Love the sinner, hate the sin

Twitter and I have a love/hate relationship. I have a wide audience of people from all walks of life, all over the world, who I can encourage in the love and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. In order to do that, I’m limited to 140 characters which means I need to try to carry a complete thought in that amount of space… I can’t trust that multiple tweets all get read in their completeness otherwise. Anyone who has followed my blog at all knows that I don’t suffer from lack of things to say… my biggest problem is keeping it short and to the point. Worst thing is, get me to talk about Jesus in person, and I’m just as gabby.

I made a tweet and was asked a good question about it. First, here is what I wrote:

There is a difference between affirming someone’s sinful choices & loving them regardless of them. Be like Jesus.

Now, I like people asking me for clarity, believe it or not. My job, as I see it, is to communicate the truth of the word of God as clearly and as accessibly as possible to as many people as possible. If something I write causes confusion, I’m missing something. Usually, it’s because there is context in my head that didn’t make it out into the tweet.

So I’m going to do my best, in very un-Peter-like fashion, to not ramble and to be to-the-point in trying to explain what this meant to me, and I do this because I need to cover a lot of ground and want to keep my readers reading, not checking out. Pray for me (I already have)… here we go.

Let’s break it down.

Affirmation, to me, means validation or confirmation. Yes, you can probably google other meanings, but this is where my mind was. I can affirm something by intent (“I hereby affirm that everything I say here is true, your honor!”). You can affirm something in a round-about manner (“yeah, I agree! What HE said!”). You can also affirm something passively, such as by accepting something you disagree with not to cause problems (a parent letting a child have a treat because the parent got tired of hearing the child screaming in a tantrum).

So what am I getting at here?

Were I to define “sin“, I would say that it is any action, meditated thought, decision or behavior that causes a person to behave in a way that is inconsistent with the Person and plan of God, or that violates His character or His laws.

This means, by definition, that there are no hierarchies of sin. No sin greater than another. The smallest white lie to the most vile murder are equal in God’s eyes, because He is holy and utterly without sin, and anything outside of His nature (which by definition is good) is therefore bad (eg: not good).

We live in a day and age of political correctness, where you’re almost societally expected to go with the flow and embrace whatever the PC challenge of the week is in the spotlight. There’s no room for calling things “sin” anymore, that’s too old fashioned. Heck, it’s all relative anyways, and your perspective is yours and mine is mine, so don’t hit me with your old school conservative religion junk…

Well ok, but those of us who are truly desiring to honor God understand that the rules He set into being are not subject to our own interpretation. We don’t get to decide what is sin and what is not sin, and neither does our government or society. Yep. It’s not my rule, it’s Gods… if you have a problem with it, take it up with Him.

“Christians” have a very bad track record with labeling sin, categorizing it, and attributing an arbitrary hierarchy of severity to it.

This is BAD, mmmk? BAD BAD BAD. God holds no hierarchy of sin. How dare we label particular sins as better or worse than others? To quote Jesus, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matt 7:5)

People sin, and no matter what the sin, it is ALL sin. Your gossiping or your prideful or haughty spirit is no worse than the person who murders his grandma with a steak knife. (Coincidentally, the only sin that scripture records as saying that God HATES is pride or a prideful, haughty spirit. Yep. Not homosexuality, not premarital sex, not murder, arson… but pride. Damnable pride. It’s helpful to remember that…)

So here’s the base of what I’m saying –
Everyone single one of us sins, sins equally, and every single one of us, no matter how much we want to tell ourselves that we’re better than the next guy, is JUST AS GUILTY BEFORE GOD, and just as deserving of His right, just judgement and… we all deserve hell, when our sins are displayed against a perfect, holy, sin-less God.

But God loves us – flaws, faults, warts and all. He doesn’t love our sin, He hates it. He doesn’t condone our wrong thoughts or actions, but He works at healing the broken things and repairing the sin damage in our lives when we give Him that control as our Lord, and helps us not want to sin, and gives us more strength to resist the desire to.

