Now Re-reading... Christianity with Power

 

I often re-read, or revisit, books that remain important to me.

I'm now re-reading Charles Kraft's book Christianity with Power: Your Worldview  and Your Experience of the Supernatural.

A Disciple of Jesus Grows to Be Like Jesus

I see you growing to be more and more like Christ.

I was a boy when Elvis Presley became famous. My parents bought me an Elvis album after I saw him on TV. I wanted to sing like him, and play the guitar like he did. I wanted to look like him.  

One day I took my Elvis album into the bathroom, and propped it up next to the mirror. There was Elvis’s picture, next to my face in the mirror. I found some hair gel, and a comb. I attempted to design my hair to look like Elvis’s hair.   

Afterwards, I remember walking to my friend John’s house, feeling a lot like you-know-who. John burst my bubble when he said, “So, are you trying to look like Elvis again?”  

Trying? We want to be like the people we worship.

1 John 3:2 tells me that one day, I shall be like Jesus. The apostle Paul writes, in Galatians 4:19, that I am now being formed into Christlikeness. This makes sense to me, since this is my glorious destiny.  

Every disciple begins to look like their teacher. Apprentices learn to do what their teacher does. Jesus says, "whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12) That makes sense, since a disciple is in training to do the stuff their teacher has been doing.  

I learned this a long time ago. I believe it more today than when I first heard it. As one of the Lord’s disciples, I get excited when I think of being like the One I have come to worship.  

As I apprentice myself to Jesus, he forms himself in me; his character, his abilities.  

DECLARATIONS  

One day I shall be like the Lord Jesus.  

Today, Christ is forming his character in me.  

I am learning to love people as Jesus loves people.  

Christ is training me to deliver people from darkness.

The compassion of Christ grows within me.  

I want nothing more than to be like Jesus!

(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship)

Disciples of Jesus Meet on Sunday Mornings

 

When I was a pastor in Joliet, Illinois, there was a man who was always with us on Sunday mornings. He was handicapped. He lived alone. He walked, so slowly, to the church building every Sunday morning. I mean every. No matter what the weather conditions. My thought was, “This man is committed!”  

Linda and I are committed. This is nothing to boast about. This is basic discipleship. When we were growing up, our families were there on every Sunday morning. We never missed. Sunday is the Christian disciple’s Sabbath.  

One of the Ten Commandments says,   Remember the Sabbath day, and be there.  

Keep it holy.  

My parents did. The DNA of Sabbath-keeping became my DNA.

Linda’s parents did the same with their children. Linda’s dad and mom were on fire for Jesus! Missing the weekly gathering of the people, the church, was unthinkable for them. It formed the center of their born-again life. As it says in Hebrews,  

Do not give up meeting together, 

as some are in the habit of doing,  

but encouraging one another

—  and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

 Real disciples are in community. In “fellowship.” So much of what Jesus has taught me about being like Him has been learned in community.

The letters of Paul are not addressed to individual Christians. They are addressed to Jesus-Communities. Nearly every time the word “you” is used in Paul’s letters, it is plural.  

The precious manifestations of the Holy Spirit (the “gifts”) only make sense within The Community.  

Jesus taught me that the Bible is a tribal document. He is building his Tribe out of all kinds of people.  

​I need The Community. 

The Community needs me.  

We ARE the Church.

(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship)

Welcome to Redeemer Fellowship Church

An Apprentice to Jesus Reads The Book

 

I read the Bible.

 As I write this, I am immersing myself in the book of Ezekiel. I also read the book of Proverbs, regularly. I go slow with Proverbs! I am also re-reading the Gospel of John. I have read John many times, and always discover new insights.  

Why do I do this? Because: I am a disciple of Christ. The required text is the Bible. Jesus is training me to be like him, in character and behavior.  

An apprentice to Christ constantly studies the Great Manual of Instruction.  It functions as a guide to life, a light to one’s path. Plus, the Bible is the greatest, most influential, inspiring book ever written!  

God used my earthly father to influence me to read the Bible. I remember seeing dad, holding his Bible, his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, usually in the evening before he went to bed. Dad read it so much that his thumb almost wore through the leather cover. I have his Bible. 

