The Search for Significance

earch For

We have two alternatives: We can

self-worth on our success and ability to pi_

others, or we can base our self-worth on the

forgiveness and acceptance of Christ.

Robert S. McGe^

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2009

http://www.archive.org/details/searchforsignifiOOmcge

The Search For

SIGNIFICANCE

Robert S. McGee

© Copyright 1985 Robert S. McGee

AD rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used in any form without the written permission of the

author, with tbe exception of brief excerpU in magazine articles, reviews, etc Scripture quotations are from the

New American Standard Bible, © Tbe Lociman Foundation I960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 2973, 1975,

1977.

Robert S. McGee

912 East Curtis, Pasadena, TX 77502

To my wife, Marilyn, who has given of herself

so that I might minister these truths, both

personally and now by the written word.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

These concepts have been utilized at our

counseling centers and seminars for many years.

The results have been so phenomenal that we were

compelled to produce this book. Many have contributed

so that The Search For Significance could

be produced. I want to especially single out my

staff, whose great dedication to the spreading of

these truths is immeasurable. I also want to thank

Rick Hove, Ray Anderson, Melanie Ahlquist, Dan

Hayes, Conrad Koch, Richard Price, Jay Hamman,

Becky Blount, and especially my mother, Minerva

McGee, all of whom have made significant contributions

to this book. Finally, I would like to

thank Pat Springle who was instrumental in bringing

clarity and insight into this material.

INTRODUCTION

When Christ told His disciples,

"You shall know

the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John

8:32), He wasn't referring only to an intellectual

assent to the truth. He was referring to the application

of truth in the most basic issues of life: our

goals, our motives, and our sense of self-worth.

Unfortunately, many of us give only lip-service to

the powerful truths of the Scriptures without allowing

them to radically affect the basis of our

self-worth. Instead, we continue to seek our security

and purpose from the world's sources: personal

success, status, beauty, wealth, and the approval

of others. These may fulfill for a short

time, but soon they lead to a sense of urgency to

succeed and be approved again.

To meet these compelling needs, we are driven

to succeed, we do virtually anything to make people

happy with us, and we spend countless hours

and dollars trying to look "just right." Also, we

avoid situations and people where the risk of failure

and rejection is too high. It's a rat race that

can't be won by simply running faster. We need to

get off the hopeless treadmill and learn to apply

the foundational truths that can set us free and

motivate us to live for Christ.

Christ's death paid the penalty for our sins, and

His resurrection gives us new life, new goals, and

new hope. He has given us complete security and

challenging purpose that are not based on our

abilities. They are based on His grace and the

power of His Spirit. Yes, Christ wants us to be intense

and ambitious, but not about our success or

status. If we understand His forgiveness and acceptance,

we will be intense about the right things:

Christ and His cause, and we will be free to enjoy

His love.

This is the fourth edition of the material presented

in The Search For Significance, and the response

of those who have read the book and used

the workbook has been overwhelming. I hope the

Lord will use them to convince you of His love,

forgiveness, and purposes for your life.

"For the love of Christ controls us,

having concluded this, that one died for

all, therefore all died; and He died for

all, that they who live should no longer

live for themselves, but for Him who died

and rose again on their behalf

(II Corinthians 5:14-15).

Sincerely,

Robert S. McGee

TABLE OF CONTENTS

"

"

1. Our Search For Significance 9

2. The Origin of the Search 16

3. The Saving Solution vs. Satan's Snare 23

4. The Performance Trap 36

"I must be adequate to feel good about myself... "

Fear Of Failure Test

The Effects Of Fear Of Failure

God's Answer: Justification

A Beginning Exercise

5. Approval Addict 56

*7 must be accepted and pleasing to others

to feel good about myself...

Fear Of Rejection Test

The Effects Of Fear Of Rejection

God's Answer: Reconciliation


6. The Blame Game 76

"Those who fail are unworthy of love...

Fear Of Punishment Test

The Effects Of The Fear Of Punishment

God's Answer: Propitiation


7. Shame 95

"I am what I am; I cannot change; I am hopeless... H

Shame Test

The Effects Of Shame

God's Answer: Regeneration


8. Summarizing The Search 110

9. The Holy Spirit — The Source of Change 118

10. Renewing The Mind 131

11. The Weapons Of Our Warfare 150

12. Guilt vs. Conviction 158

13. The Search Concluded 166

Chapter One

Our Search for Significance

Relatively few of us experience the blend of

contentment and godly intensity that God intends

for each person. From life's outset, we find

ourselves on the prowl, searching to satisfy some

inner, unexplained yearning. Our hunger to be

loved causes us to seek out friends. Our desire for

acceptance pressures us to perform for the praise

of others. We strive for success, driving our minds

and bodies harder and farther, hoping that

because of our sweat and sacrifice, others will appreciate

us more.

But the man or woman who lives only for the

love and attention of others is never satisfied — at

least not for long. Despite all our efforts, we can

never find lasting, fulfilling peace because we

have to continually prove our worth to others. Our

need to be loved and accepted is merely a symptom

of a deeper need — the need that governs our

behavior and is the primary source of our

10 The Search For Significance

emotional pain. Often unrecognized, it is our need

for self-worth.

The case of Mark and Beth aptly demonstrates

this great need. During their final semester at

Cornell University, Mark and Beth fell in love.

Beth's eyes sparkled, her walk had that certain

lightness, and she found it difficult to concentrate

on her studies. As they gazed into each others

eyes, Beth saw the special affection she had

always desired. Her need to feel valued and loved

was fulfilled through their relationship. Likewise,

Mark was encouraged and motivated by Beth's

acceptance and admiration of him. With her

support, Mark thought he could boldly begin a

successful career after graduation.

The summer after they graduated from Cornell,

Mark and Beth married, believing their love would

provide a permanent sense of self-worth. Unfortunately,

Mark and Beth were depending on each

other to fill a void that could only be filled by

their Creator. Each expected the other always to

be loving, accepting, and forgiving, but soon both

were disillusioned and even felt betrayed by the

other. As the years passed, affirmation turned into

sarcasm and ridicule. They had expected each

other to consistently provide love and acceptance,

but each failure was another brick in their wall of

hurt and separation. Recently, Mark and Beth

celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary. They

had shared ten years of living together, but sadly,

very little true, unconditional love. Their search

for self-worth and significance ended in despair.

Another example illustrates how the promise of

fulfillment through success is an empty promise,

often resulting in tragic consequences for

ourselves and those around us. Brad and Lisa had

been happily married for ten years. Brad was a

successful lawyer and Lisa was a homemaker extensively

involved in church activities. Their two

1

Our Search For Significance 1

sons, six-year-old Kyle and eight-year-old David,

were well-behaved boys. Although their family

appeared perfect to those around them, Brad and

Lisa were beginning to experience some real

problems. True, Brad's law practice was

flourishing, but at the expense of Lisa and the

boys. He arrived home later and later each

evening and often spent weekends locked in his

office. Brad was driven to succeed, believing that

satisfaction and contentment were always just one

more trial victory away. But each success gave

him only temporary fulfillment. Maybe the next

one ....

He would not allow anything to interfere with

his success, not even the needs of his family. At

first, Lisa seemed to understand. She knew Brad's

work was important, and she hated to protest

when he was so busy. Not wanting to burden him,

she began to feel guilty for talking to him about

family problems. But as weeks turned into months,

and Brad remained obsessed by his work, Lisa

became resentful. Even though it was painful, she

could overlook her own needs, but the boys needed

their father. The family never had time to be

together anymore, and Brad's promises began

sounding hollow. "When this big case is over, the

pressure will be off," he'd say, but there was

always another case. Brad was continually solving

other people's problems, but never those of his

own family. Realizing that she and the boys

weren't important to Brad, Lisa became bitter and

depressed.

As the problems persisted, they became obvious

to others. Friends began asking Lisa what was

wrong. Finding it difficult at first to admit the

situation, Lisa eventually shared her feelings with

them. However, she was hurt and surprised by the

glib responses from well-intentioned, but insensitive

people. "Just trust the Lord," one said.


Another close friend advised, "You shouldn't have

any problems, Lisa, you're a Christian. With God's

help, you can work it out."

Like a fall on a jagged rock, the comments hurt

deeply. Lisa began to doubt herself and wonder if

she was capable of building a successful marriage

and family. Feeling like a failure, she reasoned

that perhaps she deserved a broken marriage: perhaps

it was her fault and God was punishing her

for her sins.

Confused and frustrated, both Brad and Lisa

were searching for significance in their own way

— Brad in his success as a lawyer and Lisa in her

success as a wife and mother. Their lives began to

reflect that strange combination of hopelessness

and compulsion. Sadly, neither Brad nor Lisa

realized that their search should both begin and

end with God's Word, In the Scriptures, God supplies

the essentials to discover our true significance

and worth. The first two chapters of Genesis

recount man's creation, revealing man's intended

purpose (to honor God) and man's value (that he is

a special creation of God). Also, John 10:10

reminds us how much God actually treasures His

creation in that Christ came so that man might

experience an "abundant life." However, Christians

need to realize that this abundant life is lived in a

real world filled with pain, rejection, and failure.

Therefore, experiencing the abundant life God

intended for us does not mean our lives will be

problem-free. On the contrary, life itself is simply

a series of problems that act as obstacles to our

search for significance, and the abundant life is

the experience of God's love, forgiveness, and

power in the midst of those problems. The

Scriptures warn us that we live in the midst of a

warfare that can destroy our faith, lower our selfworth,

and lead us into depression. In his letter to

the Ephesians, Paul instructs us to put on our


armor so we can be equipped for spiritual battle.

However, it often seems that unsuspecting

Christians are the last to know there is a battle

going on and that Christ has ultimately won the

war. They are surprised and confused by

difficulties, thinking that the Christian life is a

playground, not a battlefield.

As Christians, our fulfillment in this life

depends not on our skills to avoid life's problems,

but rather on our ability to apply God's specific

solutions to our problems. An accurate understanding

of God's truth is the first step in discovering

our significance and worth. Unfortunately,

many Christians have been exposed to

inadequate teaching from both religious and

secular sources concerning their self-worth. As a

result, Christians today have distorted selfperceptions

and are experiencing hopelessness

rather than the rich and meaningful life God

intended for them.

Christian psychologist Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr.,

describes our need in this way: "The basic personal

need of each person is to regard himself as a

worthwhile human being." And, according to

William Glasser, "Everyone aspires to have a

happy, successful, pleasurable belief in himself."

Whether labeled "self-esteem" or "self-worth,"

the feeling of significance is crucial to the

emotional, spiritual, and social stability of people.

The need to believe we are significant is the

driving element within the human spirit.

Understanding this single need opens the door to

understanding our actions and attitudes.

What a waste to attempt to change behavior

without truly understanding the driving needs

that cause that behavior! Yet, millions of people

spend a lifetime searching miserably for love,

acceptance, and success without understanding the

need that compels them. We must understand that


this hunger for self-worth is God-given and can

only be satisfied by God. In Genesis, we see that

Adam once had a true sense of self-worth gained

from those hours he spent walking with God. This

was man and his Creator, communing, sharing,

and confirming Adam's self-worth through an

intimate, personal relationship. Through the eyes

of his Heavenly Father, Adam could see that he

was deeply loved and fully accepted, with the

honor and responsibility of glorifying God. In the

same way, our self-worth is not dependent on our

ability to earn the acceptance of fickle people, but

rather, its true source is the love and acceptance

of God. He created us. He alone knows how to

fulfill all our needs.

After Adam sinned against God and that

special relationship was disrupted, the need for

self-confirmation was still present. But since that

time, man in his ignorance has foolishly looked to

success and the approval of others to fulfill the

need that only God can meet.

The purpose of this book is to give clear,

Biblical instruction about the basis of your selfworth

by helping you:

1) identify and understand the nature of

man's search for significance,

2) recognize and challenge the inadequate

answers, and

3) apply God's solutions to your search for

significance.

In order to fully understand the provisions God

has made for our self-worth, we must look back to

man's beginning — to the first man and woman

and their search for significance.

Author's Note:

Many people who have read this book have

found that reading about these truths is only the


first step in seeing their lives transformed. It is

important to reflect on these concepts and apply

the truths to specific situations and relationships.

The Search For Significance Workbook has been

developed to help you integrate these truths into

your self-esteem, goals, and relationships. The

Bible studies and thought questions in the

workbook will greatly enhance your ability to apply

these life-changing concepts. Therefore, I

highly recommend that you get a copy of it and

begin to work through it.

Chapter Two

The Origin of the Search

The Old Testament depicts the original incident

of sin and the Fall of man:

"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

desirable to make one wise, she took from

its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her

husband with her, and he ate; then the

eyes of both of them were opened, and

they knew that they were naked; and they

sewed fig leaves together and made

themselves loin coverings" (Genesis 3:6,7).

To properly

understand the devastating effects

of this event, we need to examine the nature of

man before sin caused him to lose his security and

significance. This first created man lived in unclouded,

intimate fellowship with God. He was secure

and free. In all of God's creation, no creature

compared to him. Indeed. Adam was a magnificent

The Origin Of The Search 17

creation, complete and perfect in the image of

God, designed to reign over all the earth (Genesis

1: 26,27). Adam's purpose was to reflect the glory

of God. Through man, God wanted to demonstrate

His holiness (Psalm 99: 3-5), love and patience (I

Corinthians 13:4), forbearance (I Corinthians 13:7),

wisdom (James 3:17), comfort (II Corinthians 1:

3,4), forgiveness (Hebrews 10:17), faithfulness

(Psalm 89:1, 2, 5, 8), and grace (Psalm 111:4).

Through his intellect, free will, and emotions, man

was to be the showcase for God's glorious character.

Obviously, Adam was a very important creation

to God. To meet Adam's needs for companionship

and understanding, God created a woman and

gave her to Adam as his wife. In keeping with

their perfect character, God placed Adam and Eve

in a perfect environment — a lush,

beautiful garden

where the Creator Himself provided for their

physical needs. Adam and Eve had the challenge

and responsibility of supervising this paradise of

vegetation and animal life. To satisfy Adam and

Eve's spiritual needs, God visited them and talked

with them daily. Adam and Eve were perfect in

body, mind, and spirit as no human being has ever

been since.

Like Adam and Eve, Satan himself was created

in perfection. At that time, his name was Lucifer,

which means "morning star." He was an angel of

the highest rank, created to glorify God. He was

clothed with beauty and power, and allowed to

serve in the presence of God. Sadly, Lucifer's

pride caused him to rebel against God, and he was

cast from heaven with a third of the angels

(Isaiah 14:12-15).

Adam had been given authority over the earth,

but if he, too, rebelled against God, he would lose

his authority and perfection. He would become a

slave of Satan and sin (Romans 6:17) and a child


of God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Therefore, destroying

man was Satan's way to reign on earth and, he

thought, thwart the plan of God.

To accomplish his goal, Satan began by deceiving

Eve, who fell to the temptation. Eve ate of the

tree of the knowledge of good and evil, believing

it would make her wiser and like God. Adam,

however, was not deceived. He deliberately chose

to forsake the love and security of God and follow

Eve in sin. Paul explained this fact to

Timothy:

"And it was not Adam who was deceived,

but the woman being quite deceived,

fell into transgression"

(I Timothy 2:14).

In doing this, Adam not only lost the glory God

had intended for mankind, but he also forfeited

his close communion and fellowship with God.

Also, Adam's deliberate rebellion aided Satan's

purpose, giving him power and authority on earth.

Even though Adam lost his dominion over the

earth, God did not lose him as His image bearer.

Even in the moment of judgment, God told of His

love to forgive sin and restore man to a powerful

and intimate relationship with Him. From that

moment on, all history led to a single hill outside

Jerusalem where God appointed a Savior to pay

the penalty for our sin of rebellion.

Though we justly deserve the wrath of God because

of our deliberate rebellion (our attempts to

find security and purpose apart from God), His

Son became our substitute, experienced the wrath

our rebellion deserves, and paid the penalty for

our sins. Christ's death is the most overwhelming

evidence of God's love for us. Because of this, our

relationship with God is restored and we are able

to partake of His nature and character, able once


again to commune with Him and able to reflect

His love to all the world.

Spread the good news! Man is not lost forever.

God has not given up on us. He has bought us out

of slavery to sin by the payment of Christ's death

on the cross. Satan's rule can be broken and we

can reign with Christ. We can be restored to the

security and significance for which we have been

created — not simply in eternity, but here and

now as well.

We must never forget that God wants His children

to bear His image and to rule with Him.

Adam's sin has had tragic consequences, but

through God's plan of redemption, we can still

have the unspeakable privilege of relating to Him.

God has provided the solution, but the question is

this: Will we accept Christ's death as the payment

for our sins and discover the powerful implications

of our salvation, or will we continue to follow

Satan's lies and deception?

Perhaps you need to deal conclusively with this

choice here and now. We cannot pay for our sins,

but Christ did it for us as a free gift. Paul wrote

to the Ephesian Christians,

"For by grace (unmerited favor) you

have been saved (rescued from spiritual

death — hell) through faith (trust); and

that not of yourselves, it is the gift of

God; not as a result of works, that no one

should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Are you trusting in your own abilities to earn

acceptance with God, or are you trusting in the

death of Christ to pay for your sins and the resurrection

of Christ to give you new life? Take a

moment to reflect on this question: On a scale of

0-100%, how sure are you that you would spend

eternity with God if you died today? An answer

of less than 100% may indicate that you are trust-


ing, at least in part, in yourself. You may be

thinking, "Isn't that arrogant to say you are 100%

sure?" Indeed, it would be arrogance if you were

trusting in yourself your abilities, your actions

and good deeds — to earn your salvation.

However, if you are no longer trusting your own

efforts but are trusting in the all-sufficient payment

of Christ, then 100% certainty is a response

of humility and thankfulness.

Reflect on a second question: If you were to die

today and stand before God, and He were to ask

you, "Why should I let you into heaven?", what

would you tell Him? Would you mention your abilities,

church attendance, kindness to others,

Christian service, abstinence from some particular

sin, or some other good deeds? Paul writes to

Titus,

"But when the kindness of God our

Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

He saved us, not on the basis of

deeds which we have done in righteousness,

but according to His mercy~" (Titus

3:4,5).

We must give up our own efforts to achieve

righteousness and believe that Christ's death and

resurrection alone are sufficient to pay for our sin

and separation from God.

Perhaps you have intellectually believed that

Jesus Christ lived 2000 years ago, performed miracles,

died on the cross, and was raised from the

dead. Perhaps you have even felt close to God at

times in your life. But Biblical faith is more than

intellectual assent or warm emotions. Consider the

analogy of a wedding. An engaged couple may intellectually

know they want to marry each other,

and they probably feel very close to one another,

but until they willfully say, "I do," to each other,

they are not married. Many people are at this


point in their relationship with Christ. They need

to say, "I do," to Him.

If there is any question about whether you

have conclusively accepted Christ's substitutionary

death to pay for the wrath you deserve for your

sins, take some time to think about the two questions

we have examined, and reflect on His love

and forgiveness. Then, respond by trusting in

Christ and accepting His payment for your sins.

You can use this prayer to express your faith:

Lord Jesus, I need You. I want You to

be my Savior and Lord. I accept Your

death on the cross as the complete payment

for my sins. Thank You for forgiving

me and giving me new life. Help me

to grow in my understanding of Your love

and power so that my life will bring

honor to You. Amen.

The moment you trust

things happen to you:

Christ, many wonderful

— All your sins are forgiven: past, present,

and future (Colossians 2:13,14).

— You become a child of God (John 1:12,

Romans 8:15).

— You receive eternal life (John 5:24).

— You are delivered from Satan's domain and

transferred into the kingdom of Christ

(Colossians 1:13).

— Christ comes to dwell within you

(Colossians 1:27, Revelation 3:20).

— You become a new creation (II Corinthians

5:17).

— You are declared righteous by God (II

Corinthians 5:21).

— You enter into a love relationship with God

(I John 4:9-11).

— You are accepted by God (Colossians 1:19-

22).


Thank God for His wonderful grace and experience

"the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge"

(Ephesians 3:19). You may want to use the

rest of this page to write a letter to God expressing

your gratitude to Him.

Chapter Three

The Saving Solution vs. Satan's Snare

Separated from his Creator and the magnificent

position he was intended to enjoy, Adam's mind

became darkened and ignorant (Ephesians 4:17-19).

Before the Fall, his mind had been an extraordinary

example of reasoning and wisdom. However,

after the Fall, Adam's mind was filled with vain

imaginations and limited by a lack of intimate

communication with God.

Notice how Satan snared Eve. He told her,

"For God knows that in the day you

eat from it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like God, knowing good and

evil" (Genesis 3:5).

Here, Satan directly

questioned God's truthfulness,

implying that Eve could have greater significance

apart from God and that eating the forbidden

fruit would reveal hidden knowledge and


would make her know good from evil like God

Himself.

How subtly Satan twisted God's truth into history's

most believed lie! The God of love said to

Adam, "You are My image bearer, My companion

ruler, the reflection of My glory," but Satan distorted

the message to say, "You are something

other than that, something more. Eat the fruit and

you'll find out!"

Being deceived, Eve traded the truth of God

for the lie of the serpent. One of the tragic implications

of this event is that mankind lost his

secure status with God and began to struggle with

feelings of arrogance, inadequacy, and despair,

valuing the opinions of others more than the truth

of God. This has robbed man of his true selfworth

and has put him on a continual, but fruitless,

search for significance through his success

and the approval of others.

In one form or another, Satan's lie still thrives

today. For example, humanism, the central philosophy

of our schools and society, teaches that

man is above all else, that he alone is the center

of meaning. Teaching that man has meaning totally

apart from God, humanism leaves morality,

justice, and behavior to the discretion of

"enlightened" man and encourages people to worship

man and nature rather than God. Living

without God's divine truth, humanity sinks lower

and lower in depravity, blindly following a philosophy

that intends to heighten the dignity of

man, but instead lowers us to the level of animals.

Rather than spiritual and emotional people, we

have been classified as merely natural phenomena

of time plus chance, no different than rocks, animals,

or clouds. The apostle Paul described this

foolish and demeaning perspective of man in

Romans 1:20-25:

The Saving Solution vs. Satan's Snare 25

"For since the creation of the world

His invisible attributes, His eternal power

and divine nature, have been clearly seen,

being understood through what has been

made, so that they are without excuse.

For even though they knew God, they did

not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but

they became futile in their speculations,

and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible

God for an image in the form of

corruptible man and of birds and fourfooted

animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts

of their hearts to impurity, that their

bodies might be dishonored among them.

For they exchanged the truth of God for

a lie, and worshiped and served the

creature rather than the Creator, who is

blessed forever. Amen."

In the beginning, God declared that man was

created to reign with Him; however, man rejected

God's truth and chose instead to believe Satan's

lie. Today, man continues to reject God's truth

and offer of salvation through Jesus Christ He

chooses instead to trust in his success and the

opinions of others to give him a sense of selfworth,

though the Scriptures clearly teach that

man apart from Christ is enslaved to sin and condemned

to an eternity in hell.

After the Fall, man has failed to turn to God

for the truth about himself. Instead he has

looked to others to meet his inescapable need for

self-worth. "I am what others say I am," he has

reasoned. "I will find my value in their opinions of

me." Isn't it amazing that we turn to others who

have a perspective as limited and darkened as our

own to discover our worth! Rather than relying on

God's steady, uplifting reassurance of who we are,


we turn to others who judge our worth by our

ability to meet their standards.

Because our performance and our ability to

please others so dominates our search for significance,

we have difficulty recognizing the distinction

between our real identity and the way we behave,

a realization crucial to understanding our

true worth. Our true worth is not based on our

behavior or the approval of others. It is based on

what God's Word says is true of us. Our behavior,

then, is a reflection of our beliefs about who we

are. Our behavior is consistent with what we

think to be true about ourselves (Proverbs 23:7). If

we base our worth solidly on the truths of God's

Word, our behavior will reflect His love, grace and

power. But if we base our worth on our abilities

or the fickle approval of others, our behavior will

reflect the insecurity, fear, and anger that comes

from that unstable base.

My dog, Whitey, fritters away time sleeping.

When he isn't sleeping, he's busy barking at

strangers and scratching at fleas. It is behavior

I've come to expect from my pet. But suppose you

and I decide to behave like my dog. Suppose we

started spending our time sleeping, crawling

around on our hands and knees, barking at

strangers and passing cars. Suddenly we begin

performing like my dog, but that behavior does

not make us dogs! The way we behave is only an

expression of the beliefs we hold about ourselves,

not an indication of our true worth. Therefore,

we cannot experience a permanent change in our

behavior without first changing what we believe

about ourselves.

This truth is evident in the case of Scott. Scott

grew up in a home without praise, being discouraged

by his parents whenever he attempted anything

new and challenging. After twenty years of

hearing, "You'll never be able to do anything,


Scott, so don't even try," he believed it himself.

Neither Scott nor his parents could now understand

why he flunked out of college and continually

shuffled from one job to another, never able

to achieve success. Believing he was doing the

best he could do but knowing he would always

fail, Scott consistently performed according to his

self-perception.

Separated from God and His Word, people have

only their abilities and the opinions of others on

which to base their worth, and the circumstances

around them will

ultimately control the way they

feel about themselves.

Take the case of Stacy, a young girl who became

pregnant when she was just seventeen. Stacy

gave her baby up for adoption, and only her family

knew of the incident. Several years later,

Stacy fell in love with and married a loving man

named Ron. Fearing his reaction, she never told

Ron about the baby. Over the years, Stacy concealed

her guilt and grief until finally, the pressure

became too overwhelming and she admitted

the entire episode to Ron.

Surprisingly, Ron did not respond in anger. He

understood the agony she had carried for so many

years and loved her in spite of her past. However,

it was Stacy who at this point could not cope.

Unable to accept Ron's forgiveness and knowing

she had failed according to society's standards,

Stacy felt unworthy of Ron's love. Stacy could

not forgive herself and chose to leave her husband.

