By Pastor Adam Dooley
Englewood Baptist Church
Though it’s been several years ago now, I still remember one of the more exciting trips to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with my son during his battle with childhood leukemia.
Back in those days we lived in Mobile, Alabama, requiring us to fly for weekly chemotherapy in Memphis. Over a three-year period, we made 128 consecutive trips in order to jump-start and protect my son’s remission from cancer.
Misleading consequences
While passing through security on our return trip, a Ziploc bag containing a bottle of medication tested positive for a small amount of glycerin, which can be used to make explosives. Quickly, TSA workers surrounded us with a bomb sniffing dog. They pulled us aside and began a battery of tests. Thankfully, our faces were familiar, and employees recognized us. My son’s glistening, bald head gave away our recent trip to the hospital.
Still, it was only after several minutes of awkward suspicion and investigation that we were allowed to pass through the security checkpoint. Turns out it was a false positive caused by a melting icepack that was cooling the medication. The whole ordeal got me thinking about the misleading consequences of false impressions, which can leave us happy or scared depending on what they report.
For example, you might be overjoyed initially only to be disappointed later if a pregnancy test falsely reveals that the child you’ve prayed for is on the way. Or you might be immediately frightened when airport security suspects foul play as you travel, even if you are able to laugh about it afterward. The problem, though, is that neither reaction is trustworthy. False positives are dangerous because they invite us to live outside of reality based upon something that is not true.
Unfortunately, American Christianity has its share of false positives.
Many Bible teachers are anxious to assure their listeners that God’s primary goal is our personal happiness. Others insist that hell cannot be real because a loving God would never allow anyone to go there. Notions of remaining in sin while following Jesus is the most damning false positive of all. These untruthful assertions are usually received with enthusiasm, but they create a false narrative about WHO Jesus is and WHAT He came to do.
The historical reality that God would sacrifice His Son to deal with our sin problem is insulting to some and downright barbaric to others. Retired Methodist theologian William Willimon fairly critiqued, “If you listen to much of our preaching, you get the impression that Jesus was some sort of itinerant therapist who, for free, traveled about helping people feel better.”
Thankfully, Jesus had a way of turning our temporal ambitions on their head in order to focus on what we really need. Take, for example, the familiar story of Jesus healing the paralytic (Matt. 9:1–8). Without question, this man’s burdens were significant. He could not walk, eat or bathe without the help of others and, by consequence, he was an outcast in society. We can hardly blame his friends for attempting to help him.
Rather than heal the man immediately, though, Jesus said to him, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven (Matt. 9:2).” By doing so, Jesus reminded us that our temporal burdens are merely symptoms of our greatest needs. He is not a Savior who came to improve the quality of our lives (though He often does), but who came to forgive our sins. Yet popular false positives deceive us into believing that God solving our earthly problems is more important than His addressing our eternal condition.
God’s authority
Because the scribes accused Jesus of blasphemy (Matt. 9:3), He immediately exposed their blindness with a piercing question. Is it easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Get up and walk (Matt. 9:5)?” Amazingly, Jesus chose to heal the paralytic in order to demonstrate His authority to forgive sins, not distract from it (Matt. 9:6). The real goal was much bigger than the man’s physical healing. In fact, had Jesus only forgiven the paralytic’s transgressions it would not have solved his greatest threat.
Eternal health
I am not suggesting that we should not seek God’s intervention when trials come. During my son’s fight against cancer, I repeatedly begged the Lord to heal him. Yet we often equate our present comforts as an indicator of our eternal health.
Our desperation for temporary relief from earthly troubles often far exceeds our concern about spiritual matters. Even worse, we sometimes reduce God’s faithfulness to His meeting our immediate needs:
God, show me a miracle and prove you’re real.
God, answer this prayer and prove you’re real.
God, give me what I want and prove you’re real.
God, heal me and prove you’re real.
God, open this door and prove you’re real.
Tragically, expressions of temporary grace often grip us more than eternal realities. Our need for forgiveness though is so urgent that we ought to be willing to lose this life entirely in order to receive it from Christ (Matt. 16:24–27). Nothing is more necessary and nothing is more remarkable than the glorious truth that Jesus would come to seek and to save the lost.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Adam Dooley is pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee.
“Childhood is such a brief period of time. You cannot go back and create the time of childhood. We as parents must use and find opportunities to teach children Christ-like values and Bible stories in the short period they are children,” writes Carolyn Tomlin on helping children grow in Christian values.
“Last year, our budget for the baby pantry was $600, but we gave away over $60,000 worth of diapers, $30,000 in wipes and $50,000 in formula. It’s just an incredible testimony to what the Lord can do with five fish and two loaves of bread. … When you operate on faith and the Lord is behind you, you’re going to see fruit,” says Becky Delisio, director and founder of a monthly baby and toddler pantry — supplying hundreds of families with free diapers, wipes, formula, clothing and other necessities — with Jessup Baptist Church in Maryland. In addition, partnering with a YoungLives group, the church also has a quarterly pantry for teen moms.
“The Bible is a very convicting book,” said 88-year-old Margurette Robison, who lives near Tupelo, Mississippi. She spent three-and-a-half-years writing out the Bible word-for-word. She completed her task Jan. 14. “I’d memorized Scripture before, but as far as knowing the background of the Scripture, my daughters knew much more about it than I did. Doing this was convicting. It’s been such a blessing … it was like having a good devotional every day.”
“It’s fun to get awards. It’s awesome to hear my songs being played on Christian radio,” writes singer-songwriter Micah Tyler. “But at the end of the day, my first calling is to be a husband and a dad. Those are the moments I’m looking to in the future — the things that God started when I took these kids home from the hospital and while serving with my wife of 20 years — to see what the next steps are going to be.”
“It’s a great feeling of unity and recognizing that the legislative issues matter,” said Greg Davis, president of Alabama Citizens Action Program. “It’s important when things matter that we pray about those things.”
“No one drifts toward evangelism,” said evangelist Scott Dawson. “You have to be driven toward it. The gospel changes lives. Preach the gospel. Jesus can change anybody’s life.”
“God is constantly pursuing the people on your prayer list. He may make a way for you to have a gospel conversation with them yourself, or he may send someone else. Perhaps you may have the privilege of being the answer to someone else’s prayer for their loved one. God is the great Shepherd who leaves the 99 to pursue the lost one out of His great love. Don’t stop praying!” said Coast Guard veteran Jennifer Smith, who serves as leader of the missions team for Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Illinois, and shared about her missions trip experience to Greenland.
“Besides seeing people getting saved, my favorite part of our ministry experience is the fact that everyone gets to play on the obstacle course,” noted four-time contestant on the reality TV show “American Ninja Warrior” and youth speaker Jared Greer. “There are usually several moments where people cannot beat an obstacle on the first or even third, fourth or fifth attempt, but they persevere. The crowd encourages them to keep going, and they eventually conquer the obstacle. It’s such an awesome life lesson.”
If your Christianity causes you to be offended by someone asking the most powerful person in the country to be merciful towards the powerless, then you have profoundly misunderstood the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Benjamin Cremer
@brcremer.bsky.social on X
Apathy is one of the greatest enemies of godly leadership. The temptation to withdraw from the challenges of the world is strong, but it is not an option for those who follow Christ.
Craig Carlisle
Etowah Baptist Association
Being a good dad carries far beyond discipline.
Being a good dad means identifying, cultivating and nurturing the good gifts that the Heavenly Father has already placed in our kids.
Daniel Ritchie
@DanielRitchie on X
“We must understand that our goal as believers is to seek what we can do to please God, not what He can do for us.”
Charles Colson
political adviser
Share with others: