Living By Faith Blog

My editor

I had been working on a blog post, finished writing it, and asked my wife for feedback.

My wife is wise, encouraging, and kind.  But she’s also honest.

And I could tell — she didn’t think it was very good.

She was nice about it.  But she said it didn’t make sense.  It left unanswered questions.  It was confusing.  (She was right.)

Ouch

I’m ashamed to admit it — but I felt defensive.  Hurt.  Offended.

But defensive, hurt, and offended is not joy and peace in believing (Rom 15:13).

Which shows that I had shifted from trusting Jesus — to trusting something else to satisfy me.

Like what?  Like WRITING AN FANTASTIC BLOG POST — that’s what.

(Sorry about the tone — I’m still feeling a little tender.)

What to do?

That’s what this blog is all about — how do we fight the fight of faith in situations like this?

And I wish I could say I fought the fight.  But I didn’t.

Oh, there were a couple pathetic lifts of the shield of faith, a few half-hearted stabs with the sword of the Spirit.

But I didn’t enter into full-blown battle like I could have.

So here’s what I should have done — and by God’s grace what I will do next time —

Understand what’s happened

At that moment, writing a great blog post was at the center of my heart.

Which means Jesus was not at the center of my heart.

Frankly, I had a hard time finding Him anywhere in my heart.

I had turned my back on Jesus, and was bowing down to an idol.

If I would have stopped and understood that — I think I would have taken the battle more seriously.

Immediately turn to Jesus

It doesn’t work to swallow my defensiveness and hurt.  They don’t taste very good, and cause emotional indigestion.

The only thing that works is to turn immediately to Jesus just as I am, confess my sin, repent of my idolatry, and trust Him to forgive me, love me, help me.

So that’s what I did.  Well, sort of.

Like — while I was getting some exercise.  While I was taking a shower.

What I should have done was set aside everything else to truly seek Jesus.

The Spirit changes hearts

I needed a supernatural heart-change.

I needed to see and feel that having Jesus was infinitely better than writing an amazing blog post.

But that takes the work of the Spirit.  So it’s crucial to pray and ask Jesus to pour His Spirit upon me.

And again — I sort of did that.  But not earnestly.  Not with my whole heart.

The Spirit uses the Word

The Spirit cuts idolatry and unbelief out of our hearts by His sword — the Word of God. (Eph 6:17).

So I should have opened my Bible and prayed over passages that —

• show Jesus as infinitely more glorious than writing a great blog post (Mat 13:44; Jude 1:24; Rev 5:12)
• show that God can use a poorly-written blog post and my wife’s helpful input to bring me great good (Rom 8:28-30; Jer 29:11)
• show that nothing done in Christ is in vain (1Cor 15:58)

Praying over these passages, and fighting to trust them, would have brought a greater work of the Spirit (Gal 3:5) —

• I would have started to feel the pleasure of beholding Jesus.
• I would have felt the assurance of His plan for me — a plan that can include lame blog posts.
• In time I would have been filled with joy and peace in Christ.

But I didn’t.  All I did was mumble something about how God was in charge, and that it was going to be OK.

God was merciful

Even mumbling God’s Word can help.  So I ended up feeling some level of peace.

But I did not receive the full outpouring of joy and peace I could have.

Next time — by God’s grace — no more Mr. Nice Guy.

I’m going to fight.  Really fight.  Knock some idol heads.

Feedback, comments, thoughts?

I’d love to hear them.  Leave a reply below — thanks.

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