In this case, Stacy fell victim to one of Satan's

most effective lies: "Those who fail are unworthy of

love and deserve to be blamed and condemned."

Because she failed in her own eyes, Stacy's perception

of herself was affected. Each of us has

probably failed badly at some point in our lives.

Perhaps some particular sin or weakness has


caused us to feel condemned and unworthy of

love. Our opinion of ourselves, as well as our

method of evaluating others, comes from a mind

limited by a veil of sin (II Corinthians 3:14).

Therefore, our evaluation of ourselves will inevitably

lead to despair.

In spite of Adam and Eve's sin, God's plan was

to bring man back to the destiny for which he had

been originally created — to bear His image. To

accomplish this, God gives a new nature to all

who will believe in Christ. This new nature is able

to reflect God's character and rule His creation. In

Luke 10:19 Jesus spoke of the authority of this

new nature when He said,

"Behold, I have given you authority to

tread upon serpents and scorpions and

over all the power of the enemy, and

nothing shall injure you. n

However, Satan continues to deceive people, including

many Christians, to believe that the basis

of their worth is their performance and their ability

to please others. This equation reflects Satan's

lie:

SELF-WORTH * PERFORMANCE + OTHERS' OPINIONS

Can we overcome Satan's deception and reject

this basis of our self-worth? Can we trust God's

complete acceptance of us as His sons and daughters

and allow Him to free us from this dependency

on success and others' approval? Rejecting

Satan's lie and accepting God's evaluation of us

leads to a renewed hope, joy, and purpose in life.

We all have compelling needs for love, acceptance,

and purpose, and we will go to virtually

any lengths to have those needs met. Many of us

have become masters at "playing the game" to be

successful and win the approval of others. Others,


however, have failed often enough and experienced

the pain of disapproval often enough that

they have given up, withdrawing into a shell of

hurt, numbness, or depression. Both kinds of people

live by the deception that their worth is based

on their performance and others' opinions — some

of us are simply more adept than others at playing

that game.

Our attempts to meet our needs for success and

approval fall into two broad categories: compulsiveness

and withdrawal. Some people put out extra

effort, work extra hours, and try to say just

the right thing so they will be successful and

please those around them. These people may have

a compelling desire to be in control of every situation.

They are perfectionists. If a job isn't done to

perfection, if they aren't dressed just right, if

they aren't considered "the best" by their peers,

then they work harder until they achieve that

coveted status. And woe to the poor soul who gets

in the way! Whoever doesn't contribute to their

success and acclaim is a threat to their self-esteem

— an unacceptable threat. They may be very personable

and have a lot of "friends," but the goal of

these relationships may not be to give encouragement

and love, it may be to manipulate others to

contribute to their success. That may sound harsh,

but people who are driven to succeed use practically

everything and everybody to meet that need.

The other broad category is withdrawal. These

people try to avoid failure and disapproval by

avoiding risks. They don't volunteer for the jobs

that have much risk of failure. They gravitate toward

people who are comforting and kind, avoiding

relationships that might demand vulnerability,

and consequently the pain of rejection. They may

appear to be easy-going, but inside they are running

from every potential situation or relationship

that might not succeed.


Obviously these are two broad categories. Most

of us are some combination of the two, willing to

take risks and work hard in the areas where we

are likely to succeed, but avoiding the people and

situations where rejection and failure are likely.

For three years Rob and Kathy had dated.

Kathy was a perfectionist. Her clothes, her hair,

her work, her car...and her boyfriend had to be

just right. Rob was a good-natured, fun-loving

fellow who was not so concerned about every detail

of life. Predictably, the more intense Kathy

became about having everything and everybody

"just right," the more passive and easy-going Rob

became. The spiral of intensity and passivity kept

going until it hit rock bottom. As they sat in my

office, Kathy quickly saw that her perfectionism

came from a misplaced base of security: her performance

instead of Christ. But Rob said he didn't

have a problem with performance. He certainly

didn't have a compelling drive to succeed, and he

didn't pressure people around him to "get their act

together." In the midst of these explanations, I

asked, "But wait, Rob, what about your tendency

to withdraw? Why do you think you do that?" It

still didn't compute. Finally, after several hours he

saw it. He based his security on his performance

just as much as Kathy did, but he handled it differently.

She became more compulsive to have

things "just right," while he withdrew to avoid

failure. Both of them recognized the root of the

problem and started believing that their worth is

secure in Christ. Today, Kathy is less intense

about her performance, and Rob doesn't run from

failure as much as he used to. They are learning

to be intense about the right things: Christ and

His kingdom.

When we base our security on success and others'

opinions, we become dependent on our ability

to perform and our ability to please others. We


develop a "have to" mentality: "I have to do well

on this exam (or my security as a "good student"

will be threatened);" "I have to make that deal (or

it will mean that my boss will think I am a failure);"

"My father (or mother, spouse, or friend)

has to appreciate me and be happy with my decisions

(because I cannot cope with his disapproval)."

Isn't it odd that we tend to base our selfworth

on how well we perform and please others

instead of what the Sovereign God of the

Universe, our all-wise, omniscient Savior says is

true of us?

We do not "have to" be successful or "have to"

be pleasing to others to have healthy self-esteem

and worth. That worth has freely and conclusively

been given to us by God. Failure or the disapproval

of others can't take it away! Therefore, a

person can conclude, "It would be nice to be approved

by my parents (or whomever), but if they

don't approve of me, I'm still loved and accepted

by God." Do you see the difference? The "have to"

mentality is sheer slavery to performance and the

in

opinions of others, but we are secure and free

Christ. We don't "have to" have success or anyone

else's approval. Of course, "it would be nice to

have" success and their approval, but the point is

clear: Christ is the source of our security; Christ is

the basis of our worth; Christ is

the only One who

promises and never fails.

This book is dedicated to understanding, applying,

and experiencing the foundational truths of

God's Word. In the remaining chapters, we will

identify four specific false beliefs of Satan's deception.

In addition, we will discover God's gracious,

effective, and permanent solution to our

search for significance.

INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTERS 4, 5, 6, & 7

Often it is helpful to see a general outline when

attempting to grasp new concepts. In the next four

chapters, we will examine the four false beliefs

resulting from Satan's deception and the inescapable

consequences that accompany these beliefs.

Finally, we will examine God's specific solution,

accompanied by some practical exercises.

Here is an overview of the next four chapters:

Chapter 4:

The Performance Trap

False Belief

/ must meet certain standards to feel good about

myself.

Consequences of the False Belief

The Fear of Failure

God's Answer:

Justification

Justification means God not only has forgiven

me of my sins, but also has granted me the righteousness

of Christ. Because of justification, I

have the righteousness of Christ and am pleasing

to the Father (Romans 5:1).

Chapter 5:

False Belief

Approval Addict

/ must be approved (accepted) by certain others to

feel good about myself.


The Fear of Rejection

God's Answer: Reconciliation

Reconciliation means that although at one time I

was hostile and alienated from God, I now have

been forgiven and brought into an intimate relationship

with God. Consequently, I am totally accepted

by God (Colossians 1:21,22).

Chapter 6:

The Blame Game

False Belief

Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve

to be blamed and condemned.


The Fear of Punishment/Punishing Others

God's Answer: Propitiation

Propitiation means Christ satisfied the wrath of

God by His death on the cross; therefore I am

deeply loved by God.

Chapter 7:

False Belief

Shame

/ am what I am. I cannot change. I am hopeless.


Shame, Inferiority, Habitually Destructive

Behavior Patterns

God's Answer: Regeneration

Regeneration means that I

Christ.

am a new creation in

Chapter Four

The Performance Trap

Most of us are unaware how thoroughly Satan

has deceived us. He has led us blindly down a

path of destruction, captives of our inability to

consistently meet our standards and slaves of low

self-esteem. Satan has shackled us in chains that

keep us from experiencing the love, freedom, and

purposes of Christ.

In Colossians 2:8, Paul warns,

"See to it that no one takes you captive

through philosophy and empty deception,

according to the tradition of men, according

to the elementary principles of

the world, rather than according to

Christ."

Indeed, we've reached a true mark of maturity

when we begin testing the deceitful thoughts of

our minds against the Word of God. We no longer

have to live by our fleshly thoughts; we have the

mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16). Through His


Spirit, we can challenge the indoctrinations and

traditions that have long held us in guilt and condemnation.

Then we can replace those deceptions

with the powerful truths of the Scriptures.

One of the main deceptions we tend to believe

is that success will bring fulfillment and happiness.

Again and again, we've tried to measure up,

thinking that if we could meet certain standards,

we would feel good about ourselves. But again and

again we've failed and are left feeling miserable.

Even if we succeed almost all of the time, occasional

failure can be so devastating that it can

dominate our perception of ourselves.

Consciously or unconsciously, all of us have experienced

this feeling that we must meet certain

arbitrary standards to attain self-worth. At that

point, we are accepting the first false belief: */

must meet certain standards in order to feel good

about myself." When we believe this about ourselves,

Satan's distortion of truth is reflected in

our attitudes and behavior.

Because of our unique personalities, people react

very differently to this deception. As we saw

in the last chapter, one frequent response is that

people become slaves to perfectionism — driving

themselves incessantly toward attaining goals.

Perfectionists can be quite vulnerable to serious

mood disorders, and they often anticipate rejection

when they believe they haven't met the standards

they are trying so hard to

meet. Therefore,

perfectionists tend to react defensively to criticism

and demand to be in control of most situations

they encounter. Because they are more competent

than most, perfectionists see nothing wrong

with their compulsions. "I just like to see things

done well," they claim. There is certainly nothing

inherently wrong with doing things well, but the

problem is that perfectionists base their self-worth

on their ability to accomplish a goal. Therefore,

The Performance Trap 3?

failure is a threat and totally unacceptable to

them.

Karen, a wife, mother, and civic leader, seemed

ideal to everyone who knew her. She was a perfectionist.

Her house looked picture-perfect, her kids

were always spotless, and her skills as president of

the Ladies' Auxiliary were superb. In all areas,

Karen was always in charge, always successful.

However, one step out of the pattern Karen had

set could lead to a tremendous uproar. When others

failed to comply with her every demand, her

condemnation was quick and cruel. One day,

Karen's husband, Jerry, could stand no more. He

wanted an understanding wife, someone he could

talk to and share with, not an egocentric, selfdriven

perfectionist. Friends simply could not understand

why Jerry chose to leave such a seemingly

perfect wife.

Like Karen, many people are high achievers,

driven beyond healthy limitations. Rarely relaxing

and enjoying life, they let their families and relationships

suffer as they strive to accomplish their

often unrealistic goals.

On the other hand, the same false belief ("I

must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.")

that drives many to perfectionism, sends

still others into a tailspin of despair. They never

expect to achieve anything or feel good about

themselves. Because of their past failures, they are

quick to interpret present failures as an accurate

reflection of their worthlessness. Fearing additional

failures, they become despondent and quit

trying.

Finally, another significant problem often results

from the pressure of having to meet self-imposed

standards in order to feel good about ourselves:

a rules-dominated life. Individuals caught

in this trap have a set of rules for every situation

in life and continually place their attention on


"I must meet certain standards in order to feel

their performance and ability to adhere to their

schedule. For example, Brent made a list every day

of what he could accomplish if everything went

perfectly. He was always a little tense because he

needed to use every moment effectively to reach

his goals. If things didn't go well or if somebody

took up too much of his time, Brent got angry.

Efficient, effective use of time was his way of attaining

fulfillment, but he was miserable. He was

constantly driven to do more, but his best was

never enough to satisfy him. Brent failed to realize

that the focus of the Christian life should be

on Christ, not on self-imposed regulations. Our experience

of Christ's lordship is dependent on our

attending to His instruction moment by moment,

not our own regimented schedule.

As these cases demonstrate, the first false belief:

good about myself," results in a fear of failure.

How affected are you by this belief? Take the

following test to determine how strongly you fear

failure.

The Performance Trap 39

FEAR OF FAILURE TEST

Read the following statements. Look at the top

of the test and choose the term which best describes

your response. Put the number above that

term in the blank beside the statement

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Always Very Often Often Sometimes Seldom Very Seldom Never

X) I. Because of fear, I often avoid participating

in certain activities.

"S

2. When I sense I might experience failure

in some important area, I become

nervous and anxious.

3. I worry.

^ 4.

I have unexplained anxiety.

_j 5. I am a perfectionist

6. I am compelled to justify my mistakes.

_J. There are certain areas in which I

feel I must succeed.

8. I become depressed when I fail.

9. I become angry with people who interfere

with my attempts to succeed,

and as a result, make me appear incompetent

7s y> 10. I am self-critical.

\\ Total (Add up the numbers you have

placed in the blanks.)


INTERPRETATION OF SCORE

If your score is...

57-70

God apparently has released you from the fear

of failure that plagues most people. The major exceptions

to this are those who are either greatly

deceived or have become callous to their own emotions

as a way to suppress the pain.

47-56

The fear of failure rarely or only in certain

situations controls your experiences. Again, the

only major exception involves those who are not

honest with themselves.

37-46

When you experience emotional problems, they

may relate to a sense of failure or some form of

criticism. In looking back, you can probably relate

many of your decisions to this fear. Many of your

decisions in the future will also be affected by the

fear of failure unless you take direct action to

overcome it

27-36

Not only is the above category true of your experiences,

but this fear of failure forms a general

backdrop to your life. There are probably few

days that you are not affected in some way by the

fear of failure. Unfortunately, this also robs you

of the joy and peace your salvation was meant to

bring.

0-26

Experiences of failure dominate your memory

and have probably resulted in a great deal of depression.

These problems will remain until some

definitive action is taken. In other words, this

condition will not simply disappear; time alone


cannot heal your pain. You must deal with the

root issue.

THE EFFECTS OF THE FEAR OF FAILURE

As long as we operate according to Satan's plan,

we are susceptible to the fear of failure. Our personal

experience of this fear is determined by the

difference between our performance standards

and our ability to meet those standards.

Although we experience the fear of failure, we

must also remember that God wants us to be free

from this fear so that we will be able to honor

Him more and more. For our benefit, He allows

circumstances in our lives to enable us to recognize

our blind adherence to Satan's deceptions.

Many times, these circumstances seem very negative,

but through them, we can learn valuable,

life-changing truths. In Psalm 107:33-36, we see a

poetic example of this:

"He changes rivers into a wilderness.

And springs of water into a thirsty

ground; A fruitful land into a salt waste,

Because of the wickedness of those who

dwell in it. He changes a wilderness into

a pool of water, and a dry land into

springs of water; And there He makes

the hungry to dwell, So that they may

establish an inhabited city."

Has your fruitful land become a salt waste?

Maybe God is trying to get your attention to teach

you a tremendously important lesson: that success

or failure is not the basis of your self-worth.

Maybe the only way you would learn that lesson is

by experiencing the pain of failure. In His great

love, God leads us through experiences that are

difficult, but essential to our growth and development.


The fear of failure can affect our lives in

many ways. The following list is not an exhaustive

discussion of these problems, nor are all these

problems explained completely by the fear of

failure. However, recognizing and removing the

fear of failure in each of these situations could

result in dramatic changes.

PERFECTIONISM

One of the most common symptoms of the fear

of failure is perfectionism: an unwillingness to

fail. This tendency suffocates joy and creativity,

and because any failure is a threat, it focuses our

attention on the one thing that failed rather than

the ten things that went well. A few areas where

people tend to be perfectionists include: doing

work well, being punctual, cleaning the house or

car, their appearance, some skill, or practically

anything we could name! These people usually

appear to be highly motivated, but their motivations

come from the fact that they are trying desperately

not to lose self-esteem because of failure.

AVOIDING RISKS

Another very common result of the fear of

failure is that people are willing to be involved in

activities only if they can do them well. They

avoid new and challenging activities because the

risk of failure is too great. Avoiding risks may

seem comfortable to them, but it severely limits

the scope of creativity and self-expression, and

also, it limits the scope of their service to God.


ANGER, RESENTMENT

When injured or insulted by others, we often

become angry. This anger can easily develop into

resentment — a deep bitterness toward the offender.

Such resentment is often associated with

our fear of failure. For example, when confronted

by others about our performance, we may be defensive

and retaliate with anger and resentment. It

is important to realize that the relief provided by

our retaliation is short-lived, if indeed, there is

any relief at all.

ANXIETY AND FEAR

Failure often is the source of both self-condemnation

and the disapproval of others, both of

which are severe blows to a self-worth based on

personal success and approval. The obvious result

is anxiety. If failure is great enough or occurs often

enough, it can harden into a negative self-concept

in which the person expects to fail at virtually

every endeavor. This negative self-concept

perpetuates itself and leads to a downward spiral

of failure and despair.

PRIDE

When a person bases his self-worth on his performance

and is successful, it leads to an inflated

view of himself: pride. A few people persist in

this self-exaltation through any and all circumstances;

for most of us, however, this sense of selfesteem

lasts only until our next failure (or risk of

failure). The self-confidence that most of us try

to portray is only a facade to hide our fear of

failure and insecurity.


SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia, which could be called the

"Hider's Disease," is a condition in which people

try to escape the pain of failure and rejection by

creating their own separate world. Strong elements

of rejection that are related to schizophrenia will

be discussed in a following section.

DEPRESSION

Experiencing failure and fearing subsequent

failure can lead people into deep depression. Once

depressed, many people become passive in their actions,

believing there is no hope for change. On

the other hand, a depressed person may also experience

intense anger concerning his failures.

Depression is the body's means of blocking psychological

pain by numbing physical and emotional

functions.

CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY

Many people attempt to ease the pain and fear

of failure by using drugs or alcohol. Although the

chemicals are supposed to remove the pressure to

perform, the pleasure of the moment is quickly

followed by the despair of realizing an inability

to cope without the chemical. This pain-pleasure

cycle continues, slowly draining the life out of its

victim.

Users of cocaine, a currently popular drug,

provide a clear example of this condition. A major

reason for cocaine's popularity is its ability to

produce feelings of greater self-esteem. However,

it is interesting that generally, only successful

people can afford the drug. Therefore, if success

truly provided a sense of self-esteem, these people


would not be in the market for the drug in the

first place.

DISHONESTY

Dishonesty is an attempt to hide a person's

failure, but it seldom blunts the pain. Few of us

tell blatant lies, but many of us are dishonest in a

more subtle way: exaggerating the truth so good

things will seem a little better or bad things will

seem a little worse. Exaggerating the truth is another

way we try to hide our failures or impress

others.

LOW MOTIVATION

Much of what is known as low motivation or

laziness can be better understood as hopelessness.

If people believe they will fail, then they will

have no reason to exert any effort. The pain they

endure for their passivity seems relatively minor

and acceptable compared to the more intense pain

of genuinely trying and failing.

SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION

The emotional trauma caused by failure can

cause disturbances in sexual activity. Then, rather

than experiencing the pain of failing sexually,

many tend to avoid sex altogether.

The more sensitive you become to the fear of

failure and the problems it may cause* the more

you will understand your own behavior as well as

the behavior others.


GOD'S ANSWER: JUSTIFICATION

If we base our self-worth on our ability to meet

standards, we will try to compensate by either

avoiding risks or trying to succeed no matter what

the cost. Either way, failure looms as a constant

enemy. But God has set us free from the fear of

failure! He has given us a secure self-worth totally

apart from our ability to perform. We have been

justified, placed in right standing before God

through Christ's death on the cross to pay for our

sins. But God didn't stop with our forgiveness; He

also granted us the very righteousness of Christ!

(II Corinthians 5:21)

Visualize two ledgers. On one ledger is a list

all of your sins. On the other ledger is a list of the

righteousness of Christ. Now exchange your ledger

for Christ's. This exemplifies justification —

transferring our sin to Christ and His righteousness

to us. II Corinthians 5:21 says,

"He made Him (Christ) who knew no

sin to become sin on our behalf, that we

might become the righteousness of Cod in

Him."

Once I heard a radio preacher berate his congregation

for their hidden sins. He exclaimed,

"Don't you know that someday you're going to die

and God is going to flash all your sins upon a giant

screen in heaven for all the world to see?"

How tragically this minister misunderstood God's

gracious gift of justification! Justification carries

no guilt with it, and it has no memory of past

transgressions. Christ paid for all our sins at the

cross — past, present, and future. Hebrews 10:17

says, "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will

remember no more. m

We are completely forgiven by

God!

of


As marvelous as it is, justification means more

than forgiveness of sins. In the same act of love

through which God forgave our sin, He also provided

our righteousness. Righteousness is the worthiness

to stand in God's presence without fear of

personal condemnation. Now we can stand in

God's presence, for at the moment God forgave

our many sins, He also credited to us the very

righteousness of Christ.

By imputing righteousness to us, God attributes

Christ's worth to us. The moment we accept

Christ, God no longer sees us as condemned sinners.

Instead, we are forgiven and Christ's righteousness

is granted to us, and God sees us as

completely righteous and in right standing with

Him. Therefore, we are fully pleasing to Him.

God intended that Adam and his descendants

be righteous people, experiencing His love and

eternal purposes, but sin short-circuited that relationship.

God's perfect payment for sin satisfies

the righteous wrath of God, and enables us to

again have that status of righteousness and to delight

in knowing and honoring the Lord. God desires

those of us who have been redeemed to experience

the realities of His redemption. We are forgiven

and righteous because of Christ's sacrifice;

therefore, we are pleasing to God in spite of our

failures. That reality replaces the fear of failure

with peace, hope, and joy. Even great successes do

not bring lasting happiness, and failure need not

be a millstone around our necks. Neither success

nor failure is the proper basis of our self-worth.

Christ alone is the source of forgiveness, freedom,

joy, and purpose.

At this point, it would be typical for many

become uneasy, believing the gravity of

people to

sin is being overlooked in these statements. As

you will see, I am not minimizing the destructiveness

of sin. I am simply trying to elevate our


view of the results of Christ's payment on the

cross. Understanding our complete forgiveness and

acceptance before God does not promote a casual

attitude toward sin. Quite the contrary, it gives

us a greater desire to live for and serve the One

who died to free us from sin (II Corinthians

5:14,15; I Corinthians 6:19,20). Let's look at some

strong reasons to obey and serve God with joy.

REASONS FOR OBEDIENCE

The love of God and His acceptance of us is

based on grace, His unmerited favor. It is not

based on our ability to impress God through our

good deeds. But if we are accepted on the basis of

His grace and not our deeds, why should we obey

God? Here are five compelling reasons to obey

Him:

LOVE CONSTRAINS

The Christians at Corinth must have posed

these same questions to Paul. He responded that

the love of Christ motivates us to live for Him.

Christ's death revealed the depth of His love for

us. Our obedience reveals the depth of our love

for Him.

"For the love of Christ constrains us,

having concluded this, that one died for

alL.and He died for all that they who

live should no longer live for themselves,

but for Him who died and rose again on

their behalf" (II Corinthians 5:14,15).

Notice the word "concluded" in this passage.

This word means to analyze an issue and determine

its meaning and value. In other words, Paul

says that those who understand the provision and

grace of Christ's sacrifice on the cross are com-


pelled by its immeasurable value to live not for

themselves, but for Him who made the sacrifice.

True love for Christ is a response to His love

for us. As we experience His love, we find our

hearts overflowing with love for Him.

Christ offers us divine healing and unconditional

love. His love is not based on our performance

or ability, and it never condemns. Look

again. The Bible does not state that the love of

Christ "might constrain." It simply says it

"constrains." Therefore, when we find ourselves in

rebellion against God, it is a good indication that

we have been deceived about some aspect of the

love of Christ.

DISCIPLINE FROM THE FATHER

Because He truly loves us, our Heavenly Father

has given us the Holy Spirit to convict us of our

sin. This conviction is proof that we have become

the sons of God (Hebrews 12:5-11). Although He

reproves us in love when we disobey, God never

punishes us in anger because Christ took the

wrath we deserve for our sins once and for all.

If this is true, when does the Lord discipline

us? Generally, God does not discipline us each

time we do wrong, but only when we persist in

wrongdoing. If we are quick to recognize a wrong

and correct it, God would have no need to discipline

us. But we must realize that when discipline

does come, it is sent for correction, not condemnation.

Paul wrote,

"But when we are judged, we are disciplined

by the Lord in order that we

may not be condemned along with the

world" (I Corinthians 11:32).

Another reason God disciplines us is to protect

us from the painful effects of sin. Just as parents


use discipline to teach their children that certain

activities are harmful to them, our Heavenly

Father disciplines us to get our attention so He

can teach us that sin is harmful to us. Whether for

correction or protection, God's motive for discipline

is always love, never anger or revenge. The

realization that His discipline is always for our

good makes us more open to learn the lessons He

wants us to learn.

SIN IS DESTRUCTIVE

The most common responses to sin in our society

are laughter and tolerance. Even many

Christians seem to think that sin is "no big deal."

We need to have our eyes opened to the obvious

facts around us about the tremendous destructiveness

of sin. Broken homes, hatred, bitterness, suicide,

alcohol and drug abuse, sleeplessness, tension,

and many other symptoms of sin are rampant.

When we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit and

block His power in our lives. As a result, we are

left to our own abilities to combat the conforming

pressures of the world. If we truly believed in the

destructiveness of sin, we would be quite afraid

of it However, we are deceived because sin is

pleasurable — at least temporarily. In the end, sin

will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder

(Hebrews 1:25; Proverbs 23:32). The man who sows

evil will reap evil (Galatians 6:7), and the man

who willingly and continually sins will destroy

himself. Knowing this, we should trust God's infinite

wisdom by believing that He has not lied to

us concerning the ultimately painful effects of

sin.


ETERNAL REWARDS

Yet another compelling reason to live for the

glory of God is the fact that we will be rewarded

in heaven for our service to God. Two passages

clearly illustrate this fact:

"For we must all appear before the

judgment seat of Christ, that each one

may be recompensed for his deeds in the

body, according to what he has done,

whether good or bad" (II Corinthians

5:10).

"Now if any man builds upon the

foundation with gold, silver, precious

stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work

will become evident; for the day will

show it, because it is to be revealed with

fire; and the fire itself will test the

quality of each man's work. If any man's

work which he has built upon it remains,

he shall receive a reward. If any man's

work is burned up, he shall suffer loss;

but he himself shall be saved, yet so as

through fire" (I Corinthians 3:12-15).

