Love the Life You Never Wanted

Article by Marshall Segal Staff writer, desiringGod.org

We tend to define our life based on our perception of our progress. Am I where I thought I would be at this age? Have I achieved what I thought I would? Are my dreams more or less real today? Am I happy in my marriage, my family, my position at work? Is my life successful?

In reality, life is never defined by our performance or circumstances. What really makes any life worth living today is the presence and protection and pleasure of the almighty, all-satisfying God.

“God always writes a better story for you than you would write for yourself.”

After being sold into slavery by his own brothers, Joseph surprisingly rose to power in perhaps the most powerful empire in the world.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. (Genesis 39:2–4)

Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything. But Potiphar’s wife lusted after Joseph and tried to seduce him. When he faithfully refused her advances, she framed him, claiming he had come to her. Her lies ripped him from all his power and responsibility and landed him in prison (Genesis 39:20). He committed no sin (at least not with Potiphar’s wife), neither was deceit found in his mouth, and yet he was treated as worse than a slave, locked away without hope of release.

But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. . . . And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. (Genesis 39:21–23)

Whether in power or in prison, Joseph’s life was hope-filled, meaningful, and successful, not because he worked so hard or received what he deserved, but because God was with him. The Lord was with him in success — and the Lord was with him in prison.

How Good Is Your Life?

Is the life you’re currently living the one you always wanted for yourself?

Did you think you’d be married by now? Or that you’d still be married? If you are married, did you marry when you thought you would, or whom you thought you would?

What about your job? Not what you hoped for? Do you feel like your gifts are being wasted? Do you dream about doing something different with your life?

Maybe you wish you were living somewhere else? You long to be closer to home (or farther away)?

“Everything you experience — expected or unexpected, pleasing or painful — is God’s good plan to make you his own.”

The reality is that all of us can imagine something better for ourselves than our circumstances today. The greater reality is that, if you love and follow Jesus, God always writes a better story for you than you would write for yourself. The “better” is based on this: God himself is the best, most satisfying thing you could ever have or experience, and, therefore, fullness of life is ultimately found not in any earthly success or relationship or accomplishment, but in your proximity to God through faith.

The dark side of this good news is that you may have to walk through pain, disappointment, rejection, and suffering for seventy or eighty years. The brighter (and prevailing) side says God never makes a mistake in choosing good for you. Everything you experience — expected or unexpected, wanted or unwanted, pleasing or painful — is God’s good plan to make you his own (John 10:27–29), to give you himself forever (Psalm 16:11), and to use your life to reveal himself and his glory to the world around you (Isaiah 43:25; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

The Secret of Contentment

A couple thousand years after Joseph ruled and was then left to rot in prison, Paul lived and wrote the same things about life.

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11–13)

What is the secret of joy and contentment in the face of whatever life brings? It’s centering and anchoring our joy and contentment in Christ, rather than in life. John Piper says, “When we have little and have lost much, Christ comes and reveals himself as more valuable than what we have lost. And when we have much and are overflowing in abundance, Christ comes and he shows that he is far superior to everything we have.”

“Stop trying to write your own story, and learn to love the life you never wanted.”

Therefore, we can pray with Solomon in his wisdom, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:8–9). Through the eyes of the American dream, the prayer seems small, even self-defeating. God, deny me wealth and prosperity in order to keep and satisfy my soul. To the one surrendered to and satisfied in Jesus, it’s a supreme dream worth enduring anything for (Romans 8:22).

A Greater Treasure and Ambition

Is the life you’re currently living the one you always wanted?

• Are you content — more than content: delighted and exhilarated — to have God at your side (Joshua 1:9)?
  

• Have you put some earthly standard or accomplishment ahead of knowing him and being his (2 Corinthians 6:16)?
  

• Are you willing to entrust your soul, your cause, and your vindication to the one who always judges justly, the one who has promised to work all things in every circumstance — including every setback, every disappointment, and even every sin against you — for you (1 Peter 2:23; Romans 8:28)?
  

God means for all of us after the wrongly convicted Joseph, and the brutally beaten Paul, to have their faith, hope, and joy. Make him your greatest treasure and ambition, and see everything else that happens to you in the light of that infinite pleasure and security. Learn to love the life you have with God, even if it is the life you never wanted.

Marshall Segal (@marshallsegal) is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating. He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Faye, have a son and live in Minneapolis.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/love-the-life-you-never-wanted

Weeds

Susan Lafferty

Weeds never quit. They sprout on the edges and in the thick of things. 

I pull them out. Easily. Their small roots dangling with dirt. Then I cast them aside in the trash.

The next day, coming back from my walk, I check the state of the yard. Weeds. More of them. 

They are relentless. Through drought and flood. In season and out of season.  Crowding out the chosen plants. 

Wheat and tares in a field in Israel.

A losing battle

One year we fight a particularly hardy type. Practically overnight our yard is filled with tall spiky monsters and their thick stems. We’re in a losing battle.  

A neighbor driving by, pulls over and relates his own story. Encourages us to call in the experts. “They know what they’re doing.” 

So we do. And pretty soon the weeds are gone. The grass is growing.

