What does God “mostly do”?

A friend handed me her copy of Savannah Guthrie’s book Mostly What God Does. She wanted to know what I thought about the book saying, “I’m not sure how I feel about this, but it seems not quite right.” I can honestly say I would say the same thing. 

Savannah Guthrie has a wonderful writing style. It is conversational, compelling, endearing, and thoughtful. It was a good read but, at the same time, left me wishing she had told people the rest of the story. 

I would hand this book to someone who wanted to know more of God’s love and grace in their lives. That is Savannah’s purpose in writing the book. The title is Mostly What God Does and when you open the front cover, the inside tab says, “MOSTLY WHAT GOD DOES IS LOVE YOU.”  

That is true, but what troubled me and my friend was that it isn’t complete truth. My friend, like me, has lived for several decades, and that was the unease we both felt. The words of this book are true, encouraging, and engaging, but for those who might read this book and seek God for the first time, I would want to tell them to keep reading beyond Savannah’s pages. 

God does love us. God does offer grace. But God also calls us to humbly serve, faithfully obey his commands, and understand his discipline is a product of his love as well. 

This will likely be a popular book, and I pray God will use it to help people consider his reality as Creator of this world. I would also want them to know that God’s love is about so much more than the popular messages in the book. 

Biblical truth is often unpopular. 

There are several large, popular churches that have limited their sermons from the pulpit for the sake of the congregation’s feelings. Many sermons are now more topical than they are biblical. I was watching a famous Houston preacher one Sunday morning and, by the time I finished listening to his sermon, I was both angry and sad. He used the Bible to say what he wanted his congregation to hear, probably a message they were willing to hear. He taught partial and popular truth that was not a complete message of biblical truth.  

In a nutshell, that is my struggle with Mostly What God Does. It’s not what Savannah Guthrie says that poses a problem; it is all that she leaves unsaid. I think her book could help some people want to know God and be confident of his love. At the same time, I think her book could escort a lot of people to the threshold of faith, never helping them know what is necessary to submit their lives to God, ask for his salvation, and become his child. 

Popular truth is often partial truth. It’s popular to teach everyone they can trust God’s love for them, just as they are. Salvation requires that they submit to the biblical truth that God will never leave them just as they are. Salvation requires sinners to know that God forgives every sin but never accepts any sin. Our sin cost God’s Son everything. God wants us to be his children, to become more than we would ever be on our own. The Bible clearly teaches that we must receive salvation to be considered a child of God. 

The popular truth in Savannah Guthrie’s book is compelling and will help people want to know her God. Biblical truth is that God’s love is about both our salvation and our sanctification. God’s love is also about our Christian growth. 

How does God “mostly love”? 

So often a book like this one will use a verse to say what they want to say. I’ve probably done the same thing writing this blog post at times! I really try to keep a verse in its full context, but I won’t ever do that perfectly each time. I truly want people to know God and I want people to know God fully. 

My words will never be as popular as some others, but I’m okay with that. I am more concerned that my words will never keep people from fully knowing the God of their salvation. I’ve often said one of the most troubling thoughts I have is the picture of someone outside the gates of heaven saying, “Why didn’t you tell me?”  

Psalm 86 is often quoted when talking about God’s love. King David wrote the psalm saying, “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you” (Psalm 86:5).  

Is God good and forgiving? Absolutely! 

Does God abound in steadfast love? Without a doubt!  

Can anyone “call upon” God? Praise God, yes! But, that phrase “call upon” in the original language means to call out as a person who is sinking in quicksand, headed to certain death, unless they are saved. The message often missed is that to call on God requires a person to understand and accept their great need for God in their lives.  

It isn’t popular to tell people they aren’t “good enough” for heaven, but that is biblical truth. It is popular to teach God’s grace and forgiveness for our sins but unpopular to tell a person that there is always a consequence for those sins. God, through the blood of Jesus, removes our penalties, but often the consequences of our wrong choices remain part of our earthly lives.  

The “whole truth” of Psalm 86 

King David is known for living a life filled with powerful moments of serving God. As a young man, he faithfully defeated Goliath. His life was preserved even when King Saul tried to kill him. David was a warrior king whom God led and used to build a kingdom of people who would serve him. But King David also lived his entire life enduring the consequences of his sins as well.  

Psalm 86 begins with his words of confession and humility. He knew God’s love and approached him with confidence. David also knew God’s discipline and approached God for his needs.  