Through Christ's payment for us on the cross,

we have escaped eternal judgment, however, our

actions will be judged at the judgment seat of

Christ. Here our performance will be evaluated,

and rewards will be presented for service to God.

Rewards shall be given to those whose deeds were

done to honor Christ, but those deeds done for

any other motives will be consumed by fire.

Performance that reflects a desire to honor Christ

will receive rewards and commendation, but performance

that is an attempt to earn God's acceptance,

earn the approval of others, or meet our

own standards will be rejected by God.


CHRIST IS WORTHY

Our most noble motivation for serving Christ is

simply that He is worthy of our love and obedience:

"After these things I looked, and behold,

a door standing open in heaven, and

the first voice which I had heard, like the

sound of a trumpet speaking with me,

said, 'Come up here, and I will show you

what must take place after these things.'

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold,

a throne was standing in heaven,

and One sitting on the throne. And He

who was sitting was like a jasper stone

and a sardius in appearance; and there

was a rainbow around the throne, like an

emerald in appearance. And around the

throne were twenty-four thrones; and

upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders

sitting, clothed in white garments, and

golden crowns on their heads. . . .

"And when the living creatures give

glory and honor and thanks to Him who

sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever

and ever,

the twenty-four elders will

fall down before Him who sits on the

throne, and will worship Him who lives

forever and ever, and will cast their

crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy,

art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive

glory and honor and power; for Thou

didst create all things, and because of

they existed, and were created'"

Thy will

(Revelation 4:1-4, 9-11).

Christ is worthy of our affection and obedience.

There is no other person, no goal, no fame

or status, and no material possession that can

compare to Christ. The more we understand His

love and majesty, the more we will praise Him

and desire that He be honored at the expense of

.


everything else. Our hearts will reflect the

psalmist's perspective:

"Whom have I in Heaven but Thee?

And besides Thee I desire nothing on

earth. . . . But as for me the nearness of

Cod is my good I have made the Lord

God my refuge. That I may tell of all

Thy works" (Psalm 73:25,28).

A SUMMARY

We obey God because. .

1. Christ's love motivates us to live for

Him.

2. Our Father lovingly disciplines us for

wrongdoing.

1. Sin is destructive and should be

avoided.

4. We will receive eternal rewards for

obedience.

5. He is worthy of our obedience.

A BEGINNING EXERCISE

In order to help you experience God's truths,

an exercise from the corresponding workbook is

included at the conclusion of chapters 4, 5, 6, and

7 in the book.

us free from the

How can we allow God to set

fear of failure? How can we begin to live in light

of justification? Applying the following verse of

Scripture will help us get started.

"For in the way you judge, you will

be judged; and by your standard of

measure, it will be measured to you"

(Matthew 7:2).

From this passage of Scripture and what we

know about ourselves, we can draw the following

conclusions and applications:


1. We use the same methods for judging others

that we use to judge ourselves.

2. Though some of us are more reflective than

others, all of us spend a great deal of time

evaluating our performance.

3. At this point, we have a choice. We can use

the same method we have always used to

evaluate ourselves and others (Our Self-

Worth = Performance + Others' Opinions),

or we can adopt God's judgment (Our Self-

Worth « God's Truth About Us).

4. If we want our lives to be what God has

designed them to be, then we must use His

truth as the standard of evaluation, rather

than our own judgment.

5. To accomplish this change in mindset, we

need to apply the following action points:

a. When we see another person, we should

think, and if possible, state verbally,

"This person has great worth apart

from his performance because Christ

gave His life for him, and therefore,

imparted great value to him. If this

person has accepted Christ, he is deeply

loved, fully pleasing, totally forgiven,

accepted, and complete in Christ."

b. To those in our families who we know

are Christians, we can tell them each

day, "You are deeply loved, fully

pleasing, totally forgiven, accepted, and

complete in Christ."

6. As you do this you will automatically begin

to use the same system of evaluation on

yourself, and thereby reinforce the truths

in your own mind.


7. You can apply this in both your own life

and your family's lives after failures.

Affirmation of love and acceptance can be

powerful in shaping a healthy self-concept!

God has given us the Bible as a guidebook. By

understanding Biblical truths, we will be able to

identify the deceptions of Satan; then we can reject

these lies and replace them with the eternal

truths from God's Word. This process is not easy,

but it is essential to our sense of self-worth and

our desire to honor Christ.

Chapter Five

Approval A ddict

The perception of failure is at the root of a

poor self-concept, but for many of us, the problem

is not only how we view ourselves: It

how we think others perceive us.

also includes

Basing our selfworth

on what we believe others think about us

causes us to be addicted to their approval.

Bob felt like a vending machine. Anyone wanting

something from him could pull an invisible

lever and get it. On the job, Bob was always doing

other people's work for them. At home, his friends

continually called on him to help in odd jobs

around their houses. His wife had him working

weekends just so she could continue in the

lifestyle to which she had grown accustomed. Even

people in Bob's church took advantage of him,

knowing they could count on "good old Bob" to

head up any program they planned. What was the

problem? Was Bob simply a self-sacrificing saint?

On the surface,

yes; in reality, no. Bob deeply resented

the people who demanded so much of him

and left him with little time for himself. Yet, Bob

just couldn't say "No." He longed for the ap-

Approval Addict 57

proval of others and believed that agreeing to

their every wish would win this approval for him.

Bob is typical of so many of us! We spend so

much time building relationships, striving to

please people and win their respect. But then, after

all of our sincere, conscientious effort, it

takes only one unappreciative word from someone

to ruin our sense of self-worth. How quickly an

insensitive word can destroy the self-assurance

we've worked so hard to achieve!

The world we live in is filled with people demanding

that we please them in exchange for

their approval and acceptance. Such demands lead

us directly into a second false belief: "I must be

approved by certain others to feel good about myself."

We are snared by this lie in many subtle ways.

Our acceptance of this false belief causes us to

bow to peer pressure in an effort to gain approval.

We may join clubs and organizations hoping to

find a place of acceptance for ourselves. We identify

ourselves with social groups, believing that

being with others like ourselves will assure our

acceptance and their approval.

Many people have admitted that their experimentation

with drugs or sex is a reaction to their

need to belong. However, drugs and sexual promiscuity

promised something they couldn't fulfill,

and experimentation only left these people with

pain and a deeper need for self-worth and acceptance.

To visualize the effects of Satan's lie: "/ must

be approved by certain others to feel good about myself,"

consider the following analogy. In a person's

brain, there are both pain and pleasure centers.

Suppose someone implanted an electrode in each

center. While a gifted professor eloquently expounds

on the destructive effects of certain activities,

someone else begins to send intense electrical


impulses to the electrodes. When the person acts in

a way that pleases the one at the electrode controls,

an impulse is sent out to the pleasure center

to indicate approval. When the person acts in a

way that displeases the person at the controls, a

sharp pain is the immediate result. Which one has

more influence on the person, the eloquent professor

or the one at the controls who gives immediate

sensory feedback?

A similar scenario is played out daily in most

of our lives. Our peer group corresponds to the

person at the electrode controls, having the ability

to give immediate approval or disapproval. No

matter how well we have been taught by parents,

pastors, or teachers, the influence of the peer

group supersedes all else because it is profound

and instantaneous. More teaching is not the answer.

Motivating by fear or guilt is not ultimately

productive. When the one at the controls of the

electrodes is

replaced, then the root cause of pain

and pleasure will be changed. If we believe Satan's

lies, we allow him to determine the basis of our

self-worth. But if we reject his lies and value

Christ's love and acceptance above all else, then

we won't be dominated by the whims of our peers.

Another symptom of our fear of rejection is

our inability to give and receive love. We find it

difficult to open up and reveal our inner thoughts

and motives because we believe that others will

reject us if they know what we are really like.

Therefore, our fear of rejection leads us to superficial

relationships or isolation. Ironically, the

more we experience isolation, the more we need

acceptance. Eric Fromm once wrote, "The deep

need of man is the need to overcome separateness,

to leave the prison of his aloneness."

The fear of rejection is rampant, and loneliness

is one of the most dangerous and widespread

problems in America today. One recent study con-

Approval Addict 59

eluded that loneliness has already reached epidemic

proportions in our country, and if it continues

to spread, loneliness could seriously erode

the emotional strength of our country. And loneliness

is not relegated only to unbelievers. Ninetytwo

percent of the Christians attending a recent

Bible conference admitted in a survey that feelings

of loneliness were a major problem in their

lives. All shared a basic symptom — a sense of de-

feeling unloved and a fear of being un-

spair at

wanted or unaccepted. That is a tragic commentary

on the people about whom Christ said,

"By this all men will know that you

are my disciples if you have love for one

another" (John 13:35).

For the most part, our modern society has responded

to rejection and loneliness in an inadequate

way. Our response has been "outer-directed,"

meaning that we seek a stronger union with our

fellow man by conforming to a group. We identify

with the customs, dress, ideas, and patterns of behavior

of a particular group, allowing the consensus

of the group to determine what is correct for

us. But conforming to a group does not provide

the security we are so desperately seeking. Only

God can provide that. The apostle Paul described

the process of breaking free from the domination

of the world's value system:

"Don't let the world around you

squeeze you into its own mold, but let

God remold your minds from within, so

that you may prove in practice that the

plan of God for you is good, meets all

His demands, and moves toward the goal

of true maturity" (Romans 12:2, Phillips).


Turning to others for what only God can provide

is a direct result of our acceptance of Satan's

lie:

Self-Worth = Performance + Others' Opinions

Living according to the false belief: "I must be

approved by certain others to feel good about myself,"

causes us to continually fear rejection, conforming

virtually all of our attitudes and actions

to the expectations of others. How are you affected

by this belief? Take the test on the following

page to determine how strongly you fear rejection.

Approval Addict 61

FEAR OF REJECTION TEST

Read each statement. Look at the top of the

test and choose the term which best describes your

response. Put the number above that term in the

blank beside the statement.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


1. I avoid certain people.

2. When I sense I might be rejected by

someone, I

become nervous and anxious.

3. I am uncomfortable around those who

are different from me.

4. It bothers me when someone is unfriendly

to me.

5. I am basically shy and unsocial.

6. I am critical of others.

7. I find myself trying to impress others.

_8. I become depressed when someone

criticizes me.

_9. I always try to determine what people

think of me.

JO. I don't understand people and what

motivates them.

Total (Add up the numbers you have




If your score is~

57-70


of rejection that plagues most people. The major

exceptions to this are those who are greatly deceived

or have become callous to their own emotions


47-56

The fear of rejection rarely or only in certain

situations controls your experiences. Again, the

only major exception involves those who are not

honest with themselves.

37-46


may relate to a sense of rejection. In looking back,

you can probably relate many of your decisions to

this fear. Many of your decisions in the future

will also be affected by the fear of rejection unless

you take direct action to overcome it.

27-36

Not only is the above category true of your experiences,

but this fear of rejection forms a general



fear of rejection. Unfortunately, this also robs you

of the joy and peace your salvation was meant to

bring.

0-26

Experiences of rejection dominate your memory


These problems will persist until some


condition will not simply disappear; time alone

cannot heal your pain. You must deal with the

root issue.

Approval Addict 63

THE EFFECTS OF THE FEAR OF REJECTION

Virtually all of us fear rejection. We can fall

prey to it even when we try to harden our defenses

in anticipation of someone's disapproval.

Defense mechanisms of withdrawal or being sure

to please others' every whim are not the answer.

They may dull the pain temporarily, but they

don't deal with the real problem.

In its basic form, rejection is a type of communication.

It communicates to another individual

how little we respect him. Rejection may come in

the form of an outburst of anger, a disgusted look,

an impatient answer, or a social snub. Whatever

the form, rejection carries a universal message of

disrespect, low value, and lack of appreciation.

Nothing hurts like the message of rejection.

If this is true, why do we use rejection so frequently?

One reason is that rejection is a very effective,

though destructive, motivator. Think

about it: Without laying a hand on anyone, we

can send the message that our targeted individual

doesn't measure up. We can harness that individual's

instinctive desire for acceptance until we

have changed and adapted his behavior to suit our

tastes and purposes. Therefore, rejection enables us

to control the actions of another human being.

Many misguided preachers have used rejection

and guilt as a forceful means of motivation. They

expound upon our weaknesses, our failures, and

unworthiness, and our inability to measure up to

Christ's high standards. Not only is our performance

declared unworthy, but we are left feeling

denounced, devalued, and devastated. As a result,

thousands who have been broken by this rejection

have left the church without understanding

Christ's accepting, unconditional love, a love that

never uses condemnation to correct behavior.


However, rejection and guilt are only effective

as long as we can keep people near us. This is why

certain parental techniques of guilt motivation are

effective only until the child matures and gains

more freedom. With the freedom, the child is able

to remove himself physically from his parents.

Then he is unrestrained and can do whatever he

pleases. Many parents are confused by what happens,

but most of them could trace their child's

"sudden rebellion" to the guilt they have communicated

to their children over the years.

Although rejection can control others, it can

also isolate them. For example, Randy was raised

in a broken home, living with his father since he

was six. It wasn't that Randy's father wanted him,

but his mother was too busy to care for him.

Shortly after the divorce, Randy's father married

another woman with three children. Eventually,

Randy's stepmother began to resent any time or

effort she spent on him. She favored her own

children at Randy's expense.

It is no surprise, then, that when Randy grew

up and married a beautiful girl who truly loved

him, he was cautious about giving his love. Randy

had experienced the pain of rejection all of his

life and now, because he feared rejection, he

withdrew his love from someone he truly cared

for. Randy was afraid to become too close because

if his wife rejected him, the pain would be too

much for him to bear.

How do you react to the fear of rejection?

Some of us project a cool, impervious exterior,

never developing deep, satisfying relationships.

Some of us are so fearful of rejection that we

withdraw and say "No H

to anyone and any request,

while others continually say "Yes" so people will

be pleased with them. Some are shy and easily

manipulated, while others are sensitive to criticism

and react defensively. A deep fear of failure may

Approval Addict 65

even cause some to be hostile and others to develop

nervous disorders.

Our fear of rejection exists only because we

base our self-worth on the opinions of others

rather than our relationship with God. Our dependence

on others for value brings bondage, while

abiding in the truths of Christ's love and acceptance

brings freedom and joy.

In Galatians 1:10, Paul clearly draws the line

concerning our search for approval:

"For am I now seeking the favor of

men, or of God? Or am I striving to

please men? If I were still trying to

please men, I would not be a bondservant

of Christ".

According to this passage, we can ultimately

seek either the approval of men or the approval of

God as the basis of our self-worth. We cannot

seek both. God wants to be the Lord of our lives,

and He is unwilling to share that rightful

Lordship with anyone else.

Therefore, the only way we can overcome rejection

is to value the constant approval of God over

the conditional approval of people. God's love and

acceptance is the source of great freedom, joy, and

positive motivation. According to Luke 4:18,

Christ was sent "to proclaim release to the captives,

and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those

who are downtrodden. ."

. .

Similar to the fear of failure, the fear of rejection

can affect our lives in many ways. The explanations

of the following symptoms are not exhaustive,

but are intended to demonstrate how rejection

can trigger certain problems in our lives.


ANGER, RESENTMENT, HOSTILITY

Anger is the most common response to rejection.

If this anger is not adequately dealt with, it can

result in deep resentment and hostility. However,

these two emotions are generally reserved for

those whose fear of failure has permanently

scarred them. The primary motive for retaining

anger is the desire for revenge.

BEING EASILY MANIPULATED

People who believe that their self-worth is

based on the approval of others will do virtually

anything to please other people. These people truly

believe they will be well-liked if they agree to every

request of those manipulating them. However,

in reality, many of these people often despise

those manipulating them and resent what they

have to do to earn their approval.

AVOIDING PEOPLE

Among the most common ways people react to

their fear of rejection is to avoid people, thereby

avoiding the risk of rejection. Some people avoid

others overtly, spending most of their time alone,

but most people try to lower the risk of rejection

by having superficial relationships. They may be

around people much of the time, and they may be

considered socially adept because they know how

to make friends easily, but these "friends" never

really get to know them because they hide behind

a wall of words, smiles, and activities. These people

are quite lonely in the midst of all their

"friends."

Approval Addict 67

DOMINEERING

In an effort to avoid being hurt by others,

many people are constantly trying to maintain

control of people and dominate every situation.

They have become experts in controlling others by

dispensing approval or disapproval. They are unwilling

to let others be themselves and make their

own decisions without giving their consent or disapproval.

Because such people are actually very

insecure, lack of control is an unacceptable threat

to them.

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Schizophrenia is a disorder in which people

fashion their own make-believe worlds. Those suffering

from schizophrenia attempt to escape social

interaction. Unwilling to accept the pain of disapproval,

these people see escape as their last, or

only, option.

DEPRESSION

Depression is the result of repressed, pent-up

anger. When anger is not handled properly, the

body and mind respond to the intense pressure,

and the person's emotions and sense of purpose

become dulled. Depression, then, is

the body's way

of deadening the destructive effects of repressed

anger.

The reason we experience the problems that accompany

the fear of rejection is because we believe

Satan's lie that our Self-Worth *

Performance + Others' Opinions. We crave love,

fellowship, and intimacy, and we turn to others to

meet those needs. However, the problem with basing

our worth on the approval of others is that


people often fail to love and appreciate us unconditionally.

But there is another way. God has provided

a solution to the experience and fear of rejection.

GOD'S ANSWER: RECONCILIATION

God's solution to the fear of rejection is based

on Christ's sacrificial payment for our sins.

Through this payment, we find forgiveness, reconciliation,

and total acceptance through Christ.

Reconciliation means that those who were enemies

have become friends. Paul described our transformation

from enmity to friendship with God:

"Although you were formerly alienated

and hostile in your mind, engaged in evil

deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in

His fleshly body through death, in order

to present you before Him holy and

blameless and beyond reproach"

(Colossians 1:21,22).

As I talked with Pam, it became obvious that

she did not understand this great truth of reconciliation.

Three years into her marriage, Pam had

committed adultery with a man at her office. The

guilt that plagued her made it hard for her to feel

acceptable to God. Her guilt persisted even though

she had confessed her sin to God and to her husband,

and both had forgiven her. Four years after

the affair, she still could not forgive herself for

what she had done.

Finally as we talked, I became frustrated with

her reluctance to believe that she was forgiven by

God. I told her, "But to hear you tell it, one would

think God could never forgive you of a sin like

that. M

-That's right," she replied. -I don't think He

ever will."

Approval Addict 69

"But God doesn't base His love and acceptance

of us on our performance," I stated. "If ever there

is a sin so filthy and vile that makes us less acceptable

to Him, then the cross is insufficient. If

the cross isn't sufficient for any particular sin,

then the Bible is in error when it says that He

forgave all your sins." (Colossians 2:13-15) God

took our sins and cancelled them by nailing them

to Christ's cross. In this way God also took away

Satan's power to condemn us for sin. So you see,

nothing you will ever do can nullify your reconciliation

and make you unacceptable to God."

All of us need to realize the truth I was trying

to communicate to Pam. Salvation is not simply a

ticket to heaven. It is the beginning of a dynamic

new relationship with God. Justification is the

doctrine that explains the judicial facts of our

forgiveness and righteousness in Christ.

Reconciliation explains the relational aspect of

our salvation. The moment we receive Christ by

faith, we enter into a personal relationship with

Him. We are united with God in an eternal and

inseparable bond (Romans 8:38,39). We are bound

in an indissoluble union with Him, as a joint-heir

with Christ. The Holy Spirit has sealed us in that

relationship, and we are absolutely secure in

Christ. Ephesians 1:13

states,

"Having also believed, you were sealed

in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance,

with a view to the redemption of

God's own possession, to the praise of His

glory."

Recently, in a group prayer meeting someone

prayed, "Thank you God for accepting me when I

am so unacceptable." That person understood that

we cannot become acceptable through our own

merit, but he seems to have forgotten that we are


unconditionally accepted in Christ. We are no

longer unacceptable. That is the point of the

cross. Through Christ's death and resurrection, we

have become acceptable to God. That did not occur

because God decided He could overlook our

sin. It occurred because Christ forgave all our sins

so that He could present us to the Father, holy

and blameless.

There is no greater theme in Scripture than the

reconciliation of man to God. Open your Bible and

read for yourself. Study the following passages of

Scripture, and then answer the questions after

each one.

1. EPHESIANS 2:8,9 - On what basis

could we boast?

2. GALATIANS 2:16 - On what basis are

we justified?

3. ACTS 10:43 - Of what did the prophets

bear witness?

4. ROMANS 5:10 - Through what are we

reconciled?

5. GALATIANS 3:6 - On what basis did

Abraham receive righteousness?

6. II CORINTHIANS 5:17,19,21 - Describe

what we are in Christ.

7. GALATIANS 2:16 - What part do works

play in justification?

8. ROMANS 4:7 - Who is blessed?

9. HEBREWS 9:22 - What would you have

to do in order to receive forgiveness?

10. JOHN 5:24 - What is the promise to the

person who knows and believes?

11. EPHESIANS 1:7 - According to what

do we receive forgiveness?

12. PSALM 103:12 - What happens to our

transgressions?

13. HEBREWS 10:18 - After forgiveness,

what is to be our offering for sin?

14. HEBREWS 12:2 - Who is the perfecter

of our faith?

15. JOHN 3:16 - What is God's promise?

Approval Addict 71

16. MATTHEW 26:28 - Why was Christ's

blood shed?

17. ACTS 13:39 - What does belief do?

18. ROMANS 3:23,24 - By what are we justified?

19. JOHN 10:27-29 - What do His sheep

have? Will they perish?

20. ROMANS 8:28-39 - Of what is Paul

convinced?

21. I PETER 1:3,4 - Of what is Peter convinced?

22. ROMANS 8:33 - Who shall accuse us?

23. ROMANS 8:15-17 - Describe the nature

of our relationship with God.

Because of reconciliation, we are completely

acceptable to God and accepted by God. As these

passages illustrate, we enjoy a full and complete

relationship with God, and in this relationship,

our value is not based on our performance.

However, we may question what this relationship

means as we attempt to apply it in our dayto-day

experience. Dozens of people have voiced

this same question to me. Let's analyze this issue:

When we are born again as spiritual beings in

right standing with God, we are not yet fully mature.

As new spiritual people, we find ourselves

still tilted towards the world's way of thinking.

Because we have been conditioned by the world's

perspective and values, we find it hard to break

away. Indeed, when Paul wrote the Christians at

Corinth, he called them "men of flesh" and "babes

in Christ" Though born of the Spirit and

equipped with all provisions in Christ, these individuals

had yet to develop into the complete, mature

believers God intended them to be (I

Corinthians 3:3,4).

Many of us are like the Christians at Corinth.

As young and inexperienced babes in Christ, we

still try to get our significance the world's way:

through success and approval. Often, we look only


to other believers rather than to Christ Himself.

We learn to use the right Christian words, claim

divine power and guidance, and organize programs,

and yet so often, our spiritual facade lacks

depth and substance. Our spiritual activities become

human efforts lacking the real

touch of the

Master.

The Christian who still depends on his success

and seeks the approval of others for his self-worth

is a Christian who has barely begun on his spiritual

journey toward maturity. Success and approval

constitute the basis of an addictive,

worldly, carnal self-worth. Certainly, withdrawal

from this view may cause us some pain as we

change the basis of our self-worth, yet we will

discover true freedom and maturity in Christ only

when we understand that our lives mean much

more than success or the approval of others.

Moreover, the person who will not value God's

opinion over his abilities to please others is a

prideful individual. Make no mistake about it,

we

can do nothing to contribute to Christ's free gift

of salvation: and if we base our self-worth on the

approval of others, then we are actually saying

that our ability to please others is of greater

worth than Christ's payment. We are the sinners,

the depraved, the wretched, and the helpless. He

is the loving Father, the seeking, searching, patient

Savior who has made atonement for the lost

and extended grace and sonship. We add nothing

to our salvation. It is God who seeks us out, convicts

us of sin, and reveals Himself to us; and it is

God who gives us the very faith with which to accept

Him! Our faith is simply our response to what

He has done for us.

The Christian who embraces the measureless

gift of God to man gladly surrenders his pride.

Realizing God's love, forgiveness, and acceptance

enables us to end our struggle for success and ap-

Approval Addict 73

proval. All the time, energy, and effort we have

spent to achieve respect and success cannot compare

to the contentment and joy found in the unconditional

acceptance of Christ.

So then, our worth lies in the fact that Christ's

blood has paid for our sins and, therefore, we are

reconciled to God. We are accepted on that basis

alone, but does this great truth indicate that we

don't need other people in our lives? On the contrary,

God very often uses other believers to

demonstrate His love and His acceptance to us.

The strength, comfort, encouragement, and love of

Christians toward one another is a visible expression

of the love of God. However, our acceptance

and worth are not dependent on others' acceptance

of us, even if they are fellow-believers! Whether

they accept us or not we are still deeply loved,

completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted,

and complete in Christ. He. alone is the final

authority on our worth and acceptance.


How do we learn to reject Satan's lie,

"I must be

approved by certain others to feel good about myself}'*

How can we begin to practically apply the

great truth of our reconciliation to Almighty God?

The following exercise will help you begin to experience

the freedom and joy of reconciliation.

Consider this passage from Revelation, Chapter 12:

"And I heard a loud voice in heaven,

saying, 'Now the salvation, and the power,

and the kingdom of our God and the authority

of His Christ have come, for the

accuser of our brethren has been thrown

down, who accuses them before our Cod

day and night.

"'And they overcame him because of

the blood of the Lamb and because of the


word of their testimony, and they did not

love their life even to death."'

(Revelation 12: 10,11)

How are we going to overcome Satan, the accuser,

and experience our acceptance in Christ?

According to this passage of Scripture, there is

only one way, by the blood of the Lamb. First of

all, we must stop trying to overcome our feelings

of condemnation and failure by penitent actions.