Masquerade

Another year we face a different challenge. 

Disturbing. Harmful, even.

Some of these weeds come disguised. Their leaves matching the leaves of legitimate shrubs. Behind our current home, poison ivy masquerades in the midst of the ivy. 

An allergic reaction just waiting to happen. 

Parable

Reading through the Bible chronologically, I land in the Gospels. And in the Gospel according to Matthew, there it is. A parable about weeds. The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, to be exact. 

The explanation and message from Jesus catch me by surprise. Perhaps because I’ve been looking for weeds lately. And plotting their demise.

The Son of Man sows the good seed—children of the Kingdom—in His field, the world.  The devil sows weeds—children of the evil one. At night. While everyone is sleeping. 

And they sprout. The wheat and the weeds. The good and the evil. Growing up together in the field. 

Let them grow

I think of the poison ivy intertwined with the ivy under the pine trees. They look a lot alike. My untrained eye can’t discern the difference.

The servants in the parable are instructed not to pull out the weeds.  Because they might accidentally pull out the wheat. 

This intrigues me. 

“When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers; Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn.” (Matthew 13:29-30)

 At the end of the age

In His interpretation of the parable, Jesus says the Son of Man will send out His angels. At the end of the age. “And they will gather from His kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness” (Matthew 13:37-43).

The message about the end of the age settles in. The day of reckoning. When wheat and weeds are separated.  

Until then, there are weeds.

Warning

Paul writes the Colossian church. Warning them about deception. People deceiving believers through arguments that sound reasonable.

Weeds slipping in where they least expect them.

“Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

Weeds among the wheat. Online or face to face. 

Forceful. Compelling, even. But empty.

Ongoing battle

So, we stay alert. Asking for discernment of the masquerades among us. It’s clear I can’t be in charge of identifying weeds or wading in the weeds. 

I’m not the expert. 

So I keep looking to the One who is. The One who knows. The One who sees the true intent of the heart.  

He is watching both the weeds and the wheat. 

Exposing the darkness. Revealing the light. Teaching us to stand firm in the Truth. 

Abiding in the Vine

Even in the atmosphere of our day and age, the wheat continues growing. As Paul describes in Colossians 2:6-7. 

“So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, being rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.”

Rooted. Abiding in Christ, the true Vine. Built up in Him. Established and standing firm on His Truth. 

Bearing fruit.

Living by faith. 

What about you?

What has the Lord taught you about the weeds and the wheat?

Posted at: https://susanlafferty.com/2019/11/10/weeds/

I Hate Porn

Eric Simmons

Pornography is a problem.

Porn is like a narcotic, it hijacks the brain, it redefines human sexuality, and in the meantime ruins lives, destroys families, and destabilizes ministries. And honestly it’s a problem that makes me tired — tired of the devastation Satan is causing to children, women, families, pastors, churches, and the world with this tragic evil.

Porn became a problem for me when I was only six, and by the grace of God that problem ended when Jesus saved me at age seventeen. But I know it rarely happens so cleanly. It is still a temptation, yes; temptation abounds living in the city I do, and with the heart I have, but grace abounds all the more in Jesus Christ.

Friends, I hate porn. And here’s why.

I hate porn because it is a perversion of what God created in man and woman.

I hate porn because it exploits women made in the image of God into an image made for a man’s lust.

I hate porn because it objectifies women into a consumable product instead of a glorious image-bearing creature of God.

I hate porn because I love women — in particular my wife and three daughters.

I hate porn because it takes the soul-satisfying experience of sex with a covenantally committed spouse and turns it into a twisted soul-shrinking experience of self-sex.

I hate porn because it turns sons and daughters of God into slaves of sex.

I hate porn because it turns potential missionaries into impotent Christians.

I hate porn because it destroys marriage, many before they even begin.

I hate porn because it extends adolescence and keeps men boys.

I hate porn because it lies to men about beauty and leads men to look for a porn star instead of a woman who fears the Lord.

I hate porn because it robs men and women of the full joy of obedience.

I hate porn because it fractures trust between a husband and wife.

I hate porn because it is a diabolical, satanic activity that is subtly leading thousands upon thousands to hell.

I hate porn because it leads to disqualified pastors and impotent churches. (Pastors, if you are addicted to porn, you are disqualified, and you are killing your church!)

I hate porn because I suspect it’s the most significant reason we are not planting more churches and sending more missionaries.

I hate porn because it disqualifies gospel preachers who could fill the empty church buildings in my city and so many others.

I hate porn because of the disappointment children have to go through when their dad tells them why they lost their job or opportunity to lead in the church.

I hate porn because it teaches a distorted view of sex to children before it can be explained by loving parents.

I hate porn because I am tired of sitting in my living room with sobbing, confused, devastated wives and broken, embarrassed, condemned men who got caught.

I hate porn because it leads to rape, molestation, and perversion that can devastate people for the rest of their lives.

I hate porn because it turns men inward and suffocates a man’s ambition to make God’s name hallowed.

I hate porn because it says sin, Satan, and the world are more satisfying than our triune God and his grace.

