Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Faith, Hope & Love P23 (06-09-20)
Synopsis
In this world today, of riots and pillaging and murder in the streets, is that something that should shock us, as if that would never happen, in a world of sin and death? God said that in this world you will have trials and tribulations. So what happens when we do not hold onto the truth of what God has said? Do we even realize that there is an enemy called Satan, or have we been deceived into thinking he does not exist? If we think he does not exist, then who do people tend to blame? Do they not tend to blame God for causing or allowing these things to happen? Do we have unrealistic expectations, expectations different than what God told us to expect to happen? So why is this faith in Christ so vital for us to walk in, to believe what God has said and to act upon that belief?
But what else has God promised us. He said that He has overcome the world. And in Him there is peace that surpasses understanding. And, he said that He will cause all things to happen for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His good purpose. By faith, we believe what He has said and promised us in His word, and we act on that belief. We can we trust Him that what He says He will carry out and complete.
When we do not trust Him, and when we lean on our own understanding, not acknowledging Him, what is our tendency. Is not our natural tendency one of worry and fear? God knows that is so natural to us, who have sin-indwelling flesh and this ongoing conflict between our flesh and the Spirit, who lives within us. That is why He reminds us of truth, so we can store truth in our hearts and so we can stand when the day of evil comes. That is why we walk by faith and faith is so important in living in the divine nature God has given us the privilege to live in.
So we have these wonderful truths, and these reminders to be thankful always, to rejoice in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. We also, when we have trials and tribulations, we can rejoice in them, not for them, because of what God is working in us. We come to realize how light and momentary they really are in light of eternity, and that He produces in us perseverance and compassion. Have you ever stumbled into sin as a believer, and maybe not even just a minor one, such as a lie here or there? Consider David, a man after God’s own heart. Do you think after he sinned with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, that after his heart had changed, that he became a man of great compassion? He learned something about himself, that he is capable of great sin. That is true of all of us, and we learn that God is gracious to the humble but resists the proud.
So what should our attitude be when we see a brother or sister caught up in sin? Should it not be to restore such a person gently, and to do so with humility, knowing that you yourself could fall? Yes, of course. When we ourselves have fallen and have been restored, are we not able to show the same compassion we received from God and extend that to them? Yes. He who has been forgiven much, loves much. So we learn to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and oftentimes God builds in us the character of God that He has promised us, that He will complete the work He began in us. So again, as Paul said, be thankful always, and again I say rejoice.
Transcript
We learned something in this study about faith. First of all, we learned that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Therefore, we do know that it is a priority as God is concerned. The reason for that is because what faith is is merely believing God, believing what God said, believing when God said that when He went to a cross and took away the sins of the whole world, and if you are listening [or reading along], you are in the world, and faith says, “thank you”. Faith says, “I believe you, that what you say is true”. When God says, “I give you eternal life”, you say, “thank you”. Presumption says, “That sounds nice but I am going to earn it” or “I can lose it But faith says, “if I gave you life called eternal life, that no one can take away from you” then faith says “thank you”.
So, we learned that without faith it is impossible to please God because without faith is that what we are doing is calling God a liar. Faith is not something we conjure up. Faith is a response, a mechanism God built into man, giving every man something called faith, inside of him, that enables him, with the ability to respond to the communication of God. So when God says something, faith says “thank you, I believe that”.
We learned in lesson 2 that without faith it is impossible to please God. We learned faith is not a feeling. It has nothing to do with how you feel about something. It is that you believe what He says is true. It does not make any difference whether you feel it or not. The issue is do you believe it. God made man in such a way that our feelings will predictably respond to what you are thinking. So it is not a feeling problem we need to be concerned with. It is a thinking problem. What do you believe to be true. God’s word points to our minds. It does not point to our feelings. If it pointed to our feelings, then we would go through life believing something because I feel this is true. But when He points it to your mind, then I go through life knowing something is true and whether I feel it or not is irrelevant. I know something is true. We learned about that, that faith is not a feeling.
<>We talked about some examples of faith as we went through chapter 3. We learned that the object of our faith is Jesus and His word to us. Again in 2 Peter 1:3-4, He told us a promise that is just almost unbelievable to us.
2 Peter 1:3-4
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Faith says, “I believe that”. He said, “My divine power has given you everything you need for life and godliness”. Faith says, “thank you”. How can faith say, “that is nice but I am going to improve upon something you have done. I am going to make myself more godly than you ever dreamed or imagined. You do not know what I need. I will try to conjure up my faith big enough that I can cause you to do what I want you to do whether you give it to me or not”.