The first seven verses of the psalm say:

Incline your ear, O Lᴏʀᴅ, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am godly;
    save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
    for to you do I cry all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
    for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lᴏʀᴅ, to my prayer;
    listen to my plea for grace.
In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
    for you answer me. (Psalm 86:1–7)

Teach the whole truth of God

Teaching people the whole truth of God is not always popular, but it is always necessary. Savannah Guthrie teaches, “Mostly what God does is love,” and she teaches that lesson well. But, at the end of the book, what bothered me was that her book didn’t teach someone how to know God fully. That is the knowledge a person will need to enter heaven.

We have just spent the Easter season remembering all that Jesus did for us. We can now move forward, willing to tell the full truth of Easter. Jesus came to die because it was the only way any of us could be born again, made holy enough for heaven. 

“For God so loved the world” is biblical truth. But that truth required God to give us his Son and watch him suffer and die. The whole truth is that we must trust God’s love, requiring a humble confession of our need for him and a grateful acknowledgment of the sacrifice of Jesus. Such trust is necessary in order to experience the salvation God’s pure holiness requires.

We, like David, are “poor and needy.” God isn’t “our God” until we trust in his Son. That isn’t popular truth, but it is the whole truth this world needs.

Are you willing to teach the unpopular truth too? 

Someone’s salvation could likely hang on your answer.

Is it good or is it God?

I worked through Henry Blackaby’s classic study, Experiencing God, as a young pastor’s wife and it made a tremendous difference to my spiritual life. Truthfully, it didn’t happen right away. God allowed some tough circumstances to use the spiritual truths I had learned as a way to remodel my spiritual choices.

In one chapter, Blackaby wrote, “We don’t choose what we will do for God; He invites us to join Him where He wants to involve us.”  

I’m not sure if I thought that message was for other people or if I thought being married to a preacher meant I had already done that, but I heard those words a couple of years before I actually received them as truth for my own walk with the Lord. 

That one lesson, once learned, changed the rest of my spiritual journey. 

A good life isn’t necessarily a godly life 

I really wanted to be a good preacher’s wife, a good mom, and a good person. I thought if those things were my goals, at least I would be going in the right directions. I stayed busy working hard and volunteering for service. I tried to attend as many things at the church as I could, believing that to be my ministry. I was faithful to go to a ladies Bible study each week because I knew I needed to learn more Scripture. I went to bed tired but feeling like God must be pleased with what I was attempting to do. 

Then we moved to Atlanta and I found I was very allergic to some things out there. That October, allergies led to sniffles, then a bad cough, which I was “too busy” to worry about. I had promised to step into my son’s third-grade class one day so his teacher could go to her daughter’s school program. I taught the class and was walking home when I realized I didn’t have enough air to get up the hill.  

I eventually made it, called the doctor, and asked for a prescription. He told me to get to the hospital as soon as I could. As it turned out, I had the same pneumonia that had killed Jim Henson a few months earlier. The doctor told me I probably only had a few days left before the medications would not have worked. 

It took a month to get well but, as it turned out, it was one of the best months of my life. I learned a lesson that has carried me ever since. 

Our spiritual journey is not measured by the good things we decide to do for God and others. Instead, it is about knowing God’s plan and calling and living in obedience to that. 

The knowledge that makes all the difference 

I sat in my recliner for almost a month trying to allow my lungs to heal. Atlanta was beautiful in October. The leaves rained down with brilliant color, and I watched them and thought about God. After a lot of thinking, praying, and listening, I realized that this life of busy attendance wasn’t because I was obeying God’s expectations. I was honoring others’ expectations instead. 

I was grateful to God for saving my stubborn life. I watched the beauty of this world float by outside my window and realized that all I thought about serving God hadn’t worked out very well. I could have died and left Jim with two young boys to raise. I could have harmed others while all the while I thought I was “helping.” 

At the end of a month of recuperation and spiritual regeneration, I finally came to understand that Blackaby’s words weren’t just a lesson to hear. I needed, as Blackaby would say, to adjust my life to what God had planned it to be. I made a commitment to God to do that. 

If you want to experience God 

I pulled my Experiencing God workbook off of the shelf and reread it. I realized that I had written the right answers on the lines and had added important thoughts from others in the margin. But I just hadn’t made the choice to allow the knowledge to alter my choices.  

