideful we are in this area. But this type of questioning often leads to bitterness and resentment to God and others.  If we cannot make sense of our circumstances, surely they are wrong, and the sovereign God who purposed them is therefore wrong, too.

The book of Job records many times when Job and his friends are seeking understanding of the extreme trials Job has endured.  In Job 1 and 2 we read that Job lost all his sheep, camels, and livestock,  all his servants, and all his children.  Job continues to worship God and trust in Him.  But then, Job is struck with boils and sores all over his body.  Job tears his robes, puts ashes on his head, and continues to accept that God gives good and evil.  As he sits alone, his friends join him and wisely stay quiet at first.  Then Job asks “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?... or why was I not as a hidden stilborn child, as infants who never see the light?” (Job 3:11, 16)  Essentially, Job wishes he had died or birth or never even been born.  The suffering is so intense he is seeking to understand why he ever lived if God was going to bring the loss of everything.  He is wanting God to explain the reasoning behind his suffering. 

Job’s friends then respond with some unhelpful advice.  Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar answer Job’s question of “why” with “you’ve sinned and you are getting what you deserve.”  They all tell Job that he needs to repent.  For example, in Job 8:20, Bildad says, “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.” The friends argue that Job is suffering because God is just in punishing sin.  He has not been completely righteous and his sin has led to God’s judgment, is their assessment. They argue God is just and, therefore, Job is getting what he deserves.  If Job repents and turns to God, his suffering will end.  Eliphaz tells Job in Job 15:4-6 “But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering mediation before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.  Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you”.  Eliphaz agrees that Job's question of “why am I suffering?” is answered with “you have sinned”.

Job begins to question God more aggressively seeking God’s response and justification for what Job has lost and the suffering he is enduring.  Job 19:7-11 records Job crying out. “Behold, I cry out, “Violence!” but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice.  He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.  He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head.  He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.  He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary.”  Job feels like God is against him.  In Job 29, Job cries out, “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me” (2-5a). Job longs for the days when God was with him and blessing him.  Job answers his own question of “why?” with “because God has abandoned me”.

As Job and his four friends (Elihu remained silent longer) seek for answers, God remains silent for 37 chapters.  God has listened to all these men ask “why has Job suffered so much?”  God has listened to them as they have tried to answer that question and God has listened as they have mixed truth about his character with lies about his judgment.  None of these five men saw the conversations that took place between God and Satan.  None of them hear God declare Job righteous and faithful.  None of them see or hear that Satan is trying to persuade Job to distrust God and God is holding Job faithful.  This is part of a cosmic battle that humans on earth don’t see.  God is demonstrating his power and glory over Satan by being the anchor of Job’s soul that keeps him faithful to God regardless of his suffering.

In chapter 38 God speaks.  While God remained silent for most of this book and through most of the unfolding of events, the book of Job is all about God.  God speaks out of the whirlwind.  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. (Job 38:2-3).  God is about to answer Job and his friends.  And, God, being all wise and knowing, responds perfectly.  God doesn’t justify his actions. God doesn’t even address the suffering. God does not owe Job or his friends any explanation.  God responds with 38 questions of His own that reveal who He is.  The best response is to say, ‘Look at God.’ ‘Look at how awesome, mighty, powerful, perfect, good, and wise God is. God challenges Job to answer questions like, ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world?” Or, “Do you know when every single mountain goat gives birth?”  “Do you keep the storehouses of hail?”  On and on, God reveals Himself as the Sovereign King of the universe.  And this is ALWAYS the answer to our “why?” questions.  We don’t have to understand why God does what He does.  God does not owe us any explanation of His purposes and ways of accomplishing His will.  Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us “the secret things of God belong to God” but he has chosen to reveal enough of Himself to us.  We are to trust His very nature.  We are to put our hope in His character.  In humility, we are called to trust God’s essence.  Corrie ten Boom says, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”  Our counselees need to know God.  They do not need to know why God does what he does.

When your counselee asks “why is this happening?”, lead them to God and His character.  Remind them of God’s attributes.  Remind them of the cross as God’s evidence of His love and grace and that God is for His children.  Remind them of God’s promises that He is with them in the storms and trials and that this life is a momentary affliction producing a weight of glory for eternity.

What Makes Saving Faith Saving?

By Wendy Wood

Years ago as I was parenting very young children, I read an article by Tedd Tripp called “A Child’s Call to Faith”. Tripp’s goal in the article was to help parents understand the difference between their children having head knowledge and assent to the truth of God and His word, compared to a salvific trusting in God.  The distinction between knowing, believing (assenting) and trusting is huge, though often mistaken.  Understanding where we, and our children,  fall on this spectrum is crucial!  It is the difference between spending eternity with God or apart from Him.  While we don’t know our own hearts perfectly, or other people’s hearts perfectly, examining the fruit of a person’s life will give insight to the depth of their knowing, believing, or trusting God.

Everyone who comes to faith in Christ must have knowledge.  A believer places their trust and hope in a Person.  Knowledge about God, His attributes, His purpose in all things to bring about His glory, His plan for salvation through Christ are essential truths that must be known.  Before a person can believe and trust in Christ as Lord and Savior, he must that he is a sinner, and he must know that Christ lived a perfect life, was fully human and fully God, and was the atonement for sins on the cross that satisfied God’s wrath against us sinners for all who would repent and follow Him.  Our job as parents is to continue to teach and provide knowledge of God through His word.

Our children need to know more about God.  They need to learn about God’s sovereignty and providence over all His creation.  They need to know how God’s holiness sets Him apart from all other beings and that His moral perfection is the very essence of His wrath and His grace.  God describes Himself in scripture and it is our job as parents to give our children a high view of Him.  In the midst of difficult circumstances everyone needs to be reminded (or taught) about how great God is.  Knowledge of Christ and His redemptive work is also essential to teach.  Christ, as the exact imprint of God, gives us a clearer view of God’s compassion and judgment on sin.  Knowledge must precede faith.  Faith is not to be in the absence of truth.  We place our faith in God.  

The Pharisees are a good example of people who stopped at knowledge.  The Pharisees were experts in the law.  They knew all of God’s law from the Old Testament and knit-picked every single one.  In Matthew 23 Jesus issues His seven ‘woes’ to the Pharisees.  Each ‘woe to you’ is about how they knew the law, but didn’t love God or others.  Knowledge was not enough for faith.  They focused on minutiae and ignored the larger Truth about God’s attributes and purpose.

In our children, this head knowledge might show up as a compliant child or teen.  Children who grow up in the church learn the behaviors and right answers to church questions.  They may gladly come to church or life group and be known as a “good kid” and yet not have a saving faith.  In our desperate desire for our children to be saved, we can rush into getting them to “pray a prayer of salvation” at a young age and cling to that.  One way to think about this is, a person can study space.  They can learn all about the planets and their atmospheres.  They can study the moons around each planet and learn about gravitational pulls and why each planet has a different number of moons. They might study asteroids and comets and learn the names and trajectories of each one.  Yet all this knowledge, all these “right answers” does not make them astronauts.  Head knowledge is never enough to make someone a true Christian either.  Knowledge is a necessary component of faith, but on its own, it does not produce salvation.

