Trials and Temptations

They are the tag team of life.

You get hit by one thing after another.  The car breaks down.  The mortgage is late.  You get laid off.  You get 5 stitches in your finger, then get a $600 bill AFTER insurance has paid (personal experience there).  All these are relatively minor compared to the trials of a divorce, a death or a serious illness of a loved one or yourself.  Trials tear your heart, they bend your mind, and they work on breaking your soul.  And God's answer to this:

Consider it pure joy.

That's right, God says when life hands you lemons, make the best lemonade known to man.  Now, I don't expect anyone to stop praying for their trial to be over, but I don't think we should expect trials to end quickly.  They can, but God uses these times of stress to grow us, to mature us.  So the question is- what would God have us pray?

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.--James 1:5-6


He would have us pray for wisdom- wisdom to deal with the adversity laid at our feet.  And He wants us to pray and believe He will answer our cry for wisdom.  This is not a "pray for health and wealth and TRULY believe and you will have it."  This is a prayer for the spiritual blessing of wisdom.  It's about growing your character, not your dividends.  It is about believing that no matter what is going on around you, God desires for you to have victory in the midst of it.  God is also telling us something in His command to ask for wisdom:

He knows the next part of the tag team is coming.


See, trials soften us up, make us distracted, make us spiritually weak if we aren't careful.  Then temptation swoops in and goes for the kill.  When we can say "I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears." (Psalm 6:6) then we are primed to fall into temptation.  Our defenses are down from dealing with the other junk going on, and lust, or greed, or selfishness, or lying seems much easier to go to than God.  And remember, it's not God who is tempting us- we must remember that.  We also must own our own role in falling to temptation.

"...but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed."  
                                                                                                --James 1:14


We allow ourselves to ponder, or think on a temptation, then it grows.  Perhaps one of the greatest temptations that comes when facing trials is to give up- on rescue and on God.  He doesn't seem to answer, He seems to have left us alone.  So the temptation is to tell God- "ENOUGH!"


God's answer to that- to any doubting of His character- is "Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." (James 1:16-18)  


God is working for our good.  Yes, He inexplicably allows us to suffer- but He offers us wisdom to deal with it.  Yes, He allows us to choose temptation- but He offers an unshakable rescue.  

So, yeah, Trials and Temptations are tag teaming you.  But don't forget who the other (greater) half of your tag team is.

Miracle Drug

A few weeks ago, I got the flu. I believe it was the first time since I was a kid that I contracted this really annoying little bug, despite never getting a flu vaccine. Now, once I had the flu, I wanted the drugs. I needed the drugs. And nothing would keep them from me.

Tamiflu is expensive, for the record. Sure, compared to some heart meds and other triple digit dollar amount drugs, it's nothing. So, I had a brief moment of hesitation when forking over the $60 for the pills, but the chills started to kick back in. I got over it. Then the next day, both my kids were diagnosed with the influenza, and my wife was put on Tamiflu as a preventative measure. It was expensive, but this time I had no hesitation. We all needed to do what was explicitly necessary to kill this germ that wreaking havoc on our family before it got worse. We wanted the miracle drug to work.

I've been reading Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, with my friend Eric. In it, Chan relates the story of a college student asking a very potent and piercing question: "Why would a loving God force me to love Him?"

The truth is, I've heard this before. The truth is also that it is easy to see where this mentality comes from. I mean, if you don't love God, you die the big Death with a capital D. If you don't follow Jesus, you are separated from the Father. It's kind of totalitarian, if you'll allow me that strong term. Yeah, I see that there is a bit of forcing us to choose God coming from God Himself. The Bible is full of people that were "strongly encouraged" to choose God.

I admit: It seems rather harsh that God essentially says choose me or you can go to Hell. Literally.

But, what if it's necessary?

I didn't really want to take my flu meds. They made me kinda nauseous at first. They cost more money than I wanted to spend. But if I wanted to get over the flu quickly, there was NO OTHER WAY to go.

