In Seclusion

I am away writing this week, trying to finish a new resource I've been working on for some time. When I find myself at a near deadline, I've found that getting alone somewhere and doing nothing but write day and night usually works well for me. I do nothing but write, sleep, eat with no set schedule. I write until I'm sleepy then sleep. Sometimes I'm sleeping at eleven in the morning, but writing at three in the morning. I don't see or talk to anybody. I call it "being in the vortex." I suppose it's a strange way to do it, but it works for me at times like this when I really need to finish.

The book is called Journey Into Intimacy and will be an interactive workbook, like The Grace Walk Experience. I'm already scheduled to promote it on a national TV station in the fall, so to say I'm motivated to get it finished would be an understatement!

Here's an excerpt from what I've written this week:

Don't be deceived by faulty teaching you may have heard about your own heart. I used to believe that my heart was evil and that, by Christ's help, I had to constantly battle against the wicked desires of my heart. I had read a Bible verse many times that caused me to believe that was the case. You probably know the text too. A misunderstanding of this verse has caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people. Without looking it up, fill in the words I leave out of the verse below.

"The heart is ______________ above all things and is desperately ____________."

You may have heard this verse, taken from Jeremiah 17:9, taught many times. The problem is that many of us heard it taught without "rightly dividing the Word" (see 2 Timothy 2:15). Some have inaccurately handled God's Word by trying to apply that passage to you, a New Testament Christian.

To rightly understand God's Word, we have to put verses we study into their proper context. In this case, to do that will make a huge difference in what you believe about the meaning of Jeremiah 17:9. Consider the following points about the verse and how it relates to your heart:


1. Is the verse in the Old Testament or the New Testament? _________
Don't underestimate the importance of where the verse is located. While it is true that everything in the Bible is written for us, not every verse there is written directly to us. Even the most stubborn legalist will admit this point. Nobody would argue that we should stone rebellious children, although the Old Testament says to do it. (See Deuteronomy 21:18-21) Nobody would suggest that we slaughter and sacrifice animals today, as the law in Leviticus teaches. There is much in the Old Testament that we don't apply to ourselves precisely because it is in the Old Testament. That is the case with Jeremiah 17:9.

2. Read what God told these old covenant believers in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and in Ezekiel 36:26. In the Jeremiah passage, circle the words "I will" each time you see it. (It is there seven times in the New American Standard Version of the Bible.) God said in Jeremiah 31:33 that a day would come when He would write His Law ___ ______ ___________.

Do you see the promise of God through Jeremiah to these Old Testament saints that "days are coming" when He was going to change everything by establishing a new covenant with them?

Look at Ezekiel 36:26 and fill in the blanks:

"Moreover, I will give you a _____ heart and put a _____ spirit within you; and I will ___________ the heart of stone from your flesh and ______ _______ a heart of flesh" (a tender heart).

Read the surrounding verses in the Ezekiel passage, verses 24-31. Count the number of times God says, "I will" in that passage. Notice how He points out that what the people will do is a result of what He does. He is saying to them, "A time will come when you obey me because it is in your heart to do so. I'm going to give you a new heart so that you obey me because of desire, not because you have to do it so that you can keep me happy."

3. Under the old covenant, people had deceitful hearts that were wicked, but you don't live under the old covenant. You live within the benefits of the new covenant. Don't think that Ezekiel 36:26 was given only to the Jews. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:9 that those of us who are believers have received the same blessing.

In Hebrews 8, the Bible quotes the passage from Jeremiah, and then makes an important point in verse thirteen:

"When He said, 'A new covenant' He has made the first obsolete.
But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear."

Has the new covenant been established? ______ This verse says that, because of the new covenant, the old covenant has become ____________. It has disappeared.

Has God fulfilled His promise to give a new heart to His saints when the new covenant became effective? ______

Are you one of His saints? ______

Do you now have a new heart? _______

If you want to experience deep intimacy with your Father, you must understand and believe this. Your heart isn't wicked and dirty anymore. He has given you a new heart.

ASK STEVE McVEY

Unanswered Questions

It amazes me how important it is that we all tend to insist on having answers to every question we have about God and the Bible. Recently, somebody asked me what I believe about a particular topic. "Well," I answered, "To be honest, I don't have a dogmatic answer to that. I tend to think such-and-such is the case, but I'm not sure."

With that response from me, the other person began to try to educate me by proving to me why his viewpoint was the right one. "I understand what you're saying," I continued, "but the Bible also says other things that would contradict your position. I don't think any of us can be absolutely sure about the answer to this."

"But don't you think God wants us to know truth?" he asked. "God doesn't hide truth from us. Truth can be known!" "Not all truth," I responded. "I don't think God wants us to have full knowledge of every truth. I think some things are intended to be left a mystery to us, at least for now."

My Christian brother couldn't have disagreed more - at least not about this topic. He believes that if we dig deeply enough and study hard enough, we can come to satisfactory answers about the things we want to know. I understand where he is coming from because I've lived that way for many years of my life too.

I've seen a shift in my attitude as I grow older. I still have unanswered questions and am, in fact, finding more and more questions as time goes by. But I don't have a driving need to come up with an answer for every question I have.

Let me be clear about something: I don't believe the Bible contradicts itself. Now ... having said that, I'll say this: The Bible does seem to say two different things about some subjects. In fact, the Scripture is filled with paradoxes (two equally true statements which appear to be in contradiction to each other).

