Category: Christian Living

Pursuing a holistic expression of Christian faith that is true to the Bible and applicable for today’s world.

The Value of Spiritual Training

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 10, 2013

I had friends in high school who dreamed of excelling in sports, of being the star and even receiving a college scholarship. The problem with their aspirations was that they seldom practiced; a few never even bothered to try out.

More recently I’ve listened to aspiring writers who dream of having the next great novel, memoir, or nonfiction release. The problem with their ambition is that they’re not writing.

In both cases, they dream of glory but don’t want to put in the preliminary effort. Folks who don’t practice never become sports stars; people who don’t write never become the next best-selling author.

So it is with our spiritual journey.

We may desire to say bold prayers and see amazing results, to heal others with a word or a touch, to proclaim insights that move masses to faith or action, and to enjoy a direct line of two-way communication with God.

But results, such as these, often require years of struggle. Practice precedes performance. True, God could immediately bring someone to this point, but those things don’t generally happen without us doing our part first.

Moses

Moses spent forty years in the desert preparing. Then he led a nation.

David

David had years on the lam as a fugitive from King Saul. Then he became king, noted as a man after God’s own heart.

Joseph

Joseph spent time as a slave and years in the pokey. Then he experienced what God foretold him in his visions.

Abraham

Abraham lived as a nomad for decades, honing his faith and patience while awaiting God’s promise. Then he became the father of nations.

We may dream of possessing great spiritual power or producing amazing supernatural outcomes, but if we skip the preparatory time of praying, listening, waiting, seeking, and practicing, we’ll never become the people God wants us to be.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags glory, pray, spiritual journey, supernatural

Christian Living

Welcome to a New Year!

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 5, 2013

It’s Time to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions—or Is It?

The new year is a time when many people make New Year’s resolutions.

Common ones include losing weight, saving money, going back to school, finding a better job, improving a relationship—or getting out of one, being kinder, giving more, drinking less, and so on.

All too often, these well-intentioned resolutions are short-lived. I think the problem is timing.

Let’s assume that in September I step on the scale and decide I’ll make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. Since I don’t need to worry about it now, I can eat as much as I want.

In four months, I’ll get serious about weight loss, but for now, there are no worries.

This gives me sixteen weeks to further instill bad eating habits. Additionally, knowing that in the future I’ll lose weight, I become emboldened to eat poorly now—while I still have the chance.

This only serves to exacerbate the problem and means more weight to lose later.

A much better approach would be to start exercising more and eating less as soon as I sensed the need, in this case, September, not January one.

This is why I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Rather, as soon as I determine a need for change, I set about to make it happen. That’s when I have the best chance for success, not later after things get worse.

Effectively, I tweak my life year round and skip making annual vows for self-improvement.

If you’ve made New Year’s resolutions, I wish you the best in keeping them. However, if you fall short, don’t give up and wait until next year to make another attempt.

Just forgive yourself and start over—and have a Happy New Year!

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Tags habits, holiday

Christian Living

What To Do When We Don’t Want to Praise God

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 3, 2013

When it comes to praising God, I like to praise him for who he is and thank him for what he does—most of the time. Sometimes, though, I just don’t feel like it. Intellectually, nothing’s changed; spiritually, he’s the same, but emotionally, I don’t want to.

What do I do in those cases?

I praise and thank him anyway. As some people say, “fake it til you make it.”

Does this seem foolish? Will the Almighty strike me down for being disingenuous, for putting on a false front?

If I’m being phony to impress others, I’m on shaky ground, but if I push through because it’s the right thing, I suspect he approves—and delights in me.

Throughout our lives, we do all manner of things we don’t feel like doing:

Eating right
Exercising
Working
Getting enough rest
Helping others
Doing housework and yard work
Finishing homework
Keeping our promises

For each, we realize the benefits of the activity regardless if we felt like doing them or not:

We grow healthier
Our body becomes more toned and we lose weight
We earn money needed to live (and keep our job)
We aren’t tired
We make the world a bit better
Our living area becomes a more pleasant place
We learn and earn good grades
We become respected as a person of integrity (and avoid guilt in the process)

In each instance, the results are the same regardless if we felt like doing the right thing or not. The same is true for our relationship with God.

