Babies and Eternity

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Dean W.

Our middle child is expecting her first baby next month. Our house was in a turmoil last week preparing for a baby shower, which 29 women and girls attended. It was a fun celebration of a new life (or so I’m told; I was hiking).

She is at the stage of pregnancy that is enjoyable. She is over the morning sickness, but her belly is not so huge that normal functions are difficult, yet. Others can feel the baby move if they have their hand on her tummy, which is fun for her husband and her younger sisters. Over the next month that will lose its novelty as the size and weight of the child increases.

A few weeks ago, as she was describing some of her son’s movements, she commented that it was often difficult to fathom that “I have this other person inside me.”

Her comment got me thinking about the value of human life and the source of that value.

The nature of value

Everything that has value is given that worth by something outside itself. Gold only has value because men consider it worth more than other metals. The value of currency is determined by its usefulness in the marketplace. Ideas are valued by the same outside measure of usefulness.

Value is determined by someone who considers the valued thing worthy of special consideration. Your family photos are valuable to you, but not necessarily to me. I have an old toy monkey that I played with as a child, and for which my grandmother knitted a special outfit to please me. I would not trade that old toy for anything because my memories give it value. It has value only because it is invested with part of my life. That monkey and its clothes are worthless to anyone else.

The value of human life

We often say that human life is valuable in and of itself, that each human life is valuable and worthy of protection and esteem, just by nature of being a human life. I agree that all human life is worth saving, and every human life has inestimable value. But where does that value originate?

Like anything else of value, the value of human life must be established by something outside itself. Honestly, your and my opinions of the value of human life have little worth, because we are also human. It’s rather self-serving. There are a lot of different opinions about human value.

Men calculate values for a human life based on production and estimated medical costs. But these are arbitrary attempts to justify decisions that may effect lives. But can we really put a number on a human life? Are humans even qualified to do that? Where does our life’s value come from?

The original value of human life

Who gets to determine our value? It has to be someone who has full knowledge of how we are made, the chemicals involved in our existence, and the worth of our activities. But we must acknowledge that we are more than just physical entities, that there is an immaterial part of us that must also be included in the calculation. Most of man’s calculations are a measurement of productiveness, not the value of the immaterial mind or soul.

Only God can assign value to the human life, and he expressed that value in the Bible.
In the beginning, God said mankind would be made in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), which gave us more value than the rest of His creation. He added another distinction to mankind’s value in Genesis 2:7 when He breathed into Adam and made him “a living soul”.
God later said human life was so valuable that only another human life could pay for it.

I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image. Genesis 9:5-6 WEB

This great value for human life is based on the fact that God made man in His own image. God is the only one who can evaluate human life, and it is measured by God’s own image.

When do lives matter?

What is the value of an unborn baby? The discussion surrounding the scourge of abortion often focuses on the “viability” of the human fetus. However, God, who is the One who declares our value, tells us that a human’s value begins in the womb.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
Before you were born, I sanctified you.
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 WEB

David states that God formed his “inmost being” in his mother’s womb, and that God knew his days before they started (Psalm 139:13-16). That “inmost being” can be interpreted as our physical guts or our inner man, which is renewed each day (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Our inner man, our spirit, is the eternal, unseen part of a human. Our physical bodies are temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18), but He put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It is the part of us that God values more than anything. And our eternal nature is there from the beginning, at conception. I explained it this way in our book, Families from the Beginning:

God …created male and female bodies to come together to produce a living soul. This is the only process in the universe that creates something eternal and through it mankind displays the image of the Creator. God is personal and desires to have relationships to express His love. He created Adam and Eve to love Him forever, and made them in a way that their union would create more living souls to love Him forever.
The eternal life of a human baby sets it apart from all other life on the earth. …I don’t pretend to understand what starts eternity in the physical seed shared by a human couple, but every time human sperm and egg join there is a miracle that adds infinite potential.**

Unborn babies have eternal significance to God, even when they doesn’t survive the pregnancy. Miscarriages are painfully tragic, and are a too-common indicator of our fallen world. But the murder of any unborn child is a travesty of justice, and those that promote or condone it must repent or face God’s judgment, because He values the unborn more than we can understand.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

**Dean and Lynn Wickert, Families from the Beginning (Harrison, Ohio: Families from the Beginning, 2014), 45-46.

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Embrace the Freedom: A Follow-up to International Women’s Day

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Dean W.

