In my humble opinion, there is a dangerous malaise within some segments of the Christian church that is founded upon a misguided theological premise. This premise is that because we live in a fallen, sin-cursed world, we’re going to face trials and hardships that will test our faith, that will seem to hide God’s love and presence from our lives, but we must press on and endure until the day the Lord takes us home to be with Him in Heaven. If you are or were a Christian at some point, I’m sure you’ve heard this kind of sentiment expressed in various settings. I could go into an historical analysis of where this sort of worldview originated, but I’ll refrain from doing so at the moment and just say that, if you actually read the New Testament with fresh eyes, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning of the text to you, you will find a very different picture.
A picture that God’s love and presence is always available to us. A picture that we are to live and walk in victory, singing praises to God and giving thanks for all his blessings. A picture that we have been given dominion and authority over ALL the powers of darkness when we cultivate a pure, servant heart that desires to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth.
We will indeed face trials in our lives, but the passionate, overwhelming, crazy love we’re meant to have for God, the love that He has for us, is so much bigger than ANYTHING we will ever face. Whatever we lose along the journey, we’ll gain back good things tenfold. The testimony of true disciples everywhere is that Jesus, the bridegroom, provides everything in abundance to His bride. We are to live in a state of blessing, with all of our real needs met, even though that pales in comparison to our core identity and our purpose: to worship God and advance His Kingdom of Light here on earth by loving and serving others and sharing the gift of eternal life.
The Christian life is one of positive values: joy, peace, patience, wisdom. A lifestyle of negative pessimism, focusing on everyone’s failings and our own inability to carry out the tasks God’s appointed to us, is not a life of victory and strength. Isn’t it time Christians were known the world over as being the most joyful, passionate people anywhere?
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“We are to live in a state of blessing, with all of our real needs met”
What do you mean by real needs? If you mean physical needs, then there are millions of Christians in Africa, parts of China and Asia who would laugh out loud if you told them that the normal Christian state is to have all their needs met.
My other concern is that if you present the view espoused in your blog post to someone going through a personal crisis, they may merely feel guilty that they aren’t laughing and jumping for joy, when what they need is the comfort of God even in their very real pain.
I agree that a life of pessimism is unwarranted, but the Bible calls us in various places to persevere, press on and endure. So there must be some truth in that way of thinking about life’s troubles, mustn’t there?
I really appreciate the points you raised, Gerv. I don’t want to in any way diminish the pain people feel in their lives due to tragic or abusive circumstances, nor do I want to make light of the suffering Christians endure through persecution for their faith and material hardships.
However, I must point out that Paul records in the Bible a litany of woes, including beatings, starvation, political abuse, imprisonment, and more — yet at the same time extorts us to praise God and give Him thanks, share the gospel with others, and live a life of spiritual fruit. You find the same theme in David’s psalms. One of the many Hebrew names of God is Jehovah-Jireh, or “The Lord Will Provide”. All throughout history, we see evidence of miraculous provision for God’s people, and this is still going on today. It certainly has in my and my family’s lives as well (most notably before and after the death of my mother due to cancer).
So I just don’t see much scriptural evidence that it’s acceptable to attain to anything less than a victorious, fruitful, joyous life, even in the midst of trying circumstances. We may not always feel like praising God, shouting for joy, serving others, etc., but I believe that’s our supreme calling. Why is it OK to settle for less?
I think an important thing to note is that true joy, biblical joy, is much more than just a feeling. Feelings come and go but joy is something that remains regardless of emotion. Would you agree, Jared?
I’m far from being an emotionalist. Sometimes my favorite times with God are when I’m by myself in silence. But I think Ben that it’s a false dichotomy. Somehow, the comparison is a true state of being vs. fleeting emotions, with the later getting the boot. I don’t believe we need to settle for that dichotomy.
Our emotions stem from our core state of being. The emotional impact I get from listening to a Beethoven symphony stems from my core appreciation of fine music. The emotional impact I get from someone handing me a free gift stems from my core appreciation of generosity.
