As the Twig is Bent

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Education

–Summer of 2004

As the Twig is Bent

Young people have been a central part of my life for over 25 years.  I have worked with them in church groups, Christian schools, youth camps, and now at a Bible College Academy.  I’ve counseled with hundreds and preached to thousands of teens from all sorts of backgrounds. I have yet to meet any that had Solomonic wisdom or angelic perfection, but I have met many good kids, the kind of young people that made me say, “Your parents did something right!”    I have also met some kids along the way that lacked the basic building blocks necessary to be responsible, respectful, truthful, and productive.  In comparing the two groups, and all the individuals that fall in between, I have searched for the single most significant reason that has made the difference.  I am convinced that a large part of the answer is parenting.

It is not my intention to put parents on a guilt trip, or to blame them for behavior that is clearly the result of the exercise of free will.  But I do want to remind parents of the responsibility that belongs solely to them in the child rearing process.  I am extremely weary of hearing parents blame the pastor, teacher, principal, or school for their child’s failures.  Parents need to stop looking for excuses and start accepting responsibility for their children’s behavior.  Not all children are endowed equally with the same temperament, learning ability, and giftedness.  But, the ground is level when it comes to building character.  Character and subsequent behavior is a personal responsibility that begins with Mom and Dad in the very early years of a child’s life.  Character is molded and developed in the home and cemented by the choices one makes every day.  One’s peers do not mold one’s character.  They may well influence one’s decisions, but they do not form one’s character; they can only test and reveal what is there.  Character is not really an environmental issue.  I have watched as quality parenting has raised quality kids in situations that were far from ideal.  I have also watched as poor parenting has produced problem kids in environments that offered every advantage.

A Recipe for Disaster

Parents who do not actively involve themselves and assume responsibility for every facet of their child’s development, especially the formation of their child’s character, are asking for problems.   Parents who do not teach and insist upon obedience to authority are headed for heartache.  Parents who fail to establish boundaries and enforce them when necessary are simply sowing the seeds of lawlessness.  Parents who fail to teach their children how to behave ethically and with integrity are laying the groundwork for a teenager that will lie, cheat, and steal.  Parents who give their children everything they want and fail to teach them how to work for something and then respect what they have worked for, are raising a child that will be discontent, never appreciate anything, nor respect their property or the property of others.  Parents who think discipline is old-fashioned and a spanking is out-dated are likely to raise a monster.

 Kids that Succeed

Young people that are a blessing to society and a credit to their parents, tend to come from homes where values are not only taught but modeled. Love is openly communicated and visibly expressed.  Integrity is displayed in everyday living.   They are taught to respect their parents, their siblings, their authorities, and other people. They are taught to respect others’ opinions, property, and privacy, and in turn are given that same level of respect.  They come from homes where rules and boundaries are clearly understood, communicated, and enforced.  Kids who do well in life are those who have been disciplined.  They have been made to understand the consequences of bad decisions. They are taught to accept responsibility for their actions and to do whatever is necessary to correct them. Kids who succeed come from homes where problems are openly confronted with a willingness to reevaluate and change if necessary.

When parents neglect parenting, they commit a terrible wrong that can cripple a child for the rest of their life. There is a story in American literature that tells of a little girl whose mother had died.  Her father would come home from work and just sit down, read his paper, and ignore the child.  The little girl would come in and ask him to play with her for a little while because she was lonely.  He told her he was tired, to let him be at peace.  He told her to go out into the street and play if she wanted to play.  So, she played on the streets.  The inevitable happened.  She took to the streets.  The years passed on and she died.  Her soul arrived in heaven.  Peter saw her and said to Jesus, “Master, here’s a girl who was a bad lot.  I suppose we send her straight to hell?”   “No,” said Jesus gently, “let her in.”  And then His eyes grew stern as He said, “But look for a man who refused to play with his little girl and sent her out to the streets and send him to hell.”

Have Christians Lost their Mind?

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living

–May of 2004

Have Christians Lost their Mind?

We live in mindless times.  Millions of people drift along through life, manipulated by the talking heads of the mass media, never thinking through anything for themselves, and never realizing why they think the way they think.  They are completely unaware that there is any other way of thinking or living than that of the secular culture that surrounds them.  Unfortunately, this is also true for many Christians.

