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Tag Archives: the heart

How God is Blessed

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .” – Eph 1:3

Three times in this short verse Paul uses some form of the Greek word εὐλογέω (yoo-log-eh’-o). This word is where we get our modern English word “eulogy.” When someone dies, it is usually the responsibility of a close relative or friend to give a eulogy at the funeral. They will say something nice about or speak well of the deceased. In a sense, they are “praising” the person as having lived a “good life” as a “good person.”

When the ancient authors of the New Testament wrote Greek they put the words that they wanted to emphasize or the words that were most important at the beginning of the sentence. While the English translators of the Bible translate the sentence correctly, the English sentences sometimes fail to communicate the importance that the original writers intended to convey. The first word Paul uses in the sentence is “Blessed” (εὐλογητός). He wants his readers to understand what is so significant about their God. Eὐλογητός is actually made up of two words “εὐ” (eu), which means “good”, and λόγος (logos), which means “word.” So this compound Greek word can literally be translated “to speak a good word” or more loosely, “to praise.”

Another word that we get from εὐλογέω is the English word “adorable.” I have often used this term many times to describe my own nieces and nephews. However, the original meaning of this word has changed over time. The word “adorable” comes from two words meaning “able to be adored.” We use the word “adore” a lot in modern English. I’ve heard young teenage girls say something like, “I simply adore him” when referring to their favorite pop star.  This is actually getting closer to the original meaning.  To “adore” something means “to have a strong affection for.” Little children are adorable (able to be adored) because often their innocence stirs our hearts with love and affection for them. Young teens “adore” their favorite pop stars. Their hearts prize and value them very highly and often more than anyone else. For us it is God who is to be adored, treasured, and worshiped above everything and everyone else.

Humilty: A Goal for Our Identity

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I’m not humble. Few of us actually are. But the crazy thing about the gospel is that when God looks at us through Christ, he sees us as perfectly humble. In Philippians 2 Pauls says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Christ is the ultimate model of humility. He was God, yet became a human. We are human, and we strive our hardest to be a god, to be worshiped and adored by others. But Christ, who was God, did not come demanding to be served and worshiped (even though he had every right to). Christ came to serve and give the glory he deserved to his Father. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” If we perceive ourselves to be the lowest, then we can look up and see and serve everyone.

As Christ himself said, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Identity Crisis: Stuff (Part 3)

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The clearest example of how this is true (what you treasure and look to for satisfaction and joy will be what overtakes the affections of your heart) can be seen in Mark 10:17-27.

“As he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: “Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.”’ And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’”

Notice something here. The rich young ruler wants to know what he must “do” to inherit eternal life. He comes to Jesus with a question loaded with assumptions. He assumes that eternal life is attained by something he must do. Jesus immediately takes aim at his heart. He exposes the man’s self righteous, self-reliant heart using the law by quoting him the Ten Commandments. But the rich young ruler, blinded by his self-righteousness, defends his moral prowess by proudly declaring that he has perfectly kept the law.

Jesus is not fooled by the young man’s reply, he presses in further by challenging the young man to act on what he has professed to be true. In essence Jesus is saying to the man, “If you have kept all the commandments, you must have kept the first one that says not to have any other gods besides Yahweh. So then, since you do not love all the stuff in your life more than God, go sell it all and come follow the Son of Yahweh.” Of course we all know what happened next. The young man goes away very sad “for he had great possessions.” The truth is, this rich young ruler was putting his faith in himself (status) as being able to “do” something to inherit eternal life, and, as a result, his heart grew to treasure his “stuff.

Jesus summarizes this seen in Matthew 6:24 when he says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The young ruler didn’t just love his stuff more than God, he loved himself and his stuff so much that it made his love for God look like hatred. His treasure was his himself and his wealth; he valued and treasured them as more satisfying than anyone or anything else.

Identity Crisis: Stuff (Part 1)

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Besides status, people also worship stuff. They treasure earthly possessions above all else, sincerely believing that things can bring joy. The writer of Psalm 115 continues in verses 2-9:

“Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.

Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.”

Those who do not trust in God trust in idols. The picture of a modern day businessman, athlete, or scientist bowing down before a graven image can seem a little comical. Our world is becoming less and less “religious.” However, what is not so funny is seeing the businessman bow before the idol of wealth, the athlete bow before the idol of fame and glory, and the scientist bow before the idol of knowledge.

There is nothing inherently evil about wealth, popularity and knowledge. Abraham was so wealthy he had his own personal army, Solomon was not only the wisest, but riches and most famous man in the world in his day. However, it is the love and pursuit of these things as treasured possessions with the hope and belief that they will somehow produce satisfaction and joy that is sinful; it’s called idolatry. Treasuring anything other than God with your heart’s highest affection is idolatry.

Continue with part 2 on Monday . . .