Negative emotions also stem from a core state of being which is fallen from grace, confused, abused, and selfish. If I know that my God is a God of joy and peace, yet I feel scared, fearful, anxious, and unsettled, why is this? Why should I accept that this is OK? If I know that my God is a God of joy and peace, shouldn’t I feel joy? Shouldn’t I feel peace?
If we as Christians viewed our hearts and minds and emotions the same way as our outward actions, I think we’d realize that negative emotions are actually sin. In fact, Jesus said this very thing when he said that if we hold anger and bitterness in our hearts towards another person, we commit murder. If we lust after someone, we commit adultery. The sin isn’t in the action, it’s in the heart. It’s in our core state of being, and that’s where emotions come from.
When the disciples were in the midst of the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and all the waters and winds were full of fury, Jesus was quietly sleeping. Why? Because He had peace, and he imparted that peace to the storm to quiet it. The disciples learned an important lesson that day, and I hope I’m able every day to be a real disciple of Jesus and quietly sleep when the storm is raging outside.
I see your point, I think. I have a hard time believing that my clinical depression (being controlled with Prozac) is a sin though. It’s a result of the fallenness of man, but I don’t think it’s something I need (indeed, can) repent from. Feelings are based on a lot more than just our head knowledge.
I think you cast your net too wide when you list emotions which are sinful. I’ll give you lust. Anger is often sinful, but not always - the one we are called to imitate, Jesus, was righteously angry at the moneychangers in the temple. (If you say “Jesus was perfect; we can’t do that”, I say “How do you choose which bits of Jesus behaviour we should imitate?”)
Confusion is not sinful. Fear of the Lord is never sinful; and I don’t think fear of other things always is. I find it hard to characterise a fear that an approaching army might kill your wife and child as a sin - even if you fully accept that they are saved and would go to be with Jesus.
The definition of sin is rebellion against God. “Negative” emotions are only sinful insofar as they fit that definition.
There are many Christians who find it very hard to feel joyful and peaceful. I suggest that pastorally, telling them that they are being sinful and to pull their socks up is probably not the best approach.
Yes, feelings can be a result of brain chemistry. Depression is a real, physical condition. Is it a sin to have a broken arm or cancer?
But I value the ideas you bring up–it’s an interesting idea. The last counselor I had asserted to me, “Feelings can’t be wrong or right,” and I disagreed because racism seems wrong, and other hatreds. It’s an important topic.
I agree with what Gerv said, with his whole comment.
I also agree with Laura except for the part about racism. I would say that racism is more of an ideology or a twisted understanding/view of a group of people more so than an emotion.
Wow, a flood of comments all of a sudden. I appreciate what you all have said, I’ll have to spend some time thinking about it…topics of some future posts?
I’d like to share with you one thing that happened to my mom that completely changed the spiritual landscape for me. As long as I knew her (and longer as my dad will confirm), she was plagued with nightmares. She also dealt with very debilitating depression at times, even suicidal thoughts. She had a very abused and dangerous childhood, and even though she became a Christian and left the hippie/drugs/rock scene around the age of 18, she never really mastered all of this baggage. She carried it around for years.
But about two+ years ago, as both she and we as a family were getting closer to the Lord, she went to a Healing Rooms for prayer. Among many other things that happened, they identified (without her ever mentioning this) that a spirit of nightmare had been plaguing her. They commanded it to leave in Jesus’ name, and she felt in an almost physical sense some dark presence flee from her soul.
From then on until the day she died in early August 2006, she never had another nightmare.
Praise the Lord! I think that’s wonderful! Obviously I can’t say “no, that wasn’t a “spirit of nightmare” or whatever. Who am I to know such things? I myself have been a recipient of divine healing so who am I to say other people can’t receive similar gifts?
I hesitate to look for demons under every rock, that’s just me. I’m not saying you do that, I’m just saying that it’s not in my nature to look for a “spirit of nightmare” or whatever, I tend to look at more … tangible (?) causes. But then, I’m not always right either. Spiritual warfare is a very real, very present thing and shouldn’t be ignored.
