Many of you have already heard, but we wanted to make sure all of our mailing list readers knew that ENTHUSIASTIC IDEAS, the brand new daybook from Gary Henry, is now available. The wait is finally over!
ENTHUSIASTIC IDEAS presents “a good word for every day of the year.” A daybook, with one page for each day of the year, ENTHUSIASTIC IDEAS gives the reader a thought-provoking meditation by Gary Henry framed at the top and bottom by quotations from a variety of sources. Topics range from obviously positive ideas like “courage” and “creativity” to more surprising ones like “serenity” and “solitude.”
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“Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (Mark 15:43).
HOW DANGEROUS A JOURNEY ARE WE WILLING TO UNDERTAKE IN ORDER TO GET TO GOD? Do we understand that seeking God requires a heart that is brave as well as true?
TRUE HEART. The faith needed to seek God is a faith that is utterly sincere. The writer of Hebrews speaks of this when he says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). We must not only MAKE a genuine commitment to God, but we must KEEP that commitment with allegiance and loyalty. If our heart is true, it will pursue God in earnest.
BRAVE HEART. Spiritual growth, like any other real progress, is frightening. Since there is always loss as well as gain, we have to add courage to our sincerity. Great sacrifices are required; serious risks have to be taken. God has not guaranteed that our passage through this life will be completely “safe.” Some things will clearly be at risk, and we’re urged to “count the cost” (Luke 14:25-33). If we delay embarking on a serious quest for God until we have hedged all our bets, then we’re not worthy of God. Heading the list of the lost in Revelation 21:8 are the “cowardly,” those who play it safe, afraid to pay the price to walk with God. It takes a brave heart to say such a thing as Paul: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). And David, another man of courage, said, “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart” (Psalm 27:14).
In the hymn “Amazing Grace” there is a verse which says, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ’twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.’ Do we take these “dangers” seriously? Do we understand what’s at stake if we fail to find safety in God? If nothing could go wrong on our journey, neither the true heart nor the brave would be needed. But where there is no real risk, faith is no real virtue.
“Every advance in spiritual life has its corresponding dangers; every step that we rise nearer God increases the depths of the gulf into which we may fall” (Robert H. Benson).
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).
BECAUSE THE PATH AHEAD SEEMS UNCERTAIN AND DIFFICULT, WE OFTEN FAIL TO TAKE THE STEPS THAT LIE CLEARLY BEFORE US. If we allow it to happen, doubt and difficulty can paralyze us. Not having found God already, and seeing no way out of our confusion, we neglect to seek Him at all. Our search for truth is stymied.
But the steps that we COULD take are the most important. Usually, it is small steps toward God, taken in trust, that lead to great understanding. Jesus spoke of the honest soul who “comes to the light” (John 3:21). Obviously, enlightenment must be sought, and the seeking can be arduous. But we do not “come to the light” by mere worry or fretfulness. More is involved than simply trying to figure things out intellectually.
Godly wisdom must be sought ACTIVELY and OBEDIENTLY. If conscience can indicate only a step or two, then a great deal depends on our taking those steps. What we don’t know must never prevent us from doing the duty we do know. We must use the light we already have — or cease to expect any more.
God graciously honors whatever steps we take in faith, even if those steps seem slight. Numerous biblical texts give us this confidence. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). God will see that we get the information we need to do the right thing, if doing the right thing is what we really intend.
Courage, much more than “intelligence,” is the key to great understanding in the things of God. The courageous not only think but ACT WITH INTEGRITY TO WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW. It is the honestly obedient who find the light they’re looking for, while the idly curious find only that the darkness grows more fearful. Active seekers are told: “If you seek Him, He will be found by you” (2 Chronicles 15:2). God is more than a disinterested witness to our quest. If our true purpose is to get back home, our Father will meet us much more than half way.
“Whoso draws nigh to God one step through doubtings dim, God will advance a mile in blazing light to him” (Angelus Silesius).
