Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. — Galatians 6:1-5

I love action movies. Movies with characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones are the best. Action movies always have that one great, intense, climatic scene where you are convinced someone is going to meet an awful fate, and at the last second are gloriously saved from peril. They fall off a cliff and are caught by the hand, pushed out of the way of the speeding vehicle, or pulled out of the quicksand.

Adventure has dangers–that’s what makes it an adventure. In each of these situations we are reminded that no one can survive adventure alone. God has called you into an adventure. You have not been called to a life of ease and apathy. Instead, you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to step into a radically dangerous mission with untold risk and unexplainable reward. It is truly an adventure following Christ.

But every adventure has danger. We may not face cliffs and speeding vehicles and quicksand. Our dangers are much more subtle, devious and destructive. Here’s the problem: as Christians, our first reaction when we see someone wander off into dangerous territory is to distance ourselves from him or her. But Paul says we are to “carry each other’s burdens.” That is, we are to do everything we can to lovingly bring someone back from the brink of destruction.

Here is what this requires of us, however: We must give others permission to invade our lives. If we are to be the kind of people willing to stick our our necks to pull a brother or sister out of harm’s way, we must display equal courage in allowing those same people to speak honestly to us when we wander into dangerous territory. The problem with dangerous territory is that we rarely see it as dangerous until we are already in the middle of danger. It is always easier to see when someone else is moving in the wrong direction. It’s much harder when it is we are the ones stepping where we should not. That’s why we need to listen–and listen hard–when a brother or sister tries to pull us back.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. –2 Corinthians 13:5-6

None of us likes to have our faith questioned. Christians today, especially we who live in the West, have been so indoctrinated with sola fide (by faith alone) and sola gratia (by grace alone) that we instantly get defensive when anyone questions whether we are truly followers of Christ. After all, the only thing we need do to be accepted by Christ is believe, right?

But when we actually read the Bible, we are challenged over and over again to examine whether or not we are authentic followers of Jesus. The question is never whether we hold to a Christian ideology. An ideology is something we posses–it is something we own. Whether a person is a Christian or not, one’s ideology is unique to that person and belongs to no one else. One’s faith belongs to that one alone.

That’s why Paul urges us to examine ourselves. If we are not in a constant state of self-examination we are at constant risk of self-deception. Self-examination prevents us from falling into the spiritual apathy that tells us, “I’m doing alright.” But notice Paul doesn’t tell us to examine whether we “have faith.” Again, whatever faith we have is something we posses. Instead, he wants us to determine if we are “in the faith.”

As long as it is a matter of having faith, I am allowed to determine what that faith looks like. Therefore, I get to determine by what my faith is to be measured. But if we take what Paul says seriously, we are confronted with the fact that it isn’t our faith, but God’s. The question switches from “Do I have faith inside me,” to “Am I in the faith of God?” It changes our perspective of belonging. No longer is faith something that we possess but something that possesses us.

How are we to know if we possess our faith or our faith possesses us? The simplest way to find out is to have our faith challenged. If you are relying on the faith you possess, any challenge to your faith will offend you and make you defensive. If, on the other hand, you are possessed by your faith, you will welcome challenges to it, because in the testing you are brought face-to-face with the areas of your life that do not measure up to the faith you profess. It is in that moment, if you make the correction and align yourself with God, you have passed the test and know that you are owned by faith.

Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In the same way, the unexamined faith is not worth having.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! — 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

For the most of my life my eyesight has been spectacular. For years, JoAnn had to wear glasses so strong that without them she was unable to read the alarm clock beside her in the morning. Watching her, I used to be so glad I didn’t have to deal with hassle of keeping lenses clean, prescriptions updated, and appointments with the eye doctor.

In the last two years however, my eyesight has steadily declined. I can no longer read small print and I can’t read at all unless the light is sufficient. When I wake up in the morning, I have to put on reading glasses to make out the words in my Bible. If I don’t, the words are fuzzy and I have to really work to understand what it is saying.

Paul tells us that when it comes to seeing others, we all need God’s glasses. The world sees people in a certain way. It sees them as a conglomerate of their past. Everything they have done is everything they will ever be. It sees them as a product of their possessions. We are largely defined by what we own, wear, and present. The world sees people as a reflection of their performance. They are only worth equal to what they produce. When we look at people through these lenses, we only see a fuzzy image.