Defending ourselves or trying to pay for our sins

by our actions leads only to a guilt and penance

spiral because we can never do enough on our

own. No matter how much we do to make up for

the sin, we still feel guilty and we feel like we

need to do more. We can only resist Satan, the accuser

of the brethren, because Christ's blood has

completely paid for our sins and delivered us

from guilt.

Secondly, we need to verbalize what the blood

of Christ has done for us: We are deeply loved,

completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted,

and complete in Christ.

As the Bible says in Revelation 12:11, we should

not love our lives (dictated by what seems reasonable

to us) to the point of spiritual deadness.

Love for the world and its pleasures renders us

spiritually impotent. We must decide that our

minds are no longer the source of truth and instead,

get our knowledge, wisdom, and direction

from the Scriptures. There are two practical steps

that will help make these truths a reality in our

lives:

Approval Addict 75

1. On one side of a 3 x 5 card, write the

following:

Because of Christ and His Redemption,

J am completely forgiven and fully pleasing to God.

I am totally accepted by God.

2. On the other side of the card write out

Romans 5:1 and Colossians 1:21,22.

Carry this card with you for the next 28 days.

Every time you get something to drink, look at the

card and remind yourself of what Christ has done

for you. If you do this consistently for 28 days,

these truths will come to your mind for the rest of

your life. As you read and memorize these statements

and passages, think about how they apply to

you. Memorization and application of these truths

will have profound effects as your mind is transformed

by God's Word.

Chapter Six

The Blame Game

Our perception of success and failure is our

primary basis of evaluating people. If we believe

that failure (either our own or others') makes a

person unacceptable and unworthy of love, then

we will feel completely justified in condemning

that person. This condemnation can be harsh

(physical or verbal abuse), or it can be relatively

subtle (sarcasm or silence). But any form of condemnation

is a powerfully destructive force which

communicates, "I'll make you sorry for what you

did."

Matt made a serious mistake early in his life

and was never able to overcome it. At fourteen, he

and several friends from school stepped inside a

downtown department store and tried to slip out

with half a dozen record albums without paying

for them. They made it to the glass doors past the

cashier's stand before a security guard caught

The Blame Game 77

them and escorted all

of them into the manager's

office.

Matt never heard the end of the incident. From

then on, every time he made a mistake at home,

his father reminded him what had happened.

"You're a colossal failure!" his father would

scream. "You've got no values whatsoever! You're a

liar and a thief, and you'll never amount to anything!"

Matt was never able to forget his humiliation.

At age twenty, he sat in my office and told me

very seriously that some days he was happy until

he recognized he was feeling good. Believing that

he had no right to feel good about himself, he

would begin to feel depressed again.

"After all," he reflected, "no one as worthless as

I am should feel good about himself."

Like so many others, Matt had been brainwashed

and broken by the third false belief:

"Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to

be punished."

Whether consciously or unconsciously, we all

tend to point an accusing finger, assigning blame

for virtually every failure. Whenever we fail to

receive approval for our performance, we search

for a reason, a culprit, a scapegoat. More likely

than not, we can find no one but ourselves to

blame so the accusing finger points right back at

us. Self-condemnation is often a severe form of

punishment.

If possible, we will try to place the blame on

others and fulfill the law of retribution — that

people should get what they deserve. All our lives

we have been conditioned to make someone pay

for every failure or shortcoming. When a deadline

is missed at work, we let everyone know it's not

our fault: "I know the report was due yesterday,

but Frank didn't get me the statistics until this

morning." If a household chore is left undone, we


instantly look to the other family members to determine

who is responsible. For every flaw we see

around us, we search for someone to blame, hoping

to exonerate ourselves by making sure the one

who failed is properly identified and punished.

Another reason we seek to blame others is that

our success often depends on the contribution of

others and their failure is a threat to us. Because

their failure blocks our goal of success, we respond

by defending ourselves and blaming them.

Blaming them helps put a safe distance between

their failure and our fragile self-worth.

This pattern is evident in the case of Ellen.

When Ellen discovered that her fifteen-year-old

daughter was pregnant, she went a week without

sleep, tossing and turning, trying to discover who

was to blame. Was it only her daughter who had

brought this reproach on the family, or was she to

blame for failing as a mother? All Ellen knew was

that someone had to take responsibility.

Rather than working out our problems rationally

by evaluating our performance and improving

on it, we either accuse someone else or berate

ourselves. These reactions produce either a critical

attitude or self-condemnation, both of which result

in an erosion of self-confidence.

Yet another reason we blame others is to make

ourselves feel better. By blaming someone else who

failed, we feel superior. In fact, the higher the position

of the one who failed (parent, boss, pastor,

etc.), the farther they fall and the better we feel.

This desire to be superior, to be "one up on them,"

is at the root of gossip.

How should we respond when people fail? If

the person who failed is a Christian, we need to

affirm God's truth about him: He is deeply loved

by God, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally

accepted by Cod, and complete in Christ. This perspective

can change our attitude from condemna-

The Blame Game 79

tion to love and a desire to help. By believing

these truths, we will be able to love the person

just as God loves us (I John 4:11), forgive him just

as God has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32), and accept

him just as God has accepted us (Romans

15:7). This does not mean that we will become

blind to others' faults or failures. We will still

see

them, but our response to them will change considerably,

from condemnation to compassion. As

our self-worth is less dependent on other people,

their sins and mistakes will become less of a

threat to us, and we will want to help them instead

of punish them.

But what about our response to unbelievers?

Although they haven't yet trusted in the cross of

Christ to have their condemnation taken away,

Jesus was very clear about how we should treat

them. In Matthew 22: 36-39, He told His disciples

to love the Lord your God, with all your heart,

soul, and mind, and also, to "love your neighbor

(both believers and unbelievers) as yourself" Jesus

was even more specific in Luke 6:27,28. He said,

"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do

good to those who hate you, bless those who curse

you, pray for those who mistreat you. n Christ didn't

come to love and die for the lovely, righteous people

of the world. If He had, we would all be in

trouble! Instead, He came to love and die for the

unrighteous, the inconsiderate, and the selfish. As

we understand His love for us, and that He rescued

us from the righteous condemnation we deserve

because of our sins, we will be more patient

and kind to others when they fail. It can be very

helpful if we compare the failure or sin of others

with our sins that Christ died to forgive: "There is

nothing that anyone can do to me that can compare

with my sin of rebellion that Christ has completely

forgiven" That should give us a lot of perspective!


We tend to make two major errors when we

punish others for their failures. The first

error is

that we condemn people not only for genuine sin,

but also for their mistakes. When people have tried

their best and failed, they do not need our biting

blame. They need our love and encouragement. We

also tend to blame others because their actions

(whether the actions were overt disobedience or

honest mistakes) make us look like failures, and

our own failure is unacceptable to us.

Relationships like husband - wife, parent - child,

and employer - employee, are especially vulnerable

to one person being threatened by the failure of

another: a wife gets angry at her husband for his

not-so-funny joke at an important dinner party; a

parent erupts at a child for accidentally spilling

milk; or a manager scowls at an employee because

an error in the employee's calculations has made

him look foolish to his supervisor. People generally

have a difficult time dealing with their sins;

not compound their problems by condemning

let's

them for their mistakes.

A second major error we often make when we

condemn others is that we believe that we are the

agents of condemnation. We seem to possess a great

need to balance the scales of right and wrong, and

we cannot tolerate injustice. We are correct in recognizing

that sin is reprehensible and deserves

condemnation, yet we have not been licensed by

God to punish sin. Judgment is God's responsibility,

not man's. Jesus dealt specifically with this issue

when several men decided to stone a woman

caught in adultery. He told them that the person

without sin should throw the first stone.

Beginning with the eldest, all of the accusers

walked away as they remembered their own sinfulness.

In light of their own sinfulness, they no

longer saw fit to condemn the sins of another. As

this incident clearly points out, we should leave

The Blame Game 81

righteous condemnation and punishment in the

hands of the One worthy of the responsibility.

Our response should be love, affirmation, and possibly,

compassionate correction.

When someone acts in a way that is offensive

or insulting to us, should we tell them that they

have made us angry or hurt our feelings? Many

psychologists say that venting our emotions is the

right response because repression is unhealthy, but

this advice misses two important points: why do we

tell the person we are upset, and who is the most

appropriate person to tell? In his book The

Marriage Builder, Larry Crabb explains that the

reason for any and all communication with another

person should be to minister to him and help

him, not just to vent our emotions. If we realize

that our needs for security and purpose are fully

met in Christ, and an insult is not a threat to our

self-worth, then our goal in relationships is no

longer to make us feel better about ourselves. Our

security is no longer threatened by others, so we

can give our attention to helping them instead of

being preoccupied with how they have hurt or offended

us. Consequently, we can love and accept

others even when they are rude and insulting —

just as Christ loves and accepts us. Expressing our

feelings so people will treat us in the way we

want to be treated is a form of manipulation, not

love.

Accepting and loving people just as Christ accepts

and loves us does not mean that our emotions

toward the one who has been inconsiderate

will always be warm and tender. Love and acceptance

of others are often in spite of very real feelings

of hurt or anger. And this hurt or anger

should not be repressed. It should be expressed

fully to the appropriate person — the Lord. The

point is this: We should express our painful emotions

fully to the Lord, and then communicate


whatever will be most helpful to

the one who has

offended us. In this way, we neither repress our

emotions nor respond to others in a reactionary,

manipulative way.

We have a choice in our response to failure: We

can condemn or we can learn. All of us fail, but

this doesn't mean that we are failures. We need to

understand that failing can be a step toward maturity,

not a permanent blot on our self-esteem.

Like children, we all stumble and fall. And, just

like children first learning to walk, we can pick

ourselves up and begin again. We don't have to

allow failure to prevent us from being used by

God.

God forgives His children and wants us to experience

His forgiveness on a daily basis. For example,

Moses was a murderer, but God forgave

him and used him to deliver Israel from Egypt.

David was an adulterer and a murderer, but God

forgave him and made him a great king. Peter denied

the Lord, but God forgave him and Peter became

a leader in the church. God rejoices when

His children learn to accept His forgiveness, pick

themselves up, and walk after they have stumbled.

But, in addition, we must learn to forgive ourselves.

We need to take our sins and failures to

Christ and rejoice in His forgiveness.

Many psychologists today adhere to a theory

called Rational Emotive Therapy. This very helpful

theory states that blame is the core of most

emotional disturbances. The answer, they insist, is

for each of us to stop blaming ourselves and others,

and learn to accept ourselves in spite of imperfection.

How right they are! Christ's death is

the complete payment for sin, and we can claim

His complete forgiveness and acceptance.

Thousands of emotional problems are rooted in

the false belief that we must meet certain standards

to be acceptable, and that the only way to

The Blame Game 83

deal with inadequacies is to punish ourselves and

others for them. There is no way we can shoulder

such a heavy burden. Our guilt will overpower us

and the weight of our failures will break us.

This third false belief, "Those who fail

(including myself) are unworthy of love and deserve

to be punished," is the root of our fear of punishment

and our desire to punish others. How deeply

are you affected by this lie? Take the test on the

following page to determine how great an influence

it has in your life.


FEAR OF PUNISHMENT/

PUNISHING OTHERS TEST

Read each statement. Look at the top of the test

and choose the term which best describes your response.

Put the number above that term in the


1 2 3 4 5 6 7


1. I fear what God might do to me.

2. After I fail, I worry about God's response.

_3. When I see someone in a difficult situation,

I wonder what they did to deserve

their problems.

_4. When something goes wrong, I have a

tendency to think God must be punishing

me.

5. I am very hard on myself when I fail.

6. I find myself wanting to blame people

when they fail.

_7. I get angry at God when someone

immoral or dishonest prospers.

_8. I am compelled to tell others when I

see them doing wrong.

9. I tend to focus on the faults and failures

of others.

_10. God seems harsh to me.



The Blame Game 85


If your score is...

57-70


of punishment that plagues most people. The major

exceptions to this are those who are either

greatly deceived or have become callous to their

own emotions as a way to suppress the pain.

47-56

The fear of punishment and the desire to

punish others rarely or only in certain situations

control your experience. Again, the only major exception

involves those who are not honest with

themselves.

37-46


may tend to relate to a fear of punishment or a

desire to punish others. In looking back, you can

probably relate many of your decisions to this

fear. Many of your decisions in the future will

also be affected by the fear of punishment or the

desire to punish others unless you take direct action

to overcome this tendency.

27-36

Not only is the above category true of your experience,

but this fear of punishment forms a general



fear of punishment and the propensity to blame

others. Unfortunately, this also robs you of the joy

and peace your salvation was meant to bring.


0-26

Experiences of punishment dominate your

memory, and you probably have experienced a

great deal of depression. These problems will remain

until some definitive plan is followed. In

other words, this condition will not simply disappear;

time alone cannot heal your pain. You must

deal with the root issue.

THE EFFECTS OF THE FEAR OF

PUNISHMENT AND THE DESIRE TO PUNISH

OTHERS

Fear can take a deadly toll on people. Although

the death certificates list another disease, many

times the true cause of death was the stress created

by so many fears. The logical result of

Satan's deception, Self-worth * Performance +

Others' Opinions, is fear — fear of failure, rejection,

and punishment. Many of us are so motivated

by fear that we can't imagine what our lives

would be like without it. We have determined that

failure must be punished, and as a result, we victimize

ourselves and others by punishing virtually

every failure we see.

We are the first and most obvious victims in

this pattern of punishment. After failing, we may

believe we must feel remorse for a certain length

of time before we can experience peace and joy

again. In a twisted form of self-motivation, we

believe that if we condemn ourselves enough, then

perhaps we won't fail again.

Not only do we victimize ourselves by this

thinking, but we also practice judgment on others.

Ironically, the people we judge the harshest are

those we love and need the most. This reaction is a

response to our great need for consistency and justice.

If we are going to punish failure in ourselves,

The Blame Game 87

we reason that we must be consistent and punish

failure in others. Also, insisting on justice, we

take it upon ourselves to be God's instrument of

correction. We don't like to see others getting away

with something that should be punished (or perhaps

that we wish we could do ourselves!).

In a sense, the final victim in such a situation

is God. Although God is not truly a victim, actions

such as these distort our perception of Him. This

distortion of our perception of God can have two

effects. First, many people are convinced that every

painful circumstance in their lives is punishment

from God. These people see themselves as

more compassionate than God, knowing they

would never treat their children the way their

Heavenly Father treats them.

A second reaction is to completely turn from

God and His principles. Rationalizing that punishment

is inevitable, some people decide to "live

it up" and enjoy their sin before the judgment

comes.

The fear of punishment and punishing others

can affect our lives in many ways. Here is a brief

description of some of the most common problems:

SELF-INDUCED PUNISHMENT

Many of us operate on the theory that if we are

hard enough on ourselves, then God won't have to

punish us. However, we fail to realize that God

disciplines us in love but never punishes us in

anger. If God does not punish us, we don't need to

punish ourselves.

BITTERNESS

If we believe that God and others are always

punishing us, soon we will become quite angry.

Harboring this anger and always questioning


God's motives will result in deep bitterness and

pessimism.

PASSIVITY

Fear of punishment is at the root of one of the

most common problems in our society: passivity.

Passivity is the neglect of our minds, time, gifts,

or talents, through inaction. God intends for us to

actively cooperate with Him, but fear immobilizes

our wills. Passivity results in a dull life, avoiding

risks and missing opportunities.

PUNISHING OTHERS

Our specific response to the failure of others

depends on several factors: our personalities, the

nature of their failure, and how their failure reflects

on us (i.e., if their failure makes us look

like we failed, such as: "His mistake makes me

look like I'm dumb," or "... a bad parent," or ". .

a poor leader," or "... a rotten employee," or/etc).

Our condemnation of those who fail may take the

form of verbal abuse, physical abuse, nagging criticism,

withholding appreciation and affection, or

ignoring them. All of these responses are designed

to "make them pay for what they did."

The fear of punishment and the desire to punish

others can be overcome by realizing that

Christ bore the punishment we deserved. His motives

toward us are loving and kind. His discipline

is designed to correct us and to protect us from

the destruction of sin, not to punish us.

GOD'S ANSWER: PROPITIATION

The Blame Game 89

When Christ died on the cross, He was our substitute.

He took the righteous wrath of God that

we deserved. The depth of God's love for us is revealed

by the extremity of His actions for us:

the

holy Son of God became a man and died a horrible

death in our place. Two passages state this eloquently.

Isaiah anticipated the Christ who would

come:

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves

esteemed Him stricken smitten of

Cod, and afflicted. But He was pierced

through for our transgressions. He was

crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening

for our well-being fell upon Him, And by

His scourging we are healed. All of us

like sheep have gone astray, Each of us

has turned to his own way; But the Lord

has caused the iniquity of us all To fall

on Him n (Isaiah 53:4-6).

And from the New Testament:

"By this the love of God was manifested

in us that God has sent His only

begotten Son into the world so that we

might live through Him. In this is love,

not that we loved God, but that He loved

us and sent His Son to be the propitiation

for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,

we also ought to love one another" (I

John 4:9-11).

Propitiation means to satisfy the wrath of

someone who has been unjustly wronged.

Propitiation is an act that soothes hostility and

satisfies the need for vengeance. Providing His

only begotten Son as the propitiation for our sins


was the greatest possible demonstration of God's

love for man.

To understand God's wondrous provision of

propitiation, it is helpful to remember what He

has endured from mankind. From Adam and Eve's

sin in the Garden of Eden to the obvious depravity

we see in our world today, human history is

mainly the story of greed, hatred, lust,

and pride

— evidences of man's wanton rebellion against the

God of love and peace. If not done from a desire

to glorify God, even the "good" things people do

are like filthy garments to God (Isaiah 64:6).

Our sin deserves the righteous wrath of God.

He is

the Almighty, the rightful judge of the universe.

He is absolutely holy and perfect. "God is

light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).

Because of these attributes, God cannot overlook

sin, nor can He compromise and accept sin. For

God to condone even one sin would defile His holiness

like smearing a white satin wedding gown

with black tar. Also, because He is holy, God reacts

in righteous anger in His aversion to sin.

However, God is not only righteously indignant

about sin, He also is a God of infinite love. In His

holiness, God condemns sin, but in the most awesome

example of love the world has ever seen, He

ordained that His Son would die to pay for our

sins. God sacrificed the sinless, perfect Savior to

turn away, to propitiate, His great wrath.

And for whom did Christ die? Was it for the

saints who honored Him? Was it for a world that

appreciated His sinless life and worshipped Him?

No! Christ died for us, while we were yet in our

rebellion against Him:

"For while we were still helpless, at

the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will hardly die for a

righteous man; though perhaps for the

good man someone would dare even to

The Blame Game 91

die. But God demonstrates His own love

toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. Much more then,

having now been justified by His blood,

we shall be saved from the wrath of God

through Him. For if while we were enemies,

we were reconciled to God through

the death of His Son, much more, having

been reconciled, we shall be saved by His

life. And not only this, but we also exult

in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have now received the

reconciliation'' (Romans 5:6-11).

Who can measure the fathomless depth of love

that sent Christ to the cross? While we were the

enemies of God, Christ averted the wrath we deserved

so that we might become the sons of God.

Dallas Holm, an outstanding contemporary

Christian composer and musician, wrote a beautiful

song of this majestic, unselfish deed, seen

through the eyes of a father:

"Now I am a man, and have a baby of my own,

I wonder, could I send my baby off all alone,

To help someone, somewhere, somehow.

To set some captive free.

I wonder, could 1 do the same as what He did

for me?"

What can we say of our holy Heavenly Father?

Surely He did not escape seeing Christ's mistreatment

at the hands of sinful men — the scourgings,

the humiliation, the beatings. Surely He who spoke

the world into being could have delivered Christ

from the entire ordeal. And yet, the God of

heaven peered down through time and saw you

and me. Though we were His enemies, He loved us

and longed to rescue us from our sins, and the

sinless Christ became our substitute. Only Christ

could avert God's righteous wrath against sin, so


in love, the Father kept silent as Jesus hung from

the cross. All His anger, all the wrath we would

ever deserve, was piled upon Christ, and Christ

became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). He bore

His Father's anger and became the propitiation for

our sins! He paid the penalty for our sins, and

God's wrath was avenged. No longer does He look

upon us through the eyes of judgment, but now He

lavishes His love upon us. The Scriptures teach

that absolutely nothing can separate us from His

love (Romans 8: 38-39). He has adopted us

(Romans 8:15) into a tender, intimate, and powerful

relationship with Him.

Because we are His children, performance is no

longer the basis of our worth. We are unconditionally

and deeply loved by God, and we can live

by faith in His grace. We were spiritually dead,

but He has made us alive and given us the high

status of sonship to the Almighty God. It will take

all of eternity to comprehend the wealth of His

love and grace. Paul explains this incomprehensible

gift this way:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because

of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions,

made us alive together with

Christ (by grace you have been saved),

and raised us up with Him, and seated us

with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ

Jesus, in order that in the ages to come

He might show the surpassing riches of

His grace in kindness toward us in Christ

Jesus. For by grace you have been saved

through faith; and that not of yourselves,

it is the gift of God; not as a result of

works, that no one should boast"

(Ephesians 2:4- 9).

Propitiation, then, means that Christ has satisfied

the holy wrath of God through His payment

The Blame Game 93

There was only one reason for Him to do

for sin.

it: He loves us. Infinitely, eternally, unconditionally,

irrevocably, He loves us. He loves us with the

love of a father, reaching to snatch us from harm.

He loves us with the love of a brother, laying

down His life for us. He alone has turned away

God's wrath from us. There is nothing we can do,

no amount of good deeds we can accomplish and

no religious ceremonies we can perform that can

pay for our sins. But Christ conclusively paid for

them so that we can escape eternal condemnation

and experience His love and purposes both now

and forever.

Christ not only paid for our sins at a point in

time, He continues to love us and teach us day after

day. We have a weapon to use against Satan as

he attacks us with doubts about God's love for us.

Our weapon is the fact that Christ took our punishment

upon Himself at Calvary. We no longer

have to fear punishment for our sins because

Christ paid for them all — past, present, and future.

This tremendous truth of propitiation clearly

demonstrates that we are truly and deeply loved

by God. His perfect love casts out all fear as we

allow it to flood our hearts (I John 4:18).



How do we free ourselves from Satan's lie:

"Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to

be punishedV We are freed by understanding and

applying the truth of propitiation; and therefore,

we need to saturate our minds with passages of

Scripture declaring God's love for us.

I Corinthians 13 describes God's unconditional

love for us. To personalize this passage, replace

the word "love" with "My Father." Then, memorize

the following passage and when fear comes, recall

the love and kindness of God.

My Father is very patient and kind

My Father is not envious, never boastful,

My Father is not arrogant

My Father is never rude, nor is my Father

self-seeking.

My Father is not quick to take offense. He

keeps no score of wrongs.

My Father does not gloat over my sins, but is

always glad when truth prevails.

My Father knows no limit to His endurance,

no end to His trust.

My Father is always hopeful, and patient.

As you memorize this passage, ask God to show

you if your perception of Him is in error in any

way. This will enable you to have a more accurate

perception of God and will help to free you from

the fear of punishment and the desire to punish

others.

Chapter Seven

Shame

When past failures, dissatisfaction with personal

appearance, or bad habits loom so large in

our minds that they become the basis of our selfworth,

the fourth false belief becomes established

in our lives: "I am what I am. I cannot change. I am

hopeless." This lie shackles people into the hopeless

pessimism of poor self-esteem.

"I just can't help myself," some people say.

"That's the way I've always been, and that's the

way I'll always be. You can't teach an old dog new

tricks." We assume that others should have low expectations

of us, too. "You know I can't do any

better than that. What do you expect?"

If we condone our failures too often and for

too long, we soon find our personality glued to

them. Our self-image becomes no more than a reflection

of the past


When Leslie approached Janet about serving a

term as president of the Ladies' Auxiliary, Janet

fell apart.

"Are you serious?" she stuttered. "You know I've

never been a leader or even gotten along well with

people. No, no, I'd simply be an embarrassment to

you. No, I couldn't do it, don't you see?"

Janet obviously suffered from low self-esteem.

The opinions she held of herself were based on

her failures of the past, and those failures now

kept her from enjoying new experiences in her

life

Ȧ young man named Jeff once questioned me

when I told him he needed to separate the past

from the present, and that there was no natural

law that dictated that he had to remain the same

individual he had always been. I told Jeff that he

could change, that he could rise above the past

and build a new life for himself.

"But how can I do that?" Jeff asked. "I'm more

of a realist than that. I know myself. I know what

I've done and who I am. I've tried to change but it

didn't work. I've given up now."

I explained to Jeff that he needed a new perspective,

not just new efforts from the old, pessimistic

perspective. He needed a new self-concept

based on the unconditional love and acceptance of

God. Both Jeff's past failures and God's unconditional

love were realities, but the question was:

Which one would Jeff value more? If he continued

to value his failures, he would continue to be absorbed

in self-pity. But if he would choose to

study the truths of God's Word, memorize them,

meditate on them, and tenaciously apply them especially

when he felt pessimistic, his sense of selfworth

would change. Along with the change in

self-worth would come changes in every area of

his life: his goals, his relationships, and his outlook

on life.

Shame 97

Too often our self-image rests solely on an

evaluation of our past behavior, being measured

only through a memory. Can you imagine buying

stock from last month's Dow Jones report? Of

course not, and yet, day after day, year after year,

people build their personalities upon the rubble of

yesterday's personal disappointments.

Perhaps we find some strange kind of comfort

in our personal failings. Perhaps there is security

in accepting ourselves as much less than we can

become. That minimizes the risk of failure.

Certainly the person who never expects much

from himself will seldom be disappointed!

But nothing forces us to remain in the mold of

the past. By the grace and power of God we can

change! We can persevere and overcome! No one

forces us to keep shifting our feet in the muck of

old failures. We can dare to accept the challenge

and build a new life.