  • I needed to experience the Holy Spirit in my life.
  • I needed to hear the Bible speak God’s voice into my life.
  • I needed to tell some people no in order to tell God yes.
  • I needed to learn to notice what God was doing in the world and “get in on it.”
  • I needed to obey God’s word so that I could know God and completely trust him as my King.

That is just some of what the Lord taught me during those days and months that followed. Sanctification takes a lifetime, but it only begins when we realize it isn’t about what we do; it’s about allowing God to do his work in and through our lives. 

If we want to experience the reality of God, we must step fully into the knowledge that only he is God and everything else is only an attempt to become a god in our lives. (By the way, that is the work of Satan.) We don’t know how to serve God and others until we come to learn the value of simply being available to God so that he can serve others through our life as we are yielded to his Spirit. 

Is it good or is it God? 

The lessons I learned during that season of my spiritual life led me down roads I would never have imagined.  

  • Eventually, I knew God wanted me to teach a ladies Bible study.  
  • Eventually, I came to recognize the silent but audible voice of God’s leadership.
  • I began to do some public speaking based on what I had learned.
  • Eventually, I wrote a book and titled it Content to be Good, Called to be Godly.
  • Now I am serving at Denison Ministries as the Lord continues to lead.

Please know, I don’t say any of that from a place of pride. The list above is what God accomplished, not me. I would have filled my life with good things that I wanted to do for God. I learned that my life was simply to be a conduit for what God wanted to do through his Holy Spirit within me. 

Now, I just want to share with others one of the most important lessons God ever taught me. Truthfully, it took a bad bout of pneumonia to get me to listen. Maybe this blog post can save someone else from learning this the hard way. 

Is your life filled with good things, or is your life a list of things God has done through your obedience to his Spirit-led call in your life?  

Blackaby wrote, “We don’t choose what we will do for God; He invites us to join Him where He wants to involve us.” 

Are those words something you believe or the truth you live? 

Your answer will make all the difference in your spiritual journey. 

Six signs you are a genuine Christian

I ran across an article from Huffington Post that caught my attention. The article was titled “6 Signs You’re A Truly Genuine Person.”  The article listed six ways people live according to their true selves. I was curious to see how I measured up, so I read the article.  By the time I reached the third point I knew I would be writing on the subject from a spiritual perspective. I am always amazed when people “discover” truths that God has revealed since the beginning. God has been teaching people how to be genuine since the book of Genesis.

I think one of the greatest needs in our world today is for Christians to learn how to maintain a genuine walk of faith. Unfortunately, we like lists that teach us if we know these six or seven things, then we will have attained X or Y. We need to remember that knowing and doing have always been hard for people. Adam and Eve knew they weren’t supposed to eat the fruit. The Pharisees knew what God’s word said about the coming Messiah. You and I know what God says about loving others and forgiving others, just to mention two. Has knowledge been enough for you? (I’ll plead the 5th!)

Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman are “authenticity research pioneers.”

They found that the following six signs mean that a person is living according to his or her true self. I added the spiritual emphasis to their teaching points. Let me know if you agree.

1. Genuine people have a good sense of self-esteem. They are not arrogant, nor are they overly worried about their flaws. Good self-esteem is found in the middle. A genuine person knows that all people are capable of many things and that no one is capable of perfection. God’s Word put it this way: “Righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24). Christians have a genuine quality when they realize that no one person is better than another. On the other hand, those of us who have discovered our redemption in Christ have been abundantly blessed.

2. Genuine people embrace vulnerability. A person with strong self-esteem can admit when they are failing. You can receive criticism without crumbling. Negative and positive feedback affect the way you think about something you have done, not the person you are.  Proverbs 27:17 reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” God will always give us other Christians to hold us accountable and help us. Occasionally, some of them can have sharp edges!

3. Genuine people share their true thoughts, beliefs and opinions with the world. No explanation needed. But God would add this clarification: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). I’ve known a lot of Christians, myself included, that don’t have much trouble sharing our thoughts and opinions – but speaking the truth in love can often be a struggle. Thank goodness genuine people can also embrace vulnerability!

4. Genuine people openly give and receive compliments. Enjoy the success of others. Recognize the greatness that is in others and be an encourager. Hebrews 10:24: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Compliment Christians for what you see the Lord doing in their lives. It may “spur them on” to continue their ministries. But, empty compliments are just that. Refer back to #3. Genuine people tell the truth.

5. Genuine people really listen and prefer deep conversations. Empty conversations are similar to empty compliments. I love the book of James, and this is one of my favorite verses: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). To that I would add: “One of the best ways to demonstrate God’s love is to listen to people” (Bruce Larsen).