Thanks for sharing what you did Jared on the importance of not being negative. I think about in Ephesians when were called to not use unwholesome talk, but only what is beneficial for building others up. I think of Paul expounding joy when in Prison in Philippi.
I will jump in with a few others though on the two points made in the first comment. We need to be careful in how we exhort positive talk. When people are struggling they need a safe place within the body of Christ to do that. Too many churches are full of fake perfect plastic smiles and no community in which to truly share your soul. And there are a lot of hurting souls out there.
The second is the mention of material blessings. Be sure to think from a global view when we read the scripture because the church is certainly global. God is providing for many people’s needs. But you can’t deny that even today and strong, Bible-believing born again Christian family or mother is going to hold her dying child in her arms because she can’t find enough food to feed the child. I believe that has to do with the injustice that you and I are probably to a large degree responsible for, but that’s for another conversation.
Keep up the thinking and writing.
Yes, Ariah, I too have a big problem with fake plastic churches where everyone’s supposed to be happy and cheerful and if you are having real problems there must be something wrong with you. Real churches talk about the nitty-gritty facts of life and invite people to explore the dark depths of their souls.
However, I’m talking about a theology which emphasizes sin, human weakness, and tragedy at the expense of the greater truths about God’s blessing, purpose, provision, and power that we as Christians have access to via the Holy Spirit. When someone is born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ, they have access to the throne room of heaven. Many Christians don’t even realize that we’re seated at the right hand of the Father, right now — why? Because they’re too preoccupied with the cares and burdens of this life and all the myriad reasons God can’t use them to change the world. I say this with authority because I used to be one of those Christians. It’s only by the grace of God I’ve since learned enough to know that’s a bad place to be, theologically. This blog’s number-one reason for existence is to share my journey out of that morass of fatalism and malaise, and I can’t even begin to tell you what a joy it is to be in this better place.
Right on.
Philippians is a great book for emphasizing Joy rather then negativity.
While I’m all for Christian joy (as I hope I’ve made clear) and I feel joyful every day, I think it’s dangerous to call the truth about the availability of God’s blessing “greater” than the truth of human sinfulness and weakness.
The reason I have such overwhelming joy is that I am constantly amazed that God could bless someone as sinful and weak as me. The truth of my sinfulness is a great truth, and an important one - because without it, there is no need for grace, and without it, I may become arrogant.
Without wanting to unfairly include you in a generalisation, what we see of American Christian culture here in the UK indicates that, if anything, there is an over-emphasis on the blessings, kindness, generosity and love of God and a minimalising of his authority, jealousy, zeal, hatred of sin and judgement. God is seen as happy and warm and fluffy, not awe-ful, holy and fear-inspiring. (Perhaps American observers have comments about British Christian culture too; I’m sure it’s much easier to see things when you aren’t in the middle of them.)
There is a balance to be found here - like the balance between the “now” and the “not yet” of God’s promises to us. We need to both recognise our sin and rejoice in our salvation.
It is important to achieve a balance; I agree with you there. I think Gerv that I know what you mean regarding some churches in American — there’s an unfortunate glut of social club/self-help-style Christian groups and best-selling star-power speakers that I’m not sure are bringing people fully into the knowledge of the truth, including the ugly ramifications thereof.
I can’t say that I know too much about Christianity in Britain, to be honest. Until somewhat recently, I wasn’t really involved in much of the Christian “scene” even though my basic belief system was strongly Christian. I do know that we see atheism taking a stronger hold there (and in the rest of Europe) than in the U.S., although this country is heading down that path too. Time for us to WAKE UP and serve our community in Love and Power instead of playing football and watching the latest TV show.
Hey, I just found out that you work for the Mozilla Foundation. That’s really cool! How did you get involved with that?
