As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Read Part 1.
I’ve suggested that our lives ought to be oriented around the work God is doing in his people to make them—us—more like his Son. I’ve also suggested that this work can be compared to an exercise program.
Although I think the analogy is helpful, I also recognize that it isn’t really useful unless the Scripture gives us reason to think that the sanctification process is in some ways similar to physical exercise.
What’s the most important question in the world?
I think my fellow Christians would agree with me that it’s the question of where you’re going to spend eternity. If there’s life after death, and if that life is eternal, and if there are different possibilities for the nature of that life, then it’s hard to imagine any question more important than that one.
Life and death. Heaven and hell. It doesn’t get any more consequential than that.
As the Philippian jailer put it so clearly and succinctly all those years ago, “What must I do to be saved?” (Ac 16.30).
“Eastern religions often encourage their practitioners to “empty” themselves through meditation in order to achieve enlightenment or lasting peace and harmony. … Christian forms of meditation are closely associated with prayer. Prayer is a conversation with another to whom we turn—someone outside ourselves.” - Ligonier
“The two approaches represent differing convictions about Scripture and tradition, and differing understandings of meditation itself. The Protestant practice… esteems the primacy of Scripture, treats meditation as a path for the whole Christian pilgrimage, and far better serves real communion with God.” - Desiring God
“What are we to do when we know that God has called us to pray but we don’t want to pray? H.B. Charles speaks to this situation when he says we are to pray when we feel like it and when we don’t feel like it.” - Challies
“To overcome sluggishness in prayer, you don’t need another technique. You need a heart of humble dependence.” - TGC
So we’re fighting a three-front war—something no one’s likely to win without divine power. Let’s take a look at the first enemy, the world.
I wrote some on this just a few posts ago, focusing primarily on definitional matters. Here I’d like to focus on how to fight so as to win. I think a key biblical source on this question is John’s first epistle.
The Right Family
The Scripture often uses military language for the Christian life. Most famously, I suppose, Paul describes the “armor” (lit. “panoply”) of the Christian warrior, supplied by God for both defense and offense (Ep 6.13-17). Christians who take a more pacifist approach to life (e.g.
Discussion