Harry Blamires makes this startling observation is his book titled The Christian Mind when he says, “There is no longer a Christian mind.”  Blamires means that in our time we have been so affected by secularism there is no longer a distinctly Christian way of thinking.  Blamires acknowledges that there is still a Christian ethic, a Christian practice, and a Christian spirituality.  Most Christians do subscribe to a moral code higher than that of most non-Christians.  The Christian that is a member of a church commits to obligations and observations ignored by the non-Christian.  He strives to cultivate a dimension of spiritual life that is left unexplored by the non-Christian.  But as it relates to thinking, the vast majority of modern Christians has succumbed to the secular culture and no longer has a distinctly Christian frame of reference. They have lost the mind they were meant to develop.

 Is a Christian Mind Important?

To serve God well, we must think straight.  Distorted thinking, unintentional or not, always favors evil.  The Bible emphasizes repeatedly the importance of how a Christian thinks. Dallas Willard observes, “We first turned away from God in our thoughts, so it is in our thoughts that our first movements toward the renovation of the heart will occur”.  It is in the secret chamber of our thoughts that the light of God first begins to move upon us through His word.  In redemption our mind acquires a new way to think and a new capacity to clean up old ways of thinking.  The Bible refers to our minds being, “renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Rom. 12:2, Eph. 4:23, Col. 3:10, II Cor. 10:5).  As we grow in grace our minds are illuminated by the Spirit of God so that we can comprehend spiritual truth (I Cor. 2:12-13).  The goal of all of these processes is that we might have a total exchange of our way of thinking for the way Christ thought.  Paul referred to this as having the mind of Christ (I Cor. 2:16, Phil. 2:5). Is it important for us to have the mind of Christ?  It is imperative!  The only way we can escape being conformed to fallen humanity is by being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2, Prov. 23:7a).

 What does it mean to have a Christian mind?

 A Christian mind is one that has a supernatural orientation.  It believes that God has acted in history and spoken through scripture.  It sees God as the first cause, the fixed center and the final conclusion to all things.  It possesses and cultivates the eternal perspective. It sees human life and human history held in the hands of God.  It sees the whole universe sustained by His power and His love.  It sees the natural order as dependent upon the supernatural order.  It sees time contained within eternity.  It sees this world as a temporary place and not our final home.  The revelation of God and the reality of eternity become its point of reference.  In contrast, the secular mind puts its trust in this life and makes earthly happiness and well being its primary concern.  Too often, today’s Christian mind has allowed itself to be subtly secularized in one of two ways.  First, many Christians attempt to compartmentalize their thinking.  The practice of their faith doesn’t pervade every area of their job or business dealings.  They tend to use secular thinking at work and a more Christian way of thinking in the practice of their faith.  Secondly, they strike a compromise with the secular mind by relegating the significance of the eternal to the life that is to come while living their present life in much the same way a secular person would.  In other words, faith is for future security and not present practice.  They have blurred the lines between living in the here and now and living for the here and now.

The Christian mind has an acute awareness and understanding of sin.  For the Christian, Genesis 3 is one of the most vitally important chapters in the Bible.  It is the foundation of everything that comes after it, and without it very little else would make sense.  It provides an explanation for the fall of man, the curse of sin and the need of Savior.  It explains what God is doing in history.  Without this understanding, there can be no accurate, coherent sensible worldview.  Humanism, and its theory of evolution, offers no explanation to our dilemma and no hope for a way out.

The Christian mind sees truth as objective, authoritative, and God-given.  The Christian mind sees truth grounded in God’s revelation to man through His word.  It is not manufactured within a culture or developed by a consensus.  It is given by God and becomes the standard for all other truth-claims.  It governs how we behave.  It frames our perspective of all of life. It is the foundation and final authority for all we hold true. To think christianly is to think in terms of scripture.  The Christian mind understands that we do not make truth, but that we must reside in the truth.  The Christian mind understands the nature of biblical authority.  When it comes to biblical truth, obedience is not a negotiable option.  We either bow our head in submission or turn our back in rebellion.

The Christian mind holds a special view of the human person.  The Christian mind understands not only that God created man in His image, but also became a man, taking upon Himself our nature, and thereby exalting that nature for all time and for eternity.  Thus the Christian’s conception of the human person is a high one.  Human life is sacred.  Every person has value and dignity and should be treated in a way that preserves and honors both.  The Christian mind understands the immortality of man and his need for redemption. Hence he sees his part in redemptive activity.