This week I want to share an except from our first book, Families from the Beginning. This is the beginning of the chapter titled “The Redeemed Woman” and I like it because it is the part of the book that Lynn wrote. What she had to share was important for Christian women who are trying to find their place in this world.
Here it is:

Embrace the Freedom

At first it seemed a daunting task for me to write a chapter about a woman’s role in the family and the church, so I asked Lynn what she would say to women today. She said she would encourage women to “embrace the freedoms we have in Christ.” Being a man, I had to ask her what she meant. Her explanation went something like this:

“We were one of the first couples in our group of friends to be married and we started our family right away with three children in the first five years. When I looked around and saw my friends traveling, working and doing other activities, it made me discontent with where I was. We did not have the money to travel, and I was at home with little babies. I was feeling sorry for myself and discouraged, like I was tied at home and wasn’t getting to do anything.

“I was getting my focus off the Lord and comparing my life to others when God said, ‘That’s not what I have for you. If you will look at what I have for you and embrace that path, you won’t be discontent, you will find satisfaction.’

“When we take our eyes off what God has for us and focus on what we think we need or don’t have, we start feeling confined and discouraged. Comparing myself to somebody else hinders me because that’s not who God created me to be. If I embrace the role God has for me, there is freedom to walk in it and enjoy it and not be bothered by what somebody else is doing.

“When we embrace the boundaries God puts up for us, walking in the calling that He has for us, then they become blessings rather than hindrances. The boundaries will be different for each individual, but the instructions to women from Scripture establish some gender roles. There is more freedom inside the boundaries than there is outside the boundaries; there is more comfort inside the boundaries than outside the boundaries; there is more peace inside the boundaries than outside the boundaries.

“When God removed me from working outside the home and had me stay at home, I began to look at being a housekeeper differently.

“My attitude about the children changed. I could say, ‘I am raising another eternal soul for Christ.’ and the nurturing role took on a little more importance.

“I learned about honoring my husband. Was I more of a helper to him? I’m not sure I was at that time, but honoring became intentional for me and the children.

“The gender role parameters make me more free. Because it’s what Scripture says, I’m not looking at the things of the world that make me think I am missing out on something. I don’t need anything other than what I have to be content and happy. The enticement of the world is less and I am not discouraged so I can enjoy where I am.

“We, as women, have a lot of things from the world pulling us in different directions, whether it is the allure of the beauty and fashion industry, the necessity or desire to work outside the home, or the constant barrage of feminist propaganda. The freedoms we have in Christ are the parameters of godly gender roles. When I have been tempted to be discontent as a wife and mother, it has always been the safety of Christ’s call to order that has brought me back to blessed contentment. I can be content in whatever His role is for me because I can trust Him to fulfill me within Himself. I can lay my desires for control at His feet because I know He is sovereign. I can lay my inclinations toward self- fulfillment at His feet because I know He is all I need. I can embrace the gift of my femininity because I know He is the loving Creator who built me.”

I can’t express it any better. (That’s why I asked her.) The whole book is available from Amazon.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

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What’s in Your Attic?

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Dean W.

Christmas decorations. Plastic tubs filled with out-grown clothes. Boxes of books. Camping gear. Twin-sized mattresses. Seldom-used baking pans. Sleeping bags. Winter hats and gloves. Bunk bed frames. What do you keep in your attic?

Grandma’s attic

My maternal grandparents’ home in Illinois had a set of narrow, steep steps up to their attic. As children, we went up there to find treasures. That’s where Grandma stored trunks of memories. I played with my uncle’s toy soldiers up there. It’s where we found the trombone I played in sixth grade.

Attics are wonderful places, if you like to explore. Many adventures begin in attics, clues to mysteries are found there, and searches for meaning often end with the treasure found there. My girls read a series of books about a young girl who explored her grandmother’s attic and found items that aroused her grandmother’s memory and started all sorts of stories and lessons.

