Manuscript Archives - Page 9 of 12

LIE: Jesus’ resurrection means we will live forever in heaven

Lie: Jesus’ resurrection means we will live forever in heaven.
Truth: Jesus’ resurrection means we too will be raised from the dead and signals that the new creation has begun.

God is always painting on a much bigger canvas than we can imagine and resurrection is his master stroke. But Christians normally interpret this, the watershed of all history, too narrowly. Consequently, what we’re often left with is a diluted, pie-in-the-sky sentimentality. Resurrection is typically stored away to only be dusted off briefly at Easter.
We know that the death and resurrection of Jesus is central to history and to our own Christian lives, but our limited grasp of it often dilutes the impact that it should have. We need to go deeper to really understand . . .

LIE: I don’t need God

Lie: I don’t need God.
Truth: Believe me, we need God.

“There is practically nothing that men do not prefer to God. A tiresome detail of business, an occupation utterly pernicious to health, the employment of time in ways one does not dare to mention. Anything rather than God.” — Francis Fénelon

You may be thinking, ‘Sure, I need God for my eternal future, to get my sins taken care of, to help me make the big decisions in life, but beyond that, to be honest, I really don’t need God.’ Maybe we wouldn’t actually admit that, or we may be a little afraid to, but truth be told . . .

LIE: God won’t judge Christians

Lie: God won’t judge Christians.
Truth: All Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Many Christians do not think that God will judge them. They cannot imagine why they, who have already received the grace and mercy of God, should need to be judged. They wrongly assume that the only divine judgment is a judgment on the unrighteous, which will end in condemnation. But that simply is not the case.
Here is Paul on the subject:
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. “

LIE: I can become more worthy of God’s love

Lie: I can (should try to or must) become more worthy of God’s love.
Truth: We can live and feel more worthy of God’s love, but we cannot be more worthy.

Divine love is at the heart of the gospel. Love is what moves God to rescue us: “For God so loved the world that he gave . . .” and “God demonstrated his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s a truth and a message almost too good to be true, yet unless we believe it – that we are loved – first by our parents and then by God, we cannot really flourish in life.

LIE: Understanding truths is simply a matter of applying my mind

Lie: Understanding truths is simply a matter of applying my mind.
Truth: Some truths can only be understood by the mind and the Spirit.

We must humble our minds and accept that we’re hopelessly confounded by our mysterious mind/brains. A thought arises, from where we don’t really know. We effortlessly recall things even from our early childhood. We hear something and immediately feel a dread we cannot understand. Sometimes we try to recall someone’s name, which we know, but can’t for the life of us remember. Why? Perhaps . . .

LIE: I cannot feel secure unless I know what’s happening in the world

Lie: I can’t feel secure unless I know what’s happening in the world.
Truth: We feel less secure the more we know what’s happening in the world.

This deception – that we’ll feel more secure by knowing what’s happening with remote events like, the war in Syria or the latest Zika casualty numbers or where the Mars rover happens to be – is easy to see as soon as the words are spoken. But how and why does this notion seduce us to feel more secure?

LIE: I have a right to punish those who hurt me

Lie: I have a right to punish those who hurt me.
Truth: I have a responsibility to love those who hurt me.
Vengeance comes in many ‘christianized’ forms. Many of those forms are accepted or winked at by Christians as harmless and unavoidable – forms such as: the ‘silent treatment’ — ignoring, shunning, avoiding, rejecting in their many forms — so-called righteous indignation, flaming emails, gossip and slander, sowing discord among brethren, ‘evil eyes,’ ‘cold shoulders,’ or intimidating looks. These may appear to be small slights that people shouldn’t ‘be so sensitive about’ or ‘should just get over.’ But while that may be true, these forms of vengeance can also do major

LIE: To avoid rejection I must pretend or perform an admired role

Lie: To avoid rejection I must pretend or perform an admired role.
Truth: To avoid worrying about rejection, I must enter the ‘secret place.’

We’ve all felt it. I’m talking about that anxious feeling we get at a social event, when we can’t find one familiar face. Some panic, others wade into the crowd with relish. But for both, often the solution is to put on a smile and fake it. That is, we pretend, we put on a role, a persona, perhaps the best version of ourselves or, for some, we assume a completely different personality; others are less subtle – they clam up or hide or avoid the conflict altogether.
The question is ‘why?’ Why do we do this? Why can’t we simply without pretense or bother, strike up conversations with a simple sincerity, taking a genuine interest in the life and well being of those we meet? Why is that so hard? The answer is obvious: . . .

LIE: I should not judge

Lie: I should not judge.
Truth: We should judge rightly.

To judge or not to judge, that is the question. This is such a basic and important dilemma that it requires a careful answer. The word judge has a rich and varied meaning that we must parse carefully and discern its use in context. The most common Greek word translated to judge in the New Testament is krino, which means . . .

LIE: I can’t forgive

Lie: I can’t forgive.
Truth: You must forgive and therefore you can forgive.
. . . Forbearance is the first line of defense against offences. If we’re sufficiently forbearant, we may never need to forgive at all. But it’s usually the little irritations: the snubs, the slurs, the disappointments that build up over time that get to us. Most of us are tolerant enough to forbear the small things, at least for a while, but sometimes they accumulate enough that we need to forgive.
One reason we allow the slights to build up is a general unawareness . . .