Lies

Have you ever wondered when it is okay to lie and when it is not okay to lie? Has the thought ever crossed your mind that lying in a certain situation may be better than telling the truth?

I just read an article about lying. It was written by John Piper in "Relevant" magazine. The article was written in Sept./Oct. 2007.

Piper tackled some important truths about lying.

He pointed out that there are two places in scripture where lying was accepted. First, in Exodus, Pharaoh sets out to kill the newborn Hebrew boys. To save them the midwives tell Pharaoh that the Hebrew women are vigorous and they give birth before the midwives have a chance to arrive at the scene to dispose of the child. This is a lie, yet God was kind to the midwives. Secondly, in Joshua 2, Rahab hides two of Israel's spies and her actions were seen as faith (Hebrews 11:31).

But scripture is clearly against lying; Proverbs 6:16-19, Proverbs 12:22, and Revelation 21:8. So we have to be careful how we view our speech. There are very few times in life that it is acceptable to lie. And most of us have probably never been in a situation where lying would be acceptable in our Father's eyes. Lying about hiding slaves on the Underground Railroad is certainly more worthy than lying about how fast you were driving!

So why do we lie?

We usually lie because we think it will somehow help our situation. Let me also point out that exaggerating is lying too! For some reason we think we are better off if we tell people the fish we caught were just a little bigger than it really was.

What type of heart does that come from?

It comes from a heart that is not trusting God. Piper closes his article with these words.

"Telling the truth is evidence that we know God and have faith in Him, because faith in the goodness and sovereignty of God conquers the deceitful craving for esteem and safety and possessions that causes us to distort the truth in order to gain a worldly advantage. With faith in a God like ours, there is no need to be deceitful. He knows what is best for us, and He will always give it."

What do you think? Is your view of God big enough that you don't have to lie?

Being Inconvenienced and Dr. King

This past Tuesday was April Fool's Day. I left my house running a little behind, but I felt okay because it only takes me 10 minutes to drive to the school where I teach. Everything was going fine with my drive until I made the last turn to my school. Traffic was piled up like I have never seen before. As I creeped closer to the school I saw a group of students had compiled near the parking lots. I first thought maybe there was a bomb threat or something. But as I got closer I could see the students cheering and dancing, they were having fun, this was not an evacuation. As I pulled into the school the Senior Class was pointing the students into the teacher parking lot and the teachers were being pointed to the student lot. As I drove by them I gave a little smirk, a cute prank has been played, but I rushed into the school a little frustrated I was late due to the traffic.
When I got into the school the amount of complaining I heard from the faculty was unbelievable. I will not go into detail but some of these teachers were so self focused and so self absorbed that they could not see the humor with having to give up their parking spot to a student for one day. There was such a sense of entitlement that they could not even take joy in the fact that the senior class choose to do a prank that was not illegal (usually we have students sneaking out past curfew to vandalize with paint. They did write with window chalk on teacher's windows who parked in the teacher lot. Can't keep them completely away from the paint I guess. But at least this paint washed off.). However, few teachers saw the humor in any of this.
Where did we get the sense that we won't allow ourselves to be inconvenienced? I had to listen to teachers complain all day because they had to park somewhere different!
Let's talk about what it means to be inconvenienced. Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A man who died fighting for what was right. Dr. King allowed himself to be inconvenienced. He could have gone his whole life and left things the way they were but he left his family and his place on earth because he was trying to lead a nation in truth. The truth that all men are created equal and the dream that one day his children would be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. Dr. King gave his life fighting for equality and I work with teachers that don't want to give up their parking spots for a day so the senior class can have a laugh.
Where did Dr. King learn to have the attitude that he was willing to put himself into mortal danger fighting for what was right. The answer to that question is, Jesus. Dr. King knew that Jesus had made the ultimate sacrifice for mankind! Jesus left his eternal throne in heaven to come to earth to die for man's sins. There is no greater sacrifice than that of Jesus. And Dr. King knew that, he had learned that love from Jesus.
So what is keeping you from being inconvenienced by others? May I submit to you that allowing yourself to be inconvenienced by others is the gospel. There has been and will be no greater inconvenience in all of eternity than for our God and King to leave his throne on high to lower himself in the form of man to heal the sick and seek the lost.

Problems With Our Prayer

I have been making some observations lately about problems in my prayer life. I wonder if the 20s and 30 somethings out there share the same feelings about their prayer lives.
I have been convicted lately in two ways when it comes to my prayer life.
First, I have yet to adapt a lifestyle of continual prayer. I pray daily but I don't think I pray the way I am convinced elderly saints pray. I wonder if the wise and elderly believers I look up to had this same problem when they were 26 going on 27? 1 Thess. 5:17 really trips me up. It says "pray continually". What do you think Paul meant with those two small words? I think he meant far more than I understand in my mid 20s.
The second problem I have identified in my prayer life deals with the things I pray for. I came under this conviction when studying through the book of Colossians. In Col. 3:2 Paul tell us to "set our minds on things above". While reading some commentaries on this passage it came to my realization that the best way to examen whether or not you are setting your mind on things above is to examen your prayer life. What is it you spend time praying for? Do you pray for earthly things only? Or are your prayers filled with petitioning for such things as the expansion of God's Kingdom. Do you pray to be used by God and any way He sees fit? I have to confess my prayer life is not too often filled with those types of prayers. My prayers usually start of with "God I want..." And that is not always a bad prayer. We often don't have because we don't ask! God wants us to ask Him for things. What is not good is if our prayer life is ONLY filled with those prayers.
So my brothers and sisters, do you share some of these feelings? Have you every examined your prayer life? What have you found? Don't be afraid to go and look. There is freedom in our struggles!

Biblical Manhood

Last weekend some of the Men from By Grace went on a great weekend retreat! The main topic we talked about was True Biblical Manhood. And what that looks like is a Man that is after God's own Heart. This is however contrary to what the "world" tell us. The world tells us that "true manhood" is driving a fancy car, making lots of money, being good at athletics, etc. This "world view" was really backed up today when I received a spam e-mail that told me I could take these "pills" and achieve my "manhood" by March 9th.
I can't begin to tell you how excited this made me (sarcasm). What is dangerous is we buy into this. Maybe not the "man pill" exactly, but men get trapped into trying to find ways to be more "manly".
I just want to remind the men that a true man is one who is after God's Heart.
And ladies I want to tell you, don't settle for a man who believes anything else.

Ledger and Owens

As I reflect on my post about Shawn Taylor and how I asked the question "here is a black athlete in America whose criminal record was spoken about in ALL the articles reporting his death. Will the same happen when a white athlete dies who has a record?" I have not found an answer to that specific question yet, but one thing I realized when talking to a friend was, Heath Ledger was found dead with pills spilt around his body and every article I read the day after his death said "accidental death". However when Terrel Owens confused his medication and was hospitalized every article I read said "suicide attempt". The media bias is staggering!
I am still waiting for a white athlete's death to hear if his record is mentioned but hearing about the difference with Ledger and Owens is confirming what I believed to be true.
Will the Church lead the world in racial reconciliation? If not us than who?