United we stand

At the end of yesterday when I stood up from my computer chair, I felt bowlegged. I’ve been preparing a presentation for the end of this month. The topic is to address certain false teaching that has crept into the church and messed with the minds of Christian women.

Not only is my backside sore from sitting, but this preparation has met with opposition in the spiritual realm. For several days my spirit has been under siege and without the help of the Holy Spirit I would have tossed in the towel a long time ago.

False teaching breaks my heart. However, it is not a surprise. Paul knew it would happen.

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)

As my devotional reading today says, the basic goal of every Christian is to become more like Jesus Christ. Not only do our spiritual enemies want to stop this, but as this passage says, sometimes people within the church buy into their false teaching and begin to teach it also. This made Paul weep and it makes me cry too.

Human thinking always fits into what the Bible describes concerning the nature of sin. Sin is simply the desire to do our own thing, go our own way and ignore God and His Word. When we do that, we become our own god, exist for our own satisfaction, and do all we can to make sure our needs and desires are met. This is what sin is like. When this attitude takes over in a church, Christians assume that spiritual growth is not being like Christ, but more the process of fixing their own problems and having personal success and self-fulfillment.

This is a man-centered theology and is opposed to what the Bible teaches. Instead of looking at me, myself, and mine, my focus is to be on Jesus Christ. As I more deeply know Him and become like Him, the Spirit of God transforms me into His image. However, the more I focus on me, the more I am distracted from that goal.

It isn’t just the women who struggle with various me-centered ideas; all of us do. This is part of what it means to be sinful human beings. We are to turn from that. Paul wrote about the correct way to think:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus . . . (Philippians 2:1-5)

When false teaching creeps in, along with it comes a self-centered attitude that cares little for others. This destroys the unity of the church. Instead, we need think with the mind of Christ on matters and care for the concerns of one another. Without this, and without unity, the church is in grave danger. So is each of its members.

My hope and prayer is that God will restore to the women that will be in my audience a sense of God’s goal for their lives and that they will be able to refocus on that goal and stop worrying about themselves. We don’t have to. Our Savior and Lord is big enough and cares enough to take care of everything else as we concentrate on following Him and becoming like Him.