Believing is one more step down the road to saving faith.  Believing is giving assent to the knowledge.  Webster’s dictionary defines assent as  “to agree to or approve of something (such as an idea or suggestion) especially after thoughtful consideration : Concur”.  Where knowledge can say “I know that Jesus is the person Christians believe died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins”, someone who believes that truth would say “I am persuaded that Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins”.  Where some might reject the knowledge outright and say “I don’t believe that at all, it’s just a fictitious story”, a person who gives assent to this truth can approve and agree with what Christ has done.  This is still not saving faith.

The demons believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that He was sent into the world to be the Savior for all who would trust in Him.  In Mark 5 Jesus comes to the land of the Gerasenes and comes to a man who lives among the tombs.  As Jesus approaches this man, the demons cry out with a loud voice “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I adjure you by God, do not torment me” (Mark 5:7).  The demons know who Jesus is!  They address Jesus as the Son of the Most High God showing their belief in Jesus’ power and deity.  These demons know that Jesus can cast them out of the man they are dwelling in and are begging Jesus not to do that.  A few verses later the demons say, “Send us to the pigs, let us enter them’ (Mark 5:11).   The demons have given thoughtful consideration to Jesus and agree that He is truly God.  Yet, they do not have salvation.  The demons will spend eternity separated from God in hell because they do not have saving faith.

Because our children grow up hearing their parents affirm these truths, they may readily agree that Jesus is the Savior of the world and be able to see the difference in other’s lives who are truly redeemed and transformed into Christlikeness.  They will pray and ask God to do them favors, as the demons did in the story of Mark 5.  They will want the benefits of being a child of God without the sacrifice and commitment necessary to be a follower of Christ.  They may be confused as to why the fruit of their life is still producing anxiety, frustration, and broken relationships.  They may be confused about why they keep struggling with anger and feel defeated by the on-going, repetitive sins in their lives.  They will by trying really hard to get biblical principles to “work for them” but not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them to produce genuine fruit.  John Piper says, “But being persuaded that Christ and his promises are factual is not by itself saving faith.  That is why some professing Christians will be shocked at the last day, when they hear him say, “I never knew you,” even though they protest that he is “Lord, Lord”.  Believing that Christ and his promises are true, based on a testimony, is a necessary part of faith.  But it is not sufficient to turn faith into saving faith” (Future Grace, page 199).  This person is not truly in a relationship with God.

Saving faith comes when a person apprehends the truths about Christ in a different way.  Saving faith is a genuine trusting of the Lord where who God is and what He is for us in Christ changes the way we live every moment of every day.  John Piper is again helpful in explaining this truth.  “This different way is what [Charles] Hodge calls a ‘spiritual apprehension of truth’.  He says, ‘It is a faith which rests upon the manifestation of the Holy Spirit of the excellence, beauty, and suitableness of the truth… It arises from a spiritual apprehension of the truth, or from the testimony of the Spirit with and by the truth of our hearts’” (Future Grace page 199).  When a person has saving faith in God, God is treasured, savored, and delighted in.  

Picture the parable of the hidden treasure from Matthew 13.  When a person has the knowledge and belief of who Christ is, and is willing to sell all he has and pursue Christ alone, he has truly tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord through the Holy Spirit enlightening the eyes of his heart.  This love of God, this delighting in Him, comes from the Holy Spirit and produces the fruit of Spirit in a life that is unmistakable as saving faith.  The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control replace the fruit of anxiety, frustration, broken relationships, and fear.  “Another way to say it would be that, in all the acts of saving faith, the Holy Spirit enables us not just to perceive and affirm factual truth, but also to apprehend and embrace spiritual beauty.  It is the ‘embracing of spiritual beauty’ that is the essential core of saving faith.  This is what I mean by ‘being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.’ Spiritual beauty is the beauty of God diffused in all his words and works - especially in the saving work of his Son.  Embracing this, or delighting in it, or being satisfied with it, is the heart of saving faith” (John Piper, Future Grace page 205). Apprehending and embracing is the evidence of a new heart and a new creation.

A child who knows, believes, and trusts (and delights) in God is a joy to every parent.  There may be ups and downs along the journey of parenting, but there is a genuine desire to surrender their will to God’s will, a deep repentance for sin, a love of God’s word and enjoyment of spending time with Him. John Piper calls this “seeing and savoring” Christ.  As our children see the truth laid out for them in scripture and as the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to see and their ears to hear, they see God as beautiful.  As they see the beauty of His nature and understand His works at a greater depth, they savor the love, mercy, grace, and holiness of God more and more.  

Picture yourself sitting down to your favorite meal.  As you take a bite of your favorite dish you sit back, close your eyes, and experience all the details of the texture and flavors. You take time to think about how much you love this meal and even tell the cook how great it is.  That is what savoring God should be.  We should read His word and sit back, taking our time to appreciate how loving, compassionate, and merciful God is.  We should take time to think about all the blessings He has given us in Christ and then exclaim to God how great He is in praise and worship.  Giving voice to that enjoyment in prayer and praise grows our delight even more.  The evidence of saving faith is the treasuring of Christ that transforms the follower of Christ from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Here is an analogy that I often use to explain this concept.  

Nick Wallenda is a professional and famous tightrope walker.  He has walked across tightropes over the Grand Canyon and Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua  without a safety net below him. In 2012, Wallenda arrived at Niagara Falls on June 15, and there was a huge crowd waiting to watch him work. Picture themself in the crowd.  As the crowd watches the tightrope being laid out across the falls and secured carefully on the ends, what are they thinking?  They watch Wallenda walk across the tightrope and easily cross Niagara Falls 1,800 feet above ground.  As he comes to the end of the rope and safely gets down, they KNOW he can walk across a tightrope.  

Then, Wallenda asks the crowd, “Do you think I can walk across the rope while pushing a wheelbarrow?”  The crowd is cheers and screams “yes”.  The crowd is in agreement that Wallenda can do it and enthusiastically wants to see it.  Wallenda gets up on the tightrope with the wheelbarrow and carefully walks safely across again.  There are no wobbles or moments of doubt.  The crowd now BELIEVES Wallenda is the greatest tightrope walker of all time.

For his third pass across the falls, Wallenda asks the crowd, “Who thinks I can go across pushing the wheelbarrow while a person rides inside it?”  The crowd all cheers and replies “yes, we believe you can do it!”.  Nick Wallenda then points at you and says “get in and I’ll push you across”.  What would you do?  Do you get in the wheelbarrow or think ‘that’s fine for other people but there’s no way I’m risking my life for that!’.  

That is the level of TRUST.  Someone who knows the facts and gives assent to the truth is not really trusting until they are ready to give up their way of life for the truth.  Trust changes the way we live.  When we are trusting (seeing and savoring) Christ, we live in surrender and obedience to Him.  

Jesus said “If you love me, you will obey my commands” (John 14:15).  Treasuring Christ, seeing him as beautiful, glorious, and delighting in Him, leads us to want to please Him and live wholeheartedly for Him.  Trusting involves action and obedience.  