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
SOONER OR LATER, OUR LIVES MANIFEST OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD. Eventually even our faces give us away. Depending on whether our hearts are inclined toward God as He truly is, our faces will glow or they will glower.
Nothing about us is more important than our conception of God. Each day our characters are unfolding and developing, and the direction in which they develop is determined mainly by our conception of God. In outward action, we tend to move toward whatever image of God we harbor in the depths of our hearts.
What if our basic view of God is false? Whether we’ve deliberately concocted an image of God as we prefer Him to be or we’ve simply been careless, errors in thinking about God are dangerous. The essence of idolatry is to misconceive God and then act as if our misconceptions were true. Idolatry is deadly because it sets before our character a goal that is an illusion, a lie. The idolater destroys himself by growing in reality’s opposite direction.
Think, however, of the good things that must come to pass if the God of our desire is also the God of truth and real life. There is no greater wisdom than wisdom about God, and a “man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed” (Ecclesiastes 8:1). It is not uncommon for changes in our inward character to show up outwardly, particularly in our faces. When the changes are positive in nature, produced by a more truthful conception of God, the results are often striking. As the old adage puts it, the portrait of a godly soul is a shining face.
Diligent seekers of God must seek the truth about Him at all costs. “Sinning is nothing but turning from God one’s face and having turned it thus, turning it toward death” (Angelus Silesius). By the time we reach our ultimate goal, our faces will bear either the glory of our soul’s growth or the grimness of its decay.
“The gods we worship write their names on our faces, be sure of that. And a man will worship something — have no doubt about that, either. He may think that his tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of his heart — but it will out. That which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
“When Jesus heard it, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance’” (Mark 2:17).
OUR MOST SERIOUS AILMENTS ARE NOT PHYSICAL BUT SPIRITUAL. We are hurt far more by the malignancies in our character than by the illnesses in our body. And it is the removal of these sins in the heart that God is concerned with. The Great Physician desires to restore our spiritual health and wholeness.
If we want to improve, we must be honest and open to the truth about our character right now. Not even the Great Physician can help us if we’re not willing to be examined. Trying to hide our symptoms and pretending that nothing very serious is wrong will only result in our getting worse. An accurate diagnosis will be humbling, to be sure, but we should still want to know the whole truth. David’s prayer is that of an honest man: “Search me, O God, and know my heart . . . see if there is any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139:23,24). We must desire to see ourselves as God sees us.
But more than that, we must cultivate confidence that God knows what He’s doing. Whether we understand the wisdom of His plan or not, we must trust both the accuracy of His diagnosis and the effectiveness of His treatment. We must also have the courage to submit to the healing process that He prescribes. The cancer cannot be cut away from our character without radical surgery. Because sin is so entangled in our thinking, the purging operation is always painful and often lengthy. But as with physical disease, if we’re not willing to endure momentary pain in order to become healthy later on, our only option is to get sicker and sicker. We can stay in our sickly “comfort” zone or we can move toward greater health, but not both at the same time. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
How much commitment do we have to the truth about ourselves? For all our talk about loving the truth, do we really desire to see all that God sees when He examines our hearts? There will be no redemption for those unwilling to face reality.
“When we go to our meeting with God, we should go like a patient to his doctor, first to be thoroughly examined and afterwards to be treated for our ailment. Then something will happen when you pray” (O. Hallesby).
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15,16).
THE BLEAKEST CONDITION OF THE HUMAN HEART IS THAT IN WHICH WE FEEL NOTHING, NOT EVEN ABOUT GOD. If we absolutely COULDN’T feel anything at all, we would be beyond any hope.
The strongest language in Scripture is reserved for the dull of heart, those who simply don’t care about God one way or the other. For that reason, it is sobering to observe that our world is a world gone gray. Modern life is all but defined by nihilistic boredom and indifference. Jaded as we are, most of our acute social ills are symptoms of a chronic emptiness of heart. We have become, as T. S. Eliot warned, “hollow men.” And this hollowness, this world-weary nothingness, is frightening in its implications. We are never closer to hell than when our hearts feel . . . nothing.
