Category Archives: Christian Example

Whose armor are you wearing?

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38Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. (1 Samuel 17:38-40)

You know the story — David’s minding his own business, tending his sheep, and next thing you know Jesse asks him to take some cheese and crackers to his brothers who are fighting the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:17-19). Israelites on one side of the Valley of Elah; Philistines on the other. Every day for 40 days, a 9-foot tall guy stepped out from the Philistine camp and dared an Israelite to come fight him. Any Israelite; didn’t much matter to Goliath which one.

Verses 20 and 21 just kill me: “[David] reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other.”

Who are we kidding here? I can just see them — Israelites shaking their fists, yelling “Our army is better”; Philistines responding “No, we’re better, I promise!” After a few rounds of this, Goliath shakes his head and steps into the valley to shout out his challenge, just as he had done every day for the past 6 weeks.

24When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear… 26David asked the men standing near him, “…Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:24, 26)

Finally the voice of faith rather than the voice of fear. Evidently Eliab and the others didn’t know in Whose army they served.

Let’s cut to the chase — Saul got wind of David being there and what he was saying, and he sent for him. David told the king he’d go fight the giant, Saul offered his armor, David tried it on and couldn’t wear it, so chose 5 stones & a sling instead.

We know the rest. David’s stone found its mark. (Ever wonder why he took 5?) The giant was dead. Philistines ran; Israelites plundered their camp. (Just as an aside, I want you to notice verse 54: “David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem…”. Um, why? Seems a little weird to me, but I stray from the points of the lesson.)

Point number 1: God didn’t refuse to provide victory to Saul and his army — they never asked for His help! He has promised never to leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), but you are free to leave at any time. To receive His strength and care, all you need to do is ask (Matthew 7:7-8).

Point number 2: David didn’t defeat the giant; God did. He’ll defeat your giants too. He has promised to not let satan tempt you beyond what you can bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Point number 3: We have armor just as strong as (and I’d argue even stronger than) the armor Saul offered David. We have the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). It is ours to use if we will just wear it.

So, whose armor are you wearing? Your own armor of pride, self-importance, and imperfection? Or the full armor of God?

Our kids are baptized — then what?

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You don’t have to search very far to find some “doom & gloomer” tell you the church is dying. You also don’t have to go very far to see a church in which many of its young people “give their lives to Christ”, then a year or two after they leave home, most of those have also left the church.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

I think we all believe that. I certainly do. But are the Proverbs “absolute, unbreakable rules”, just as the Law of Gravity is absolute and unbreakable? Or are the Proverbs “general principles” to guide our life, that will generally result in a positive outcome if followed? Is it possible to believe the latter without denying the sovereignty of God and the infallibility of His inspired Word?

Consider this Proverb:

The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short. (Proverbs 10:27)

Is that really always true — will a true believer always live longer than a heathen? Of course not. “Oh, but he’s talking about eternal life”, you say. Read the chapter. I don’t think the context suggests that. How about:

Good people know the right thing to say, but evil people only tell lies. (Proverbs 10:32 NCV)

Really? I think I’m a pretty good person, by human standards, but I guarantee you I don’t always know the right thing to say. And evil people tell only lies? One hundred percent of the time? We all know Solomon meant this as a general principle — that you shouldn’t trust an evil person because you never know when he’s telling the truth or telling a lie.

Likewise, the Proverb at the beginning of this post is a general principle as well. To deny such is to deny human free will.

In a recent article in The Christian Chronicle, author Dudley Chancey points to research that shows that not only are our kids leaving the church when they leave home, but they stay away. He writes, “While many teens ‘commit’ their life to Christ, not much happens before or after that for many of our ‘churched’ teens. In sociological studies, a majority of moms and dads report that religion and faith are among the most important influences in their lives. And yet, over and over again, this is not lived out. The church — and particularly youth workers — get the blame for teens not being spiritual enough to make it on the outside.”