But Paul asserts that none of us are any of those things. We are not what we were, not what we own, and not what we do. Instead, we have been changed by God into something new and unexplainable. If God has makes people something new, then of course God sees them as something new. If God sees them as something new, we should also.

When you look at someone, how do you see them? Do you see them as everything they have always been, or do you see what God is making them? Do you see what they can give you or are you focusing on what God is pouring into them? I find that the more I focus on who a person is at this moment, the less compassion I have for him or her. But when I step back and think about how God is in the process of making him or her the person He created them to be, I get excited to be a part of God’s plan for that person.

God stands outside time so He never looks at us as we are–He sees us as we will become. Imagine what would happen if we all did the same.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. — 2Corinthians 1:8-9

Encountering hardship is never a matter of “if,” but when. Everyone of us is forced to endure circumstances that are unbearable. And so often, the most terrible of times only seem to get worse. It would be one thing if we could handle each of our challenges one by one. But for some strange reason, bad news tends to pile up at the same time. Bills come due, health falls off, close friends turn into enemies, and your self-confidence wanes all simultaneously.

What do we normally do in such times? For some of us, we just hunker down, batten the hatches and wait for the storm to pass. We don’t share our pain with anyone else–after all we’re private people and why would we want to bring anyone down? For others, hardship becomes an excuse to surrender ourselves to self-destructive behavior. We never think it through, but unconsciously we seem to say, “Everything is going to hell, what does it matter if I do to?” So we dive into alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, or any host of self-defeating practices. Still others try to beat back hardships. We take the attitude that we will conquer whatever comes our way–that somehow in the strength God has given us we can overcome it all.

Paul was well acquainted with hardship. He also had a way of dealing with hardship from which we can take a lesson. First, Paul never tried to handle his hardship on his own. He says, “We do not want you to be uninformed.” Being the lone cowboy might work for John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, but it doesn’t work for a Christian. Paul often asked those around him to pray for him. He believed that we need to share each other’s burdens, and that included sharing his own.

Second, Paul recognized the depth of his hardship saying that it was “far beyond our ability to endure.” Acknowledging our powerlessness over our circumstances frees us from the struggle that ultimately happens when we try to control them. It is enough that we have to deal with the problems that we do. When we try to control those things that are outside our power, we become our own obstacles to getting through our situations. When we see that we clearly have no influence on the hardship, we can focus on navigating the circumstance instead of changing it. A man careening down white-water rapids rarely spends much trying to change the course of the river. Instead, his focus is on the dips, drops, and rocks. His goal isn’t to modify his circumstances, its to navigate through them.

Finally, Paul is convinced there is a purpose to every one of his hardships. “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” It is only when we are in the midst of circumstances that are beyond control that we are driven to the one who has everything under control. Paul’s confidence comes not only in knowing God was present in his problems, but also in the fact that Paul’s life purpose was so in line with God’s ultimate purpose that God Himself could be counted on to pull him through it. If God was strong enough and determined enough to accomplish His purpose that He defeated death itself, then God could–and would–surely overcome anything Paul faced.

In the end, Paul never tried to handle his hardships. Instead, he handed them off. Do you?

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. –1 Corinthians 15:19

Living a life of a follower of Christ is beneficial for the here and now. He teaches that we can live a radical life full of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, generosity, justice, purpose, integrity, and honor. That’s why, when a person truly puts into effect the teachings of Christ, he or she cannot help to live a better life. Such a person will enjoy benefits relationally because everyone in that person’s life will naturally respond the change in character. The person will also benefit financially, because to be a follower of Christ is to be excellent in all we do, and excellence in our work always translates into financial reward. This person will benefit emotionally because he or she is no longer riding on the waves of external circumstances, but instead is standing on the steady rock of God’s guidance and love.

While these are all good things, Paul says if that’s all we get from Christ we are pitiful. If only for this life we follow Christ, we miss out on the wonder, power, and purpose of Jesus. Here’s why: we weren’t made only for this life. We were made for eternity. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Being spiritual, we lose out when we look to Christ only for what He can do in the here and now. If our sights aren’t set on eternity we will never live for eternity.

