Stepford Christians

 

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

—2 Corinthians 11:13-15

The 1975 movie, The Stepford Wives, has remained in my memory: not only as a very bizarre story, but as an example of how very like the “Men’s Association” our enemy—the prince of this world, Satan—operates.

The story takes place in the affluent, idyllic town of Stepford, Connecticut. A new resident, Joanna, notices how strange all the women seem to appear. They are fawning wives, mindless, and perfect in every way. What she doesn’t realize is that one-by-one, the husbands of the “Men’s Association,” who make it their mission to completely control their wives, have actually murdered their wives and replaced them with perfectly engineered robots. These robots look identical to the wives. And, the robot wifes have absolutely no flaws whatsoever.

These formerly very successful, caring, and professional women, now transformed into robots, think only of pleasing their husbands in every way. Since they are not real, they have given up any resemblance to the actual personhood of each wife they have replaced.

Joanna watched as one of her more “normal” neighbors seemed to go through this metamorphosis. For one thing, her tennis court in the back yard was dug up and replaced with a putting green for her husband. Only when Joanna’s own family becomes victims of the “Men’s Association” does she try to escape in order to protect her own life.

We would all love to be the perfect model of a Christian, not only pleasing to God, but especially pleasing to each other. We study the right “moves” of those Christians that we admire and try very hard to imitate them. We learn to play the game of “church” and strive to never allow our own sinful natures to become too visible. Over time, we come to realize that to openly acknowledge sin, to repent, to ask for genuine forgiveness just takes too much humility. To do that, we would have to admit that we cannot live the Christian life in our own strength.

While it may seem somewhat honorable to overlook the faults in others, to look for the best in each other, and to see our churches as perfect examples of lived-out Christianity, we should never tolerate covering up sin and hiding horrific wrong-doing. Christ did not die for people who pretend to be without fault. He died for sinners and welcomes anyone who truly comes to Him in honest confession.

Like Joanna, the world watches us. Anything in us or in our churches that smacks of being phony is clearly evident to them. Why would they want to join a group of seemingly “perfect” people anyway, especially when they know the sinfulness of their own hearts?

We glorify God the most when we rely on Him for His grace to live our lives according to His desires and when we willingly acknowledge and repent of our sins. We need to embrace the intention to do away with the plastic complexion, the nylon hair, and the mindless play-act!

 

 

Servant Winds

 

“He makes the winds his messengers.”

—Psalm 104:4

The Bible’s use of the image of “wind” fascinates me. Some passages speak of stormy winds, such as those sent to the ship in which Jonah tried escaping God’s call, as recorded in Jonah 1:4. Or, the stormy winds sent while the disciples maneuvered to cross the Sea of Galilee, as recorded in Matthew 14:22-36. Or, the stormy winds sent to Paul and the other prisoners traveling to Rome, as recorded in Acts 27:1-44. In each case, God had specific purposes for such storms.

In some cases throughout the New Testament, the word “wind” refers to the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1-13, we read the story of the first Pentecost during which “a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” That powerful “storm” filled everyone there with the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, recorded in John 3:1-21, He said:

“…the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone born of the Spirit.”

God’s people and His Church both need the “wind” of the Holy Spirit to blow within us, to remove the dust that has fallen upon us during the years we sat idle. We need to pray again that the Living Lord Jesus Christ would breathe His wind through us, sending us in new directions, bringing new birth by the Holy Spirit, and making the “wind” His servant to fulfill His purposes in us, through us, and for us.

Like seasoned sailors, we need to watch for the direction of the God-given spiritual winds and set our sails appropriately. We need to meet together and wait in prayer, just as the believers did after Jesus’ ascension, watching for Him and for His promised Holy Spirit.

This well-known hymn expresses the kind of prayer God wants us to pray:¹

O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us,
Revive Your church with life and pow’r,
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,
And fit Your church to meet this hour.

O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
Till humbly we confess our need;
Then in Your tenderness remake us,
Revive, restore, for this we plead.

______________________

1 Head, Bessie P. O Breath of Life. Public Domain.

 

 

The Art of the Blend

 

“God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

—1 Corinthians 12:18

When we think of the work of an artist who works with oil paint, we often neglect to consider the artistic competence and sensitivity needed to prepare the paint used for the project. A good artist considers the pigments of color and the medium through which to use those colors. He or she also chooses between solvents for the viscosity (thickness) of the paint and for the varnish that will give the appropriate glossiness to the finished work.

