The Very Real Problem of Fear

Posted on April 2, 2025 by russellmckinney

One hot day in July, a farmer sat lazily on the porch of his shack, whittling on a piece of wood. A neighbor dropped by for a visit and asked him, “Did you get your cotton harvested yet?” Without looking up from his whittling, the farmer answered, “Didn’t plant none. ‘Fraid of the boil weevil.” The neighbor nodded his head understandingly and said, “Yes, those little insects can sure bankrupt a man by laying waste to a good field of cotton. I can’t say as I blame you.”

Continuing his search for grounds of conversation, the neighbor tried again. “So, have you got a good stand of corn?” he asked. The farmer, still looking down at his whittling, said, “Didn’t plant no corn neither. ‘Fraid of drought.” Again, the neighbor nodded his head knowingly and said, “I can’t blame you there. This weather has gotten so crazy that nobody can tell if or when it’s going to rain.”

Now the neighbor was feeling embarrassed over his lack of knowledge about the man’s farm, but he decided to try one more time. Cautiously he said, “Well, if you didn’t plant any cotton or corn, I guess you planted potatoes. How are they doing? Does it look like you’re going to have a good harvest there?” But the farmer didn’t change his actions or his tone as he replied, “Ain’t got no taters neither. ‘Fraid of the tater bugs.” One more time the neighbor nodded his head in agreement as he said, “Yes, I hear those pesky beetles can ruin a whole field if they get in there good. And you don’t want that happening to you.”

By this time the neighbor was thoroughly ashamed of himself for not knowing more about the farmer’s fields, and so he figured it was time for some apologizing. He said to the farmer, “I beg your pardon for not keeping up with you better. I’ve just been so busy myself lately that I haven’t paid much attention to what’s been going on over here. So tell me, what did you plant this year?” The farmer, still not looking up from his whittling, dryly answered, “Nothin.’ I just played it safe.”

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once famously told the American people, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” At the time, America was in the throes of the Great Depression and people were running to their banks to withdraw all their money for fear they would lose it if the banks closed. Roosevelt was trying to curb that rising tide.

While I understand the need for the reassurance Roosevelt offered at that moment in history, the fact is that this world really can be a frightful place. All the reassuring words in the vocabulary won’t stop a job termination, an eviction notice, a bad medical diagnosis, a judge’s sentence, a catastrophic weather event, a terrorist act, etc. It’s like the little boy who got bit by a dog. His mother said, “Now son, if that dog hadn’t sensed fear in you, it wouldn’t have bitten you. I believe your real problem was your fear, not that dog.” To that the little boy replied, “No, my real problem was that mean ole’ dog. I wasn’t one bit afraid until he came along.”

As you read this post, you might have something in your life that has got you scared right now, and I’m not going to minimize your very real problem by chiding you with, “The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.” No, I’ll give you credit that what you’re dealing with is truly fear worthy. All I’ll say is that Jesus Christ stands ready and willing to help you overcome your fear.

One of Christ’s favorite exhortations to His followers was, “Fear not.” Those words held true for the likes of Peter, James, John, and Matthew, and they will hold true for you as well if you will believe in Jesus as your personal Savior and ask Him to help you with what’s got you scared. Whether it’s a boil weevil, a drought, a potato beetle, a dog, or something else, He can provide you with help and guidance. So, turn to Him today and experience the emboldening that only He can bring.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Belief, Comfort, Courage, Death, Doubt, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, Inner Peace, Needs, Problems, Sickness, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Failed Lately?

Posted on March 31, 2025 by russellmckinney

When Tonya and I were raising our two sons, we didn’t want either of them to have any problems in life. We wanted them to enjoy perfect health. We wanted them to be the most popular kids at their schools. We wanted them to be Rhodes scholars. We wanted them to be star athletes. We wanted them to marry Homecoming queens. We wanted them to get jobs that paid six-figure salaries that would allow them to live in luxurious homes, drive expensive cars, and wear designer clothes. In other words, we wanted them to lead lives of unabridged successes.

The problem, however, with this entire fantasy was always that, typically, success walks hand in hand with failure. In other words, success and failure are two sides of the same coin. Furthermore, if all a person ever experienced in life was success, that person would end up shallow, conceited, and proud, to say nothing of them being wildly unsympathetic toward anyone who ever failed.

