Innermost Being Blog

Faith is Key to a Life Without Lack

by Innermost Being, posted in Spiritual Growth

In Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23, Dallas Willard said that before we can fully experience the sufficiency of God, three things must be at work in us: faith, death to self, and agape love. In the chapter titled Trust in God: The Key to Life, Willard wrote about faith.

What is faith? One of my favorite explanations is found in the book of Hebrews.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Hebrews 11:1-3 NIV

I don’t have to see God or hear him speak outloud to believe that he exists. I am assured of his existence from the visible things he created.

But faith is more than believing.

Willard noted that faith combines love with the desire for good. A desperate father came to Jesus and asked him to free his son from an impure spirit (Mark 9:14-29). His love for his son was combined with the desire for good.

Some people view faith as superstition. The truth is we all have faith in something. “Faith is simply reliance upon something in both attitude and action.”  You can’t get through life without faith or confidence “that things will be a certain way and what you desire will come to be.” Even non-believers have faith that they can rely on other people or on ordinary everyday things.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is credited with saying that faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase. Several years ago, I acted with faith to quit a miserable job when I didn’t have another job lined up. I had confidence that God would work things out for my good. He did.

Faith goes hand in hand with having a future. The psalmist looked to the future when he said, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all of my days, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Faith has two parts: vision and desire. We see reality as it is and picture what it could be in the future. We hope for what can be. 

Faith comes from hearing about God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 NET

Faith is a gift that comes to those who seek. “You will seek Me and find Me , when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

When you have faith, it doesn’t mean you never have doubt. We can admit our doubts openly and honestly. Jesus said, “Everything is possible for one who believes,” to which the desperate father  replied, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” (Mark 9:23-24)

Faith is not stagnant. We can lose our faith when something bad happens. Pain and suffering can also deepen our faith. Willard used the story of Job to explain three different types of faith.

  • Faith of propriety
  • Faith of desperation
  • Faith of sufficiency

Faith of Propriety

Initially, Job trusted God to be good to him if he lived a proper, godly life. But he did not have peace in his faith. He feared that God would “take down the hedge of protection” that surrounded him. He trusted in his own propriety more than he trusted in God’s goodness.

People with this kind of faith believe you must perform in a certain way and always get things right to earn God’s favor. They believe that God is looking down on them to make sure they are behaving.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do right! But things can go wrong for us even if we do everything right, even if we are perfectly righteous.

Faith of Desperation

When Job lost everything – his family, his possessions, and his health – his faith became a faith of desperation. His desperate situation led him to a place of need. God showed up in his misery. Job said, “I’ve heard about you, but now I’ve seen you.”

Faith of desperation is trusting in God when things are shaky. It is crying out to him when you have nowhere else to turn. It is trusting in God in your moment of need. It is saying, “Whatever happens, I will trust You.”

I’ve been there – in a place of desperation, where God was my only hope. I cast my cares on him and drew strength from him. Faith puts you into contact with God so you can draw on his resources.

Faith of Sufficiency

Job struggled to make sense out of his suffering and loss. He eventually stopped trying to get God to make everything right. He saw the glory, the greatness, and the sufficiency of God.

The 23rd Psalm is a testament to faith. David, the psalmist, believed that God would provide everything he needed, physically and spiritually. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing…. He restores my soul… He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Lured into a life of lack

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. I often recite the 23rd Psalm to myself but admit that it can be hard to say, “I lack nothing.” Most people live in want of something. We live in a world of lack  – lack of goodness, compassion, justice, mercy, and peace.

Why is there so much evil?

In Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23, Dallas Willard explains why he thinks there is so much lack and evil in the world. While we may blame ourselves for wrongdoing, our behavior is much worse than it would be if not for Satan’s influence.

Most people don’t give much thought to the spiritual world, to either good or bad spirits. But if we want to grow in faith, we need a biblical understanding of evil spirits.

Satan, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, once held a much higher position. The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 14) wrote about the fall of “the morning star.”

How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”

Since his fall, Satan has been trying to get back at God by disrupting God’s plans for mankind. Satan is a great deceiver, the Prince of Darkness. Jesus called him the Father of Lies. He manipulates our minds with cunning and trickery.

Three Weapons of Temptation

Willard explains that Satan uses “three weapons of temptation.” In the third chapter of Genesis, we read that the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

The forbidden fruit was 1) good for food, 2) pleasant to the eyes, and 3) would make one wise. The forbidden fruit met Eve’s physical desire for food. It looked good. But the temptation she couldn’t resist was this:

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan appealed to Eve’s desire to be like God, all-knowing knowing and powerful. Satan fooled Eve into believing that if she ate the fruit, she could be like God.

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

1 John 2:16

While fasting in the wilderness for forty days and nights, the devil tempted Jesus three times (Matthew 4). First, he appealed to Christ’s hunger. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Then, Satan led Jesus to the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down,” for God will command his angels to lift you up. This temptation was about appearances. Wouldn’t Jesus have looked good to the people – messianic – if he had miraculously floated to the ground?

Next, the devil took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world. “All of this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” Satan appealed to the Lord’s ego. As king of the world, Jesus would be glorified. He would have the power to dominate others.