6. Genuine people are driven by an inner voice rather than their surroundings. I think I could have written an entire blog on this one point. The Huffington Post article said, “When you have thought through what you think, what you feel, what’s important to you and why it’s important to you, that determines a certain sense of purpose and directive.” Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). When I wrote my book, Content to be Good, Called to be Godly, I titled the second chapter, “Do You Recognize the Voice of God?” I often tell people that the rest of the book really doesn’t matter unless they understand and embrace chapter two. Who is the author of your inner voice? I hope it is the Holy Spirit of God. Paul told the church in Corinth: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

D.L. Moody said, “More depends on my walk than my talk.” I hope all of us will walk in such a way that the world can believe the message of salvation. Genuine people have genuine faith in the genuine God. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21). Genuine Christians listen to that inner voice and then walk in it. Enjoy your journey!

This blog was originally published on August 12, 2014.

What Does It Mean To Mock God?

That is the question that kept coming to my mind, after Dan Patrick’s tweet was being volleyed about in the news. I will probably get into a bit of trouble with this blog, but I have to write it. I decided to spend a good amount of time studying the passage, thinking about the news, and trying to find an answer to the question. When does a person “mock God?”

I have often said that I think Galatians 6:1–10 is one of the most provable, practical passages in the Bible. We think of Scripture in terms of chapter and verse, but that was not how it was written. Paul’s letters need to be read as letters, from start to finish. The epistles are popular because every word came from Paul’s Spirit-led heart, and he wrote to churches he loved.

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia because they were struggling to maintain the Christian doctrine they had been taught. Teachers had come to the city, insisting that Gentile Christians needed to enter into Jewish practices, like circumcision, if they were to truly be accepted by God. At the same time, Gentile believers were teaching that no matter what a person did, they could be forgiven. Many Gentiles wanted to maintain some of their sinful practices and used the message of forgiveness to distort spiritual truth.

The book of Galatians is among the most relevant books for the American culture. Galatians 5 ends with one of my favorite passages in Scripture. The gist: Christians are to live by the power, purpose, and priority of God’s Holy Spirit. That is what it means to be “Spirit-led.” God’s people have often wanted “five easy steps” to forgiveness or “ten ways to know God’s will.” The truth: God gave us his Holy Spirit so that we could “keep in step” with him (Galatians 5:25).

Paul, in chapter 6, calls the mature, Spirit-led Christians to restore the brothers and sisters who have fallen away from the standards of the Christian faith. Paul tells the mature Christians to be careful, because it will be tempting to trip over our own set of sins while trying to help others with theirs.

It is then Paul writes verse 7, the now famous tweet, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” What does it mean to “mock God?” I’ll let God’s word provide the answer.

  • “As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same” (Job 4:8).
  • “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6).

Basically, a person mocks God when they think they can live apart from his laws. We can’t plant carrot seeds and think we will grow squash. We mock God if we think we can jump out of a tree and defy the law of gravity. We mock God if we think we can fool God because we can fool others. We mock God if we think we are more intelligent, more forward thinking, or more advanced than his Word. We mock God’s word if we try to change it.

Jesus was teaching that truth to his disciples in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1–23). Every farmer understands the laws of nature and works accordingly. God can forgive a sin, and remove our punishment, but the consequences of our choices remain.

We can choose not to love a person and God can forgive our sin, but there is still a broken heart and a damaged witness. God can forgive us our reckless driving, but there is still a ticket to be paid and a car that is damaged. God can forgive sexual sin, but there are still people who have been hurt, disease that has spread, and even children born, or aborted.

When that man entered the bar with the intention to kill, God’s laws were broken, and the consequences will endure. God grieves every child lost and he grieves every sin that separated those people from his love and direction. God grieves the rallies, the politics, and the obscuring of his truth, whether that takes place in the media or in the church.

God’s word has always been the same, and he cannot be mocked. When people break his laws, there are always consequences. That is true for the shooter, the people in the bar, and the people in the church. God loves all of us and wants us to spend our days on earth Spirit-led. He gave us Scripture so we could understand how to live our earthly lives and how to live one day in heaven. God’s word, like God, cannot be mocked. Truth cannot be a lie.

