Our blind spots are almost always in places that are closest to us. When driving, your blind spots are right beside your car—close to you. When you hold a still infant, he’s often too close to your own eyes to determine if he’s asleep or awake without asking someone else. And in fact, you’ve never seen your own face directly. You’ve only seen pictures of yourself in mirrors and on cameras. You are blind to the part of yourself that is closest to your eyes. 

The same often happens in our view of spiritual things. The areas in which we see ourselves the least clearly are often those which are closest to us. Our family relationships—are we truly devoting ourselves to God in those relationships or are we blinded to our own attitudes and actions because we are emotionally close? With our money—are we truly devoting ourselves to God with it or are we blinded because we depend on it so much for happiness? Even with our eating habits—are we truly devoted to self-control for the glory of God or are we blinded to that ourselves because “that’s too personal to let religion meddle with it”?  (An older preacher told me about preaching a sermon on gluttony. Afterward, a congregant approached him and said, "Now you've quit preachin' and gone to meddlin'.")

This principle applies across humanity. We are more likely to be blind to our most dearly beloved assumptions about life. A deeply patriotic man may have difficulty keeping a clear perspective on Christ’s kingdom that is not of this world. A naturalistic man (one who believes nothing supernatural exists) will likely have difficulty seeing what is otherwise clear evidence of a Designer in this God-spoken world. It is these heart-deep assumptions that are the most difficult for us to clearly analyze.

It is my prayer, then, that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened to see ourselves more clearly in view of God’s glory. It should be the prayer of every Christian that we are willing to become vulnerable enough and to trust God enough to let his light into EVERY blind spot of our lives.

- Dan Lankford, minister

A cursory glance over several New Testament passages which emphasize our speech will reveal that God intends for us to choose our words deliberately.

• In the opening verses of 1 Corinthians, the apostle gives thanks that God's grace enriched their knowledge and their speech. (1 Cor. 1:4-5ff)
• In 1 Corinthians 2:4, the apostle reminds that his words were intended to convey the words of the Holy Spirit—the kind of speech with true power.
• In 2 Corinthians 8, as the Spirit pleads for those Christians to excel in generosity to needy brothers, he commends their excellence in speech, among other things (2 Cor. 8:7ff).
• In 1 Timothy 4:12, one of the antidotes for being despised for one's youth is to set an excellent example in the quality of his speech.
• To Titus, the apostle said, "Show yourself in all respects to be a model of... sound speech that cannot be condemned..." (Titus 2:7-8)
• And in Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

It becomes very apparent that this matter matters to God. And it matters in a couple of ways.

Firstly and obviously, it is important that Christians do not speak in ungodly ways. We are not to be blasphemous nor hateful nor untrue. We are not to be judgmental or unnecessarily harsh with our words. We are not to speak curses toward other people. These regulations are evident.

Secondly, and perhaps less obviously, the New Testament perspective on our speech means that we must speak with great thoughtfulness. From the above passages, we are given the impression of someone who speaks slowly and intentionally in order to get just the right words across. This intentional nature of our speech is what leads to excellence in it (2 Cor. 8:7). It gives us the carefully filter our own ideas out of the way and speak the words of the Spirit clearly (1 Cor. 2:4). And it sets us up to speak graciously in high-pressure, high-stakes, or high-intensity circumstances because we have made it a practice to speak graciously in every circumstance (Col. 4:6).

One specific application of this idea: we must work to communicate God's will clearly. It is natural to think of this as a preacher's goal, and it absolutely must be. But it is only his responsibility because he is a Christian and ALL Christians are commissioned to communicate the will of God perfectly as we can. When we flail our way through conversations about the cosmic concepts of redemption, grace, sanctification, holiness, and theology with careless words and haphazard statements of judgment on others... we are not helping anyone see the things of God more clearly. Mark Twain famously said, "The difference between any word and the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." It takes diligence and humility to speak the oracles of God with a clear mind and a clear conscience.

The way we talk about God matters. It matters to our fellow saints, to the lost world, and to God himself. As Christians, it's time we put in the mental work that is required to communicate God and godliness clearly.

- Dan Lankford, minister

It seems that the best gift in any relationship is fellowship. It’s the gift of sharing something—thoughts, experiences, passions, or just time. It is one of the defining elements of Christian-to-Christians relationships that we share Christ and the Holy Spirit and thereby have fellowship with each other.