If we created a miracle drug that cured all ailments- from cancer to AIDS to headaches to the common cold- and you had to take it just once- would you take it? It would cost you a lot of money, but you'd not have to worry about health care ever again. You'd never need to take another pill of any kind for the rest of your life. The catch is, there is no other company or industry that will ever be able to manufacture this drug, so you have to take it from this company. You are being, in essence, forced to support this company.

For a lifetime of good health by taking one pill- it's worth it, isn't it?

Matthew 9:12 says: On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

When we realize we are sick, we will do whatever it takes to get well. Be told you have cancer, and your first thoughts upon soaking that in will be "What can we do?" Have a heart attack, and you want to know what you have to do to prevent that from happening again.

You want the drugs/treatment/surgery that makes it better.

Now, you're sick. All of us are. We WILL die from it. The question is can we be cured from eternal death and get eternal life? If there was a way to get that, and only one way to get that, would it be worth it?

Would you not, if you knew of a way to cure a loved one from cancer or AIDS or heart disease, do every thing within your power to make them pursue that course of treatment? Would you not force them?

Of course you would. Because you love them. You'd move mountains if you could to help the ones you love.

If God is 'forcing' us to love Him- and I don't see it that way- it is because He loves us. Now, the way I see it, if God has the Miracle Drug to cure us from this Death that awaits us- it's not Him forcing us to love Him. It is Him offering us the pill- the only one of its kind- that will save us. Accepting and returning the Love of God is the Miracle Drug.

And He is the only one making it.

We can still choose to reject Him, He does allow for that. I could have chosen to refuse my Tamiflu and struggled through it on my own. I probably would have made it. Thousands of patients every day choose not to take the pill or the chemo or the surgery because they have the same choice as we do. They can say 'No' to the well meaning doctor and family members pleading, pushing and yes, forcing them to take the cure.

But the truth is, you cannot reject God and live for eternity. It's not Him forcing you.

It is Him doing everything to save you.

I Am Not My Sin

So, last night Kristin and I sat down to watch "Pray the Gay Away" on OWN ( Yep, I am surrendering my guy card for that one.) Basically, the show was looking at ministries like Exodus Ministries that works with Christians who are gay, but want to overcome those urges, and also the flipside to that: Christians who are gay and feel that is just who they are and don't need to change it. The first half hour was mostly about Exodus and a woman with her own ministry/a guy she has worked with for four years. The second half hour was about a camp for gay students where they can be "gay and Christian." In the midst of this pretty compelling show, I noticed something seemed to be recurring in the words of the people: Identity. Those wanting to be free of the homosexual urges and those wanting to embrace them both talked a lot about their identity and the confusion of what to do when their very personal urges conflicted with their very personal- and on both sides, vibrant- faith.

Let me just say, for clarity, where I stand. I believe that the Bible teaches homosexuality is wrong. It is a sin. But it is no more vile a sin than murder, lying, looking at pornography, getting drunk or cheating on your taxes. Being gay does not merit a total rejection from God and a denial of entrance to heaven. Homosexuals are people that God loves dearly, and as His children, we are to love them as well. But I am concerned about the way in which we are trying to make this sin 'okay' and I am concerned with the growing trend to say that "gay is how I was made and, therefore, who I am."

As I was watching the show, God seemed to be teaching me something not just about this particular sin, but all sin: We identify ourselves by it. Think about it, you call yourself an alcoholic if you can't stop drinking. You call yourself a liar if you can't ever seem to tell the truth. You label yourself a porn addict if you can't stop searching the internet for porn. And if you have committed some crime like murder or sexual assault you bear that label for the rest of you life- regardless of what comes after. It seems that no matter who we are deep down, our sins still define us to those around us- and even to ourselves.