Dr. Paul Tournier once compared life to a man

hanging from a trapeze. The trapeze bar was the

man's security, his pattern of existence, his

lifestyle. Then God swung another trapeze into the

man's view, and he faced a perplexing dilemma.

Should he relinquish his past? Should he reach for

the new bar?

The moment of truth came, Dr. Tournier explained,

when the man realized that to grab onto

the new bar, he must release the old one. If we

choose to hang on tenaciously to the past, we will

be unable to experience the joy, challenge, and

yes, the potential for failure in the present. We

must sever the past, throw ourselves out, and

reach for change. Does this seem strange? Does it

seem difficult? We may have difficulty relinquishing

what is familiar (though painful) for what is

unfamiliar because our fear of the unknown seems

stronger than the pain of a poor self-concept. It

seems right to hang on. Proverbs 16:25, says, "There


is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is

the way of death."

Any change in our behavior requires a release

from our old self-concept, a concept often

founded in failure and the expectations of others.

We must relate to ourselves in a new way. To accomplish

this, we must base our self-worth on

God's opinion of us and trust in His Spirit to

bring about change in our lives. Then, and only

then, we can overcome Satan's deception that

holds sway over our self-perception and behavior.

By believing Satan's lie, "/ am what I am, I cannot

change, I am hopeless* we become vulnerable to

pessimism and a poor self-concept. Take the test

on the following page to determine how strongly

you are affected by this false belief.

Shame 99

SHAME TEST

Read each statement. Look at the top of the

test and choose the term which best describes your

response. Put the number above that term in the


1 2 3 4 5 6 7


1. I often think about past failures or

experiences of rejection.

2. There are certain things about my

past which I cannot recall without

experiencing strong, painful emotions

(i.e., guilt, shame, anger, fear, etc.).

3. I seem to make the same mistakes

over and over again.

4. There are certain aspects of my character

I want to change, but don't believe

I can ever successfully do so.

5. I feel inferior.

6. There are aspects of my appearance I

cannot accept.

7. I am generally disgusted with myself.

8. I feel certain experiences have basically

ruined my life.

_9. I perceive myself as an immoral person.

10. I feel I have lost the opportunity to

experience a complete and wonderful

life.





If your score is...

57-70

God apparently has released you from the

shame that plagues most people. The major exceptions

to this are those who are either greatly deceived

or have become callous to their own emotions


47-56

Shame rarely or only in certain situations controls

your experiences. Again, the only major exception

involves those who are not honest with

themselves.

37-46


may relate to shame. In looking back, you can

probably relate many of your decisions to this

shame, and many of your decisions in the future

will also be affected by low self-esteem unless you

take direct action to overcome it.

27-36

Not only is the above category true of your experience,

but shame forms a generally negative


days that you are not affected in some way by

shame. Unfortunately, this also robs you of the joy

and peace your salvation was meant to bring.

0-26

Experiences of shame dominate your memory,


These problems will remain until some


condition will not simply disappear one day; time

alone cannot heal your pain. You must deal with

the root issue.

Shame 101

THE EFFECTS OF SHAME

Susan was the product of godless parents.

Although she was a beautiful girl with dark

brown eyes and long, silky hair, Susan never

seemed quite as confident or outgoing as her

brothers and sisters. One reason for this was that

by her eighth birthday, Susan had been passed

around among her father's friends for sexual favors.

Overcome by the shame this caused her,

Susan withdrew from others and looked for an escape.

By the time she was sixteen, Susan was addicted

to alcohol and drugs, and was frequently

stealing and selling her body for money. Susan

had come to accept the fact that she was nothing

more than sexual merchandise. Although she was

ashamed of her lifestyle and wanted to change,

she saw no way out. The only people who didn't

seem to reject her were the same people who used

her. She was not only ashamed, but also trapped

and alone.

Unlike Susan, Diana was the product of

Christian parents. She had been raised in a conservative

Protestant church and was very active in

the youth group. Diana was diligent in witnessing

to her friends at school, and her actions were always

an example to those around her.

However, one night Diana made a mistake that

changed her life. Alone for the evening, she and

her boyfriend went too far. Shocked and ashamed

by their actions, they both agreed that they must

admit the incident to their parents. Tearfully,

Diana confided in her mother, looking for understanding

and support. But Diana's mother lost control

and bitterly told her how ashamed and disappointed

she was. Diana's father couldn't believe

what she had done, and he refused to even speak

to her.


Her relationship with her parents continued to

worsen and six months later, Diana left home.

Heartbroken and overcome by shame, she turned

to her boyfriend. Soon they began sleeping together

regularly, and both began using drugs.

Believing her parents would never accept her

again, Diana sought acceptance in

she knew how.

the only way

Both Susan and Diana suffered the devastating

effects of shame. It engulfs us when some flaw in

our performance is so important, so overpowering,

or so disappointing to us that it creates a permanently

negative opinion about our self-worth.

Others may not know of our failure, but we do.

We may only imagine their rejection, but real or

imagined, the pain from it cripples our confidence

and hope.

Shame usually results in guilt and self-depreca-

can also lead us to search for God and

tion, but it

His answers. Our inner, undeniable need for personal

significance was created to make us search

for Him who alone can fulfill our deep need. In

Him, we find peace, acceptance, and love.

Through Him, we find the courage and power to

develop into the men and women He intends us to

be. Although Satan wants to convince us that we

will always be prisoners of our failures, by God's

grace we can be freed from our past and experience

a renewed purpose for our lives.

Shame can have powerful effects on our lives,

and it can manifest itself in many ways. Here is a

brief list of some of the common problems associated

with shame.

Shame 103

INFERIORITY

By definition, shame is

a deep sense of inferiority.

Feelings of inferiority can stem from only

one or two haunting instances of failure, but they

can destroy our self-worth, and as a result, adversely

affect our emotions and behavior. Others

may or may not actually believe we are inferior,

but we must remember that God's opinion of us is

vastly more important than our past failures or

the opinions of others. Because of Christ's redemption,

we are worthy, adequate, and complete in

Him.

HABITUALLY DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

It has been proven that we behave in a manner

that is consistent with our perception of ourselves.

Therefore, seeing ourselves through the eyes of

shame will only result in more pessimism and a

lifestyle of shameful acts.

SELF-PITY

Shame often leads us to view ourselves as victims.

As a result, we blame others for our actions

as we sink into the depths of feeling sorry for

ourselves.

DESPISING OUR APPEARANCE

of great value. In tele-

In our society, beauty is

vision commercials and programs, magazine ads,

billboards, and almost everywhere we look, beauty

is honored and valued. But very few of us compare

to the beautiful people in the ads and programs,

and most of us are ashamed of at least

some aspect of our appearance. Billions of dollars

and inestimable time and worry are spent in cov-


ering up or altering skin, eyes, noses, thighs,

scalps, etc. We refuse to believe that God, in His

sovereignty and love, gave us the features He

wanted us to have.

GOD'S ANSWER: REGENERATION

Perhaps no passage in the Bible better illustrates

God's regeneration than the story of

Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-10. Zaccheus was a tax collector,

despised by the people for overtaxing their

meager earnings. There were few in the Roman

world who were more despicable than tax collectors

who got wealthy at others' expense. Yet one

day, Zaccheus heard that Jesus was coming to his

town, so he climbed up into a sycamore tree to get

a better look at this man who reportedly loved

even sinners and outcasts. Jesus saw him up in

that tree and to the astonishment of all, including

Zaccheus, Jesus went to Zaccheus' house to eat

with him! At that dinner, Zaccheus' life was

changed! He experienced the unconditional love

and acceptance of Christ, and he became a different

person. His self-concept was radically changed

from a swindling, loathsome tax collector to a person

loved by God. His actions reflected this dramatic

change. He pledged to repent of his sins and

repay four-fold those he had swindled, and he also

pledged to give half of his possessions to the poor.

Zaccheus was a new person with new values, new

goals, and new behavior.

How complete is our regeneration in Christ? It

is so complete that nothing needs to be changed or

improved upon. We are not accepted by God for

what we are going to be, or for what we have

been, but for who we are now in Christ. Ten thousand

years of perfection in heaven will not make

us even slightly more acceptable to God than we

Shame 105

were the moment we trusted in Christ's payment

for our sins.

Regeneration is not a self-improvement program,

nor is it a clean-up campaign for our sinful

natures. Regeneration is nothing less than the

impartation of new life. As Paul stated in

Ephesians 2:5, we were once dead in our sins, but

we have been made alive in Christ. We are alive,

forgiven, and complete in Christ!

The apostle Paul also wrote about this incredible

transformation in his letter to the young pastor,

Titus:

"For we also once were foolish ourselves,

disobedient, deceived, enslaved to

various lusts and pleasures, spending our

life in malice and envy, hateful, hating

one another. But when the kindness of

God our Savior and His love for mankind

appeared, He saved us, not on the basis

of deeds which we have done in righteousness,

but according to His mercy, by

the washing of regeneration and renewing

by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out

upon us richly through Jesus Christ our

Savior, that being justified by His grace

we might be made heirs according to the

hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:3-7).

Regeneration is the renewing work of the Holy

Spirit that literally makes each believer a new

person the instant he trusts Christ to be his Savior.

In that wondrous, miraculous moment, we experience

more than swapping one set of standards for

another one. We experience regeneration, the impartation

of new life. Jesus called it a new birth

(John 3:3-6), a Spirit-wrought renewal of the human

spirit, a transforming resuscitation which

takes place so that "the spirit is alive" (Romans

8:10).


God has made us alive spiritually and made us

complete. Paul wrote the Colossian Christians,

m For in Him (Christ) all the fullness

of deity dwells in bodily form, and in

Him you have been made complete, and

He is the head over all rule and authority"

(Colossians 2:9-10).

In the church at Colossae, false teachers taught

that "completeness" came through a combination of

philosophy, good works, other religions, and

Christ. Paul's clear message was that we are made

complete through Christ alone. To attempt to find

that completeness through any other sources, including

success, the approval of others, prestige, or

appearance, "is to be taken captive through philosophy

and empty deception* (Colossians 2:8). Nothing

can add to the death of Christ to pay for our sins

and the resurrection of Christ to give new life. We

are complete because Christ has forgiven us and

given us life — the capacity for change and

growth.

One theologian remarked, "Regeneration consists

in the implanting of the principle of the new

spiritual life in man, in a radical change of the

governing disposition of the soul, which, under the

influence of the Holy Spirit, gives birth to a life

that moves in a Godward direction. In principle

this change affects the whole man: the intellect . .

. the will . . . and the feelings or emotions." (Louis

Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 468)

Christ and experience new life,

When we trust

forgiveness, and love, we will see changes occur in

our lives. Still, regeneration does not affect an instantaneous

change in the total scope of our performance.

We will still stumble and fall at times,

but the Scriptures clearly instruct us to choose to

act in ways that reflect our new lives and values

in Christ:

Shame 107

"...lay aside the old self, which is being

corrupted in accordance with the lusts of

deceit, and that you be renewed in the

spirit of your mind, and put on the new

self, which in the likeness of God has

been created in righteousness and holiness

of the truth" (Ephesians 4:22-24).

We are to put on this new self that progressively

expresses Christian character in our attitudes

and behavior. We are marvelously unique,

and we can reflect the character of Christ through

our individual personalities and behavior. Each

believer, in a different and special way, has the

capability to shine forth the light of God. No two

will reflect His light in exactly the same way.

The truth of regeneration can dispel the specter

of the past. Our sins have been forgiven, and we

now have tremendous capabilities for growth and

change because we are new people with the Spirit

of God living in us. Yes, in sinning we will experience

the destructiveness of sin and the discipline

of the Father, but sin does not change the truth of

who we are in Christ.

To deal with our sin, we should follow King

David's example. When Nathan confronted David

about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba, David

confessed his sin to the Lord ( II Samuel 12:1-13).

David did not run from his sin or the consequences

resulting from it. David married

Bathsheba, and God was merciful: He enabled

Bathsheba to give birth to Solomon, the wise king

of Israel. Certainly, God could have brought

Solomon into the world some other way, but as a

message to us, He chose Bathsheba. What a message!

Get up, confess your sins, worship God, and

get on with life. You can experience the mercy of

God no matter what you've been through.



Satan wants us to believe the lie: "l am what I

am. I cannot change. I am hopeless." How can we be

freed from the fear of shame? We can begin by

looking up the following verses and reflecting on

who we are in Christ. Beside each passage, write

the truth about your new life in Christ.

a.

Shame 109

To summarize the last four chapters:

Because of justification, we are completely forgiven

and fully pleasing to God. We no longer have to

fear failure.

Because of reconciliation, we are totally accepted

by God. We no longer have to fear rejection.

Because of propitiation, we are deeply loved by

God. We no longer have to fear punishment or have to

punish others.

Because of regeneration, we have been made

brand new, complete in Christ. We no longer need to

experience the pain of shame.

Chapter Eight

Summarizing the Search

In order to summarize mankind's search for

significance, we need to answer one important

question: When he had the rest of the uninhabited

world to

enjoy, why was Satan determined to enslave

Adam and Eve, two seemingly insignificant

beings?

To begin with, Satan probably desired to enslave

them because he sought revenge against God

who dispelled him and his followers from heaven

and cast them down from a position of great

power. Satan may have thought that the best way

to get revenge was to thwart God's plan for His

prized creation — man. Since Adam and Eve were

created to bear the image of God and to give Him

true worship and companionship, Satan believed

that corrupting them and turning them away from

their Creator would spoil God's plan.

Also, Satan may have tried to enslave Adam

and Eve in an effort to gain control over the

Summarizing the Search 111

earth. Adam and Eve were authorized to rule over

the earth (Genesis 1:28-30). God had given them

dominion over all the works of His hands, all the

sheep and oxen, the birds of the air, the fish of

the sea, and all the vegetation that grew under

heaven. Therefore, being cast out of heaven and

down to earth, Satan found himself exiled as a

tenant on a planet God had given to

man. As the

arch angel Lucifer, Satan was once free to walk in

and out of the very presence of God. But now,

Satan was confined to an earth that he did not

control. Adam's right to rule was granted by God,

and Satan could not snatch that authority away

from him. Therefore, Satan's only chance to gain

control and thwart the plan of God was to turn

mankind against God and to trick Adam into willingly

giving his authority to him.

Did Satan succeed? On first examination, we

would probably answer, yes. However, the Bible

tells us that Adam was not deceived by Satan's

subtle lies(I Timothy 2:14). No, Adam deliberately

chose to disobey God. In his rebellion against God,

Adam chose to obey Satan's desires, and in doing

so, found himself enslaved to Satan. Because the

owner of a slave owns all the slave possesses,

Satan took over the earth. Adam committed the sin

His Creator had specifically warned him about:

the sin of rebellion against God. There could be

no instant restoration to perfection. When Adam

squandered away his rights and dominion, Satan

became the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4),

the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of

the air (Ephesians 2:1-3).

As a result, man's intellectual and spiritual eyes

became darkened, and his mind was filled with

pride and vain imaginations. Created in the image

of God, man now became the slave of Satan, destined

to live in the curse of disease, pain, and

death. Rejecting the authority of God, Adam sold


us into slavery to sin, and we became enemies of

God, deserving the righteous wrath of Almighty

God.

And yet, there is recourse. God has left open

the door to life through Christ's death and resurrection.

God's anger can be turned away from us

if we trust in Christ's death on the cross to pay

the penalty for our sin. Instead of being His enemies,

we can be reconciled to God and become His

friends, eager to honor Him.

Our redemption was made complete at Calvary.

When Jesus lifted up His eyes and cried, "It is

finished? He told us that the provision for reconciliation

was complete. Nothing more needed to be

done, because the word of life had been spoken to

all mankind. We needed only to hear the word and

accept it, placing our hope and trust in Christ.

But if the redemption we enjoy is complete,

why do we so often fail to see the fruit we long

for? Why do we wrestle day after day with the

same temptations, the same failings, the same distractions

we have fought so long? Why can't we

break free and move on toward maturity? Christ

illustrated the reasons for a lack of fruitfulness in

the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-20.

Productivity is dependent on the fertility of the

soil and the presence or absence of weeds. The

reasons Christ gave for a lack of fruit were: Satan

taking away the Word of God, persecution, and

the worries of the world. For the vast majority of

us, the worries of the world constitute the major

culprit for our lack of fruitfulness. Jesus describes

it this way:

"And others are the ones on whom the

seed was sown among the thorns; these

are the ones who have heard the word,

and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness

of riches, and the desires for


other things enter in and choke the word,

and it becomes unfruitful"

(Mark 4:18-19).

We need to focus on the forgiveness we have

received and reject the deception and worldly desires

that choke out the word of life. We must base

our lives on God's Word and allow His character

to be reproduced within us by the power of His

Spirit:

"And those are the ones on whom the

seed was sown on the good soil;

and they

hear the word and accept it, and bear

fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold''

(Mark 4:20).

The moment we trust Christ, we are given

"everything pertaining to life and godliness" (II

Peter 1:2-4). Immediately we become His sons and

daughters, with all the provisions He has graciously

given us. As we allow Him to reign over

the affairs of our lives, He transforms our values,

attitudes, and behavior so that we are able to glorify

Him more and more. Of course, we are still

chained to a mortal body, but we are reborn in

righteousness and holiness of the truth. We have

within us the Christ who has authority over Satan.

Christ has triumphed over him by the power of

His death to pay for sin and His resurrection to

give new life (Colossians 2:15).

Now redeemed, we can only be denied our

rightful purpose to rule in life if we continue to

be deceived by Satan. If we fail to recognize our

true position of sonship and let our new power

and authority go unused, we will remain mired in

the world's system. Satan's lies and schemes are

designed to keep us from recognizing and experiencing

these wonderful truths.


In order to overcome Satan's lies and free ourselves

from his false beliefs we need to have a

clear understanding of what Christ has done for

us through His death at Calvary. The more we realize

the implications of the cross, the more we

will experience the freedom, motivation, and

power God intends for us. God's Word is the*

source of truth, the truth about Christ, the cross,

and redemption. The cross is not just the beginning

of the Christian life, it is our constant motivation

to grow spiritually and to live for Christ:

"Now for this very reason also, applying

all diligence, in your faith supply

moral excellence, and in your moral excellence,

knowledge;

And in your knowledge, self-control,

and in your self-control, perseverance,

and in your perseverance, godliness;

And in your godliness, brotherly kindness,

and in your brotherly kindness,

Christian love.

For if these qualities are yours and

are increasing, they render you neither

useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For he who lacks these qualities is

blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his

purification from his former sins"

(II Peter 1:5-9).

This passage clearly teaches that the absence of

spiritual growth can be traced to a lack of understanding

or a failure to remember the implications

of the forgiveness of Christ. The cross is central to

our motivation and development.

I have given you a beginning exercise for each

false belief, but this is only a start. In the closing

chapters we'll look at the basics of renewing the

heart and mind: experiencing the power of the

Holy Spirit and replacing thought patterns that

tell us our worth is based on our performance plus


others* opinions with thought patterns that focus

on the truths of God's unconditional love for us.

But let's review for a minute. The chart on the

following pages depicts the contrast between the

rival belief systems. Use the chart to help determine

if any particular thought is based on a lie or

on God's truth. If the thought is based on a lie,

confront it and overcome it with the truth of

God's Word.

FALSE BELIEFS

must meet certain standards

>rder to feel good about myself.

CONSEQUENCES OF

FALSE BELIEFS

The fear of failure; perfectionism;

intensity about your own success;

withdrawal from risks; manipulate

others to help you succeed.

I must have the approval of

certain others to feel good

about myself.

The fear of rejection; please

others at any cost; sensitive to

criticism, withdrawal to avoid

disapproval

hose who fail are unworthy of

*e and deserve to be punished.

The fear of punishment; punishing

others; blame others when you

fail; dry spiritual life

m what I am. I cannot change.

I am hopeless.

Inferiority feelings; destructive

habits; hopelessness

GOD'S SPECIFIC

SOLUTION

RESULTS OF

GOD'S SOLUTION

Because of justification, we are

completely forgiven and fully pleasing

to God. We no longer have to fear

Freedom from the fear of failure;

intensity about the right things:

Christ and His Kingdom; love for Christ

failure.

Because of reconciliation, we are

totally accepted by God. We no

longer have to fear rejection.

Freedom from the fear of rejection;

willingness to be open and

vulnerable; able to relax around

others; willingness to take criticism;

desire to please God no matter what

others think.

Because of propitiation, we are deeply

loved by God. We no longer have to fear

punishment or punish others.

Freedom from the fear of punishment;

patience and kindness toward others;

being quick to forgive; deep love

for Christ.

because of regeneration, we have been

made brand new, complete in Christ.

We no longer need to experience the

pain of shame.

Christ-centered self-confidence; joy,

courage, peace; desire to know Christ

Chpater Nine

The Holy Spirit — The Source of Change

The truths we have examined in this book have

tremendous implications in every relationship and

every goal in our lives, but now the question

arises, how do we actually implement these truths?

How do the changes actually take place? Jesus

supplied the answer to this question in His last

time of intimate instruction with His disciples

(John 13-16). Jesus told His disciples that He

would soon be put to death, but they would not be

left alone. "And I will ask the Father, and He will

give you another Helper, that He may be with you

forever" (John 14:16). That Helper is the Holy

Spirit, who came some fifty days later to direct

and empower the believers at Pentecost. That same

Holy Spirit indwells each believer today and

serves as our instructor, counselor, and source of

spiritual power as we live for Christ's glory and

honor.

The Holy Spirit — The Source of Change 119

Who is the Holy Spirit, and why did He come?

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is

God and possesses all the attributes of deity. The

Holy Spirit's primary purpose is to glorify Christ

and bring attention to Him. Christ said, "He shall

glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose

it to you" (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit is our

teacher and He guides us into the truth of the

Scriptures (John 16:13). It is by His power that the

love of Christ flows through us and produces spiritual

fruit (John 7:37-39, 15:1-8). This spiritual

fruit is described in many ways in the New

Testament including: intimate friendship with

Christ (John 15:14), love for one another (John

15:12), joy and peace in the midst of difficulties

(John 14:27, 15:11), steadfastness (I Corinthians

15:58), self-control, singing, thankfulness, and

submission (Ephesians 5:18-21), and evangelism

and discipleship (Matthew 28:18-20).

Obviously, these fruits are not always evident

in the lives of Christians, but why not? As we all

know, the Christian life is not an easy one. It is

not simply a self-improvement program. True, we

may be able at times to make some changes in our

habits through our own discipline and determination,

but Christianity is not merely self-effort.

The Christian life is a supernatural life in which

we draw on Christ as our resource for direction,

encouragement, and strength. In one of the most

widely known metaphors of the Bible, Christ described

the Christian life in John 15 with the illustration

of a branch and a vine. He said:

"I am the true vine, and My Father is

the vine dresser„..Abide in (live, grow,

and gain your sustenance from) Me,

and I in you. As the branch cannot bear

fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine,

so neither can you, unless you abide in

Me. I am the vine, you are the branches;


he who abides in Me, and I in him, he

bears much fruit; for apart from Me you

can do nothing" (John 15:1,4£).

Nothing? Yes, in terms of that which is honoring

to Christ, spiritually nourishing to you, and

genuine Christian service, anything done apart

from the love and power of Christ amounts to

nothing. Although there may have been tremendous

personal effort expended and great cost involved,

only that which is done for Christ's glory

and in the power of His Spirit is of eternal value.

However, the very power of God that was evident

when Christ was raised from the dead (Ephesians

1:19-21) is available to the believer who abides in

Christ, desiring that He be honored and trusting

that His Spirit will produce fruit in his life.

Just as the cross of Christ is the basis of our

relationship with God, it is also the foundation of

our spiritual growth. The death of Christ is the

supreme demonstration of the love, power, and

wisdom of God, and the more we understand and

apply the truths of justification, propitiation, reconciliation,

and regeneration, the more our lives

will reflect the character of Christ. Spiritual

growth is not magic. It comes as we apply the love

and forgiveness of Christ in our daily circumstances

— reflecting on the unconditional acceptance

of Christ and His awesome power, and

choosing to respond to situations and people in

light of His sovereign purpose and kindness toward

us. As we saw in the previous chapter, the

apostle Peter stated very clearly that our forgiveness

bought by the death of Christ is the foundation

of spiritual growth:

"Now for this very reason also, applying

all diligence, in your faith supply

moral excellence, and in your moral excellence,

knowledge; and in your knowl-


edge, self-control, and in your self-control,

perseverance and in your perseverance,

godliness: and in your godliness,

brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly

kindness, love. For if these qualities are

yours and are increasing, they render you

neither useless nor unfruitful in the true

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For

he who lacks these qualities is blind or

shortsighted, having forgotten his purification

from his former sins" (II Peter

1:5-9).

The clear implication from this passage is that

the absence of spiritual growth signifies a lack of

understanding of forgiveness. Seeking an emotional

experience, going to seminar after seminar,

or looking for a "deeper life" is not the solution.

Emotional experiences, seminars, and studies are

only valid if their foundation is the love, forgiveness,

and power of the cross and resurrection of

Christ. There is nothing more motivating, nothing

more comforting, nothing else that compels us

more to honor Christ, and nothing else that gives

us as much compassion for others as the sacrificial

payment of Christ to rescue us from eternal condemnation.

The primary reason that Christians don't experience

a deep and fruitful relationship with Christ

is that they do not grasp the significance of their

forgiveness. Yet there are several variations of

this reason that are instructive for us to examine.

Christians face five obstacles that stem from a

misunderstanding of Christ's love and forgiveness:

1. They have wrong purposes.

2. They are too mechanical in their approach

to the Christian life.

3. They are too mystical.

4. They lack knowledge about Christ's

love and power available to them.


5. They are harboring sin which blocks

their fellowship with Christ.

Let's take a closer look at these five obstacles.