I received a black, leather-covered Bible when I was confirmed in our Lutheran Church. I was twelve years old. My fingerprints were not on this Bible. I never touched it. My mother stored it somewhere - I don't know where, and I didn't care. I never picked it up and read it. Until…   

…I was 21. That's when Jesus rescued me out of deep enslavement to evil. Instantly, my life began to change for the better. I was now an apprentice to Jesus, and I needed a Bible!  

I drove to my parents' home. I asked, "Mom, do you know where my Bible is?"  

She got it for me. I began to read. And read. I wore the leather out on it so much that the cover finally tore off. I still have this Bible. Here it is.

I am my father's son. Like father, like son, right? I have been reading and studying the Bible for fifty-one years. Disciples of Christ study to show themselves approved, as they rightly handle the Word of God. (2 Timothy 2:15)

I want this for you. The apostle Paul wrote:  Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)  

And: Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. (Philippians 3:17)  

I am a disciple, a student, in the School of Jesus. Jesus teaches us through the Word, and through other disciples, like my father.  

Follow my example. Read and re-read your Bible.

(For a good book on understanding the Bible see How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart.)  

DECLARATIONS  

I am a student of God’s Word.  

I love reading the Bible. It is a guide to my life!  

I read portions of the Bible every day.

I write verses on 3X5 cards and carry them with me, looking at them often.  

God speaks to me through the words of the Bible.  

The Bible nourishes me. It is food for my soul.  

I have time to read my Bible.  

The Bible is getting inside me and transforming me.

(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship, p. 20)

A Disciple of Jesus Learns to Hear the Voice of Jesus

 

I began hearing the voice of God before I became a follower of Jesus.  

One time, when I was twenty, I was playing in a band, in a bar. Out of heaven, the thought came to me, “John, you are messed up.” That was wild. And, it was true.  

I heard this in a way that felt different and deep. It penetrated my defenses, and took up residence in my soul. In retrospect, I saw it was God, speaking to me, calling me to himself.

Today, over fifty years later, I am a disciple of Jesus. A disciple is an “apprentice.” An apprentice learns to do what their teacher does. This requires hearing from God.  

My life is apprenticed to Jesus. I am a student in The School of Jesus My Lord. This is the greatest opportunity I have in life! If you are a disciple, you are in this for life, and joyfully so.  

Jesus is our Teacher. I know what “teacher” means. Linda and I are both teachers. Linda did her bachelor’s degree in education, focusing on special needs kids and behavior-disordered kids. I taught for eighteen years at Monroe County Community  College (Michigan), and have taught in several theological seminaries.  

I also know what it is to be a student. When a teacher teaches, the student hears their voice. This is basic. Jesus is mentoring us to be like him in his character, and in his abilities. As Jesus once said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  

Jesus knows his committed ones. He speaks to his disciples. His disciples recognize His voice. His apprentices follow Jesus their Lord.

I want this for you, too.

I have been a follower of Lord Jesus since 1970. I have grown in learning to hear his voice. I have learned that hearing the voice of Jesus is directly related to intimacy and familiarity with Jesus. So, I spend much time with him.  

I have learned that I am to focus on intimacy with Jesus, rather than on hearing his voice. Because with greater intimacy, hearing comes. Live as a branch, connected to Jesus, the Vine. Abide in him, and your life will bear much fruit. This includes hearing God’s voice.  

We learn to hear God’s voice by spending time with God.

I want this for you.  

Abide in Jesus. Grow in intimacy with Jesus. Grow in ability to hear his voice.

(One resource that currently deepens me in this area of discipleship is Hearing God Through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional, by Dallas Willard.)  

DECLARATIONS  

I take much time to spend with God.

I am more familiar with Jesus than I have ever been.  

I find that God, as my Shepherd, has much to say to me, his sheep.  

God speaks to me about many things.  

I love hearing the voice of God.  

I am a student in The School of Jesus Christ, and he is my Teacher!

(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship, p. 16)

Remarriage and Divorce: Seven Minute Seminary (Craig Keener)

A Disciple of Jesus Is a Praying Person

 

The year was 1977. I had just graduated from seminary. My theology professor, Dr. Tom Finger, asked to meet with me. Dr. Finger said, “What theology class do you think our seminary needs?” I thought for a moment, then answered, “Prayer. We need a class on prayer.”  

