Before I die, I hope to write a book called Encountering Christ. Before that, however, I want to write a book on Ecclesiastes. Like Jesus Christ, Ecclesiastes calls for an “encounter,” and I have long believed that Christ is best encountered after we have encountered Ecclesiastes. All of the books in the Old Testament prepare us to receive the gospel of Christ, but there is a special sense in which this is true of Ecclesiastes.

The gospel is about the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life. Yet as long as we are content with the blessings this present world offers, the message of eternal hope will not penetrate deeply into our hearts. Our fingers have to be pried loose from this world before the one to come will attract us as it should.

Ecclesiastes forcefully reminds us of the limitations God placed upon human activity after Adam and Eve rejected His will and were expelled from the Garden. Work that would have been perfectly joyful, predictable, and fulfilling in Eden would now be subject to frustration, transitoriness, and unpredictability (Genesis 3:17-19).

After the Fall, God made sure that man would not always be able to comprehend and control his world: he would not be able to turn this world into a vending machine and build a life for himself that would be dependably and completely satisfying. Man’s attempt to lay hold of the “good life” would always be uncertain. God might allow some of man’s plans to succeed, but He would ensure that others did not. And man would never know in advance which of his efforts would succeed and which would fail (Genesis 11:1-9; Ecclesiastes 11:6; James 4:13-16).

As a result of these frustrations and disappointments, man longs for — or should long for — a different world. Paul described this longing when he wrote, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (Romans 8:20-22).

Unfortunately, not everybody feels or acknowledges this longing. Many do not take seriously the limits that God placed upon this world. Especially in the affluent, technologically advanced parts of the world, many suppose that this world is a pretty good place to live. Living in denial, they persuade themselves that life in the here and now is better than it really is (Luke 12:15-21; Revelation 3:17-19).

That is why the gospel has so little impact in such places. Believing that this world is good — and continually improving as science removes more of life’s hardships — many dismiss Jesus’ promise of eternal life as unnecessary, if not beneath the dignity of modern humanity.

The more honestly we grapple with what Solomon says about this world, we will be more open to the world to come. We will lay aside our pretense, admit the unreliability of our human efforts, and be ready to hear what Jesus taught about real life and where it comes from.

And don’t think that, if you’re a Christian, you don’t need to hear what Solomon says about the insufficiency of your life “under the sun.” Especially if you are a prosperous Christian in the modern Western world, and worshiping with an affluent suburban congregation, you may be just as dependent on happiness in this world as the well-adjusted, secular folks who live next door to you. You may need to face the facts and let go of this world as much as they do.

So, my dear friends: Listen to Ecclesiastes. Don’t water it down or write it off. Let it sink in.

After you’ve swallowed the medicine Solomon offers you, I hope you’ll encounter Christ more deeply and courageously. Even if you’re a Christian!

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

“Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8,9).

Mauthausen (MOWT-how-zen) is a small town in Upper Austria, only 20 kilometers east of Linz, where Adolf Hitler grew up. One of the Nazi concentration camps was located there. Unlike the death camps at places like Auschwitz, Mauthausen was a labor camp. People were not quickly killed; they were worked to death as Nazi slaves.

The Slaves of Mauthausen

When Hitler annexed Austria to the Third Reich in March 1938, the Austrian people embraced him with open arms, believing his lies. He was paraded through the streets and thronged by adoring multitudes. However, by the time the Allies liberated Austria in 1945, the nation’s eyes had been opened — 100,000 human beings had died at Mauthausen and other camps in Austria. The country had paid a cruel price for its acceptance of Hitler.

But think of the situation Austria was in between 1938 and 1945. The Austrian people lived in what we would call “enemy-occupied territory,” brutalized by a tyrant who had made slaves of them after promising greatness and glory. It was some time before they realized the mistake they had made when they welcomed Hitler so blindly, but once they saw what they had done, imagine their joy when reports began to circulate in 1945 that the Allied armies were coming to rescue them!

The gospel of Christ is also news of a coming liberation. First, it tells us about the mistake we made when we invited our worst enemy to be our ruler. But then it tells us that although we live right now in enemy-occupied territory, help is on the way. The Rightful King is coming back to crush the usurper and reclaim His kingdom. That is good news indeed — even better than when the inmates at Mauthausen were told they were going to be liberated.

Hope

Since the gospel is about liberation, it is a message of hope. To repeat, we are still living in enemy-occupied territory. The King has sent help to sustain us during the remainder of our captivity, but the gospel is mostly about a liberation that has not yet arrived. “The King is coming! He could arrive at any moment!” What a difference that hope makes. As long as we know that help is on the way, we can hang on. Until the King gets here, we can deal with whatever has to be endured.

But what does that have to do with Ecclesiastes? Well, the devil would like us to believe that we don’t have it all that bad right now. Knowing we’ve heard rumors of the King’s return, he wants to squelch our expectations. Like Hitler, he might say, “Your work in my camp is difficult, I know. But remember what I’ve told you: Arbeit macht frei (“Work makes you free”). God is a pessimist, always talking about the ‘vanity’ of life. Don’t listen to Him. Life here isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good!”

Ecclesiastes strips the mask off the enemy’s face. It disabuses us of any notion that our lives in this world are enough to fill the emptiness in our hearts. And this is the news we must accept before the gospel can be heard as good news. As long as we’re content with what we’ve got, our longing to get out of this world will not be very great. We certainly won’t “groan” (2 Corinthians 5:1,2) to be released.