I started as a volunteer in 2000 and one thing led to another
I agree with Ben and Gerv. I also believe in this day it is often believed and taught that becoming a Christian will somehow remove or cover up all of your pains, fears and troubles here on Earth. Some even teach God has some sort of Obligation to do so. From my experience Christians are some of the most heart broken, saddened, depressed, pain filled humans on earth. But I don’t really see how that meets on a level with a life to come of Glorified bodies and eternity with God. All of this is why I believe it is important to seek refuge in Christ alone, His Character, His Being, WHO He was, Who he Became in the flesh, and Who He remains today, which is God. Persevere Christians.
“From my experience Christians are some of the most heart broken, saddened, depressed, pain filled humans on earth.”
Odd, isn’t it? I know plenty of Christians who are living a joy-filled life full of abundance, ready to face the challenges of our time, praising God with thanksgiving in the midst of circumstances both good and evil, excited about the work God has placed in their hands to bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth.
Let me be clear: depression has no place in the Christian life. I will repeat myself: depression has no place in the Christian life. If you, me, or anyone else is plagued by depression, that is the work of an evil spirit. Believe me, I have lived through this first-hand with my mom, and to a lesser extent my dad, and even myself. Depression is truly one of the most evil forces I have ever seen, and in its most virulent, life-robbing, suicidal moments, scares me far more than sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Thankfully, I don’t need to be scared, since Jesus has given us the power to overcome the black pit of darkness that tries to cloud our minds.
The contentment Paul describes in Philipians 4:10-13 pretty much sums this up. Describing the concern he felt from the church in Phillipi, he writes:
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Paul can do all things that need to be done, because Jesus is his strength. He can face each day anew, praising God and giving thanks for who He is and what He has done. Isn’t that amazing? I live with that contentment in my own life in my spiritual walk — and when I feel that contentment slipping away from me, I know that I’ve gone astray and need to seek God more fervently once again.
Give me all the troubles and evil of the world. What are they, compared to the beauty and riches we have in Christ Jesus?
I received an email notification of a comment by Michael Louviere, but it hasn’t shown up here. Any idea what happened to it, Jared?
You said “and when I feel that contentment slipping away from me, I know that I’ve gone astray and need to seek God more fervently once again.”
There are several things that one can and should be discontented about in ones Christian life. The poor quality of one’s obedience to God; the church’s level of compromise with the world; the rampant sinfulness of our culture; one’s own lack of knowledge of the Bible and the God it reveals… I could go on. Discontentment is not sinful. If one has a true understanding of the level of one’s own sin (and few if any of us do), one should always be in some senses discontent.
What you describe seems to be crossing the border from contentment into complacency.
I would hesitate to attribute all instances of depression to the work of an evil spirit. Many instances of the disease are cured or mitigated by medication. Can evil spirits be removed or suppressed by taking pills?
Well, I suppose depression can sometimes be caused by a bad diet or habits, but that comes and goes. I was specifically talking about debilitating, suicidal, bleak, chronic depression. So many people I know and that I’ve heard of have been healed of this through inner healing and deliverance ministries. And that works much better than medication.
Can evil spirits be suppressed by taking pills? Absolutely. They’re constrained to the chemistry of our brains just the same as our own soul is. But that’s another discussion.
As for the contentment bit, I know what you’re trying to say. What you’re talking about is a motivating factor to press into God. Longing for more of God is good, and a sense of “there must be more than this” is important — especially if God wants us to embark on a new phase of our journey and we’re not moving into it properly.
However, a general discontentment or malaise, a feeling that God’s unhappy with us or we don’t measure up, or that we’re not capable of storming Hell’s gates and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom because we’re just weak, sinful, and frail — that’s what I’m talking about. And that’s a destructive force from the enemy intended to rob us of the victory that Jesus died and paid for on the cross. I honor Jesus’ supreme sacrifice by chasing after His blessings and spiritual inheritance that we wants to give to me. I believe every Christian can and should do likewise!
Oops, I forgot to answer your question, Gerv: Michael was continuing a conversation we were having on his blog that he wanted to take offline, so I didn’t want to continue it here either. It wasn’t any kind of sinister censorship.
We’re on good speaking terms still, so everything’s coo’. 