Faith is Forged in Crisis

By Jon Bloom

The Bible is a blood-earnest book. It’s a book about reality. And reality, as we know all too well, is often brutal and bloody. The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat this fact at all, but describes reality with disturbing forthrightness. Much of Scripture was written during brutal, bloody times by embattled, distressed, weary, even depressed authors. And at the pinnacle of the Bible’s story, at the core of the Bible’s message, is the Son of God dying a bloody death on a brutal Roman cross.

So, when we open our Bibles, rarely are we going to find a little light reading.

Even in the book of Psalms, this collection of inspired spiritual poetry that has brought immeasurable comfort to an incalculable number of saints across the centuries, we are frequently faced with distressing themes. In numerous psalms, we read writers’ wrestlings over what it means to trust the God they treasure as they witness some brutal and bloody reality, a reality that challenges their understanding or expectations of God’s promises and purposes.

These psalms fit into a category we call psalms of lament. In certain lament psalms, like Psalm 10, we’re reading an inspired author’s faith crisis captured in verse.

Can We Say That to God?

We see this immediately in the opening verse:

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
     Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1)

That’s a remarkable thing to say to God. Could a Christian Hedonist actually pray this way?

Why would I ask that question that way? We at Desiring God believe that the Bible teaches an approach to life we call Christian Hedonism. We see in Scripture that a Christian is not someone who assents merely intellectually to core Christian propositional truth claims. A Christian loves God with all his heart (Matthew 22:37), values God as his greatest treasure (Matthew 13:44–46; Philippians 3:7–8; Hebrews 11:24–26), and seeks God as the source of his greatest and longest-lasting pleasure (Psalm 16:11). The triune God of the Bible is to be a Christian’s “exceeding joy” (Psalm 43:4). Summarized in a sentence, Christian Hedonists believe Scripture teaches that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

We can certainly find lots of Christian Hedonistic prayers in the Psalms, like Psalm 73:25–26,

Whom have I in heaven but you?
     And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
     but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

But what about Psalm 10, where the writer laments his agonizing bewilderment over unjust, greedy, violent acts against innocent, helpless people? He’s not only disturbed by the wicked acts he’s witnessed; he’s disturbed that the wicked are prospering from their wickedness. And God, the righteous Judge, appears to be letting it happen. So, in typical biblical candor, he asks God, “Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” If a person truly loves, trusts, and treasures God above all else, can he pray like that? Can someone who rejoices in God ever lament God’s apparent distance and disregard?

“A faith crisis should not be confused with faith abandonment.”

In short, yes. In fact, Christian Hedonists pray to God this way at certain times because he is our “exceeding joy,” because we treasure him, because we love him. And because sometimes God’s ways and timing are agonizingly difficult to grasp. We see this sorrowful-yet-rejoicing dynamic in the brutal realities of Psalm 10.

Why Did God Feel Far?

First, we need to understand what was troubling this psalmist. He pours out his distress:

• “In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor [because he is] greedy for gain” (Psalm 10:2–3).

• He “curses and renounces the Lord” (even denies God’s existence) (Psalm 10:3–4).

• “His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression” (Psalm 10:7).

• “In hiding places he murders the innocent” (Psalm 10:8).

• “He seizes the poor when he draws him into his net” (Psalm 10:9).

The poor are being exploited and even slaughtered by someone in a position of power (perhaps more than one) for the sake of financial benefit. The victims are in a “helpless” or defenseless position and so “are crushed, sink down, and fall by [the wicked person’s] might” (Psalm 10:10). These would be unspeakable deeds, except that silence would only compound the injustice of it all. Therefore, like Jeremiah, the psalmist “cannot keep silent” (Jeremiah 4:19).

What Faith Sounds Like in Crisis

The psalmist strives to put the wickedness he sees into words. We can sense his righteous anger. Such horrible oppression and injustice should make him (and us) angry.

“Sooner or later, every Christian experiences a faith crisis — some of us numerous ones.”

But though the psalmist is addressing God with urgent earnestness, I don’t believe his anger is directed toward God. It’s directed toward the wicked who are wreaking such destruction. The psalmist is turning to God with his burning indignation toward evil perpetrators, and his tearful compassion toward victims because his hope is in God to bring justice and deliverance to bear. That’s why he prays.

We too witness, and sometimes are victims of, such wicked injustices. In our day, innocent, defenseless unborn babies are legally murdered, and children as well as vulnerable or entrapped adults are trafficked for sex, all financially profiting those perpetrating the injustices. In the face of such things, we cannot keep silent. First and foremost, before God. Out of compassion for afflicted ones and righteous anger toward perpetrators, we pour out our lamenting hearts to the God in whom we hope (Psalm 43:5) and from whom we receive hope (Psalm 62:5).

Learning to Cry Out in Crisis

But still, those opening lines of the psalm sound like God is the recipient of at least some of the psalmist’s anger:

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
     Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1)

If that’s not anger or disillusionment or disappointment, what is it? It’s putting into words the painful perplexity of a crisis of faith.

Now, a faith crisis should not be confused with faith abandonment. Nearly every saint experiences faith crises of different kinds, and typically we must endure faith crises in order for faith to grow and strengthen — more on that in a moment. But the clearest evidence that this psalmist is not forsaking God is the presence of this psalm — the psalmist is praying! And in his prayer, he’s doing with God what all of us do with those we love and cherish deeply who act (or seem not to act) in ways we don’t understand: he’s honestly expressing his confusion and pain.

The psalmist’s soul is troubled that his biblically informed knowledge of God’s character does not seem to match the reality he’s observing. He believes “God is a righteous judge” (Psalm 7:11) who “executes justice” for the helpless and vulnerable (Deuteronomy 10:18). But he’s not seeing justice executed for the helpless and vulnerable. He’s seeing the wicked oppressor of the helpless “prosper at all times” (Psalm 10:5). Why God isn’t immediately stopping this injustice is beyond him. It’s a moment of crisis for him, and he’s telling God so.

I think it wrong, however, to assume that, because the psalmist asks God why he seems distant or hidden, he’s blaming God or scolding God for neglecting his responsibilities. What he’s doing is describing his experience of reality — the way the situation appears to him through his finite senses. And the reason he’s praying this way is precisely because he cares so deeply for God, because he loves and trusts God.

This is a faithful Christian response to a faith crisis. When we are painfully perplexed by the apparent discontinuity between what we know of God from the Scripture and what we observe in the world, when the mystery of God’s providential purposes meets the finiteness of our understanding, and it doesn’t make sense to us, God wants us to cry out to him. He wants us to cry out to him precisely because we love and trust him, even when our experience challenges what we believe.

Forging Christian Hedonists

The fact that the Bible speaks so honestly about reality is part of its self-authenticating quality; unvarnished honesty is one sign of sincerity and truth. And the fact that the Bible features a psalmist’s faith crisis over the problem of evil is part of why the Psalms have comforted so many for so long; we experience such crises too.

Sooner or later, every Christian experiences a faith crisis — some of us numerous ones. But a crisis of faith does not mean a loss of faith. In fact, it is often through faith crises that we learn what faith really is.