Contentment with this world is one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the gospel. The gospel is little more than nonsense to an affluent, comfortable world. Remember the Austrians in the early days of the war? Still thinking that Hitler’s regime had produced prosperity, they would have laughed at reports that “liberation” was on the way. “We have no need to be liberated,” they would have said. “We’re doing fine.”

Unfortunately, Christians often think in a similar way. We turn the gospel into a message about happiness in the here-and-now. We agree with our secular neighbors about the importance of earthly happiness; we just differ on what is the best way to get that result.

To both the secular and the religious person, Ecclesiastes says, “Get over the notion that life in enemy-occupied territory is all right. It is not all right. It is vanity, and sooner or later it will break your heart.”

Had Solomon known what we know about God’s plan to create “a new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13), he would certainly have agreed that eternity with God is the only ultimate answer to the problem that occupied him throughout his life: the distinctly unfulfilling nature of God’s blessings in this broken world.

Longing for Liberation

So let me say it again: the King is coming back. Liberation is on its way.

• “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2,3).

• “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).

If you think, as a Christian, that you’ve already been liberated, Ecclesiastes can adjust your attitude about that. But you’ll have to dispense with the idea that Solomon’s negative report on this world is only “how life is for people who don’t have God in their lives.” Solomon’s report is a description of what this world is like — for everyone (Romans 8:20-22). And no one needs to hear this any more than Christians who have settled down so comfortably in the “Austria” of this present world that they hope the liberating armies won’t show up and spoil the party.

The wonderful thing about the gospel is not exemption right now from the futility of life “under the sun,” but the promise that “the Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2) is coming back to finish what He began when He invaded Planet Earth two thousand years ago.

When He left to return to heaven (John 14:2,3), two angels said to His disciples, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

He is coming back! Help is on the way! If you listen to Ecclesiastes, you will cease being so fond of your captivity and begin longing for your liberation.

Arbeit Macht Frei

They told us work would make us free
and we believed it, building walls
around the only life we’d known,
mistaking the wire for a horizon.

Twenty kilometers from where the lie was born,
a town learned what the lie was worth:
a hundred thousand names
folded into Austrian earth.

But Solomon had seen the camp before there was a camp —
walked every corridor “under the sun”
and found them all the same gray length,
and called it, plainly, vanity.

Not despair. A diagnosis.
The wound named so it might be tended.
Because the King who left by cloud
said He is coming back the same way He went,

and until the trucks roll in
and the gate swings wide
and someone finally says it’s over —
we are not free. We are waiting.

Let the waiting ache.
Let the ache become a longing.
Let the longing keep us
from calling the camp a home.

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

“All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied” (Ecclesiastes 6:7 ESV).

One of the primary truths in Ecclesiastes is that nothing in this world totally satisfies our yearnings. Try as we may to experience things that will make us happy, we still find ourselves longing for Something More. Human life is a bittersweet business. Even our best joys are blemished — our experiences rarely meet our expectations, and unpredictable disappointments undermine our happiness. Solomon was merely being honest when he said, “All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.”

And yet, it’s also true that we’re too satisfied. This world may not be perfect, but we like it very much — the thought of leaving it anytime soon is most unwelcome. Our preachers tell us we should be more content, but most of us have the opposite problem: we’ve settled down in this world so comfortably that it’s rare for us to feel any “groaning” like Paul’s in 2 Corinthians 5:1,2: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven” (NKJV). In the “advanced” countries of the world, we think heaven might be nice — after we’ve enjoyed all we want to in the material world. The fact is, we’re too satisfied with what we’ve got right now. When it comes to true treasure, we’ve settled for pitifully little.

So our outlook is paradoxical. Deep in our hearts, we’re still unsatisfied, yet we’re more satisfied than we should be. Dangerously empty, we deny (or ignore) that fact and tell ourselves that we’re full enough. Indeed, we suppose that we’re getting along fairly nicely.

The Problem of Pretense

Most of us do a lot of pretending. We pretend that our happiness in this world is more fulfilling than it really is — and we don’t long for our inward character to be perfected as much as we say we do. But a Day of Judgment is coming. “God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). Whatever delusions about ourselves we may have harbored, that Day will be a revelation of what God knows about our hearts: how much a perfect relationship with Him really mattered to us. I don’t mean this life’s relationship, but the sinless relationship that eternity alone can make possible. God will know — and reveal to the rest of creation — what kind of people we truly were in this world. Were we people who “hungered and thirsted” (Matthew 5:6) for a heart perfectly submitted to God, yearning for that with an aching emptiness? If so, we will be filled. But what if we were people for whom it was enough to attend friendly church services and have lovable grandkids? We will be banished — God’s creation having been what we wanted all along, and not God Himself.

Consider the question of spiritual growth. It is a gradual process for all of us, of course, but how intense is your longing to “grow up in all things into [Christ] who is the head” (Ephesians 4:15)? Is it a desperately felt need? Many of us would lose more sleep over a financial shortfall than a spiritual deficiency. Perhaps we hold a view of grace that says we don’t need to work very hard at “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Without intending to, maybe our theology has bred complacency, making us more comfortable with the present condition of our hearts than God wants us to be.