We need to push through, praising God and thanking him, when we feel like it—and when we don’t. Either way, the result is the same.

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Tags God, thank God

Christian Living

Maximize Our Understanding of the Old and New Testaments

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 27, 2013

Those who follow Jesus often concentrate on the part of the Bible that focuses on his life and his disciples’ work. But neglecting the Old Testament lessens the depth of our appreciation for who he is and what he did.

It was likely St. Augustine who said, “The New Testament is in the Old concealed; the Old Testament is in the New revealed.” There’s a lot packed into this tiny sentence.

Though less profound and missing the depth of Augustine’s insight, I paraphrase his words as “The New Testament fulfills the Old, while the Old Testament foreshadows the New.”

Indeed the Old Testament overflows with allusions to the New, but I never saw most of them until I started looking. It seems the New Testament is not so much a redefining of the teaching found in the Old, but a refocusing on what’s already there.

In a similar manner, the New Testament is full of references to the Old. Some of these appear directly, while many more are subtle and not so easy to spot.

Sometimes a thorough understanding of the Old Testament is required to fully appreciate the nuances of the New, while other times a thorough understanding of Hebrew practices and ancient traditions is needed.

As we comprehend more about what is really in the Old Testament, the New becomes more significant. As we know more about what the New Testament says, the Old becomes fuller.

They are opposite sides of the same coin, not two disparate teachings. Embrace both.

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Tags Bible, New Testament, Old Testament

Christian Living

How I Lost Five Pounds

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 15, 2013

Last year I lost five pounds—overnight. Really! This occurred without me eating less or exercising more. How did I achieve this amazing weight loss?

Quite simply, I got a new scale. Before you criticize my claim as being misleading, permit me to explain.

My family had long complained about my scale weighing “heavy.” This never bothered me. I simply used it to track changes. A slight decrease gave a reason to cheer, while a slight increase provided an incentive to eat more carefully.

The fact that my scale claimed I hovered around 183 mattered little to me—or so I thought.

My family sought to remedy my wayward scale by giving me a new one for my birthday. The new version proclaimed my interaction with gravity to be five pounds less. While my weight didn’t change, my attitude did. I now weighed in at a svelte 178.

With a spring in my step, I strode with more vigor when I walked. When I looked in the mirror, I beamed with greater satisfaction. My clothes even fit better.

One hundred and seventy-eight looked good on me. I felt great about myself, my weight, and even my overall health.

I more or less maintained my new weight throughout the year: sometimes more, sometimes less, but always hovering around my new norm. I felt much better at 178 than I did at 183.

In reality, nothing changed physically, but my mental attitude did.

Even still, there are family members who claim my new scale weighs high, too.

Maybe they’ll get me another new one. Then I can drop five more pounds. I’d love for my next weigh-in to be 173.

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Tags personal

Christian Living

Celebrating the Highs and Lows of Last Year

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 13, 2013

It’s not good to dwell in the past or fixate on what was, but it is wise to periodically review it.

As we recently transitioned from one year to the next, my wife and I spent time with close friends. We recalled our personal highs and lows from the year that was ending.

For those without God in their lives, the results of such an exercise could be ill-advised. For the good that happened, they might take pride in their accomplishments or celebrate the rewards of their hard work.

For the negative that occurred, they might curse bad luck or blame others.

For them it could be an empty exercise of elevating self and criticizing circumstances.

However, for us—who hold God central to our being—the results were quite different. For our joys, we praised God’s generosity, his provision in our lives. For our sorrows, we celebrated God’s comfort, his carrying us through dark times.

In both the good and the not so good, we thanked God. It was a spiritual experience. God was present. We basked in his love.

I recommend periodically taking time to reflect on the high points and the low times of our lives. Annually is a good start, though some do so more often: monthly, weekly, or even each night.

