Barry Newton

What do all of the following have in common? Chocolate, video tapes, cookies, alcohol, over eating and starving oneself. These can all become compulsive avenues for how someone attempts to handle their guilty feelings.

When Jesus died on the cross, he made it possible for us to be fully cleansed and brought into fellowship with God. But unfortunately, certain people feel so guilty about their past that they do not let go of it even though God has forgiven them.

I remember a young man who upon stepping out of the baptistery said, “God has forgiven me. Now I need to forgive myself.” He was right.

Failure to forgive oneself provides Satan with a powerful tool for his destructive purposes. Although God would have the Christian focus upon living the new life He has made possible, Satan can use the burden of past guilt to drag a soul through the mire. Energy and thoughts which should be expended upon gratitude and service can be sucked up into an ever descending spiral of self-condemnation.

When scripture tells us to forgive as God has forgiven (Ephesians 4:29), this principle includes forgiving ourselves. Listen to how God liberates His people, “I will remember their sons no more.” Hebrews 8:12 God wants His people to know they are free from the burden of sin and to live free of past guilt. Christians have no reason for lamenting over past failures. Christ’s blood is more powerful than our past sins.

Let’s not allow Satan to use something against you which God has taken away and remembers no more. It is great when a cookie can just be a cookie, and not an ineffective and destructive way to handle feelings of self-condemnation.

by Barry Newton

Just as Ezekiel would not have readily understood Starbucks coffee and baseball, so too we are likely to fail in fully appreciating walled cities. After all, I have never lived in a walled city seeking refuge from marauding armies. Have you?

Apparently, the walls of a city could tell you a lot about a city. A highly successful city would sport grand walls which were constantly maintained while broken walls or deteriorating walls with gaps indicated weakness and societal decay. Wherever a city wall had been breached, the city’s protection would depend upon someone to stand in that gap to defend the city.

Standing in the Spiritual Gap

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God metaphorically alluded to the spiritual decay of both the nation of His people and its leadership as being a city whose walls had been breached by sin.1 Justice demanded a righteous judgment, yet love yearned for the spiritual rottenness to be healed. So God “searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”2

Can there be any more tragic words than these? What can be more heart breaking than for God to search among his people for someone to build up ruin lives ravaged by sin but to find no one who will serve?

Doing It Again

What God has done before He is doing again. Through the words of the Great Commission, listen closely to Jesus’ final exhortation to us. God is searching once again for people to be His tools to reach out to a world which has been chewed up by sin.

God’s righteousness demands punishment of sin, but his love has also provided through Jesus the means to build up those spiritually dead. God has a heart for the lost. The question is can He find among His people those who will stand in the gap before Him?

1 This metaphor of standing in a breach caused by sin is also used in the poetry of Psalms 106:23 to describe the narrative event of Exodus 32:11.

2 Ezekiel 22:30 NASB

by Barry Newton

Doubt was written all over her face. Speaking with a pierced tongue, her question was blunt but honest. “Is the Bible relevant for my life? After all, the Bible is ancient!”

Such questions might reflect the thinking of a lot of people since you will search the scriptures in vain to find the following chronic problems: Nintendo addiction, road rage, compulsive consumerism, anorexia, or even depression. Although you will not find within the Bible these or a host of other debilitating characteristics crippling the lives of people, scripture does address all of these problems and more. For example, consider the following story of “Betty.”

At times Betty would find herself feeling a bit down. Long ago she discovered that by going to the mall and shopping she would feel better. With time she developed the coping habit of going shopping whenever she felt depressed in order to perk herself up. Unfortunately, the good feeling would quickly wear off and soon she would be faced again with that horrible darkness.

As the years progressed, the need to shop became more and more frequent. She also discovered that handling her depression in this way created further complications. Financial difficulties grew causing feelings of guilt which eroded her self-esteem leading to an even deeper depression. In order to handle the financial problems, sometimes she would return what she had purchased. But the cycle just seemed to grow worse and nothing short of drugs seemed capable of handling the depression. Her self-esteem plummeted further as she blamed herself for not being better.

While the Bible does not directly address shopping addiction and its related problems, it’s message strikes at the heart of Betty’s dilemma offering her freedom from a tortured existence. Betty’s problem, like most of our problems, began long before she started feeling blue one day. Somewhere along the line, probably while growing up at home or perhaps from other influences such as school or her peer group, Betty heard statements, saw actions and witnessed decisions being made which led her to believe the lie that her self-worth, purpose and dignity are based upon this world. At an early age she began to believe that if she was pretty enough, popular enough, had the right clothes and friends, etc. then life would be grand. Perhaps her parents even unwittingly contributed to this belief through their comments and actions. Frankly, although at first she had tried hard to measure up and “be somebody” so she could be happy, in the end her self-evaluation fell far short of the goal ... and her life seemed to unravel as destructive negative thoughts took root.