Strangely, Christ’s letter to the Laodicean Christians doesn’t disturb us today, even though the parallels between their material affluence and our own are striking. Are we as out of touch with our condition as they were with theirs? Are we satisfied with our prosperity and our “religion” but not bothered by the distance we’ve kept between ourselves and God? The Lord’s letter to Laodicea ought to unsettle us: “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:17-19).

The Eternal Kingdom

Granted, we have been “saved.” But that is true only in a preliminary sense. Our greater — and more important — salvation will be in eternity. The kingdom in which we now participate is, if I might put it so, the “foyer” of a kingdom into which we’ve not yet been given entrance (2 Peter 1:11). And in 1 Peter 1:5, the apostle spoke of a “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” In our teaching on salvation and the kingdom of God, I suggest that more emphasis needs to be placed on the eternal dimension of these things, which is the heart of the gospel’s hope (1 Peter 1:3,4). To be content with less is to sell out, lowering our sights from the exalted kingdom that Christ is going to deliver to His Father in the end (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).

The question of “unsatisfaction” has profound implications for evangelism today. As wealth and material comfort spread around the globe, more and more people will live in denial about the limitations of temporal happiness. They may admit the present world is not perfect, but as long as they believe it is adequate, they’ll have little interest in “salvation.” C. S. Lewis said it well in a memorable quote: “A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world — and might even be more difficult to save.” The tragedy is not that earthly happiness fails to satisfy, but that it satisfies just enough to keep us from seeking anything more. Like candy, it dupes us into thinking we don’t need anything to eat.

For this reason, God sends hardship into the lives of all whom He wishes to save (i.e., everybody). He makes even His own blessings “unsatisfying” to us, often withholding the fulfillment we expect to receive from created things in order to pull us toward Himself, the Creator. He did this with Israel in the wilderness: “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Loving us as He loved Israel, He uses hardship the same way today (Hebrews 12:5-11; James 1:2-4). But do we get the point any more than Israel did?

Conclusion

If we’re content with fulfillments that are inadequate (Luke 12:19), we’re in trouble. In the end, every source of happiness we’ve experienced, except God, is going to fall away from us. Where will we be then, if we haven’t learned — through the hardship, suffering, and discipline God has sent our way — that He is all we need? For our benefit, may God withdraw from us right now any blessing that has made us stop growing or made us think we’re doing better spiritually than we are.

Here are some suggestions:

• Be honest enough to say to God that what you enjoy of Him right now is not enough, that you hunger for more than you have — or ever could have — in a world like this one.

• Appreciate that the hardships God sends into your life are to make you let go of this world.

• Give up the silly idea that if you’re a Christian this world’s “vanity” doesn’t apply to you.

• By permanently giving up a few of the pleasures that you’re most hooked on, prove that you’re not addicted to enjoyment.

We certainly need to be “content with such things as [we] have” (Hebrews 13:5), and I think we should delightfully enjoy the simple happy things that occur from day to day. But God forbid that we should think that anything in His creation — not even the local congregation or our families — will quench our thirst. Only He can do that — and it is only in heaven that He plans to do so.

Until then, I hope that every gap in your spiritual maturity will disturb you and be an irritant that moves you toward “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:2).

There will be time enough for rest later on. Right now, what we need is growth . . . and satisfied people don’t grow!

“Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain. Meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure” (G. K. Chesterton).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
(Psalm 90:10)

The speed at which a normal human lifespan flashes by is shocking. If you’ve ever been a construction worker putting in twelve-hour shifts in the hot August sun or painfully watched the hands of a slow-moving clock from a hospital bed, you know that single days (or nights) can seem long. But the years are another story. They go by swiftly. As someone has said, “The days are slow, but the years are sudden.”

Moses, who wrote Psalm 90, knew that even if we live seventy or eighty years, those years escape us quickly. In a world subjected by God to “futility” (Romans 8:20), our life “is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). Job put it starkly: “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue” (Job 14:1,2).

If you are young, or perhaps living more comfortably than most people in the world, you’ll probably mute these statements with a “yes, but” (or even argue that they contradict the Christian outlook). But I caution you to be careful. Charles Barkley, commenting at halftime during a lopsided basketball game, said about the team that had fallen hopelessly behind, “For these guys, the game got late way too early.” Barkley is not a theologian, but on this point, he certainly could be.

Of course, the brevity of life is one of those biblical truths that people quickly affirm and then promptly ignore. So I ask you, dear reader: how seriously — at the practical level — do you deal with the fact that our lives are “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14)? Are you “grass” (1 Peter 1:24,25) that ignores its grassiness . . . until it has become too late to play catch-up on your life’s duties?

We all know that we’ve lagged behind in our spiritual growth and that we’ve put off making much-needed improvements in our habits. But we also think we’ve got plenty of time left to get that garage of ours cleaned out and then pursue our dreams. But take it from one who knows: the time will sneak up on you — suddenly — when you will agree with an old Black neighbor of mine in Mississippi who, when I asked how he was doing, said, “The busses ain’t runnin’ and the train won’t let me ride no mo’.”

“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late” (Benjamin Franklin).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

Today, we are announcing an exciting new focus for this blog. No longer just generic posts, now it will be called: Ecclesiastes Workshop.

So far, I’ve been posting miscellaneous articles in this space, simply to jumpstart Substack and resolve some workflow issues. These past articles will probably be deleted at some point, and from now on, all the articles will be focused on how Ecclesiastes is relevant to our lives today.