Today, remember that this is the best gift you can give to dad too: share something with him. And especially make it a point to share your time with him if there’s any way you can. Dads are often encouraged to share time with their kids (Eph. 6:4—you can’t bring children up to maturity without a serious time commitment), and the same encouragement ought to be heeded in the other direction.

So give some serious consideration to how you could spend some time with your dad in a way that he would appreciate it today. Play a game that he enjoys, watch a game that he enjoys, go somewhere he likes to be, talk about one of his favorite subjects, find one of his old favorite TV shows on YouTube and watch it with him, talk about a great book you’ve read, or ask about his favorite memories from when he was a kid.

If at all possible, do your best today to “honor your father” (Eph. 6:2) in some way. A gift that he can open is definitely a good thing, but give it a little extra thought, and you’ll probably be able to think of a way to share a little more and to instill some fellowship in your relationship.

- Dan Lankford, minister

When your job is to make a sale, your success is measured on the standard of the consumer. If the consumer doesn’t buy, you didn’t succeed. Thus, a salesman is dependent upon the perception of his consumer. And so whether by warping a perspective on its positive points, overlooking or downplaying its inevitable disappointments, or by simply changing the product, the sale must be made.

As believers, it is not our job to sell the gospel. Our job is to share the gospel. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy told the Thessalonians they were “ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves.” (1 Thess. 2:8) It is simply not our job to make the gospel appealing by warping people’s perspective on its positive points, overlooking or downplaying its inevitable difficulties, or by simply trying to change the gospel. The reality is that we do not have to make a sale to be successful.

It is every Christian’s job to share the gospel—to simply speak the truth about it and let it make its own appeal to our hearers’ hearts. It is both a simple & complex message based on a compelling story of God & his people. It is a message with the power to change lives and save lives. And it doesn’t need us to infuse it with that power; it just needs to us share it with those who do not yet know it.

This means we do not have to be dependent on the consumer for success. We do not have to “make sales” to validate our efforts in the sight of God. Under this tyranny of desperation for validation, approval, or a sale, all of us have a tendency to jettison the core elements of the original greatness—the true & pure essence of the central idea (in this case, the gospel).

But because we are simply trying to share the gospel, we can do so with the knowledge that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:14). We must still share the gospel with everyone, but we can do so without a compulsion to change it, improve it, or find more clever ways of selling it. It’s God’s message to man; just share it.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Fasting has always been portrayed in the Scriptures as a method of eliminating distractions present in the physical life in order to focus on the realities of the spiritual life. This is especially important in times when our earthly lives are plagued with distress and fear. Eliminating a concern for food—a major concern for us on any normal day—frees the mind to focus in prayer and to truly seek the Lord’s comfort and strength. There is a powerful demonstration of this as Esther puts her life on the line to save the Jewish nation. Before she enters the king’s presence, she asks the entire nation to forego eating food and to pray for her to have favor in his eyes (Esther 4:16).

And yet, even in times of great calm and peace, fasting has the ability to lend the same sort of spiritual focus. In fact, there are a few times in the New Testament when people just say “no” to something that is, in its own right, a good thing. They reject it, however, for the purpose of devoting themselves to that which is more important at the time.

In Acts 6, a need arose among the widows who were members of the massive Jerusalem church, and the apostles were approached about taking care of it. Their response: “we will devote ourselves to the ministry of the word and to prayer,” and so other men were appointed to solve the problem. They denied themselves the opportunity to do good in order to focus on an even greater good.

In 1 Corinthians 7:15, the Holy Spirit says to married couples, “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again.” Even the blessings of marriage can be foregone on occasion to achieve greater spiritual focus.

What about in your life? What are there some things that you can deny yourself for a time to devote yourself to God? It is truly helpful to occasionally challenge our own senses of self-control (one of the fruits of the spirit) to make sure that our entire lives are under God’s control.

Take a look at your life. Deny yourself some pleasure that you regularly enjoy. And in its place, give your mind and your heart to the word of God and to prayer.

- Dan Lankford, minister

The gospel calls for our obedience with a broad range of emotional and intellectual appeals. It calls us to obey out of fear (Rom. 11:22), out of love (John 14:15), out of feelings guilt (Rom. 5:6-8), and out of a sense of duty (Rom. 13:11-14, discussed below). I believe this broad appeal is partly due to God's unsurpassed understanding of the human mind and his desire to call everyone to repentance. But I believe the main reason we find so many varied types of appeals is that the gospel fulfills all of our deepest needs, and consequently, it can call to us on all of our deepest emotional and psychological levels.