The Great Exchange That Needs to Change

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Before the fall of Adam man lived in perfect harmony with God. His whole heart pursued pleasure and was satisfied in God alone. Unfortunately, after the fall, the world was plunged into sin and darkness. Man’s affections were twisted and depraved. Instead of loving and serving God as the Creator of all things, man began to worship the things that had been created. Paul gives us the gory details in  Romans 1:21-25:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

Paul says that men know God, but they simply choose to ignore him. Because they choose to live with out him they become foolish and exchange living for God’s glory for living for their own glory. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie. What is this “truth” and “lie” exchange? The key to understanding what truth is exchanged for a lie, is in the subsequent phrase “and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” What would cause men to exchange this truth for a lie? What would cause men to turn from worshiping an eternal God to worshiping temporal things? Sin certainly plays a role, but how? What men exchange is the truth that God is all that man will ever need or want to find soul satisfying pleasure and delight. And what they believe instead is the lie that status and stuff can satisfy just as much, if not more, than God.

This precedent was set for us in Genesis chapter three:

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Satan’s line of reasoning was simple. “God is a liar; he is holding out on you. He is not everything you need for your soul to be satisfied. There is something else, something created that can give you real joy.” Satan convinced Eve that God was not enough, and Eve fell for it hook, line and sinker. She exchanged the truth that the paradise, which God had created for her with its rules to protect her and keep her best interest in mind, was no longer enough. God was no longer enough. Instead she gave herself completely to the lie that by eating the forbidden fruit she would become like God; perhaps she could make a paradise that was even better with her own rules of right and wrong and where she could look out for her own interests. She wanted to be the god of her world; that would be just as good if not better than obeying God, right? We’ve been feeling the effects of that kind of thinking ever since.

Worship: The Heart of Our Identity

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When we use the word “worship” in modern evangelical circles it invokes images of Sunday morning congregations singing hymns or praise and worship songs to a piano, organ, or even electric guitars and drums. When you first read the title of this post you may have thought that it was about singing and playing music on Sunday mornings. But when I use the word worship I am speaking of what every person ever created was born to do.

What one thing occupies your thoughts? What drives you to be the person you are? If you were to ask yourself what the single most important thing in your life is, what one single thing your treasure in your heart above everything else, would you say that it is God? It would be tempting to say, “God” as your answer because years of preconditioning in Sunday school has taught you that nine times out of ten that is the right answer. Be honest with yourself. Most of us know that the answer should be “God.” But the truth is that God is not occupying the center of our lives. Moreover, we don’t know how to make him the most important thing in our life. Most of us have been taught the “what” of Christianity, but few of us seem to understand the “how.” Simply knowing that God should be the prized possession of our hearts doesn’t make him so.

Worshiping God is about more than what style of music you have on Sunday mornings. Worshiping God is living daily at setting God as the highest object of your affection and ultimate source of joy through faith in Jesus Christ. It is through knowing and trusting in Christ by faith as the perfect image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15) that we experience all that the Father is and has done for us, and thereby engage in true worship.

A Fresh Look at “Idols of the Heart” – Guest Post by David Powlison

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“Idols of the Heart and ‘Vanity Fair’ was published in 1991, and then republished in CCEF’s Journal of Biblical Counseling in 1995. How well does the article hold up after twenty years? You be the judge. But as I reread it, I think it does pretty well. Let me make two introductory comments, first to orient you, and second to caution and remind you of important things.

First, the article explores a single weighty question: How is sin more than behavior? Everyone knows that ‘sin’ means bad behavior—“the works of the flesh are obvious.” But what else is it? Our actions, attitudes, words, thoughts and emotions do not arise in a vacuum. The Bible embeds and locates the obvious behaviors in an intricate, co-operating web of dark forces.

The flesh not only ‘works’ obviously, it also ‘lusts’ inwardly. Sin’s operations include an inner psychological dimension that is relentlessly self-centering, self-exalting, self-willed… and self-deceiving. We believe lies, pursue lusts and flee fears. Ego usurps God, and ultimately self-destructs. We are tempted by our own desires, birthing sin, resulting in death (James 1:14–15).

The ‘world’ adds a situational dimension. Our social and cultural surround marries the heart’s proclivities to a buzz of deceitful voices, values, vanities, promises and threats, pains and pleasures. We are lied to in 10,000 ways, eliciting and pandering to our lusts and fears. The world variously bullies and seduces us, birthing sin, reaping death.

The ‘devil’ adds a false-father, false-lord dimension. An active enemy craves, schemes, lies, bullies, tempts, deceives, enslaves, accuses… and murders. This father of lies and serial killer deforms his children into his image of pride and craving. The enemy minds you, finds you, wines and dines you, blinds you, binds you and finally grinds you.

O merciful Father, lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil.

The energizing and deceiving trio of flesh, world and devil describes the vertical dimension of sin. These God-substitutes conspire to hijack the heart for darkness. Sin is more than behavior.

