How One Becomes a Different Person

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be…
Paul’s First Letter to Timothy 3:1-2a (ESV)

Paul goes on to list qualities an overseer must possess. The list is obviously meant to eliminate many Christians from being considered for the office. But he doesn’t begin by saying that people should not aspire to the office. Rather, he encourages them in the aspiration, inviting them to develop the required qualities.

People can aspire to change. Generally speaking, a Christian can (and should!) aim at becoming someone with a different character than he currently possesses.

Book Recommendation: “The Way to Will-Power” by Henry Hazlitt

There are many good books you could read about how to get better at life. Jordan Peterson’s works are often recommended. James Clears’ Atomic Habits is helpful. Of course, I’m partial to my own book and highly recommend it from (mostly) pure motives.

But there is another work I recently rediscovered that deserves to be better known and (more importantly) more widely read. Henry Hazlitt is known as an advocate of free-market policies (or maybe non-policies would be a more accurate term). But, thanks to the Mises Institute some of his lesser known works are also available, including his The Way to Will-Power.

Ungodliness is Trained

In my book, Solomon Says (Athanasius), I point out that godly living can be improved with practice. In that way it is like an athletic sport. As the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
1 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

Use Job As a Your Role Model and Encouragement

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil…

The book of Job can be read as an address on “The Problem of Evil.” Job can be interpreted as Everyman and his situation as a picture of the human condition. Job’s three “friends” insist that his extreme suffering indicates extreme sin in Job’s life and tell him he must admit this or else he is accusing God of being unjust. Job refuses to acquiesce that he must be guilty of wrongdoing. Yet, he does not “curse God” either, as his wife tempted him to do (Job 2:5, 9-10).

Ultimately, God answers Job in a series of questions that he can’t answer and he confesses as much.

If You Are Going to Obey God, Expect Him to Punish You

A few weeks ago, a young man (I will call him “Martin”) told me he went to church on Sunday morning. Martin hadn’t initially planned to do so. In the age of lockdown and pandemic panic, it has become easy to “attend” church online. This individual was young, strong, healthy, and did not have much fear of Covid-19. But he did have an inclination to stay in his room and in his pajamas all morning. So Martin “went” online to watch the service at the church in another state—a church in which he had been raised.

As it happened that particular Sunday, the sermon was focused on the importance and blessing of local Christian community and worship. That message affected Martin so that he got dressed, left his room, and went to his local church service.

Where he was tormented by a bad sermon.

Whether Martin was right or wrong about the sermon is something that I will leave aside. The way he described it, I tended to agree with him. Maybe you would not. Or maybe his description was inaccurate. But assume for the moment that Martin was correct: What should I tell him? What do you tell someone who obeys God and, because of that obedient deed, has a horrible experience?

The words came out of my mouth before I could think to stop myself:

“Martin, God often punishes us for obeying him.”