“The forging of a Christian Hedonist often occurs in the fires of a faith crisis.”

Scripture is full of accounts of saints enduring many kinds of faith crises, where the God who governs reality, in all its bloody brutality, does not meet the saints’ understanding and expectations, leading those saints to wrestle deeply. The Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith” is lined with such saints, who through crises learned what it really means to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

I mentioned earlier that Christian Hedonists love to pray Psalm 73:25–26:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
     And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
     but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

What I didn’t mention is that Psalm 73 is another account of a faith crisis, and this prayer is part of the fruit of that crisis. So, when your own crises come, don’t assume your faith, love, and joy are gone, but that God wants to grow them in the furnace of affliction. Because the forging of a Christian Hedonist often occurs in the fires of a faith crisis.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/faith-is-forged-in-crisis

Proven Faith Is More Precious than Gold

Paul Tautges

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
    and backward, but I do not perceive him;
on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
    he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

Job 23:8-10

God ordains trials to enter our lives in order to test the reality of our faith in a way that is similar to the process of purifying precious metals. Gold, for example, is purified through various means, including high temperature heating or chemical exposure. One such method is called the Miller process, which “uses gaseous chlorine to extract impurities when gold is at melting point; impurities separate into a layer on the surface of the molten purified gold.”[1] Those impurities are then skimmed off the surface, leaving gold that is purer and more valuable. If perishable gold is valuable enough for man to go through painstaking processes to refine it, what must God be willing to do to ensure that our imperishable faith becomes even more precious?

According to Scripture, God at times turns up the thermostat of our life. He heats up the smelting furnace of affliction in order to reveal the imperfections already present in our hearts, so that they can be skimmed off. He does not do this to discourage or defeat us, but to prove the reality of our faith. We are “grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of [our] faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7). Commenting on these verses, Greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest, provides a beautiful illustration of God’s refining fire.

The illustration is that of the ancient goldsmith who refines the crude gold ore in his crucible. The pure metal is mixed with much foreign material from which it must be separated. The only way to bring about this separation is to reduce the ore to liquid form. The impurities rise to the surface and are then skimmed off. But intense heat is needed to liquefy this ore. So the goldsmith puts his crucible in the fire, reduces the ore to a liquid state and skims off the impurities. When he can see the reflection of his face clearly mirrored in the surface of the liquid, he knows that the contents are pure gold. The smelting process has done its work.

Christian suffering, whether it be in the form of persecution because of a Christlike life, or whether it comes to us in the form of the trials and testings which are the natural accompaniment of a Christlike life, such as illness, sorrow, or financial losses, is always used by a God of love to refine our lives. It burns out the dross, makes for humility, purifies and increases our faith, and enriches our lives. And like the goldsmith of old, God keeps us in the smelting furnace until He can see the reflection of the face of the Lord Jesus in our lives. God is not so much interested in how much work we do for Him, as He is in how much we resemble His Son.[2]

God’s big, long-term goal for each and every believer is “to be conformed to the image of Christ” (Rom. 8:29). When we allow fiery trials to thrust us upon the mercy of the Lord and motivate us to put off sin, and put on the new self, we experience the certainty of “being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col 3:10). As we make sometimes-slow, gradual progress toward spiritual maturity, we become more like Christ. This is the usefulness of the spiritual smelting process of suffering.

Job, an Old Testament hero of the faith, understood this picture. The furnace of Job’s affliction was turned up very, very hot when Satan was permitted to attack Job’s family, health, financial stability, character, and reputation (Job 1-2). Satan meant all of these targeted attacks for evil, but God meant them for good. In fact, it was God who first said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8). On the other side of his family tragedy and loss of all earthly security, Job was able to testify of God’s faithfulness: “when he has tried me, I shall come out [of the smelting pot] as gold” (Job 23:10). This is a statement of Job’s faith, even though he could not see the specific ways of God while in the midst of his trial: “I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him.” Nonetheless, in the end, Job’s faith was proven. When his particular season of suffering was over, Job could pray to God, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (Job 42:5). A renewed awareness and deeper knowledge of God had been attained.

The teaching of Scripture is clear. In order to produce a godly, mature Christian, God increases the temperature of life in order to turn our hearts more devotedly toward him. He melts our faith in order to bring to the surface remaining sin and unbelief that’s already in our hearts, but which we may be blinded from seeing or too stubborn to address. By doing so the Holy Spirit matures our faith, making it more precious than any earthly treasure. Just as the refining process is used to remove impurities, in order to bring out the beauty of gold, so trials are used by God to refine and bring out the beauty of our faith. Looking into the heart that is devoted to Jesus, while it is being refined through suffering, the Father sees the image of his Son progressively revealed. The end result is the glory and pleasure of God.

You may want to take time to read the first two chapters of the book of Job. Then meditate on Job’s worshipful response in Job 2:21. Pray this verse back to God in your own words, according to the particular difficulties of your trial.

[1] “Processing, Smelting, and Refining God,” https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-refining, accessed November 9, 2020.

[2] Kenneth S. Wuest, “Bypaths” in Wuest’s Word Studies – Volume III (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973, orig. 1940), 73-74.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/11/10/proven-faith-is-more-precious-than-gold/

Own it! How Repentance and Faith Fuel a Fresh Start

Colin Smith

Often it seems that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In Deuteronomy 1, Moses is making this plain when he tells the Israelites that what was in their parents is also in them.

God’s people are on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, and Moses says, “Let me remind you how we got here…” Moses goes back 40 years: “The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain…’” (1:6), and he tells the story of how the people rebelled against God.

You were unwilling to go up… You rebelled against the Lord… You grumbled in your tents and said ‘The Lord hates us…’ You did not trust in the Lord your God (Deut. 1:26-27, 32).

Why is Moses saying this? Is he blaming the children for the sins of the parents? No! He is teaching the children to learn from their parents. You will face the same temptations, the same struggles they did.

The people of God had refused to trust Him and, instead of entering the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for 40 years. What defeated them, their children must now overcome in their own lives. What is in them (and us) by nature, that must be overcome?

• By nature, I rebel against God (Deut. 1:26).

• By nature, I treat God with contempt (Deut. 1:27).

• By nature, I blame others (Deut. 1:28).

• By nature, I resist the truth (Deut. 1:29-31).

• By nature, I refuse to believe (Deut. 1:32).

• By nature, I am under the wrath of God (Deut. 1:34).

Moses is saying to God’s people, “Don’t think these natural, sinful impulses stopped with your parents. All of them are also in you.”

By nature, this is our condition today. The sinful human nature crosses all economic and social barriers. By nature, we have no basis on which to enter the land of promise that is full of good things.

When God’s people realized they had messed up in their rebellion and unbelief, they decided to try and put it right. They were sure that they could fix their own problems. They decided to go up to Canaan after all, but God said to them, “Don’t go up because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies” (Deut. 1:42). They went up anyway and were completely defeated!

Turning over a new leaf doesn’t change us. Trying harder won’t work; it’s never the answer. So, where can we find the power for a fresh start? What hope is there for us to change the future—to get into the “promised land”?