Attics and crawlspaces

By definition, attics are the part of a house directly under the roof, and can contain rooms, storage, or nothing. Crawlspaces, by contrast, are areas under the house, not high enough to stand, that give access to plumbing or wiring. Crawlspaces generally are only visited by necessity, usually because something needs to be fixed.

The attic in our house

Because of the pitched ceilings in our house, our area below the roof is actually more like a crawlspace. The space between the sloped ceiling joists and the roof has just enough room to crawl the length of the house at the peak. It’s useless for storage; the access hole in the laundry room ceiling is barely big enough for a person to go through. I recently spent most of a day up in our crawlspace, dragging narrow lengths of plywood across the rafters to spread out my weight. I replaced a bathroom fan and its exhaust pipe and installed a board between the rafters to anchor a new wall. It was a hot, dusty, cramped day.

Years ago, as we planned to build finished walls in our full basement, we realized we needed to dedicate some space for storage because our under-roof space was unusable. We built a fairly large room (about 10 feet by 13 feet) behind the basement steps, lined it with shelving and put up some scavenged industrial lighting. We call it “the Attic”. Visitors are often confused when we talk about going “down to the Attic” to get something.

Cleaning the attic

Just like any upstairs attic, our basement attic gets cluttered to the point of being unusable. Every so often, Lynn decides to “clean the attic”. This usually requires multiple days of moving boxes, rearranging camping gear, and throwing away items whose values diminished while on the shelf. The trigger for this activity is generally the need to store something else, so the attic is soon full again, but with more useful stuff. Or at least that’s the idea.

Cleaning the attic often requires answering questions about our life as we look through the boxes. Do I keep this, or throw it away? Will this be useful someday soon? Is it obsolete? Why did we keep this in the first place? Will we ever really use this? The goal is to clear out space so we can put something else there.

Cleaning the attic reminds me of Paul’s admonishment to the Colossians about replacing things in their lives (and ours, also):

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him… Colossians 3:8-10

After listing the things that need to get tossed out of our attics (the “put offs”), Paul describes what we need to add to our lives (the “put ons”):

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Colossians 3:12-14

The attic of my mind

Whenever I look into the storage boxes of my mind, I find stuff that I wish I wasn’t keeping. But just like our attic shelves that collect junk if they are left empty, I have to replace the “old man” thinking with “new man” thinking. In his letter to the Romans, Paul called it “renewing your mind.”

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

After giving examples of how to walk in the will of God, at the end of the next chapter, Paul sums it up with a simple but profound “put on”:

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Romans 13:14

Treasure storage

Mary, Jesus’s mother, also stored things for later use:

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19 (NIV)
But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Luke 2:51 (NIV)

I believe Mary pulled out these memories for Luke when he “traced the course of all things accurately from the first” {Luke 1:3 (WEB)}. Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea gave Luke, who was traveling with him, over two years to research the events in his gospel (Act 24:27). He probably personally interviewed Mary and some of the other apostles.

What’s your treasure?

Attics and hearts are storage places for things we want to bring out to use in the future. But be careful that what you store is truly useful.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

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Life-threatening Devotion to God in Service

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Dean W.

In this fifth blog about life-threatening devotion to God I will address how we serve God by serving others.

As a reminder, in my first blog about this topic I offered this description:

“Life-threatening devotion is having a love for God that is stronger than any other love we have. It’s a devotion to our God and Father that is worth more than our own lives, and is worth any sacrifice to maintain that relationship. It’s the kind of devotion that makes us give up sleep to pray or study His word, give up food to humble ourselves, or give up our reputation to serve rather than be served.”

The following three weeks we examined what life-threatening devotion to God meant for our marriages, for our children, and in our witness. Now let’s look at life-threatening devotion to God in service.

What is service?

The first definition for service that comes up online is “the action of helping or doing work for someone.” Many people like to do acts of service. Gary Chapman, in his book The 5 Love Languages, lists “acts of service” as the fourth way some people prefer to show and receive love and affection.