I hate porn because I hate ungodly guilt and condemnation.

I hate porn for the fear it induces in the hearts of parents everywhere that their child could stumble upon a sight and get addicted.

But I love Jesus.

I love Jesus because he loves people with porn problems.

I love Jesus because he is powerful to free porn-enslaved hearts.

He who knew no porn addiction became porn addiction so the porn addict might become the righteousness of God in him.

He who had no sin became sin for you so that you may become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In that one brilliant sentence, Paul puts an end to the porn problem.

“I love Jesus because he is powerful to free porn-enslaved hearts.”TweetShare on Facebook

Friend, you are no longer in Adam but in Jesus. Jesus became a substitute. It was as if he became the porn addict, by receiving the just penalty due for our perversion, and you became the righteous son or daughter of God with all its benefits.

Friend, in one act of love and justice, in the cross-work of Jesus, through faith in him, you are now clean, holy, accepted, forgiven, and free. Let me say it again . . . free!

I love Jesus.

Eric Simmons is the lead pastor of Redeemer Arlington, a church just outside Washington, D.C.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/i-hate-porn

The Admirable Patience of God

Paul Tautges

Since my conversion to Christ in 1984, I have enjoyed and benefited from reading books about the attributes of God. I’ve also been drawn to the writings of the Puritans. So, a couple months ago, I purchased a little book by George Swinnock.

In a short chapter entitled Patience, Swinnock begins,

God is incomparable in His patience. Patience is that attribute of God whereby He bears with sinners, deferring their punishment or awaiting their conversion. He is “slow to anger” (Ps. 103:8). He is long-suffering (2 Peter 3:9). He endures vessels of wrath with “much long-suffering” (Rom. 9:22). He waits, “that he may be gracious unto you” (Isa. 30:18).

Swinnock then gives three reasons God’s patience is even more admirable. First, God hates sin. Second, God sees sinners. Third, sinners provoke God’s patience. He then concludes,

If God were as impatient as we are, there would be no hope for us. But God is so incomparable in His patience that He is called ‘the God of patience’ (Rom. 15:5). He has all manner of patience in Him.

If you enjoy studying the attributes of God, consider adding Swinnock’s little volume to your devotional reading list.

Posted at: http://counselingoneanother.com/2019/10/29/the-admirable-patience-of-god/

What Would You Do For an Idol?

Macy Wilson

I idolized a career in the arts for a very long time. My whole life, music has run in my veins, so I spent a few years jumping from singing to songwriting to acting, trying to land on one to start my life on. In my early years of high school, I wanted to sing or act for the rest of my life so badly, it hurt. I did unhealthy things to become a “better” actress and dancer, and I got to the point where I truly hated myself, because I thought I looked and sounded nothing like a traditional musical theatre actress. Give 14-year-old me a mirror for a couple minutes and she could come up with more flaws than there are minutes in a day.

Nothing was going to stop me from achieving this dream, though. If excessive working out, an overly restricted diet, an intense daily stretching routine, braces, an expensive skin-care regimen, and no social life was the way to a successful career, then so be it. 

A couple years later, I realized this wasn’t going to be my career. I felt a calling to counseling and ministry, but agonized over the idea of not spending the rest of my life in the performance world. It legitimately hurt. That is one of the most vivid memories I have of the excruciating pain it is to uncover an idol in all its hideousness and to start to dismember it. It felt like dismembering myself--and it was. This idolatry had taken over like a cancer, but I had been physically hurting myself to protect it.

It may not always show up as obviously as an eating disorder or constant obsession over self-image, but all idolatry is destructive. We are told often, but how many excuses do we make for our graven images? 

“I think this is an idol.”
“No, it’s a good thing. It’s good to love and enjoy it.”
“You sure do love it a whole lot.”
“It’s just who you are. This is a part of you.”
“Should it be, though? If it was taken away, I’d be devastated.”
“It’s just the way God made you.”

There is a whole lot of danger in that internal conversation, and I am certain that I’m not the only one who’s been over this script.

Isaiah 44:12-20 describes the work put into fashioning an idol, and the folly that idolatry is. The men in this passage make good things; tools, carpentry, food, and wood for fuel are all good. The folly is when the things they make become their all. The ironsmith works away at his tool, but forgets to drink water and becomes faint. The carpenter creates and cries out to an unresponsive idol. Men cut down great cedars, work for hours on end, and achieve things, but they end with ashes to eat, no water to drink, and a deluded heart.

When I reached the breaking point I realized that I had spent so many wasted hours cultivating my idol; all the days I missed a Bible reading or didn’t pray often, I guarantee you I spent counting calories, running, and obsessively reading over musical scores. All that work, and I never felt satisfied. In Christ, I am content. When Christ is my all, I lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10). He is worth daily sacrificing all the things I hold tightly and clinging to the cross instead. 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Posted at: https://macyleew.squarespace.com/articles/what-would-you-do-for-an-idol

Read the Bible with Your Heart

Jon Bloom

We cannot truly read the Bible without patient and rigorous engagement of our minds. That’s probably obvious to us. But we will not have read it well, not as God intended us to read it, without eager, even relentless, engagement of our hearts. It requires more faith, effort, prayer, humility, vulnerability, and often time to read God’s word with our hearts, but that’s because the heart is precisely where God wants his word to land.