Owning What is Ours Brings Hope

In Deuteronomy 5, Moses summons all of Israel and reminds them: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb” (vs. 2). God had made this covenant before they were born, but it is for them.

God made a covenant of grace before we were born, too, and it is for us. He promised to redeem sinners like us through His Son, Jesus Christ. This covenant was not written on tablets of stone; it is sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood was poured out for us. His body was given for us. Through the shedding of this blood, Jesus sealed a new covenant for the forgiveness of our sins.

Two great events shaped our lives before we were born: What’s in us, by nature, goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. What can be in us, by grace, goes all the way back to the cross of Jesus Christ. And we change the future through repentance and faith.

Own it: Repentance

We need to own what is in our nature. This is what the Bible calls “repentance.” Knowing what we are up against in living the Christian life, we can pray: “Lord, by nature I’m a rebel who treats your kindness with contempt, blames others, resists your Word, refuses to believe, and deserves to be under Your righteous judgment.

When we tell ourselves what great and good people we are, we will never make progress in the Christian life. Owning what is in us, by nature, is where repentance begins and how it continues.

Own it: Faith

We need to own what is ours, by grace. This is what the Bible calls “faith.” We need to know who we are in Christ. We need to be clear about what our Savior has for us in living the Christian life.

Faith looks at all that the grace of God has done: God has made a covenant for us, He has sent His Son to redeem us, and He has given His Spirit to empower us. Faith says, “All this is mine!” Faith begins when I own what is mine, by grace.

Fresh Start, New Future

Moses was leading a new generation who stood on the verge of change. Would they follow what was in them by nature? Or would they receive what was theirs by grace?

What about us? Will we follow the impulse to hear God’s Word, or will we follow the impulse of unbelief? Will we spend our lives praising God, or will we treat Him with contempt? Will we own what is in us, by nature, or will we spend our lives blaming others and end up under the wrath of God?

Repentance and faith are not only what unbelievers do to become Christians; both are what believers do to live as Christians. God calls us to a life of repentance and faith in which we sustain an ongoing fight against what is in us (our nature) by laying hold of what Christ has for us by His grace. We can lay hold of these gifts:

• The Son of God loves me and gave Himself for me.

• The Lord reigns, and nothing happens to me unless it comes through His loving hand first.

• I don’t understand all that He allows to come into my life. Nor do I expect to, because He is God in heaven and He sees the events of this world from eternity. I am only on the earth in a little capsule of time. But I know that I can trust Him. I know that He is for me.

• I know that I am forgiven and not under His wrath. I live in His mercy and am never alone, because He walks beside me.

• By grace, I have come to love Him, to trust Him, and to count Him worthy of the supreme devotion and sacrifice of my life.

This is faith.

My prayer is that God would breathe increased faith into our souls. May we see that, in all our battles and struggles, Christ is for us. We can embrace Him with faith that says, “If God is for me, who can be against me?”

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2020/09/repentance-faith-fuel-fresh-start/

The Doctrine of Saving Faith

AN ESSAY BY J. V. Fesko

DEFINITION

Saving faith is faith that not only knows and comprehends the facts about the gospel of Jesus Christ but also trusts in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

SUMMARY

While faith can be used in various ways, saving faith is faith that not only knows and comprehends the facts about the gospel of Jesus Christ but also trusts in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Historical faith understands the claims of Scripture, and temporary faith seems for a time to trust in them, but saving faith is a firm conviction and trust in the person and work of Christ. While demons understand and comprehend the facts about God and Jesus Christ, this faith causes them to tremble. For the Christian, faith leads to joy and confidence in the goodness and grace of God, which bestows salvation through Jesus Christ apart from works, even apart from the fruit that flows from faith.

The Bible is replete with references to faith. Hebrews 11 stands out as the great “Hall of Faith,” where the author highlights the many Old Testament saints who placed their faith in the promise of the gospel. But what exactly is faith? And why do theologians add the adjective saving? In other words, what is saving faith?

Definition

The simplest and most basic definition of faith comes from the book of Hebrews: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). The author of Hebrews gives a functional description of faith; in this case, faith is believing in what cannot be seen, such as God, or as the author points out, God’s creation of the world out of nothing (Heb. 11:3). We take creation out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) on faith since we cannot return to the beginning personally to observe God’s act. But when we relate the doctrine of faith to salvation, the definition becomes more specific. Saving faith is a conviction wrought by the Holy Spirit regarding the truth of the gospel and a trust in the promises of God in Christ (for this definition, see Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology: New Combined Edition, 503). Given this definition, what are the parts of saving faith? What other kinds of faith does the Bible speak of? And how does saving faith relate specifically to the doctrine of salvation?

Elements

The church’s historic understanding of saving faith contains three elements: the facts (notitia), comprehension of the facts (assensus), and trust in the facts (fiducia). In order for someone to believe in and trust in the saving work of Jesus, a person must first know the facts. She must know that Jesus existed as a real, live, historical person. Jesus is not a myth or fairy tale. But a bare knowledge of the facts does not constitute saving faith. A person must know the basic facts and comprehend them. In other words, knowing that Jesus lived is not enough; one must understand what Jesus did in his life. He claimed to be God in the flesh (John 8:58), God’s son and equal to him (John 5:18), and the only way to be saved: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). But it is not enough to believe that Jesus exists and that he made these claims. The sinner must place her trust in Christ’s claims—she must believe that Jesus is the incarnate son of God and that he came to save sinners through his life, death, and resurrection (Rom. 1:16–17; 10:9–10).

We can illustrate the relationship between the elements of saving faith in the following manner. I can go to the airport and recognize the fact that there is an airplane in front of me. I can acknowledge the fact that the airplane and its pilot can hurtle down the runway and leap into the air for sustained flight. I can study the principles of aeronautics and comprehend that when air rushes over a curved surface it creates lift, which thus enables the airplane to fly. But I must trust the airplane and its pilot, board the aircraft, take my seat, and ride the airplane in order to demonstrate my faith in it. A bare knowledge of Christ and his claims is insufficient for salvation. We must trust that he is the only way to be saved from our sin and the only one who can give eternal life.

Other Types

Saving faith is thus a firm conviction and trust in the person and work of Christ, but the Bible does speak of other types of faith. Theologians have discussed historical faith, which is a bare intellectual grasp of the claims of Scripture barren of the work of the Spirit. The apostle Paul, for example, chided King Agrippa for his belief in the Old Testament prophets but the King did not believe in Jesus, the one of whom the prophets spoke (Acts 26:27–28).

The Scriptures also speak of temporary faith, which is when a person temporarily “believes” in the gospel but later falls away. Christ’s parable of the sower captures this type of faith. The sower cast seed on rocky soil, quickly sprouted, but then died for lack of a root (Matt. 13:5–6). Christ explains that this portion of the parable corresponds to the one who “hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away” (Matt. 13:20–21). Christ contrasts the rocky with the good soil, which is when one hears, understands, and believes in the word and produces fruit (Matt. 13:23). Christ never states who prepares the soil, a vital element of the parable. Within the broader context of the New Testament, we know that the Spirit prepares the soil of the heart to enable sinners to believe and trust in Jesus (Eph. 2:8–9; Acts 16:14). Apart from the sovereign work of the Spirit, the best that sinful humans can do is achieve a historical or temporary faith.

