Means and ends

The end we seek often determines the legitimacy of the means we use. e.g. Seeking great wealth (a means) so that we might have great impact on others for God (our end) is legitimate.

To not utilize the gifts resources and opportunities God grants us simply to avoid fame or glory is not the appropriate response regarding those gifts. Instead we should seek to use them for the glory of God. 

The fact that we often use the gifts and resources we are given, for the wrong ends does not negate the value of those gifts or the necessity of having and using them to advance good ends. The question isn't whether we can or can't, should or shouldn't use them but why do we wish to use them; to what end do we seek to obtain something?

If our desire and goal is to honor God we are to act with all the power and resources he gives us. The question is no longer should we exert ourselves but rather why are we exerting ourselves. Once we have the why question right, we are to work with everything we have (Col 1:29). The issue is not productivity but motive. Whenever we move forward on a project we must always ask why. 

Some would say we should not seek great things in life i.e. a great name, great fame or great wealth or success etc. Because we don't often know the true intent of our heart, this is usually true. However the more important question is why do we seek these things, not if we should. Are they an end in themselves or a means to the greater end of God's glory. For example, if I am well know as a professional athlete -- a gift granted by God through the exercise of the gifts and abilities he gave me -- I have an opportunity and platform to give glory to God in a way someone else doesn't.

The movie "Chariots of Fire" is a great illustration of this. The main character Eric Liddell sought to honor God through his physical talent of running. So much so that he refused to run on Sunday in one of his main events out of honor to God. One of his most memorable lines in the movie was "I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." Seeking a platform to honor God is an honorable pursuit no matter how "unsacred" the effort may appear. To say it another way, any effort intent on honoring God is a sacred one.

What is certain is we should never stop seeking to have a great impact i.e. seek for others -- the more the better -- to experience God in a powerful life-transforming way (quality) OR seek this for as many people (quantity) as possible -- and to diligently pray and work toward that end -- while at the same time always recognizing the outcome is ultimately up to him, not us. We sow and water but he gives the increase.

We don't control the results, only our faithfulness. We are simply to be faithful -- the greater our faithfulness, the more fruit we see. Again, not for our honor but his. 

Seeking great things to bring great honor to God is not only a good thing but in fact what we are called to do. This is bearing "much fruit" in contrast to bearing little fruit. This is being a faithful servant instead of an unfaithful one. But our objective is being faithful to God to "show Him off" i.e. to honor Him. The kind and amount of fruit is up to him. 

And if we are given great gifts/resources and the opportunity to be a faithful servant, then we should seek to accomplish great things for God i.e. to whom much is given much is required. 

Our challenge isn't if and when we can or can not seek great things, it is in so doing, are we seeking them for the right reason i.e. for the glory of God to the benefit of others. 

Our true challenge is not whether we should or should not seek to accomplish great things -- bear much fruit  -- it is knowing the true intent of our heart.

Instructions

If you "wander off" to another link, such as this one you are now reading, simply hit the "back" bottom on your browser to go back to the original article you were reading. 

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Welcome! How to navigate this blog.

Before I address the logistics of navigating this site, it may be helpful to know why I offer it. 

Simply stated, this site comprises my thoughts about God as I have pondered Him in my travels through this crazy, messed up, broken, and beautiful world - i.e what does it look like to walk with God and how do we best travel this pilgrimage for his highest glory and our greatest joy. 

Some may be surprised to hear or know that God's glory and our joy are not at odds but go hand in hand. As you dig into this site, you will see I attempt to help others discover how and why.

These are conclusions I have come to based on what I have seen consistently in scripture first, and the human condition as well - my own and others - and how to apply these conclusions -  accurately, I hope - to real-life challenges. 

In short, I share things that have helped free me to better love and honor God and my "neighbor" in the hope they will help you as well. I have a long way to go, but this blog voices my own struggles in seeking to be all he has created me to be. 

Sometimes I don't cite a large amount of scripture to support all my posts (while some of my posts are a deep dive into a specific passage). That is because the underlying theme of the post is woven within and throughout scripture. I'm simply elaborating on and fleshing out the meaning of terms that the church at large has gotten so used to that we are numb to their full significance. Common words such as glory, love, grace, worship, beauty, heart, or Spirit would be good examples. 

Not to mention culture often redefines the meaning of some terms not in the same way originally intended by scripture.

If, while reading, God brings to mind specific passages that support the theme of a post, by all means, share them and, if helpful, we can incorporate them into the article. I often do this myself when I come back and reread a post and God brings scripture to mind.

Another thing I attempt to do is show how key themes run throughout scripture, making the Bible a diverse but unified whole. I have concluded that all key themes are in seed form in the book of Genesis - the book of beginnings if you will - and run through the whole of divine scripture, culminating in the Revelation of Jesus Christ i.e. The last book of the Bible. Hopefully, this blog will help make those connections more clear.