Batman Begins has this theme running through it. It is the line "It's not who you are on the inside, but what you do that defines you." In context, it means if you are a good person deep down, but do nothing good, can you really be good? It rings very near to "faith without works is dead." In our world, it seems that it doesn't matter if you believe in Jesus in your heart, we are defined more by our sin and our actions (and maybe our inactions) than what we believe. Clearly, the truth is that what we do does define us to those around us. They can't know our heart, but they can see our actions. The problem comes when we define ourselves by our action, by our sin, rather than by the owner of our heart.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 about this issue:

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (Emphasis mine)

As believers in Christ, we are to no longer identify ourselves as these sins. WE were these things, but we are washed, sanctified (made holy, set apart by God, for God), and justified ( made right with God's law) by Jesus. By His NAME. Our identity is to be in Christ, not in our addictions, our urges, our sins or our lifestyles. It is wrong for me to identify myself by my sin instead of by my Savior. To do so demeans the work of Christ.

But what about those who say they are, as Lady Gaga sings today, "Born This Way?"

OK, I'll give you that. While I believe God makes us without sin, we are born into a world that is fallen. Something happens to us when our souls put on this flesh- the Bible often refers to the flesh as sinful, by the way- that warps us. I believe that in the same way some of us are born with natural abilities, we are all born with natural bents to sin. This is not a result of the failure of God, rather it is a result of the Fall of Man. Some of us are born into a lifelong struggle with the bottle or with same-sex attraction. Some of us are born with a tendency toward violence or with a sociopathic lack of care for others. The fallen nature of this world messes us up. But there are millions of people born with these and other urges who daily fight them down- they deny the identity that were born as, repress it as the show last night often said- because they value something more than getting to be themselves.

That is the issue I have with sins that we claim we do just because it is how we are made. If we are believers in Christ, we were unmade in that image, and remade in the image of Christ. We may have been born with sinful desire, but we have been born again to desire Christ. To desire Him more than we desire ourselves. Yes, to even deny our most powerful, and most identity defining urges and longings, if they conflict with the One whose Name we now bear.

Adn when we fall again to those urges- because we will as long as we wear this flesh- we need offer forgiveness to ourselves and to others. I think the current president of Exodus Ministries (himself a man who was actively homosexual but is now married), who got the last word last night, said it best. As the show closed, he was asked if he thought that Christians who were gay would still get to go to heaven. He responded by sayin that yes, he believed that. That though they sinned, God was big enough to forgive them, because what mattered was that Jesus was in their heart, regardless of the struggles they still fall to.

The Temptation of Entitlement

Entitlement is sort of a word of the day for me. Really, word of the week.

I see it thrown about in political discussions, and read articles about the mindset it creates in our culture. It's a fancy word, to be sure. It is also powerful. But in reality, as it plays out in our lives, it is nothing less than deadly.

In my last post, I mentioned Satan's final desert temptation of Jesus was one of entitlement- asking Jesus to essentially believe that the Father owed Him. Jesus cut this temptation down quickly, and efficiently by stating that you don't test God. Oh, how I wish we could be like that.

Entitlement runs rampant not just in society at large- a culture, a generation, a leader who feels someone else OWES them something they have yet to earn- it is overpowering in our churches. And it is in us as individuals.

Entitlement to Control

We all want things to go our way. We want things to favor us and bear good outcomes for us. The problem comes when we are tempted to demand that we be given control. It starts simply, we think our idea is a better idea than the current idea. But the entitlement the other idea holder possesses saying that their idea runs things clashes with your feeling of entitlement to enact your idea. Then it stops being about the merit of either idea and becomes about who is in control.

In the past, the one with the entitlement to control feeling has been the one with the leadership position. But now, everyone feels they have the right to control whatever they want. In churches, I've personally seen situations where a disagreement with a church leader has led members to seek to take control of the situation because, after all, "It is my church." There it is- MY. People who have grown up in a church feel entitled to run it the way they want. On the flip-side, the newcomer feels entitled to run things their way because they have fresher ideas.

And again, its never about the ideas when it gets to this point- it is about ME. What I want, regardless of what is best for others. The answer to this temptation of entitlement to control is to consider others. Be selfless. Be what we see in Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Entitlement to control is about pushing yourself higher and higher- elevating yourself to a power you feel you deserve just because. The answer is humility and concern for others.

