New Podcast-Personal Stories

My latest podcast gives a glimpse into the stories of others - the lie they've been told about their heart - even after becoming Christians. Their stories are excerpted from my upcoming book, Recover Your Good Heart. I think you'll find their stories helpful, troubling, and more common than you may think.
Listen to podcast.

Excerpt from Jim's upcoming book

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book,
Recover Your Good Heart:

(excerpt)

Recently, I asked my good friend, John, a question: “What have you been told about your heart – even after you became a Christian." In other words, was John hearing a message that he wasn’t supposed to trust his heart, that there was largely sin and rebellion at the core of his nature? Was the underlying message from the pulpit that he was never doing enough for God and really didn't want to do God's will anyway? Or was John hearing a more positive message about his heart, especially after becoming a believer in Jesus?

Here’s what John said:

"In my 28 years as a Christian, I have never experienced a celebration of [the following] truths from Romans 8: … Because of Jesus Christ, we as Christians do not live according to the sinful nature (8:4), we do have our minds set on what the Holy Spirit desires (8:5), and we are not controlled by the sinful nature (8:9)! Our hearts are now good! Sin is no longer the biggest thing which is true about us!

As I look back at my years as a Christian, I am sorry to say that now I see clearly that I have been actually held back in my Christian walk, because I have been receiving the message that my heart is still bad, still wicked. As a result, my expectations for the "abundant life" of which Jesus spoke, have been nil! Because of what was said on Sunday mornings, I expected to sin regularly!"

(Did you notice in John’s response that the erroneous message he was hearing from pulpits actually sabotaged the work of Christ in him?)

Test your knowledge

I've put together a short quiz, the answers to which may really surprise most Christians. Many of us feel guilty as Christians because we don't feel different from anyone else. We know we're "supposed" to be different, but have little clue as to what that really means. The answers will bring you hope.
One responder, who has been in the Church for a while, got almost all of the quiz questions wrong! So take a swing:

Here's a sample question: "True or False: God is interested in fixing us."

TAKE THE QUIZ.

New Podcast: "Rescuing the Heart"

Is the mission of Jesus simply to forgive us and give us a pass to heaven? Or is there more? He came to "save," but save what, exactly? What has he come to rescue?

Click here to listen.

New podcast! -part two

PODCAST: "A Better Way to Relate to God - part two - Better Assumptions"

This week's podcast is a bit shorter than last week's; and offers a solution to the false gospel of spiritual pressure and "not enough." The true Gospel is built upon better assumptions about the Christian's heart.

A different look at 'obedience'

Yesterday, I was speaking to a dear woman who could be considered a model of the "good Christian woman." She's in her late sixties, teaches pre-schoolers, loves her family, and serves on mission trips. She loves God and is firmly committed to the ways of Jesus.

Yet, she's still uncertain if she's obedient enough to go to Heaven. I got the sense that if her faith wavered, her eternity would be in jeopardy.

I tried to lead her into a different way of thinking about it: First, it's impossible for us to maintain our faith in Christ at a 100 percent level for the rest of our lives. There's simply too much set against us. It's an unfair and unrealistic expectation of us.

Secondly, as I've noticed in my own journey, we can begin to obsess about our capacity to trust Christ, wondering, "Do I trust him enough? Do I love him enough? Am I doing enough? Obedient enough?" Notice the first person singular pronoun in each sentence. And, notice the word 'enough.' Are we not making faith a new work here? Isn't obedience to the law a tyranny of the 'enough?' It seems as though we've unwittingly made our capacity to 'trust and obey' the new benchmark for worthiness.

Perhaps a better way of looking at obedience is to find security in the obedience of Jesus himself. Our salvation wasn't simply secured by the Cross. It was also won by the daily obedience and goodness-of-heart of a Son towards a Father. At every momentary point of decision and each posture of the heart, Jesus' own obedience to the Father turned back a wayward humanity. He wasn't born into sin, nor made the choice to, yet he did have the capacity to. This aspect of his humanity is absolutely critical if his followers are to have any hope of becoming like him. It was not enough that he should die in obedience to the Father: he also had to live a life in obedience and settled confidence in our Father.
That very obedience has now been transferred to us. Not simply 'credited' to us; but deposited into our new hearts.

The obedience of Jesus is now ours. His life of moment-by-moment trust in the Father fully satisfies God and is fully sufficient for our secured place in him. What's more, the delight our Father had for Jesus is ours as well. Our unity with the death, resurrection, authority ... and moment-by-moment life of Jesus leaves us secured and free in the kingdom. There's no pressure to obey, no fear of lapsing in faith. There is only the shared life of Jesus with his brothers and sisters who are now and forever bound to the freedom and security of his well-lived life.

New podcast

I just added a new podcast called, "Heart Not Behavior." click here

Podcasts

Podcast: "What Have You Been Told?" (Mar. 21, 2007)