Some years ago, Paul Earnhart and I were sitting at my kitchen table talking about Ecclesiastes, and I said, “In my opinion, Ecclesiastes is the Scriptural prolegomenon to the gospel.” A bright light flashed into Paul’s eyes, and he almost jumped out of his chair with excitement when he said, “Yes! That’s precisely the right word for it!” (It is indeed a very Paul-Earnhart-kind-of-word, is it not? It really flipped his switch!)

I’ll be unpacking this prelude to the gospel and talking about how Ecclesiastes opens our minds and makes us ready to hear Christ. So maybe this can be your new vocabulary word for the year: prolegomenon — and the plural, in case you ever need it, is prolegomena. ;-)

This will take the form of a “workshop” where I’ll be “thinking out loud” about Ecclesiastes. With a view to writing a book-length project about it a few years from now, Lord willing, this will be the place where I’ll hammer and chisel away at ideas and insights related to Ecclesiastes. In a very real sense, you’ll be watching me figure out what I want to say about this part of the Scriptures. I always go through this process with a new book; the only difference this time is that I’ll be doing it “in public.” You’ll be able to watch me work my way up from vague, first-impression ideas to ones that are more clear and beneficial.

I’ve always agreed with the writer who said, “How can I know what I think until I see what I say?” It is in the painful labor of writing that I clarify my understanding. So welcome to my literary workshop. Who knows what insights are waiting to be discovered in the sometimes mysterious arguments of Ecclesiastes? Buckle your seatbelts.

Next Up: “Unsatisfied, Yet Too Satisfied”

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29).

Suffering is a part of life in this world. It can’t be avoided. Some of a Christian’s suffering will result from his relationship to Christ, and some will just be the pain that everybody experiences. Yet no matter what kind of suffering it is, the Christian has a decision to make: with what attitude will our hardships be endured?

It would be beneficial if we chose to suffer simply for the sake of Christ, as Paul recommended in the text above. This means adopting an attitude that says, in effect, “I will bear this hardship for Him, desiring above all to glorify Him by the way in which I bear it.”

When Christians were persecuted by the Roman government in the early days of the church, unbelievers often marveled at the way Christians went to their deaths. Just as the soldiers were amazed at how Christ died (Mark 15:39), many people were moved by the manner in which our brothers and sisters in the days of the apostles embraced their persecutions. They were able to be so brave only because they wanted to suffer their hardships in the same way their Lord had suffered His. They counted it a blessing and privilege “not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”

I suggest that this attitude can be applied to any kind of suffering. We don’t have to be persecuted or put to death before we can think this way; we can decide that whatever we have to endure, we will suffer it in a way that glorifies Him. We will be strong for Him, accepting every pain and difficulty because we love Him, offering our steadfastness to Him as a gift we are glad to give.

When Paul found out that his thorn in the flesh was not going to be removed, he accepted the verdict admirably: “Most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). That, my friends, is an attitude to emulate!

Today, we have it pretty easy. We don’t have much opportunity to glorify Christ in hardship. But before we die, we will all suffer a little, and when we do, we should want, like Paul, to “fill up in [our] flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24).

“Hast thou no wound? No scar? Yet, as the Master shall the servant be, and pierced are the feet that follow Me; but thine are whole: can he have followed far who has no wound nor scar?” (Amy Carmichael).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

Righteousness will go before Him,
And shall make His footsteps our pathway.
(Psalm 85:13)

A path can be a valuable thing to have. Especially in unknown territory, a path can make the difference between life and death. For that reason, the pathway of Jesus’ life is crucial. How He lived His life is of more than historical interest; it shows us what a perfectly human life would look like, in terms we can understand.

If we know the “abstract” principles of right and wrong, we should follow them. However, I have found that studying Jesus’ life brings those principles to life in a “personal” way. He is our great Exemplar. When I follow His footsteps, I am doing things not just because they’re right in theory but because that’s what He did!

Occasionally it takes wisdom to discern what Jesus’ example teaches and what it does not. The fact that He wore sandals does not mean they are the only footwear acceptable to God. Yet as we grow in spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:13-16), we find that we do a better job of seeing what Jesus was teaching us by His example.

Like many of you, I’ve been studying Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John since I was a child. In recent years, however, I’ve enjoyed studying these books in a better way, as if I had never seen them before. For one thing, I love my Lord as I never did before, and that has pulled me into the gospels with a hunger for every bit of knowledge about Him that I can glean. There is no incident of His that does not fascinate me and no word that fell from His lips that I do not love.

And yes, I’ve got a list of questions I’d like to ask Him when I see His face, questions that I presume my departed friend Paul Earnhart has already gotten the answers to. Once when he and I were studying, he said, “Gary, what do you make of the Lord cursing that poor fig tree? I have no idea what that’s about (Matthew 21:18-20).”

When the people of Israel were getting ready to enter Canaan, Joshua cautioned them to keep a respectful distance from the ark of the covenant but to follow it carefully because, he said, “You have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:4). Similarly, we are to follow Jesus’ life, for He shows us a way that we have not traveled before. His footsteps are our pathway. We are foolish if we don’t study His life diligently and adhere to what it teaches us.