And if we love Jesus and are His representatives here on earth, we have to do the same.

There is a difference between the sin and the sinner. There is a difference between the act of sin and the person sinning. Heck, Romans 7 & 8 talk a lot about that… look at the vlogs I posted last fall about that subject for more context.

And here’s the point of what I’m saying –
Our job is not to judge the relative sin of the next person. Our job is to love the person.

EVERY person was created by God with intentionality and a purpose and a plan. Every person was created to worship. They can choose to live life on their own terms, but each was created in the image of God and created FOR God, which means each has value to Him.

Drop the facade. We are not better than anyone else. Believing you are is a weak, self-justifying form of pride that God hates. It robs you of the ability to love, to serve, to humble yourself and not need to be self-justified.

My original quote –

There is a difference between affirming someone’s sinful choices & loving them regardless of them. Be like Jesus.

People are going to make lifestyle decisions that we don’t like, don’t believe in, or flat out hate or detest. Love the person. Don’t go with the politically correct crowd who agrees with the decision, or who says it’s good or morally acceptable. Don’t violate God’s rules of right and wrong, and don’t cave to social pressures that say that the bible is outdated and no longer relevant – God’s word will stand FOREVER, perfect and true.

But love the person. Hate the sin. Love the person. Hate the sin. Love the person… get it?

We can show God’s love to the individual without condoning the actions. We can make the person know that they matter to us, but yet not participate or encourage the behavior. Jesus hung out with the worst of the worst. He didn’t participate in drunken debauchery but hung out with those who did. He didn’t sell or buy sex but He hung out with those who did. He never cheated on taxes, but hung out with those who did. He never sinned, but spent the vast majority of His time with those who sinned the most frequently.

Love people, hate the sin.
Encourage them to pursue the Lord and let HIM help them correct the problems. Let the Holy Spirit bring conviction of sin and the desire to change it… that’s His job, not yours. Love the sinner. See them the way Jesus does.

Love the sinner. Love them. Them… the person. The soul who Jesus loves. Love them. It’s our highest and greatest commandment, straight from the heart of God.

God uses broken things

“By reason of breakings they purify themselves” (Job 41:25).

God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken. The sacrifices He accepts are broken and contrite hearts. It was the breaking down of Jacob’s natural strength at Peniel that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb, by the stroke of Moses’ rod that let out the cool waters to thirsty people.

It was when the 300 elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, that the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries. It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support.

It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court, that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them, that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand. It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the house. It was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear, that His inner life was poured out, like a crystal ocean, for thirsty sinners to drink and live.

It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by DEATH, that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains. And thus, on and on, through all history, and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have BROKEN THINGS.

Those who are broken in wealth, and broken in self-will, and broken in their ambitions, and broken in their beautiful ideals, and broken in worldly reputation, and broken in their affections, and broken ofttimes in health; those who are despised and seem utterly forlorn and helpless, the Holy Ghost is seizing upon, and using for God’s glory. “The lame take the prey,” Isaiah tells us.
- Streams in the Desert

The Summer Will Come

The Summer Will Come

“Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you” (Isa. 30:18).

Where showers fall most, there the grass is greenest. I suppose the fogs and mists of Ireland make it “the Emerald Isle”; and whenever you find great fogs of trouble, and mists of sorrow, you always find emerald green hearts; full of the beautiful verdure of the comfort and love of God.

O Christian, do not thou be saying, “Where are the swallows gone? They are gone; they are dead.” They are not dead; they have skimmed the purple sea, and gone to a far-off land; but they will be back again by and by. Child of God, say not the flowers are dead; say not the winter has killed them, and they are gone. Ah, no! though winter hath coated them with the ermine of its snow; they will put up their heads again, and will be alive very soon.