What does it mean to read the Bible with your heart? Before I explain, I’ll point to an example, because a good example is often a great explainer. And the example comes from the Bible itself.

With My Whole Heart

Psalm 119 is a (long) song of wholehearted love and desire for God. And if you read it with an engaged mind, you’ll hear the psalmist sing of how and why he received God’s word with a relentlessly, even desperately, engaged heart. It’s worth reading the whole psalm, but here are a few tastes:

• “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart” (Psalm 119:2).

• “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10).

• “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:34).

• “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

• “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24).

• “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” (Psalm 119:47–48).

When we read Psalm 119, two truths are unmistakable: the word of God is for the heart of man, and the way to the heart is through the mind.

Treasure to Be Loved

In Luke 10:27, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, where Moses says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Any time, however, the Gospels record Jesus quoting this text (see also Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30), Jesus adds the word mind, which Moses didn’t include. Perhaps this is because the Hebrew hearers of Moses’s day understood implicitly that affections included reason, while the Greco-influenced mixed crowds of Jesus’s day needed the clarification.

“We read the Bible with our minds to see the glory of God, and with our hearts to savor the glory of God.”TweetShare on Facebook

Whatever Jesus’s reason for adding “mind,” it is clear that both reason and affections are crucial to loving God. But there is a hierarchy. God wants our hearts, because, as Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God is not merely an idea to be pondered, but a person to be loved — the supreme treasure to be supremely treasured.

God’s way to our affections (heart) is through our understanding (mind). So, when we read the Bible, we read it with our hearts engaged, because God’s word is primarily for our hearts.

Read to See Glory

As Christians, we rightly stress the importance of reading the Bible. In stressing this importance, however, we can easily fall into a subtle, deceptive misunderstanding of why it’s important. The subtle misunderstanding goes something like this: if we read the Bible regularly, God will be pleased with us, and therefore we can expect his blessing. As if the act of reading, rather than the purpose of reading, warrants God’s favor.

What’s deceptive about this is that it bears such a close resemblance to the truth. Regular, disciplined reading of the Bible is a means of great blessing from God. But not because performing the act of reading merits his favor. If we read the Bible this way, it’s not much different than the Muslim who practices the disciplines of the Five Pillars to merit Allah’s favor. This is apparently how many leaders in Jesus’s day approached the Scriptures. Listen to Jesus’s rebukes:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27–28).

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39–40)

“God is not merely an idea to be pondered, but a person to be loved.”TweetShare on Facebook

God is not interested in our Bible reading as some kind of ritual to perform as proof of our piety. He wants us to read the Bible so that we will see him! God wants us to see his glory, again and again.

The Bible is where the most important glories of the triune God shine brightest and clearest — especially the glory of Jesus Christ (John 1:14), who is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and through whom comes “grace and truth” (John 1:17).

This makes the Bible itself shine with a peculiar glory, worth mining deeply because of the priceless wealth it contains. As John Piper says,

In all the details and particulars of what we find in the Bible — Old Testament and New — the aim of reading is always to see the worth and beauty of God. Notice that I say “in all the details and particulars.” There is no other way to see the glory. God’s greatness does not float over the Bible like a gas. It does not lurk in hidden places separate from the meaning of words and sentences. It is seen in and through the meaning of texts. (Reading the Bible Supernaturally, 96)

God’s glory is seen in and through the meaning of texts. That’s why we pray, “Make me understand the way of your precepts” (Psalm 119:27). Because understanding God’s word is the means of God’s word getting stored up in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

Don’t Read Just to See

God wants our hearts in Bible reading, not just the attention of our minds. As important as seeing God’s glory is, it’s not enough. God wants us to see his glory so that we will savor his glory. And “if there is no true seeing of the glory of God, there can be no true savoring of the glory of God” (96). Charles Spurgeon said it this way:

Certainly, the benefit of reading must come to the soul by the way of the understanding. . . . The mind must have illumination before the affections can properly rise towards their divine object. . . . There must be knowledge of God before there can be love to God: there must be a knowledge of divine things, as they are revealed, before there can be an enjoyment of them. (100)

The “love to God” and “an enjoyment of divine things” are what God most wants us to experience as a result of reading our Bibles, and neither happens without knowledge. Knowledge is for the sake of love and joy.

“The word of God is for the heart of man. And the way to the heart of man is through the mind of man.”TweetShare on Facebook

When I said the word of God is for the heart of man, I meant it is for, to borrow from the hymn, the “joy of every longing heart.” Bible reading “in all the details and particulars” is frequently rigorous work. It can be quite difficult. At times it can even be disturbing. When we deal with the Bible, we’re dealing with the infinite and mysterious mind of God. His thoughts are not our thoughts; his ways not our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9). But ultimately, if we really understand why God has given us a Book, reading his word becomes a hedonistic pursuit. What we’re after is the pleasure our souls are designed to enjoy most: the savoring of God’s glory.