A third type of faith is the faith of demons; this category is similar to historical faith. James writes: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19)! In other words, demons know the facts—God exists and is sovereign over all, including their own demonic realm. Demons comprehend these facts, and the comprehension of this knowledge creates fear in them. But they refuse to believe and trust in God, and they are incapable of doing so apart from a sovereign work of God’s Spirit. All three types of faith (historical, temporary, and demons) stand in stark contrast to saving faith. The adjective saving denotes that this type of faith is a sovereign work of God’s Spirit that secures a sinner’s salvation. But how does saving faith work in the broader scope of the doctrine of salvation?

Conclusion

We must recognize with Scripture that faith works through love, which means that the fruit of love and obedience flows from saving faith (Gal. 5:6). But we must also acknowledge faith alone saves, not the fruit of faith. As Paul writes: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). How do we relate Paul’s two different ideas, namely, that faith works by love but that we are saved by faith apart from works (Rom. 3:28, 4:6)? A historic seventeenth-century Protestant confession of faith provides a helpful distinction. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) explains that the “principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life” (XIV.ii). In other words, saving faith does not save because of what it does but rather because of whose work in which it rests in, namely, Christ’s. The Scriptures regularly emphasize this fact from the very beginning.

When the apostle Paul expounded the doctrine of justification, how sinners can receive the forgiveness of their sins and the right and title to eternal life, he returned to the earliest pages of Scripture and the life of Abraham: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’” (Rom. 4:2–3). Abraham looked to the promised Messiah, saw his day from afar, and trusted in God’s promise (Gal. 3:10–14; John 8:58). And even though faith works through love (Gal. 5:6), God does not factor this love in the justification of sinners as Paul makes abundantly clear: “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Rom. 4:4–5). In fact, Paul repeatedly emphasizes the crucial role of faith by using either the term faith or believe 17 times in Romans 4 alone. This should impress upon our hearts and minds that saving faith, not our works, is the only thing that can save us, not because it is inherently worthy but because by faith we lay hold of Christ’s work and thus receive his perfect suffering and obedience as the means by which we are saved. This is the way that all sinners have been saved throughout all of redemptive history, and this is the chief point of Hebrews 11. The Bible knows of no other means of salvation other than trusting in Christ and resting in his finished work. Old Testament saints looked forward to Christ and New Testament saints look backward to Christ, but all lay hold of Christ’s work through saving faith.

FURTHER READING

• Guy M. Richard, “A Picture of Saving Faith”

• J. Gresham Machen, What Is Faith?

• John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied

• John Owen, Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith

• Ligonier, “What is Saving Faith?”

• Paul Carter, “What is (Saving) Faith?”

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/doctrine-saving-faith/

Ten Reasons to Love and Trust Jesus

By: Pat Quinn

In our perilous time of pandemic, disruption, and death, Jesus shines forth with hope-filled and glorious love and power. As counselors today, we share the same circumstantial fears, frustrations, and isolation as those we counsel, and we need the same Jesus we commend to them. Mark 5:21-43 records two stories of Jesus dealing with seemingly impossible situations: the healing of the woman with an incurable discharge of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Both of these accounts point to a Savior who is utterly reliable and unfailingly strong in the most trying of circumstances. These two stories provide ten solid reasons to love and trust Jesus Christ in the hardest situations.

Ten Reasons to Love and Trust Jesus

1. Jesus is compassionately responsive to urgent requests for help.

Jairus, a ruler of a local synagogue, pleads with Jesus to come and heal his dying daughter. Mark records simply, “And he went with him” (Mark 5:24). No hesitation; no request for information. Jesus responds immediately. He could have healed her right away from a distance and said, “Go home; your daughter will live.” By agreeing to go with Jairus to his house, there would be a delay and then a costly interruption and, therefore, an extended time for Jairus to have to wait anxiously. This reminds us that Jesus always hears and responds to our cries for help, but the timing and method of His help are in His sovereign hands. Delays and frustrating interruptions may come but cannot ultimately hinder His work.

2. Jesus is absolutely undaunted by “impossible” situations.

There are three increasingly difficult situations Jesus deals with here. First, a daughter at the point of death—urgent. Second, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years who had spent all her money and had only gotten worse—desperate. Third, during the delay dealing with the woman, the daughter dies—beyond all help. However, Jesus is unfazed by the escalating problems. Sickness, incurable disease, and even death do not trouble Him. As He told His disciples later, “All things are possible for God” (Mark 10:27).

3. Jesus calls needy sinners to engage with Him face-to-face.

As Jesus follows Jairus, the woman with the discharge of blood touches His garment and is immediately healed. Jesus perceives that power had gone out from Him and asks, “Who touched my garment” (Mark 5:30)? The terrified woman comes forward and tells Him what she did, probably expecting to be rebuked for touching Jesus when she was unclean. However, Jesus unexpectedly reassures her. Why did He call her out of hiding? I believe it is because Jesus doesn’t merely want to help people; He wants to make disciples. This is important in our counseling troubled people. The ultimate goal of our counseling is not just to help people work through their problems, even with Jesus’ help. The goal is that they would see His glory, love Him, and follow Him in committed discipleship.

4. Jesus responds powerfully to the “touch of faith.”

Verses 27-29 says, “She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, ‘If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.’ And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body she was healed of her disease.” She heard about Jesus, she sought Him out, and she “touched” Him in faith. This describes well what we attempt to do in biblical counseling: point people to the real Jesus, showing through scripturally faithful and creative means who Jesus is, what He has accomplished, and what He promises to do. Then we seek to lead them sensitively to actually touch Him in faith-filled prayer. Every sincere cry for help, however feeble, is touching Jesus. And it always results in a response from Him. Like Jairus, it may encounter delays or unexpected hindrances. The answer might not be exactly how and when we pictured it, but Jesus promises that if we ask, it will be given (Matt. 7:7-11).

5. Jesus confirms and commends genuine faith.

I love how Jesus responds to the woman’s faith. As she comes “in fear and trembling,” anticipating Jesus’ displeasure at her presumption, He says to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (Mark 5:34). Marvel at His gifts of grace: He tenderly calls her “daughter;” He commends her faith in front of a crowd that would earlier have looked down on her, thus restoring her to community; He offers her the peace that has eluded her for so long; He confirms her healing and the new life she has been given. This is the Jesus we connect our counselees to—the gentle Healer who “took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Matt. 8:17) on the cross and who longs to give new life to those who reach out to Him in faith.