Godspeed and happy navigating. 

NOTE: If you are on a mobile phone you will want to view this on a PC or in the "web version" for it to properly display. 

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Most of what I post are singular points of discussion that are also tied to a unified whole. Some articles may even seem to contradict each other, not unlike what we sometimes find in scripture. So each post, though somewhat a stand-alone article, is also often best understood in relation to other topics, therefore I suggest the addtional articles at the end of most articles. As of this edit (05/2025), we have published over 430 posts on a wide variety of topics, most regarding our spiritual development or formation, some on apologetics or philosophy, and some on theology, eschatology (i.e. "end times"), economics or politically related topics. We add 1 to 4 new posts a month on average. 

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Grace and Peace to you through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Jim Deal 

Abiding vs being our own god.

What is a key indicator of our inclination to try and be our own god? 

A clue? How often do we battle with whether we are abiding or not abiding in God's love? In other words, do we find ourselves ever wavering between trusting or not trusting in his love for us? 

Our answer regarding trusting in his love will give us an idea of our answer to the first question regarding being our own god. The extent to which we accept his love is the extent to which we will no longer feel the need to try to generate love on our own i.e. be our own god. 

Until we wrestle with this question of abiding, we do not have a clear idea of how inclined we are to not abide. To attempt to sustain ourselves; to be our own god; to trust ourselves instead of God is evidence of our not abiding.

To appreciate the significance of this we must first know what it *means to abide. 

In short abiding is to *remain, stay or stand firm. But in what? In our trust of God's love. 

Joh 15:9  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 

We are to never move from a posture of trust. It is knowing that even though our faith/confidence (and especially our feelings) in God's love waivers, God's love itself never does. Gods love is fixed and set upon us, because of Christ i.e. it is based solely on what he did, not what we do or feel. We are called to never waiver from confidence in this reality i.e. to abide in it. 

It is a call to have a trust in his love that is equal to (mirrors) that love. Our faith should be as steadfast (firm, consistent) as his love set upon us is steadfast, fixed, firm i.e. our trust (abiding) in his love is to be just as relentless and immovable as his love for us is. This is what he calls us to. 

If it looks or feels like his love is not there for whatever reason, it's simply not the case. God says he loves us (as well as proved it by making a way to freely pour it out on us in Christ) and because he does it is so. His love is not deterred or determined by what we think, feel or experience. 

And that is because his love is not based on any of these things. It is only based solely on what Christ has already done on our behalf. God has proven what he says is trustworthy because of what he did to restore us back into a relationship of complete love with him. He gave us his Son while we were yet sinners. This is the demonstration of his love and proof it is there, real and complete i.e. it is finished, regardless of what we do or experience. There is nothing else left to do by him or us. End of discussion. 

We may feel and say in any given moment we don't sense God's love. But once we are in Christ it doesn't matter. It is there regardless. And the work Christ did on our behalf is the only proof necessary (of course if he "...did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"). The invitation to abide is to remain steadfast in believing this objective reality of God's love for us regardless of whatever else we are experiencing or feeling.

True belief translates to action

But it doesn't just end with belief. The degree to which we believe this is the degree to which we will act for God's honor by displaying that same love we are given, to others. All true believing results in action. Jas 2:17-18; 26 Joh 12:47,14:15;1Jn 2:3,4; 1Jn 5:3. If there is no action, there is no true believing.  

It is in displaying that love that we also more fully partake (abide) in it and experience it as it flows through us to others (for more discussion this click here). 

In short, abiding is first recognizing, believing and receiving God's love for us in Christ. Than acting in and by that love toward others for his honor, their good and our joy.

*abide - μένω - menō; a prim. vb.; to stay, abide, remain: - abide (16), abides (22), abiding (4), await (1), continue (4), continues (1), endures (3), enduring (1), lasting (2), lives (1), living (1), remain (20), remained (6), remaining (1), remains (8), stand (1), stay (11), stayed (11), staying (3), waiting (1).

Depressed Christians?

Can a mature believer experience depression?

When you recognize that depression is basically due to self-loathing and guilt over an increasingly acute sense of our extreme failure to trust God, yes depression can be and often is a part of the maturing Christians experience, possibly even in greater degrees as we mature because we become increasingly aware of how weak and untrusting of God we can be.

And that is because we are all extreme failures (Rom 3:23. For a fuller discussion click here and here) in trusting God totally.  This is in the godly sense not necessarily in the worldly sense i.e. not necessarily in the eyes of others (by world standards, we may be a great "success") but compared to God's original intended design, we are far from it. 

When we recognize we were in fact created to know God, enjoy him, and show forth his glory, reflecting his love back to him, spreading his love and greatness to other fellow image-bearers as well as all creation (i.e. stewarding the planet) and the scope and significance of this - when none of us even come close to meeting the mark - we began to see the extent of our failure. Who among the most mature of us can say we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves 24/7? Certainly not me. This awareness increases the more we know God and see our true condition more clearly.