There are so many people who want to be loved in this world. They are lonely, broken, and looking for something or someone to meet their needs. There, but for the grace of God, go we. I know this is a controversial statement, but I have lived with this thought since I heard the news of Dan Patrick’s tweet. It has been proven that the tweet was randomly scheduled, before the events that occurred in Orlando. The tweet has been labeled “unfortunate,” “random,” “racist,” “homophobic,” “insensitive,” “slanderous” and many other things.

I couldn’t escape this thought: what if that very public, scheduled tweet was not random at all? What if God was saying to the world, and especially to Christians, my word cannot be mocked? What if God was reminding believers of the great solution found in the book of Galatians? God is calling his Church, the body of Christ, to be Spirit-led. Galatians was written to believers. What if Dan Patrick’s tweet was as well?

 


This article was originally published on June 21, 2016 and makes reference to the Orlando nightclub shooting that occurred on June 12, 2016, where 49 people were killed and 53 injured.

Is this the Lord that the day has made?

We ran into a friend while we were out walking and he quoted Psalm 118:24, but with a new twist. 

Biblically, the verse reads, “This is the day that the Lᴏʀᴅ has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). 

You might have sung the chorus, “This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made . . . .” The song and the psalm are joyful reminders of God’s greatness and that he supremely governs the world according to his good purpose.

We were talking with a friend about some of the changes we have seen in the culture, even in our churches. That is when he told us of how someone had recently quoted Psalm 118:24 to him, and I wanted to share the phrase with all of you. The re-quoted version is good food for thought. 

The verse, with a twist

My friend said, “This is the Lord that the day has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (You might need to read that twice!) 

As you probably know, I teach Bible. One of my greatest challenges as a Bible teacher this past decade is uniquely described in the rewording of that familiar verse. There are people I truly care about who are serving the Lord in many ways who would be more comfortable with the reworded verse than the actual verse. 

More and more I find myself in a discussion with people who say, “Well . . . I just don’t believe God would do that, say that, or mean that.” 

I find myself trying to carefully use Scripture in order to biblically explain to them, “God did do that, say that, and mean that.” The truth about God is revealed in his word, not our personal opinions or feelings. The Bible says, “This is the day the Lord has made,” and it is important we don’t worship “the Lord that the day has made.” 

One of the most important parts of our personal relationship to God is knowing him and worshiping him “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Is there a thought or opinion that you have about God that stands against the truth of God as revealed in the Bible?  

Our struggle is not new

God’s people have always tended to begin their faith journey with passion and dedication to biblical truth. Time and distraction have a way of detouring our journey down a different road than God’s. We have all done it. Even the apostle Paul struggled to walk the walk (See Romans 7). 

In Revelation 3, John commended the church in Philadelphia saying, “I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (v. 8). John continuously repeated a key phrase in his comments to the churches of the Revelation. He said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:13). If John thought it was important to remind those first-century Christians, we should remember his words today. 

If we want to “hear” from God, we need to know how to listen.  

Theology 101

We don’t get very many lessons in theology anymore. Yet, without a basic understanding of theology, a person can easily get sidetracked. Here are some of the basics of biblical theology: 

  • God speaks to us through his Holy Spirit, but it is crucial to remember that the Holy Spirit will never disagree or contradict God’s word. “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20–21)
  • The Bible has been translated over the years, but God’s word has been protected, not edited. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
  • We worship the same God who has been worshiped by his children throughout world history. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17).

Do we worship the Lord who has made each day, or is our day remaking the Lord we worship?

That question is something for all of us to consider. 

Are we faithful like the members of the church in Philadelphia, who were commended for keeping God’s word and not denying his name? Has our culture, or this era of Christian history, edited the biblical theology of God in some way? 

A. W. Tozer

A.W. Tozer was a brilliant American pastor and theologian who died in 1963. If you can, you might want to read a wonderful article about Tozer’s thoughts on the unchanging nature of God. That article closes with this quote about our immutable God: 

“God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. ‘I am the Lord, I change not.’ We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bring our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly operative toward us in the manner set forth through the gospel in the Scriptures of truth.”

May all of us remember that today is the day the Lord has made. 

May all of us consider the possibility we might have adopted an opinion or two about the Lord that this day has made. 

Then, may we repent where necessary and return to a place of blessing because we have chosen to honor his name and keep his word. 

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says” to all of us on this day, the day the Lord has made.  

Antique faith is still in style

I’ve often wondered if Chip and Joanna Gaines influenced the newfound love of decorating with antiques. There is something uniquely interesting about enjoying something our grandparents, even our great-grandparents, would have used.