Perfumers also study their art by learning about the distinguishing characteristics of fragrances. Because of the keen sense of smell they must possess, the most skilled ones of these people get dubbed “The Noses” by those in that field. Such perfumers know the strengths and power of each fragrance, and they carefully blend only those elements which augment the others.

Similarly, organists exhibit concern about what choices they make in registering the sounds for each piece of music they play. As I listened carefully with my eyes closed, my first organ teacher quizzed me to give the names of each pipe. Is the sound a reed, a flute, a diapason, or a string? Does it match the intended mood the composer of the music requires for this particular piece? Is one stop too sharp to play alongside another because it will cover the sound or blend poorly?

God, the most creative of all artists, looks at His church in much the same way as these other professionals look at the works they produce. He desires to create something beautiful for His world out of the flesh and blood of His people in specific locations. Look around at those in your local church. God has placed, in your church, people of various ages, various races, various abilities, and various limitations.

He has carefully gifted His people with talents, abilities, and with a wide range of life experiences. Children love to gather around old Uncle Pete because of his kind and loving ways. Grandma Pearl gets everyone laughing each time they talk with her. Roy has such knowledge of Scripture that people flock to his class. And, Ruby sings like an angel and brings the Holy Spirit near whenever the congregation hears her voice.

Carrie and Fred have owned a successful business for many years and they freely give of the wealth God has provided them. They love to see God’s church blessed through their giving. Beverly doesn’t have money or abilities to teach, but when she gets in the kitchen, she blesses the entire congregation through the foods that she so lovingly prepares.

God also places His people in churches where they need growth and maturity—perhaps even through learning to get along with others who see things in opposite ways from them. He is creating a beautiful body of work for His glory. We should stand in awe of His workmanship.

Look at those in your church as instruments in God’s hands, as gifts to you and others, and see yourself in a way that makes you happy to share with others the qualities that God has given you. Stand back and look at the picture God is painting in your congregation. Take time to smell the aroma of His blessing. Pause, in a quiet moment, to hear the music of His joy in your midst.

Praise the Artist of Heaven today for the magnificently creative way He has blended the people in your church into a powerful force for His Kingdom!

 

 

Handiwork

 

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

—Psalm 19:1 KJV

I so much appreciate “handiwork.” From her youth onward, my grandmother had the reputation as a particularly fine seamstress. I own a dress she made for a toddler with the tiniest handmade button holes. Today, I admire her talent more than a hundred years after she first produced this amazing dress.

My nephew has a business carving and painting all kinds of colorful wooden lures for salt water anglers. No one would doubt his talented handiwork. He has become someone who now has a national reputation as a fine craftsman.

My late sister painted large murals, crafted thousands of words of pen and ink calligraphy, and, with a dainty hand in the tradition of our grandmother, sewed many pillows and articles of clothing decorated with buttons and ribbons.

Considering those individuals to whom God has given uniue talent, in the Early Church a disciple of Jesus, a woman named Dorcas, became sick and died. Acts 9:39 records this sentence:

All the widows stood around him [Peter], crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

This passage of Scripture demonstrates to me that, just as everywhere and at all times God reveals His handiwork through the marvelous creation of our universe, He has also created humankind in His image with the same abilities to create amazing items for themselves. Creation, and all kinds of art, did not just happen for the utilitarian needs of humans. God gave humans this ability, so that they could create beauty.

Just as God looked at His creation and exclaimed that what He had made was good (Genesis 1), He has allowed us the joy of creating, too. Besides that, He enables us to feel enjoyment in the handiwork of others. In so doing, we derive pleasure and can offer praise in the revelation of Himself that we see in human creativity.

Psalm 8 tells us that God has set His glory above the heavens. God reveals His inherent glory. A few verses later, the Psalmist writes that God has crowned man with glory. Our glory derives from His glory. Every creature shows the glory of the Creator in some way. The more we know this great Creator-God, the more beautiful and glorious we become, as His image bearers.

Let us thank God today for the ways in which His glory, His creative beauty, and His magnificent design, shows forth in our lives and in the lives of those we know. All of this handiwork should prompt us to offer our praise and worship to such a breathtakingly glorious God.

 

 

Perspective

 

“He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.”

—Isaiah 40:22

You may remember the 1989 movie, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” in which a scientist father accidently shrinks his two teen-age children and two of their friends. This poses all kinds of dangerous threats to these teens, as they battle to stay away from danger while their father searches for them.