6. Jesus confronts fear and despair with, “Do not fear; only believe.”

I’m so thankful that the Bible is utterly realistic. While the story of Jesus (and all who are united to Him by faith) ends with the happiest of all happily ever afters, there are surprising setbacks and discouraging plot twists along the way. Jairus, who has been anxiously waiting for Jesus to finish dealing with the woman, is now confronted with, “Your daughter is dead: Why trouble the teacher any further?” (Mark 5:35). This is what life looks and feels like sometimes: things are desperate, we cry out to God, and then they get worse. They seem to go from difficult to desperate to improbable to impossible. How striking that Jesus speaks what sounds like a crazy command to Jairus: “Do not fear; only believe” (Mark 5:36). How can Jesus say this? How can we believe in the face of death itself? Jesus knows what we often forget or simply struggle to believe: He is the Son of God, the resurrection and life (John 11:25), the all-sufficient Creator and Redeemer. He has the power to raise the dead! How important for us to meditate long and hard on the character and power of Christ so we can commend Him to hopeless counselees.

7. Jesus radically reinterprets hopeless situations.

Death is final. It’s the end of life and the end of hope. It’s the final loss of everything. So how does Jesus address death? What is His interpretation? Again, His reply is shocking but shockingly hopeful: “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping” (Mark 5:39). Why does Jesus say this? If the child had been hooked up to a heart monitor, it would have flatlined. He says this because to Him, death is merely sleep, and He can wake her by calling gently to her and telling her to get up. That’s what it means to be the Son of God. You see everything differently because you have all power and authority in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18). Biblical counselors have the privilege of connecting our counselees’ stories to Jesus’ story so we can help them reinterpret their circumstances in a realistic yet hopeful way. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, our lives are ultimately comedies, not tragedies, and this story helps us interpret them that way.

 8. Jesus tenderly raises little ones to new life.

“Talitha cumi…Little girl I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41). One of our granddaughters is named Talitha. When her mom was pregnant with her, there was a time when they thought they had lost her. Thankfully, that didn’t turn out to be the case. One of the reasons they named her Talitha was because they felt like they had received her back when they thought they had lost her. Needless to say, the name Talitha and this story are precious to me. I am drawn again to the power and tenderness of Jesus. He radiates compassion for this family, love for this little girl, the power to raise the dead, and a burning desire for all to see Him as He is and trust Him with what is most precious to us.

9. Jesus cares about our most practical earthly needs.

Most of this story soars in the stratosphere of Jesus’ transcendent power over sickness and death. We are breathing the air of heaven and walking on holy ground. I smile, therefore, when at the end of this amazing story, Jesus tells the parents to “give her something to eat” (Mark 5:43). From the heights of heaven to the mundane needs of the earth. “She looks a little pale. Why don’t you make her some lunch.” He responds to our desperate cries for supernatural power as well as our ordinary needs for food and drink. This is an important reminder to me as I counsel. I am wired more to attend to spiritual needs. I need to remember and remind my counselees that Jesus cares just as much for our practical needs. What a Savior!

10. Jesus is utterly amazing in every way.

This story is an eloquent testimony to the beauty and greatness of Jesus. It impresses upon us that the only reasonable response to Him is to be “overcome with amazement” (Mark 5:42). The goal of our counseling can be nothing less than grateful worship and joyful service to our Redeemer and King.

Ten reasons to love and trust Jesus: let us commit ourselves to learning, living, and lavishing them on those entrusted to our care.

 Questions for Reflection

1. What do you see about Jesus in these two stories that moves you to love and wonder?

2. Think of someone you’re counseling who is facing desperate circumstances. Which of the ten reasons does this person especially need to see and take to heart?

3. How can you help him/her to see Jesus more clearly, love Him more genuinely, and trust Him more fully?

Posted at: https://www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/2020/05/11/ten-reasons-to-love-and-trust-jesus/

Why We Don’t Lose Heart

Devotional by John Piper

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses). He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids). He doesn’t recover from beatings the way he used to (and there were no antibiotics). His strength, walking from town to town, doesn’t hold up the way it used to. He sees the wrinkles in his face and neck. His memory is not as good. And he admits that this is a threat to his faith and joy and courage.

But he does not lose heart. Why?

He doesn’t lose heart because his inner man is being renewed. How?

The renewing of his heart comes from something very strange: it comes from looking at what he can’t see.

We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is Paul’s way of not losing heart: looking at what he cannot see. What, then, did he see when he looked?

A few verses later in 2 Corinthians 5:7, he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” This doesn’t mean that he leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.

We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel. We strengthen our hearts — we renew our courage — by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We see this as it shines in our heart through the gospel.

We became Christians when this happened — whether we understood this or not. And with Paul we need to go on seeing with the eyes of the heart, so that we not lose heart.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-we-dont-lose-heart

PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

RUNNING THE RACE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Josiah A. Bennett

Running involves mental concentration. You have to be focused. I do not run, but my friends who run talk a lot about the mental state they have to be in before they run and while they run. However, running certainly is not all about the mind. You need to worry about your heart and feet as well. If your mind, heart, and feet are not working together, you are going to trip. The Christian life is the same way. We have to keep our minds, hearts, and feet all in check. It is not enough to merely think about running. You need to want to run and you actually have to run.

As students of theology, it is really easy to think about theology but not actually put it into practice. It is a lot of fun to read heavy tomes over coffee and bagels. It is stirring to our minds to locate theology in God. But if we don’t put what we study into practice, we are like runners who never run. The Christian life is far more than intellectual understanding or knowing; it is practical living as well.

What Is Practical Theology?

This portion of the blog is going to dedicate itself to the discipline of practical theology. Practical theology is “apply[ing] the text to yourself, the church, and the world.”[1] This involves conveying mental comprehension (often referred to as “head knowledge”) to your heart and feet. First, this means taking a concept, which can often be ethereal or distant and bringing it to your heart—so that you love God and others more because of it. Finally, the concept must move to your feet and hands—so you move and act differently because of it. The disciplines of theology and Bible study are merely the first essential portion of application. Before we can apply, we must know.

Why Should You Do Practical Theology?  

Knowing is certainly an essential beginning to application, but it is not enough to merely come to memorize a flash card or a list of verses. As can be seen from many Sunday schools, even a child can memorize portions of Scripture. However, our understanding is not complete until that knowledge transforms us. God’s word, which is authoritative to the Christian life, should make a marked effect on our day to day lives. May we not be like the children who can repeat “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right,” yet are unable to behave in such a way throughout their week. Knowing should move to application.

Since knowing should yield action, all theology is practical. Yet, while all theology ought to yield to application, often it does not.[2] This is usually people’s greatest aversion to theology. They hear the egg-headed discussions, the multiple languages, and the logical progressions, and feel like it has no bearing on their day to day lives, and therefore is of little use. Since they don’t see immediate payout, they resist spending the time and energy to truly learn. Yet, whether we mean to or not, what we think about God affects the way we live. After all, we are all theologians.[3] In fact, regardless of how few theological books you have read, you “have a working theology that shapes and informs the way you think and live.”[4] A poor or incomplete understanding of theology is inconsistent with the Christian life. God has revealed himself in Scripture, and the Bible has authority over the Christian life. If we fail to hear God’s word and fail to apply it, we are ignoring God’s word. Therefore, we should be all the more diligent in pursuing rigorous theological study and complete application to our lives.

How Do You Do Practical Theology?  

