Petersons Old Veit Farm Reflections

I have blind spots and a lot more to learn about everything. Any truth I express is a gift from God. Follow God's "blog," not mine!

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Location: Diamond Lake, Northeast Washington state, United States

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

In Defense of Some Abstinence


Abstaining from something does not have to mean that you view that thing negatively. Abstinence can actually be a means of affirming its goodness. Put another way, practicing self-denial does not necessarily mean you are “in denial”!

I am fully convinced that sex is a great gift from God. I have tried to make this clear in my writing. (See the posts on March, 12, 13, and 14, 2014, http://veitfarm.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html)

Committing to 90 days of sexual abstinence was motivated by my need to better grasp that goodness. Some sinful habits had become ingrained in my body and brain—not to mention my heart!—and were ruining what God created very good. It hasn't been easy, but it's been good.

Christian asceticism can be taken to ungodly extremes. God is not against pleasure; he invented it! But I think our permissive and hedonistic culture causes us to forget or ignore asceticism’s proper place. Patience and self-control are good fruit of the Holy Spirit. God made us and knows how our flesh and body works. I have never appreciated food more than when ending a period of fasting. I fast at times not because food is bad, but because I am forgetful and need to be reminded how good it really is.

Scripture and Christian tradition wisely encourage abstinence because it is one of the best tools to bring focus to our hearts. The main point isn’t the substance or behavior we abstain from, but rather the way stopping for a while uncovers heart issues we may not otherwise see.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Losing Your Eye or Hand to the Easy Yoke


In the midst of a 90-day abstinence from all sexual activity, I was struck by these words of Jesus:

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).

“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell” (Matthew 18:8-9).

In Matthew 5 the context is adultery, which Jesus points out occurs in the heart even if one is “just looking.” In Matthew 18, the context is causing “little ones” to stumble (children have just been referenced in verses 1-5).

Most of the discussion of these passages that I can remember focuses on not taking what Jesus said “too literally.” As if anyone has in recent times! I read a comment that if we did, there would be a lot of one-eyed single-handed Christians walking (or limping) around.

If it’s not so literal, what did Jesus mean? That seems to me a much more useful and important discussion. In my case, it meant that I should be willing to go to some pretty extreme efforts to avoid sinning sexually, whether that sin involves committing adultery in my heart or causing someone else to stumble as the result of my actions.

Some find a 90-day commitment to sexual abstinence to be “pretty extreme.” Believe me, it is! At times it felt like giving up my right hand or even both eyes would have been far easier! But I want to follow Jesus, and these words of Jesus spoke to me and encouraged me. The remark in the book of Hebrews is very true: In my struggle against sin, I have not yet resisted to the point of shedding my blood as my Lord has (Hebrews 12:1-4).

I cannot take any credit or claim any strength for going the 90 days. Also in Matthew, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (11:28-30). My sins certainly weary and burden me, and I have nowhere else to go. God’s grace and gifts are, indeed, amazing.

Does our aversion to taking extreme measures on behalf of our own souls reveal a misunderstanding of Christ’s easy yoke?

[This post was adapted from an email I sent to a few men who are my “circle of accountability.”]

Monday, July 21, 2014

A Heavy Heart at a Sad Situation

I have a growing awareness of how pervasive sin is throughout the world of Christian organizations and leaders. This is, of course, “nothing new under the sun.” The all-too-common errors and falls of Christian leaders should always disturb us but never surprise us.

Celebrity culture may be nothing new, but it sure does seem to be having a heyday in our time. In preparing a message, I am currently studying the conclusion of 2 Peter:

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

The background to Peter’s conclusion includes 2 Peter 2 and Jude, where the “perversion of the grace of our God into a license for immorality” and greed by false teachers is clearly described.

My problem is that I find my own heart growing heavy with this sad situation. Internet blogs now provide a virtually endless supply of stories detailing the ways leaders abuse their followers in the name of Jesus, and the way some followers end up abandoning Christian faith. Subsequent blog comments often unfold the equally endless debates between sympathizers and defenders. And then there is no shortage of polemics from websites from all angles finding fault with everyone else!

I also find myself wondering what my mission needs to be in light of all this. Debbie has proposed that we take a “year of jubilee” from gardening next year to spend some time away from the farm, including me focusing on my writing. Beyond the teaching notes I provide to the small group gathered at Grace Bible Church of Diamond Lake, what might my ministry be? Given the comprehensive impulse of my scholarship, the “endlessness” referred to above often overwhelms and paralyzes me!

I am confident in my own convictions, but those convictions include being convinced that my own thinking is limited, subject to error, and unable to grasp all there is to know. I have biases and blind spots. So, please pray for me as I seek to keep my heart pure in all this. Peter’s conclusion remains: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.