Say not, child of God, that the sun is quenched, because the cloud hath hidden it. Ah, no; he is behind there, brewing summer for thee; for when he cometh out again, he will have made the clouds fit to drop in April showers, all of them mothers of the sweet May flowers. And oh! above all, when thy God hides His face, say not that He hath forgotten thee. He is but tarrying a little while to make thee love Him better; and when He cometh, thou shalt have joy in the Lord, and shalt rejoice with joy unspeakable.

Waiting exercises our grace; waiting tries our faith; therefore, wait on in hope; for though the promise tarry, it can never come too late.
- Charles H. Spurgeon

Chicks for Children

This is a rare step away from the normal blogging thing for me, but I really wanted to reach out to my readership with this one. Most of you who know me or follow me online know that I’m a big proponent for Gospel for Asia, my favorite missionary organization.

I read this through their website today and wanted to not just participate, but encourage my readers to prayerfully participate as well. So often we miss opportunities to help people in need, and yet even the smallest sacrifice, in God’s economy, can have huge eternal significance. I was touched by the story and am going to be contributing as finances allow until the goal is met. 100% of donations go into this campaign… GFA is so very transparent with their use of donation money.

14 year old Xiaoyun has a call to put one chicken into the hand of every child living in the slums of India, so that they can have a food and revenue source to help them survive, and to help them know the love of Jesus. So simple of a concept, and so practical a way of potentially changing someone’s life.

This is just a great story overall, too… God is just so awesome. Here’s a bit of the background:

Xiaoyun was born in the Guizhou providence in China. An orphan, she was placed with foster parents at a young age and stayed with them for nine years. She has scoliosis and was in great need of surgery.

In China, once a child turns 14, he or she no longer is eligible for adoption. Xiaoyun was only months away from turning 14.

Virgil and Cindy Willoughby were in the process of adopting one daughter from China when, in February 2011, Cindy saw Xiaoyun’s file and wanted to adopt her, too. International adoption usually takes months, but within 10 weeks they had Xiaoyun, Cindy said. They landed in Louisville 15 minutes before she officially turned 14, just in time.

Through the Gospel for Asia website, www.gfa.org, Xiaoyun discovered a donation of $11 will give children in the Bridge of Hope program a rooster and a hen. These are children who live in conditions similar to those in the film “Slumdog Millionaire,” Cindy said.

The children are stuck in the caste system and considered untouchable, she said. Xiaoyun chose chickens because she thought they would be the easiest for those who donated to afford. One rooster and hen can produce up to 40 dozen eggs a year to provide food and a source of income.

From the Gospel For Asia webpage:

“God says we are supposed to help those in need. How often do people go and buy new clothes? $11 is not a big deal. $11 can provide chickens for the families in Asia, so they have not only food, but also an income from selling any excess eggs that are produced.

I want to raise enough money to buy one million chickens for the children in Asia.
Will you please help me make a difference in these families lives? Through our efforts, many in Asia will hear the Good News of Christ’s love. Let’s do this together!”

Thank you!!!!
Xiaoyun

Visit the Chicks for Children page at GFA.org here:
https://www.mygfa.org/chicksforchildren/

You can also read a news article from her local newspaper about this campaign here: http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/xiaoyun-willoughby-working-feed-hungry-chicks-children

I’m wondering if you’d prayerfully consider even the base $11 donation. I’m not receiving anything for myself… I just feel strongly that we, especially here in America, don’t do enough with the abundance that God has given us, and as we can’t all be missionaries, we can still give where we’re able to help support these light bringers of the gospel.

Be blessed this week in the name of Jesus, my friends. May you shine as lights for His glory in this rapidly darkening world, and fully realize all of the potential and purpose He created your life for.

Peter

Don’t be hasty in promising God

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.
- Ecclesiastes 5:4

This whole blog is a bit anecdotal tonight. I’ve no profound spiritual word from God to share…no, nothing like that. Just some thoughts from a guy still learning so much about the God he serves. Tonight as I was driving a couple of friends home, I made a comment rather flippantly, and a friend who I have a lot of respect for spiritually said that she thought that it was far more profound than I thought it to be… but trusting her (she’s the one who told me to write about it here), I’m sharing what we spoke about.