My brother-in-law Don Wallace loved that way. He always seemed to find some way to help the people he loved. His son Jeremy is very much the same. I first suspected he was serious about his future wife when she came to a family event (she was already a friend of the family) and said Jeremy was at her house repairing something. They were engaged and married not long after that.

The call to serve

Jesus calls us to serve one another. In fact, He considered it a prerequisite for leadership, and gave us the best example of life-threatening devotion in service:

But Jesus summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28*

Jesus’s idea of service was absolutely life-threatening. He gave His live, poured out His soul (Isaiah 53:12), poured His blood for our sins (Matthew 26:28), and bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). He calls us to the same type of life-threatening devotion.

Paul, who considered himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ, made service a part of his evangelism and apostleship. When he did a “check back” with the apostles in Jerusalem after starting several churches from Asia to Greece, he noted that they agreed he was on target with his preaching, but encouraged him to serve the poor, which was already one of his priorities (Galatians 2:10). In Thessalonica, Paul didn’t even allow the church to support him, but worked extra hard so he could give more. That devotion caused a riot in the city, after which he had to escape during the night because his life was threatened (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9, Acts 17:1-10).

Service to others

So how about us, you and me? What is our life-threatening service? Where do we take up our cross and follow Jesus? Is it feeding and clothing the poor? Is it visiting the sick or the prisoner? Read Matthew 25:31-46 for a real challenge about service.

Jesus makes it pretty clear that life-threatening devotion to God involves service to others. His brother James wrote that the value of our religion is based on service to others.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27

Where is your life-threatening service?

The challenge in the comfortable church in this comfortable country is to choose to be uncomfortable, to lay aside our comfort and safety for the joy of serving Jesus by serving others like Jesus, with life-threatening devotion.

A few years ago, I gave the commencement address at a homeschool group’s graduation ceremony. I told the graduates that God had given them two gifts and one choice. The gifts were the blood of Jesus and their own testimony. Their choice was how they would live in light of those gifts. The challenge was to live so they could fulfil this scripture:

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11

Where does your life-threatening devotion compel you to serve? Let me know with a comment below.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

*All Scripture quotations in this article are from the World English Bible (WEB).

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Pop-up scripture references are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

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Life-threatening Devotion Requires Witnessing

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Dean W.

This is my fourth blog about life-threatening devotion. I described my introduction to the idea three weeks ago, and the last two weeks I discussed how life-threatening devotion can effect our families.
But what about those outside my home?

Life-threatening devotion to God requires witnessing

Are you willing to witness to unbelievers about Jesus even when it may be uncomfortable?

Most of us are sissies when it comes to witnessing. Some of the most extroverted people I know are afraid to witness to others. They can talk to anyone about anything and carry on conversations with total strangers about nothing of consequence, just for the joy of talking. But bring up the subject of Christ, or sin, or our need for God’s grace, and suddenly they have nothing to say. Even if the unbeliever opens a door for ministry by saying something about God or morals, or complaining about something that’s hard in their life, and the fearful extrovert will let it pass like they didn’t hear it.

It’s me. I’m that fearful extrovert.

The answer to fear

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

If my love for God is absolute I can have no fear. If my love for God, my devotion to him, is life-threatening, it will flow out to others, both believers and unbelievers.

If I have God’s love for others, my greatest joy is to tell them about His love because my love for them wants them in His presence where they can have joy.

What if they don’t like what I say, or worse yet, don’t like me after I say it? If I fear man more than I love God, I’m just like the rulers in Judea:

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12:42-43

The answer to my fear of man is to love God more. My love for and devotion to God must be absolute. Everything I say, do, or think should be based on that love, an absolute, life-threatening devotion to God that pre-determines all other choices. Any circumstance, conversation, or situation should draw the love from my heart that is poured into it by the Holy Spirit given to me. (Romans 5:5)

My heart

Honestly, I don’t love God that much. (Ask my wife, she knows.) I’m trying, but most days I feel like the double-minded man that James describes, unstable in all my ways. (James 1:8)

This exploration of life-threatening devotion to God is showing me even more how much I fall short, but also how much He loves me. His love for us was life-threatening, and yet He loved us enough to die for us (John 3:16), and He is still interceding for us.(Hebrews 7:25)

My challenge

My challenge is to love God so devotedly that I say:

“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
(Hebrews 13:6, Psalm 118:6)

Why should I be afraid to witness to the unsaved if I agree with Paul?