Faith says that we are going to participate in that divine nature he has given to us through our knowledge of him. The more we get to know Jesus who called us by his own glory and goodness, the more we know about his provision. The more we know of him, the more we know of his provision. It is through these great and precious promises he has given us that enables us to participate in the divine nature, His divine nature. In so participating in His nature, we escape the corruption of the world caused by our evil desires.
Now, we then learned from the apostle Paul that our faith is not to rest on our, on men’s wisdom, but upon the Spirit’s power, to lean not on your own understanding, but in all things, in prayer, in supplication, in thanksgiving, make your requests be known to God. Not leaning on our own understanding but in all things acknowledging Him and let Him direct our path.
Philippians 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We also learned that none of us have big faith. For He told the apostles that if any of us had faith as big as a mustard seed we could move a mountain.
Matthew 17:20
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
I have not seen anybody move a mountain. I cannot even move an ant hill. It shows us God is not impressed with our faith at all. It says we do not need big faith but a big God. Yet so much emphasis in teaching today is on how big is your faith instead of how big is your God. If you had enough faith, you could grow hair on your head and do this and do that. Everyone is concerned how big their faith is when Jesus said none of you have faith as small as a mustard seed. If you did, you could move a mountain. Yet, people are out there trying, if they could, to move one.
2 Timothy 1:12
12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
In the last chapter, in chapter 4, we talked about examples of faith. Abraham was a prime example God gave us in scripture of faith, how he believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.
Romans 4:18-25
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[Genesis 15:5] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
What did Abraham do? Did Abraham’s faith cause God to do something? No, God told him something. Abraham believed that. That is what faith is, “I believed that”. Faith then says, “I am going to act upon it. I believed it and then I am going to act on it”. You cannot exercise faith in what you do not believe. The first step is belief. Then when you believe it, then act on it. That is exactly what Abraham did in sacrificing Isaac.
Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[Genesis 21:12] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
He did this because he believed God. He had faith in what God had said. He acted on that truth. That is what James is talking about.
James 2:18-24
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[Genesis 15:6] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
James said that faith without works is dead. If God tells you to do something, then you are not exercising faith unless you step out and do that. So faith without the works he told you to do is dead. It is not faith. It is only belief.
There is a difference between believing something and putting faith in something. I can believe something and not put my faith in it. It could be that you do not believe it or it could be that you believe it but are not going to test it. So we learned that about faith.
2 Timothy 4:5-8
5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
In 2 Timothy, Paul talked about, at the end of his life, “I am being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come for my departure”. Paul knows something, “I am going to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. I have fought the good fight. I kept the faith. I started by faith in Christ Jesus and I am going to die in faith in Christ Jesus. I kept that which was committed to me. I kept that and I am going to die the same way I was born again, through faith in Jesus Christ”. That to me is exciting to realize. That is a privilege each and every one of us has, to some day die with the same faith we started with when we were born again.
Now we are on chapter 5 in regard to faith lived out, to re-emphasize this to explain a foundational truth. Faith is not something we exercise in order to get God to do something. Faith is belief. I do not believe I can cause God to do something. What I believe is God has already done something and I am going to enter into that by believing His instruction to me as to what He has done and say, “thank you for that, Lord”. I do not believe that all of this faith talk that has gone on in Christendom today where the sole emphasis is on what you are doing instead of on Him and on what He is doing and in what He has already accomplished for us in the person of Christ Jesus.
James 1:2-5
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 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.
An attitude of faith will always begin to see problems as opportunities to trust God. There is not a person, in the sound of my voice, who does not have problems. If you do not have them today, you will have them tomorrow. If you have not had them today, you had them yesterday. Jesus even told us that we will have troubles, trials and tribulations in this world but He said, “fear not. I have overcome the world.
John 16:32-33
32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
My faith is in two things. First of all, I will have problems. I have a lot of faith in that and I have a lot of experience to bear out that is true. Second, I do not have to fear because He has overcome the world. I am going to put my faith in that. I am not going to cause that to happen. My faith does not cause Him to overcome the world. My faith is in the fact He has already done that. My faith does not cause problems. My stupidity does. My faith says, “I am going to have problems. So I am not going to be living in unrealistic expectations in regard to problems that come our way in life nor am I going to be living in total shock when they do. Neither am I going to say,‘ how can God allow this to happen?’”