“Would you teach this class on prayer?” 

 “No. I need a class like this. I am in no position to teach it!”  How many of you know that a teacher, especially a beginning teacher, often learns more than their students? God was speaking to me through Dr. Finger. He persisted. I acquiesced.  

In the fall of 1977 I taught a class on prayer at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. My main requirement was: to pray. I required the students to go apart to a solitary place and pray, each day, for half an hour. I thought this was a stroke of genius! Of course, this assignment was for me, too. The result was that I, the teacher, acquired a praying life that has lasted to this day. I became a student of Christ in the School of Prayer.

What is praying? Praying is talking with God about what God and I are thinking and doing together.   

Praying is communicating with God about The Mission. 

In praying, I meet with my Commander and receive my marching orders. This is what Jesus was doing in Luke 5:16: Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  

Jesus prayed. Therefore I, as his apprentice, pray. I pray in lonely places. I call them “places of least distraction.”  

I bring, with me to these lonely places, a Bible, my spiritual journal, and a devotional book (some book I am reading for spiritual direction). During my praying time, when God speaks to me, I write it down in my journal.  

In praying I experience comfort, healing, deliverance, and rescue. I receive encouragement. I am told that I am loved. I get corrected and directed, which calls for obedience. I find out what God wants from me and what he wants me to do.  

Praying, to me, makes following Jesus exciting and real. God really does expect me to follow him!

I have found that I can be myself, and use my own words and ways of talking, when I pray. I don’t have to learn a special language. God is not impressed by my words, but by the attitude of my heart.  

I bless you all with a deep, conversational relationship with the Lord Jesus!  

DECLARATIONS 

 I am a praying person. 

 I pray because Jesus, the Lord of my life, prayed.  

When I pray, I pray from the heart.  

Praying is exciting to me, because I am communicating with the Maker of Heaven and Earth!  

I am gaining control of my schedule. Therefore, I am finding more time to pray.

I am a prayer warrior, defeating satanic strongholds, and bringing in the Kingdom of God!

(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship.)

Guidelines for Civil Discourse - #5: Fear Speaking Badly of Others Made in God's Image

(Frost on my car window)

Have you ever met a Christian who never spoke badly of another person? I have met a few.

Apparently, Bill Johnson is one of those. Thank you, C.H., for posting this.

"In a recent meeting, someone said to Bill Johnson, "I notice that you never talk about people. You never talk badly about people. And I'm just wondering what's going on in your heart? How did you discipline yourself to NEVER speak negatively of other people, even people who are sometimes a pain?"
Bill, with tears running down his cheeks, said, "I fear Jesus in them. That I would speak badly about someone made in the image of God, that is so valued by God that Jesus died for them. And that I would portray them as something less valuable than that. I fear how God would deal with a person who would betray the people made in his image."

***
See...

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #1 - Love Others

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #2 - Never Mock People

Guidelines for Civil Discourse - #3: The Other Is Not Your Enemy

Guidelines for Civil Discourse - #4: Never Insult a Brother or Sister

Guidelines for Civil Discourse - #4: Never Insult a Brother or Sister

                                                                       (New York City)

When Linda and I were campus pastors at Michigan State University, we were teaching Matthew 5:21-24 to our students. In the midst of the discussion, one of our students, Naomi, who was from Malawi, said: "If we followed the words of Jesus here very few of us would be worshiping today. We would all get up and leave, go to the brothers and sisters we were demeaning, and ask for forgiveness."

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, 

and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 

²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry 

with a brother or sister 

will be subject to judgment. 

Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 

‘Raca,’ 

is answerable to the court. 

And anyone who says, ‘

You fool!’ 

will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ “Therefore, 

if you are offering your gift at the altar 

and there remember 

that your brother or sister 

has something against you,

²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. 

First go 

and be reconciled to them; 

then come and offer your gift.

"Raca" is an Aramaic term of abuse. It means "idiot." (See R.T. France, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 120)

Anyone who calls a brother or sister in Christ an idiot is answerable to the Sanhedrin. (Greek synedrion.) France writes: "Jesus here threatens ultimate divine judgment on anger, even as expressed in everyday insults." (Ib.) 