Sometimes our perspective gets out of whack, just as things did in this movie. We see problems that loom nearby in such a way that we dwarf God by allowing Him to fall away into the background. In such a case, we need an adjustment to our perspective.

Many of the Psalms reveal the way in which saints of the past had to deal with their perspective. Some Psalms begin with tales of woes too large with which the Psalmists can cope. However, once they get a different view of God, the enormity of their problems contract to a much more manageable size.

In Psalm 73, Asaph, the musician, begins his Psalm remembering how he had nearly slipped away because he was looking at the prosperity and the seeming good luck of the wicked. He says he felt oppressed until he entered God’s sanctuary and got a different perspective. He ends this Psalm praising God’s goodness and sharing his gratitude for the riches of God’s grace.

Psalm 73:25-26 give us a glimpse of Asaph’s change in perspective:

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Many times the Psalmists have to remind themselves of the greatness of God. They do this by talking directly to themselves through the words they write in their Psalms. This same kind of reminder can stir us, as well. We can see God’s proper perspective: in our church services, or after a prolonged period of time spent in reading His written Word. When this happens, we will be able to see the extent of our woes in a much clearer way. We can shrink them down to size and allow God to show us His power and wisdom that rule over us.

I like the way that Paul explains the process of moving from despair to faith by means of gaining a whole new perspective, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

It’s important for us to remember that a proper perspective can change everything!

 

 

The Devil and Cinderella

 

“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

—1 Peter 5:8

Cinderella, the beauty of her family, lived her life by the stories her stepsisters told her and in the mockery and servitude in which they made her live. She willingly allowed them to pile the dirty jobs on her and to intimidate her into believing she wasn’t fit to attend the ball she prepared them to attend.

In their book, The Sacred Romance, Brent Curtis and John Eldredge liken many of us to this poor housemaid. The authors suggest that we believe the lies that we may have heard all our lives, instigated by our real enemy, Satan himself.

This very trickery worked on Eve in the Garden of Eden when Satan questioned her—as recorded in Genesis 3—and asked “Did God really say?”

Unsuccessfully, Satan tried these same tactics on our Savior when He went into the wilderness of temptation before He began His public ministry. Satan tried to put doubts into Jesus’ mind over God’s plan, as well as doubts about His place in it, using such statements as “If you are the Son of God …” found in Luke 4:3, 9.

Satan likes to tell false stories to us, as well. Sometimes he uses the voices of family members or classmates, causing us to believe the lies he tells us. If we allow him to convince us, our whole lives can feel useless and pointless, unaware of the Prince of Peace who has a new name, a new nature, and a new ever-after for us.

Here’s how the authors of The Sacred Romance put it: ¹

Fortunately for Cinderella, the prince is a romantic who will not give up searching the city until he has found her, and they live happily ever after. And so it will be with us who are the beloved of the great Prince who is Jesus. It is this destiny that so enrages our enemy and makes him determined to destroy the love affair that he can never have a part in.

Have you been listening to the wrong voices? Let God’s written Word, His great Love Letter to us, fill your mind and heart. And, accept from Him the invitation to see yourself as a Child of the King with a royal purpose. Allow Him to invite you to the singing and praising of God’s people, where you will find a sense of belonging and true rejoicing.

______________________

1 Curtis, Brent, and John Eldredge. The Sacred Romance. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997, p. 110.

 

 

Tell-Tale Marks

 

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

—1 Peter 2:12

One day after teaching all day, I stopped at the local supermarket where I saw a woman in the bread aisle. She seemed smartly dressed, with comfortable shoes, looking intelligent, and collecting her groceries quickly. I wondered if she might be a teacher, too.

Not until I pulled my cart up behind her in the check-out line did I know. There on her back side stretched the all-too-visible line of chalk. I knew it! No one but a teacher would have that tell-tale mark.

Christians should have tell-tale marks, too. Do you have identifying signs—tell-tale marks—that reveal a family likeness to Christ?

Do people recognize the presence of Christ in you by the purity of your speech? By your respectful treatment of others? By your submission to authority? By your refraining from gossip? By your reputation for loving others?

When you sit down to lunch, do you bow and quietly thank God for it? Do you show compassion and caring? Do you live a holy life?

In some settings, governmental law may prohibit us from preaching Christ. But, no law anywhere can prevent us from showing the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23)—even in a public school, or in the public square!

Wherever God has placed us in this world, He expects us to reveal the tell-tale marks He has placed on our life.