Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Preach It!

In all the conversations I've had with friends about struggling spiritually, the issue almost always comes down to whether or not they (or I) really believe the truth of Scripture.

Maybe you've experienced this. I'll be talking with a friend, and when one or the other of us is reminded of truth, the response is, "I know that, but..." Reader, please tell me you know what I'm talking about.

For example:

--"I know God loves and values me, but I don't feel loved or valued."

--"I know Christ died for my sin, but I still feel guilty and ashamed."

--"I know this sin leads me away from fellowship with God, but it looks so good."

--"I know God has a sovereign, gracious plan, but I just don't get it right now."

--"I know God is with me, but I just feel alone."

--"I know I'm righteous in God's sight, but I've just messed up too much."

--"I know God is my strength, but this just feels like too much for me to handle."

--"I know ________, but ________."

You can complete that sentence with whatever issue it is for you right now. There's always some kind of excuse about why we don't believe the truth. I do the same thing. I know the right answers, and I know the truth in my head, just like so many of my friends do. Ultimately, though, we don't believe the truth in our hearts.

Why is that? Why do we use our circumstances and our emotions to cloud the truths about who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised? How can we say, "I know God's Word says this, but I can't accept that because..."?

I think that we do this because of what we're preaching to ourselves.

Think about it. What is it that you speak to yourself day after day, hour by hour, moment by moment?

Too often, what I speak to myself over and over again is how difficult my circumstances are, how satisfying sin looks, how overwhelmed and frustrated and discouraged I am, or (most often) what a filthy and worthless sinner I am. Those are the things I allow my mind to dwell on, and, as a result, those are the things that my heart becomes convinced of.

Our minds lead our hearts, and what we fill our minds with, that is what our hearts will believe.

What happens too frequently is that our minds dwell wholly on the difficulty and the emotion. Because of this, our hearts are filled and overwhelmed by the hardship and the immediate frustration and discouragement, and we struggle to believe and live out anything else.

Please don't hear me say that our circumstances and emotions aren't real or legitimate. They are. But they are only part of the truth. Our emotions and circumstances don't determine anything about God's character or promises. However, if I'm entirely focused on myself - my circumstances, my struggle, my feelings - I can't embrace or believe truth about the gospel and the character of God.

The difficulty is real. The emotion is real. But we ought to look at those things in light of the gospel, fixing our eyes fully on Jesus. If we want to walk through each day with joy, we have to believe that what God says is true, but I don't think that can happen if our minds are set on our circumstances and emotions.

The challenge, then, is to set our minds on Christ so that our hearts can be set on Christ. We preach the truth of Scripture to ourselves so that we believe it.

This is what the conversation should look like:

--"I don't feel loved or valued, but I know God loves and values me."

--"I feel so guilty and ashamed, but I know Christ paid for my guilt and shame already."

--"That sin looks so good, but I know that it leads me away from God."

--"I don't understand it right now, but I know God has a sovereign, gracious plan."

--"I feel so lonely, but I know God is with me."

--"I've messed up so much, but I know I'm righteous in God's sight."

--"This just feels too much for me to handle, but I know God is my strength."

Do you see how, in those sentences, the focus is on God, where it should be? Do you see how that makes all the difference?

There are and will continue to be many difficult, frustrating, and deeply painful trials in our lives. It's true - until Christ returns, our lives on earth will always be a struggle. If we focused on that alone, we could easily spend our entire lives as frustrated and depressed people. However, it's also true that Christ is redeeming our struggles, and there is abundant joy in fellowship with God and His children, and our present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.

So let us set our minds on things that are above, let us preach the truth to ourselves day after day, hour by hour, so that we may believe, and be filled with joy.