If I call someone an idiot am I really relegated to the garbage heap where Israel's rubbish was burned? No. Jesus is using exaggeration, as he often does, to make a point. (This is called Semitic hyperbole.) But the point is important. This is "an injunction to submit our thoughts about other people, as well as the words they give rise to, to God's penetrating scrutiny... We cannot worship God with grudges unsettled."

Anger is no excuse for insulting people. It is non-redemptive and alienating.

If you are a Jesus-follower, and you ridicule a brother or sister, your worship is inauthentic, and unacceptable to God.

***
See...

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #1 - Love Others

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #2 - Never Mock People

Guidelines for Civil Discourse - #3: The Other Is Not Your Enemy

Guidelines for Civil Discourse - #3: The Other Is Not Your Enemy

                                              (Linda, reading a book to our grandson Levi.)

The apostle Paul writes:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 

but against the rulers, 

against the authorities, 

against the powers of this dark world 

and against the spiritual forces of evil 

in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

So, if it has flesh and blood, it is not our real enemy.

Our real enemies are "the powers of this dark world" and the "spiritual forces of evil." These are the spiritual forces Jesus came to defeat.

Jesus did not come to defeat people. He came to rescue them. In the rescue, the powers of darkness are defeated.

If you are a follower of Jesus you must not demonize others. Even if they anger you. To do that is to wrestle with the wrong adversaries. 

Discuss? Yes. Agree, or disagree? Of course. Wrestle with? That would be like leaving your true opponent on the wrestling mat and climbing into the bleachers and trying to pin the captive onlookers.

If we view and treat one another as enemies, we are engaged in vain warfare.

If an army starts to shoot its own, waging war within itself, this is not only a pseudo-battle, it's going to lead to defeat by the real enemy. If the actual enemy can get us to self-destroy,  it has won.

You and I are not enemies, because we are flesh and blood. If something has flesh and blood it cannot be our enemy.

Sadly, Christians can be tempted, deceived, and even used by the dark powers. (see Eph. 2:2; 4:14) As Ben Witherington writes: “It is all too easy to mistake the human vessel of evil for evil itself.” Pray that we never make that mistake, for if we do the days of hating and hurting and hiding from one another have arrived.

Our struggle is essentially a spiritual one. 

Wage war on that level.

Wage peace with one another.

***
See...

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #1 - Love Others

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #2 - Never Mock People

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #2 - Never Mock People

 

                                                            (Lake Erie - Monroe, MI)

(I don't read what people post on social media. I don't have time to do this. I am on Facebook, but I unfollow everyone except my family and our church staff. 

I'm not on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumbler, Snapchat, or Whatsapp. Or anything.  

I post this blog to Facebook. Some respond to my blog, and I often interact with them. Thank you.

I have always been a culture-watcher. I am very interested in human behavior. I study moral behavior and its sources like a madman. I am supremely interested in how we Jesus-followers should live and act and have our being.

 
I have much personal experience with humans abusing each other verbally. Even among Christians. Even, sadly, at times, me.

This post is about how someone who claims to follow Jesus should conduct themselves, in any medium, in all human interaction.)

Followers of Jesus are never to mock or ridicule other people.

Never. Ever. 

Mockery and ridicule are opponents of agape love. They reside in the camp of conditional love. ("If you agreed with my position, then I would not show my disgust towards you.")

Every person is made in the imago dei, the image of God. To mock and ridicule a person, no matter who they are or what they believe or disbelieve, is to mock that person's Maker. If you mock someone's children, you also mock them. This is how it is in tribal communities.

Slow-cook in the book of Proverbs and apply.

How long will you who are simple 

love your simple ways? 

How long will mockers delight in mockery 

and fools hate knowledge?

Proverbs 1:22

He mocks proud mockers 

but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.

Proverbs 3:34

If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; 

if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

Proverbs 9:12

The mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, 

but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.

Proverbs 14:6

Penalties are prepared for mockers, 

and beatings for the backs of fools.

Proverbs 19:29

The proud and arrogant person

—“Mocker” is his name— 

behaves with insolent fury.

Proverbs 21:24

Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; 

quarrels and insults are ended.