We often think of the “hardened” heart as one that is angry and defiant in its self-will. But the hardest heart of all is the one that no longer feels ANYTHING, not even hatred. God gave us hearts that were meant to RESPOND. When they no longer do so, when quite natural feelings of love and gratitude are not evoked even by the acts of God, we’re in grave danger. It is good to be warned concerning those who are “without natural affection” (Romans 1:31 KJV) and those who are “past feeling” (Ephesians 4:19). These terms may sound extreme, but this is where we’re all headed if we don’t let our hearts respond to God as they were meant to.
One of the most memorable phrases in the King James translation of the Bible is found in Hebrews 4:15. There it says that Christ, as our great High Priest, can be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” This is an astounding thought. Jesus Christ feels our infirmities and moves toward us in love. But what do WE feel? Toward whom do WE move? Do we experience our faith as something both intellectually believed and emotionally felt? If our hearts don’t feel anything, it is “high time to awake out of sleep” (Romans 13:11). It is later than we think.
“In the world it is called tolerance, but in hell it is called despair . . . the sin that believes in nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die” (Dorothy Sayers).
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
WHEN WE SEEK OUR ULTIMATE MEANING AND FULFILLMENT IN GOD, THE RESULT IS NOT LESS ENJOYMENT OF THIS LIFE, BUT MORE. It is ironic but true: we get the most this life has to offer when we pay primary attention to something else. Temporal things are best enjoyed serendipitously; they surprise us with the greatest delight at those times when we’re busy looking for something else — or more properly Someone else. So by demanding LESS of this life, we get MORE than if we made it our all in all.
The good things of God’s creation are meant for our enjoyment. Solomon said, “Here is what I have seen: it is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage” (Ecclesiastes 5:18). Within the limits of their rightful use, temporal things are deeply gratifying. A serious problem arises, however, when we enshrine earthly enjoyments as our god. Not only will we lose our souls for having worshiped the creation rather than the Creator, we will have lost the true joy that comes from the creation itself.
A similar principle governs our interaction with other people. Our need for personal relationship is very deep, but we were never meant to find the ultimate fulfillment of that need in our fellow human beings. Only God can perfectly fill our hearts with love. And if we look to those around us to do what God alone can do, not only will we corrupt our relationship with God, we will damage our human relationships with unfair expectations.
There is a sense in which we are too “conservative” about earthly pleasures and human relationships. Like the tight-fisted investor obsessed with protecting his principal, we lose much in the long run by our refusal to put the lesser at risk in order to gain the greater. Not only that, but like Scrooge, we also miss out on the enjoyment of the very wealth that we’ve attached so much importance to. There is nothing in this world that we’ll not enjoy more if we learn to let go of it. Less idolatry means more joy.
“Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither” (C. S. Lewis).
“For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:26).
LEAVE GOD OUT OF CONSIDERATION, AND OUR LIVES IN THIS WORLD COME DOWN TO NOTHING MORE THAN GAINING AND GETTING RID OF “THINGS.” If nothing exists except the natural order, then our activities are simply variations on the theme of “gathering and collecting.” The pack rat and we are accomplishing just about the same thing.
Bertrand Russell cynically said that there are two kinds of human work: “first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relatively to other matter” and “second, telling other people to do so.” If there is no God, Russell is right. The sublimest act of which a human being is capable would mean no more than the movement of molecules from one place to another, the mere manipulation of THINGS. We would be, indeed, just “the janitors of [our] possessions” (Frank Lloyd Wright).
Deep inside, of course, we WANT to believe that there’s more to life than gathering and collecting. We seem to need a real relationship with a Being who is higher than we. But are we merely engaging in wishful thinking? If we are, then that in itself is a depressing thought. It means that we have evolved to a point where our deepest need is for a significance that is impossible in the real world. We are doomed to die of spiritual suffocation, desperately needing “air” that doesn’t exist outside of our own imagination.
