I believe it was the ancient Christian leader St. Augustine who described evil as 'the absence of goodness.' That is to say, the less something is good and godly, the more it is evil and sinful. A person who focuses less and less on goodness will therefore become more and more evil and sinful.
What then is the best way to keep from falling into self-destructive behavior and habits that gradually drag our minds and actions into realms of darkness and selfishness and greed and self indulgence? The answer is to avoid the absence of goodness--which means that one will focus on being continually filled with goodness.
Can you imagine what a day would be like if we all focused on the godly, good things all day for one day, and looked at each person in as good a way as we possibly could?
I dare say that if we listen to music that promotes the goodness of God, and we watch movies that promote godly goodness, and we look at people and make ourselves think, 'regardless of how they act, they're created by God and God loves them and so do I,' etc. etc.--we'll be well on our way to being filled with such goodness that evil will naturally decrease because of our increase in God's goodness.
"God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." -- 1 John 1:5-7 (NRSV)
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5 weeks ago
4 comments:
Nathan,
To me, it seems like you are addressing two things tangled up together: 1. where you choose to focus your mind, 2. what you intake from the outside. If this is an accurate statement - in principle I only agree with one of your two points (the first one).
Galatians 5, 6 and Romans 7 clearly speak of the war that goes on between a person's flesh (old man, outer man, sin nature) and their spirit (new man, inner man) in the life of someone who has accepted Jesus as the payment for his/her sins and as their Lord. It is also clear from these passages that we have a choice to set our mind on God instead of on sin. This is bluntly put in Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." = focus on GOD - then as a result sin will DECREASE in your life (the order is important - it isn't the other way around). This is precisely what your post advocates.
The second point could lead to trouble. Here's what Jesus said to his disciples:
Matthew 15:17-20 "Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?
18"But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
19"For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
20"These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."
Now by all means we should focus on God, and do whatever his Spirit compells us (as we READ the Bible and are convicted AND are prompted directly by the Spirit); but Jesus did not ask that we would be removed from the world (John 17), but that our love would go out to everyone and be a witness that God is real.
How does this distinction play out in real life? Here are some scenarios for everyone to ask themselves:
A. Your coworkers use blatant profanity around you. Do you tell them to stop, avoid them, or engage them as your friends?
B. Your child or child's friend listens to a non-Christian band that you don't like. Do you tell your child not to listen/associate with that music, or listen to the music your self and start a conversation with your child about why they like it and what they think of the lyrics/rhythm?
C. Everyone at work is talking about new show X that is about promiscuous dating. Do you tell your coworkers that what they watch is immoral and smutty, avoid these conversations because they make you angry and you haven't seen the show or watch the show in order to engage your soworkers on a topic they like while praying that God would use the talks and the show to build a friendship and engage on a spiritual topic?
These examples are not geared towards situations where someone has an area of moral weaknesses that God has called them to avoid for their own good.
-Bill
P.S. I feel duty bound to add the rest of 1 John 1 for a context of grace:
1 Jn 1:8-10 "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
Nathan and Bill K:
I experience it in my life all the time. It is not a matter of where I "choose" to focus, but rather allowing myself to be consumed by the pace of life in the electronic and information age. It is hard not to be dragged out of the light when we are constantly bombarded by "news" of every bad thing that happens globally and instantly. We need to turn off the TV and the computer and look into the eyes of another to experience the light of His love.
I do not expect to be sin free, but I know that I am saved form my sins becaue of God's great and unconditional love for me. Hence I submit to the will of God and deliver myself to be used as an instrument of His will. Notice, I said "deliver myself", not "offer" myself. Hence, I am not "offering" to make some deal to help God accomplish what I think he wants. Rather I am acknowledging "the fact" that I am his beloved servant and he uses me for His purposes. Hence, I "deliver" myself to him. I am HIs.
The thing that is missing from Bill K's part two analysis is the power of prayer. The hard choices proffered in Bill K's part two hypotheticals each have the same simple solution; prayer. If prayer is not a part of the equasion, and the choices posited demand a correct choice by me, I know I will sometimes choose wrongly. Does that mean I have failed? I am a sinner? Am I estranged from God because I did not make the right choice? I don't think so.
God and I both know I am a sinner, but He loves me so much that the blood of His Son has been spilled to save me. Through prayer, I must acknowledge the God is our loving father and we are the instrument of his will; the medium through which his will is accomplished in our world. We place ourselves in His hands and in His service and ask that He use us to accomplish his will on earth. Then it is done.
The result may not always be as we expect. But God's will is always done. I know this is true from personal experience. I could give many examples from my own life, but there is no need. Anyone who submits himself to God in prayer will experience this for himself. If, in the hypothetical examples given by Bill K, we recognize that the burden of these choices is not on us, but can be given to God to answer through us, we live in light, not darkness. We can offer ourselves to God; "Here am I, God, use me", but Your will be done. Thus we become an insturment of His will. He uses us in His way, not necessarily as we would have it.
Through submission to God in prayer, the hard life choices will be made by Him. We will live in the light and in the joy that comes from the Master-servant relationship with God as our Master. We will not be frustrated and troubled by hard decisions that are not really ours to make.
So my answer to Bill K is, "Give it to God in prayer." "Thy will be done." "Use me." That is all there is to it.
In this relationship with God, am I always free of sin? No. If I thought otherwise, I would be living a lie, and dwelling in darkness. Sometimes I forget to submit. Sometimes I think I have the answers, and forget to submit the tough choices to Him. When that happens, the light goes away, I become frustrated and I allow the darkness of the world to linger over me, and I feel the tremendous burden on my shoulders. Then I wake up and realize I have lapsed in my relationship with God. Ultimately I again submit, and give it to the Lord in Prayer. That is when I once again find myself in the light.
I think this pretty much tracks what Nathan is saying.
Bill S.
Bill S.
Two great points!
- Make dates with God.
- Prayer with God gives you direction on how to act.
I hope this blog and our comments have brought this to the front of our consciousness where we can pray about it and ask God how to act.
Doing this we can prevent ourselves from living in a Christian fort instead of engaging with the world (as my happen by applying a blanket statement to try and live in the absence of evil)
-Bill K.
Nathan, I miss your blog entries a lot. You flesh out really interesting issues, in some ways going beyond what you can & do on Sundays.
This particular thoughtful post brings to mind Phil 4:8, which is part of my "tombstone verse", ie the passage I want on my tombstone & read at my funeral, Phil 4:4-9.
Verse 8 reads: "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Peter could walk on water when he kept his eyes on Christ. The moment he looked away in doubt - he sank like a stone.
I find this in my own life all the time. God never changes. It is only my orientation to Him, my focus, that waxes & wanes like the moon. When I have my focus on Him, I shine. When my focus is on other things - usually, my OWN circumstance, good or bad - I am dull and lifeless.
Tozer also had a great passage on this in The Pursuit of God. Indeed, the whole theme of that great classic of Christian literature is directed to this subject. At the end of Chap 4, he says
As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes.
Two last song references:
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart,
I want to see You,
I want to see You
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Nathan - please continue blogging. I relish your insights.
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