John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
You hear a lot of that. One of the greatest emphasis Satan has is keeping people from acknowledging that he exists. If he can get people thinking that there is no such thing as Satan, then the world blames everything on God. That is why people say, “Why did God do this or cause things?” God did not bring sin and death and illness into this world. Satan brought that into this world. Jesus came to bring life to the dead. If Satan can get you to believe there is no Satan, then you have to blame it on somebody. So people blame it on God. God did not cause those things. God is a God of love. God is love. Satan brought every death abiding thing that has ever occurred in this world. Satan has brought that about. There are two sources in this world. There is the source of evil from Satan and the source of good that comes from God.
So, I see that if I am going to have an attitude of faith, then I am going to look at problems, not in shock. I am not going to be surprised of that coming on and I am not going to be asking why God allowed that to occur. When God made man with free will, that opened up the possibility of that to happen. The alternative was to make us robots. We have to understand that when God made man with choice to choose, then man can choose to steal from you, to rape, loot, riot and pillage. You are not going to stop that. Men can murder you and beat you up. Man can do all kinds of things and you cannot ask God, “Why did you allow that?” The reason is God gave man a choice and man is choosing to do that. When we look at that realistically, then we are not going to be sitting around doubting God and His love and mercy asking those questions of why he allowed or caused those to occur.
Romans 8:27-29
27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
In the midst of our trials and tribulations, God can be trusted for something, to cause all things to happen for our good. If we can trust that in advance, we can say, “thank you”. No matter what happens we can place our faith in Him to carry us through the problem we are going through, and to give thanks in all things and to know He will cause all things to happen for our good.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it tells us that. It says to give thanks in all circumstances. How come? For this is Christ’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
How many times do you hear Christian’s say, “I want to know God’s will for my life”. I can tell you one thing, to give thanks in all things. “Well, I do not want to know that. I want to know God’s will”. But that is God’s will to give thanks in all things. Why is that important? It is important because thanksgiving is an indicator of your faith. If you have faith in God, you are going to have a thankful heart.
Ephesians 5:18-20
Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 5:20, Paul says to always be giving thanks for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, not some things, but in everything.
So, a thankful heart is a heart that can rest by faith in the fact that God has everything in control. God is your God. He loves you perfectly. He accepts you exactly where you are. There is no condemnation awaiting those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1-4
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
So you are not thinking about condemnation from God. You are able to walk into his presence at any time calling him, “daddy, Father” because He is. That is why we can call him “daddy”, the most intimate Hebrew of terms.
Romans 8:15
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
To know we have the right to call God that is because of His love for us and His provision to us. Faith enables us to do that. Otherwise would I not be presumptuous, for I am but a little person in comparison to Him, to think I can go into the presence of God who created this universe. If I did not know God who created this universe, yet small enough to live in my heart, and if I did not know His love for me and that He wants to be my daddy and He wants me to see me that way as His child, how presumptuous would it be for me to walk into the presence of the living God? People will have hesitation to walk into the white house or to go into the presence of the president of the United States or a king or a queen of England or a ruler or even a celebrity of some kind. People get nervous going to some person just because they are well known. What presumption will there be to go into the presence of God if I did not know He wanted me to come into His presence to call Him, “daddy, Father”.
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
So when we know that then thanksgiving is merely an indicator of your knowledge of that truth. A person who is a thankful person is a person you know is a person who is walking in faith by Christ Jesus. He has learned the secret of trusting Christ and being able to say “thank you” in all things.
Sometimes it is very difficult to give thanks in all things. Here is the reason why we can do that.
Romans 8:28-32
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
So we know something that God has promised me regardless of what happens to you. He said, “I will cause it to work together for your good”. Many times we run through problems in life. We do not know how they are going to work together for good. We keep thinking circumstances are going to change. No, your heart is going to change.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
You are going to go through some trials and tribulations in your life that I am not going to change. Trials and tribulations are going to come but by going through those trials and tribulations, you are going to gain compassion. If you do not have compassion, what do you have? You certainly do not have the heart of Christ who was merciful to us and demonstrating that mercy while we were yet a sinner, he died for us.
Romans 5:8-9
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
He wants us to have a merciful heart. Until you have been through something, until you have been down that road or walked in those shoes, you are not going to have mercy. God says, “In my lovingkindness, I am going to allow you to go through the trials and tribulations of life so when you come out of that experience you are going to have a heart I can use, a heart of compassion and mercy, of getting rid of those judgmental attitudes which so many people possess.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
So many are pointing fingers at each other. But Jesus said, “I did not come to condemn the world. I came to save the world”.