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

The simple part

It’s really simple, intellectually. Jesus told us that if we love Him, we should keep His commandments (John 14:15) and that if we keep His commandments, it proves that we love Him (John 14:21), just like He proved His love for the Father by obeying Him (John 14:31).
Then He told us to witness to others about Him (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8)

Witnessing to others is an obedient expression of our life-threatening devotion to God. God loves them as much as He loves me, they just don’t know it, yet.

The hard part

I cannot stop at the intellectual agreement that I should witness to others. It must effect my heart. I must die to myself daily so my flesh doesn’t rise up in fear and thus condemn other men to Hell.

If I don’t witness to someone whom I meet, how do I know that anyone else will?
My challenge is to love others with God’s love enough to tell them about it. For that to happen, my devotion to God must be life-threatening.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

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Life-threatening Devotion for My Children

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Dean W.

This is my third blog about life-threatening devotion. I described my introduction to the idea two weeks ago, and last week I discussed how life-threatening devotion can effect our marriages.
As I considered the affect of life-threatening devotion to God for my marriage (see my last post), the natural question that followed was about my children.

Life-threatening Devotion to God for My Children

How will my life-threatening devotion to God effect my children? How can I show life-threatening devotion to God in my role as their parent?
Let’s start at Deuteronomy chapter 6:


“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

In this passage, Moses tells the people of Israel what to do to gain God’s blessings in the “land flowing with milk and honey” (verse 3). This passage became the Jew’s “Shema”, the most essential prayer of Judaism.

Life-threatening Devotion as Love for God and His Word

Loving the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength, is the first step toward life-threatening devotion. This “first commandment of all” (Matthew 22: 37-39; Mark 12:29-31) is the sole motivation for the second commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The next verse tells us to abide in the word of God, to have it “in your heart”. Jesus refers to this idea in John 8:31 and John 15:7.

Paul encourage the Colossians to have the word of Christ in our hearts:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16

Life-threatening Devotion to God for Our Children

So what do we do with our devotion to God and His word? The Shema instructs us: TELL YOUR CHILDREN! (Deuteronomy 6:7)

And not just talk about God and His word all the time, but write it everywhere so they can see them. Live by it.

Your children will know if you have life-threatening devotion to God because they will see how it benefits their lives. It will be in your conversations with them; it will guide your decisions about what they read, what they watch, what they eat, where they live, what sports they play, and who are their friends. You will point them to it when they have questions you can’t answer, and will be the basis for the answers you do know.

Paul described this father’s role in Ephesians 6:4

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Our life-threatening devotion to God must also be more important to us than our children (Matthew 10:37, Luke 14:26). Our children will know when we love God more than them, because His love will flow out of us to them.

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

Our children are our closest neighbors (after our spouses), and so they should get the best benefit of our life-threatening devotion to God.

Here’s the challenge: Do you lay your life down for your children? Does your life-threatening devotion to God result in them knowing Him? Are you more interested in pleasing Him than pleasing your children?

Your life-threatening devotion to God will show them that there is Someone who is greater than anything, and that you know and serve Him. It will encourage them to serve Him, too. Then they can have their own life-threatening devotion to God.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 4

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

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Life-threatening Devotion in Marriage

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Dean W.

Last week I wrote about a phrase that caught my attention while praying: Life-threatening Devotion. I discussed a lot of scriptural examples of men whose devotion to God was stronger than their love of life and how that kind of devotion should effect our lives. The more I thought about it, the more I saw areas of my own life where I need to practice life-threatening devotion to God.

Devotion to God as a husband

I realized I need to more closely follow Christ’s example of life-threatening devotion in my marriage:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. Ephesians 5:25-28**

It’s hard to put myself aside for my wife, to do whatever it takes for her to be perfect. But Christ’s example is clear.