What I had said was, “Don’t promise God on the mountaintop what you’re not prepared to pay for in the valley.”

Let me explain.

Many of you are like me. You really do care about things of God, you really do want Jesus glorified in your life. You know you’re flawed and sinful and human, but the heart’s cry is one of service, of obedience and of gratitude for a God who overwhelms us with His love, acceptance and patience.

And because you’re like me, you’ve probably found yourself in moments of deep worship, praise, prayer and/or adoration, making grand promises to God… things like “Do whatever you need to in my life to make me more like You, Jesus!” or “test me and see that I’ll trust You through anything”, or better yet, “I’m willing to do or endure anything if it glorifies You, Father God.”

Here’s my word for you. Don’t do it.

What?! Peter, you’re supposed to be a Christian and you’re telling us not to promise full control of our lives to God?

Yep. With a few disclaimers, of course.

See, we’ve got this broken notion of a promise in our day and age. Promises can be broken. They’re situational, conditional. They change and they flex. We tell our girlfriends/boyfriends that we’ll love them forever, but then we break up 6 mos later. We tell our BFF’s that we’ll always be BFF’s, but then life moves on and so do we. Really, anytime we verbally author a blank check into perpetuity about anything, we’re committing ourselves to that thing…but not often really meaning it.

But God? Yeah. He’s a covenant God. He’s a God who keeps His word. He’s not a man, that He would lie… nor is He a man that He needs to ask forgiveness for saying something rashly. He keeps His word. Always. Period.

And you know what? He expects us to do the same.

I’ve noticed a pattern in my life. I really want to please Jesus. Yes, I fail daily. But past my sinful human flesh is the heart of a worshiper… one created to magnify the name of Jesus. And in moments of stark spiritual clarity, bathing in the warmth of the Holy Spirit’s presence, feeling His love washing over me, my heart’s cry is to honor Jesus with everything. Bring it on God, there is nothing more important than Your pleasure with me. I don’t care if it has to hurt, I don’t care if you have to take him/her away, I don’t care if I have to struggle, I don’t, I won’t, I, I, I…

Sometimes we have too much “I” in our prayers. Sometimes we think too much of our spiritual maturity. Sometimes we think we’re tougher, holier, stronger, etc than we really are. Sometimes we shoot our well-meaning mouths off, and our God who loves us so much needs to bring us back to reality so that we don’t get burned by that ever damnable pride that rears up so frequently. So… we issue this bold proclamation of complete utter abandonment, not thinking that we’d have to actually PROVE it…

So we make our grand promises to God. We mean them, too. The problem doesn’t lie in the sincerity of it, but in the reality of what we’re saying. See, I think God often challenges those promises we make Him. It’s like He says, “You sure you mean that, Peter? I love you, so let Me show you a better view of your heart, to help you grow”, and then He allows something to transpire that makes that promise a very difficult “put up or shut up” moment in my life. And it almost always hurts. Deeply.

Over the years I’ve come to learn a couple important things about myself:
1 - I want to please God, and I want to be able to voice those big blank checks to Him to do whatever in/through me for His glory, but I REALLY don’t want Him to test me about it. I mean, come on God, You know my heart… I mean this. Can’t You just take it at face value? hah. Nope.

2 - I have been pushed to the breaking point at times, and there have been quite a few times… and I’m trying to be really transparent here, where my reaction to God testing me in the very area I had recently promised Him control over brought out the most un-Christlike response in me. I went from adoring Jesus worshiper to petulant crying spoiled brat. At least, that’s how it felt after I was able to look back on it. And then I realized how big my pride was and how small my surrender was, when the chips were down and God wasn’t making sense.