John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Here many people are, supposedly as born again people, proclaiming to be in Christ, out condemning the world. That is all you hear is condemnation to the world. It is not that the world is not worthy of condemnation, but that is not our role. God said, “I did not come to condemn the world. I came to save the world”. So we, who have Christ living in us, why should we be condemning people when Jesus said, “I did not come to condemn”. What gives you that kind of a heart? I will tell you what gives you that kind of a heart. That is when you fall flat on your face and you experience the love of God in the midst of it. It is not the blowing of it. Like David, committing adultery with Bathsheba, killing her husband. He was a man after God’s own heart. He obviously gained some compassion from that. He saw his flesh as capable of doing anything. It humbled him.
James 4:6
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
It is only those people who think they have gone through life never doing anything wrong, and are trying hard not to do anything wrong. You see this look on their face and it is totally self righteous in action. They just do not understand what it is to fall on their face. They have fallen on their face in their heart but hiding it in some way and making people think they are okay. It is only when you realize you can fail just like anyone else that you will have a heart to those who do.
1 Corinthians 10:11-13
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Galatians 6:1-3
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
We are talking about thanksgiving and having a heart of thankfulness. What is the other option to that? In other words, God says to give thanks in all things for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Paul also says, “I will cause all things to happen for their good who love Him and are called to His good purpose”, if we believe that. Again, what does faith say? How do you respond in faith to what God has revealed? If God has revealed to you, “I will cause it to work together for good”. I know it is painful. I know you do not like trials and tribulations, but you will have them anyway. You will have this in the world but God says, “Fear not. I have overcome the world”. Faith says, “thank you”. I do not need to lose hope even though circumstances may seem hopeless now. It is not hopeless because you, Lord, said “I will take it and turn it for good”. So if I know that I am not in a hopeless situation, even though it seems so now, I am not in a hopeless situation.
A lot of times people use the expression, “There is light at the end of the tunnel”, but some say, “Yes, but there is a train coming at me”. When dealing with God and He says something then He is going to carry it out for us. What is the option to that? If I am not going to trust the Lord in trials and tribulations we run into in life, not looking at the problems as opportunities to trust the Lord, what is my option? Worry, anxiety, fear and those emotions coem, do they not? That is the only option. All worry is is an indicator that you are refusing to say “thank you” or refusing to believe that God is big enough to cause all those things to work together for good.
Do we do that? Of course we do. We have to realize, folks, that God called us sheep. That is about the dumbest animal on the face of the earth. We have to realize we have the tendency to be dumb when it comes to trusting the Lord, believing the Lord when he says something. We have the tendency to say the problem with that is it is out of my control and I am not able to control this thing that appears. I am not willing to relinquish those. I would rather worry and handle it myself. That is the tendency. Is there anything unusual about that? Of course not. There is not anything unusual about being anxious or fearful? Of course not. It is not a syndrome. You do not have to go back and dig up your past to see if your mother potty trained you too early or whatever dumb thing someone comes up with. It is the most natural thing people experience in this world. People are anxious. People worry. People are fearful. We have self pity. I know I am feeling sorry for myself. Who does not? It is just as natural as anything in the world. If it was not natural for us to do, why would Jesus have to continually remind us to not worry or to not be afraid, or Paul to say, “Again I say rejoice.”
John 14:27
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Hebrews 13:6
6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
Philippians 4:4-5
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
All of these ingredients that make up depression are the most natural things in the world to the flesh. That is what we are up against all the time. The desires of the flesh are in conflict with the desires of the spirit. The desires of the flesh always want to worry, to be anxious, or to feel sorry for yourself. The desires of the flesh are this need for pampering. All of that kind of stuff is natural as anything in the world to our flesh.
Galatians 5:16-8
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
So we develop this kind of phantom image of what a Christian is. The perfect phantom Christian we envision is someone who is never anxious, never squirmy, and always pays attention. What child do you know that always pays attention? So your child does not pay attention. So someone comes up and says to call him ADD, for Attention Deficit Disorder. So off we go. If I can make it sound like a disease then I have pills to calm him down as if there is something wrong with a child who is squirmy and not paying attention. That is a child and that has to be trained out of him. That is like saying to a child who lies is a compulsive liar. It is natural for a child to lie. They lie before they learn to talk. You have to teach a child to be honest. You do not need to teach a child how to lie. That is natural for a child. There is no instruction on how to lie or cheat. That comes natural. You have to train a child how to be honest and not to steal, how not to use bad language. You have to train a child on that. Why? All that is flesh. You call that a syndrome and medicate the daylights out of people because you bought the lie that all those things are not normal.
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