Charles M. Sheldon published a book in 1893 that has sold more than fifty million copies and continues to be a favorite among Christians today. In His Steps is Sheldon’s fictional novel full of biblical truth. I’ve often said it should be required reading for every Christian!  

The book had another rebirth in 2013 when a movie was made based on a modern look at this “antique” story. The trend was part of a “WWJD” movement that inspired T-shirts, wristbands, and conversations about the Lord. 

Is it time for another WWJD resurgence in our culture? 

The original volumes of In His Steps are rare, costly antiques, and the novel’s message is priceless.  

Is your church attendance growing right now?

One of the noticeable consequences of the COVID pandemic was a marked drop in church attendance. A recent Christian Post article said that more than 25 percent of those who were regular churchgoers had decided they would not return to church. Why? 

  • Many describe themselves as having “no denominational affiliation.”
  • In 1988, 20 percent of America’s eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds said they had no religious faith. Today, that number has increased to over 45 percent.

The article gave this advice to church leaders: “Pastors should not assume that their congregation holds to basic biblical beliefs. They need to teach basic theology. And the problem isn’t always with the pastor. We have done surveys inside churches only to find that even when the pastor is teaching biblical doctrine and principles, the congregation does not have a biblical worldview.” 

If the people in the church don’t fully believe God’s word, why should those outside the walls care to learn it? 

A first-century topic

Our situation isn’t new; it’s just new to a lot of us. 

As a child, did you ever think we would have churches endorsing, or just ignoring, non-biblical sexual relationships? I’m not just talking about the rainbow banners. 

How many young people have a biblical dating relationship right now? 

How many books, movies, or television shows endorse biblical values? 

How many sermons are teaching them that a biblical sexual relationship even exists? 

Is our faith antique? Are biblical standards old and outdated? 

Yes—and absolutely not. 

If we think it is difficult to grow a church in today’s culture, we are right. If we think we need to adjust our message to blend with today’s culture, we have missed the point. 

I recently taught through the book of Ephesians so we could have those lessons available mid-march on the Foundations Bible study website. Ephesus had one of the wealthiest pagan cultures in the world, and Paul wrote his letter to the church in that region, saying, “Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace” (Ephesians 6:14–15).  

Paul also taught this message to the church in Ephesus, a message that rang true with Charles Sheldon and inspired his novel. Paul wrote, “Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God” (Ephesians 5:1–2). 

A nineteenth-century topic too

In 1896, Sheldon wrote this message to his readers: “The greatest question in all of human life is summed up when we ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’ if, as we ask it, we also try to answer it from a growth in knowledge of Jesus himself. We must know Jesus before we can imitate Him.” 

It is said that Sheldon’s book, In His Steps, helped to spark an awakening in the American church and therefore changed the American culture.  

Antique faith requires the timeless truth of Scripture. We can’t lead others to faith unless we lead them with the truth and love that Christ and his apostles taught. If people come to your church this Sunday, will they hear that preached and taught? Will they encounter Christ when they meet the members? 

When they meet you? 

Antiques are valuable for a reason

Have you ever stopped to wonder why antiques are costly?  

  • They were made with quality materials that stood the test of time.
  • They were part of people’s stories, part of someone’s life.
  • They were cherished and kept, not placed on the curb like unwanted trash.
  • The costliest antiques are those that were kept in original condition.

And so it is with our faith. 

Antique faith has the highest value, because it seeks to answer the important and timeless question, “What would Jesus do?” 

Would you volunteer?

Charles Sheldon wrote, “Our motto will be, ‘What would Jesus do?’ Our aim will be to act just as He would if He was in our places, regardless of immediate results. In other words, we propose to follow Jesus’ steps as closely and as literally as we believe He taught His disciples to do. And those who volunteer to do this will pledge themselves for an entire year, beginning with today, so to act.” 

The novel is about how those who took that pledge changed their city. The pledge brought about awakening in their culture. 

We need that awakening in our culture today. The question for all of us today is the question both the Apostle Paul and Charles Sheldon asked: Will we imitate Christ today?  

Historically, that is what changes a culture. Original sin is always with us. Original truth is as well. Biblical truth delivers pardon and salvation and then guides us to imitate Christ as our example.  

What would Jesus do? 

Could you take the pledge Charles Sheldon wrote about? 

Antique truth has priceless value. It has worked for thousands of years and it will continue to work today.  

Heavenly Father, help us to imitate your Son, our example. Amen.