Read Until You See and Savor

Those who have known God best, and loved him most, have understood the crucial importance of savoring God deeply through seeing God clearly in his word.

George Müller, when reflecting on his remarkable, demanding life of prayerful dependence on God for the sake of the Bristol orphans, recalled an important moment early in his ministry: “I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord” (100). He was speaking about his daily, disciplined Bible reading and prayer each morning. This was his oasis of refreshment. Time in the word functioned like a ballast keeping his ship upright in a life of significant stress and at times turbulent storms. “Unless some unusual obstacle hindered him, he would not rise from his knees until sight had become savoring” (100).

George Müller read the Bible like the psalmist who wrote Psalm 119: with a rigorously engaged mind and a relentlessly engaged heart. And so must we. We read the Bible with our minds to see the glory of God, and with our hearts to savor the glory of God. We pass the Bible through our minds to store it in our hearts, because our hearts are with our treasure. And if possible, we don’t stop looking until our hearts are “happy in the Lord” — until we feel fresh joy in some aspect of who God is and what he has done for us in Christ.

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife have five children and make their home in the Twin Cities.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/read-the-bible-with-your-heart

Your Thoughts Reveal Your Functional Identity

Mark Grant

It benefits you to explore your functional identity during a season of difficulty. Wayward hearts and vulnerable souls can easily skew their identities, resulting in the construction of false worship structures, which when present, can lead to increased hopelessness and difficulty during trials.

Caring for a friend in the midst of a trial is difficult. Feelings of inadequacy can surface as one searches for the perfect words in an attempt to ease the weariness of their soul. Empathic listening is always the perfect starting point, but if “soul care” is to take place, the conversation must go deeper than superficial discussions.

With gentleness and patience, the conversation must lead and encourage them to engage with God to embrace His Sovereign and purposeful work in their lives. God uses all things for their good (Romans 8:28-29), and often these seasons provide fertile ground to expose idols of the heart and gaps in an individual’s Gospel understanding.

Due to our fallen natures, we tend to be blind to the things that move us, which are the catalysts that fuel our engines. Often those who are biblically literate have no sound grasp on the ruling motives of their hearts.

One may question the wisdom of this line of reasoning during a season of difficulty. For example, how does directing a wife to understand the idols of her heart help when she is reeling from her husband’s recently confessed adultery?

From a Christian, gospel-driven perspective, this type of conversation is profitable both practically and spiritually.

Suffering brings weariness to the soul, which can be made worse with sin and idolatry (1 Peter 2:11). The purity of your worship directly impacts the health of your soul, and the identification and dismantling of false worship structures (idols/misplaced desires) will help your soul find rest.

Heart idols are the fruit of improper thinking, and if this thinking is left unchecked, the conclusions reached in the midst of a season of suffering can lead to further harm by seeking counterfeit solutions.

Even in the midst of a life turned upside down, you must remember Christ didn’t come to save you from a bad marriage, or a lousy job. Your greatest need remains Christ; for your salvation and your ongoing sanctification. As Paul Tripp said,

The good news of the kingdom is not freedom from hardship, suffering, and loss. It is the news of a Redeemer who has come to rescue me from myself. His rescue produces change that fundamentally alters my response to these inescapable realities.

Humility positions you to receive Christ’s grace (James 4:6). As David Powlison states,

Christ powerfully meets people who are aware of their real need for help. Christ’s forte is our acknowledged need in the face of compulsions from within and pressures from without” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

1. How can you help a friend biblically understand themselves and to better respond to their season of suffering?

2. How can an individual navigate through all the storylines, the emotions, and the hurt to help their friend see the tendencies of their heart?

One way is to recognize how their worship reflects their identity. It is often effective to use a person’s self-defined identity as an entryway, helping them ascertain their purpose in life, and gain a more accurate assessment of themselves and their environment (Psalm 139:23).

This avenue of inquiry can often bring a freshness and clarity in their thinking as they focus on the workings of their heart; ideally leading them to a renewed dependence on Christ for all things (John 15:5). Asking these kinds of questions can help them find rest for their soul, and empower forward moving, hopeful-filled progress.

Christian counseling is counseling which exposes our motives—our hearts and our world—in such a way that the authentic Gospel is the only possible answer. – David Powlison

A Christian’s True Identity

The Westminster Catechism states man’s chief purpose is to, “Glorify God and enjoy Him forever” though sin has taken humanity away from this original position and purpose.

Individually, we were created to serve God, but sin confused everything, tangling our hearts with pride, false idols, false securities, and false saviors all knotted together into one disordered mess from which we cannot free ourselves. Only by grace are we given eyes to see the depth of our complex hearts and two-faced motives, and only by grace do we find a Great Physician committed to untangling our disordered hearts.” – Tony Reinke

Hearts are continuously enticed, tempted and deceived from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).

Hidden and insidious desires are always looking to shape lust-filled hearts. You choose things that you perceive as good and desirable; things you think will result in success, comfort, and significance. Over time these selections metamorphose into your identity.