That's why there are so many denominations and so many varying viewpoints among Christians throughout church history. Sincere, Bible-believing Christians who all have a strong love for Christ and for God's Word simply come to different conclusions.

I believe that our insistence on having definitive answers about every subject often comes from a hidden, fleshly desire to be in control. If we can understand how God works, then we can manage Him. To discover on every issue, "If I do this, God will do that," gives us the upper hand because once we've learned the system, we can get Him to do anything we want just by pushing the right button.

But it doesn't work that way. God is transcendent. He is "totally other" and doesn't react to us like one of Pavlov's dogs. From the human perspective, God is "a wild man," who is often unpredictable and even appears volatile at times.

I love the section from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe where Lucy asks Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan (Christ). They ask if Aslan is a man. Mr. Beaver replies:

"Aslan a man? Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion- The Lion, The Great Lion."

"Ooh!" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about being safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Like Lucy, we all want a god we understand and can predict, but it just isn't going to happen.

Awhile ago I was grappling with something that was troubling me in my own circumstances. I felt like God had let me down. I couldn't understand and was pressing Him for an answer. You may doubt this claim, but I distinctly heard a response in my mind that I believe was Him. Words came to me - words that didn't fit where I was in my own attitude and thoughts at the moment. I'm convinced it was the voice of my Father. What He said was this:

"I'm not a puzzle to be solved, but a mystery to be explored."

I got it. Don't you? We desperately want to have answers. We want to understand it all -- everything in the Bible, in our lives, in the world around us. But it's just not going to happen. Not in this life.

So we'd might as well relax and learn to trust Him. We can complete this ride called "life" the easy way or the hard way. It's our choice. Jesus did say His way was easy (and His yoke light).

I still get frustrated with Him sometimes, but I'm learning. Slowly but surely, I'm realizing more and more that some answers won't be clear as long as I'm looking through this "glass darkly." I will know what He wants me to know and, for now, that will have to be alright.

The Top 10 Things God Will Never Say

Before I left to go on vacation last month, I was posting "The Top 10 Things God Will Never Say To You." I interrupted that so that I could post the videos about how sailing is a great metaphor for the grace walk. I indicated then that I would post the final two Top 10 videos when I came home.

I accidentally deleted the number two lie, so I'm going to give it to you in text form below. Then I'll go ahead and post number one here too.

To refresh your memory, here are the others:

The Top Ten Things God Will Never Say

10. Could you do Me a favor?
9. You’re getting on my last nerve.
8. Oops
7. Wow, I didn’t see that coming!
6. Tell it to the hand, cause the face ain’t listening.
5. Give it your best shot.
4. I’m a Gentleman.
3. You’re out of the game!


#2 It disappointments me when you do that.

I used to think that when I made a wrong choice, God was disappointed with me. I could imagine Him looking down, frowning in displeasure because of what I had done or neglected to do. I thought the best way back into His good graces was to repent - and by that I meant, to do the thing that He had expected.

The truth is, though, that God is never disappointed with you. Disappointment is the result of an unfulfilled expectation. The simple truth is that God doesn't expect anything. He already knows how everything is going to turn out. Every thought, word or deed you will ever have - He already knows in advance. So how could you ever disappoint God? You can't.

We can certainly disappoint ourselves. We can disappoint each other. But it just isn't possible to disappoint God because He knew all along what we would do and nothing catches Him off-guard. Does this mean He doesn't care when we make wrong choices? Of course not, but the reason He cares is because He always wants what is best for us and hates to see us foolishly make choices that will hurt us.

God's love for you will never get any stronger or weaker than it is right now because His love has nothing to do with what you do. It is the result of His loving grace and nothing else. There's room for repentance in our lives alright. Let's repent of thinking that our actions somehow affect God's love for us. They don't.

You may disappoint yourself, but don't try to drag Him into your bondage. He won't go there. Your Father loves and adores you no matter what. One thing is sure: You'll never hear Him say, "I'm disappointed in you."

AND THE #1 THING YOU WILL NEVER HEAR GOD SAY . . .


PASS THE ROLAIDS

Interview in Mexico

I got back from Mexico last night. It was a great weekend together with Gerardo Vazquez (GW Director, Latin America) as well as others on the Grace Walk team.

This video is the testimony of Danny Gonzales, who learned the message and was discipled through Gerardo. Since Gerardo calls me his "father in the faith" and he discipled him, Danny calls me his grandfather. I joke with them about how that I am NOT an old man, but the truth is that I love it. It's thrilling to see the message and ministry moving from generation to generation. Danny is in his late twenties, but has the maturity of a man much older.

He shares the grace walk message now in a very poor area outside Mexico City. He sometimes walks mountain paths or even rides a donkey for miles to share the grace walk with people. He also leads a pastor's alliance, where he shares the message too. He is a real blessing to us and to many others.

(The background music is because this was recorded in the business center of the hotel and we had no control over the volume.)

At Church In Mexico

We held a seminar at the Fiesta Inn in Puebla on Saturday. There was a breakfast, then we spent the day studying the dangers of trying to live by the law. The people were very responsive. This short video was taken as I started the first session.

At Church Yesterday in Puebla

I love the Latin American culture. The people are animated; the food is spicy; the colors are bright; the music is lively; everything seems bigger than life here.

Here's an example. This was one of the special music presentations in our meeting where I spoke yesterday.



Today I speak at two more churches - both are in Mexico City so we won't have to drive so far today. That's a blessing in a town like this. Mexico City now has 34 million people in it. I think they all drive at the same time.