Proverbs 22:10

Mockers stir up a city, 

but the wise turn away anger.

Proverbs 29:8

How shall we live the command to love our neighbor? By mocking them?

How shall we give witness to the sign that we belong to Jesus? By mocking one another?

How shall we be blessed as peacemakers? By ridiculing those who disagree with us?

Is mockery among the fruit of the Spirit?

Shall we build up the body of Christ using the spiritual gift of ridicule?

Is not any fellowship with the company of mockers called wickedness? (Psalm 1:1)

To mock and ridicule others that do not think like you is non-redemptive, only causing existing divisions to separate further. 

(In logic, mockery and ridicule are types of informal fallacies, called ad hominem abusives. To verbally abuse someone not only adds nothing to an argument, it diminishes the argument.)

***

See also - 

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #1 - Love Others

Guidelines for Civil Discourse: #1 - Love Others

Flicker, in my back yard

(I don't read what people post on social media. I don't have time to do this. I am on Facebook, but I unfollow everyone except my family and our church staff. 

I'm not on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumbler, Snapchat, or Whatsapp. Or anything.  

I post this blog to Facebook. Some respond to my blog, and I often interact with them. Thank you.

I have always been a culture-watcher. I am interested in human behavior. I study moral behavior and its sources like a madman. I am interested in how we Jesus-followers should live and act and have our being. 

I have personal experience with humans abusing each other verbally. Even among Christians. Even, sadly, at times, me.

This post is about how someone who claims to follow Jesus should conduct themselves, in any medium, in all human interaction.)

***

If you are a follower of Jesus, this is for us. 

Though the world fails in civility, we must engage in civil discourse.

Our foundation for civil discourse is love. We are to love others, in our behaviors. With the love of God, exemplified in Jesus. We must love like Jesus loves.

This includes those who disagree with us. It encompasses our enemies. They are among our "neighbors."

Love is the sign, the mark, that we are what we declare we are; viz., Christians. If we don't love, we have nothing. (See 1 Corinthians 13) If we don't love, we don't have our identity, at least in the eyes of others.

Jesus affirms the call to love in John 13:34-35:

“A new command I give you: 

Love one another. 

As I have loved you, 

so you must love one another. 

By this everyone will know 

that you are my disciples, 

if you love one another.”

People will know that you and I are with Jesus as we love one another. If we fail to do this, we will be considered to be far from Jesus. Or, people will think of Jesus through the lens of our rudeness and uncivility.

When Christians hate one another on social media, they fail to display what is supposed to be their distinguishing mark; viz., love. When we get disgusted, show irritation, demean, mock, slander, ridicule, or bully, we dishonor people made in God's image. And bring shame upon our Lord.

Francis Schaeffer, in his classic The Mark of the Christian, writes:

"We are to love our fellowmen, to love all men, in fact, as neighbors. 
All men bear the image of God. They have value, not because they are redeemed, but because they are God’s creation in God’s image. Modern man, who has rejected this, has no clue as to who he is, and because of this he can find no real value for himself or for other men. Hence, he downgrades the value of other men and produces the horrible thing we face today—a sick culture in which men treat men as inhuman, as machines. As Christians, however, we know the value of men. 
All men are our neighbors, and we are to love them as ourselves. We are to do this on the basis of creation, even if they are not redeemed, for all men have value because they are made in the image of God. Therefore they are to be loved even at great cost." (Schaeffer, pp. 15-16)

It is clear, is it not, that in all our discourse with people we are to love them. This is the higher ground, where Jesus was suspended on a cross.

The love principle applies even when in sharp disagreement with others. Remember that to love is not equivalent to affirmation, and that disagreement is not a justification for hatred.


***
My books are:

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (co-edited with Janice Trigg)

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity

31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship

31 Letters to the Church on Praying

When Does a Human Life Begin?

 

(Frost on car window)

"An amicus curiae (literally, "friend of the court"; plural: amici curiae) often referred to as amicus brief is defined as the legal brief where someone who is not a party to a case assists a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on whether to consider an amicus brief lies within the discretion of the court. The phrase amicus curiae is legal Latin and its origin of the term has been dated back to 1605-1615. The scope of amicus curiae is generally found in the cases where broad public interests are involved and concerns regarding civil rights are in question." (From Wikipedia)

One of the legal briefs accepted by the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case regarding abortion rights concerned the following.