Not surprisingly, the Bible is filled with scores of people who failed. Off the top of my head, here are 15:

  1. Noah got drunk.
  2. Sarah suggested that her husband Abraham impregnate another woman.
  3. Abraham went along with that plan.
  4. Jacob stole his brother Esau’s birthright.
  5. His mother Rebekah helped him do it.
  6. Tamar slept with her father-in-law Judah and bore twins to him.
  7. Moses murdered an Egyptian.
  8. Aaron led in Israel’s worship of the golden calf.
  9. Rahab was a prostitute.
  10. David impregnated another man’s wife and had that man killed.
  11. Solomon became a rank idolater.
  12. Elijah allowed Queen Jezebel to intimidate him.
  13. The Samaritan woman at the well was married five times.
  14. Peter denied Christ three times.
  15. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was the worst persecutor the early church knew.

The old story is that Thomas Edison said concerning his struggles to invent the light bulb, “I have not failed 700 times; I’ve discovered 700 things that won’t work in a light bulb.” (In some versions the quoted number is 1,000 rather than 700.) I don’t know if Edison ever actually said that, but it’s too good a quote to pass up. As Curtis Hutson, a noted Baptist preacher of another day, once said, “The man who never fails is the one who never attempts anything. And the more one attempts, the more he fails. But the more he fails, the more he’ll learn. And the more he puts into practice what he’s learned, the more he will succeed.”

Do I believe that God wants everyone to be successful in terms of how this world defines success? No, I don’t. Much to the contrary, I think He wants us to never stop learning in life, and He knows that we typically learn more from failure than we do from success. Additionally, I think He works through our failures to funnel us into areas where He can use us more for the greater good.

Just take another look at the names on that list I gave earlier. Each one of those people was someone whom God used greatly to accomplish His purposes. You see, it’s not that God wants us to fail or that he enjoys watching us fail; it’s just that He knows how to use our failures to mold and shape us into better people and better servants. Therefore, if you’ve got an entry that denotes a failure on your life’s resume, don’t let it keep you down. Talk to God about the failure, get the matter sorted out with Him, ask Him to help you learn from it, and then use what you learn to boldly march out into new ventures with Him.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Business, Character, Children, Disappointment, Divorce, Divorce & Remarriage, Encouragement, God's Work, Humility, Individuality, Ministry, Perseverance, Personal, Pride, Problems, Prosperity, Service, Trials | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lessons from Habakkuk

Posted on March 28, 2025 by russellmckinney

The Old Testament book of the prophet Habakkuk isn’t one that often gets preached. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t “preach.” This is evidenced by the fact that it is quoted multiple times in the New Testament.

The apostle Paul particularly loved the book. He closed his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia by quoting Habakkuk 1:5 (Acts 13:41), and he quoted Habakkuk 2:4 in both Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. (Habakkuk 2:4 is also quoted in Hebrews 10:38, and Paul might have been the writer of Hebrews.) It is from Habakkuk 2:4, of course, that we get the famous line: “The just shall live by faith.” That line changed the entire ministry of a Catholic monk named Martin Luther, and in so doing gave birth to the Protestant Reformation.

Commentator William MacDonald describes Habakkuk as “the doubting Thomas of the OT” because of the prophet’s frequent complaints to God about His seeming indifference to the violence, iniquity, and injustice that characterized Habakkuk’s homeland of Judah. Consider the following quotes from Habakkuk (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ and You will not save.” (1:2)
  • “Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises.” (1:3)
  • “Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” (1:4)

If Habakkuk wanted to get God’s attention with his complaints, it worked. Unfortunately for Habakkuk, however, it didn’t work the way he wanted. God responded to the prophet’s complaints by explaining that He was raising up the nation of Chaldea (Babylon) to conquer Judah (Habakkuk 1:5-11). Ironically, that explanation prompted a new round of complaints from Habakkuk as the prophet couldn’t believe that God would let a people even more wicked than those of Judah conquer them (Habakkuk 1:12-17). Poor God, He just couldn’t win with Habakkuk.

To answer Habakkuk’s second round of complaining, God assured him that there would come a day when the Babylonians themselves would be brought down by judgment because of their many sins (2:2-20). That assurance was followed by Habakkuk offering a prayer of faith concerning the omnipotence and military might of God (3:1-16). Habakkuk closed his prayer by affirming that he would rejoice in the Lord even in the bleakest times that would be brought about by the Babylonian invasion (3:17-18), and that his trust in the Lord would surely be rewarded as God would renew his strength (3:19).

And so what lessons can we learn from the book of Habakkuk? Allow me to offer ten as I close out this post. Feel free to apply these any way that fits regarding your life.