But God does exist. And our longing for significance is a clue to our creation in His image. We were designed to do more than manipulate material things. Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we disregard God, all that’s left is the dissipation of ourselves in gathering and collecting, and every “increased possession loads us with a new weariness” (John Ruskin). But so much more is possible for God-created persons! How very sad it is when we expend ourselves materialistically and settle for the “barrenness of a busy life.”
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.
(William Wordsworth)
“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name” (Psalm 86:11).
ONLY WHEN WE PURSUE GOD WITH SINGLENESS OF HEART DO WE FIND THE PEACE THAT COMES FROM INTEGRITY. If we seek with less than the whole heart, the result will be less than total joy.
Indecision about God is described in our English Bibles as “double-mindedness” — and double-mindedness is a costly habit. With so much contentment at stake, why do we waver? Why don’t we choose God more wholeheartedly? Even though we SAY we desire fellowship with God, perhaps we’re simply not willing to let go of the alternative. We suppose that there must be a way to have the best of both worlds. But such attempts are proverbially unwise. “Progress always consists in taking one or another of two alternatives, abandoning the attempt to combine them” (Albert Schweitzer). When the choice is between God and the devil, the “eclectic” approach is the very worst choice of all.
“Unite my heart to fear Your name.” This is a prayer for the integrity of a “pure” heart, one that is not only CLEAN, but also DECISIVE. James wrote, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you . . . PURIFY your hearts, you DOUBLE-MINDED” (James 4:8). What we need is the courage to pursue God with singleness of purpose. We should pray that God will “give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing” (Soren Kierkegaard). Those with godly integrity are those who know and love and will just one thing: the glory of God.
In the end, will we look back and see that many good things were lost because we lingered in indecision? While we delayed, with hearts divided and minds not made up, did we forfeit many of the blessings that could have come from disciplined action?
May we aspire to the joys of the united heart. May we be devout in our devotion and wholehearted in our holiness. May God help us to make up our minds.
“If you had any idea how much inward peace you would gain for yourself, and how much joy you would bring to others, by devoting yourself single-heartedly to God, you would certainly pay more attention to your spiritual progress” (Thomas a Kempis).
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).
THE SEARCH FOR WISDOM MUST NEVER BE SEPARATED FROM THE SEEKING OF GOD. If our philosophy is not empowered by sound theology, it faces an insurmountable barrier.
The fundamental truths about God constitute the “basics” of knowledge. God’s reality is the most important thing that can be known and also the most obvious (Romans 1:19,20). In the ABCs of knowledge, we start with God. Those who disbelieve often see themselves as more advanced in their learning. But “no art, no philosophy, no science, no literature, no intellectual attainments or achievements of any kind whatever will compensate for ignorance of God; the soul that knows not him is an ignorant man; the time that knows not him is an ignorant age” (W. Clarkson).
The knowledge of God is also the “basis” of knowledge. It’s the organizing principle that unifies everything else, the framework within which all the pieces of information fit together. “On the day I first really believed in God,” wrote Dag Hammarskjold, “for the first time life made sense to me and the world had meaning.” In God, a chaos of facts becomes a cosmos of knowledge.
The plain truth is this: we won’t grow wise without seeking God, and we won’t seek God without humility, respect, and reverence. That is why the fear of the Lord is the “beginning” of wisdom. Pride always corrupts the learning process. The illusion that we know more than we do (coupled with the unwillingness to accept truths that might have unwelcome consequences) will keep us from making progress in wisdom. It is respect for the Creator that opens the door to intellectual growth.
Paul wrote about certain individuals who “suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). There are those, he said, who evade the facts and refuse to “retain God in their knowledge” (Romans 1:28). These are strong words, without a doubt, but we need to hear them. Do we allow God to be the beginning of our real-world wisdom? How honestly do we accept this, the most primary of all truths: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)?
“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know” (Eric Hoffer).