“The life of Christ is the highest rule for the faithful” (Thomas À Kempis).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
(Psalm 149:2)

How happy God must be when His people sing to Him joyfully! God is love, and if, as I believe, God created us in order to love us, it can’t be anything but a joy for Him to receive the worship of those who are happy to praise Him. In this life, our praise is marred by many imperfections, but even the tiny attempts at worship we are able to offer our Father gladden His heart. If we are but children now, He knows we will one day grow up and praise Him with unmitigated joy, just as His Son, Jesus Christ, has always done.

There is, however, a sobering point that should be made: our praise does not bring gladness to God if it is hypocritical. Nothing is more disturbing to God than the “worship” of those whose daily lives contradict everything worship is meant to be. “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). To those in Israel who came to the temple to worship, apparently thinking God wouldn’t notice the immoral lives they were leading when they weren’t worshiping, God said, “I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting” (Isaiah 1:13).

Yet when our praises and our personal character are in wholesome alignment, how the heart of God must overflow! He most certainly knows, because He knows our innermost thoughts, that we long for a closer relationship with Him, and He rejoices that we value something that He paid such a high price to make possible for us.

At present, the joyfulness of our praise is based on faith. That doesn’t mean it’s not real; we can praise a God who is unseen, just as we can rejoice over the Son we’ve never seen. “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). In both cases, we need to feed our faith so that the heavenly realities become our true treasures (Matthew 6:19-21).

A time is coming, however, when faith has become sight and our praises have risen to a new level. If there is as much difference between our praises then and now as there’ll be between our bodies then and now, I expect we’re in for quite a song service!

“You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of Life, and to be glorified through all the worlds” (Phos Hilaron - ‘Gladsome Light’).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com

“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4).

I had asked Google to create an image of a preacher speaking to a congregation. The image provided by Google was usable, but I needed a few changes to the speaker’s appearance. While I was waiting for the modified image to finish, I noticed that Google’s progress update said, “Transforming the Preacher.” What a powerful and telling phrase — on multiple levels!

It occurs to me that the most difficult part of the Lord’s work is “transforming the preacher.” Sometimes he is the one most in need of transformation, the one least in touch with his need, and the one hardest to actually transform, even when he sees the need for it.

I speak primarily of myself, of course. Others will have to speak for themselves, but I look back on my years in the pulpit with complete astonishment. How could I have failed to see the transformation that I needed? I often made the disclaimer that every preacher makes: “Please understand that I need this lesson as much as you do. I’m preaching to myself this morning as much as to anyone else.” But we preachers know that those words, while easy to say, are mostly unverifiable. In all likelihood, there won’t be any tangible evidence whether we did anything about the sermon we preached or not. The congregation will never know whether any real change took place.

For me, it took the complete destruction of life as I had previously known it before the truth finally got hold of me. And I think the need for life to “break” the preacher is not uncommon. John Piper was right when he said, “Preaching becomes deeper only when the preacher is broken, humbled, and made low by their own trials.”

Google can transform the photograph of a preacher, but it can’t transform the preacher himself. Images can be manipulated, but people can’t be changed as easily as pixels. And sadly, a preacher can manipulate his own “image” without making any change in himself.

So, brethren, how long has it been since a member of your congregation had a “talk” with you and you were deeply changed?

“An expert is notoriously hard to influence. He has been the one doing the talking for so long, with everybody listening to his advice, that he’s gotten used to being the smartest person in the room. He’s lost the ability to be ‘talked to’, especially by people he presumes to be less knowledgeable” (C. Walter Perkins).

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“In imitation of the holy One who has called you — you also must be holy in all your habits of life” (1 Peter 1:15 Weymouth).

Often disparaged, habit is more valuable than we make it out to be. If habit is a pattern of behavior that has become typical within a person’s life, shouldn’t we want obedience to God to become such? When doing what is right has become an established norm, rather than something unusual, isn’t that a good thing?

To keep us within beneficial boundaries, God has given us some rules for our behavior. At the beginning of our lives in Christ, we may find some of these rules unpleasant to obey, but eventually it gets easier. As God’s rules become our habits, staying within His boundaries begins to be characteristic of our conduct: obedience becomes the norm rather than the exception in our lives.

Godly habits are powerful helpers in our daily walk. When the king outlawed prayer, think how much Daniel’s habits helped him to do what was right: “he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days” (Daniel 6:10). When obedience becomes dangerous, we desperately need the “momentum” imparted by habits of obedience, traits established long before the situation became an emergency.

Of course, sinful habits have their own momentum, and that’s one reason we should break those habits as quickly as possible. If doing certain wrong things has become “natural” to us, we need to get back to where they are un-natural and un-characteristic of us.

As we all know, forming a habit requires repetition. If it’s a good habit, it will take practice and patient training: repeatedly urging ourselves to do things that are hard until they finally become easy. As Hyman G. Rickover observed, “Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.”

Ultimately, it is our habits that determine our character. We all occasionally act in ways that are inconsistent with our character, but it is our habits — our typical behaviors — that define that character. Rules have their place, both God’s rules and our own, but until a rule becomes a habit, the results are going to be minimal. However, when God’s rules become our habits, powerful things begin to happen.

“Habits are safer than rules; you don’t have to watch them, and you don’t have to keep them either — they keep you” (Avery Johnson).