(From the brief.) 

"Amici curiae are biologists who work at colleges, universities, and other institutions in 15 countries around the world.

The fertilization view is widely recognized—in the literature and by biologists—as the leading biological view on when a human’s life begins... An international survey of academic biologists’ views on when a human’s life begins reported 96% of 5,577 participants affirmed the fertilization view. 

Fertilization, generally, marks the beginning of a sexually reproducing organism’s life and, specifically, marks the beginning of a human’s life, as it is the point at which a human first comes into physical existence as an organism that is biologically classified as a member of the Homo sapiens species."

When someone asks me why I am against abortion, my response is: Because I am against killing an innocent, defenseless human being.

Worry

 

(Sunset, Monroe County)

Here are some thoughts about worry.

Of all the things I have worried about in my life, I estimate that less than 5% have come to pass. I have spent too much time worrying about things that came to nothing.

Worry, anxiety, fear… I’ve experienced them all. You have, too. What kind of person would not worry? One answer is: someone who had their brain removed. But then, of course, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy their worry-free life.

How is it possible to have the brains we have and move into greater freedom from worry? The answer Jesus gives is this: a person who trusts in God would not worry. “Trust” and “worry” do not go together. 

Jesus speaks about this in Matthew 6:25-34. Slow down and re-listen to these words.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 

And why do you worry about clothes? 

See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So... 

1. Worrying adds nothing to our lives. I’ve read studies that claim worrying actually subtracts from the days of one’s life. Worrying is non-productive. Worry, anxiety, and fear immobilize, and lead to non-action. Worrying makes worrisome situations worse. If today you are worried about something, rest assured that “worry” will not make the situation better and, in some cases, will make it worse because of the resultant non-activity.

2. Trusting in God will lead to basic needs being provided. We must distinguish between basic needs, and personal wants and desires. I have found myself, at times, worrying about something that I don’t even really need. This is a true waste of emotional time and energy!

3. Some run after material things as a cure for worry. But even acquisition can be worrisome. Richard Foster, in A Celebration of Discipline, argues that the more material things a person has, the more things they have to worry about. 

Here I am reminded of research I’ve done on materialistic cultures and levels of anxiety. Dr. David Augsburger wrote a brilliant study showing how some cultures, who have little materially, do not have a lexical entry for “anxiety,” because the condition is nonexistent. These cultures are tribal. In them, the community absorbs the worry. 

Thankfulness is an antidote to worry. I have found that when I am thankful for what I have, rather than needing to have more things to be thankful for, I am more at peace in myself.

“Worry” is the tip of an iceberg. Melt off the tip, and more surfaces. To get rid of the tip, get rid of the entire iceberg. 

Spiritually, this is about our heart. I am asking God to heal my heart that is still too consumed with the cares of this world. Only then can He use me to help others with their cares and concerns. The more self-obsessive I am, the less good I am to others.

Here are some things to get help and healing from worry.

- Keep a spiritual journal. Write down your fears and worries, and give them to God. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him for he cares for you.”

- Re-read your journal periodically. Remembering how God has been with you in the past gives hope for the present.

- Saturate your heart, soul, and mind with God-things. Do not let the news surrounding the reporting of the pandemic occupy every room of your heart. I have found that when I make it my first priority to fill my heart and mind with God-things, I gain an eternal perspective on world-things. While the coronavirus is real, surely some of the fears accompanying it will not happen.

- Separate your real needs from your mere wants. Observe how our American materialistic culture works to create false needs within us that lead to false anxiety over a) either not having such things, or b) over having them and needing to care for them, protect them, store them, worship them, etc.

- Follow Jesus more intently and more intensely. Read Matthew 25 about what Jesus says in regard to helping the poor and needy. Take His words seriously and move towards others. As you begin doing this, you will find that your own cares and worries diminish.

- Make a list of blessings you are thankful for. Carry it with you, pull it out occasionally, and re-read it.

Trust God. Trust is not an emotion, but an action. Trust in God and worry cannot coexist in the same human heart.