| << | Contents | >> |
Exchanged Glory II: The OK Stronghold
<page 91>In Exchanged Glory: A Vision of Freedom, I presented an outline (based on Romans 1:18-2:11) of our fall into sin and subsequent climb out of it. Our ungodliness (bad worship) produces foolishness in our hearts. As a result, we fail to control our sinful passions. In order to reverse the process, we need to return to godliness (good worship) and gain the wisdom to live for Jesus.
Exchanged Glory II: The OK Stronghold has focused on the foolishness of our hearts. It has been based on Ephesians 4:17-19:
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
God gives us over to sins by allowing us to fall into such futility of mind that we give ourselves over.
In our generation, the false god of permissive-love darkens our understanding. He replaces God’s commandments with the belief that we have a right to decide for ourselves who we should be (authenticity). He moves us from the power of God to the fears and cheers of the OK Stronghold, which is a cultural form of the ignorance that is in us. We learn to think and act based on our feelings rather than truth. We play games to try to prove our worth.
It is hard for us to see our blindness, because our culture has built an exciting and fun way to live. The OK Stronghold is like a nuclear reactor that motivates us to rise and face each day. There are challenges and opportunities all around us, and we have more “toys” than any society in the history of the world. It can be wonderful, but there is a price.
Conviction leaves our hearts, and compromise replaces it. Some of us lose the capacity to make the kind of firm decisions that life demands, and we become like cities without walls. Pleasures march in and deceive us; demons attack and plague us.
The false god of permissive-love also undermines true faith. Without it, we are unable to receive the wisdom we need. We may want to live for God, but we have closed ourselves off from the tools He gives to accomplish the task. We become “like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind … unstable …” (James 1:6; 8).
With these kinds of weaknesses, the nuclear reactor of the OK Stronghold can melt down. We can develop an addictive mindset. The attitudes and actions that make us feel OK become destructive forces in our lives. We work feverishly to hang onto a sense of wellbeing – while we chip away at its foundation. Drugs, sex, and other influences grab for our hearts, and some of us slide into a chain reaction called addiction.
I presented the principles I put in place in my own life to fight this disaster. I called them the OK Busters.
<page 92> OK Buster 1: I will judge by the truth rather than by my feelings
OK Buster 2: I am eternally OK by the blood of Jesus
OK Buster 3: I have only one Judge and Master
OK Buster 4: Life isn’t about feeling OK by my standards; it is about knowing Jesus
Lord willing, I will build on these principles in future books.
In Exchanged Glory III: Wise as Serpents, I will look at how God rebuilt my mind. It was one thing to say that I would judge by the truth; it was quite another to find the truth. My thoughts had been darkened by years of ignorance, fear, and fantasy. I needed God’s light to shine on me.
In Exchanged Glory IV: A Time for Every Purpose, I will talk about how wisdom moved into my emotions. My head could no longer manage my wounded heart. As my turmoil ruptured and spilled out, God taught me how to better recognize His work, and I learned how to nurse my damaged inner life back to health.
Finally, in Exchanged Glory V: God Meant It for Good, I will tell how I grew to understand God’s plan for my life. I found the healing that I had sought for over thirty years and became free indeed.
Search Comments
This page has been visited 0001 times.
| << | Contents | >> |
10 per page