Posted on by Abe Austin

You Believe Something False

There are so many different interpretations of scripture, so many opposing theological opinions, so many churches that have divided over incompatible beliefs. Is man saved by faith, or works? Are our fates predetermined, or dependent on free will? Should we believe in theosis true, and if so to what extent? Is God a trinity, or separate persons? Is the Bible a closed canon, or can there be new prophets and revelations? Is the rapture pre-tribulation, or post? What is the correct mode of baptism? Do any Old Testament traditions still apply today, and if so, which ones? Should women serve as pastors? Does God approve of same-sex relationships?

With so many different interpretations and opinions, the only way to assume that a certain church has the correct answer on all of them is to believe it is the one, true church, and that all others have gone astray. But even in that case, within the narrower scope of that single religion’s theology, there would still be room for a plethora of different personal beliefs, most of which would necessarily be false.

It is therefore unrealistic to assume that everything that you or I believe is correct. It is far more probably that as Isaiah said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” (Isaiah 53:6). Obviously that scripture applies to our sins, but surely also to our own misguided beliefs.

Each of us must reason as best we can, and obey as we see understand, but we must also have the humility to recognize that we are surely wrong in one way or another and be willing to make dramatic changes as needed. We must be open to ideas that before seemed impossible to us. We must always remain teachable. We must never be so sure of ourselves that we resist the corrections of the Lord. Ultimately, there is no belief that should be so precious that we would be unwilling to relinquish it if required by God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Death of the False Self

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to God winning our souls is that true conversion requires an interaction with the genuine self. And we, being a highly social and impressionable species, very rarely exist as our genuine self. Most of us spend our lives as a collage of other people’s thoughts and beliefs and attitudes. We hear a question, and we immediately know the pre-scripted answer that we have been told by others. God reaches out to us, but all He finds is fragments of Darwin, Nietzsche, and Oprah.

And so, before God corrects the false image we have of Him, He first must shake loose the false image we have of our own self. He thwarts our pretend identity. He puts us in situations where our pale imitations and our tired platitudes fail spectacularly. He does for us what He did for Abram, and Jacob, and Saul, stripping us down and leaving us barren, and lame, and blind.

Seek the death of the false self. Unearth the real you. Learn how to think outside the catechisms that you have been given. Only then will you be able to find your real identity, like Abraham, and Israel, and Paul. Only when you have the real you can a proper introduction be made between you and the Father.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Hatred or Love of Self

Over the past few decades, deaths of despair have climbed steadily in the United States. We seem to be a culture progressing into deeper and broader levels of hopelessness and personal anguish.

Many have pointed out how more and more people seem to hold an intense self-hatred also, the most likely cause of these increasing deaths. Naturally, it is assumed that the cure would be more self-love. More self-affirmation. More “me time.” But this assumes that self-hatred and self-love are mutually exclusive, and that they cannot exist in the same body.

In my experience, that assumption could not be further from the truth. Indeed, I have seen in my own life how the times of overabundant “self-love” have fueled the self-hatred that followed. Urging people to pursue more self-love might be like seeing someone who is drowning and bringing them a helpful glass of water.

In my experience, love is the cure to despair, but not self-love, divine love. I don’t need to find myself, I need to find Him. I don’t need to give myself what I want, I need to give myself what He wants for me. The true self-love that actually drives out self-hatred is only found in the love that we cultivate with our Creator.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Overwhelming Passion

We have many stories of people who are in want of strength, who plead for the Lord to empower them for the task ahead, and so it is in some cases. However, many of us carry a burden that is exactly the opposite. We have been given a passion that is too powerful for us to handle on their own.

If we turn that passion to self-indulgence it damages us with its overpowering stream. if we try to ignore it, it builds up pressure until it bursts out in painful ways. This passion could be a great gift, but it will instead be a great danger if we never learn what to do with it.

God gave us this passion so that we are meant to do with it is pour it back into Him. He is not only the well that forever gives He is also the well that can forever take. Only into Him can we safely disperse our passion, our energy, and our drive, and not be harmed by the flowing power.

We were never designed to operate on our own. God made us with oversized hearts so that we can fit the extra parts into Him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Always Right

It is often easier to accept that God’s laws and principles were right for ancient people than to accept that they still apply today. So much has changed since the time of chariots and slings. Jesus and his apostles never had smartphones or cryptocurrency or space travel or AI. Can words of scripture from thousands of years ago truly never expire?

This is the testimony of all true believers.

Faith in God includes faith that His way was right in 3000 BC, 34 AD, and even in the 21st century. While the situation surrounding man is in constant flux, the word of God is rooted in something eternal, something that runs from before our root and extends beyond our end. So long as we remain human, God’s way will always be right.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Games That Matter

It is better to be taken advantage of than to take advantage
Better to lose unfairly than to cheat
Better to trust than avoid betrayal
Better to forgive than demand justice

These are hard ideals to live by. They leave us open to being manipulated in the games of life and may very well result in a losing position. But if you play games whose outcome can be manipulated, then it’s a game that doesn’t really matter. If cheaters can get ahead in that game, then winning the game brings no honor and losing it brings no shame.

There are other games that you can play, ones that truly matter. You will know what they are by the fact that no one else can ever make you lose your place, only you.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Kindness in Suffering

If you were an all-knowing God,
And aware that harder and more dangerous times were ahead,
It would be an act of unkindness
To not prepare your people with progressive trials and hardship.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Unwanted Lord

We are all imperfect people, with imperfect conceptions of God. There are things that we want Him to be that He just isn’t, and things that we don’t want Him to be, that He just is.

Each of us must improve our conception of God, and at one point or another that will have to involve surrendering to a Lord we never knew and never wanted.

In other words, If God has never offended you, you have not yet met the true God.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Liking vs Choosing

Liking and Believing in God
Is not the same as
Choosing and Following God