How does one gain and maintain a Christian mind? The Bible is the mind of God (not all His mind, but all that He has chosen to share with us).  To think like God, one must think like the Bible.  We must let the Word of God fill our minds and dwell within us (Col.3:16).  Then the Holy Spirit can illuminate and transform our minds to think Christianly.  A daily exposure to God’s way of thinking can keep our minds renewed in His image.

We can never let anyone tell us that the training and development of our mind is not an important part of our Christian life.  What we think shapes who we are, how we behave and what we become.  A mind is a terrible thing for anyone to waste.  But for the Christian it could ultimately be spiritually fatal!

The Real War

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Culture

–April of 2004

The Real War

A new front has opened up in the ongoing cultural war in America.  For the last 100 years, there has been a deliberate and dedicated battle to totally secularize our nation.  It began with an assault on the Bible and our traditional Judeo Christian values.  These had to be removed as the determining basis for truth, morality, justice, and society’s standards of behavior and decency.  Soon afterwards, God and prayer were evicted from the classroom.  Then under the guise of freedom of speech, pornography, vulgarity, and violence were given complete freedom to corrupt our youth and undermine our values through every possible means.  One of the deadliest blows struck in this war was when the highest court in the land permitted 44 million innocent souls to be sent to graves in the sewers and incinerators of America by the bloody hands of legalized abortion.

Homosexuals won the next skirmish, and have been awarded special rights by the courts and given the freedom to not only practice, but also promote their perversion.  These very ones that God has called abominable and reprobate, an apostate church has blessed, ordained, and elevated to the office of Bishop.  And right now, as I write, the most fundamental building block of civilization, the home, is gasping for breath as the unelected liberal judges of our nation try to bury it alive under the rubbish of same sex marriage.

Americans are confronted daily by the perversity of deviant human behavior in every form imaginable.  Too many of us simply react angrily, lament for a moment, and then return to the discussion of how the economy is doing.  It is not yet clear what the end of these issues will be.  But what is clear is that America is in a downward spiral toward hell (Psalm 9:17).

What should we be doing about this?  The first thing we need to do is start focusing on where the real battle lies and what the real struggle is.  The issues, mentioned above, are only skirmishes.  The real war is a cosmic struggle between good and evil.  Ephesians 6:12 makes it very plain that, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  It is critical that we understand the real dimensions of this war so that we may fight it effectively.

This is no societal tug of war that we can settle in an afternoon contest.  This will not be solved by calling together a focus group to try to understand one another.  This is not a liberal versus conservative issue.  It cannot simply be voted in or out.  As Americans we ought to be doing everything in our power to stop and reverse this deadly assault on our countries moral values.  As Christians, we must see the deeper issue.  We must go to our knees in true humility, praying, “Lord, deliver us from evil.”

We are in a life and death struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil.  The soul of America and the souls of her citizens are at stake.  Whether America can turn back the onslaught and survive remains to be seen.  However, as Christians who are a part of God’s advancing kingdom, we have the promise that, “the gates of hell cannot prevail against her.”  So buckle on your armor and get into the fight.  For in the real war, victory is inevitable!

A Theology of Idolatry

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Culture, Theology

–March of 2004

A Theology of Idolatry

Man’s problem with idolatry is well documented.  Since the moment that our first parents turned their eyes from the Creator to one tiny aspect of His creation, man has had a propensity toward idolatry.   After the most miraculous delivery of any captive nation in the history of the world, the Hebrews bowed in the desert sand before a golden calf, crying, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”  Despite plague and punishment, Israel pursued her idolatrous ways until she had as many gods as she did cities.  Every civilization and culture has had its evil tryst with idols.  Mankind seems bent on turning away from the true and living God to a god of his own making.

Most 21st century Christians think that behavior like idolatry is far too unsophisticated or disgusting to be found among us today.  They think of it only in terms of bowing down before a lifeless god of stone.  Unfortunately, this leaves them easy prey for the more subtle forms of idolatry.   Let me describe two of these forms.

