Report on Dunamis January 2015 in Kyrgyzstan

A secret to overcoming private temptations

It's not about more discipline but more love.

Over 40 years ago when I was a new Christian in the Jesus Movement of the early 1970’s in the USA I memorized 1 John 2:15-16. I used the Navigators “Topical Memory System” in the RSV because there was no NIV yet. The RSV says that if you "love the world or the things of the world: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, then love for the Father is not you." Ouch. So every time I had a lustful or angry thought, or even a hungering desire, it meant that I wasn’t really a good Christian. My hormones did not sync with the "truth" in my head. I lived with continuous self-condemnation, making me feel wormish, and syncing instead with the doctrine of total depravity.

I took the challenge of this verse to not love the world, to hate the values and temptations of the world, and to love God more. I separated myself from my old high high school friends and sought Christian friends, but the battle raged nevertheless. Deep inside I felt a failure. I just could not overcome the “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” (vs. 16).

In 2012 God led Debbie and me on a journey to come to know Him as “Father,” to experience His love in our hearts as something as real and tangible as the very air we breathe. Love that is experienced in the heart, as powerful as a “romantic crush” but which does not fade or dissipate over time. Actually, it has grown and deepened now 3 years later.

So today, when I look at this verse in 1 John 2:15-16 I experience it quite differently. Rather than feeling condemned for my lusts and I “just try harder” to not sin, I ask, “Father, why am I struggling with this right now? Why am I angry? Why do I feel so… (you fill in the blank).

Looking at the Greek New Testament I also see what is probably a translation choice of the RSV based on those scholars' personal understanding of how to deal with lust. They said if you are lusting after the world then love for the Father (God) is not in you. No. It should translate “Do not love the world nor what (is) of the world. If anyone loves the world, then the love of the Father (Father’s love) is not in him (or her).” See the difference? It isn't about our love for the Father it's about His love for us, Father's love being in us. 

If we think that because we struggle with sin then it is because “love for the Father is not in us” we will condemn ourselves “Oh, I am such a sinner, I do not love God as I should.” NO. That’s not what it says. The opposite is true. We struggle with sin because we are not experiencing/living with Father’s love working in our hearts. Something is missing and that is why we are struggling with the temptation. When we are not presently experiencing Him loving us then our hearts will long for other love, even sinful love.

Over and over, all through the Old and New Testaments we see the command to love God and love our neighbors. When we actively do this, the Bible says, God’s love will be in us. And as God’s love is in us, the Bible says, we will do this. It is reciprocal. It is “perichoresis” i.e. interpenetration. As Father’s love penetrates into our hearts, we enter or "penetrate" into His love.  Only then does love for the world begin to fall off. All the false loves of fleeting, sinful pleasures loose their grip. The temptations even begin to smell bad.

So the secret to overcoming private temptations, the private battles of lust, with evil* and pride IS NOT just disciplining ourselves and trying harder the next time. The key is to ask Father God to pour His love into your heart. Just like for the young man in vs. 14 who has God’s Word living in his heart, victory comes as we experience the reality of Father’s love penetrating our hearts, comforting us, and dispelling the love for the world with all its addicting, corrupting enticements. 

This is a lot of fun. Living IN Love is living in life.

*greek word for evil is porneia- vs. 14, or "porn"

The World Is Eagerly Waiting For You

Yesterday I took another drive through the East End of Newport News, Virginia with my friend Pastor Chris Williams, looking at different street corners, apartment complexes and “hotels” where gangs stroll, prostitution and strip clubs abound, and people wander lifelessly on the sidewalks. Chris shared with me how so many from the community think “If only I had money like white people, life would be okay.” This morning in my prayer time I mulled over some of the many people I pastored in New York who reminded me that the belief held so deeply in East End just isn’t true, it isn’t reality. Some of the most broken, needy people I have ever taken care of had enough wealth to make me envious… And some of the most economically poor I pastored had such treasure within to make me... more envious. Also this morning this text jumped out at me:

Jeremiah 9:23-24 The Lord says, “Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things.” (NLT)

“For if they boast or praise, be praised in this: To contemplate and know me for I am Yahweh who does/creates/makes hesed (loving faithfulness), justice and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight” says Yahweh. (My Not So Great Translation MNSGT).  

First- notice the name. Our English Bibles translate Yahweh as “The LORD” (“Jehovah” in KJV).  In the Hebrew there is no article “the” in front of Yahweh. No, Yahweh is a personal name, the name God (Elohim) told Moses that He would be known by (Exodus 3:14-15).  Saying “The LORD” is impersonal, describing His title and role. When I pastored a church I truly preferred to be called “Allen” and not “the pastor” or even “Pastor”.   Pastoring was something I did, but I am Allen. I believe God wants us to know Him by name, intimately and personally. Jesus called Him “Father” not “The Father.” From the beginning when God revealed His personal name to Moses, to distinguish Himself from all the other pagan gods (‘el’ is the word for god, ‘elohim’ for gods), He wanted to be called by a personal name. The problem is our English language lacks a good word for this revealed name “Yahweh” which has the deep existential meaning “I am” or “I am who I am” or “I exist from eternity.” Implicitly it means “all life, all being, all ontological meaning are found eternally preexistent in me.” We have no single English word for this. Nothing can capture this idea so the translators chose “The LORD”. But maybe lets take the “The” off it and call Him by His name. I love the name “Father.”

Second- notice that God wants to be known not just that He is loving and just and righteous, but that He DOES love, DOES justice, and DOES righteousness. Again, implicit in His being but also in His doing is love- ‘hesed’ means loving kindness, faithfulness, loyalty, goodness. God is love and He does love. As humans we are made in His image, made to be like him in nature and action. As redeemed children of God, as He pours his love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) by the Holy Spirit who lives in us and is indeed God, we become like Him, both in our being and in our doing. We are to do justice and be just. We are to do righteousness and to be righteous. All this is possible in Christ, who lives in us.

Third- There is nothing greater in life than all this. Whether you are poor or rich, from the north, east, south, or the west, from Africa or Europe, Asia or the Americas, nothing is greater in life than knowing Yahweh, knowing God intimately as Father, who loves you, lives in you, and delights in you. There is nothing more exciting and worthwhile than Him living who He is (love, justice, and righteousness) in you and through you. And the world is eagerly waiting for you.