3 - Here’s the most profound part. At the end of the day, I DID mean it. But I didn’t need to voice it. Voicing it was my spiritual pride rearing up. It’s essentially saying that I have way too much self-confidence in self, and too cocky an opinion of what humility and true surrender really is. See, God is working out His good plan in my life. I don’t need to prove to Him my love, my devotion or my willingness to suffer for Him… I can be content knowing that He is working all things for good in me, the painful and the joyous, and that He’ll continue to change me into one like His Son the rest of my life. I think it’s enough.

Which brings me back to that original quote. “Don’t promise God on the mountaintop what you’re not prepared to pay for in the valley.”

God takes promises seriously. He’ll often put you into a position to prove how much you meant that thing that you promised Him, knowing in actuality you didn’t really mean it as much as you thought you did when push comes to shove. See, mountaintops only last a small while, but the daily drudge of life is lived on the plains and frequently in the valleys. Most of the time you live out your faith on these flat doldrums of life, and the desire, motivation, etc to keep that promise when things drag on and on and the problems/pain/challenges don’t go away but persist and persist and persist really wears at your resolve.

Yes, God will use it for His glory and your growth… but just remember this: You might forget the promise, or want to go back on it… but God is a covenant-keeping God. Promises mean something to Him. Before you open your mouth, even for good reasons, just know that whatever you promise Him, He might require of you or might test you with. He cares about your heart, and your growth, and your conforming to the image of His son.

Don’t say things too hastily. Your words have power, so use them wisely.
Let Him grow and mature you. He’ll know how to make you into the person you want to be, and He’ll get even more glory from your life when you trust Him to do things His way. Just relax, live, breathe, and serve Jesus.

Waiting for God to intervene

This is a repost from an InTouch devotional I read this morning. I love Charles Stanley, he’s been such an inspiration to me in my own spiritual journey. May you be encouraged this morning as you continue to wait in faith, knowing that you rest your hope on a faithful, promise-keeping God of all sufficiency.

Waiting for God to intervene
Read Psalm 27:13-14

Are you currently waiting for the Lord to intervene in some way in your life or in the life of a loved one? One of the struggles we face as Christians is trying to understand why our heavenly Father sometimes delays over matters that are so urgent to us. Only the Lord knows all the reasons. However, there are several adjustments we can make in our attitude and mindset as we wait.

Determine your focus.
In the urgency of the moment, it’s easy to center our attention on the need instead of on God. We may start out waiting for the Lord but end up waiting for the answer we want. Soon we’re more interested in what He can do for us than we are in Him. Sometimes God delays until we get our focus back on Him. He wants us to delight in Him, not just in what He gives us.

Release your expectations into His hands.
The Lord is working on our behalf, but sometimes we cling so tightly to a desired outcome that He must wait until we open our hands and let go of our expectations. Holding onto your own assumptions about how the Lord should intervene is emotionally exhausting. But peace awaits those who trust that He will do what is in our best interests–in every situation we encounter.

We need to remember that while we are waiting, God is working.

He sees the entire picture and is active behind the scenes, arranging everything according to His will. But perhaps His most important work is the deepening of our relationship with Him as we learn to love and trust Him in the wait.
- Charles Stanley

God’s love doesn’t always make sense

I don’t know who wrote this devotional I’m adding below… it’s old, from the 19th century. That said, the wisdom in it is ageless.

Those of you who are hurting under the confusion of a Divine love for you that seems to cause pain and not relief, this is for you.

“When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was” (John 11:6).

In the forefront of this marvelous chapter stands the affirmation, “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus,” as if to teach us that at the very heart and foundation of all God’s dealings with us, however dark and mysterious they may be, we must dare to believe in and assert the infinite, unmerited, and unchanging love of God. Love permits pain. The sisters never doubted that He would speed at all hazards and stay their brother from death, but, “When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.”