How do we make an identity out of temptation? By collapsing what you desire with who you are. – Rosario Butterfield

A man may desire to become successful in his career. There is nothing wrong with this desire, but if he is not careful, he can start to place his value in his career. As a result, his career becomes his identity, and his focus turns away from Christ and onto the many opportunities or threats to his career. As a result, his joy, or soul-health, links to his performance at work, which can manifest a multitude of false worship structures.

A woman desires to be the perfect mother and starts to define her worth as such. When this happens, her children’s behavior in public will take on a self-focused commentary, and she becomes fearful about how their actions reflect her parenting ability. Her joy, or soul-health, links to something apart from Christ.

False identities can even attach themselves to ministry. If a pastor’s identity shifts away from Christ to being a pastor, his allegiance will become askew. He will analyze trends in church attendance, the reception of his messages, or the divorce rate of couples he counsels and reaches unfortunate conclusions about himself.

In all cases, their thinking turns temporal and their focus inward. God’s role of provider becomes the primary attribute of worship, and unanswered prayers lead to unbelief.

Given the wayward tendencies of fallen hearts, the first step you must take each and every day is to remind yourself of your true identity. During the business of family and work, with all of the entanglements of church and community, you must continue the daily work to orient your life to Christ (Colossians 3:11).

“If I may speak my own experience, I find that to keep my eye simply upon Christ, as my peace, and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling. A thousand such surrenders I have made, and a thousand times I have interpretatively retracted them.” – John Newton

You can see the well-known pastor and hymnist engaged in the conflict we all face as Christians. You want to do right but find yourself doing the opposite (Romans 7:15). It is the daily call to die to yourself (Matthew 16:24).

Understanding the Battle

The fight for your identity is the same flesh-Spirit battle you face as a Christian (Galatians 5:17). The enemy, while using the world’s temptations, aligns with your flesh to shift your identity, and ultimately your focus away from Christ.

We should be careful at the temptation to minimize our involvement in taking the bait, for, the sinner’s rebellious nature finds the forbidden thing more attractive, not because it is inherently attractive, but because it furnishes an opportunity to assert one’s self-will. – John MacArthur

Seeing yourself in the light of truth requires Spiritual discernment (Obadiah 1:3), and a firm grasp of the Gospel to overcome the indwelling shame, fear, and guilt that is resident in your flesh, and which makes it so difficult to accept the truth about yourself (John 2:25).

The freedom of the Gospel only comes when your focus is building up your new identity in Christ and leaving fleshly-inspired identities behind (Philippians 3:13-14).

Many Christians never fully get to this point. Their souls are too tender, too sensitive from past evil or years of poor soul care. It is similar to providing care to a burn victim; any attention initially brings the pain. It is too excruciating to peel back the many layers of life’s self-centered solutions to allow a new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17) to take root. As a result, they stand firm in who they think they are, daily defending their self-reliant tendencies and self-righteous ways.

Enticement is the hidden danger of a false identity; it has no power or legitimacy and requires “self” to defend, justify, promote, refine, reinvent, and maintain. You could say it creates a heavy yoke (Matthew 11:30) and a propensity towards unbelief. Thus, when helping a hurting friend think correctly and biblically about their identity, the process must be executed with patience, gentleness, and love.

A Final Word

I believe it is important to state that a properly aligned, in Christ identity does not eliminate suffering from your life, but it does create a new type of freedom, as evidenced in the life of Apostle Paul. It is evident that his life was full of hardships (2 Corinthians 11:23-29), but he was able to respond positively. For instance, despite being in jail, Paul was able to see a gain (Philippians 1:12), but only because his identity was in the Gospel; his joy was Christ’s joy.

When evil enters your world, it only impacts your temporal life. Your identity in Christ is eternal and remains unchanged leading you to experience a peace that surpasses your understanding (Philippians 4:7).

To illustrate, I will borrow from Chicken Little’s demise. Some of life’s difficulties and challenges, represented by rocks of varying shapes and sizes, will fall from the sky and disrupt your existence. If your identity is in something other than Christ, that rock will deliver a crushing blow to yourself, leaving you dazed and confused.

If your identity is in Christ, these rocks will no longer have a crippling effect. Although they still have to be dealt with, you can navigate around the obstacle and address the disruption in a much calmer, Gospel-centered, liberating way–in a way that reminds you (and others) that you are living characters in God’s wonderful story of redemption.

Three Future Articles

This article is an introduction, discussing how your identity reveals your worship structures. Three additional articles will follow to help further your understanding and provide practical examples.

1. The first exposes and uncovers the role your inner voice plays in the spiritual battle. If left unchecked, it leads you away from your in Christ identity, leading you down the path to sin.

2. The second article addresses how your identity determines how you respond to the heat of martial conflict, and how an in Christ identity allows for a redemptive response.

3. The third article discusses the importance of having the right identity for a wife caught in a loveless marriage.

I hope this series will help equip you to minister to the souls God has placed in your path.

Mark Grant

Mark Grant was raised in Columbus, Ohio and attended Ohio State. He married Lesa as he finished his MA in Mechanical Engineering. He moved to Los Angeles to work in the Aerospace Industry. After 5 years of a difficult marriage, he and Lesa were saved. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Portland, Oregon and were blessed with a daughter. He currently works for the Navy as a civilian engineer. He lives outside Philadelphia.