Entitlement to Privacy

We're an independent culture. We like our privacy as much we like our rugged individualism. I myself prefer solitude whenever I can get it. This often leads us to feel entitled to be able to keep things to ourselves and not share our struggles or failures, or even our faith as a whole. We say, "My faith is between me and God." This is true...sort of. See, your relationship with God is EXCEPTIONALLY personal. What transpires between you and Him can be very private and sometimes is almost secretive. But He wants us to share with others our needs, our sins, and doubts.

We don't really talk about what's going on with us. We don't often share the things God is teaching us, or working with us on. We share our socially safe sins, the ones that we know people won't judge us on, but we never talk about the stuff that actually is tearing us apart. And share our doubts and fears with each other? Forget about it!

I think leaders have this problem more than most. Pastors, teachers, elders, deacons- pick your favorite- all of us feel that to let others know of our weakness is to invite a loss of favor, a loss of trust, and maybe a loss of position. We are terrified to share those darker thoughts and actions that aren't socially safe- and we hide behind that idea that some things are better kept between our families and maybe a close friend. But what we create in the minds of the people we lead is that it is OK to keep our life sucking weaknesses to ourselves. That it is better to keep a painful secret than be set free. That it is better to close ourselves off from those who love us rather than admit we can be wrong.

I share my failures with people. My church is aware of my struggles, and I admit my failures when I realize they are there- either by my own discovery or someone pointing it out to me. I do still struggle from time to time with being defensive about it, but that is something God is working on me about. What I have come to realize is that putting up that poser wall of privacy to hide my weakness doesn't just hurt me- it hurts those I am called to lead. And it especially hurts those who are struggling in secret with the same junk I am.

Entitlement to Grace

A dangerous trend I've noticed is this idea that we are entitled to Grace. Grace is freely and abundantly given by our God, but we exploit it by justifying our sins or twisting the meaning of the Word to get what we want, while casually saying, "If I'm wrong, I've got grace."

We did not, nor will we ever, earn grace. And it is not given so we can do what we want and then collect a "Get Out of Hell Free" card on the way to the grave. Grace is given so we can know God, and pursue knowing Him more. Grace is not about making life easier, or our sins more palatable. Our acceptance of the Grace of God is, however, an entitlement. It is an entitlement to share in the life of Christ. I see grace as it is meant to be in Philippians 3: 10-11

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

I think the idea that God (or anyone, for that matter) owes us anything is a height of selfishness. Entitlement kills us, even as we labor under the impression that what we think we are owed brings life. In fact, if the account in Isaiah 14: 13-15:

You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.

...is about Satan, then entitlement was kind of the sin that caused his fall. He thought himself better, deserving, even entitled to power. When we claim our entitlements, we fall as Satan fell.

To me, this makes his temptation of Jesus with entitlement in the desert in Luke 4 all the more telling. And why it seems to be a favorite temptation for you and me today.

Sexting and the Identity Crisis

It's always something with teenagers.

One generation has the evils of dance and drink. Another sees the danger of drink and drive. Yet another sees the evil of drugs rear it's head. A few years ago it was the predator filled land of MySpace. Now, it's sexting.

Last night, the local news ran a report on this new phenomenon (which, I must add, is not exclusive to those age 13-19). In the story, a mother discovered her 15 year old had created several false social media profiles and was sexting several older guys. So mom calls the dudes up and outs the daughter. Gutsy mom. In the story, the State Attorney General spoke of efforts to pass legislation making it illegal.

This morning, a local doctor who does a 3 minute bit on the local morning show, and whom I'll call Dr. Eyebrows, also addressed the issue. And for once, I agree with him- for a minute or two. He said legislation and potentially labeling these kids sex offenders won't solve the problem because we haven't answered why they do it. He says it is because we don't spend enough time with our kids, that that is the root of it. That's where I disagree with Dr. Eyebrows. Time with our kids is a part of it, but I spent a great deal of time with my parents, good quality time at that, and I still engaged in actions that were not the best for me. Admittedly, I was not the typical rebellious teen at all, and had sexting been around back them, I would never have done it anyway. I still got involved in things that were not the best, ranging from BB gun fights to pornography, and I had very good, involved parents.