First of all, many Christians have wrong purposes

in living the Christian life. Although their actions

and words may appear sincere, many are desiring

to honor themselves rather than Christ. Some may

be blatant pleasure-seekers, while others may be

deeply involved in Christian service but with

wrong motives; however, their intentions are the

same — to be successful and gain the approval of

others. Yet the Lord will not share His glory with

another because He alone deserves honor and

praise. If we realize that our needs for security

and approval are fully met in Christ, we will be

able to take our attention and affections off of

ourselves and place them on Christ. Only then can

we develop Paul's intense desire to honor Christ:

"Therefore also we have as our ambition^to be

pleasing to Him" (II Corinthians 5:9).

Personal success and pleasing others are obviously

improper goals for Christians, but there is

another improper goal that is much more subtle

and deceptive: spiritual growth. Fruitfulness and

growth are the results of focusing on Christ and

desiring to honor Him. They are not the goal.

When spiritual growth is the goal of a person's

life, he tends to be preoccupied with himself instead

of Christ: "Am I growing? Am I more like

Christ today? What am I learning?" This inordinate

preoccupation with self-improvement parallels

our culture's self-help and personal enhancement

movement in many ways. Personal development

is certainly not wrong, but it is wrong to

make it a preeminent goal. If it is a goal at all, it

should be a secondary one. Honoring Christ should

be our consuming passion. God wants us to have a

healthy self-awareness and to periodically analyze


our lives, but He does not want us to be preoccupied

with ourselves. The only One worth our preoccupation

is Christ. Furthermore, we will grow

much more if we take our attention off of our

development and fruitfulness (or lack thereof) and

focus on the love, power, and wisdom of Christ.

Our goal is clear: to honor Him because He is worthy.

Secondly, some believers are too mechanical in

their approach to the Christian life. Although they

rigorously schedule and discipline their lives in an

effort to conform to what they believe is a

Biblical lifestyle, their lives exhibit little of the

freshness, joy, and spontaneity of Christ. One man

had organized his life into hourly segments, each

designated to accomplish some particular "Biblical

purpose." True, he was organized and accomplished

some good things, but he was miserable.

This man was trusting in himself instead of the

Holy Spirit to produce a life that pleased God.

When he realized that Christ said that the foremost

commandment is to love Him and others

(Matthew 22:36-39), and that joy, peace, and kindness

are much more important than adhering to

strict rules (for which Jesus rebuked the

Pharisees), he took on a new perspective and a

new lifestyle of love and joy. This man still was

an organized person, but being organized no

longer dominated his life. Though we may not be

that extreme, many of us do have certain

Christian activities (church attendance, tithing,

Bible studies, etc.) that we feel we must perform

to be "good Christians." These activities themselves

are obviously not wrong, but that perspective is

wrong. Christ wants us to receive our joy and acceptance

from Him instead of merely following

rules or schedules. He is the Lord; He alone is our

source of security, joy, and meaning.


A third obstacle to abiding in Christ is that

many believers become too mystical, looking for

some supernatural feeling in their relationship.

This dependence on feelings leads to two problems.

In the first one, a person waits for feelings

to motivate him, while in the other, the person

sees virtually every emotion as a sign from God.

Let's examine these.

Some Christians do not get up in the morning

until "the Lord tells them to." They don't want to

share Christ with people until they "feel" like God

is prompting them. What these Christians are forgetting

is that Christianity is primarily faith in

action. Our emotions are not the most reliable

source of motivation. Yes, the Holy Spirit does

motivate and empower us, but He has already instructed

us through the Scriptures with the vast

majority of what He wants us to do. Rather than

waiting for a "holy zap" to get us going, we need

to believe the truth of God's Word and take action

for His glory. Must we wait until we feel like God

wants us to love other Christians, pray, study the

Scriptures, share our faith, or serve His cause? No!

We need to follow the examples recounted in

Hebrews 11 of the men and women who acted on

their faith in God, often in spite of their feelings.

True, these people were often reflective and

prayed about what God wanted them to do, but

they always acted on the truth of God.

The other extreme of dependence on feelings

occurs when people believe that their emotions are

a primary means of God's communication with

them, and therefore, their feelings are understood

as signs from God to indicate His leading. This

conclusion often leads them to make authoritative

statements about God's will (for both themselves

and others) that are based on no more than how

they feel. As in the first extreme, the Scriptures

are forced to take a back seat as even foolish and


immoral acts are justified by this false "leading

from the Lord."

Our society glorifies pleasant feelings, and all

of us are affected by this to some degree. We are

told that we deserve to be happy, to be comfortable,

to be loved, and to be stimulated, but instead,

living by our feelings brings frustration,

mood swings, self-centeredness, and spiritual immobility.

It may come as a shock to some people,

but happiness is not the goal of the Christian life!

Our goal is to glorify Christ, and we can do that

as an act of the will, even in spite of our feelings.

The Scriptures never tell us to live by our emotions.

"If it feels good, do it!" is not a verse from

the Bible! The truths of the Scriptures are the only

reliable guide for our lives. Our feelings may reinforce

these truths, but they may reflect just the

opposite, telling us that God doesn't love us, that

the fun of a particular sin is more satisfying than

following God, or that God will never answer our

prayers. The truth of God's Word is our authority,

not our feelings.

Does this mean we should repress our feelings

or deny that we have them? No, we should acknowledge

them to the Lord, fully express to Him

how we feel, and look at the Scriptures to determine

what He would have us do. Then, in obedience

to the Word of God, whether we feel like it

or not, we should do what honors Christ. Many

times when we obey Christ in spite of our feelings,

the emotion of joy and peace follows sooner

or later.

It is not wrong to have emotions, but we need

to go beyond feelings to determine God's leading

in our lives. We need to develop a blend of a

proper understanding of the Scriptures and a sensitivity

to His Spirit. God's Word is our ultimate

authority, and we need to be good students of it


so we will understand the character and will of

God. As Paul told Timothy:

inspired by God and

"All Scripture is

profitable for teaching, for reproof, for

correction, and for training in righteousness,

that the man of God may be adequate,

equipped for every good work" (II

Timothy 3:16-17).

We also need to develop a sensitivity to the

Holy Spirit that goes beyond raw emotions. This

sensitivity is an awareness of His conviction of

sin, His leading to be kind to another person, His

prompting to share the gospel, etc. These Spirit-induced

impressions may correspond with what we

want to do, but instead, they may be antithetical

to what we feel like doing. The discernment of

whether the impression is of God or not comes

from two primary sources: the clear teaching of

the Scriptures and previous experiences of learning

to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit. If an

impression is from God, it will not violate Biblical

principles. Also, a person who has developed the

habit of being sensitive to God is more likely to

accurately discern the leading of God than someone

who is just beginning to develop a sensitivity

to the Lord.

One of the most helpful activities for developing

a moment by moment awareness of God is

thankfulness. Complaining may be much easier

and more natural, but it hardly focuses our attention

on Christ! Being thankful even in the midst

of difficulties rivets our attention on the Lord

and enables us to see His wisdom, sovereignty,

power, and love. That makes us more conscious of

His character and purposes, it promotes prayer,

and it makes us more sensitive to His Spirit's

prompting.


Fourthly, many Christians are hindered in their

walk with God because they do not realize the nature

of the love and power available in Christ.

They haven't yet learned the magnificent truths

of the Scriptures — that we are deeply loved, totally

forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted, and

complete in Christ, with all the power of the resurrection

available to us. These believers are like

the West Texas sheep rancher who lived in poverty

even though vast resources of oil were under his

property. He was fabulously rich, but he didn't

even know it. After it was discovered many years

ago, the Yates oil field has proven to be one of

the richest and most productive in the world.

Similarly, we have incredible resources available

to us, and we are rich in the love and power of

God. We need only to study the Scriptures and

recognize all that is available to us through

Christ's great love and power.

The Holy Spirit enables us to experience the reality

of Christ's love and power in many ways, including:

— revealing sin in our lives so that we can

confess it and our fellowship with God

won't be hindered (I John 1:7);

— helping us choose to honor Christ in our

circumstances and relationships (II

Corinthians 5:9);

— enabling us to endure as we follow Christ

(Romans 5:1-5);

— producing fruit in us (Galatians 5:22-23;

John 15:1-8).

Willful sin is a fifth obstacle that clouds many

Christians' fellowship with God. Indeed, sin may

be pleasurable for a moment, but inevitably its destructive

nature will reveal itself in many ways —

broken relationships, poor self-esteem, and a poor

witness for Christ. Whether it is a gross sin of

immorality or the more subtle sin of pride, all sin


must be dealt with decisively. Christ's death paid

for all our sins and they are completely forgiven. I

John 1:9 tells us,

faithful

"If we confess our sins, He is

and righteous to forgive us our sins and

to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Therefore, we need to admit that we have

sinned and claim the forgiveness of Christ for any

and every sin immediately after the sin occurs, so

that our fellowship with Christ will be unhindered,

and we can continue to experience His love

and power.

Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians that

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control"

(Galatians 5:22,23).

As we respond to the love of Christ and trust

His Spirit to fill us, then these characteristics will

become increasingly evident in our lives. The filling

of the Holy Spirit includes two major aspects:

our purpose (to bring honor to Christ instead of

ourselves) and our resources (trusting in His love

and power to accomplish results instead of trusting

in our own wisdom and abilities). Although we

will continue to mature in our relationship with

the Lord over the years, we can begin to experience

His love, strength, and purpose from the moment

we put Him at the center of our lives.

Spencer, a junior at the University of Missouri,

had been a Christian for several years. He accepted

Christ as his personal Savior when a friend

from his dorm shared the gospel with him during

his first semester at the university. Although he

began consistently growing in his relationship

with Christ, intramural athletics and parties with


his rowdy friends had become the focus of

Spencer's life by the middle of his sophomore

year. Spencer still went to church frequently, and

occasionally he even went to Christian meetings

on campus, but he was confused and often felt

guilty about his friends and the activities they

were involved in. He tried talking with his friends

about it, but they only laughed. Although he

wasn*t very comfortable with these friends anymore,

Spencer felt like he needed them and continued

spending time with them.

Then, in the fall of his junior year, Spencer

went to several Christian meetings on campus. He

began hearing about the love and power of Christ

and how the Holy Spirit can enable us to live for

Christ. Through this teaching, Spencer also began

to develop an eternal perspective, recognizing that

worldliness and sin are destructive, but that following

Christ is eternally significant. One night,

Spencer spent some time alone praying and thinking

about what he had learned. He realized that

his life was confusing and frustrating, and dishonoring

to the Lord. Spencer also realized that

Christ is worthy of his love and obedience, so he

decided to live for Him. As he began to confess

the specific sins the Holy Spirit brought to his

mind and ask Him for the power to live in a way

that was pleasing to Christ, Spencer felt relief and

joy — he was doing the right thing. But what

about his friends? Spencer decided to continue

getting strong Christian teaching and fellowship,

and he also planned to tell his friends about his

decision to follow Christ. Some of his friends

laughed, others were surprised, and a few were

even angry. Over the next year, Spencer still spent

some time with these friends, but now at ball

games instead of wild parties. He even shared

Christ with most of them and had the joy of seeing

two of them trust Christ. Spencer had his


share of struggles and spiritual growing pains, but

he had a new consistency, purpose, and thankfulness

to the Lord.

Like Spencer, our own willingness to be filled

with the Holy Spirit is a direct response to the

magnificent truths centered in the cross and resurrection

of Christ: We are deeply loved by God,

completely forgiven and fully pleasing to God, totally

accepted by God, and complete in Him. Are

you depending on God's Spirit to teach you,

change you, and use you in the lives of others? If

so, keep on trusting Him! If not, look over the five

obstacles to following Christ and see if any of

these are obstructing your relationship with Him.

Are there specific sins you need to confess?

Confession means "to agree" with God that you

have sinned and that Christ has completely forgiven

you. It also means to repent, to turn from

your sin to a life of love and obedience to God.

Take the time to reflect on the love and power

of Christ and decide to trust Him to guide you by

His Word, fill you with His Spirit, and enable you

to live for Him and be used in the lives of others.

Abiding in Christ does not take away all your

problems, but it

provides a powerful relationship

with the One who is the source of wisdom to help

you make difficult decisions, love to encourage

you, and strength to help you endure.

Chapter Ten

Renewing the Mind

In one of the most famous dialogues in the

Bible, Jesus explained the profound truth of regeneration

to Nicodemus:

"Unless one is born again, he cannot

see the kingdom of God. That which is

born of the flesh is flesh, and that which

is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel

that I said to you, 'You must be born

again'" (John 3:3,6,7).

When we were born, we entered a world ruled

by Satan, and we learned the ways of the world.

"You are of your father the devil: Jesus explained,

"and you want to do the desires of your father"

(John 8:44). Therefore, it is easy to understand

why we believe Satan's lies so readily!


However, at some point in our lives the Holy

Spirit drew us to Christ, and we trusted Him to

forgive us and give us new purpose and meaning.

The Holy Spirit baptized us into the body of

Christ, a new spiritual family, the family of God.

He plucked us from the family of Satan and

adopted us into God's eternal family as sons and

daughters (Colossians 1:13,14; Romans 8:15). We

were cursed to die as members of Satan's family,

but as members of God's family, we have been

granted everything pertaining to life and godliness

from the very moment of our new birth. We were

not forced to qualify to receive God's provisions,

but instead, we receive the rights and privileges of

sons by the grace and mercy of God.

If an earthly father receives his newborn son

into his arms and lavishes the child with good

things, how much more does our Heavenly Father

lavish upon His children? When we are born into

an earthly family, we are given a name, all the

provisions of food, clothing, and shelter to sustain

us, and perhaps even made the beneficiary of a

savings account for our future. All the abilities of

the father to provide for the child begin to work

on the child's behalf before he has yet to perform

well or badly. The child is bound to his earthly

father by the unconditional right of birth, not by

his ability to perform.

So much more so are newly born children of

God bound to their Heavenly Father. As His children,

we are given a new spirit, endowed with the

Holy Spirit to lead and convict us, and given all

the capability to honor God and live purposeful

and meaningful lives. All His provisions become

ours at our spiritual birth before we do good or

evil.

And yet, as babes we are not mature. We need

to grow and progress, taking on the characteristics

of our Heavenly Father. We may rebel, but He is

Renewing The Mind 133

longsuffering and capable of loving correction

and instruction. We may fail Him, but we are still

His children.

It is interesting that when the Holy Spirit gave

us a new spirit, He did not give us a totally renewed

mind. Although we have the Spirit of

Christ living within us to enable us to evaluate

our experiences, our minds tend to dwell on the

worldly thoughts of our old nature instead of on

God's truth. As babes in Christ, we are children in

conflict, torn between the new godly motivation to

glorify Christ and the old motivations of lust and

pride. Paul recognized that conflict. He wrote the

Christians in Rome:

"I find then the principle that evil is

present in me, the one who wishes to do

good. For I joyfully concur with the law

of God in the inner man, but I see a different

law in the members of my body,

waging war against the law of my mind,

and making me a prisoner of the law of

sin which is in my members. Wretched

man that I am! Who will set me free

from the body of this death? Thanks be

to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ~"

(Romans 7:21-25)

How then can we break free from the law of

sin and begin to grow in Christ? How can we assist

the process that will enable us to follow

Christ? To change our behavior, we must reject

the earthly thoughts and replace them with spiritual

thoughts. Solomon said, "As a man thinks

within himself, so he is" (Proverbs 23:7). Therefore,

the way we think affects the way we feel, the

way we perceive ourselves and others, and ultimately,

the way we act. The way we think determines

whether we will live according to God's

truth or the world's value system. Still writing to


the Christians in

implications of how we think:

Rome, Paul explains the serious

"And do not be conformed to this

world but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind, that you may prove

what the will of God is, that which is

good and acceptable and perfect"

(Romans 12:2).

We interpret every activity and circumstance

around us through our beliefs. Some of these interpretations

are conscious reflections; however,

most of them are based on unconscious assumptions.

It is from these conscious and unconscious

interpretations we react and respond. The following

diagram will aid in understanding this process.

The situations we encounter are interpreted

through our beliefs. These beliefs trigger certain

thoughts, which in turn stimulate certain emotions,

and from these emotions come our actions.

Situations

l

Beliefs

^"-^ Thoughts ——i^ Emotions *mmm^ Actions

Again, thoughts result from beliefs and then

these thoughts trigger our emotions. However, in

order for an emotion to persist, the belief system

must continue to produce certain thoughts. For example,

you cannot stay sad without continuing to

think sad thoughts. Think of it in this way: A person's

mind contains deeply held beliefs and attitudes

which have been learned through environment,

experiences, and education. These beliefs

and attitudes produce thoughts which reflect how

we perceive the events in our lives. These

thoughts, then, are the foundations of our emo-


tions, and emotions are the launching pad for actions.

The understanding that thoughts are products

of beliefs gives us a tool for exposing them. Then

we can identify the source of those beliefs. Which

false belief do the following thoughts expose?

1. He just has to like me.

2. What can I do to make him like me

more?

3. I'm afraid he's given up on me.

These thoughts reveal a belief in Satan's lie

that we must be approved by certain people to

have self-worth. In this same manner, all of our

thoughts can be traced back to beliefs — beliefs

either based on the truths of Scripture or the lies

of Satan.

False beliefs can be deceptive because they may

be based on a partially accurate perception of circumstances.

For example, it may be accurate that

you failed to get a report in on time. You did actually

fail, but that is only part of the truth. The

other part is that your self-worth is not affected

by that failure. To recognize your failure, but

then believe that your failure has caused you to

lose self-worth, is to believe both a truth and a lie.

The facts may be true, but our interpretation of

the facts may be based on the crafty deceit of

Satan.

Also, in many cases an accurate perception may

trigger a whole array of unconscious thoughts

stemming from false beliefs. For example, Kay's

accurate perception, "My husband is drinking

again," actually represents many of the following

unconscious thoughts:

"I hate that inconsiderate bum!"

"He'll start mistreating me and the children."

"I'll

finally have to move out."


"I'll be forced to provide for myself and the

children."

"I don't have any skills that qualify me to earn

a living."

"I'm nothing but a failure."

Kay was responding emotionally not only to the

conscious thought of her husband's drinking, but

to unconscious fears as well. The combination of

the accurate perceptions and speculative assumptions

formed a mental framework which spawned

her emotions and actions. Therefore, we need to

analyze our thoughts in each circumstance to determine

which are valid and which are not.

In addition, we often prolong destructive emotions

by continuing to dwell on them. This is illustrated

by Samantha, who lost her temper with the

grocery boy for spilling a sack of vegetables on

the parking lot. Later that night, Samantha was

still angry. "The more I think about it, the more

angry I get," she told her husband.

"So don't think about it," he calmly replied.

In this situation, Samantha was wrong on two

counts. First, she let her emotions dictate her angry

response to the grocery boy. Secondly, she let

her thoughts cloud her emotions, which robbed her

of joy. Her negative actions, thoughts, and emotions

then reinforced one another, and her anger

was solidified.

The example is a simple one, but the point is

clear: The way we believe and think determines

how we react to the world around us. If our minds

have not been renewed by the power of Christ, it

is impossible to display His character in these

daily situations.

For most of us, the majority of our beliefs were

produced before we became Christians; therefore,

it is easy to understand why many of our actions

do not reflect His character. Until those false beliefs

are identified, ruthlessly rooted out, and re-


placed with Biblical convictions, our lives will

continue to be filled with dishonorable thoughts

and actions. Since these false beliefs are contradictory

to the Word of God, we can conclude that the

very pillars of thought which have shaped our

personalities are in error and at odds with God's

truth. Failure to recognize this fact can have devastating

effects on our lives.

For example, a young girl named Dawn was

sent to me by her parents who hoped I could reason

with her about her promiscuous behavior. But

Dawn could not understand how something that

felt so good and made her so happy could be

wrong. In an effort to explain, I

pointed out that

her pleasant emotions were not the ultimate determination

of truth. Emotions can be very misleading.

I urged Dawn to realize the destructiveness

of her sin, and I explained how God could

meet her needs. I also explained to her that she

was increasingly in bondage to her sin even

though she was enjoying it. Dawn could be freed

from her sin and its destructive effects. It was a

clear choice: to continue to follow her emotions or

to believe the truth of God's Word and experience

true and lasting joy instead of a destructive counterfeit.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to replace our

worldly thoughts with His truth, we will discover

that situations actually have very little influence

over our emotions. Our emotions are born from

our beliefs about a situation, not the situation itself.

Therefore, it is crucial to readjust our beliefs,

instead of trying to escape our situations. Jack, a

middle aged executive, is a perfect example of

this truth. When Jack told me that he had lost is

job and was depressed, he meant that an event

(the loss of his job) had caused his sadness and

depression. To teach him that events don't cause

emotions, I pretended to miss the correlation.


"Why are you depressed?" I asked.

"I lost my job, and I feel depressed," Jack

stated.

"I heard that, but why are you depressed?" I repeated.

Jack bristled. "What! I told you I'm depressed

because I lost my job."

"No, your job isn't why you're depressed," I reasoned.

"This morning a man told me that although

he had lost his job, he was excited about seeing

what God would provide. Why is it that what

causes depression in one person causes excitement

in another?"

"I don't know," Jack replied thoughtfully.

"The reason," I went on to explain, "is that our

emotions are a result of our beliefs about a situation,

not the situation itself. Because circumstances

themselves do not cause emotions, we must

entrust the circumstances to God and focus on our

beliefs, making sure they line up with the truths

of the Bible. This way, we can be secure and

happy — even when the job runs out! Who knows

where God plans to take you next?!"

Finally, Jack could better understand how God

was working in his life.

The case of Winston also provides a clear example

of how we can gain victory over our circumstances

and emotions. Winston was an older

man with only a few years left until retirement.

But Winston had become particularly anxious since

he had a new boss who assigned him degrading

tasks, seemingly designed to run him off. The

pressure upset Winston so much he seriously considered

an early retirement. Winston came to me

for advice and explained the situation carefully.

He was shocked when I told him his problem

wasn't the new boss, but rather, the way he perceived

the situation.


"What!" Winston sputtered. "Are you trying to

tell me after all this, that my problem is not my

situation? Arc you saying the awful way I am being

treated isn't really what's making me feel depressed?

H

"Precisely," I said. "Your anxiety comes from

your false belief about yourself."

I began explaining to Winston that he was operating

with a false belief that he must be approved

by his boss in order to be happy. I further

pointed out that God was probably allowing this

situation to free him from being dependent on the

approval of anyone. Then he could experience

what really mattered in life: that he was deeply

loved by God, completely forgiven, fully pleasing,

totally accepted, and complete in Christ, resulting

in a life of love and depth and meaning.

"Why worry about your boss' evaluation of

you?" I said. "It is only what Christ thinks about

you that really matters. You can let those degrading

tasks come and go without getting upset if you

value His acceptance of you more than your boss'

apparent rejection."

Smiling, Winston went back to work, determined

to replace the false belief with the truth of

reconciliation. Later Winston told me that his boss

quit pressuring him when he realized that assigning

him degrading tasks no longer disturbed him.

One of the greatest characteristics of personal

maturity in Christ is the willingness to accept full

responsibility for our emotional and behavioral

reactions in all the disturbing situations of life. In

realizing our situations don't cause our self-destructive

reactions and by applying God's truths to

the situation, we find peace and perspective.

The world need not have control over God's

children. The spiritual battle may be intense, but

we will be able to persevere if we analyze our circumstances

through God's perspective and reject


the false beliefs which can control our emotions

and actions. Faith in the Word of God prevents us

from being buffeted by every situation, or ever

again having to live "under the circumstances." In

Phillipians 4:8,9, Paul admonished the Christians

in Phillipi to focus their attention on truth:

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true,

whatever is honorable, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever

is of good repute, if there is any excellence

and if anything worthy of praise,

let your mind dwell on these things. The

things you have learned and received and

heard and seen in me, practice these

things; and the God of peace shall be

with you."

Identifying the false beliefs is the first step on

our path toward new freedom in Jesus Christ.

Once we recognize that many of our deeply held

beliefs are actually rooted in deception, we can

proceed to use our emotions as a checkpoint to determine

if our beliefs about a given circumstance

are based on truth or lies. Most of our painful

emotions, such as fear, anger, and tension, are the

product of believing Satan's lies. Therefore, when

we have those emotions, we can ask ourselves,

"What am I believing in this situation?" In almost

every case, we will be able to trace the negative

emotions back to one of the four false beliefs we

have examined. Then we can choose to reject the

lie we have identified and replace it with the corresponding

truth from the Scriptures. This process

is amazingly simple, yet amazingly profound and

applicable. Here is an example:

Scott was working hard in the office on a

mortgage loan proposal when his boss walked in to

check on his progress. James, another man in the

office who wanted a promotion very badly, made


a joke about all the papers scattered on Scott's

desk. Their boss had a good laugh, and they

walked out together. Scott was furious! He had

worked diligently on that proposal, and it was excellent,

yet James had made fun of him in front

of his boss. But instead of fuming about the incident

all day, Scott used his anger as a gauge for

his beliefs. He stopped and asked himself, "Why

am I responding this way? What am I believing?"

That was easy. He identified the false belief, "I

must be approved by certain others to feel good

about myself" Scott acknowledged that the belief

was a lie, rejected it, and affirmed the truth that

he was totally accepted by God, and that God's

acceptance is far more important than his boss'

acceptance. Instead of wasting the day stewing in

his anger, he was able to relax and glorify God by

his attitude.

In examining our emotions, it is important to

realize that not all distressing emotions reflect deception.

For example, the emotion of remorse

might be the conviction of the Holy Spirit leading

us to repentance. Not all anger and fear are

wrong. Anger at someone molesting a child or

beating an elderly person is a righteous anger, just

as a measure of fear while driving during rush

hour in Houston is entirely justifiable! The

Christian who regularly replaces his false beliefs

with God's truths will be equipped to discern between

emotions that are the product of a righteous

response and those that are the product of Satan's

deceptions.

In our problem-filled world, there are two

ways, both erroneous, that most people choose to

deal with their emotions and the circumstances

surrounding them. One way that people deal with

emotions is to shut them out completely, refusing

to acknowledge them or be affected by them.