  1. From an earthly standpoint, the wicked frequently triumph over the godly.
  2. God hears the cries of the godly when the wicked rule and justice is perverted.
  3. God doesn’t always send His judgment in the way in which we want Him to send it.
  4. You should be careful what you ask God to do because you might not like how He does it.
  5. God has no qualms about using the wicked to chastise His people.
  6. Even as God uses the wicked in His service, He has plans to judge them.
  7. God’s plans are oftentimes incredibly far reaching.
  8. Only a God as mighty and as omnipotent as God can let things get so ungodly upon the earth and yet remain unthreatened and completely in charge.
  9. The godly should rejoice in the Lord — simply because of Him being who He is — even when times are difficult.
  10. God will strengthen the godly and exalt them in due time.
Posted in Adversity, Backsliding, Belief, Coming Judgment, Complaining, Disappointment, Disobedience, Encouragement, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Chastening, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Judgment, God's Sovereignty, Impatience, Patience, Persecution, Perseverance, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

When You Can’t See God Working

Posted on March 26, 2025 by russellmckinney

In his book Looking On the Heart, Dale Ralph Davis relays the story of a B-17 bombing run over a German city during World War II. As one of the B-17s approached the city, the plane was struck by the shells of Nazi anti-aircraft flak. The flak hit one of the bomber’s fuel tanks, a strike that should have resulted in the explosion of the tank and the plane. Somehow, though, no explosion followed. It seemed to be a miracle.

The morning after the raid the pilot went to the crew chief and asked for the shell that had hit the fuel tank. As a remembrance of the “miracle,” the pilot wanted the shell for a souvenir. But the crew chief responded, “Which shell? There were eleven unexploded shells in the fuel tanks!”

The crew chief then explained that the eleven shells had been sent to the armorers to be defused. From there Military Intelligence had gotten involved. Military Intelligence had been called in to investigate because ten of the unexploded shells were empty, containing no explosive charges, and the other shell contained only a rolled-up note written in Czech.

To say that everyone was curious about what that little note said would be an understatement, and so Military Intelligence set themselves to the task of locating someone who could read Czech. Fortunately, they found someone on base who could do so. And what did the note say? It read: “This is all we can do for you now.”

The explanation was obvious. Somewhere under the reign of Nazi Germany a group of Czechoslovakians had been forced against their will to work in a munitions plant for the German war effort. Those Czechs did not believe in Hitler’s cause, but they weren’t bold enough, strong enough, or organized enough to attempt something radical such as blowing up the plant or assassinating Hitler. So, instead, they simply didn’t place any explosive charges into some of the shells they produced.

Davis applies this story by saying the following:

Such is frequently God’s way for his people. Not all his work is noisy or dramatic. We may be tempted to conclude he has abandoned us because we haven’t ears to hear the silent manner of God’s work.

I agree that God oftentimes works in a “silent manner” to get His plans accomplished. Christian, you should remember this whenever you feel that God has ignored your plight and turned a deaf ear to your prayers. No, He hasn’t. It’s just that you can’t see the work He’s been doing for you. But it’s there, and one day (perhaps very soon) you will be able to see the end result of it all.

Posted in Adversity, Belief, Comfort, Depression, Disappointment, Doing Good, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Love, God's Omnipresence, God's Timing, God's Provision, God's Will, God's Work, Grace, Impatience, Needs, Patience, Perseverance, Prayer Requests, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s Your Love Language?

Posted on March 24, 2025 by russellmckinney

My mother attends Calvary Baptist Church in Winston Salem, NC. Dr. Gary Chapman served on staff there for many years, but he is best known as the author of “The Five Love Languages” series of books. The first of those books, The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts, was published in 1992 and has since sold 10 million copies in English and been translated into 49 other languages. It has also spun off other books such as: The Five Love Languages: Singles Edition, The Five Love Languages of Children, and The Five Love Languages: Men’s Edition.

According to Dr. Chapman, a love language is a way by which an individual speaks and understands emotional love. It’s how a person not only expresses love toward others but senses love from others. And what are the five love languages? They are:

  1. Words of Affirmation: People who are wired with this love language put great stock in verbal compliments and words of appreciation. They show love by bragging on others, and they feel loved when others brag on them.
  2. Quality Time: People who are wired with this love language prioritize attention. They show love and feel love by turning off the television, computer, and phone and engaging in intimate conversations, long walks, or other one-on-one interactions. They see time as the most valuable gift you can give someone.
  3. Receiving Gifts: People who are wired with this love language are all about the exchanging of gifts. The gifts don’t have to be large or expensive, even though they can be. They just have to be from the heart. These people show love by giving a gift to another, and they feel loved when someone gives them a gift.
  4. Acts of Service: People who are wired with this love language believe that actions speak louder than words. If they love you, they will do things for you, and if you want to show them that you love them, you should do something for them. These people tend to be very practical and down to earth.
  5. Physical Touch: People who are wired with this love language are huggers. They like hand-holding, arms around the shoulders, pats on the back, and little kisses on the cheek. It’s all about flesh on flesh. These folks don’t see the need for the concept of “personal space.”