I did the things I did because I was looking for identity.

I've long said that the 18-25 time of our lives is about defining our identity. It's that period of time in which we become who are for the rest of our lives. But I would say that the teenagers years is when we first become aware of a need for identity, and so set out to create one.

We pursue sports, recreational activities, the opposite sex, a cool car, a reputation, a group to belong to, an image- all things that give us identity. But this is identity bestowed. It comes from others. Sexting, to me, falls into this area. It is an attempt to attain an identity as sexy or tempting. An flawed identity that says "I am a man or woman because I am sexy." This is nothing new. When our grandparents' parents were terrified of them going dancing, it was because dancing always led to sex, and that is what teens want more than anything. OK, the "always led to sex" part was a bit of hyperbole on their part, but sex being a predominant thought for teens is not too far off the mark. Up until the Technology Age we live in, sex had to be personal. Now, it comes over the internet or through the phone.

And it is still about a teens search for identity.

To be declared sexy means to have identity. To be a 'mature' person in they eyes of their peers. Again, this is identity bestowed, not identity discovered. So, here is my answer to Dr. Eyebrows' suggestion that we spend more time with our kids: Time spent with our kids NEEDS to be time spent urging them to define themselves, to discover their identity for themselves. And we need to remind that while the mask of identity they wear in High School (Jock, Cowboy, Cheerleader, Band Nerd, Geek, etc.) will fade, the scars they receive in pursuit of this temporary identity will not. It is natural for teens to experiment with who they are, but those experiments will have consequences. Habits they establish in the teen years will either plague them or help them for the rest of their lives, long after the nicknames have faded. You can delete that sext, but what you have given up is much more than data.

And really, sexting is not the core issue- it is a symptom. A generation exists right now that doesn't know who it is- just like every generation before it. It is trying things to see if they can figure out who they are. And they so desperately want to be cool and grown up, and are willing to create a false identity (literally and figuratively) so that others will perceive them as such. Because they fail to see the real person they are. Whether it is sexting, or drunkenness, or bullying, or lying, they are all the attempts of a blind person trying to see themselves in a mirror. They can't see themselves, so they act in such a way that others define them. And they live in that definition until one day, often when it's too late, they can suddenly see the mirror for themselves. It is then that they realize they have been living an identity that is not really them at all, but it is too late to undo what has been done. The scars won't fade now

It is a simple answer to say that what people need is Jesus. It is a church answer to the extreme. But church answers aren't always wrong answers. I was able to avoid making most of the big bad decisions in my teen years because I chose to let God define my identity, for the most part. I struggled with then, and struggle with now, the issue of pornography because I didn't, in those formative years, let God define that part of me. I didn't drink or do drugs, I didn't drive recklessly- even when I had a Firebird. I had a better idea of who I was in High School because I had Jesus leading me to those answers instead of letting other identity challenged teens give me a name. I still was blown away by how little I knew of myself when I got to college, but I had way fewer scars than many of my friends. But there is not a day goes by that I don't wish I had given over to Jesus that sexual part of my identity that was scarred by the images I saw. If I had only trusted Him totally, I could have spared so much anguish.

Now imagine the feeling of a teen who got lost in the false identity given through "teenage indiscretions" like sexting or beer parties or hookups or bullying. The choices teens make will define them, long after they have grown up and tried so hard to let the world see them as they really are. Those choices may be see by everyone, like when there is a teenage pregnancy or a drunk driving collision. Or they may be private like pornography. But they are there. In our hearts. In our minds. They are the nagging little things that won't let go, no matter how hard we try to get away. No matter how much we want them to fade.

If you're young, make wise decisions and seek your identity from the One who actually matters. If you're old, know that the One who actually matters forgives us for our failures- the old ones and the new ones. In Jesus, we have a new chance. A new hope.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. --Revelation 2:17

Flag Football Grace

Today I am sore.

It takes great pains to lift my legs when walking. Rising from my chair requires a groan and many wobbles. I have a finger that is a lovely shade of purple.

