Positive Living | Tactical Christianity

An Unexpected Source of Strength

by R. Herbert | Sep 10, 2017 | Positive Living, Tactical Notes

“… the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Some of us love the sight of a universal gym or a set of free weights. Some of us view such things as being remarkably like our idea of medieval torture devices. But whether we willingly undergo a hard workout or not, everyone admits that becoming physically stronger usually takes a lot of sweat and effort. Similarly, we may think that increasing spiritual strength usually involves hard work and the dedicated practice of disciplines such as prayer and fasting. So if I were to tell you there is a perfectly pleasurable and sweat-free way to increase your spiritual strength you would probably think I was selling something. Yet the Bible tells us that such a source of strength is available to us.

The verse quoted above from the Book of Nehemiah makes an amazing statement if we are willing to focus on it and accept it for what it says: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Given what we know of most strength-building exercises, this sounds almost too good to be true, but Nehemiah’s words are not just some pleasant poetic statement. It’s not that he just happened to mention joy and strength in the same sentence – there are actually a good number of biblical passages that link joy and strength directly.

In fact, 1 Chronicles 16:27 tells us that these qualities are linked in the nature of God himself: “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.” Once we begin to see the connection between joy and strength in this and numerous other verses, we begin to understand what the connection is. Joy is a source of strength that can help carry us through the difficulties of life just as much as determination and endurance, and in some ways more so.

It is true that Christians are among those who mourn for the evils of the world (Matthew 5:4) and that we experience pain and sorrow just like other people (John 16:33), but these are temporary reactions to specific situations, not our everyday attitude. Joy is the great strength-enhancer that shores up patience and enables endurance. It can carry us through pain and difficulties and enable us to focus on others even in difficult circumstances. Joy can actually enable us to accomplish incredible things beyond what would normally be possible. Do we believe and focus on that fact? Do we believe and focus on the fact that it helped Jesus himself to make the ultimate sacrifice: “… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV, NKJV, etc., emphasis added).

Jesus specifically told his followers “These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:11). Joy is an unmistakable hallmark of those who follow him closely. Those who were imprisoned with Dietrich Bonhoeffer before his execution said that he always spread an attitude of happiness and joy, despite his dire circumstances. Those who knew Mother Teresa say that although her work with the poor and the diseased would have depressed and even crushed many people, her attitude as she did her work was always one of joy.

The kind of joy that gives us this strength is not entirely human made, of course. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that deep, strengthening joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit of God, but we can help develop that joy by cultivating it in our daily thoughts and actions. To seek the strength of joy in our lives is not to spend our lives in seeking temporary pleasures, but to find joy in what God gives us each day – whatever the situation, whatever the difficulty. That is the lesson that those like Bonhoeffer and Mother Teresa had learned. It is a truth that Nehemiah understood thousands of years before our time, that joy and strength go hand in hand, and that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

The Three Keys of Happiness

by R. Herbert | Apr 23, 2017 | Positive Living

Happiness is something we all want, many strive for, but few feel they get. Could it be that we make finding happiness more difficult than it need be? For example, when we talk of “keys” of happiness, our minds tend to jump immediately to things like health, perhaps wealth, and other things we feel happiness is dependent upon.

But psychologists have known for a long time that there are even more basic things than those that might first come to mind – things that actually offer ongoing happiness and contentment. Numerous studies have found that to be lastingly happy we need three things above all else: someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.

The strange thing is, you can tell people that the correlation between these three things and happiness has been repeatedly documented, that there is good science behind these three “keys,” and they will still often ignore them. It’s as if the answer is too easy to take seriously.

Surely, many people think, you could have those three things, but without good health … or without enough money … or without whatever, you wouldn’t really be very happy. But that’s where the studies come in. Psychologists have verified that even without the things we tend to presume are necessary for happiness, we can still find that elusive condition if we do have the three “keys.”