Now,  as you might guess, these five love languages oftentimes overlap in the lives of individuals. For example, many people who value quality time also value physical touch. Likewise, many who value receiving gifts also value acts of service. This isn’t hard to understand.

And, yes, the difference between the sexes frequently comes into play in these matters. The stereotypical male will be high on acts of service while the stereotypical female will be high on quality time. Unfortunately, those two love languages don’t usually jive, and this communication gap has been a major contributor in the demise of many marriages. Think about a wife deciding that she wants to go for a walk with her husband, only to find that he is in the middle of changing the oil in her car.

While most people have traces of all the love languages, Dr. Chapman’s point is that each person majors on one or two. As for me, my two are Words of Affirmation and Acts of Service. If you want to show me that you love me, pay me a compliment or do something for me. Those are the things that register with me the most. Accordingly, if I pay you a compliment or do something for you, you should know that I care.

My wife, Tonya, can attest to the fact that I’m not much on quality time or physical touch. On the subject of walks, if you ever see her out for one while she holds hands with a man, you should assume that she’s having an affair. It’s either that or I’ve done something really, really bad and am trying to make up for it.

I’m not so much into receiving gifts, either. I’m normal enough to like birthday presents and Christmas packages, but I don’t fly mad if I don’t get them. My mind just doesn’t think that way.

If you have trouble determining what your particular love languages are, here are three questions that can help you decide:

  • If you get a birthday card in the mail, are you more touched by the card itself or the monetary gift inside? The sending of the card speaks to acts of service. The monetary gift speaks to receiving gifts.
  • If your father or mother gives you a big hug and says, “You did a great job,” are you more touched by the hug or the compliment? The hug speaks to physical touch. The compliment speaks to words of affirmation.
  • If you and another person spend the day on a certain project, are you more touched by the fact that the job got done or by the fact that you got to spend all those hours around that person? The finishing of the job speaks to acts of service. The hours spent on the job speak to quality time.

In all my years of preaching on the subjects of marriage, parenting, and relationships in general, I’ve never run across anything better than Dr. Chapman’s five love languages. They really do get right down there where we live. It’s no wonder the books are so popular.

That’s why I encourage you right now to give yourself a quick mental checkup to identify your specific language or languages. Then talk to the people closest to you (your spouse, your children, your mother, your father, and your friends) and ask each of them what he or she feels is his or her language. This will enable you to most effectively show your love for them going forward. And if there is anything this world needs these days, it’s people effectively showing authentic love toward others.

Posted in Children, Communication, Doing Good, Family, Fatherhood, Friendship, Husbands, Individuality, Love, Marriage, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal, Reconciliation, Service, Wives | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Do It Now

Posted on March 21, 2025 by russellmckinney

Here’s a true story. A church in San Antonio, Texas, committed to a fundraising drive to build a new building. On a chosen Sunday morning, a special offering would be taken up to help toward reaching the monetary goal. Each member was asked to pray about how much he or she should give.

A couple of days after that announcement was made, a middle-aged man stopped by the pastor’s office. He told the pastor that he and his wife had been praying about what they should give and had decided on the amount of $10,000. The pastor was astonished because he knew this couple well enough to know they weren’t wealthy, and he was even more astonished when the man reached into his pocket, pulled out the money, and laid it on the desk. Evidently the fellow had just come from the bank, where he had arranged for the money.

When the pastor pointed out that the couple might be overextending themselves by donating such a large amount, the man explained the incalculable influence the church had exerted upon the couple’s life. Both the husband and the wife had been raised in the church. They had met in the church. They had been baptized in the church. They had been married in the church. Their children had been raised in the church, and now their grandchildren were attending there as well. Because of all this, the couple felt they couldn’t give any less than $10,000.

After hearing that, the pastor graciously accepted the gift, but he did ask the man to keep the money and personally place it into the offering plate the designated Sunday morning. The man, however, wouldn’t agree to that. He said, “Pastor, we already know what God wants us to do — so we want to do it right now while we can. I do expect to be here that Sunday morning, but I believe the time for a fellow to do anything is just as soon as he knows what God wants him to.”

A couple of days later a wealthy local businessman learned that he had to make a trip to California. Since he had a four-passenger plane, he called three of his friends and asked if they would like to join him, free of charge, on the trip. The man who gave the $10,000 was one of the friends. For some reason, the group decided to fly to Denver, Colorado, first, where they landed at Stapleton Airport. The next morning they filed a flight plan for Los Angeles and took off. After that the plane was never seen again. It must have gone down somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

On the Sunday the building-drive offering was taken up, the widow, surrounded by her children and grandchildren, sat in the church sanctuary and watched the pastor place the $10,000 into the plate. She was thankful her husband hadn’t waited to donate the money. If he had he wouldn’t have gotten to experience the earthly joy of personally donating to that offering.