Praise God, Christ is much more than the here and now. He is the past, the present, and the future. He was before the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is all in all and in Him all is held together. Because of Him, those who follow Him live in confidence of eternity instead of fear.

Thank you, Jesus, for being and ever-present help in times of trouble, but may you be ever praised because you have opened the door to eternity for us.

If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. — 1 Corinthians 3:12-15

When we first got married, JoAnn and I moved into a fairly decent apartment. It was only 900 square-feet, but that’s all we needed. It had a single bedroom which was a fairly good size. We were set. Some newly-married couples move around a bunch their first few years but JoAnn and I stayed in that little apartment for 5 years. There wasn’t really a reason to move.

But about year four we began to notice something: we weren’t getting much for our money. Sure, the rent was fair and we had a roof over our heads, but every month we wrote the rent check that was it–the money was gone, never to be seen again. All we were doing was buying a time slot for an allotted space. There was no real return for our money. That’s when we decided to buy a house.

Month-to-month, there is very little different between buying and renting. In both situations you have to make a payment every month. Renting, you write the check to the landlord. Buying, the check goes to the mortgage holder. Most times, buying a house is more expensive on a monthly basis. But there are two very distinct differences when you buy: every month brings you closer to a time when you no longer have to pay, and every month you gain a little more ownership. It’s the difference between spending and investing.

This always makes sense to us from a financial perspective. The funny thing is, we rarely apply this principle to our lives. In the passage above, Paul points out that every follower of Christ builds his spiritual house on the same foundation: Jesus Christ. But then God allows us to build on top of that foundation any way we please. The currency we use to build that house is the time we spend here on Earth. Every action, every choice, every pursuit is a piece of the “spiritual house” we are building. Some of those pieces are like rent–they won’t last. Others are like the mortgage payment–they continue into eternity.

So here is the question: are you spending your life, or investing it? We spend our lives when we give no thought to the future. For some of us, thinking about the future means thinking about tomorrow, or next week. Others think long-term means ten years down the road. But if you are a follower of Christ, your future extends throughout eternity. Realizing that should force you to think from an eternal perspective–force you to value only eternal things.

What are you taking with you into eternity?

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. — Romans 15:1-2

For those of us who have been followers of Christ for a while, we know one thing above all others: we have been saved by faith, justified by grace and forgiven freely and completely. There was nothing we do or have done to earn our salvation and short of denying Christ there is no sin that can take us outside His grace. Praise God!

We also know that we are not bound to any law as Christians. We know that adherence to a set of man-made rules and regulations does not bring us closer to God. We revel in the fact that God’s grace gives us relationship regardless of (and sometimes in spite of) our religious practice. We love verses like Galatians 5:5 which says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” and John 8:36 which says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

We make a mistake, however, in believing that in freeing us from “the law,” God has somehow lowered the bar. Our practical interpretation–which is in essence how we live out what we believe–is since we are no longer under the law, just about everything is permissible. Of course, we aren’t going to jump into bed with whomever we wish, rob a bank, or swindle unsuspecting grandmothers out of their retirement funds. But short of that, we are free to do what ever we want.

But that isn’t what the Bible says, it isn’t what Jesus lived and it isn’t consistent with the Spirit of God that lives inside every follower of Christ.

Although we are free from the written law, we are slaves to the Spirit. And the Spirit of Christ sets a standard so much higher than the law that we rarely want to fully face the ramifications of what it requires of us. That standard is love.

That’s why Paul says in the verse above, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” The attitude of, “I’m free from the law,” allows us to please ourselves. That attitude also frees us from the responsibility of our influence on other people. It gives us permission to make any choice without regard to how it affects the people who look to us as examples. (And by the way, everyone you know–and many people you don’t–look to you as an example for something.)

But Christ-like, Spirit-filled love demands we take an attitude that says “I live not for myself, but for the benefit of others.” That kind of love forces us to make choices we would not normally make. It might mean skipping a movie we are equipped to watch but might be a challenge to others whose faith isn’t as strong. It might mean giving up a particular form of recreation, not because it gets in the way of our worship of God but because someone we know might allow it to be a distraction. It might mean giving up drinking or smoking not because we have a problem with it but because we know so many other people do.