I’ve seen that; haven’t you? “If we only had a youth minister, …” Finish the sentence yourself. (Or “If we only had a better youth minister, …”)

Chancey also suggests we [parents] are not living out Deuteronomy 6:4-9, part of which I quote here:

6These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Again, I have to agree. I can remember having family devotionals as a kid. Granted, we didn’t continue that practice as my sister and I grew older, but I vividly remember the devotionals and to this day I remember my dad teaching me Hebrews 11:6, which I can still quote from memory. Yet I did not continue that practice with my own family when I got married and had kids of my own. In how many Christian households today does real Bible teaching take place? It takes place in 100% of them by lifestyle example, I hope, but I mean real sit-down, open-the-Bible-type teaching? This is one area where I fell short as a parent. We talked about Scripture for sure, and we took advantage of as many “teachable moments” as we could, but we could have done more teaching.

Near the end of the article, Chancey makes these statements and these pleas:

Parents, bottom line, it is still your job to rear your children and teach them to have faith in God. Elders, it is your job to shepherd our souls. Please stop sending money to Africa, Brazil, Honduras and other foreign countries to save souls when our own children are walking out on God. Please rethink church and ministry as equipping people to become mature in Christ.

I agree 100% with his statements — it is the job of the parents to raise Godly children and the job of the elders to guide us in doing that. I’d disagree with his third sentence in this quote if I really thought he meant to completely stop sending money to support foreign missionaries. I hope he doesn’t really mean that. His last sentence, I think, is the real point he’s trying to make. We do need to rethink how we should go about equipping young-in-Christ people (whether they’re young in age or not) to become more mature. If that means shifting budgets to do it, that’s what we need to do.

The knock at your door — how do you respond?

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You’ve been looking forward to this for the last 5 days. Now it’s Saturday and you’re settling down with that book you’ve been meaning to read. Just when you kick your shoes off and get comfortable, you hear a knock at the door. Sorta sounded like the way the FedEx lady knocks when she has a delivery. What a surprise when you open the door and there are two 20 year-old “elders” in white shirts, black ties, and black name tags. You really want to get back to your “book time” that you so deserve, but you always feel guilty for dismissing them quickly, as you have so many times in the past.

What do you do? I’m sure there’s not a person reading this who hasn’t had to make that decision. I’m also thinking I’d not be far off if I suggested that probably three quarters of us (or more) just want to get the uninvited guests on their way as soon as possible.

I don’t have any research data on this at all, so this is just a hunch, but here’s what I believe:

  • We know we should treat them with kindness and respect, and certainly not be rude.
  • Many of us have felt guilty for practically slamming the door in their face in the past.
  • We want to be able to “let our light shine” (Matthew 5:16), but don’t really know how to get the conversation started.
  • Although we feel confident in our own faith, we feel really uncomfortable because we’re not exactly sure what they believe.
  • Therefore, we’d rather not say anything than to be in a situation where they say something to us that we know is wrong, but makes really good sense, and we just don’t know how to respond. We’re afraid of looking foolish, looking like we’re not really dedicated Christians, or of speaking up but saying the wrong thing.

There could easily be several dozen posts on the subject of personal evangelism, but let’s just be satisfied for today with a few thoughts.

Peter instructs us to “always be prepared to give an answer to those who ask us about our faith” (1 Peter 3:15), but what exactly does that mean? Does that mean we need to be ready to quote scripture, giving book chapter & verse, whenever people on our doorstep tell us about “a new covenant”? Certainly that’s a goal, but I don’t think that’s what Peter means.

First and foremost, you need to be so familiar with the truth that when you’re faced with a counterfeit, you’re able to recognize it immediately. You certainly don’t have to be an expert in someone else’s faith in order to be a faithful witness of your own, but you do have to know the truth well enough to be able to spot a phony.

Secondly, don’t be afraid of saying “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. It doesn’t make you look any less faithful or any less of a Christian if you have to admit you don’t know how to answer their questions.

Third, the only way you get any better at anything is by practice. The first time you engage these doorstep visitors in conversation, you’ll probably feel a bit uncomfortable, but the more practice you allow yourself, the better at it you’ll be. And you’ll no doubt learn and strengthen your faith in the process!