When God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac, to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him there, Abraham rose early the next morning and began the journey (Genesis 22:1-3). When the Holy Spirit told Philip to overtake the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot, Philip ran to do it (Acts 8:29-30). This is the “DO IT NOW” mentality, and it’s something that is sorely lacking among Christians. So, Christian, I’ve got two simple questions for you: #1: Has God told you to do something? And #2: Have you done it yet?

Posted in Church, Disobedience, Doing Good, Faithfulness, Giving, God's Will, God's Work, Money, Obedience, Service | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

God’s Perspective

Posted on March 19, 2025 by russellmckinney

A man was having a particularly intimate conversation with God by way of prayer. The man asked, “God, how long is a million years to you?” God answered, “It’s just like a second of time for you, My child.” The man asked, “And what is a million dollars to you, Lord?” God answered, “To Me, it’s just like a single penny.” The man asked, “Then Lord, will you give me one of your pennies?” God answered, “Certainly. In a second.”

Perspective. It means everything, doesn’t it? And God’s perspective on just about everything is vastly different than ours. That’s why Isaiah 55:8-9 says:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (N.K.J.V.)

I don’t know what you are going through right now, but let me encourage you to stop seeing it through your limited perspective and start seeing it through God’s eternal one. For example, are you currently enjoying a season of good times when everything is going well for you? Then, perhaps, God is allowing you to take His test of prosperity (which is a difficult test to pass, by the way). Are you dealing with some awful situation and you can’t understand why God hasn’t fixed it yet? Then, perhaps, He is building patience and perseverance into you. Are you facing something that looks completely and utterly hopeless? Then, perhaps, He is enrolling you in His course on faith. On and on I could go with the hypothetical situations and God’s perspective on them, but you get the idea.

One of the best things you can do in the midst of ANY situation — whether it be good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, pleasing or trying — is ask God to help you see it from His perspective. And when He provides that insight, what you’ll probably find is that He has a different agenda than you do for the situation. In other words, you might be trying to get one thing out of the situation, while He is trying to give you something completely different through it. Speaking from personal experience, I can’t tell you how many times He and I have been on different agendas regarding what was going on in my life. I was zigging while He was zagging.

So, wherever this post finds you, put it to use regarding your circumstance. Yes, God’s thoughts are not your thoughts and His ways are not your ways, but that doesn’t mean that His thoughts and ways are not as good as yours. To the contrary, His thoughts and ways are higher than yours, as high as the heavens are from the earth. That means that His thoughts and ways can be trusted even when they don’t make any sense to you. Like I said, you just have to start seeing things from His perspective, not yours.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Belief, Commitment, Disappointment, Discernment, Discipleship, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Guidance, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Impatience, Money, Needs, Obedience, Patience, Perseverance, Prayer Requests, Problems, Prosperity, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

A Hard Truth

Posted on March 17, 2025 by russellmckinney

Samson was conceived in the womb of his previously barren mother. And why did God choose to open her womb at that time? It was because Israel needed a leader (a Judge) to deal with the Philistines. As is the typical pattern in the book of Judges, Israel had done evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord had delivered them into the hands of an enemy race (the Philistines), and now it was time for God to raise up a Judge (Samson) to deliver them from that enemy race.

At first glance, this all sounds good, doesn’t it? But here’s the thing: According to Judges 13:1, Samson’s conception in his mother’s womb only came after the Philistines had oppressed Israel for 40 years! For that matter, even after Samson was born, it would be several more years before he reached an age where he could actually fight the Philistines. The Bible doesn’t tell us precisely what age that was, but Samson’s first dealings with the Philistines took place as part of the circumstances surrounding his intended wedding to a Philistine girl (Judges 14:1-20). Most likely, then, Samson was 20 or so years old at the time of the story, give or take a few years either way. So, by doing the math, we come up with a period of approximately 60 years in which the people of Israel were oppressed by the Philistines.

Now, I used to read such stories in the Bible and jump right over the 60 years to get to the part about Samson slaying all the Philistines. At this point in my life, however, I’ve lived through some difficult experiences that have radically changed my perspective and caused me to think some different thoughts about the story of Samson. A couple of those thoughts are wrapped up in the following questions:

Question #1: How many Israelites died during the 40-60 years of Philistine oppression, never having seen God’s deliverance through Samson?