Without the love of God moving us to show forth his glory we are all about ourselves; about self-promotion; being our own god. The very same disposition that Adam and Eve bought into and adopted. In short, we are totally incapable of fulfilling our design unaided... and were never intended to do so. Only by the life and love of God infused in us by His Spirit can we bring forth true, lasting life again (though we can bring temporary life to others and do daily).  

And what was God's warning? The day you seek to operate independently of me - to be your own god - you will die. Die? In what sense did we die? We rejected God, the source of life itself. We "unplugged" from the life source if you will. Our connection with the life and Spirit of God was immediately severed, eventually leading to our physical death. And from that day until now we have not sought to return to the source of life but have been desperately seeking to replace what we lost (God) by being our own god i.e. through self-effort...using creation - internally and externally - as a means. 

However, as God is diffusive (overflowing and out-flowing), we were designed to be diffusive, with one key difference. God is the source of life (Jn 17:3), we are the conduits through which his life flows. First from Him, reflected back to him from the Son, in, by, and through the Spirit, then out to others. If we cut ourselves off from the "life source" we can not and will not spread his love and glory as we were created to. We are empty of the love and life of God. It's simply no longer there to be diffused. We are takers without His love, not the givers we were originally designed to be.

So what then happens to us, as we become more and more *aware of our total spiritual bankruptcy? We feel guilty. And not just because it's some vague sense of self-imposed punishment, but because we are in fact guilty. We do not do what we were designed to do i.e. love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. This indeed is to greatest and most challenging order (greatest commandment) God gives us. 

 

So as maturing believers, we now battle. We battle with an increasing awareness of the depth of our brokenness hopefully, along with an increasing and matching awareness of the love of God for us as his broken but redeemed, adopted, and perfectly cherished children.  

The irony is our increasing awareness of being perfectly loved because of Christ, allows us to be increasingly honest with how unlovely we truly are. We know God does not and will not reject us due to our brokenness because Christ took our deserved rejection/ banishment and condemnation for us. And this work by him on our behalf is infinitely greater in depth and width than our brokenness (Rom 5:20). Thanks to Christ and his willingly giving himself up to restore us back to our original design.

So we struggle between growing awareness of God's perfect and infinite love and our total and complete desire to operate outside of this love i.e. our rejection of it and embracing self-love in various forms.

I propose that the awareness of our true guilt and any subsequent depression is an opportunity and possibly even a call by God to dig deeper into who Christ is, what he did, and why he did it. It is an opportunity to look hard at the extent of his work on our behalf and come to rejoice in it more and more. Our depression forces us to go back time and again and drink from an infinite, never-ending fountain of God's love and forgiveness. And thanks be to God, his is the final word; our brokenness is not.  

Who are some believers who have admitted to struggles with depression? King David, ("why are you cast down oh my soul..."),  Job, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Paul the apostle, Martin Luther. Charles Spurgeon, Henri Nouwen, John Piper to name some better-known believers. All of these great men of faith spoke of struggling with depression.

"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him, we have set our hope that he will deliver us again." 2Co 1:8-10

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested click here in our bodies. 

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh...

...So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  2Co 4:8-11, 16-18  

For a discussion on healing trauma click here. 

For a discussion on whether pain is normal or just common click here. 

For a discussion on the greater our sin the greater God's grace click here. 

For a discussion on how we have God fully but not all of Him yet click here. 

For a discussion on the difference between good and bad guilt click here. 

For a discussion on how we can experience more of God's love through our suffering click here. 
_____________________________________________________________

*An increasing and deeper awareness of our rebellious independence from God is actually a sign of increasing maturity. 

Competence – good or bad?

Is competence good or bad? It depends. 

Generally, it is defined as possessing the required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity to complete a task well. By this definition, it would be good.

But if competence is the basis from which we derive our sense of value/importance/meaning, it comes from a broken place; a place of emptiness/need.

If it is the fruit of knowing we are already valued/loved by God, it comes from a place of fullness/wholeness; it comes as a love response to God's love for us, i.e. its origin is God himself - he is the driving force, the "power supply" and impetus behind our applied skills and is therefore good.

Most of what society considers good is actually the fruit of rebellious independence from God. It is an attempt at making life work without God; at being our own god - to generate meaning/purpose/significance by and through our independent efforts i.e. efforts not driven by God's love but our seeking to feel important. It is operating in the flesh vs the Spirit; to get, not to give. 

Every action driven by the need to feel important/significant/valuable is an action of rebellious independence from God. It may be valuable to society and culture, but it does not bring honor to God and is therefore not of eternal/lasting value.