Men, does your love for your wife threaten your life? Do you stop what you’re doing (lay down your life) to edify her with the word of God? Do you consider her (present her to yourself) a glorious wife? Does she look clean and wrinkle-free in your heart, even in her old age? Do you think of her as set apart for God’s glory (holy and perfect)? Do you enjoy eating her favorite meals and watching her favorite movies (love her more than you love your own body)? Do you get great satisfaction from helping her (love her as you love yourself)?

I should consider it a great pleasure to die to myself for Lynn, but I cannot say that I do. Whenever I pray “Your will be done,” I have to remember that His will is for me to have life-threatening devotion to Him for Lynn.

Devotion to God as a wife

Wives, how about you? Would you rather die than disrespect your husband? Is your conduct encouraging him serve God?

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward — arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel — rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. 1 Peter 3:1-6

Life-threatening devotion to God

How much will our lives feel threatened if we simply do what Christ calls us to do in our marriages? That may be a real challenge because some of us think the purpose of marriage is to make us happy. The real purpose of marriage is to spiritually mature us. 1

Life-threatening devotion to God will effect our marriages. The question should never be “Do I love my spouse enough?” It should always be “Do I love God enough to love my spouse with His love?”

We included a chapter about the redeemed marriage in our first book, Families from the Beginning. Sign up for our newsletter to read it.

The Story Farm is getting closer to publication. I am incorporating the last edits. It should be available on Amazon soon. More information will come out on the blog and in our newsletter.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

1 Dr . Leo Godzich, “Is God in Your Marriage?” National Association of
Marriage Enhancement.

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Life-threatening Devotion

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Dean W.

As I was praying earlier this week for our nation and the church, I acknowledged to God that “We don’t understand life-threatening devotion.”

What does that mean?

It was the first time I heard that phrase, and it struck me. So I asked Him what it meant, and He immediately reminded me of Hebrew 12:2:

…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Life-threatening devotion is having a love for God that is stronger than any other love we have. It’s a devotion to our God and Father that is worth more than our own lives, and is worth any sacrifice to maintain that relationship. It’s the kind of devotion that makes us give up sleep to pray or study His word, give up food to humble ourselves, or give up our reputation to serve rather than be served.

Examples of life-threatening devotion

There are many examples in scripture, not just Jesus, but also His followers and predecessors.

  • David practiced life-threatening devotion when he refused to kill Saul because he was God’s anointed, even though Saul was trying to kill him. (1 Samuel 24:10, 26:9-11)
  • Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego would rather die than turn away from their devotion to God. (Daniel 3:16-18)
  • After being arrested, Peter and John told the Sanhedrin that they would rather listen to God than man (Acts 4:19-20).
  • The apostles later told the Sadducees that they “ought to obey God rather than men”, and it almost got them killed (Acts 5:29, 33).

Paul often expressed his devotion to Jesus in terms of danger:

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:22-28

Paul also pointed to Christ as our best example of life-threating devotion:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8

Not just physically life-threatening

But I realized it’s not just our physical life that we should threaten with our devotion, but our selfishness, our comfort, and our attitudes. Is our devotion to God strong enough to threaten our jobs, our lifestyles, our financial standing, and our social status?

Peter’s devotion brought him under censure by the church; he defended his obedience in the Cornelius matter with “who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17)

What is my devotion level?

The idea of life-threatening devotion struck me so much that I have to ask:

  • Is our devotion so great that we will sell all we have to buy it? (Matthew 13:44-46)
  • Is our devotion to God strong enough that we will sell what we have and give to the poor? (Mark 10:21)
  • Will our devotion drive us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily? (Luke 9:23-25)

I have just offered a few examples, the Scripture is full of them. As the writer of Hebrews put it: “ And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell…” (Hebrews 11:32)

After providing a list of examples of faithful devotion in Hebrews 11 (by faith…), he tells us that our devotion (faithfulness) should be encouraged by Christ’s example, and challenges us with the truth that our devotion has not yet been tested.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:1-4)

We must each examine ourselves and ask:

Do I have LIFE-THREATENING DEVOTION to God?