However, switching off our emotions in this way


can cause us to become callous and insensitive to

ourselves and others around us. Unfortunately,

this is just what happened to Mike. Over the years,

Mike had deadened himself to his emotions, apparently

not allowing anything to bother him. He

had experienced a difficult childhood, first being

abandoned by his parents, and then being shuffled

from one relative to another. In an effort to stop

the pain, Mike learned to block out his emotions

and to ignore his circumstances.

But Mike's success at suppressing his emotions

had long-lasting consequences. First, by severing

painful emotions, he missed out

himself from the

on many pleasant emotions as well. Secondly, the

longer Mike avoided dealing with his emotions,

the more fearful he became of them. To combat

this fear, he simply became more calloused and

withdrawn. Third, and perhaps most important,

Mike could not use his emotions to detect the false

beliefs that were at the root of his problem because

he denied that he even had those emotions.

He was helpless, unable to acknowledge his hurt

needs.

The second way that many people deal with

emotions is by becoming enslaved to their emotions,

unable or unwilling to make decisions that

are contrary to them. Wearing her emotions on her

sleeve, Melinda was not difficult to figure out.

Her flaring temper, her torrent of tears, and her

jovial laughter were all indications of her rollercoaster

emotions. Never knowing what to expect,

Melinda's husband, Ken, became weary of trying

to deal with his volatile wife.

Melinda's erratic emotions affected her so much

that they became, in effect, her lord. Her feelings

seemed to be more real than anything else in her

life and clouded her perception of God and His

purposes.


We often respond incorrectly to them, but our

emotions are in fact a gift from God, intended to

be used and enjoyed. In His goodness, God intended

us to live in joy and peace, buoyed by love,

and anchored by faith, but until His truth is dominant

in our lives, our emotions will determine our

responses to life's situations.

It is vital that we be sensitive to our emotions

and actions, always looking for those that do not

reflect the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. We

need to submit these painful emotions and actions

to Him in prayer, asking that He reveal the false

beliefs that hinder our fellowship with Him. Then

empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can cast aside

our false beliefs and choose to believe the truths

of God's Word. (The psalmists modeled the freedom

to express both joy and pain to God. For example,

look at Psalms 6 and 13.) Notice, it is first

necessary to expose the root emotions and the

false beliefs which are triggering them. Then secondly,

by faith, we can allow God's Word to renew

our minds.

Here are ten typical statements reflecting

common false beliefs. Examine each statement,

asking, "What false belief(s) does this statement

represent?" Then beside each statement, place the

number of one or more of the false beliefs. All ten

statements are reflections of the four false beliefs

we have already studied:


(1) I must meet certain standards to feel

good about myself;

(2) I must be approved by certain others to

feel good about myself;

(3) Those who fail are unworthy of love

and deserve to be blamed and condemned;

(4) I am what I am; I cannot change; I am

hopeless.

1. Tammy is right. 1*11 never be a

successful husband and father.

2. I'm so undisciplined. I'll never be

able to accomplish anything.

3. I just can't trust God.

_4.

My father never did accept me.

_5. That's just the way I am.

6. Everything I do turns out badly.

1. I failed my college final. I'll

never graduate now.

8. I can't overcome a particular sin.

9. I am going to fail financially.

10. I deserve all the misery I am experiencing.

Compare your answers with these:

1. 1,4 4. 2

2. 1,4 5. 4

3. 4 6. 1


7. 1,3 9. 1

8. 4 10. 3

Were you able to identify the false beliefs? If

not, look at the statements again carefully, analyzing

the root issue behind each one.

One of the main reasons we tend to respond

poorly to circumstances is that we think we deserve

better. Our society and media tell us that

everybody should be happy, comfortable, healthy,

and successful. The difficulty arises when we believe

these statements and equate orthodox

Christianity with a comfortable middle-class

lifestyle. We think we deserve the best of everything,

so when things don't go the way we'd like,

we get upset.

What do you think you deserve? Do you think

you deserve appreciation from your friends, success

in school or in your career, a clear complexion,

good health, a promotion, leisure time, or

freedom from whining children, an insensitive

spouse, or inconsiderate neighbors? We sometimes

are unable to identify the particular status or

comfort we think we deserve, but we are sure we

deserve better than what we're experiencing. One

of the most obvious results of this perspective is a

lack of thankfulness and contentment.

There are three principles from the Scriptures

that can significantly help us understand what we

deserve:

1. The transcendent purposes of God,

The prophet Isaiah wrote that God's wisdom

and purposes far surpass our own:


"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Neither are your ways My ways', declares the

Lord.

'For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts,'"

(Isaiah 55:8-9).

One of the reasons we think we deserve better

is that we believe we know what is best for us and

for others. But are we omniscient? Are we

sovereign, gracious and good like God? That is the

issue, isn't it? Do we deserve better than the

sovereign purposes of the Almighty God?

2. A humble view of ourselves.

Christ told a parable to explain our proper relationship

to God:

"'But which of you, having a slave

plowing or tending sheep, will say to him

when he has come in from the field,

"Come immediately and sit down to eat"?

"'But will he not say to him, 'Prepare

something for me to eat, and properly

clothe yourself and serve me until I have

eaten and drunk; and afterward you will

eat and drink"?

"'He does not thank the slave because

he did the things which were commanded,

does he?

"'So you too, when you do all the

things which are commanded you, say,

"We are unworthy slaves; we have done

only that which we ought to have done"'"

(Luke 17:7-10)

He is the Lord. He is the One who rightly deserves

our affection and joyful obedience. Jesus

said of the servant in this passage, if he did all

that he was commanded, he was still to think of


himself as an unworthy servant. "Unworthy? I

thought we were deeply loved and accepted by

God." This passage does not contradict the Biblical

truths we have examined. It is teaching a different

issue than the basis of acceptance before God:

that He is the sovereign Lord and He does not owe

us anything. All that we have is by His grace. We

are the thankful recipients, and He is the gracious

and loving Lord.

The problem appears when we do something

"for the Lord:" Bible study, church attendance,

witnessing, being kind to someone, etc., and we

think that He is then obligated to bless us. God is

never obligated to bless us, but He does what is

best for His honor and our growth.

3. Overwhelming thankfulness for our forgiveness.

In Luke 7:36-50, a woman who is overcome

with thankfulness for her forgiveness is contrasted

with a Pharisee who is not thankful:

"Now one of the Pharisees was requesting

Him to dine with him. And He

entered the Pharisee's house, and reclined

at table.

"And behold, there was a woman in the

city who was a sinner; and when she

learned that He was reclining at table in

the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster

vial of perfume,

"And standing behind Him at His feet,

weeping, she began to wet His feet with

her tears, and kept wiping them with the

hair of her head, and kissing His feet,

and anointing them with the perfume.

"Now when the Pharisee who had invited

Him saw this, he said to himself, 'If

this man were a prophet He would know

who and what sort of person this woman

is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.'


"And Jesus answered and said to him,

'Simon, I have something to say to you.'

And he replied, 'Say it, Teacher.'

"'A certain moneylender had two

debtors: one owed five hundred denarii,

and the other fifty.

"When they were unable to repay, he

graciously forgave them both. Which of

them therefore will love him more?'

"Simon answered and said: 7 suppose

the one whom he forgave more.' And He

said to him, 'You have judged correctly.'

"And turning toward the woman, He

said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman? I

entered your house: you gave Me no water

for My feet,

but she has wet My feet

with her tears, and wiped them with her

hair.

"'You gave Me no kiss: but she, since

the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss

My feet.

"'You did not anoint My head with oil,

but she anointed My feet with perfume.

"'For this reason I say to you, her sins,

which are many, have been forgiven, for

she loved much: but he who is forgiven

little,

loves little."

"And He said to her, Your sins have

been forgiven.'

"And those who were reclining at table

with Him began to say to themselves,

Who is this man who even forgives sins?'

"And He said to the woman, 'Your

faith has saved you: go in peace.'"

Is your response to Christ more like the

Pharisee or more like the woman? When we grasp

even a portion of the magnitude of Christ's love

and forgiveness, we will overflow with appreciation

to Him.

After all, what we really deserve is the righteous

condemnation of God. Our rebellion deserves

the punishment of hell, but we have been spared


that because Christ experienced God's wrath for

us on the cross. It is very instructive if we realize

this: Anything that happens to us that is better

than hell is by the grace of God. That should help

us get out of the mire of self-pity, and instead experience

contentment, thankfulness, and the joy of

Christ!

What upsets you? What do you think you deserve?

Learn to focus on what you have that you

don't deserve instead of what you don't have that

you think you deserve. That realization will have

a radical impact on your outlook on life.

Chapter Eleven

The Weapons of our Warfare

One of the biggest steps toward consistently

glorifying Christ, bearing His image, and walking

in peace and joy with our Heavenly Father is recognizing

the deceit which has held us captive.

Satan's four basic lies have distorted our true perspective,

warped our thoughts, and tormented our

emotions. If we cannot identify those lies, then it

is very likely that we will continue to be defeated

by them.

However, simply realizing the source of our

problems will not set us free from them. Once we

recognize the tricks of the enemy, we must seize

the offense. We must use the weapons God has

provided us to overcome incorrect thoughts, vain

imaginations, and distorted beliefs. Paul describes

the Christian's armor and weapons this way:

"Therefore, take up the full armor of

God, that you may be able to resist in the

The Weapons Of Our Warfare 151

evil day, and having done everything, to

stand firm.

"Stand firm therefore, having girded

your loins with truth, and having put on

the breastplate of righteousness,

"And having shod your feet with the

preparation of the gospel of peace;

"In addition to all, taking up the

shield of faith with which you will be

able to extinguish all the flaming missiles

of the evil one.

"And take the helmet of salvation,

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the

word of God" (Ephesians 6:13-17).

Paul instructs us to "put on the full armor of

God." This armor is a defensive weapon, able to

protect us from the attacks of Satan. Paul goes on

to encourage us to take up the "sword of the Spirit,

which is the Word of God" In contrast to the defensive

armor, this weapon, the Word of God, is an

offensive weapon and is used to attack the enemy

and conquer him. Paul indicates Christ did not intend

for Christians to sit idly in their armor and

absorb attack after attack from Satan. Instead, the

wise warrior will reach for his offensive weapon

and destroy the fortresses of the enemy. Applying

this to our study, we need to take the truths of

God's Word and use them to attack and overcome

the lies of Satan.

Paul explains the nature of our warfare:

"For though we walk in the flesh, we

do not war according to the flesh, for the

weapons of our warfare are not of the

flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction

of fortresses. We are destroying

speculations and every lofty thing raised

up against the knowledge of God, and we

are taking every thought captive to the

obedience of Christ"

(II Corinthians 10:3-5).


These fortresses are belief systems based on

Satan's lies. They are overcome by "destroying

speculations and every lofty thing raised up against

the knowledge of God," that is, identifying and rejecting

specific lies, then replacing them with the

truth.

In the same letter to the Christians in Corinth,

Paul shows how repentance can be a vital weapon

in our warfare. If we have been deceived by the

enemy, or if we have been involved in willful disobedience

to God, we can repent by turning from

our sin to God. Paul rejoiced that the Corinthians

repented and experienced the grace of God:

"I now rejoice, not that you were made

sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful

to the point of repentance; for you

were made sorrowful according to the

will of God, in order that you might not

suffer loss in anything through us.

"For the sorrow that is according to

the will of God produces a repentance

without regret, leading to salvation; but

the sorrow of the world produces death"

(II Corinthians 7:9,10).

The Corinthians' example demonstrates repentance

as a tactical weapon of our spiritual warfare.

Repentance means to change, to change one's

mind, purpose, and actions. It is more than just

sorrow, it is the changing of our attitude and actions

when we have realized that an attitude or an

action is sinful and dishonoring to God.

As an offensive weapon, repentance possesses

two sharp edges. The first edge of repentance allows

us to discern and reject false beliefs. When

situations occur which trigger certain beliefs that

produce ungodly responses, we must:

1. recognize our emotion;


2. trace the emotion back to its source and

identify the false belief; then

3. consciously and assertively reject this false

belief. The following diagram illustrates this:

Situations

False w Ungodly w I Emotions 1 _*> Ungodly

Beliefs ^^ Thoughts w \ M w Actions

Trace the emotions back to the false beliefs

The second edge of repentance is the replacement

of false beliefs with the truth of God's

Word. By affirming God's truth about our worth,

this truth will lodge itself deep into our hearts

and minds and begin to reshape our thinking.

Then, the truth will set us free!

If false beliefs remain in our minds unchallenged

and unrejected, they retain an unconscious

influence on our emotions and reactions.

Consequently, our warfare is a sustained and continuous

battle. Every disturbing situation provides

us an opportunity to discover our incorrect thinking,

to reject our world-acquired beliefs, and exchange

them for truth. This is a daily process for

every Christian; only this aggressive, conscious,

truth-seeking effort can reverse years of habitually

wrong thinking.

Affirming God's truth is a weapon of great

spiritual value. Through this process, we state

God's truth as our own perspective. Continual affirmation

produces beliefs which result

in correct

thinking, which then result in godly responses.

Affirming the truths of God's Word enables us to

overcome the deception of the enemy (Revelation


12:10). The following diagram illustrates this process:

Situations

False

Beliefs

Ungodly

Actions

I

Trace the emotions back to the false beliefs

Replace it with. . .

God's

Truth

Godly

Thoughts

Emotions

Godly

Actions

To effectively utilize affirmation as a weapon

for change, remember these five concepts:

First, affirming the truths of the Scriptures

does not mean the natural mind is in agreement

with what we are affirming. The Bible teaches

that the natural mind is antagonistic toward God:

"But a natural man does not accept the

things of the Spirit of God; for they are

foolishness to him, and he cannot understand

them, because they are spiritually

appraised" (I Corinthians 2:14).

It may not be comfortable to reflect on the

truths of God's Word because the truths of the

Spirit and the lies of the enemy are in opposition

to one another. Therefore, don't be surprised by

spiritual conflict when you confront these lies

with God's truths.

Second, realize that these changes do not take

place in our lives simply by a self-improvement

program. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, and He

will point out instances when we are believing

Satan's lies, He will give insight into the truth of


the Scriptures, and He will give strength to persevere

in the spiritual battle. Even our desire to

honor Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit in our

lives. Through His wisdom and power, and our

moment by moment choice to follow Him, the

Holy Spirit produces changes in our lives for the

glory of Christ.

Third, to become proficient at affirming these

truths, we need to become students of God's Word

and allow its truth to lodge deep within our hearts

and minds. We should make it a regular practice to

meditate upon the Word of God so that He can use

it to change our beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and

actions. David explained the power of applying

the Scriptures:

"Thy Word I have hidden in my heart

that I may not sin against thee....

"If Thy law had not been my delight,

Then I would have perished in my affliction.

I will never forget Thy precepts,

for by them Thou hast revived me....

"Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a

light to my path....

Therefore I love Thy commandments

above gold, yes, above fine gold" (Psalm

119: 11,92-93,105,127).

Fourth, affirm the truth that specifically corresponds

to a particular false belief. Once we have

identified a specific false belief as the cause of

our improper emotional or behavioral reaction, we

should claim God's corresponding truth in the situation.

(See the chart at the end of Chapter 8.)

Finally, take time to reflect on the marvelous

Biblical truth outlined in this book. It is not the

unthinking, mechanical utterance of these truths

which produces freedom, but the conscious realization

of the truth which changes our minds and

actions. For example, when we affirm that we are

deeply loved by God, we should think through the


doctrine of propitiation, if possible, quoting I

John 4:9,10 audibly. The power of God's Word will

conquer the false belief and liberate our minds.

Let me illustrate how applying the truth affected

a young woman I counselled. Peggy had

given up any hope that her life could ever have

any true value. She held to the false belief that

she would be what she had always been: a failure.

"That's just me. I can't do any better than this,"

she would always tell herself. But once Peggy began

to affirm her self-worth in God's eyes, she

began correcting her false beliefs.

"No, that's not me," she began to say to herself.

"On the contrary, I am loved, forgiven, accepted,

and complete in Jesus Christ. That's the real me!"

In a short time, Peggy found herself believing

the truth, and eventually her emotions and behavior

reflected those truths.

In much the same way, a young man named

Carl began to understand the cause of his depression,

and he began to counter it by reflecting on

God's truth about himself. "I have believed that I

must meet certain standards in order to feel good

about myself," he reasoned. "I have believed that

I'm a failure and cannot meet these standards.

However, this isn't true. I have failed in my performance,

but poor performance isn't the real me.

It's only a reflection of the deception I have been

believing. Instead of accepting my poor past performance

as the basis of my self-worth, I choose

to believe I am completely forgiven and fully

pleasing to God." Then he meditated on Romans

5:1:

"Therefore, having been justified by

faith, we have peace with God through

our Lord Jesus Christ."

Carl reflected, "I

choose to believe the truth of

God's Word instead of my own perception of my-


self. I choose to believe I am deeply loved by

God." He thought about the truth of I John

4:9,10:

"By this the love of God was mani~

jested in us, that God has sent His only

begotten Son into the world so that we

might live through Him. In this is love,

not that

we loved God, but that He loved

us and sent His Son to be the propitiation

for our sins. n

The weapon of repentance, through rejection of

false beliefs and affirmation of godly truth, has

changed thousands of lives. As we saw in the cases

of Peggy and Carl, it can liberate the mind and

"destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up

against the knowledge of God. n And it can help us

discover the wondrous significance we have in

Jesus Christ: We are deeply loved, completely forgiven,

fully pleasing, totally acceptable and complete

in Christ. Our journey is a joyous and challenging

adventure with Christ

Now that we understand the value of the

weapon of repentance, we will look further to the

subjects of guilt, conviction, affirmation, and

faith.

Chapter Twelve

Guilt vs.

Conviction

There is a truth in God's Word that allows me

to say without reservation that there is no reason

whatsoever for a Christian to experience the

gnawing pain of guilt. What insight permits me to

make such an unqualified statement? My liberty

stems from the reality of New Testament truth:

not once does the New Testament speak of

Christians as worthy of condemnation.

In Romans 8:1, Paul points out, "There is therefore

now no condemnation for those who are in

Christ Jesus." So, how can I say that no Christian

need experience guilt? Because Paul said it first!

When I shared this important truth with a troubled

Christian brother, I watched his jaw drop

and tears fill his eyes. He looked at me incredulously

and exclaimed, "You mean all this guilt I

have been carrying for so long is unnecessary?

You mean I can be free from this sense of con-

Guilt vs. Conviction 159

demnation and torment? Why hasn't somebody told

me this before?"

The apostle Paul has been trying to tell

us just

that for centuries, but few Christians have listened.

We feel we deserve condemnation, and we

fail to realize that Christ has set us free from the

guilt and condemnation for our sins.

What exactly is guilt, anyway? Sigmund Freud

said that guilt is a result of social restraint. To

Freud, guilt was born in the mind of a child when

his parents scolded him and was nothing more

than the fear of losing the love of someone significant

to him. Therefore, according to Freud, guilt

comes when we fear a loss of social esteem, when

instinctive drives cause us to act in ways other

than the accepted social norm.

Alfred Adler wrote that guilt arises from a refusal

to accept one's inferiority. Therefore, he

said, guilt feelings are those pangs of self-incrimination

we feel anytime we think or behave inadequately.

Both Freud and Adler tried to explain the

pain of guilt from a perspective that denies the

righteous judgment of God and our personal responsibility

for sin. To them, guilt could only be

explained on a human, existential basis.

Christian authors, Bruce Narramore and Bill

Counts, represent a more Biblical perspective when

they differentiate between true guilt and false

guilt. True guilt, they explain, is an objective fact,

but false guilt is a subjective feeling of pain and

rejection. They emphasize that while the Bible

discusses the fact of legal or theological guilt, it

never tells the Christian to feel psychological

guilt. These distinctions are helpful, but they may

not clarify the issue for those people who equate

any guilt with condemnation. For this reason, it is

better to use the terms "guilt" and "conviction" to

distinguish between the condemnation deserved

for sin and the loving prodding of God to live in


a way that honors Him. Though many people confuse

these two, they are actually worlds apart. The

chart later in this chapter clearly illustrates the

differences.

No emotion is more destructive than guilt. It

causes a loss of self-respect. It causes the human

spirit to wither, and eats away at our personal

significance. Guilt is a strong motivation, but it

plays on a person's fear of failure and rejection;

therefore, it can never ultimately build, encourage,

or inspire us in our desire to live for Christ.

Some people understand guilt as a sense of legal

and moral accountability before God. They distinguish

it from low self-esteem by reasoning that

guilt is the result of a sinful act or moral wrongdoing,

while low self-esteem is derived from a

feeling of social or personal inadequacy.

Consequently, a lie makes us feel unacceptable to

God and brings guilt, while bad table manners

make us feel unacceptable to the people around us

and bring low self-esteem.

This perspective shows some depth of thought,

but it focuses on the emotional response rather

than the root cause. At its root, guilt is the condition

of being separated from God and deserving

condemnation for sin. Low self-esteem can be experienced

by Christians or non-Christians, anyone

who believes Satan's lies and feels like a failure:

hopeless and rejected.

As we have determined, guilt has a restricted

meaning in the New Testament. It refers only to

man's condition prior to his salvation. Only the

non-Christian is guilty before God. He has transgressed

the law of God and must face the consequences.

Guilt shakes its fist and says, "You have

fallen short and must pay the price. You are personally

accountable." Only in Christ is our condemnation

removed. Christ removed our guilt

when He accepted the penalty for our sins. He


died on the cross with the burden of our guilt,

suffering the full punishment for all sin. Because

of His substitution, we need never face guilt's

consequences. We are acquitted and absolved from

our guilt, free from our sentence of spiritual

death.

Many of us have been told that we are still

guilty even after we have trusted Christ to pay

for our sins. And sadly, we have heard this in

churches, places that should be loudly and clearly

proclaiming the forgiveness, freedom, and zeal

found in the cross. Learn to identify incorrect

teaching, guilt motivation, and the pang of guilt

in your own thoughts. Then refuse to believe the

lies any longer, and focus on the unconditional

love and acceptance of Christ. Perhaps some people

think that if they don't use guilt motivation,

people won't do anything. That may be true for a

short while until the people adjust to being motivated

properly, but that short period of waiting is

well worth the long-term results of grace-oriented

intrinsic motivation. The love of Christ is powerful,

and He is worthy of our intense zeal to obey

and honor Him. The result of proper motivation

will be an enduring, deepening commitment to

Christ and His cause, rather than the prevalent results

of guilt motivation: resentment and the desire

to escape.

Although Christians are free from guilt, we are

still subject to the conviction of sin. The Bible

frequently speaks of the Holy Spirit's work to

convict believers of sin. He directs and encourages

our spiritual progress by revealing our sins in contrast

to the holiness and purity of Christ.

Although the Holy Spirit convicts both believers

and unbelievers of sin (John 16:8), His conviction

of believers is not intended to produce the

pangs of guilt. Our status and self-worth are secure

by the grace of God, and we are no longer


guilty. Conviction deals with our behavior, not our

status before God. Conviction is the Holy Spirit's

way of showing the error of our performance in

light of God's standard and truth. His motivation

is love, correction, and protection.

While guilt is applicable to non-believers and

originates from Satan, conviction is the privilege

of those who believe and is given by the Holy

Spirit Guilt brings depression and despair, but

conviction leads us to the beautiful realization of

God's forgiveness and the experience of His love

and power.

Perhaps the following summary will better reveal

the contrasting purposes and results of guilt

and conviction:

Basic Focus:

GUILT focuses on the state of being condemned:

"/ am unworthy."

CONVICTION focuses on behavior: This

act is unworthy of Christ and is destructive."

Primary Concern:

GUILT deals with the sinner's loss of

self-esteem and a wounded self-pride:

will others think of me?"

"What

CONVICTION deals with the loss of our

moment by moment communion with God:

"This act is destructive to me and interferes

with my walk with God."

Primary Fear:

GUILT produces a fear of punishment:

"Now I'm going to get it!"

CONVICTION produces a fear of the destructiveness

of the act itself: "This behavior

is destructive to me and others, and it robs me

of what God intends for me."


Accnt*

The agent of GUILT is Satan: *. . . the god

of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving,

that they might not see the light of

the gospel of the glory of Christ" (II

Corinthians 4:4).

The agent of CONVICTION is the Holy

Spirit: "... but if by the Spirit you are

putting to death the deeds of the body, you will

live" (Romans 8:13).

Behavioral Results:

GUILT leads to depression and more sin:

"/ am just a low-down, dirty, rotten sinner;" or

to rebellion: "I don't care. I'm going to do

whatever I want to do."

CONVICTION leads to repentance, the

turning from sin to Christ: "Lord, I agree

with You that my sin is wrong and destructive.

What do You want me to do?"

Interpersonal Result:

The interpersonal result of GUILT is

alienation, a feeling of shame that drives

one away from the person who has been

wronged: "I can't ever face him again."

The interpersonal result of CONVICTION

is restoration, a desire to remedy the harm

done to others: "Father, what would You have

me do to right this wrong and restore the relationship

with those I have offended?"

Distinguishing After-Effects:

GUILT ends in depression, bitterness and

self-pity: "I'm just no good."

CONVICTION ends in comfort, the realization

of forgiveness: "Thank You, Lord, that

I am completely forgiven and totally accepted

by you!"


Remedy:

The remedy for GUILT is to trust in

Christ's substitutionary death to pay for the

condemnation for sin.

The remedy for CONVICTION is confession,

agreeing with God that our sin is

wrong, that Christ has forgiven us, and that

our attitude and actions will change.

Although Christians are no longer subject to

condemnation, we will not be free from its destructive

power until we learn to distinguish between

guilt and conviction. The Holy Spirit wants

us to be convinced that we are forgiven, accepted,

and loved — totally secure because of Christ. The

Holy Spirit is the "paraclete," or one "called along

side," to lift us up and encourage us. As a part of

His ministry, He faithfully makes us aware of any

behavior that does not reflect the characteristics

of Christ. He helps us understand both our righteousness

before God and the failures in our performance.

What can we conclude from these truths? We

can conclude that guilt is rooted in condemnation,

but conviction leads us to confession and repentance

and to a renewed realization of God's grace

and forgiveness.