What a startling “therefore”! He abstained from going, not because He did not love them, but because He did love them. His love alone kept Him back from hasting at once to the dear and stricken home. Anything less than infinite love must have rushed instantly to the relief of those loved and troubled hearts, to stay their grief and to have the luxury of wiping and stanching their tears and causing sorrow and sighing to flee away. Divine love could alone hold back the impetuosity of the Savior’s tender-heartedness until the Angel of Pain had done her work.

Who can estimate how much we owe to suffering and pain? But for them we should have little scope for many of the chief virtues of the Christian life. Where were faith, without trial to test it; or patience, with nothing to bear; or experience, without tribulation to develop it?

-Unknown

It is Sufficient

I read this story this morning during my devotional time… it put me through a few different emotions reading it. The impact of what was communicated to the writer during his time of prayer was very significant, enough so that I thought I’d share it with my fellow sojourners.

Jesus IS sufficient. His grace IS sufficient, more than enough. He is the great “I AM”, the eternally existent God; through His perfect knowledge, so also His grace IS eternally available and dispensed to us in copious quantities for any need that we face. It is through that grace and favor that we are more than conquerors for and by the name of Jesus.

Be blessed, encouraged and strengthened in this confidence as you read Peploe’s story below.

It is Sufficient
“IS” (2 Cor. 12:9).

It had pleased God to remove my youngest child under circumstances of peculiar trial and pain; and as I had just laid my little one’s body in the churchyard, on return home, I felt it my duty to preach to my people on the meaning of trial.

Finding that this text was in the lesson for the following Sabbath, I chose it as my Master’s message to them and myself; but on trying to prepare the notes, I found that in honesty I could not say that the words were true; and therefore I knelt down and asked God to let His grace be sufficient for me. While I was thus pleading, I opened my eyes and saw a framed illuminated text, which my mother had given me only a few days before, and which I had told my servant to place upon the wall during my absence at the holiday resort where my little one was taken away from us.

I did not notice the words on returning to my house; but as I looked up and wiped my eyes, the words met my gaze,

My grace is sufficient for thee

The “is” was picked out in bright green while the “My” and the “thee” were painted in another color.

In one moment the message came straight to my soul, as a rebuke for offering such a prayer as, “Lord, let Thy grace be sufficient for me”; for the answer was almost as an audible voice, “How dare you ask that which is?” God cannot make it any more sufficient than He has made it; get up and believe it, and you will find it true, because the Lord says it in the simplest way: “My grace is (not shall be or may be) sufficient for thee.”

“My,” “is,” and “thee” were from that moment, I hope, indelibly fixed upon my heart; and I (thank God) have been trying to live in the reality of the message from that day forward to the present time.

The lesson that came to me, and which I seek to convey to others, is, Never turn God’s facts into hopes, or prayers, but simply use them as realities, and you will find them powerful as you believe them.
–Prebendary H. W. Webb Peploe

A Man Without Fear

As is frequent in times of writer’s drought, I’m sharing something that I read from one of my greatest authors, Charles Spurgeon.  My prayer is that it blesses and encourages you as well.

A Man Without Fear
“And He said, Certainly I will be with thee”   (Exodus 3:12).

Of course, if the LORD sent Moses on an errand, He would not let him go alone. The tremendous risk which it would involve and the great power it would require would render it ridiculous for God to send a poor lone Hebrew to confront the mightiest king in all the world and then leave him to himself. It could not be imagined that a wise God would match poor Moses with Pharaoh and the enormous forces of Egypt. Hence He says, “Certainly I will be with thee,” as if it were out of the question that He would send him alone.

In my case, also, the same rule will hold good. If I go upon the LORD’s errand with a simple reliance upon His power and a single eye to His glory, it is certain that He will be with me. His sending me binds Him to back me up. Is not this enough? What more can I want? If all the angels and arch- angels were with me. I might fail; but if He is with me, I must succeed. Only let me take care that I act worthily toward this promise. Let me not go timidly, halfheartedly, carelessly, presumptuously. What manner of person ought he to be who has God with him! In such company it behoveth me to play the man and, like Moses, go in unto Pharaoh without fear.
- Charles Spurgeon

 

Stay Focused

One of my favorite Christian leaders is Dr. K.P. Yohannan, leader of my favorite Christian ministry, Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org).

