Desperate Joy

  Photo by Julia Taubitz on Unsplash One of Satan's most powerful and frightening weapons is toxic shame. He sneaks into the deepest parts of our hearts and minds and uses it to cripples us. He makes us believe that our enemies are friends, and our friends are enemies. Toxic shame makes us doubt our own goodness and value and makes us believe that the best thing we can do is to destroy ourselves. It is the driving force behind depression, addiction, self-mutilation, eating disorders and myriad other issues. It was this toxic shame that Satan used to try to overthrow the Lord Jesus Christ when he faced his temptation in the wilderness. Matthew 4:3 records this, "...If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."   And again, in verse 6, "And said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down...'"   In two out of three temptations Satan attacked Christ with the phrase, "If you are the Son of God..."   ...

  Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash The idea of shame has fallen on tough times in recent years. In most conversations on the topic, shame is almost universally regarded as a bad thing, as if it is an emotional cancer or virus that needs to be eradicated. As I have discussed in previous posts, I do not believe that shame is necessarily a bad thing. It can be a sort of warning light that lets us know when have stepped into the dark. It is a sign that we are created in the image of God and our moral compass is properly aligned. It helps us to know our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors are tuned correctly. It is an alarm that lets us know when we are in danger of harming our connection with those closest to us and society as a whole. Think about it like this: what if we had no shame? What would happen if we were completely shameless? How does a shameless person behave? He would have no respect or regard for himself or others. He would use and abuse anyone or anything in order t...

  Have you ever stepped to the edge of a massive cliff? Or encountered a rattlesnake while you were out hiking, and felt the choking thrill that comes with it? It is natural to feel fear when we step close to the edge of a cliff or cross paths with a snake. This sense of danger has been programmed into our brains and bodies. We intuitively know that certain things will hurt us. Nobody has to tell us to be afraid of heights or of certain wild animals. This is good and natural and was built into us by God for our protection. Fear is not the only instinct that God has given us to protect ourselves. He has also given us guilt and shame. Guilt and shame work much like fear. It is a warning signal, an alarm in our soul to warn us when we are stepping into dangerous territory, when we are moving away from God and into sin. God is the source of life and love, and sin is anything that pulls us away from him. Sin always produces destruction and chaos, sometimes this destruction is mino...

  When I was growing up, my mom kept a number of oil lamps around the house. As we used the lamps the glass that shielded the flame would slowly get covered with soot from the smoke. As the soot built up the light from the lamp would gradually grow dim. If that glass were not cleaned then eventually the glass would grow grey or even black and the lamp would give little, if any, light. Many times, the only reason you could see the soot on the glass is by lighting the lamp. If the lamp was never lit, you might never even know it was dirty. It is the light that shows the lamp is dirty. It is the light that reveals the darkness. When Adam and Eve ate of the Forbidden Fruit, they became aware of their nakedness for the first time, and then attempted to sew aprons of fig leaves to cover themselves. God came looking for them in the cool of the day, but they had hidden themselves. "And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?” And he said, “I heard thy voice in...

  The hot, dry desert of Southern Arizona is where I currently reside, and it has been surprising in recent days to see several large toads hopping around in the evenings. Toads need some level of standing water to sustain them and lay their eggs in. As far as I know there is no standing water in the vicinity, no streams or ponds. But the other evening, I was distracted from a Bible study by a couple of toads hopping around who both ended up in a drainpipe filled with water that was in the concrete next to a building. It was a tight space, but they seemed happy enough. There must be enough standing water in these drainage pipes around the compound here for them to lay their eggs and survive the harsh desert heat. Toads have bodies that were designed to thrive in certain habitats. If it gets too cold or too dry, or if the water is polluted, they cannot survive. There are certain rules that a toad must live by if he is to survive and thrive, if he does not follow that plan, h...

  The first step of any spiritual journey is understanding that we need God. We cannot live our lives or make it to heaven without him. We have no hope without him. The Christian life begins and ends with full dependence upon God. This is why the devil does everything in his power to make us believe that, somehow, we can live independently of him. As beings created in the image of God, we have free will. We have the capacity to choose. We can love God or hate God; we can obey him or disobey him. We have some level of autonomy. We are self-guided and self-directed.   We can decide which direction our life takes.   In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve faced a similar choice, to choose the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They could determine their own destiny. (See Genesis 2:8-17)   The two trees represent two ways of thinking and believing. The Tree of Life represents surrender to God.   It showed that Adam and Eve loved God a...

  "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  The Psalmist declared. Each and every one of us has been hand-crafted by God. He shaped us and formed us while we were in our mother's womb. We are made in his image and likeness. We are like scale models of God, we don't quite live up to the original, but we can see the similarities. This is one of the most important and amazing truths revealed in the Bible. In a previous post we discussed that this image has several aspects, we looked at just three: we are moral, relational, and rational. Underpinning these three is another important aspect that is just as important, if not more important. Because we are created in God's image, we possess a free will. The other three aspects do not work unless the engine of our free will is driving them. We are the only creatures on earth that God made with a free will. We can choose. We may choose to obey him, and we may choose to disobey him, we can choose to do right or to do ...