Today I finished reading a book called Waking the Dead, by John Eldredge. (See my reading journal for more on this book.) This afternoon at lunch I read a chapter on spiritual warfare. Eldredge doesn't state that Satan has unlimited power over believers, but points out that we grant him power when we agree to his lies, lies that can come from the outside or rise seemingly from within ourselves.
You're so stupid.
You're always like this.
You can never change; you'll always be this way.
You don't love God enough.
You aren't a good Christian.
You don't witness like you should.
You aren't who you should be.
Everybody is disappointed in you. Everybody wants you to be [fill in the blank], and you're not.
Nobody really cares about you.
Everybody's busy looking out for themselves. If you want anything to happen in your life, you have to do it yourself. The dwarves are for the dwarves.
You had your chance, and you blew it.
It's staggering to realize the quantity of things like this I've told myself over the years. But what if I wasn't the one telling myself? What if I am agreeing with an enemy? What if the people who have told me some of these things were unconsciously repeating lies that have invaded their own hearts? Aren't we free to disagree with the lies? And what if we agreed with a new voice?
You are honored.
You are precious, and I love you.
You belong to me.
Your heart has been cleansed.
You shine with the glory of God.
I have equipped you with everything you need to live; not just to survive, but to live.
You are free indeed.
Last Sunday, my pastor spoke of joy and obedience. "I think Reformed Christianity," he said, "has a problem with talking about" (and I knew where he was going with it) "obedience."
Wait...really? I was expecting "joy" to be that last word. In my experience, the point at which my Reformed Christianity has most been attacked is on this level of joy and obedience, and it's usually joy that gets pushed aside. If you're like me, talking about obedience has often been just another way of talking about failure.
"If you were everything you should be, which you're not and never can be, you could have joy. But since you're worthless, what you have is a sludging through this measly life hoping that God takes you out of it quickly, because joy is only available to perfect obedience, and thus only available in heaven."
That's what I've heard, from one source or another. I'm done with that.
Tomorrow is new. And so is the next hour--even the next second. I want to stand for truth, not fall to lies. I want to live. And since the Lord of all things defeated death on my behalf, that's just what I can do.
Who's with me?
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6 comments:
Oh - I'm with you! Reading that book about 2 and a half years ago was part of a major shift in my outlook on being a Christian and on God.
My experience has completely been that the Reformed Church (specifically the CRC) spends almost no time talking about Joy and tons of time talking about the things you should be doing - in obedience. And then those horrible voices start.
Certainly a balance is necessary. And yet - wouldn't the obedience flow from a heart of joy? Joy that the God of the Universe is telling me "You are precious, and I love you."
Sorry - you hit a soft spot for this blogger :)
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your JOY may be complete." --Matt 15:9
Sounds to me like Jesus is saying the opposite - that joy comes from obedience.
I don't see that you and Maria are at odds, Jett--isn't the point that joy and obedience are integrally connected?
Obviously, I can't find joy in God while flagrantly disobeying Him. But it seems equally obvious that I must be able to find joy in God even while obeying Him imperfectly.
The big question for me has been: Am I living in joy, or trying to earn it?
And I want to live in it.
Yup, and I think trying to always remember God's love in Christ will do a lot for that. But as far as obedience flowing from a heart of joy - well that wasn't even possible with Eve, who must have known perfect joy right up until her first sin.
But re-looking at Jesus'remarks, to remain in love must mean that love is there to start, so obedience does flow from love, God's love, producing joy, and yes, it does seem to be all interwoven, but we go off on stupid by-ways and unconnect them.
Remembering that joy and obedience are both enabled by God, and neither completely dependent on me, goes a long way towards keeping them connected in my mind and heart.
I agree that we're not at odds at all. Joy and obedience are 100% interconnected and I think it's possible we're having the chicken and the egg conversation here.
Perhaps it's Grace that we've really been missing and not joy or obedience at all. And I agree - remembering that joy and obedience flow from the heart of God is immensely helpful in living a life of both.
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