Stop Comparing and Start Confessing

It looks like God doesn’t require the same things from everyone.

Jesus said he would require more from those to whom much had been given than from those who had received little. I don’t think I understood that until recently.

People always wonder what God wants from them. Is it enough to ask for salvation and then go on living the same way? Are there things you have to give up in order to make it into heaven? Can’t you just go on sinning and asking for forgiveness? That’s what most of us do. A lot of us have a clever plan: live it up, and then do a deathbed conversion. It probably doesn’t work. God is not mocked.

I think our natural tendency is to try to find out how much we can get away with instead of asking how God can help us give more. “Can I still watch this?” “Can I still drink that?” “Can I still have sex with my boyfriend so he won’t leave me?”

I watch Mark Hemans a lot, and it always amazes me how many people who are shacking up come to him and ask him for things, including special anointings. He exposes them and tells them to get married. How can any Christian think fornication is okay? When did God make this change? Where are the fornicating apostles in the Bible?

Jesus told a young ruler that if he wanted the kingdom of heaven, he should sell everything he had and give it to the poor. That’s scary. Do we all have to do that? The Bible says that after the Spirit of Holiness fell on Pentecost, early Christians pooled their wealth and helped each other out so no one needed anything. Are we required to do that? Do I have to sell my house and go live in an apartment so my Christian neighbor who blows all his money on liquor, strippers, drugs, and lottery tickets can pay his mortgage?

Are there different levels of Christianity? Is it okay for some people to just sit in church and try to behave, while others have to turn their lives upside-down and go out and preach and heal on the streets?

Are there different levels of favor? We like to think God loves each of us just as much, and the Bible says he loves us as he loved Jesus. What’s the real story, though? Are there people he just enjoys working with more than others? Every father has one or two kids who are more pleasant to be with than the others.

The other day I saw Mark Hemans tell a lady other people were hard on her because God gave her special favor. Spirits turned people against her and made them jealous. Ordinarily, you would not expect a preacher to say something like that. People don’t want to think other people are more favored than they are. I think he was right, though. I have experienced hatred because of the favor I’ve received. I can’t count the number of times it has happened. It’s normal for me.

If you’re an heir, you know parents treat their children differently, and very often, it’s justified. Jerky kids usually receive less, as they should. They are harder to raise, and they tend to suck up a disproportionate amount of resources and attention while their parents are alive, so when their parents die, they want to reward the kids who tormented them less. Also, a smart parent will give more wealth to his successful children, because the wasteful ones will lose it all. There is no point in building up an estate just so you can hand wealth over to someone who will destroy it in a year.

You’re not really entitled to an equal share of what your parents have. You’re not entitled to anything. An inheritance is a gift.

It’s understandable that a parent might want to give more money to a poorer child, to even things out, but is it really fair? If you’ve worked and saved, and your brother is a 50-year-old wannabe rock star who plays in local bars and has to have his parents cosign car loans, why should you be penalized? Your brother isn’t going to be financially secure just because your parents give him money. He’ll blow it on cocaine, age-inappropriate clothes, liquor, and women. He may already have debts, into which his inheritance will vanish as soon as he receives it.

Think of the prodigal son. His father divided his wealth and gave the prodigal half of it, and the prodigal lost it. When he returned home in disgrace, his father took him back. But look what he told his other son: “All I have is yours.” He didn’t write the prodigal into his will. All the prodigal got was food, shelter, a ring, and some clothes.

The concept of sibling rivalry is very prominent in the Bible. The first example is the envy Satan feels for the human race. We’re not his siblings, because he is not a son of God, but he was a son of God at one time, and he was rejected. Satan sinned and was cast out of heaven, and there is nothing he can do about it. He will burn no matter how much he pleads. We, on the other hand, can be saved even though we’re filthy. We can be saved, sin again, repent, and still be saved. He hates us for that.

Cain hated Abel. Esau hated Jacob, whom God helped. Ham’s children stole Shem’s land, which is why it was called “Canaan.” Isaac had much more favor than Ishmael. Joseph was favored above all his brothers, as was David.

The Bible says it’s not our place to question God if he blesses one person more than another.

It must be, then, that God feels more closeness to certain believers, and that he does more for them. If that’s correct, then he also asks more of them. Joseph was sold into slavery. Isaac was nearly sacrificed. Jacob had to suffer under Laban for many years. Samson could not drink wine, which was allowed under the Jewish law, and he couldn’t let a razor touch his head.

I keep trying to get closer to God, and it seems like he keeps asking me to give things up. I had to give up caffeine, which everyone else drinks all day. I had to quit reading the news. I had to give up certain types of movies. I had to stay out of bars. Now I think God is telling me to give up all movies, including TV shows, except for nonfiction.

The other day, on a whim, I rented an old Gary Cooper movie I thought was harmless: Sergeant York. It’s the story of Alvin York, a soldier from Tennessee. He captured 132 Germans single-handed, in one day, and he killed at least 25. The movie is mostly fiction, but it’s based on York’s experiences.