This is all because, yesterday, I played flag football with our church. This translates into three people over the age of 30 playing with and against nine people under the age of 25. Six years makes a great deal of difference. I learned this among much other vitally important stuff.

For one, I learned that coordination at 31 is not what it was at 21. I learned that when the momentum of the upper body exceeds the terminal velocity of the lower body, one can enter into a "head skid." I learned that after falling on the ground, rolling is an excellent way to prevent your flags from being pulled- but it is not a legal way to gain yards. I learned that one's wife will, on instinct, trip you to prevent you from sacking her teammate. Lastly, I was reminded of what if feels like to be trapped.

I got to quarterback a few times, and each time, a rush came at me. What often happened was the rushers simply pushed the defenders back with them, so anywhere from three to five people were suddenly all in my space, with no way out. Running around it wasn't an option all that often (see the above mentioned age difference), so you often had to through up a hopeful pass or take the sack. Fortunately, we were playing flag football. Mostly. ( See above mentioned wife defensive strategy.)

It's one thing to feel trapped in a friendly flag football game. It's a totally different kind of trapped when you feel attacked- physically, spiritually, or emotionally. For me, the trapped feeling comes in one of two ways most often: from increased stress or from sin. Usually, they eventually tag team me.

I've felt trapped lately. Temptations rise around me like a defensive line going for the sack. The walls close in and I feel trapped, I can't see a way out of them. I can run for a bit, but I grow tired and the assailants don't. I look for a way out, but the added stress makes me question every decision, every way out is shut down by my feeling of oppression. The loss I take is much more deadly than taking a couple yards for a sack.

Praying the other day, I felt it impressed upon me to read Psalm 40. It's the one that starts out talking about waiting patiently for the Lord, then Him hearing the cry. U2 made a song about it:


In the middle of the Psalm, comes a plea. It comes from the depths of the man, of David who is no stranger to heart wrenching failure and oppression.

11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD;
may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased to save me, LORD;
come quickly, LORD, to help me.

So often, it feels our heart fails. We know what is right, we know what is good. We know what hurts God, hurts those we love, hurts ourselves. But we grow weak in the moment. We give a little ground, and the sin takes the field in a stunning blitz we weren't prepared for. Our troubles overtake us, our sins overwhelm us and we can no longer see our salvation. So, in our moment of desperation, we throw up a prayer blindly. We hope it will find it's intended target before we take the sack. We can't see Him out there, we just hope He is 'pleased to save me.'

I don't know how He does it. I don't know why and definitely not when He does it. But He saves us. Not just that first time when we first meet Him, but daily. He does hear us, and though His answer is not always immediate, He does rescue us. HE snatches our plea for rescue from the air and brings it down securely in His possession. Then He helps us.

He calms us if we will listen for Him and wait for Him. He heals us if we are willing to forgive ourselves for getting into the mess in the first place. He restores us if we are willing to shed the sin that has grown painfully into our skin. And make no mistake, ridding our lives of sin will hurt. Maybe it's the mild removal of a splinter kind of hurt, maybe it's an amputation kind of hurt. Either way, removing a sin that has become a part of you would kill you- if you weren't already dead to sin but alive in Christ (Romans 6:11).

My soreness today reminds of a good memory- a great game with good friends. The soreness of sin however reminds us of how quickly we can get lost in the old us. If only we would remember the pain of sin when in the midst of pursuing it again. There is another ache, however, that rises when we perpetually return to our old sins. It is the ache of longing for God. The ache of losing sight of Him, of broken relations with Him. Of a heart that has failed.

Sin leads to death. Death comes from a heart that has failed- both physically and spiritually.

So if your heart is failing, your options for escape have faded away or you've given up on them, lift your eyes to patch of sky that is still visible in your haze. It's there, trust me. Throw your last hope for rescue at it, trusting in a God you've strayed from but who has never left you. It's not logical, it's not good football strategy to toss a blind pass in the vain hope your receiver will snag it.

It's a good thing Jesus isn't like a flag football receiver, isn't it?