Second, over the years I’ve heard how people read (or misread), apply (or misapply) my article. I am delighted by how many people have been illumined by this rather technical analysis, and have found their faith energized. But the most common misreading and misapplication takes it in an introspective direction. Am I encouraging an inward hunt for ‘the idol’ in either my heart or yours? No.

The article itself is intently analytical. It is a narrowly focused topical probe. It is an attempt to see into the fog of war, to get a grip on evils that intentionally squirm out of our hands because deceivers do not want to be seen.

As a laser beam, the article can well serve as an aid to clearer self-knowledge. But a call to introspective self-analysis? Never. An invitation to nosy mind-reading of others motives? Never. Self-analysis cannot save us, and can become simply one more form of self-fascination. Other-analysis cannot save others, and can become simply one more form of judgmentalism.

True self-knowledge is a fine gift. It always leads us out of ourselves, and to our Father who, knowing us thoroughly, loves us utterly. True self-knowledge does not wallow around inside. God purposes to draw us out of self-preoccupation. Seeing the vertical dimension of the struggle with sin and death, reach out more boldly to the one who is life and light.

There are many reasons not to go on an idol-hunt.

Our renegade desires are not so complicated as to necessitate a ‘hunt.’ The desires that mislead us are self-deceiving, because we are so plausible to ourselves. They can be hard to identify. But they are not as complicated as we might imagine. For example, when I complain and grumble, my horizontal sin is wedded to multifaceted vertical sin. I grumble because

I want ____.

I fear____.

I need ____.

I expect____.

My kingdom come and My will be done take charge. I erase God from his universe (unbelief). I exalt myself (pride). I am enslaved to what I most want (lust). I am living in the community of grumblers, and wanting things that current opinion, cultural values and modern advertising teach me to need (world). I am exhibiting what James 3:14–16 portrays as the logic of a devilish wisdom. Fill in the blanks and you’ve named the nasty God-substitute that fired up a bad attitude.

It is helpful to name the mastering lust, fear, felt-need or expectation that hijacked God’s place. Repentance becomes more intelligent. I can bring to the Father of mercies both my behavior and my motives, both my horizontal and my vertical need. His love is magnified because I see my need more clearly.

Our renegade desires are not solo operatives. To be sure, the desires that mislead us are “all about me.” But they never work alone. The flesh partners with world and devil, as we have seen. Often I’ve heard this article referred to in shorthand as “Idols of the Heart.” But my title intentionally includes ‘Vanity Fair,’ the situational forces that beset us. It’s just as much about looking around as it is about looking in the mirror.

If I’d thought to impose a longer title on readers, I would have called it “Idols of the Heart, Vanity Fair and the Prince of Darkness.” Sin means war, and the war is fought both inside and all around us. I chose to use only the first two terms primarily because the article holds a running conversation with the behavioral and social sciences. Sin intimately characterizes the very phenomena that these sciences study—yet they expunge all awareness of sin. That’s significant. To front-end load the devil would be theologically balanced, but it would have immediately distracted from the implications of sin for psychology and sociology. Mention of the devil tends to make everyone get giddy or queasy. When the devil becomes the topic of conversation, he’s rather like that dominating relative who grabs the spotlight and microphone at your Christmas party. No one else gets a chance to be heard. In contrast, the Bible carefully points out that the devil is at the party, but it rarely puts him in the spotlight.

Our renegade desires are not so ‘inward’ as to call for intense introspection. The desires that mislead us do cause us to coil in on ourselves. But they are not as inward as we might imagine. They are not so much ‘intra-psychological’ phenomena as they are ‘vertical-dimension’ actions and defections. What are you seeking? What are you loving? What are you fearing? What are you trusting? Where are you taking refuge? What voices are you listening to? Where are you setting your hopes? Those simple questions take the Bible’s God-relational verbs, and turn them into questions. Such questions can help you to see how you are straying. They can help you help others to see themselves. Our answers to these questions describe the seedbed of our sins, how we are curving in on ourselves.

But these questions don’t send us on an inward journey. They don’t make us intrusive toward others. They do invite all of us to come out of the closet and into the light of

Christ. Seek him who is worthy. Trust him who gives freely. Love him who is lovely. Fear him whom we have to kneel before. ‘Idols of the heart’ is a great metaphor because it captures how we are always reaching out to worship something, anything—either God or the minigods. Sin causes the psyche to operate as if we were self-referential and encapsulated. But our souls are God-relational, and the self-encapsulation we experience simply describes our defection from reality.

An ‘idol-hunt’ would turn me introspective and self-analytical. It would make me mistreat you. Faith makes me extraspective and God-relational. Love makes me extraspective and other-relational. Faith and love draw us out of sin’s enmeshing self-obsession (including enmeshment in obsessive introspection). So come forth. Our Savior gives us his own joy, and joy is an interpersonal emotion. He throws open the doors to the fresh air and bright light of a most kind grace. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name!

CyberChimps