Every action driven out of a sense of importance/ significance/value derived through our relationship with God is an act of dependence on God. It is an act in response to God's love for us, i.e. God is the source of the power behind the action. His love is what moves us to act. We are acquiring our significance from God, and therefore do not need to obtain it outside of Him.  

Acts of rebellious independence bring honor to ourselves. Therefore, they only have temporary value.

Acts of dependence on God bring honor to him and are of eternal value, for only he is eternal and that which is done for his honor.

For a discussion on the "flip side" of this click here. 

"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire..." 

"Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart (i.e. the motive behind our actions). Then each one will receive his commendation from God." 1Co 3:11-15; 4:5

"...who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness..." i.e. hidden motives.

"...The purposes of the heart…"  i.e. motives are the key to valid actions versus actions that are invalid. Things produced from a wrong purpose/motive are invalid actions i.e. have no eternal value and are therefore "burned up."

For a discussion on excellence click here. 

The fallacy of the "prosperity gospel"

You may have heard the expression the "prosperity gospel" or the "health and wealth gospel." But what exactly is it? Is it truly the heart of God's good news? We definitely prosper through the gospel, but in what way? 

The prosperity gospel subtly implies God is not our ultimate pursuit but only a means to another goal of a healthy and wealthy life; a life where our greatest joy is in circumstantial or physical and material comfort/ benefits, not in our relationship with God. 

Tim Keller touches on this in the following quote:

"We tend to see God as a means through which we get things to make us happy. For most of us, He has not become our happiness." - Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc):

This is only "seeking and praising God" for what he ¹gives us, not for who he is, therefore it is not actually seeking God in the truest sense, but created things. God is important only because he is considered the best means by which to obtain something else, i.e. health and wealth. In essence, the prosperity gospel does not truly seek God or seek to honor God but only use him. No one wants to be used in this way.

For these reasons, the "prosperity gospel" is ultimately destructive. Why? It can draw us away from God, not to him. It draws us to a sense of value and meaning in created things, which are temporary, when true meaning and value are only in Him. It is appealing because it caters to our fallen condition i.e. to our desire to be our own god (our bent towards independent self-trust) instead of dependence on the only true God. 

The problem however is not in the prosperity gospel in itself, it is in our hearts. Our hearts, in our present broken condition (even as his children), are naturally inclined to seek life apart from or outside of God. 

If our hearts were truly and fully inclined to God and not to rebellious distrust and independence from God, there would be no prosperity gospel. It would have no appeal.

Only when we find God to be the one and only true satisfier of our heart and the sustainer of life, might he grant us uncommon health and wealth if (and only if) it advances his good purposes in us and the world for his glory. 

This is contingent on two things. 

1. Our gifts/calling 

    and 

2. our heart. 

Not all are gifted to do well in business, and only he knows our hearts well enough to know when they are after him and not wealth. We only think we know.

However, we must also keep in mind we are in a broken world, and in this world, we will face tribulation i.e. trouble (John 16:33). Not to mention, we will all eventually die. Our joy does not come primarily from God granting us circumstantial bliss and success, but that he redeems our brokenness and the brokenness of this world in bondage, for our ultimate good and His greatest glory i.e. he has overcome this broken world by allowing himself to be broken by it and raised back to life. Because he was raised to life, so will we be in him. The ultimate hope of the prosperity promised in the gospel is a life of bliss in God's presence for all eternity - not necessarily in this life.

Once we find God to be our life - not use Him for personal/private gain - our health and wealth is no longer our focus, for we have true life in him now and will experience it fully (i.e. circumstantially) once we are in his once-obscured, unfettered presence and totally restored (glorified) in eternity with him.  

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1Cor 13:12(ESV)

"People knew God, but they did not honor him as God, and they did not thank him. 

Their ideas were all useless. There was not one good thought left in their foolish minds. They said they were wise, but they became fools. 

Instead of honoring the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, and snakes. 

People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so they became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other. 

They traded the truth of God for a lie. They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen." - Rom 1:21-25

For a discussion on excellence click here

For a discussion on diligence click here

For a discussion on the importance and necessity of sowing click here.

Is competition good or bad? click here

___________________________________

¹This way of "approaching God" leads to disastrous results. I think it is the reason many walk away from Christianity. In truth, they are not walking away from Christ but from an adulterated version of Christianity called the "property gospel." If you listen to Kanye West's reason for walking away from Christianity, he basically said it was because he asked God to do certain things that He didn't do. When God didn't do them, Kanye decided he could take care of it better than God i.e. basically he decided he is better at being God than God is. This is the very attitude Adam took in the garden and the exact opposite of Paul's response when Paul asked God to remove his thorn three times.

The desiring and pursuit of creation over the Creator is actually at the heart of mankind's problem and why we turned (and turn) away from God.

 

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." - i.e. created things. -  Romans 1:21-23 ESV‬

https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.1.21-23.ESV