In Romans 13:11-14, the Holy Spirit calls us to get up and get ready. It is His "bugle call" rousing us from our lazy oversleeping in our tents. He calls us to put on our armor and get into the battle against the evil one! Our spiritual battle is happening now, and we must charge into the fray!

Notice the phrases he uses throughout to paint this picture:

"the hour has come for you to wake from sleep" (v. 11)
• Every soldier and every emergency responder understands that intense situations do not come at our conveniences, and so we must wake up—take action in the present—to fight for the Lord's glory and overcome.

"the night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness... Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy." (vv. 12, 13)
• When it comes time to fight the enemy (in the present), don't go AWOL and be carousing and drunk with the pleasures & ease of life or caught up in brawls caused by your own arrogance so that you can't respond to the enemy. A good soldier can enjoy himself, but he stays sober-minded & dressed for battle.

"and put on the armor of light" (v. 12)
• Again, a godly soldier is dressed for battle. Ready to defend himself against the enemy and ready to make offensive advances for the cause of his God.

"put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (v. 14)
• Our enemy is the temptations of the flesh. And while we must make some battle provisions before marching in, it simply does no good to provide the enemy an opportunity to overcome us. So we dress ourselves with the armor of light—put on the Lord Jesus Christ—and we carry the necessary tools to fight against the devil. But we carry nothing that might slow us down or give our enemy the upper hand over us.

The fight for the gospel is an urgent one. The bugle call is sounding now. Are you going to sleep lazily in your tent? Or are you going to get moving right away and do what needs to be done?!

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (James 4:17)

- Dan Lankford, minister

As we talk about often as a church family, Christians need to be aware of our own need for balance. Today, I'd like to suggest a balance to our perspective on the recent moral changes taking place in our country.

It's very easy to get caught off guard when people (and organizations) of the world make morally bankrupt decisions. With the recent policy changes for large companies & government organizations regarding "gender association," many Christians are shocked (rightly so) and appalled (rightly so).

The balance I would like to offer to that perspective is this: be shocked & appalled AND be confident that God remains unchanged. It is right for us to express outrage and shock at the world's immorality. My Facebook thread is full of correctly judged assessments of the moral decay happening around us. Believers of all ages are saying things like, "I can't believe this is where our country is headed. I'm just worried for what it's going to be like for my children," and I believe their concerns are valid.

But let's make sure that in our outrage at sin and our thoughts about the country's moral future, we still speak as kingdom citizens. We belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:28). God's kingdom will never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44). It is ruled by a king who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). And the gates of Hell will never overtake the gates of God's kingdom (Matt. 16:18).

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:58)

Be sure to keep your perspective balanced in God's favor. In how you think, be sure to keep your faith in him. And in how you speak, what you teach, and what you post online; show the world your faith and hope in him!

- Dan Lankford, minister

“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you… You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.” (Lev. 25:35-38, emphasis added)

In commanding them not to exact interest on loans to their poor brothers, God reminded his people under the Law of Moses to mirror his own generosity. He had given them the land of promise—and plenty more besides—and he asked them to live similarly toward each other.

In Jesus’ sermon in Luke 6, he makes a similar requirement of his disciples. “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back” (Luke 6: 30, emphasis added). He commands us to give—to do good—not so we expect repayment either now or int the future, but simply because we can do good. It is an attitude of grace and generosity that mirrors the grace and generosity of God both under the Law of Moses and since the time of Christ.

We would do well to put these principles to work toward our families first. Give some deep and honest consideration to the following questions. How much are you willing to GIVE for your family? Are you willing to do good when it goes unnoticed? What about when it is rejected? What about when family members hate you for doing what is right? Will you continue?

How much are you willing to GIVE for your family? Are you willing to be wronged when you’ve done right? Are you willing to forfeit your rights and pleasures for someone else’s best interest? Are you willing to love or respect your spouse more than yourself or your children? Are you willing to love your children by putting their needs above your own? And are you willing to do all of it without demanding to be repaid for the good that you have done?