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“Our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

There are a few things every human being has to have. The question is, where shall we look for these? If we deny there is a God, we’ll have to do the best we can to find these things within ourselves or in the secular world around us. However, even if we profess faith in God and acknowledge Him as the source of our “sufficiency,” it’s possible that we rely on the world just as much as anyone else.

For example, consider four of our most fundamental needs:

SECURITY. What is the source from which we derive our sense of safety, assurance, and confidence? How reliable is that source? Since the choice we make determines our sense of worth and personal identity, the choice is one of life’s most important forks in the road.

GUIDANCE. There is no person who doesn’t need enlightenment, guidance, and advice from time to time. In our overall direction in life, as well as our individual activities and decisions, we can’t steer our course without some set of standards and principles. Where do we get these? From God or from secular sources?

WISDOM. Principles are useless if they aren’t applied, and the skill needed to apply them is what we call “wisdom.” The wisdom revealed by God looks ridiculous from the world’s perspective, so which wisdom do we trust in making our real-world decisions?

POWER. Power is not merely the possession of the high and mighty; it is the capacity to fulfill the demands of our daily lives, no matter how simple they may be. But obviously, there are many kinds of power. When we need the strength to make our own choices and carry them out, what kind of power do we employ?

Who is the most exemplary Christian you know? If you consider that person’s life, you’ll probably see that they not only look to God for all of these things, but they balance the four of them in such a way that they work together synergistically. So, our first challenge is to honestly repent and quit looking to the world for our deepest needs, and then second, to start blending the four things we receive from God — security, guidance, wisdom, and power — into a harmonious whole. It’s a challenge, but what a happy one it is!

“When these four factors are present together, harmonized and enlivened by each other, they create the great force of a noble personality, a balanced character, a beautifully integrated individual” (Stephen R. Covey).

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“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7).

When we think about the deeds recorded in Hebrews 11, it’s hard to imagine the level of trust those people must have had. Consider Noah, for example. Everything about his obedience required going out on a limb — his was truly “the righteousness which is according to faith.” In him, we see the faith God has always sought in those who desire to have fellowship with Him.

Belief. Entry-level faith is the kind that accepts whatever facts about God can be known. To “believe” is to accept that what God says is true and that the deeds attributed to Him in the Scriptures actually happened. As far as the future is concerned, faith means believing that if God says something is going to happen, it certainly will. In each of these ways, Noah believed the truth about God.

Trust. Although belief is extremely important, trust is even more so. Noah’s belief wouldn’t have done much good if he hadn’t trusted God enough to risk obeying Him. Like the others in Hebrews 11, he demonstrated confidence in God. And his confidence was not blind gullibility. He knew enough about God’s track record to trust that He could be counted on. Like his belief, Noah’s trust rested on a foundation of facts — facts that could be known to be true.

Belief is always pointing toward trust. Trust is its proper goal, the thing it’s meant to produce. Even in our human relationships, we wouldn’t feel comfortable if someone said, “I believe you, but I don’t trust you.” Just so, God wants us not only to accept the truth of His statements; He wants us, based on those truths, to count on His care.

By the same token, trust is always pointing toward obedience. Belief and trust play supporting roles in producing action in our lives. That’s why it is meaningless to speak of faith without works. If faith doesn’t produce obedience, it has failed to reach its goal.

How do we today measure up? If the courage to obey is what measures our trust, what does the record reveal? Perhaps we trust God up to a point, but there’s nothing in Hebrews 11 about “up to a point.” That chapter is about trusting God no matter what.

“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation” (D. Elton Trueblood).

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“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed” (Galatians 2:11).

If you know me, you know I love questions. Not long ago, I found myself thinking about the fundamental importance of two questions that, when answered honestly, greatly influence our spiritual growth. I invite you to ponder these with me for a few minutes.

How do we handle our faithfulness? Perhaps you think this is a silly question, but faithfulness, like wealth, requires some know-how. Paul said, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity” (Philippians 4:12 NASB). If we know we’ve been faithful to the Lord, that knowledge tests us. As tests go, it’s a good one to have, but it’s still a test. Both financially and spiritually, good times have been the downfall of many. “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

How do we handle our failures? If someone wanted to assess what kind of stuff you’re made of, a lot could be learned from your failures. Especially with moral failures, what did you do next? How did you handle those? I don’t hold myself up as an example (I have often “failed at failing”), but I do have some familiarity with failure. If a crisis is “a dangerous opportunity,” this one is dangerous indeed. It’s nothing less than an opportunity for the devil to destroy your soul.

However, when we handle failure as the Lord has taught us, the result is spiritual growth. When we’ve done wrong, we can’t undo it, but we can do what is right about the wrong, as the Corinthians did, to whom Paul said, “You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right” (2 Corinthians 7:11 NLT).

I would love to know how Peter dealt with Paul’s public rebuke of his hypocrisy in Antioch (Galatians 2:11-14). That was not the first time Peter had acted hypocritically (Luke 22:31-34), but I like to think this dear man handled his shame in Antioch in the right way and ended up glorifying the God whom he had failed so terribly.

As you can see, I’ve said more about “failure” than about “faithfulness.” That’s because failure is more perilous, but in both cases, we must make up our minds to meet the test. Paul summed it up simply: “Be ready to serve God in good times and bad” (2 Timothy 4:2 NIrV).

“Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life” (Walter Anderson).

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“For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10).