What does that mean to you? Do you have any examples of when your devotion to God was life-threatening? I don’t have many. But when I look to the future of this country, I wonder if more opportunities to show our life-threatening devotion are on the way. Then I hope I can be counted among those whom John described in Revelation 12: 11:

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Next week I will dive into some specific areas where we need to have life-threatening devotion to God.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

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Santa Claus Doesn’t Exist

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Dean W.

Do you remember when you learned that Santa Claus wasn’t real? I do.

It was a moment of truth, but it hurt, didn’t it? The non-existence of Santa Claus is a shocking truth for some people because it requires a re-set of our presuppositions and our worldview.

A friend told me he punched the girl that told him Santa was a hoax. He disliked the truth so much that he abused the truth-teller. Does that sound familiar in today’s world?

As our country deals with the current political turmoil, it’s apparent that a lot of people are believing things that are untrue. Maybe everybody.

Many Christians are praying that the truth will be told. Are we praying that way because we love truth, or because we feel the truth will vindicate us?

My friend Curt Klingerman posted a blog this week that asks this question about dealing with truth: Are We Willing to Change?

What if the actual truth is not what we want it to be?

When a Christian is shown a truth from the scriptures that does not fit with his own ideas or understanding, he only has one Christian option: Repentance, which means changing how you think and act.

Non-Christians, on the other hand, have a number of options when facing truth.

  1. They can accept it and change how they think and act (repentance).
  2. They can refuse to believe it despite any evidence or logic (unrepentance).
  3. They can accept it but not change how they act (inconsistency).

The second option is what we are seeing in the political realm. Despite the evidence of history and the proof of current errors, many just refuse to acknowledge the truth. It’s inconceivable to them that their worldview could be erroneous, so any conflicting evidence cannot be believed.

The third option is to acknowledge the truth but claim that it doesn’t matter. This response rests on the the ridiculous standard that there are no absolute standards. Their response is “OK, that may be true. So what?”

The Nature of Absolutes

The main political battle in America is over truth and the nature of absolutes.
Let me be clear. The gospel of Jesus Christ is Truth. All truth is based on God. He has expressed Himself in Jesus Christ and through the Bible. The Bible is the only self-authenticating absolute standard of truth. Any other truth or absolute must be consistent with the Bible, or it is not true.

The Bible tells us that mankind is sinful and separated from God. We need the free grace of salvation by faith in Jesus to restore that relationship. Most people do not want to acknowledge this truth. They prefer their sin, their darkness, their self-sufficiency. But when they do change, they become believers in Christ (Christians).

Unbelievers do not value truth. If they say they do, but do not believe the Bible, they are deceiving themselves. Truth is absolute. It cannot contradict itself. It’s called the law of Noncontradiction.

The Nature of Antagonists

Political antagonists oppose each other because they have different ideals about truth. Their ideals form their worldview. Sometimes the difference in politicians’ worldviews are minor. In our current political climate the difference in worldviews is significant.

Some worldviews include a presupposition that any person’s value to the world can be measured by their agreement with our presuppositions. That presupposition may also dictate how we treat others who disagree with us.

The biblical worldview states that all men are created in the image of God, and by virtue of that creation, their lives have value and they should be treated respectfully (Genesis 9:5-6). In the law, when God commanded the Israelites to treat strangers in their midst with respect, He told them to remember what it was like when they were strangers in Egypt (Exodus 22:21, 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34).

The Nature of Strangers

In the Christian church, Paul reminded the Corinthians that they (and we) were all unrighteous and unable to inherit the kingdom of God.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Every believer in Jesus had to change their mind about Him. Every believer in Jesus had to accept a different presupposition and alter their worldview. Every believer in Jesus had to realize that they were believing things that were not true, and replace those beliefs with truth.

That’s the advantage that Christians have over unbelievers: we’ve been where they are.

What Happens When Truths are Told

In our current political situation, the battle between the Democrats and Republicans over the Presidency focuses on the truth of the claims about election fraud. If evidence of fraud is unquestionable, the question will be whether that truth matters.

To many, a proof of fraud will only mean they got caught, but not that anything should change (see option 3 above). By others, proof of fraud will simply be ignored (option 2). By those who desire truth, proof of fraud will required corrections (option 1) and restoration.

