Category: Level: Intermediate

It is inevitable that we will do or experience things that contradict what we believe to be good or valuable, whether these beliefs come from our conscience or somewhere else. When this happens we have a sense of guilt, although this sense can be dim or even completely buried. This guilt – from the contradiction or violation – then produces an inner sense of dishonor, disgrace or inadequacy. This is shame. In a sense, most shame is a sense of sinfulness, since it is awareness of a lack of what is good. We all have shame because we all have standards that we violate. We also commonly violate the standards of those whom our specific culture respects as people of character. We also have shame thrust upon us by people who harm us in degrading ways; corruption is inflicted on us. Much of our shame is left over from childhood. Continue Reading →

One of the deepest unhealthy attachments for maturing disciples of Jesus is spiritual hedonism. It has many variations and its veins reach deep down to the core of our being. It is best to assume that it will be a threat to your maturity for the rest of your life. No matter how much we grow spiritual hedonism will invent new ways to infiltrate our soul. Spiritual hedonism is the disordered attachment to pleasure (we use the words “sweetness” and “consolation” interchangeably with “pleasure”) from God or from following God. Our old self naturally desires to fall in love with the pleasure we receive through God instead of God himself. This is deeply ingrained in us because God made us for pleasure but our desire for pleasure was corrupted in the fall of Adam. Now our desire for pleasure creates distortions in our spiritual growth. In the next age, God Continue Reading →

As we love God and choose to focus on Christ we will notice times when other things take our focus off of him. Our affections drift off to something else. It might be projects, or food, or sports, or shows, or drugs, or status, or people, or career, or a particular self-image, or sensual pleasure, or money or a thousand other things, but it is surprisingly easy for us to transfer our focus and affections to other things. This is the same dynamic that affects those who initially hear Jesus’ message: “The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced” (Mark 4:18-19, NLT). The distractions of life can be very frustrating because our new Adam desires Continue Reading →

In this series we have looked at the contrast in prosperity between the old and new covenants. Last week we also looked at the prosperity gospel and giving and tithing. Some believers may prosper and some may not, and those who do need to give generously to those who do not. Those who have plenty should “be generous and willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:17, NIV). Believers are not supposed to just accumulate wealth but rather spread their wealth around in order to even out the differences in congregations in the interest of fairness. This is the idea behind 2 Corinthians 8:14-15: “Your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack” (ESV). This was also practiced in full Continue Reading →