Sometimes the challenges of life feel overwhelming. The big picture can seem so large that nothing we could put on our to-do list would be enough to make a difference. And when it comes to the building of a godly character, which is one of life’s most important “projects,” we may have fallen so far behind that “small things” look like a waste of time. We’ll return to this in a moment, but first, think with me about three questions concerning godly character.

(1) What are we waiting for? We joke about procrastination as if it were nothing more than a slight foible or idiosyncrasy, but the fact is, the deferring of effort is one of our major problems in life. If we’ve got a soul-threatening deficiency in our character, the best time to deal with it is now, not next month or whenever a more “convenient season” rolls around. Waiting only makes the problem worse. Chances are, procrastination is what has gotten us into trouble in the first place, so how long are we going to keep deluding ourselves?

(2) What do we do in the hard moments? This question is a variation on the first. Faced with an unpleasant or difficult duty, our character is tested: shall we do what is best? or shall we take the course of least resistance and do what is easy? Starting small and working up to larger “hard moments,” we must learn how to subordinate an impulse to a principle. Doing that, even on a small scale, builds strength today — and it opens the door to greater growth in the future.

(3) How do we handle failure? All of us fail, but there’s no denying that some failures, especially major moral failures, are more catastrophic. Like “hard moments” of decision, major failures show what we’re made of. We’ll talk more about this in tomorrow’s essay, but for now, ponder the adage that a crisis is “a dangerous opportunity.”

As “big” as these questions are, I suggest that progress in them comes from doing our “little” things with gratitude. It is foolish to “despise the day of small things.” Great character is marvelous, but it is made out of small bits. Great people didn’t know they were becoming great; they just entered into their ordinary doings with great mindfulness, seizing the moments rather than throwing them away.

“Temperament we are born with, character we have to make; and that not in the grand moments . . . but in the daily, quiet paths of pilgrimage” (Baldwin Brown).

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“This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18).

Being “charged” with a responsibility is a weighty matter. A charge is not an offhand suggestion or wish; it is a solemn duty. It is the delegation of a significant task to one who is ready to accept the accountability that goes with the assignment.

Paul’s charge to Timothy touches our hearts deeply. We’ve already noticed the text in 1 Timothy 1:18. In 2 Timothy 4:1,2, we hear a similar charge from the older man to his young coworker in the gospel: “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

And it was to the Ephesian elders that Paul made yet another memorable charge: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:28,29).

Usually, a charge is made in the presence of witnesses and is often accompanied by a pledge made by the one being charged. This is a promise to fulfill the responsibility. I believe our “confession” before baptism amounts to such a promise. Confessing Christ, we accept His charge to be faithful in our discipleship. And thereafter, we are reminded to “hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).

If Christ is the One who entrusted this stewardship to us, we can never see it as anything but an honor and a privilege. It’s a joy to sing the words of Charles Wesley’s iconic hymn: “A charge to keep I have.” After what we’ve done, it is by grace that we can be God’s servants.

However, grace will carry us only so far. We won’t hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21) if our service has not, in fact, been “good and faithful.” God will supply the ability — yet we alone can make the choice to do what He has told us to do.

To serve the present age,
my calling to fulfill,
oh, may it all my pow’rs engage
to do my Master’s will.
(Charles Wesley)

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“. . . with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:7).

Too often in our lives, Christ becomes “compartmentalized.” He occupies the “religious” part, but in the “secular” part, we hardly even think about Him — and these days, the secular part has a voracious appetite. With every passing day, it eats up an ever greater percentage of our time, attention, and affection.

While there is no easy answer to this dilemma, we can at least confess the problem posed by our overcrowded lifestyles and always be on the lookout for attitudes, practices, and disciplines that can help us be more devoted to Christ. In this essay, I want to recommend a habit that has helped me personally: simply seeing my daily work — even the mundane parts of it — as a gift to be given to God.

MORNING. The beginning of each new day is a reminder of God’s goodness. How energizing it is to thank Him for His protection during the night and ask Him to help me with the day ahead. Morning is the best time to dedicate to His glory my upcoming endeavors.

NOON. For me, midday is a time to pause and say, “Okay, Gary, how has it gone so far?” And then I pledge the remainder of the day to Christ, seeking His guidance in whatever is yet to be done.

NIGHT. At day’s end, it is time to reflect on what has been done and thank God for His grace. During this “debriefing,” I seek His forgiveness for the ways I’ve stumbled or strayed from His will during the day. Honest prayer lays the foundation for a better tomorrow.

These ideas have a special application to me as a religious writer. The desk at which I write is a place where the work that takes place clearly belongs to the Lord. I should always write “as to the Lord.” But in truth, everything else I do today should be offered to Him. Anything I can’t reverently and gratefully dedicate to Him, I shouldn’t do. “Whatever you are doing, let your hearts be in your work, as a thing done for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23 Weymouth).

To that end, I leave with you some treasured words written in 1932 by Florence M. Carson when she acquired a new writing desk. Even if you’re not a writer and you don’t work at a desk, her attitude is one you’d do well to adopt. All of our daily work is God’s work!

“To the service and work of Christ do I consecrate this desk, earnestly praying that everything written and prepared thereon may be done with the singleness of mind to His honour and glory” (Florence M. Carson).

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“I long to depart and be with Christ . . .” (Philippians 1:23 CSB).