In order to do practical theology, you do not need a B. A., M. Div, or a Ph.D. Those degrees are certainly helpful (I am grateful for my own degree, and for many others who have gotten others), but they will not guarantee that the text will affect your heart. The Spirit must do its work. Therefore, practical theology rests on prayer and the Spirit’s work. Apart from the Spirit’s stirring of our hearts, we cannot come to love God’s words or desire to apply them to our lives. Apart from the Spirit’s enlightenment, the sweet, deep truths of Scripture will be cold and bitter to us. Therefore, the first step of practical theology is prayer. Every time we open our Bibles or a theology book, we ought to pray that the Lord would move our hearts to love and respond in faith.

Practical theology is not divorced from the other disciplines. In fact, all the other disciplines (Bible reading, systematic theology, historical theology, and Biblical theology) find their end in practical theology. It is through reading the Bible and doing other exegetical and theological disciplines that we find ourselves at practical theology. Our daily Bible reading should end with applying the text to our lives. In Biblical theology, viewing how themes in the Bible are fulfilled in Jesus, we will come to a better understanding of how texts apply to our lives. Our daily Bible study should lead us to the other disciplines, and the other disciplines should lead us to practical theology.

Conclusion

Practical theology is essential to the Christian life. As we read through the Bible, we will find areas that we must systemize in order to make sense of it, and other times we will have to look to our fathers of the faith and seek to understand how they applied and interpreted the text. All of this should bring us to asking the final question, “How shall I live in light of all this?” Once we understand how the text applied to the immediate context (the original audience), we can then seek to understand how the text should be applied in our later context. As we run the race of the Christian life, we must engage not only our minds but our hearts and feet as well.

[1] Naselli, How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2017), 3.

[2] Ibid, 312. Here Naselli bemoans the fact that there are very few works on application, despite the plethora of books on interpretation.

[3] R. C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Pennsylvania: Maple Press, 2014).

[4] Michael Horton, Pilgrim Theology: Core Doctrines for Christian Disciplines (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 13.

Posted at: https://godandthegospel.com/articles/practical-theology-god-and-the-gospel

8 Signs Your Christianity Is Too Comfortable

Brett McCracken

In many parts of the world today, it can be easy to live a comfortable life as a Christian. Certainly where I live—in Orange County, California—this is the case. But is that a good thing?

I’d like to suggest that the Christian faith is inherently uncomfortable. To be a disciple of Jesus is to deny oneself (Matt. 16:24), to take up a cross (Luke 14:27), to be subject to persecution (John 15:20; 2 Tim. 3:12), to give up the creature comforts of home (Luke 9:58), to forsake the priority of family (Luke 9:59–62; 14:26), to be willing to give up all material possessions (Matt. 19:21; Luke 14:33), to be crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). And this is just the beginning.

C. S. Lewis once said, “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.”

But comfort-seeking is our default mode in a consumerist society, so we often find ourselves in “comfortable Christianity” without even knowing it. What are some indicators that our Christianity has become too cozy, more like a pleasant bottle of port than the uncomfortable, sharpening faith the New Testament envisions? 

Here are eight signs that your Christianity might be too comfortable:

1. There’s absolutely no friction between your Christianity and your partisan politics.

If you’re all-in with one political party and never feel any tension whatsoever with your Christian faith, it probably means your faith is too comfortable. Whether you’re a lifelong Democrat or a diehard Republican, a robust Christian faith should create dissonance with politics at various points.

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness. 

A faith that aligns perfectly with one political party is suspiciously convenient and lacks prophetic witness.

2. There are no paradoxes, tensions, or unresolved questions.

If you never ponder or wrestle with the mind-boggling tenets of Christian theology (e.g., the Trinity, the incarnation, God’s sovereignty coexisting with human action, the Holy Spirit’s presence, to name just a few), your faith is probably too comfortable.

A healthy, uncomfortable faith constantly rocks you, prods you, and blows your mind. It’s a faith that leaves you restless to want to know more, not satisfied you’ve grasped all there is to grasp about God.

3. Your friends and coworkers are surprised to learn you’re a churchgoing Christian.

A sure sign your faith is too comfortable is if nothing in your life sets you apart as a Jesus follower, to the point that even those who know you well can’t tell you’re a Christian.

A comfortable Christian is one who easily blends in, looking and talking and acting just like his or her lost neighbors.

4. You never think about or even remember the Sunday sermon on Monday.

If Sunday sermons at your church are so forgettable (or you’re so disengaged) that you rarely recall them after you leave church, your Christianity is probably too comfortable.

Biblical preaching shouldn’t leave us apathetic or unchallenged. The Word of God is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

5. No one at your church ever annoys you.

If you go to church with people who are always easy to talk to, always fun to be around, and always closely aligned with your opinions, tastes, and preferences, your Christianity is too comfortable.

One of the glorious things about the gospel is that it creates a new community out of disparate types of people who, in many cases, wouldn’t otherwise choose to spend time together.

6. You never feel challenged, only affirmed.

If your Christian faith never confronts your idols and challenges your sinful habits—but only ever affirms you as you are—this is a sure sign of a too-comfortable faith.

Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are, but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ. 

Healthy faith doesn’t just celebrate you as you are but relentlessly molds and refines you into the likeness of Christ, which is a beautiful but necessarily uncomfortable process.

7. You’ve never had to have a ‘truth-in-love’ conversation with a fellow Christian.

It’s always more comfortable to just “live and let live” when there’s an offense or sin that needs to be called out. It’s more comfortable to just shrug when we see others in our community making unhealthy decisions.

But this isn’t true Christian love.

Love isn’t opposed to truth, and if your faith doesn’t include the capacity to speak hard truths in love, it’s too comfortable. 

8. No one in your church could comment on any area of growth they’ve seen in you.

To believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to believe in change. Though not always linear, the Christian life should be marked by growth, forward momentum, and change for the better.

If you’re a Christian who’s grown so little that no one in your church could identify any area of improvement, your faith is too comfortable. 

—

Why is it important that we avoid falling into comfortable Christianity? Because comfortable Christianity is far from the costly, inconvenient, idol-crushing, cross-shaped path for disciples of Jesus. Comfortable Christianity has little prophetic to say to a comfortable, consumerist world. Comfortable Christianity has little urgency in mission and little aptitude for growth. 

Uncomfortable Christianity, however, leads to life and transformation. It leads us to rely on God and not on ourselves; to serve rather than be served; to live lives marked by sacrifice. It leads us to do hard things, to embrace hard truths, to do life with hard people for the sake and glory of the One who did the hardest thing. It may be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it. On the other side of discomfort is delight in Christ.

Editors’ note: This is an adapted excerpt from Brett McCracken’s new book, Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, and is published in partnership with Crossway.

Brett McCracken is a senior editor at The Gospel Coalition and author of Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, Gray Matters: Navigating the Space Between Legalism and Liberty, and Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide. Brett and his wife, Kira, live in Santa Ana, California, with their son Chet. They belong to Southlands Church, where Brett serves as an elder. You can follow him on Twitter.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/8-signs-your-christianity-is-too-comfortable/