Posted at: https://rickthomas.net/thoughts-reveal-functional-identity/

Your Unfulfulled Desires are a Treasury, Not a Tragedy

by Tyler Greene

“And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, ‘O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’” (Deuteronomy 3:23-28)

Four decades—that’s how long Moses had invested his life to lead the nation of Israel toward the land God had promised to Abraham (Gen. 12:7). However, as the Lord would have it, he would never set foot on Canaanite soil. That privilege would be left to Joshua. Of course, this is a source of tension for Moses—an unfulfilled desire that had been nagging him ever since the incident at the waters of Meribah (Num. 20:12). Even though he “pleaded with the Lord” to reconsider, his admission into the Promised Land would not be granted.

This episode in Moses’s life beckons an important question for our own: what should we do with our unfulfilled desires—those sources of unresolved tension in our lives that have left us disappointed, devastated, or despondent? Sadly, too few of us are equipped to face such a question. Ronald Rolheiser observes, “We stand before life too full of expectations that cannot be realized…we are convinced that all lack, all tension, all unfulfilled yearning is tragic.” Whether it pertains to romance and sexuality, career, sickness and disease, parenting, or ministry, many assume that to live with unmet expectations is an insufferable misery that must be resolved as quickly as possible. However, the Bible offers a different perspective. It reveals that while we are fixated on what we don’t have, God’s focus is on what we are becoming for the sake of His purpose.

This is what happened to Moses. Silenced by divine rebuke, he stopped pleading with God about his unmet expectations and started listening. God’s Word on the matter would result in Moses being consumed with one burning passion for his remaining days—to see God’s people love, worship, and obey Him under Joshua’s leadership and beyond (Deut. 4-32). By not getting what he wanted, he became what God wanted, which is infinitely better.

Perhaps God wants to do something similar through your unfulfilled desires. Maybe that’s why He’s not answering your prayers the way you’d like. Could it be that He wants to use the tension you feel to prepare you for His purpose in a specific way? Is it possible that He wants you to become something that will make a difference in someone else’s life?

Our Lord Himself, having experienced all that is common to man, is not unfamiliar with unfulfilled desires and the role they can play in God’s greater purpose. With the cross looming on the horizon, He prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matt. 26:39). The cup, of course, would not pass from Him. But had it happened any other way, there would be no gospel, and we would be eternally shut out of the kingdom of heaven. In a sense, then, God’s only “no” to Jesus turned out to be the only way He could say "yes" to sinners. And Jesus, knowing this, surrendered His desire, praying that God’s purpose would prevail: “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

In the end, we must accept that there are times when God chooses not to fulfill our desires. Yet we must recognize that such times, though difficult, are sovereignly orchestrated opportunities out of which we are being called to “bear more fruit” for the kingdom of God (Jn. 15:2). By not fulfilling Moses’s desires, God prepared Joshua and the Israelites for their entrance into the Promised Land; by not allowing the cup to pass from Jesus, full atonement was made so that eternal life could be offered to the world. What about you? Have you thought about how your unfulfilled desires might have an important part to play in God’s purpose?

Don’t believe for a moment that the longings you have long felt can be written off as a tragedy you must survive. Instead you must see them as a treasury that is brimming with potential blessing, fruitfulness, and eternal glory. Perhaps, then, the greatest tragedy of all would be that you never become the kind of person who can say, “Not my will but yours be done” and truly mean it.

Tyler Greene

Tyler Greene serves as the Associate Pastor of Worship Ministries for LifePoint Church in Ozark, MO. He resides near Ozark with his wife Erin and their three children. 

No Fear, No Wisdom

by Sam Parkison

Allow me to correct one of the most common misconceptions about biblical wisdom literature in general, and Proverbs in particular. People often believe Proverbs is this spiritually neutral collection of helpful insights. As if what was collected in this book were simple truisms that lay out on the ground for whoever happens to stumble across them. Maybe Solomon finds a few, maybe Confucius finds a few more, maybe Oprah finds the rest.  

No, that’s not how this book works. You don’t tap into this book’s insight without “fear of the LORD.” And who is this LORD? This capitol “L-O-R-D” LORD? Whenever you see the word, “LORD” all capitalized in your English translation, that’s your cue that God’s covenant name Yahweh has just been translated. So the path to true wisdom is not reverence for God in general, it’s reverence for Israel’s covenant-making God. The fear of “Yahweh” is the beginning of wisdom.  

If fearing God is the beginning of wisdom, then the refusal to fear God is the beginning of all folly. The essence of folly is trying to live in God’s world without conforming to God’s will. Now, the reality is that God is incredibly gracious. God-fearers and God-despisers live in the same world, created and sustained with the same symmetry and design embedded therein by the same God. The fool who says in his heart that there is no God still lives in God’s world. They are like the rebellious adolescent who hates his parents and declares, “I don’t need you!”—while living in his parents’ house, insured by his parents’ employer, sleeping on the bed his parents bought, eating food in the refrigerator his parents stock, bashing his parents online with a phone they provided using the internet services for which they pay. That’s the non-Christian—living in God’s world, receiving all his benefits while denying that he is, in fact, the benefactor.  