It’s easy to see the weapons of temptation at work in the world. The TV series American Greed tells stories of people who succumb to all three. A common theme involves a conman using the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme to indulge in the desires of his flesh – sex, extravagant meals, and alcohol or drugs. He buys luxury vehicles and a plane or a yacht. He acquires expensive jewelry, clothing, and other material things to impress people with the appearance of success. His wealth enables him to dominate others and to exercise political power and influence.

Guard your heart and mind

The heart is the source of our actions. If we let him, Satan will rule our thoughts with images, ideas, desires, and fears. Our worst behaviors are driven by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We often find reasons to justify the things we do. We lie to ourselves and make excuses.

Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23

Willard noted that we are often unaware of the ideas that influence us. Our minds may be influenced by propaganda or false doctrines or a corrupting culture. For example, Americans are taught to pursue the “American way of life,” which is the freedom to do whatever you want to do. As Willard said, “If there is anything you ought not to do, it is to do what you want to do whenever you want to do it.”

It’s important to not only know the ways Satan tempts us but also to be aware of our own weaknesses. If we know what our weaknesses are, we can put up a better defense. God will shed light on our hearts if we ask him to examine it and reveal our sins (Psalm 139:23-24).

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.“

Jesus demonstrated how to defend yourself against temptation. He responded to every temptation with scripture. He knew God’s word.

Prayer is also important. Satan does not want us to talk to God. He attacks our belief in God’s goodness, power, and sufficiency. To resist Satan, fill your mind with God’s word, and pray for his guidance.

Lord, you know my weaknesses. I care too much about what people think of me. I get upset about things I can’t control. You are all sufficient. You provide my every need. I can trust that you are in control.

I did not picture myself like this

by Innermost Being, posted in Word Prompts

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

As I write this, I am sitting in a special chair with my face down. This is not my normal posture. So no, my life today is not what I pictured a year ago. It is not even what I pictured two months ago!

Two months ago, I was blissfully ignorant about my vision. I knew I wasn’t seeing as well as I used to but didn’t think it was a big deal. At my annual eye examination in November, I found out that I have a form of macular degeneration called retinoschisis. I had vitrectomy surgery on my left eye six days ago, which involves removing the vitreous fluid and placing gas in the eye. To ensure success, I must maintain a facedown posture for a week to keep the glass bubble at the back of my eye.

I had so much anxiety going into this procedure. First, there’s the creepiness of having anyone mess with my eye. Secondly, I’m an active person. How could I stay facedown for a week? I feared that I would get a stiff neck or sore back. Mostly, I worried about the mental and emotional toll it would take on me. I asked friends and family for prayers.

Thankfully, I have not gone stir crazy 😜 yet. I get up for a few minutes every hour. I have gone for a couple of short walks. I entertain myself by reading, listening to audiobooks, watching TV, and playing my daily word games. One of the first things I did was to listen to the first two sections of George Orwell’s 1984 but don’t want to sink further into dystopia (the present is bad enough). I am reading The Firekeepers Daughter (Angeline Boulley) and listening to All the Colors of the Dark (Chris Whitaker).

Sleeping on my stomach has been awkward, but I have been able to sleep. In addition to the chair, I rented a raised horseshoe shaped headrest. My head tends to slip off of it, and I’ve been waking up with earaches. 😴

Today is my last day of “posturing,” but it is not the end of my recovery. The gas bubble will likely take 2-4 weeks to clear. It will take a few months for my vision to stabilize. Currently, all I can see is a blur. It’s like looking through water.

There are life lessons for me in this unexpected challenge. Don’t take any part of my health for granted. Be grateful that my mind is still active and that I have the patience to endure this. Be empathetic because other people are going through much worse situations.

👁 👁 👁

From The Opening Door, a Celtic prayer:

Be blessing my face, Lord;
be blessing my eyes.
May all my eye looks on
be blessed and be bright,
my neighbors, my loved ones
be blessed in Your sight.

Why do we exist?

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God

I am studying Dallas Willard’s book, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23. Psalm 23 depicts God as a shepherd who protects, provides, guides, and cares for his flock. Why does God care for us? Why are there people on earth?

Willard shared a similar question posed by the psalmist.

When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-5 (NIV)

Indeed, given how insignificant human beings are relative to the universe, why does God care for us? Why does he pay any attention to us?

The psalmist answered his own question.

You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

Psalm 8:6-8

Genesis 1:26 says that God made mankind “in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God created humans to exercise dominion over the earth. He put other living things and vast natural resources in our hands.

In the beginning, God called everything he created good. And then…mankind fell.

The second chapter of Genesis describes this fall. God put man in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Then, he created a woman to be his helper. The woman was tempted by the serpent to disobey God; she convinced the man to disobey God as well.

It goes without saying that human beings are not wholly good. We harm each other and our environment. There is so much pain and suffering in the world, and we add to it! Yet even with all the pain and suffering, the good outweighs the bad.

Being in charge of the earth means we have to work. We may think of work as drudgery, but it is good for us to work. Willard quoted Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal clergyman, as saying, “God chose for him his work, and meant for him to put his spiritual education there.”