If Betty is a typical person, she would probably not perceive any connection between being “saved by Jesus” and her “real life” predicament. But she could not be more wrong. Although she might even attend church and sing songs on Sunday, it is possible that for all practical purposes her life could be centered around serving created things such as her own looks, fashion and her friendships. Fortunately, there is good news for not only Betty but also for the rest of us.

Part of God’s message is that Betty, like the rest of us, is extremely important and she has dignity because she has been made in God’s image. Furthermore, although she did not deserve God’s love, God loved her so much that he sent Jesus to rescue her from her sinful hopelessness created by serving the created order. And if she will respond to Jesus, God will even make her somebody who nothing in this world can destroy! She will stand in that most important relationship of all – a child of God.

Scripture may not directly address the labels we slap upon modern problems, but its message addresses the root issues for the blight of modern living. The answer is simple but not simplistic. Believe in Jesus. Allow God’s message to shape your understanding and your heart. It will change who you are, how you feel and what you do.

by Barry Newton

Standing as a near timeless sentinel, the Rock of Gibraltar has become a symbol of permanence and stability and therefore an icon of security. People need security and Jesus knew that.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offered to the crowds a source of security far greater than even the apparent timelessness of this enormous monolith rising out of the water. After having outlined the necessity to lay up treasure in heaven and not upon the earth (Matthew 6:19-24) and knowing that such teachings could create fear and insecurity, Jesus empowered the path of truly serving the Master as he taught about the security God provides.

While the lives of pagans may be driven by the worries of laying up treasure upon the earth ("What shall we eat? What shall we drink? With what shall we be clothed?"), the person who strives to lay up treasure in heaven need not have his or her soul weighed down by such wearisome burdens. Jesus promised that the heavenly Father already knows that we need various necessities and that God will provide for our us if we will seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Matthew 6:32-34 For those whose allegiance and love is directed toward God and not toward the passing phantom promises which emanate from the created world, their Master will supply what is needed.

If security for living life can be portrayed as an unchangeable monolith, then certainly the knowledge that God does not lie and that His promises provide reliable security is the greatest monolith of all. Furthermore, most definitely one significant chunk of this giant rock entails the promise that the LORD will furnish our needs if our hearts’ treasure is to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

In times of economic uncertainty, where might a person look for security and peace of mind? Different people will look to different sources. Jesus called us to replace the worry that can inhabit our minds with the peace that comes from knowing that God will provide for those who serve Him. Today we might not see where tomorrow's lunch will come from, but God can open doors and transform opportunities overnight. After all, our God is the Creator.

by Barry Newton

Does it appear to you that the lives of some people resemble a stainless steel pinball reacting to its environment? Consider the who wife responds to her husband’s inconsiderate actions with a stinging terse remark. Or the employee’s heart brimming over with vengeance because he suffered an injustice. Then there is that person whose mind is filled with thoughts of payback, “she does not deserve my forgiveness.” And in yet another place someone's betrayed secret becomes a catalyst for bitter words to gush forth. This list could easily go on and on. But there is another way for people to live their lives, a pathway whose foundation and guidelines are shaped by God.

The letter of First Peter was written to those who had left behind the ragged lifestyle of being ignorantly driven through fleshly lusts into a lifestyle based upon futility.1 But something wonderful had happened. Through the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of Christ's blood, they had been given a new start as a purified people belonging to God.2

Along with this new life which they had received came not only a new foundation for looking forward to the future,3 but also the responsibility to adopt a new manner for how they would respond to their surroundings.4 No longer were they to merely react. Nor were they to limit doing good to those whom they considered worthy of recieving it. Since God had taken them to be his people, now it had become their responsibility to live in the world (as unjust and hostile as it might be) based upon who they had become as God's people. When others served up injustice, insult and hostility, they were to respond with blessing.5 Even though some of their masters were cruel and undeserving of respect, they were to submit to them.6 Although some of them might have had spouses who were unbelievers, they were to treat them with the graciousness which comes from God, not because their spouses deserved it but because they had been called to this as God's people.7

The letter of 1 Peter is as relevant today as it was then. The stamp of God's holiness is to be imprinted upon our behavior, words and attitudes regardless of how others have treated us. As those who now belong to God, we have the responsibility to treat others based upon who we have become as God's children. We can no longer simply react to our situation or decide whether someone is worthy of a loving response.

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14-15 NASB

1 1 Peter 1:14, 18 2 1 Peter 1:2-3, 22-23; 2:9-10 3 1 Peter 1:3-5 4 In 1 Peter, the message repeatedly moves from the salvation accompanying new birth (1 Peter 1:2-13; 1:22-25; 2:9-10) toward how those who have been born again should live (1 Peter 1:14f; 2:1f., 2:11f). 5 1 Peter 3:8-12 6 1 Peter 2:18 7 1 Peter 3:1-7