And this is why, on the surface level, some of the insights we receive from Proverbs may seem universally accessible to Christian and non-Christian alike. That’s because the Christian and the non-Christian both live in the world the Triune God created and sustains. But this does not mean that there is such a thing as neutral wisdom, because there is, in fact, no such thing as neutral anything. “All things were created through him and for him,” says Paul to the Colossians. No, the non-Christian who experiences the surface-level insights of Proverbs understands not its wisdom. That comes from covenantal allegiance and reverence. A rebellious teenager may have some insight on how to navigate a smartphone his parents bought him, but that doesn’t make him wise. He doesn’t understand that smartphone like the grateful teenager in right relationship with his parents—the teenager who understands his gift in relation to its giver. 

True wisdom—biblical wisdom—is not limited to the intellect. Lady Wisdom does not invite you to come into her house and lounge as you pontificate and speculate about the deep mysteries of the universe. She invites to think about those things deeply, but in the context of eating and drinking and laughing and sleeping and cleaning up the dishes and folding the laundry. Her lessons are not disembodied concepts one can entertain intellectually but never practice. Biblical wisdom is concerned with the whole person. Right thinking and right living are the two hands of a wise person.  

This means that there is a uniquely wise—a uniquely Christian—way of doing everything. When we talk with our spouses and kids, eat our meals, do the dishes, engage on social media, think about politics, date, spend our money, have sex with our spouse, receive insults, save for retirement—we should be thinking, “What is the uniquely wise—uniquely Christian—way of doing this?” 

Let’s just use one example. If we ask, “What is the uniquely Christian way of engaging on social media?” Lady wisdom answers, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” (Proverbs 12:16) and “The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.” (Proverbs 12:17) and “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly,” (14:29) and “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” (15:1) and “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18), and “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends” (17:9) and “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back (29:11).  

Lady Folly sings a very different tune. The most brazen form of Lady Folly’s message can be found in Proverbs 7. “You will get away with it. You will enjoy it. Live life with no regrets—today, gratify your desires.” But this is not her only speech. Notice that the heart of her strategy is to expose and exploit your sinful desires—she affirms you in your folly. Which means much deeper than the explicit temptation to disobey is the idolatry of self. Sometimes she focuses on the ends—i.e., break this law of God’s because you deserve it. And sometimes she focuses on the means with not explicitly mentioning the end—i.e., “you deserve everything.” But starting there cannot but lead to the same deathly end. 

It is therefore important that we learn to recognize the tone of Lady Folly’s voice in whatever context we happen to find ourselves in. Her invitations persist as long as we live in this world. And she borrows the lips of many a sap. Her words were found on the lips of Satan with the question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” and in his statement, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:1b, 4b-5). You can hear her voice today still. She asks questions like:  

Does not God simply want you to be happy? 

Did not God make you this way? 

Is this not your body? 

Is this not freedom? 

Is this not your choice? 

Ought you not cut out toxic people? 

Ought you not prioritize self-care? If you don’t who will? 

Ought you not go, girl? 

Are you not your own master? 

This is not a “gotcha,” we ought not gloat. This is serious business, and Lady Folly has no shortage of party guests, even among those who follow Christ. Don’t presume that you are beyond succumbing to her invitations just because you may reject outright these explicit proverbs of Folly. She invites you implicitly and undercover. She does so in the Rom-Com that depicts when the fornicating couple who overcomes all odds to find true love—when prudence is thrown to the wind, marriages are destroyed, God’s law is despised, bridges are burned, but you are expected to celebrate because the two guilty parties found true happiness. She offers her invitation to our children in every animated movie that sells the lie that the ultimate vice is self-denial, and the ultimate virtue is to “follow one’s heart.” She invites in the deep recesses of your mind when you harbor resentment for your spouse for failing to recognize your all-importance. She’s sneaky, and you must learn to recognize her invitations for what they are. 

Enter the Christ. The road forks at Jesus, friends. To reject Jesus is to reject wisdom. It is an oxymoron to be wise, according to biblical standards, and persist in refusal to submit to Jesus. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and we fear God through Jesus. Lady Wisdom invites to come her way, fearing God, and Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6). Just listen to how the personification of God’s wisdom is described in Proverbs 8 and try not to think about John 1. Lady Wisdom is a poetic personification of God’s wisdom—but all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. You cannot get God’s wisdom without coming to Jesus.

Sam Parkison

Samuel G. Parkison is the author of Revelation and Response: The Why and How of Leading Corporate Worship through Song. He is also a Regular Contributor to For The Church and is a PhD student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Samuel lives in Kansas City with his wife (Shannon) and their two sons (Jonah and Henry), where Samuel serves as a Pastor of Teaching and Liturgy at Emmaus Church. You can follow Samuel on Twitter at @samuel_parkison.

Posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/no-fear-no-wisdom--2

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/