Knowing this, how can we deal with feelings

of guilt? First, we need to affirm that Christ has

forgiven us and made us judicially

righteous. Our

sin does not bring condemnation, but it is harmful

and dishonors God. We can confess our sin to God,

claim the forgiveness we already have in Christ,

and then move on in joy and freedom to honor

Him.

The following prayer expresses this attitude:

"Father, I affirm that I am deeply

loved by you, that I am fully pleasing to

You, and I am totally accepted in Your

sight. You have made me complete and


given me the righteousness of Christ, even

though my performance often falls short.

"Lord, I confess my sins to You. (List

them. Be specific.) I agree with You that

these are wrong. Thank You for Your

grace and forgiveness. Is there anything I

need to return, anyone I need to repay, or

anyone I need to apologize to? Thank

You."

It is important to affirm our righteousness in

Christ as well as confess our sins. God does not

need to be reminded of our right standing in Him,

but we do. Therefore, we need to make this prayer

a daily experience and let it pervade our thoughts

and hearts. As we yield to the gentle prodding of

God-given conviction, confess our sins, and affirm

our true relationship with Him, we are gradually

shaped and molded so that we may increasingly

honor "the One who died and rose again on our behalf."

Chapter Thirteen

The Search Concluded

As we conclude our examination of the search

for significance, we will touch on several issues to

help clarify how we apply the truths of the

Scriptures. We will look at: the contrast between

our old and new natures; how we can honor

Christ; how faith operates; and finally, how to apply

the concepts in this book. First, let's see how

understanding the contrast between our old and

new natures can help us grow in Christ and bring

honor to Him.

Living freely and fully in Christ requires that

we constantly be on the alert against our former

ways of thinking, and actively choose the qualities

of Christ over the enticing deception of the world.

Time after time, Scripture instructs us to exercise

our wills to free us from our old way of living. As

Paul taught the believers in Ephesus:

The Search Concluded 167

"...In reference to your former manner

of life, you lay aside the old self, which

is being corrupted in accordance with the

lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed

in the spirit of your mind, and put on the

new self, which in the likeness of God has

been created in righteousness and holiness

of the truth"

(Ephesians 4:22-24).

In this passage, Paul explains that Christians

have two natures which he calls "the old self" and

"the new self." What exactly is the old self that

must be laid aside? The old self is the sinful,

fallen nature we possess as descendants of Adam.

We know from Scripture that the old self is corrupted

by the lusts of deceit (Ephesians 4:22), is

involved in evil practices such as lying, slander,

abusive speech, idolatry, wrath, malice, immorality,

impurity, passion, evil desire and greed

(Colossians 3:8,9), and is a body of sin (Romans

6:6).

In contrast, the new self is

the nature given to

us by God when we trust Christ as our Savior.

This nature bears the characteristics of Christ.

has been created "in the likeness of God in righteousness

and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24), and is

strengthened according to God's power (Ephesians

3:16). The new self is a reality for all individuals

born of the Spirit.

As we know, man lost his ability to reflect the

image of God after the Fall. Now, through faith

in Jesus Christ, we are released from the domination

of the natural man and able to put on the

new self and bear His image. Although we are

free from sin's absolute domination, we are not

free from the influence of the old nature. Until

we die and leave our physical bodies behind and

live with Christ, the new self will continually war

against the old self. Our spiritual desires will bat-

It


tie our lustful, worldly desires and the natural

mind will clash with the truths of the Scriptures

(Galatians 5:16-24).

Unless we are diligent, we can grow weary of

this spiritual warfare, and succumb to the lusts

and pride in which the world delights. When we

acquiesce, we adopt our old emotions and habits

again. Giving in may seem attractive at the time,

but it leads to feelings of failure and low self-esteem,

and it dishonors the Lord. Clearly, momentary

escape from the battle isn't worth it. It only

appears to be escape; actually it is exchanging one

battle with the Lord as our powerful ally, for another

battle with the Lord as our loving adversary

who wants to correct our error.

The more we understand Biblical truth about

ourselves, the better we will be able to wage spiritual

warfare. The apostle Paul clearly distinguished

between the character and results of the

old self and the new self. His delineation in

Romans 6 centers on four words: know, consider,

present, and obey. Let's examine these.

In Romans 6:3-10, Paul instructs us to know the

basic facts about who we are in Christ:

"Or do you not know that all of us

who have been baptized into Christ Jesus

have been baptized into His death?

"Therefore we have been buried with

Him through baptism into death, in order

that as Christ was raised from the dead

through the glory of the Father, so we too

might walk in newness of life.

"For if we have become united with

Him in the likeness of His death, certainly

we shall be also in the likeness of

His resurrection,

"Knowing this, that our old self was

crucified with Him, that our body of sin

might be done away with, that we should

no longer be slaves to sin;


sin.

"For he who has died is freed from

"Now if we have died with Christ, we

believe that we shall also live with Him,

"Knowing that Christ, having been

raised from the dead, is never to die

again: death no longer is master over

Him.

"For the death that He died, He died

to sin, once for all" (Romans 6:3-10).

Our old self, which deserved the condemnation

of God, was identified with Christ on the cross.

Our old self was crucified with Him, the penalty

sin was fully paid by Christ, and we now live,

identified with Christ's resurrection "so we too

might walk in newness of life!* Paul wants us to be

well aware of these facts so that we can draw definite

conclusions from them.

Verse 11 tells us to reflect on and consider the

facts already presented:

"Even so consider yourselves to be

dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ

Jesus" (Romans 6:11).

To "consider" means to be deeply convinced of

truth so that we rely on it. Unless we take the

time to reflect on the implications of our identity

with Christ in His death and resurrection, these

most important events in history will be like facts

learned in a history class about some war fought

long ago. We may be able to recite the dates,

names, and places, but those facts won't make any

difference in our lives. The magnificent truths of

our identity in Christ deserve far more attention

than our ability to parrot back the facts. They deserve

deep reflection on their implications in our

relationships, goals, and self-esteem.

If we understand the implications of Christ's

death and resurrection, that our old self died with


Christ and our new self came to life in Him, then

our logical, heart-felt response will be to present

ourselves to Him:

"Therefore do not let sin reign in your

mortal body that you should obey its

lusts,

"And do not go on presenting the

members of your body to sin as instruments

of unrighteousness; but present

yourselves to God as those alive from the

dead, and your members as instruments

of righteousness to God" (Romans 6:12-

13).

We have a choice, to present the members of

our bodies (our thoughts; wills, goals, desires, and

actions) either to sin or to God. One results in

more unrighteous behavior, it is harmful to us and

others, and it dishonors God. The other results in

righteous behavior, enables us to grow and serve,

and brings glory to God. The choice is clear, isn't

it? Note that Paul doesn't start Romans 6 with the

exhortation to present ourselves to God. The commitment

to action follows understanding the facts

and considering the implications of those facts.

Then, the call to commitment seems reasonable,

not forced. The Lord and the apostle Paul do no

want us to commit ourselves to something we don't

understand. Commitment must follow understanding

or that commitment will be shallow and probably

short-lived.

After presenting ourselves to God as a reasonable

response to His grace, we then need to perpetuate

that commitment through moment by moment

obedience to Him:

"What then? Shall we sin because we

are not under law but under grace? May

it never be!


"Do you not know that

when you present

yourselves to someone as slaves for

obedience, you are slaves of the one

whom you obey, either of sin resulting in

death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

"But thanks be to God that though you

were slaves of sin, you became obedient

from the heart to that form of teaching

to which you were committed,

"And having been freed from sin,

became slaves of righteousness 1*

(Romans 6:15-18).

you

Paul indicates that it would be foolish for us to

disobey because we have been freed from slavery

to sin. It is right and proper to obey God because

our new self in Christ is now our true source of

identity. He uses the term "slaves" to signify obligation

and mastery. Before we trusted Christ, we

were slaves of sin, obligated to a lifestyle of unrighteousness,

but now we are slaves of obedience

to God, obligated to Christ, His teaching, and His

righteousness.

As we identify our old selves as the fertile soil

of Satan's deceptions, we will be more equipped to

understand ourselves and deal properly with our

ungodly thoughts, painful emotions, and unrighteous

actions. Considering the old self to be dead

does not mean that we deny that our distressing

emotions exist. Indeed, they are very real, but we

can now choose our response: to allow them to run

rampant or to use them to identify false beliefs.

Following Christ can be difficult. Our culture

suggests that the easy way is the right way, but in

reality, neither way is easy. Following Christ is

difficult because our culture, our old selves, and

Satan fight against our desire to honor the Lord,

but disobedience is difficult because of the pain

and tragic consequences of sin. Some say that the

world's way is easy; that is misleading. Others say


that if you follow Christ, your life will be free

from problems, but these well-meaning people are

misleading, too. We will be much better off if we

realize that there is no easy way to live. Comfort

is not the goal. The goal, however difficult, is to

honor Christ because He loves us and He is worthy

of our faith, love, and obedience.

But what does it mean to honor Christ? What

can we do to bring glory to Him? There are almost

countless attitudes and activities that could be

listed, but overall it

means to accurately represent

Him in every thought, action, relationship, and

conversation — to bear His image. The major categories

of attitudes and activities that honor Christ

include:

Love — This love is unconditional affection for

Christ, for other Christians, for unbelievers, and

for ourselves. This love is not Pollyanna; it means

that we care enough to correct as well as to encourage.

Holiness — We generally think of holiness primarily

in terms of what we don't do — the abstinence

from sin. But holiness also includes a positive

side: zeal for Christ and His cause.

Biblical Values — The more we understand the

love and character of Christ, the more we will

value the things that are important to Him.

Prestige, money, success, and the approval of others

will gradually lose their appeal, and instead,

we will desire that Christ be honored, that people

become Christians, that believers grow in their

faith, and that missionaries are sent out to the

world.

Giving — Jesus said to Nicodemus, "For God so

loved the world that He gave . . .

." The more we

understand Him, the more we will be like Him. We

have received so much from God in both the temporal

and eternal realms, it is a joy to give to oth-


ers in need. The measure of our lives should not

be what we have, but how much we give.

Evangelism — Christ has given us an example, a

mission, and a command to reach others with the

message of His love and forgiveness. The primary

reason we don't tell more people is that we fear

their rejection, but His acceptance of us transcends

the disapproval of others. The world (and

our neighbors) desperately needs to hear a clear,

loving presentation of the gospel. It is our privilege

as His chosen ambassadors to tell them.

Discipleship — Christ discipled the people

around Him by being a constant example as well

as communicating truth. His example of love, humility,

strength, and tenderness provided a powerful

context for learning. If we want others to

grow in their faith, we need to follow His example

and model the life we study and teach.

Social Activism — The influence of Christ

should not be relegated only to the spiritual aspect

of life. In the last century, William Wilburforce

led the struggle against slavery in England, basing

his arguments squarely on the Scriptures. In civil

rights, politics, abortion, education, and every

other area of life, Christ is the source of truth,

justice, and love.

Prayer — Christ said,

"Apart from Me, you can

do nothing" (John 15:5). How ridiculous it is (and

in an eternal sense, unproductive) for us to be so

busy with our programs and activities if they are

not based on the Word of Christ and accomplished

according to the power of Christ. Prayer is a reflection

of our dependence on Him.

Worship — Perhaps our greatest expression of

love for God is worship — speaking or singing of

His greatness. Whether on Sunday morning with

hundreds of others, or alone, worship properly reflects

our dependence, thankfulness, and praise.


Glorifying God is not limited to any given time

or place. It is our privilege at every moment to accurately

reflect our Creator and Savior to others,

to ourselves, or to Him. Why? Because He rightly

deserves it. As the scene in heaven vividly depicts,

Christ is worthy of our praise and obedience.

"And I looked, and I heard the voice

of many angels around the throne and

the living creatures and the elders; and

the number of them was myriads of

myriads, and thousands of thousands,

"Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is

the Lamb that was slain to receive power

and riches and wisdom and might and

honor and glory and blessing.'

"And every created thing which is in

heaven and on the earth and under the

earth and on the sea, and all things in

them, I heard saying, 'To Him who sits on

the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing

and honor and glory and dominion forever

and ever.'

"And the four living creatures kept

saying, 'Amen.' And the elders fell down

and worshiped" (Rev 5:11-14).

Throughout this book, we have also seen how

sin plunged man into spiritual darkness and how

that darkness has blinded our eyes to truth. We

have seen how every individual born in sin has

been deceived by false beliefs, resulting in improper

thoughts, emotions, and actions. Through

this veil of darkness, it is impossible for the sinful

man to earn the love and acceptance of God.

But in this darkness, we have discovered a light

as God Himself has provided a path to an intimate

relationship with Him. That light is Jesus Christ,

from whom we freely receive salvation, forgiveness,

justification, propitiation, and acceptance. By

faith, in a miraculous instant, we are adopted into

a new family, we receive an inheritance as sons


and daughters of God, and we are given the purpose

of representing the Lord to those around us.

The rest of our lives is spent in understanding and

experiencing these incredible truths.

We have seen that our relationship with God,

our security, and our self-worth are not earned by

our efforts. They are obtained only by faith. This

point is so important, let's take some time to analyze

what faith is. Faith has several synonyms:

trust, dependence, reliance, and belief. The focus

is on the object of faith, not the faith itself. For

example, if I believed a certain chair would hold

me up if I sat in it, the primary issue would be

the construction and quality of the chair — the

object of faith, not how much faith I have. Even

if I believe very strongly that the chair will support

me, if the chair is a rotten, broken-down

piece of junk, then it will break if I try to sit in

it. My faith will not make it a good chair. But if

the chair is of quality construction, it only takes

very little faith to sit comfortably in it. Again, it

is the quality of the object, not the quantity of

the faith, that is of primary importance.

In Christianity, Christ is the object of faith,

and faith is our trust in the character and abilities

of Christ. The more we know Him, the more

we trust Him. Faith, then, requires our knowing

God, and knowing Him requires a relationship. To

know God, we need to talk to Him through prayer,

listen to His voice, see Him at work in our lives

and the lives of others, and search out His will

and deeds through the Scriptures He has given us.

"So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word

of Christ" (Romans 10:17).

Make no mistake about it, faith is not a magic

formula to manipulate God into granting us the

wishes of our hearts. We cannot motivate God to

act contrary to His sovereign will. Faith enables us

to be partakers with Him, to gain wisdom from


Him, and to bring His love and power to bear on

human situations with lasting impact.

Let me explain it this way. Suppose Rusty

needs $1,000 by Saturday to pay off an important

obligation. Today is Wednesday, and Rusty has yet

to raise the money. Rusty called John, a trusted

friend. John was more than happy to supply the

need, but he told Rusty to go home and wait until

Saturday, the very day the money was due. "Give

me until Saturday," John said. "I'll have the money

for you by noon."

Rusty relaxed, realizing his need had been met.

Although he had yet to actually see the money, he

had confidence in his close friend. After all, John

had always been reliable and he was a person of

means. If he said he wanted to help meet Rusty's

need and would supply the $1,000, certainly he

would do so. Knowing that, Rusty could wait patiently

until Saturday without anxiety. He had

faith that John could and would deliver as

promised because he had an intimate knowledge

of John's proven character and ability.

Likewise, our faith in God rests just as surely

in what we know of His character and ability. His

character is love, revealed to us as a benevolent

Father who desires to bestow good gifts to His

children. And yet, a good Father knows that not

all of the requests of His children are beneficial

to them, and therefore some of them cannot be

granted. We often find situations in life when we

want something that seems very good and reasonable

to us, but either God's Word opposes it or our

prayers seem fruitless. There are three questions

we need to ask in these situations:

Is it God's Willi Do the Scriptures prohibit it,

allow it, or promise it?

Is it for the glory of Godl What is the motive?

Pleasure, prestige, or to honor Christ?


Is it His timing'? Are there conditions to be met?

Does He want me to wait?

It is then that we must exercise our faith to

trust in His character alone even without visible

evidence to support our trust. As the psalmist

wrote:

"I would have despaired unless I had

believed that I would see the goodness of

the Lord in the land of the living.

"Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let

your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the

Lord" (Psalm 27:13-14).

When we know Him and realize from His Word

that He is both powerful and compassionate, we

can then trust in Him despite what our feelings or

human perceptions tell us.

Too often, however, we presume upon the will

of God by rationalizing that what we are asking is

beneficial to us. We think that God should be

more than willing to grant our request; however,

we must remember that God sees a bigger picture

than we do. He can see the future, other relating

circumstances, and all events that will affect our

lives. Though we may ask a specific request according

to His will, we must not despair if we do

not see an immediate response. And we must remember

that a creative God can take the best interests

of all His children in interrelated events

and resolve the matter in a way we least expect.

The timing and methods of God are a mystery,

and require our faith in His love and sovereignty:

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the

wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable

are His judgments and unfathomable

His ways!" (Romans 11:33)

The question is: Are we trusting the promises

of God, seeking them; or are we trusting the God


of promise, seeking Him? This principle is evident

in the case of Cathy. Cathy told me repeatedly

that she just knew her husband David would

come back to her. She had prayed for months that

her family would be restored, and felt her prayer

reflected the desire of God. Imagine how confused

she looked when I asked her if God had told her

that David would return home.

"Well, no, not exactly," she said, "but I really

feel God wants us all together again, and I'm

claiming it by faith."

It was good that Cathy was praying and waiting

for David's return, but healing her home required

that David obey God's voice and return of

his own free will. When weeks went by and David

didn't return, Cathy despaired. Was her faith misplaced?

Was God unwilling to heal her home?

No, God was indeed willing to move on Cathy's

behalf, but He would not violate David's free will.

The choice remained with David, and Cathy

would simply have to wait.

Cathy was frustrated, but she decided to study

the sovereignty and wisdom of God. After a while,

her frustration changed to faith and hope. Then,

surprisingly, one day David came up the walk into

the house. He was a changed man, and Cathy was

a thrilled wife!

God answered Cathy's prayers by constructing

circumstances that showed David his need for a

Savior and for repentance, but it was David's decision

to trust in Christ and come home. Our faith

needs to be in God to do what the Scriptures say

He will do, not to do things that violate His Word,

His intentions, and the God-given free will of

others.

There is another misunderstanding that needs

to be dispelled. Some people believe that true faith

exists only in the absence of doubt, but that is not

necessarily the case. Biblical faith often exists in


spite of our doubts. If we think that we need to be

free from conflicting emotions and thoughts for

our faith to be honoring to the Lord, we will be

introspective and disappointed. Conflicting emotions

and thoughts will be normal in our lives until

we are set free from the old nature when we go

to be with the Lord. Learn to be victorious in the

conflict, not to deny its existence.

As an example of God-honoring faith in spite

of doubts and conflicting emotions, look at the account

of Abraham and Isaac. In Genesis 12:1-3 and

Genesis 17:1-5, God established and repeated a

solemn covenant with Abraham which included

the promise to "make him the father of a multitude

of nations." It probably didn't take Abraham long

to figure out that if he was going to be the father

of many nations, he would have to have at least

one child! When he was eighty-six years old and

Sarah, his wife, was seventy-six years old,

Abraham had his first child, but there was a

problem. This child was not Sarah's child. It was

the child of Hagar, Sarah's maid. God indicated

that the child, Ishmael, wasn't exactly what He

had in mind as the first heir of the father of

many nations. So after fourteen long years,

Abraham and Sarah (now one hundred years old

and ninety years old, respectively) miraculously

had a son, Isaac.

You can image how happy they

were that God had given them this boy, the answer

to His promise, when they were so far past

the childbearing age!

But God was not through with Abraham.

Genesis 22 records God's command to Abraham:

"Now it came about after these things,

that God tested Abraham, and said to

him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'

"And He said, 'Take now your son,

your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and

go to the land of Moriah; and offer him


there as a burnt offering on one of the

mountains of which I will tell you'"

(Genesis 22:1-2).

Do you think Abraham had some conflicting

thoughts and emotions? The miracle-child, the

first-born son, and heir to the promise of God to

be offered as a burnt offering? We get a glimpse

of the reasonings of Abraham's heart in the following

verses:

"So Abraham rose early in the morning

and saddled his donkey, and took two

young men with him and Isaac his

of his

son; and he split wood for the burnt offering,

and arose and went to the place

of which God had told him.

"On the

third day Abraham raised his

eyes and saw the place from a distance.

"And Abraham said to his young men,

'Stay here with the donkey, and I and the

lad will go yonder; and we will worship

and return to you'" (Genesis 22:3-5).

"We will worship and return to you* Abraham

said. Hebrews 11:19 states that Abraham

"considered that God is able to raise men even from

the dead* Yes, Abraham would kill

his only son if

that is what God required, but God surely will

raise Isaac from the dead so that His promise

would not be broken.

As it turned out, God stopped Abraham from

killing Isaac, and Isaac did not have to be raised

from the dead, but there is an important point for

us to learn about dealing with conflicting thoughts

and emotions: Act on the revealed will of God as

explained in the Scriptures, and focus on the love,

promises, and power of God. Abraham did not focus

on his conflicting emotions or thoughts,

though he probably had many of them. He didn't

deny that he had them; he simply didn't let them


determine his actions. The promise of God to provide

an heir and the command of God to kill Isaac

looked mutually exclusive, but the Almighty,

Sovereign God is able to accomplish far more than

we initially understand. We can have faith in His

greatness, wisdom, and love, even when we don't

understand what He is doing.

Christ, His Word, and His work to accomplish

our redemption are worthy of our faith. At this

point you may be asking, "How do I start applying

these things?"

First, you need to understand the four truths of

redemption and the corresponding four false beliefs

that we mistake for truth. The ability to understand

truth and recognize deception is a vital

first step.

Secondly, learn to reject the lies and replace

them with the Biblical truths so that your mind

will be in the process of renewal. Along with renewing

your mind, look for every opportunity to

accurately and actively represent Christ in every

situation and every relationship. The Search For

Significance Workbook was developed to help you

apply these truths so that your self-concept, your

ambitions, and your relationships will begin to reflect

the character of Christ.

Then third, teach these truths to others.

Teaching is the best way to learn because you will

pay closer attention and study more diligently if

you are going to communicate them to someone

else.

And fourth, endure. Develop a godly tenacity

and keep following Christ. You will occasionally

make mistakes, someone may disapprove of you,

you may blame someone, you may occasionally fail

to apply these truths, and you will occasionally

dishonor the Lord, but realize that you are deeply

loved, completely forgiven and fully pleasing, totally

accepted, and complete because Christ died


for you and was raised from the dead to give you

new life. You are free! Free to "proclaim the excellencies

of Him who has called you out of darkness

unto His marvelous light" (I Peter 2:9).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with

all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Acts 17:11

Robert S. McGee is author of The Search for Significance which has sold over 3 million copies.

He is also a lecturer and counselor. He started the national health care organization, Rapha,

that began integrating a Christian perspective into psychiatric and substance abuse treatment in

hospitals.

Rapha Christian Counseling has been criticized by some Christian reviewers for deemphasizing

or ignoring the concept of sin, opting instead to frame problems as psychological

issues or the result of being a "victim of the sins of others". In contrast, some secular and other

Christian viewpoints view this approach as more compassionate and less judgmental.

Critiques from traditional Christian perspectives

Reviews from more theologically conservative or "Biblical counseling" perspectives, such as one

from Christian Discernment, often criticize Rapha's approach for the following reasons:

• De-emphasizes personal responsibility: Critics say the focus on psychological

"needs," self-worth, and being a "victim" shifts focus away from an individual's personal

responsibility for their choices, or their fallen nature, before God.

• Insufficient biblical emphasis: Some reviewers argue that Rapha's methodology fails

to sufficiently emphasize humanity's need for reconciliation with God, placing more focus

on psychological frameworks than on Scripture.

• Reliance on secular psychology: From a strict "Biblical counseling" viewpoint, some

consider Rapha's incorporation of secular psychological concepts to be at odds with the

Bible's sufficiency for all of life's problems.

• Promotion of "repressed memory": Rapha's past promotion of the controversial

concept of repressed memories has also drawn criticism.

• Lacking a proper understanding of imputed righteousness.

Alternative perspectives

Not all Christian counseling follows the same model. Reviews and discussions show a spectrum

of views on the role of sin in counseling.

• Trauma-informed Christian counseling: Some approaches, particularly those focused

on trauma recovery, intentionally do not lead with the concept of sin. Many prefer

support during a mental health crisis by focusing on God's promises rather than on a

"hidden sin".

• Judgmentalism concern: Others seeking Christian counseling have felt a judgmental

tone when sin is a primary focus. For these individuals, a less shame-based approach is

often preferred.

• Differing needs for faith integration: There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Some

clients find that integrating faith provides a meaningful path to healing, while others find

secular approaches more helpful. The right fit often depends on the individual's specific

needs, experiences, and theological beliefs.

No mention of sin

For counseling that deliberately omits the concept of sin, reviews and critique will vary widely.

• Potential benefits: For individuals with trauma, shame, or abusive religious

backgrounds, an approach that focuses on healing, identity, and mental well-being

without invoking sin could help people feel validated and worthy of love, rather than

inherently flawed.

• Potential drawbacks: From a traditional Christian perspective, removing the concept of

sin could be seen as failing to address what they believe is the root of the human

condition. They might argue it offers a "feel-good" solution without addressing deeper

spiritual needs.

• Secular vs. Faith-based counseling: A model that avoids sin may function more

closely to a secular integrational counseling model that incorporates faith elements

without the full theological framework of mature discipleship, which involves a lifelong

commitment to Jesus Christ, consistent prayer and study of God's Word, a shift from

self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness, love for God and others, active participation in

a worshipping community, and replication of other disciples.

Christian resources for deeper reflection:

The Grace of Christ, William S. Plumer, 1853

"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved." Acts 15:11

Justification. Imputed righteousness. Additional testimonies.

https://www.gracegems.org/Plumer2/grace_of_christ27.htm

What is the difference between imputed and imparted righteousness?

https://www.gotquestions.org/imputed-imparted-righteousness.html

The Search for Significance

Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!

Delete template?

Save as template ?