For the Christian this is a particularly interesting fact. When we look closely at the life of Christ himself, we see that despite not having many of the things people usually equate with happiness and in spite of undergoing great suffering, Jesus was still able to seek and find great happiness and joy (Hebrews 12:2). In the same way, the apostle Paul wrote “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11), and although we may presume this just means being “OK” about how things are, there is no doubt, when we read Paul’s writings, that he lived a life of true contentment despite the hardships he endured.

It is true that happiness – joy – is one of the fruits of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22), but the reason Christ and Paul experienced joy in their lives need not be entirely attributed to that reason. We have only to read the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ and to study the writings of the apostle Paul to see that both of them – and doubtless many others in the early Church – based their lives on the very things we have called the keys of happiness.

Christ calls his disciples to follow in his footsteps in constantly loving God and not just one person, but every person (John 13:34). Christians are called to a work which is of worldwide scale and in which anyone can find a truly meaningful role (Matthew 28:18-20). Followers of Jesus Christ also have more to look forward to than anyone else – the return of the One they follow and an eternal life in his service (Revelation 20:6-7, 22:12-13). These opportunities do not just “meet the requirements” of the keys of happiness – they fulfill them incredibly!

Yet if we take away any one of these keys – if our outgoing love is limited, if we are not truly involved in the great work to which we were called, or if we do not keep the hope of our calling firmly in mind – we will not experience deep and lasting happiness and will always feel some degree of emptiness. It’s a little like having a safe with three keys – even having two out of three keys still will not open the safe. It is only as we use all three of the keys in our lives that we find happiness that doesn’t need more money or possessions, that doesn’t even require good health, but that is true and lasting happiness nothing can take away.

The Happiness Strategy

by R. Herbert | Mar 5, 2017 | Love, Positive Living

We all want happiness. We all want joy. Or, to be more precise, we all want lasting happiness and joy. As we go through life we realize that some things can bring us a seeming happiness, but when these sources of happiness are not based on the right foundation, they turn into shallow pleasures that do not last (Proverbs 20:17).

So what is the foundation of lasting joy in our lives? The Scriptures give us a strategy for finding that kind of happiness in an unexpected place. But first, understand a little background. In the ancient Near Eastern world where the events described in the Bible occurred, the most common symbol of happiness and joy was the grape vine. We see this fact in the psalmist’s comment regarding “wine that gladdens human hearts” (Psalm 104:15) and in many other scriptures such as this one: “The vine is dried up … Surely the people’s joy is withered away” (Joel 1:12).

Of course, this connection was based on the temporary physical feeling of pleasure obtained from drinking wine, so what does the symbolism of happiness connected with the vine have to do with true, deeper, and lasting happiness? We find the answer in the words of Jesus himself when he told his disciples “I am the true vine …” (John 15:1). Of course, these words were spoken in the direct context of our abiding in him like branches staying firmly attached to the vine (John 15:2-8), but we should not forget that the most common symbolic use of the vine in religious and philosophical teaching of that time was one of its connection with happiness and joy.

When we remember this background fact, the next words of Jesus suddenly become much more alive to us: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (vs. 11, emphasis added). When we keep the basic symbolic meaning of the vine in mind it seems more than coincidence that Jesus points to himself as the true vine and then tells us he makes this connection so we may have true happiness or joy.

But Jesus did not just tell us these things as abstract principles – he explained his words in terms of a direct strategy for happiness that we can and should apply in our lives. Notice that the setting for his statement on our complete happiness gives us that strategy:

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:9-12).

Do you see it? The strategy we are given for happiness is as clear as any strategy given anywhere in the words of Christ – our happiness will be like his if our love is like his. The profound thing about this strategy is that it is not based on chasing happiness or on trying to achieve joy through things we get or receive – it is based on the degree to which we reverse that process and work in the other direction through outgoing love. Love, Christ tells us, is not just the fulfilling of the law (Matthew 22:36-40), it is also the cause of happiness – in our lives and in the lives of others.