Here is what it comes down to: we all have rights. Our normal reaction to the freedom that Christ gives us is to insist on those rights. But Christ-like love says, “I am free to do what I want to do, but in my love for others I choose not to.” And it is in the choosing that we experience true freedom.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. — Galatians 5:13

For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”–Romans 9:9

If there is one thing that is for sure, it is that God makes promises. He gives us promises so we can rest our hope upon them. His promises give us something to look forward to. They give us reasons to press on when we otherwise would give up. They inspire us to reach higher, try harder, and dig deeper.

However, we must always be aware that God’s promises also carry with them great peril. That peril isn’t ever the risk from outside factors that always accompany following God. Those risks are rarely as fearsome as we make them out to be, and never bigger than the God who calls on us to take them. No, the greatest danger in God’s promises is that we pursue them so devotedly, so passionately, and so single-mindedly that they become
the object of our pursuit.

That’s what happened to Abraham. God promised him a son. Abraham waited…and no son. So he came up with a plan. Instead of having a son with his wife, he had one with his wife’s servant.

Let’s not judge Abraham too quickly or harshly. After all God gave him the promise. Abraham was only helping God do what God already said would happen.

We all do that, don’t we? We all have an idea for what God wants to do for us, but when we wait too long we figure we need to help God out. We justify it by thinking, “Perhaps God’s called me to do this,” or “Maybe this is how God planned to fulfill His promise all along.” But here’s the rub: when we “help God out” we aren’t helping because God doesn’t need our help to fulfill His promises to us. God never calls us to cross over from doing our part to doing His part.

When God promises, He always gives us enough information to know which part is His and which part is ours. God didn’t only promise Abraham a son, he said it would happen “at the appointed time.” God has a “when” in mind. God’s promises are only ever fulfilled when God wants. Not when we want. Every time we try to make them happen faster we get less-than God desires.

He said, “I will return.” God has a “who” in mind. God’s promises are never fulfilled outside His presence.

And He said, “Sarah will have a son.” God has a “how” in mind. God always sets up His promises so that we know He made it happen. Abraham and Sarah were both older than dirt. But men carry the biological capability of conceiving children right up to the day they die. Women do not. It was nothing special that Abraham could have a child. But for a woman Sarah’s age it was impossible. Only God could make that happen.

Here’s the bottom line: In this instance, Abraham pursued the promise when He should have been pursuing God. God’s promises are great! Chase after His promises, but make that secondary to the pursuit of the Promise Giver.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—Romans 5:12

You know what the biggest problem with sin is? It’s the mistaken belief that we can keep it under control. It is the idea that if we just practice the right formula, put in the right amount of discipline, or keep ourselves away from the wrong influences we can keep sin at bay. We are rarely foolish enough to believe that we can conquer sin entirely, but we think that at least we can make our sin manageable.

The problem with that thinking is it assumes that sin comes from the outside in. If we make that assumption then it is a natural conclusion that we can control sin by controlling our environment. But the sad truth is, sin comes from the inside out, not the other way around.

Everyone knows that tigers are, by their very nature, dangerous. They were created with ferociousness that is unparalleled, powerful bodies that no man can overpower, humongous paws packed with flesh-ripping talons, and bone-crushing jaws crammed full of piercing spikes they use for teeth.

Even so, for several decades there was an act in Las Vegas in which two men did incredible things with tigers. To hear them tell the story, they had tamed these wild beasts aand bent them to their will–and they made good money doing it. They forgot one thing, though: tigers have a nature and everything they were making these animals do was against that nature. Sure, they looked and acted tame, but a tiger’s nature is always to be wild. And so, in one act on one fateful day, one of the tigers had his way with one of the performers.

Just as those performers were foolish in thinking they could tame the wild nature of the tiger, we are foolish if we think we can tame the nature of the sin inside us. We cannot keep it “under control.” Instead, sin must be destroyed. The very nature that causes us to sin must be put to death. It must be eradicated and replaced with something pure, righteous, and holy.

And that is something only the Holy Spirit can do. This is why Jesus died on the cross. To believe that Jesus died so we could “go to heaven” sells Him and His sacrifice short. He didn’t die to save us from the penalty of sin. He died to save us from sin itself. He had to die so the Holy Spirit could come live in us, give us true life and begin the work of regenerating, changing and reforming our spirits until we think, love, feel, and act like Jesus.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Romans 6:22-23