Question #2: By the time Samson started fighting Philistines, had the Israelites who were alive when the Philistine oppression had begun and were still living given up on God ever sending their deliverance?

Let’s say that you were one of those Israelites who asked God to deliver your nation from the Philistines, but you died before Samson came along. On your death bed, what would your level of faith have been? I can assure you that there are people out there right now who have lost faith in God due to the fact that years have now passed, even decades, and they haven’t seen Him move concerning their prayer requests.

That’s why, Christian, the next time you talk with someone who is honest enough to admit that they no longer have faith in God, you should take the time to ask about their reason. What you’ll find is that many of these people have stories of disappointment to tell. They didn’t become faithless overnight; it only happened after years of what they felt were unanswered requests.

You see, even as we can thank God anytime a Samson bursts onto the scene to deliver oppressed people, we can also acknowledge that there are instances in which God’s deliverance never comes to certain people during their earthly lives. Needless to say, to be forced to live your life as an undelivered person calls for the highest level of faith and trust in God. Job was such a person. He said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15, N.K.J.V. emphasis mine). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were such people as well. They told Nebuchadnezzar, “…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18, N.K.J.V., emphasis mine).

I don’t know why God doesn’t always send the deliverance, and I don’t know why He sometimes sends it so late that its impact seems to get lost in all the years. Does He love us? Yes. Will He bring good out of allowing us to remain in our state of oppression? Yes. Will the Christian receive more eternal rewards for having to endure the oppression? Yes. Will God’s purposes triumph over Satan’s purposes in the end? Yes. Nevertheless, none of these “Yes” answers can fully relieve the earthly heartbreak you feel at getting terrorized by some “Philistine” for years and years even as you pray every day, asking God for deliverance.

And so, what is the hard truth that we need to learn? It’s this: Sometimes God either doesn’t send the Calvary at all or it rides in too late to do you any earthly good. This is a truth you’ll never hear from the “health-and-wealth” “prosperity” preachers of our day because they only talk about faith for deliverance, never faith for disappointment or faith for death. The reality is, though, that faith for disappointment and even death is called for in the blank spaces that we find hidden between all the instances of deliverance in the Bible. We just have to retrain our brains to start noticing those spaces.

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Atheism, Belief, Bible Study, Death, Disappointment, Faith, God's Timing, Honesty, Patience, Perseverance, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Scripture, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

How to Spot a Work of the Devil

Posted on March 14, 2025 by russellmckinney

Life is filled with all kinds of unpleasant situations. As Job 14:1 says, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” But how can you tell the difference between one of life’s inevitable troubles and a genuine work of the devil? How can you know when you simply tripped over a log as opposed to when one of Satan’s demons pushed you down? How can you look at one situation and say, “That’s just life” and look at another one and say, “That’s spiritual warfare”?

I don’t have a demon detector that goes off every time Satan and his fellow fallen angels are messing with me and my family, but I have walked with the Lord long enough to have identified at least one tell-tale sign of the devil’s handiwork. And what is that sign? It’s this: When some trouble comes your way that is so stupid, so illogical, and so “shouldn’t have happened,” you are more likely than not being hit by a work of the devil.

Mind you now that I’m talking about personal matters, not world affairs. Sure, Satan is out there at this very moment working behind the scenes, orchestrating influential world leaders in expensive suits to do his bidding to accomplish world domination and ultimately bring his Antichrist onto the global stage. But this post isn’t about any of that. This post is about you living your daily life and sometimes being brought face to face with the work of Satan’s demons against you. What does that look like? Like I said, it looks bizarre, odd, out of place, and even downright idiotic. It leaves you scratching your head and asking, “Why is this happening? There’s no reason for this. This makes no sense.”

The best Bible story on this subject is the one involving the demon-possessed man in the Gadarene cemetery. You’ll find the story in Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-39. Jesus and His chosen 12 step out of their boat onto the shoreline of the country of the Gadarenes, which is located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. There is a hillside there which serves as the local graveyard, and there are two demon-possessed men who live among those tombs. As soon as they see Jesus, both men (or more specifically the demons inside the men) start crying out and questioning why Jesus is there. That’s when the accounts of Mark and Luke single out one of the men as their focus of attention.

The man has a supernatural strength about him. As a matter of fact, he’s so strong that various attempts to bind him with shackles and chains have all ended with him pulling the chains apart and breaking the shackles into pieces. The man is naked from head to toe and spends his days and nights in that cemetery crying out and cutting himself with sharp stones.