In that sense, the “fruit of the vine” Christ commanded us to receive on the last evening of his life is not only symbolic of his shed blood (Matthew 26:28) – which is its primary symbolism in the context of the Lord’s Supper, of course – but also, in a smaller yet no less real way, the fruit of the vine is symbolically the “fruit” of living the way Christ lived. That “fruit” is happiness, and the strategy to produce it is love.

Ultimate Liberty

by R. Herbert | Jul 3, 2016 | Positive Living

The concept of liberty, like independence and freedom, lies at the heart of every democratic society and is enshrined in the 4th of July holiday we celebrate every year in the United States. It’s a concept we all applaud and agree with, but not one we necessarily think about as deeply as we might.

Interestingly, the Bible shows two types of liberty: on the one hand, liberty from anything that enslaves us, and on the other, liberty to serve God. The latter type of liberty may seem counter intuitive, and that’s where thinking a little more about the concept of liberty comes in.

Liberty from anything that enslaves us is easy enough to understand. That is the liberty to which the Children of Israel were called as they were brought out of Egypt. It is the liberty from sin that Jesus stressed as He began his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because … He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives…to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

The apostle Paul speaks of this freedom: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). Yet Paul and the other apostles constantly speak of themselves as the servants or slaves of God (Romans 1:1, James 1:1, Jude 1:1, etc.). Being a servant is clearly part of the calling of every Christian (Mark 9:45, 10:44), so how can the two be reconciled?

The truth is, beneath the political and social liberty we rightly praise and strive to protect, at the ultimate foundational level we are all individually servants of someone or something. We can only choose who or what. This is a basic biblical truth and is clearly seen in Paul’s statement: “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin…or to obedience…?” (Romans 6:16).

The person who insists that he or she is individually free and serves no one is, at the very least, the servant of his or her own desires, moods and decisions. In giving up individual liberty in submission to God, the Christian is really switching to a new way of life where desires, moods and decisions are brought into alignment with what God has revealed is best for us.

Paul summarized this situation as he continued in Romans 6: “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). James agrees – pointing out that the law of God is the “perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25, 2:12); and Peter himself wrote “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:16).

So, counter intuitive as it might seem, no matter how much we cherish and protect our wider liberty, we should remember that ultimately as individuals we all serve something. In choosing to serve God, we free ourselves not only from the penalty of sin, but also from the results of following our own nature. It is in doing this that we find ultimate liberty.

*This post was first published on this site July 3, 2014.

Lifting Each Other Up

by R. Herbert | Aug 31, 2015 | Positive Living

Scripture: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Something to think about: We must always remember that building each other up actually consists of two separate and complementary aspects: the actual lifting or building up and the avoidance of pulling or tearing down. The principle is clearly seen in comparing Paul’s instruction in I Thessalonians (above) with what he says in the Book of Ephesians:

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).

The two instructions are identical in telling us to build each other up, but while Thessalonians stresses encouraging each other to do so, Ephesians stresses not discouraging each other. It is usually easier to see when we are doing the first rather than the second of these things, but we should certainly do both. How much time do we spend thinking about how we can build each other up – in encouragement and also in not discouraging?

Where Can You Find Encouragement?

by R. Herbert | Feb 18, 2015 | Encouragement, Positive Living

Could you use some encouragement right now? Do you know anyone who could? Either way our new book is for you!

This new eBook is a collection of practical essays – some from past blog posts on our sites and some specifically written for this book – on a subject we all need to hear about: encouragement.

Some Days We Soar: Words of Encouragement for the Christian Life is available in different formats (including PDF so you can read it on any electronic device). The book is written from a non-denominational perspective, is completely free and free of advertising. You do not need to give an email address or any other information to download the book – just click on the link below and enjoy. Like all our books, if you find Some Days We Soar profitable, feel free to make a copy of the file and pass it, or the URL, along to your friends and others you know who may find the book helpful.

This book may not make your problems go away, but it may help you soar over them, so download it now and remember the encouraging fact we mentioned – it’s free!

Download a free copy of Some Days We Soar here.

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