Our prayers that the truth be told must be coupled with prayers for those whose current worldviews oppose the truth. Because we were in opposition to the truth before we repented, we understand where they are, and how hard it is to rebuild your worldview when your presuppositions collapse.

It’s like the first time you heard that Santa Clause doesn’t exist. It was difficult because it affected other beliefs in your worldview.

What We Must Do

We must treat those who have been deceived like God wants them to be treated: with value, meekness and fear.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear… 1 Peter 3:15

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

P.S. I dug a little deeper into how Santa effects our presuppositions and worldviews in the Introduction to our book Families from the Beginning. Sign up for our newsletter and read the Introduction.

Check our website for updates on The Story Farm.

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

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Honor the King

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Dean W.

Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 1Peter 2:17

Ken Ham wrote a post after this week’s certification of the presidential vote that reminded us of what Isaiah said about God’s perspective on the affairs of nations:

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales… All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless. Isaiah 40: 15,17

Ham then listed scriptures that told us of the importance of trusting in God and not in man, and reminded us that the problem in our nation is sin, not politics, and that we should be focused on sharing the gospel. None of this is new information from Ken; he’s been saying these things for years, but this article really put it all together at a time we need to hear it. I suggest you read it.

Political Turmoil

Conservative Christians and political conservatives are upset by this week’s outcomes, and most of them believe the integrity of our election system has been severely compromised. Some fear that America’s economy will fail because of the promised policy changes, and that the continual shedding of innocent blood will bring God’s wrath on the nation. They might not be wrong.
What should be my response as a believer in Jesus Christ?

Honor the king.

If all goes as expected, Joe Biden will be the President of our country on and after January 20th. He will be our “king”, And I will honor him as the top human ruler in our land, as Peter explains,

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 1 Peter 2: 13-16

Peter then gives us the commands of verse 17: Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

But this king?

We don’t have a problem with the first three parts of this verse. We nod with assent that they are all good ideas. And a lot of us were glad to honor Donald Trump as our president because we believe he was God’s agent to revive our country.

We don’t have the same confidence in Joe Biden. In fact, from his history and the statements he and those around him have made, we are sure he will do much harm to liberty in the country. However, we must still honor him.

Many think the Biden administration has promised to extend infanticide and destroy parental rights. We must still honor him.

Their economic and health policies may destroy the economy. We still must honor him.

They may allow persecution of Christian churches. We must still honor him.

Peter knew what he was saying. Read the rest of the chapter (1 Peter 2). Peter tells us it’s better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. He says Christ gave us an example of suffering and submission that we must follow:

“Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:22-23

Peter knew about evil kings. He was imprisoned and sentenced to death by King Herod, but was rescued by an angel (Acts 12:3-10). He wrote this epistle a few years before he was crucified for his Christianity by the Roman emperor Nero. He knew the government would martyr him (John 21:18), yet he wrote to us to do well and patiently endure suffering.

What to do?

What will I do, as a Christian living in an ungodly nation? I will do good (Luke 6:27-31), and endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). I will preach the word (2 Timothy 4:1-2). I will focus on the Lord Jesus and be ready to give answers to the lost (1 Peter 3:15).

However, I will not do evil or submit to evil laws. Laws of man that are in clear conflict with the laws of God must be opposed. The scripture has many examples of men who opposed evil ruler’s laws, sometimes successfully (Elijah, Daniel), sometimes at the cost of their liberty or lives (Jeremiah, Zechariah).

I will not condone the killing of babies. I will not submit to healthcare laws that defile my conscience before God. I will only recognize marriage as between one man and one woman, and I will recognize only those genders.

There may come a time when standing against ungodly American laws may carry a heavy price, as it already does in many places around the world. But if that happens, we have hope:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 1 Peter 3:14-16 (NKJV)

So I will honor my kings. First my King of the kingdom not of this world (John 18:36-37), because He is worthy. Then the president, my king in this world, not because he is worthy, but because it is an honor to my Great King (Psalm 47:2), and He is worthy (Revelation 4:11).

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.

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