He wrote a very encouraging letter recently, entitled “Stay Focused” that is a great, appropriately-timed reminder to believers about keeping their game faces on, especially in this current day and age.

I wanted to share this with you today.

Stay Focused

While Jesus was on earth, He could have done all sorts of fantastic things.

• He could have built buildings that would have made the engineers and architects of the Roman Empire look stupid. He could have opened a university and taught science to the smartest scholars from every nation.
• He could have conducted the largest Gospel crusade the world had ever seen.
• He could have healed all the sick people on earth and cleared out every hospital.
• He could have sent out 12,000 apostles instead of 12 to build His Church.

Why did Jesus refrain from doing these and a million other wonderful things that were within His power? The simple answer is this:

Jesus knew His mission—the one task for which He came.

He stated it very clearly: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Although He was well aware that He would die for the sins of the whole world, He also knew that He needed to accomplish His mission within the tiny nation of Israel. Jesus lived daily to fulfill His mission and never allowed Himself to be distracted by anything or anyone. When His journey came to an end, He simply said to His Father, “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). And on the cross, He looked at humanity past, present and future and proclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

Jesus was surrounded by distractions just like we are.

Right before He began His ministry, the devil attempted to cause Jesus to use His embodied spiritual powers in a selfish way and without the authorization of His Father. Jesus could have indeed turned stones into bread, jumped off the tower and survived, or walked away from the cross, but He refused.

Even when the devil used Peter and later the Greeks to try to prevent Him from completing His mission, Jesus still didn’t give in to distractions. Instead, He explained why He was keeping His focus: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain [fruit]” (John 12:24). And then in the last few hours of His life, when Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him and all of His disciples ran away, Jesus could have easily given up and said, “It’s all been a mistake. They betrayed everything I showed and lived before them. It’s not worth it”—and walked away from the cross. Thank God He didn’t.

Paul and Nehemiah also didn’t give in to distractions.

One of the secrets behind the Apostle Paul’s achievements in life was his absolute focus. His statement, “None of these things move me” (Acts 20:24) meant that none of the difficulties, persecutions and problems he faced could persuade him to walk away.

Nehemiah had the same determination when he was building the wall of Jerusalem. Although his enemies used every tactic in the book to frighten him into quitting, he kept right on building and answered, “Should such a man as I flee?” (Nehemiah 6:11).

Others gave in—and forfeited the most incredible possibilities they could have achieved in their lives.

Baalam the prophet was handpicked by God. Gehazi was in line to inherit Elisha’s mantle and a double portion of his master’s ministry. Demas could have possibly been the one to receive the torch from Paul. Yet all three got distracted by the love of this world and money and hence were sidetracked from their mission.

We are asked to follow Jesus’ example in handling distractions.

Each of us has a mission to fulfill in winning the lost world and building God’s kingdom. The writer of Hebrews gives us precise instructions about what we must do to keep our focus: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross …” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Christ, our example, is the One who has gone before us in the race. We are not asked to look at the spectators in the arena or at the other runners, but to keep our eyes on Jesus and imitate Him. Jesus Himself said, “Follow Me,” because He knew that staying focused would be one of the most difficult things for us to do.

I remember well when, during the early days of our ministry, someone offered me all the financial assistance in the world if I would give up my calling and commit myself to advance his cause overseas.

The thing that helped me walk away from this distraction was when my wife asked me, “When the journey comes to an end and you look back, what will you answer? If for the sake of money you compromise your calling and your walk with the Lord, how will you explain this to the people who are following you?”

My dear brothers and sisters, let us faithfully encourage each other daily to stay focused and to say no to distractions.

Dr. K.P. Yohannan
Founder & President of Gospel for Asia

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