Afterward, I felt God telling me I was opening doors by watching movies that seemed completely innocent, and he explained why.

Imagine you have a problem with worry. This can be demonic, and it’s a serious problem. Worry is a sin, and we are commanded not to do it. Worry doesn’t make you a righteous person; it makes you a faithless person, and God equates faith with righteousness.

Now suppose you watch a movie about someone who has a problem. Maybe it’s Iron Man, and he has to save the earth (again). What happens when you watch the movie? You get worried. In fact, you watch the movie just so you can worry yourself temporarily.

What happens when you assume an attitude a demon likes? Every Christian knows the answer. If you stimulate your own lust, you can get demons of lust. If you stimulate your own anger, you can get demons of anger. The same applies to fear and worry. If you watch movies that put you under stress, you’re inviting spirits who will do the same thing, all the time. It’s like dumping garbage in your own yard. If you do it long enough, your neighbors will start doing it.

It’s obvious to us that we need to avoid pornography, but nobody seems to be aware that there are demons in areas other than sex. If you’re watching a movie hero beat people up and cut their limbs off, and you’re enjoying hating the villains and seeing them suffer, how can you not be opening doors to demons of anger, cruelty, and revenge?

In Sergeant York, the Germans killed Gary Cooper’s friends, and he killed Germans with a great deal of anger. Is that a healthy thing to watch?

Sports are unhealthy, too. Think about it. When you watch sports, you’re hoping one team will win and the other will lose. You’re hoping half of the people on the field will have a rotten day they may relive every day until they die. For many people, one defeat makes the difference between a life of ease and glory and a life of pity and financial hardship. That’s what you’re rooting for. Every game is a zero-sum event. You can’t have two winning teams. There have to be some losers.

When I was a kid, I made it to the national spelling bee, and I went down in the second round. I didn’t prepare at all. The pronouncer mispronounced a word I wasn’t familiar with, and I spelled it the way he pronounced it. Ever since then, it has bothered me to read about the national spelling bee. I could have won, if I had made an effort. I can’t imagine what it must be like to play for the Miami Dolphins or some other third-rate sports team that loses many times a year. I can’t imagine what it feels like to be Ronda Rousey.

In God’s system, everyone is supposed to win. We don’t get together to compete with each other. We help each other, and God helps all of us. It’s not a zero-sum game. It’s an extra-mile game.

It appears that I have a lot of favor. I seem to have a lot fewer problems than many people I know. I want to have even more favor, and I want to be closer to God. Should I feel bad because I can’t watch movies? Isn’t God just asking me to stop poisoning myself? Isn’t an improved relationship with God a colossal reward? How many people have wanted that and had no way to get it?

Most people I know cause their own problems, and they won’t do much to help themselves. They won’t pray in tongues. They won’t try to rid themselves of demons. They won’t try to shake their bad habits or to be filled with the fruit and gifts of the Spirit. They insist on hanging onto worldly entertainment and worldly culture. When you tell them about good teaching, they find fault with it even though they haven’t looked at it. Their pride makes them hang onto old doctrine that never helped anyone, simply because it seems more compatible with the culture of the world.

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” and I see people proving it. They aren’t that hungry for God’s help or his company, so they settle for lives full of problems that never get solved. Then they complain as though circumstances were the cause. “I don’t have this or that blessing you have, which made it easy for you.”

When things are easy for me, it’s because I made a few little sacrifices for God. I’m not close to God because I’m blessed. I’m blessed because I’m close to God, and the same thing can happen to you. But it’s easier to criticize and envy. People like to be comforted, not exhorted. They love being told their problems aren’t their fault.

Like I always say, I must be the only Christian on earth who actually deserves his problems.

God told me this a long time ago: “Excuses are lies.” The Bible says liars will go to the lake of fire, and it probably applies mostly to people who make excuses for sin.

I suppose favor is like anything else. The favor you get from God depends on the favor you give him.

I don’t think you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor. When Jesus told the young ruler he should do that, he was showing him how hard it was to enter the kingdom of heaven under the old covenant. He said that with God, it was possible for a rich man to enter. I don’t think we have to pool our belongings and pass them around. The people who were present at Pentecost were given the grace to do that by the Spirit of Holiness, and we have not received that grace. But you do have to give yourself to God, withholding nothing. If he wants you to get rid of cable TV and stop going to Hooters, you should obey. If there is anything good he offers, you should try to get it instead of deciding it’s not worth the price. If someone you know is giving more up, and that person is doing better than you are, you shouldn’t spit bitterness and envy at that person and hold yourself out as a super saint God is mistreating. You should look at yourself and ask God what you’re doing wrong.

I am going to keep pushing forward. I know God wants to give me more inner improvement, and I am determined to go after it. If he blesses me outwardly in the process, better still.