Then we can praise God for his work in our lives.

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Tags thank God

Christian Living

Nowalayme: How Do You Pray?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 6, 2013

Seth Godin, in his new book V is for Vulnerable, writes, “LMNO…used to be a single letter in the alphabet.” I get that. It was for me, and I suspect it was for you too.

Another misconception I held as a small child was that “nowalayme” was one word. I finally asked my parents what it meant. They were confused until I used it in a sentence, the only way I’d ever uttered it: “Nowalayme down to sleep…”

They smiled, glad for the chance to clarify but likely dismayed over my confusion. “Nowalayme” was not a word they said, but actually four words: “Now I lay me.”

They explained the rest of the prayer, which although comprised of words I knew, were strung together to form meaningless phrases.

They taught me this prayer and I recited it as a nightly ritual. While I memorized their words and repeated them as instructed, I knew not what I said.

I wonder if I still do this, but in a more adult way. Have I repeated the same words so often that they no longer hold any meaning?

Do they flow forth with polished practice and devoid of thought? Do I merely repeat the phrases others have prayed without considering the meaning behind them?

To my dismay, the answer is too often “Yes.” When this happens, my prayers today are no different from the “nowalayme” prayers of my past.

True prayer, I must remind myself, is not a recitation of words but a dialogue of substance.

Amen.

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Tags prayer

Christian Living

Why I’m Willing to Wait for Dessert

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 5, 2012

Craving dessert is a habit my wife, “The Queen of Desserts,” cultivated in me. She claims, however, my affection for sweets was well ingrained before we met.

When eating at home, I pace myself through the meal in expectation of a tasty treat at the end.

At restaurants, their oversize proportions and my training to clean up my plate leaves no room for my preferred conclusion to a meal. So I decline the dessert menu.

I’ve often joked that someday I’ll order dessert first. After all, if the world were to end halfway through my meal, I wouldn’t want to die with a stomach full of salad and empty of dessert.

But events require a proper order. You can’t receive a prize before you win the race. You can’t win the race before you run. And you can’t run before you start. Plus, if you’re wise, you won’t start before you practice.

This applies to most things in life. We want easy, but satisfaction takes time. We need to wait.

A common malady among aspiring writers is they want to have written but don’t want to write.

A frequent trap with spiritual seekers is they want the results without the journey.

We often desire reward but want to skip the requisite work.

While I like dessert, I know a diet of only sweets is unhealthy, unwise, and unsustainable. So I’m willing to eat my vegetables first.

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Tags biblical Christianity, food, writing

Christian Living

Should You Build Bigger Barns?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 2, 2012

I’m an avid reader. I love books: to buy them, receive them, read them, and collect them. My common birthday and Christmas gift requests are for books.

I have four bookcases of them, full and overflowing, with another 100 stacked on the floor.

My overstuffed library is a dilemma. I need another bookshelf. This reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the farmer who had run out of room to store his crops.

His solution was to build more barns. He intended to cease working, live off his stockpile, and enjoy a life of leisure. His plans did not work out—he died that night.

This is a lesson against focusing on the wrong things, in this case greed instead of God.

Although my book-loving perspective is not on this same level of misplaced priorities, I do need to make sure my love for God is not superseded by the books he inspires.

I don’t really need another bookshelf. Perhaps it’s time to give some books away, so others can enjoy them too.

[Luke 12:13-21]

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Tags parable

Christian Living

Why Do We Worship God?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date November 25, 2012

Today is Sunday and many who love God will worship him today. But why?

Because that’s what we’re supposed to do
Because we like the music and it uplifts us
Because the Bible says to
Because it gives us joy when we do it right
Out of habit
Out of fear
To feel good about ourselves
To avoid feeling guilty
To please him

These are all secondary reasons. Worshiping God is not about us, it’s about him.

The primary reason we worship God is to affirm him. He doesn’t need our affirmation, but we need to offer it. That’s what worship is.

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Tags God, worship