"Lord, what are you planning to do with me"

Any regular reader of this blog knows there has been a “frequency failure.”  Extraordinary life circumstances over the last 6 months have resulted in an energy consumption that limited my capacity to write and research.  And, looking ahead, I foresee more energy leaks that will reduce my rate of writ.  Despite this, I do have plans: to have a total of 1,000 posts by year's end (today's post is my 926th), and then to index them all by subject.

Woody Allen is credited with saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” Is it really wrong to makes plans? Evidently not. Solomon, somewhat wiser than Woody Allen, said “we can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps” (Prov. 16:9). To me, this simply means, “Make your plans; pray your plans, but don’t brand your plans.” Why? 

Solomon says: “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death… [Hence] the sensible man considers his steps” (Prov. 16:12, 19, NLT).  In other words, no matter how well-intentioned, man-made plans will ‘die on the vine,’ “but the LORD's plans stand firm forever” (Ps. 33:11). Thus, my prayer is, Lord, what are You planning to do with me? And that's no laughing matter.

Super Committee commits Super Failure: How can they live with themselves?

Yesterday, when the Congressional "super committee" announced it had failed to forge a deficit reduction deal, it was immediately referred to as a “super” failure. I wondered what the difference is between a 'simple' failure and a ‘super' failure?'  Considering the “super” committee’s potential for influence, it must refer to the scope of the consequences. (Don't you think Adam’s malfunction qualifies as a super failure?)

But even though our failures have differing consequences, the reality is that failure is threaded through fallen humanity—built into our DNA. But proud and self-esteeming earthlings refuse to accept that reality. They believe in intrinsic goodness. Any contrary notion is simply unacceptable.

The spiritual truth is that the more we accept that we can do no good in our flesh (Romans 7:18), the more freedom we have—from self-effort & condemnation. The Bible provides lots of examples of men & women whose failings adversely affected the entire nation of Israel—Moses and David come to mind immediately! Peter is my favorite New Testament example of failure! His failure influenced the other Disciples, and threatened to undo 3 years of faith building.  But God turned it around for the good of the kingdom!

Someone reading this may think his or her failure is so super,  it is irredeemable.  Not so. The mature Christian knows God’s grace exceeds the worst super failure imaginable.  In fact, world history is an account of man’s failures, “But where sin [failure] increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20).

Seven Easy Steps to Success

If you browse through your Borders or Barnes and Nobles, sometimes you will find they have categorized certain Christian authors, such as Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, under the ‘Self-Help’ section. Isn’t that telling? The ‘world’ sees our Christian teachings as nothing more than self-help.

A large part of the American psyche is the spirit of the ‘self-made man’—the ‘you-can-do-it’ attitude. But it seems to me that in the last 50 years, Bible teaching in America has been replaced by this spirit—of human potential and ‘self-actualization.’

I do understand the intent of many Christian writers is to make the Bible practical—“seven keys to improving your life every day,” “six steps to building a healthy marriage” and so on. But self-improvement is not biblical. (As someone has said it is not self-improvement God wants; it is self-annihilation!) And my real concern is this: "spiritual" is being replaced by "psychological"; and the "transcendent" by "pragmatic."

Building Christian character is the work of the Holy Spirit—not self will and will power. It is only when we give up all self-effort and become dependent on His resident, indwelling power that we can become who God created us to be and accomplish the work He created us to do (Eph. 2:10). And it doesn’t happen in six or seven easy steps.