Crossing life’s final border will be the ultimate “arrival.” To reach at last a destination we’ve looked forward to all our lives will be a joy that human words can’t describe. Our “eyes” wide with wonder and our minds swept into complete awe by the King’s majesty, we will “set down our luggage” and stand amazed.

One of the last things our Lord discussed with His apostles before His arrest and crucifixion was the heavenly hope He wanted them to hold onto: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). He wants us all to be with Him in His Father’s city!

If we die before Christ returns, how will our state at death be different from what we’ll enjoy after Christ’s final judgment of the world? I don’t know, and I have little interest in theological speculations about it. It is sufficient for this weary sojourner to know that we will be in “Abraham’s bosom,” along with Lazarus (Luke 16:22), and we will be “with Christ,” as Paul expected to be (Philippians 1:23).

Do you remember the old gospel song “The Christian’s Welcome Home”? It was written by Mary Ann Kidder, who had been blinded as a teenager. Her sight was restored a few years later, but having known blindness, it would have been with a special poignancy that she wrote, “When we the lovely promised land, with spirit eyes, shall see, we’ll join the holy angel band in praise, dear Lord, to Thee.”

It makes me shiver with joy to think that when the moment of my death comes, the King will be just on the other side, waiting to greet me. “Welcome home, My child. We’ve been waiting for you. All has been made ready by My Son, your Elder Brother. Take a moment to catch your breath, and then let’s go to the throne room and join the songs and the stories. You have been missed, but now, here you are! Dear child, your homecoming has made Me so very happy!”

Soon there will be . . .

A last goodbye.
A last letting go.
And then, that first hello. That first opening
of my eyes in a place I’ve never seen
but have always known as home.
And there, O my King and my Christ,
is where the real wonder begins.
(Douglas Kaine McKelvey)

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Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
(Psalm 29:2)

How many different ways do you suppose we could glorify God? I’m thinking here primarily of our individual lives rather than congregational activity. The most obvious way would be speaking of God’s glory in the hearing of other people, but I believe some other things in our lives result in the glorification of our Father.

(1) Fruit-bearing. Jesus said in John 15:8, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” We know that Christ expects of us the fruit-bearing that grows out of discipleship, but doesn’t it impart a special meaning to the bearing of fruit to see it as an opportunity to glorify the Father? Is this not an excellent way to “give unto the Lord the glory due to His name”?

(2) Prayers. It doesn’t come as news to anyone that praise should be a primary ingredient in our prayers (Matthew 6:9). But in proportion to other things like asking God for things we desire, how much of our prayer time actually consists of praise? If the glorification of God is so unfamiliar to us that we can’t think of much to say about it when we’re talking to God, we should be ashamed. There is more to God’s glory than we could praise if we prayed all day, every day!

(3) Obedience. Tragically, obedience is often downplayed these days, as if emphasizing it would lead to nothing more than cold, self-righteous legalism. But it is clear, in the New Testament as well as the Old, that our obedience to God, imperfect though it surely is, should be seen as a means of glorifying God. Jesus made His view of obedience clear and easy to understand when He said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:10).

When we stumble in our obedience, no motivation to repent is better than knowing our repentance will bring glory to God. The angels rejoice — and glorify God — when even one sinner repents (Luke 15:7). And those who love God most — and praise Him most gladly — are those who have been forgiven of much (Luke 7:47).

One eager hope, one passionate desire,
One grand, all-unifying aim —
Albeit in doubt’s dark night or pain’s fierce fire —
Let me bring glory to his name.
(Frank Houghton)

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Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
(Psalm 48:2)

There is a city. I shall go there one day. Even now, I see it in my best dreams. Its white stones gleam in a warm, welcoming light better than any earthly sunrise. Strength, safety, and beauty bless those whose home is there. Zion, the New Jerusalem, owns all of my hope. Here lives the King, the heart’s joy of His beloved people.

When I lie awake in the wee hours, I enjoy envisioning Zion. Yet I know the city will surpass every attempt I’ve made to think of its goodness. It will not be what I expect. But the difference will be positive: it will be better than I could have imagined. By my sin, I have damaged the imagination the Creator gave me. In its present condition, it cannot see a millionth part of the New Jerusalem’s grandeur. Yet the Father wants me to envision it, dream of it, yearn for it.

Zion and its King will be the consummate fulfillment of all our longings. Nothing we have ever rightly wanted will be missing from the King’s gifts to us in the eternal city. But what we have desired in this world is far too little. In that splendid city, we will find ourselves enjoying desires we did not even know we had. The joys of the Shining City will surpass anything we are able to desire here below.

Most of all, our desire for the King will be fulfilled. His complete glory will be ours to behold, glory we could not bear now, even if it were shown to us. In Zion, that entire glory will be our joy forever.

The King cannot and will not bring me to His city if I resist Him. My love must trust Him enough to obey Him. But He has promised to help those who try to follow the footprints of His Son, whom He sent into this world to show us what He is like. I want nothing more than to be like the Father whom the Son revealed. Made in His image, my heart sings in hope, knowing that when the perfection of His image is restored in me and made firm, I shall be mended and whole. Overcome, my earthly failures will make my heavenly voice of gratitude unique in the countless chorus of His saints. My feet shall walk the pavements of that shining, eternal city. Never shall I tire of dwelling there. The King will be an ever-unfolding adventure.

“O Lord, grant that we may rejoice to see the bliss of your Jerusalem” (Mozarabic Liturgy).

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