Category: Level: Intermediate

motives

Are You Free From Harmful Motives?

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Motivation is a monumental issue in our spiritual lives. We will be constantly tempted to embrace motives that damage our spiritual growth. Many of them are disguised. The supreme motive for everything in our life should be our desire for the community of love with God and his followers. It may sound simple to consistently choose this motivation, but it is not. In fact, we will be learning to choose this for our whole lives. When we are young in Christformation we learn to recognize obvious impure motives such as sensual gratification, materialism, retaliation and preoccupation with our image. But after you overcome these there is a whole other set of hidden motives waiting to torpedo your spiritual life. If you are willing to pursue self-knowledge with God (so that you can “put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (Col. 3:5, NIV)) then you will discover deeply Continue Reading →

Garden of Eden

Focusing On The Restoration Of Eden

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The story of our destiny begins in the book of Genesis. There we learn that God originally placed humans in a garden in a land named Eden. In the Garden of Eden God told Adam and Eve “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals” (Gen. 1:28 NLT). He also “put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15, ESV). Then God gave Adam and Eve to each other so Adam (and obviously Eve) would not be alone (Gen. 2:18); Adam was to “hold fast” to Eve and they would be “one flesh” (2:24) and she was to be his “helper” (2:20). Thus, God gave Adam and Eve eight callings (we count reigning over the animals as one calling.) Adam and Eve were to fulfill these Continue Reading →

self-examination

The Blessings Of Self-Examination

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Self-examination and self-knowledge have been considered essential to Christformation throughout church history. In the profound first chapter of his highly influential Institutes of the Christian Religion Calvin said: “It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.”[1] One way to make progress against sin is to practice daily self-examination, which is sometimes referred to as examen. You may not need to set aside a time at the end of the day for examen if your occupation allows you to assess your situation before God throughout the day. However, many people find this difficult and creating a set time at the end of the day works better for them. Following is a guide to daily self-examination: Guide to Daily Self-Examination At the end of the day (or during the day if Continue Reading →

Christianity and society

Christianity in Society and Christian Nationalism – Part 2

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Last week we began to look at the role of Christianity in society. We saw that Christianization can not be supported from Scripture. Christianization has not worked well in the past. History teaches us that when Christian organizations or hierarchies gain positions of direct political influence in the name of Christianity then it is only a matter of time before nominal Christians, wolves in sheep’s clothing, rise up to positions of influence within the church seeking the power held by the church. Obviously, this brings dishonor to the body of Christ and fills the church with ungodly leaders. The history of monastic orders in the Middle Ages is a perfect example of this. Several times godly reforming monastic movements gained so much wealth and power that they became complacent and worldly and the movement lost its effectiveness. It even came to pass that local nobles were allowed to buy the Continue Reading →

Christianity and society

Christianity in Society and Christian Nationalism – Part 1

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As a former lawyer this topic is something I have given a lot of thought to. As a Christian in law school I developed a deep appreciation for the wisdom of the American Constitution. Through the years I have reflected on the role of Christianity in society. The goal of Christianization movements is the administration of a society according to Christian values. Some views are stricter than others so we find that there is a continuum of Christianization thinking. Like prosperity gospel teachers, Christianization teachers often take Old Testament passages that refer to Old Covenant politics or to the final fulfillment of the kingdom of God and apply them to our current age. Christianization thinking is tempting for Christians when they witness their society decline into self-worship and destructiveness. A term that is becoming synonymous with Christianization is Christian nationalism. Unfortunately, definitions of this term diverge, often according to the Continue Reading →