God is more interested in the person you are becoming than in your work or your job. There was a time in my career when my job was too important to me. I was becoming someone I didn’t want to be. I was stressed out and unhappy. God humbled me and gave me a spiritual education.

Whatever work we do, we should be using our time to produce good. As Willard put it, we can achieve so much more in life if we have God to help us. Without God, we face isolation, antagonism, and the harms caused by excessive pride and egotism.

We were created to have a special relationship with God and to do our work in that relationship.

Dallas Willard

Every human being is precious. Every single one of us, regardless of what we’ve done, regardless of our social status.

What makes us precious? We do not earn our value. We are of God. He breathed the spirit of life into us.

Why does the Lord want to have a special relationship with us? The kind of relationship that a shepherd has with his precious sheep?

  • He knows that we are capable of goodness and faithfulness
  • He knows that we can make a difference in this world by doing good works that glorify him

God wants to have a personal relationship with us. He wants to guide us in paths of righteousness. He wants to shepherd us through difficult journeys. He wants to comfort us and restore our souls.

We exist to love each other as Christ loves us. So live in such a way that people see the goodness in your life and acknowledge God as the source of your goodness.

Finding the courage to use my voice…again

by Innermost Being, posted in Faith and Culture

When I started blogging many years ago, I was an introvert trying to find my voice. Speaking spontaneously is not my strong suit. For years, I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to sound stupid. My introverted mind needs time to process my thoughts before I speak. Writing allows me to compose my thoughts and to express myself thoughtfully.

Unfortunately, something besides introversion is now keeping me from freely speaking my mind.

I live in a country that is extremely divided by politics and religious nationalism. Truth has been thrown to the ground. Evil is now called Good. Anyone who speaks out against the Trump regime risks being ridiculed, condemned, alienated, and even threatened.

These days, I often zip my lip to avoid antagonizing Trump supporters. It’s hard because silence in the face of evil is acquiescence at best. Some would say it is complicity.

Building a wall to protect myself

Several months ago, I put MAGA family members on a restricted friends list on Facebook. Restricted friends only see what I choose to make public, which primarily consists of pictures of nature.

I also put friends from church on this list because I don’t know whom I can trust. I have learned that many people who claim to be Christians are easily triggered by any criticisms of Trump.

Church is too often the most risky place to be spiritually honest.

Pete Enns, Author

Why restrict this subset of friends from seeing valid criticisms of Trump and the Republicans who enable him? I know that I will lose friends if I share my opposition to Trump. By building a wall, relationships have remained intact, but the friendships are not deep or genuine.

Ardent Trump supporters only see what they want to see and only hear what they want to hear. Their minds are closed. If I share posts that are critical of the Trump regime, I am unlikely to influence them. They have been misled by the media and by false teachers for years.

Understanding Cognitive Dissonance

I suspect that many MAGA Christians experience cognitive dissonance – the psychological tension caused when a person’s actions are not consistent with their beliefs. For example, if you believe that sexual assault is morally wrong, but you support an adjudicated rapist, your conscience should be troubled. You should feel uncomfortable. If you believe that judging people by the color of their skin is wrong but you support a racist, you should feel ashamed of yourself.

I used to think that when presented with facts, reasonable people would change their minds. I was wrong. Cognitive dissonance causes people to avoid sources of information that increase dissonance and seek sources, including conspiracy theories, that reduce dissonance.

Why is it so hard for Trump’s supporters to admit they are wrong about him? Why do they lie to themselves?

Because most people see themselves as good, smart, ethical and kind, when confronted with evidence that they did something bad, foolish, immoral or cruel, they tend to reduce dissonance not by changing their positive self-concept but by justifying their behavior.

Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Brandeis Magazine

Social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliit Aronson say that “[s]elf-justification is the most common way of reducing dissonance whenever the self-concept is threatened.” When a person is emotionally invested in a movement or cause, they convince themselves that their actions are justified.

Little old me has no hope of getting through to MAGA friends and family. I feel like I have no choice but to separate myself from them. I pray that God will open up their eyes to the truth.

Finding allies

I still occasionally share political or religious posts on social media because I can’t pretend that these are normal times. Since I don’t knowingly share content with ardent Trump supporters anymore, I may be preaching to the choir.

Because there is so much opposition to Trump, I know that I am not alone. Two of my former pastors now speak out against Trump. I ran into a few people from church at the No Kings protests.

I admire the bravery of Christians who speak out frequently, like Amy Hawk, Paul Kahnke, and Jason Chukwuma. Others understanably choose to post anonymously, like a man who calls himself A Country Pastor.

Why do I want to speak out? What are my objectives?

  • demonstrate what it really means to follow Jesus
  • expose religious nationalism as heresy
  • protest against authoritarianism
  • expose corruption and abuses of power

Introversion no longer keeps me from sharing my thoughts. The problem now is that it feels like no one wants to listen. At this point, I lack the courage to risk losing more relationships. Ultimately, I have to be faithful to Christ, so I may eventually need to let these relationships go. I believe that God wants me to use my voice to speak the truth, not just about what I believe, but more importantly, about who He is.