Okay, put yourself in Jesus’ sandals. You get out of your boat and suddenly you find yourself face to face with this guy. The man is nude. His hair and beard are long and mangled. He hasn’t bathed in who knows when. He’s got scars and dried blood all over him where he has been cutting himself with rocks. He lives in that graveyard. And he’s screaming and hollering at you like a wild man. Get the picture?

I won’t delve any further into the story because this physical condition of the man provides me with my proof text. You tell me, is there even one thing that is even remotely logical, reasonable, normal, or understandable about this man’s condition? No, there isn’t. And yet it is all the direct result of a work of the devil (demon possession) in his life. This shows us that the devil’s work isn’t always ingenious, sly, subtle, crafty, and wickedly brilliant. Sometimes it’s just as blindingly stupid as a nut running around naked in a graveyard cutting himself with sharp rocks.

So, the next time you find yourself being afflicted by some moronic circumstance, and you honestly can’t put any reasoning or logic to why it’s happening, don’t overlook the possibility that it’s a work of the devil. Believe me, he has hit me and my family with this kind of stuff more than once over the years. As a matter of fact, it’s happened enough that I’m now pretty good at spotting it when I see it. Perhaps your life is so different than mine that you will never have to deal with such a thing, but if you ever do, remember that you read about it here first.

Posted in Adversity, Demons, Discernment, Persecution, Personal, Problems, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Devil | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Should a Christian Tithe?

Posted on March 12, 2025 by russellmckinney

Allow me to begin with a list of prominent preachers, pastors, theologians, Christian apologists, and Christian authors, ranging from the early days of the church up through today. Here goes:

  1. Justin Martyr (AD 100-AD 165): early church apologist, founder of a Christian school
  2. Irenaeus (AD 130-AD 202): early church Bishop, apologist
  3. Tertullian (AD 150-AD 225): early church apologist
  4. Origen (AD 185-AD 254): early church scholar, theologian, writer
  5. John Wycliffe (1330-1384): theologian, Bible translator, reformer, professor
  6. John Huss (1369-1415): excommunicated Catholic priest, theologian, reformer
  7. Martin Luther (1483-1546): theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation
  8. John Wesley (1703-1791): missionary, preacher, founder of Methodism
  9. Matthew Henry (1662-1714): pastor, legendary commentator
  10. Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892): pastor, often called “The Prince of Preachers”
  11. C.I. Scofield (1843-1921): pastor, theologian, author of the Scofield Reference Bible
  12. G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945): pastor, evangelist, commentator
  13. C.S. Lewis (1898-1963): author (The Chronicles of Narnia, etc.), theologian, apologist
  14. J. Vernon McGee (1904-1988): pastor, radio minister, commentator
  15. F.F. Bruce (1910-1990): professor, author
  16. William MacDonald (1917-2007): author, commentator, Christian college president
  17. Charles Ryrie (1925-2016): professor, theologian, author of the Ryrie Study Bible
  18. James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000): pastor, theologian, radio minister
  19. John MacArthur (1939-present): pastor, radio minister, commentator
  20. John Piper (1946-present): pastor, author, theologian, seminary chancellor

Impressed? You should be, and you would be if you knew the full extent of the roles these men have played in the history of Christianity. They didn’t all come from the same denomination. They didn’t all hold to exactly the same doctrinal beliefs. And they didn’t all serve Christ in the same capacity. But they did all have one thing in common. Do you know what it was? They didn’t teach tithing. (By the way, my thanks to tithing.com for compiling such a list.) 

To tithe is to give a tenth, which means that a “tithe” is a “tenth.” The average Christian in America has heard plenty of sermons on tithing, so much so that he doesn’t think he needs to ever hear another one. However, that average Christian has probably never heard just exactly what the Bible does teach on the subject.

Let’s begin by looking at Leviticus 27:30-34, a passage that describes a tithe God commanded the people of Israel to pay each year. These verses say:

‘And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. (N.K.J.V.)

Okay, so God was to receive one-tenth of every kind of harvest and herd in Israel. Deuteronomy 12:5-7 tells us that each Israelite was to bring this tithe to the Tabernacle. Later on, the Jewish Temple was built to replace the Tabernacle, and the tithe was then to be brought there. Malachi 3:10 mentions “the storehouse,” which was a room in the Temple that was used for storing the tithes of crops and animals.

But what was this tithe used for? According to Numbers 18:21-24 it was used as provisions for the Levites who ministered in the Tabernacle/Temple. This explains why this tithe is known as “the Levite’s tithe.” In a very real way, it was God’s Old Testament way of taking care of the minister. For the record, the Levites themselves had to pay a tithe on the offerings that were brought to them. They paid this tithe by offering up a tenth of the offerings as a heave offering and then giving that offering to Israel’s High Priest. This is all explained in Numbers 18:25-32.