Paul tells us in the New Testament that all covetousness is idolatry.  Anything we are willing to value more highly than we value God or His approval is an idol.   Today’s idol worshiper doesn’t bow down before the sun god, but  lives a life that is marked by a passionate pursuit of things that have little or no eternal significance.  They value the passing over the permanent.  They live for the immediate.    They crave the temporary thrill of buying a new home, updating their technology, or engaging in a new experience.   Sports and entertainment are high on their list of priorities.   The satisfaction of the flesh is a serious quest.  The security of their future is a must.  Though God gets their Church time and tithe, they live as if this world were the only one.  Their idol is the trivial and they bow low before the altar of the insignificant.  This form of idolatry values the temporal more that the eternal.

Another subtle form of idolatry is trusting for salvation in that which cannot save us.  Israel illustrates this for us.   God gave Israel the law to further His redemptive work among them as well as to protect and maintain their integrity as a people.  But a danger arose when Israel found it easier to focus on the law (making sure not to do what offended God) rather than on the God who gave the law.   Israel soon found more comfort in keeping and guarding the law rather than worshiping the Law Giver.   Religious sects began to spring up for the sole purpose of explaining and defending the law.  The end result was that Israel trusted in the law for salvation rather than in the God who gave it. This subversion of the Divine intent perverted the good that was to come from the law and brought about a subtle form of idolatry that left Israel worshiping the thing made rather than the Maker.

There are Christians today who find it easier to trust in the forms of godliness than in the God who gives power and meaning to the form.  They find it easier to identify with a group, conform to a code, and embrace a creed, than to cultivate a relationship with the God who is at the heart of it all.  Instead of living in the fear of the Lord they rest in the acceptance of man and man’s tradition.  They have chosen the false assurance of religious conformity and missed the real assurance of “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

The trap of spiritual idolatry is subtle but avoidable.  Take proactive measures to avoid it.  Worship in a church that values and speaks God’s Word.  Find friends that challenge you to know God intimately. And never forget that eternal life is in knowing the “true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.”   Don’t settle for anything less.

Made for Intimacy

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living

–Winter of 2004

Made for Intimacy

Theologians sometimes speak of a God-shaped vacuum within us.  What they are describing is an inner emptiness at the core of our being that only God can fill.  Our Creator has designed us that way; it’s a part of being made in His image. Just as the divine Persons live in intimate Trinitarian relationship, so human persons cannot be complete without intimate relationships. Our inner emptiness is only removed by a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  We were created for intimacy.

The first glimpses we have of God and man are ones showing the importance of intimacy.  God teaches Adam that it’s not good for him to be alone and provides Eve as his wife. Then we see God strolling along with Adam and Eve, in the cool of the day, enjoying one another’s company and the beauties of Eden’s paradise.  This is a scene that is repeated often in the opening pages of the Bible.   God walks and talks with Enoch, Noah, and Abraham.  It’s as if He wants to make clear early on His overwhelming desire and need to relate to us in intimate fellowship.

Yet most of us know far more about the absence of intimacy than the reality of it. Our culture is permeated with a sense of aloneness and isolation.  Far too many of the people I meet (including Christians) do not carry the marks of intimate fellowship with God.

The psalmist David knew something about the joy of intimacy as well as the agonizing pain of emptiness.  David was taken from tending sheep to become one of the most powerful kings of Israel.  He drank deeply from the fountain of success.  He had victory in battle, power over others, and abundant wealth.  Yet, these things couldn’t fill his inner life.  He cried, “As the deer longs for the water brook, so longs my souls for You, Oh God.”  David knew that communion with God was more important than anything else. He said it this way, “There is one thing I have desired of the Lord, and I will seek it; to live with Him in His house all the days of my life, to contemplate His beauty, and to study at His feet.”   The driving passion of David’s life was to maintain intimate union and communion with God.  If he could only accomplish one thing in life, then intimacy with God would be that one thing.

That sounds strange to Western Christians who live in a culture passionate about success and driven to accumulate.  Yet Jesus shows his agreement with David when he stood between a stressed out Martha and a seeking Mary and said to Martha, “One thing is essential, and Mary has chosen it.”

When we choose intimacy with God, we find an inner joy and peace that nothing can take away.  When we choose preoccupation with earthly things (no matter how legitimate), we find disappointment, frustration, resentment, self-centeredness, anger and sometimes bitterness.

Intimacy with God is the only answer to inner emptiness.  And it can only be found in being loved by God, loving Him in return, and walking in intimate union and communion with Him.  If you lack the intimacy you know you should have, whatever the reason, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.