Don’t keep your family members in debt to you. Just be a giver. And in doing so, you will teach them what God has already done for all of us.

- Dan Lankford, minister

This week, as I logged into Netflix, the ad you see to the right popped up for a show they’ve recently added. The blurb was what really caught my attention: “What if you knew somebody with the tricks, tips, and shortcuts for getting the results you want in life? Now you do.”

The internet is awash with marginal ads for similar stuff. Ads that promise “one easy trick to lose 50 lbs. fast,” or “the secret tip banks don’t want you to know to get rid of your debt,” or “this 1-minute conversation will change your kids’ behavior forever.” It reveals our insatiable need for instant gratification when you consider that just a few years ago, ads for workout plans touted, “just 15 minutes per day for 30 days,” and now they try to sell on the promises of 3-6 minutes per day for only two weeks.

I’ve seen various “hacks” online, and I’ve used them here and there to make my own life a little easier (this old one is pretty cool). I’m not opposed to learning better ways to do the tasks of life. But I do have a serious problem with believing that easy tips, tricks, and hacks are the way “for getting the results you want in life.”

The Holy Spirit says, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Pet. 1:10). The need for diligence tells us the process of true Christian life will not be a quick and easy hack—it will take work. And this should not surprise us; those who are great at anything make a habit of dilligence and discipline in their chosen pursuits. Harry S. Truman said, "In reading the lives of great men, I found that they first victory they won was over themselves. Self-discipline, with all of them, came first."

The reason I thought to write this article in the first place was because the Netflix blurb just sounded so overstated. “Really? We’re just gonna blatantly say that ‘hacks’ are the way to get all you want out of life?” When Christians read anything that promises you can “get all you want out of life,” and it isn’t talking about Jesus, that should jump off the page at us. Promises like that will cause some serious mental friction for those who truly have faith in God through Christ. I do not mean to say that various hacks are completely useless, but I do mean to unequivocally proclaim that if you're looking to them for "all you want out of life," it won't work.

One quick conversation doesn’t make well-behaved children—long-term, consistent training does. A certain type of schooling won't guarantee your children's superior intellect—teaching them to be disciplined students will. Bible software doesn’t make a skilled preacher—disciplined study of the Word of God does. Reading one business book won’t make you CEO of a Fortune 500 company—that takes a disciplined work ethic. There is no quick fix to becoming debt-free and independently wealthy—it takes disciplined spending & saving habits. There is no “one easy trick” that will bring about a deep, soul-mate kind of connection and a vibrant sex life in your marriage—it takes time and effort to humbly meet each others’ needs. One quick burst of exercise does not create rippling muscles and Olympic strength—it takes consistent, hard work to train the body and bring it into subjection to the will.

And there is simply no “hack” to being a disciple of Jesus Christ—it takes total devotion, hard work, sacrificial living, and long-term discipline. Because of this, there will never be enough "hacks" to get the results you want in life. It's not that easy. It's not meant to be. But it is doable, by the grace of God. Dilligence and discipline to seek true righteousness will bring us closer and closer to being holy as our heavenly Father is holy.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Every leader must be a follower of something. Franchise owners follow corporate policies. School administrators & teachers follow standards from boards of education. Judges take oaths to strictly follow and administer the imperatives of law.

As many writers have observed, Christians are called to a life of leadership by the very nature of our calling—to lead the world to Christ, to lead by example of integrity, and to lead the world in applying the Biblical principles of diligence, courage, and love. In all this leadership, however, we have a higher calling to be followers. The call of Christian faith is to follow the commands & the example of Jesus as thoroughly as is possible. It is this call to follow that wholly defines us, teaching us to lead just as Christ would lead.

Following him means devotion to understanding his word. It means continually reading our Bibles, asking good questions, and most importantly, doing whatever we find in its pages. When God speaks of our attitude toward obnoxious neighbors—“love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8)—we follow his will. When God speaks about how we should not use alcohol—“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery” (Eph. 5:18)—we follow his will. When God speaks of how our churches are led—“put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you” (Titus 1:5)—we follow his will.

Jesus plainly said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). How much do you love Jesus? How much do you actually know about the Bible and his commandments found there? How much of your life are you devoting to following him? If you want to be a leader as a Christian, you need to look at some of the hard answers to these questions. If you want to be a leader as a Christian, are you following Christ as fully as possible?

- Dan Lankford, minister