Of course, when the Old Testament talks about tithing, the focus is usually placed on things other than money, things such as herds, grain, fruits, and possessions. Job was the richest man in the East, but Job chapter 1 describes his wealth in terms of 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large household. This brings up a major problem with trying to tithe today: To completely pay a true tithe, a tenth of more than just your money would be involved.

Similar to the description of Job’s wealth, our text passage of Leviticus 27:30-34 passage describes tithing one’s flocks and herds. The Jews would line up their animals in single file and mark each tenth animal with a rod dipped in a colored substance. This is what God means by “whatever passes under the rod” (N.K.J.V.). The point is, God was to get each tenth animal. And what happened if a Jew got caught trying to manipulate the lining up so that his best animal didn’t end up tenth in line? God said, “If a man tries that, then I get the animal that should have been tenth in line and the animal that was actually placed tenth in line.”

You might also have noticed that the passage mentions the possibility of a tither redeeming (buying back) some of his tithes. What’s that all about? Well, let’s say that a Jew wanted to keep for himself something that he should otherwise use as part of his tithe. That tither could “buy back” that something from God. He did this by bringing the full value of the thing and then adding one-fifth of that value. In other words, the tither had to bring 100% of the thing’s value and then add an extra 20%.

And now, before we leave this passage let me pull one last point from it. Please don’t miss the fact that the passage’s last verse says these commandments are ones which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. You see, this commandment to tithe is found in the book of Leviticus, and it was a part of God’s law for the people of Israel. Don’t try to make it God’s command to anybody else. All of the Bible was written for us, but not all of the Bible was written to us. We Gentiles are not Jews, and we do not live under Jewish law.

So, now we have looked at one tithe the Old Testament Jews were to bring. That tithe was brought to the Tabernacle/Temple and went to the upkeep of the Levites who ministered in the Tabernacle/Temple. But did you know that the Jews’ tithing didn’t stop at the paying of that one tithe? To read about a second tithe that God commanded them to bring, let’s look at Deuteronomy 14:22-26, which says:

“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.” (N.K.J.V.)

These verses describe a second round of tithing the Jews were to pay each year. But whereas the first tithe went to the Levites, this second tithe was enjoyed by the tither himself. He and his household were to go to the Tabernacle/Temple with this tithe and eat a feast out of the tithe. That’s why this second tithe is known as “the festival tithe.”

Here again, though, we see some of the complexities involved with true tithing. The Jew was to pull this tithe from his flocks as well as his yearly harvests of grain, new wine, and oil. He was to load it all up and, with his family, make the journey to the Tabernacle/Temple. If, however, he lived too far away to allow for the safe transport of the tithe, he could sell the tithe for money, make his journey to the Tabernacle/Temple, and there buy whatever his heart desired to ensure that his family’s time of feasting from this tithe was a joyous, celebratory time.

Okay, what categories of yearly tithing have we covered thus far? We’ve covered “the Levitical tithe” and “the festival tithe.” Now, would you believe the Old Testament law commanded a third tithe? This third tithe was not a yearly one, but it was to be paid at the end of every third year. We read about it in Deuteronomy 14:27-29, which says:

“You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.  And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.” (N.K.J.V.)

At the end of every third year, the Jew was to bring a special tithe to a designated place in his home city or town. Once there, this tithe went to feed the local Levites. The Levites operated in rotating shifts at the Tabernacle/Temple, and they had homes when they weren’t on duty. Just as they were supported by the Levitical tithe when they were on duty at the Tabernacle/Temple, they were supported by this third-year tithe when they were at home, not on duty.

Also, this third-year tithe went to support the needy strangers, fatherless, and widows of the city or town. Therefore, this tithe is known as “the poor tithe.” It was different from the other two tithes in that it was only paid once every three years and wasn’t to be taken to the Tabernacle/Temple. It was, instead, to be taken to the designated place in the city or town.

Well, by now, I trust that you are beginning to see that tithing under the Old Testament law was complex. First, the tithes involved a tenth of not just money but also livestock, oil, wine, fruit, and grain. Second, the tithing got to be much more than 10% because God required at least two tithes each year and a third tithe every third year.

What this means is that we grossly oversimplify a very complex system when we say, “If you make $600 a week, you should put $60 in church.” Furthermore, God pronounced a curse upon the nation of Israel if the Jews weren’t faithful regarding their tithes. This curse manifested itself by way of failed crops and empty harvests (Malachi 3:8-12). Does anybody want America to be held to that same bar of judgment today? I certainly don’t.

Thankfully, however, we are not held to that same bar of judgment. As scriptural evidence of this, let’s shift gears now by looking at what the New Testament has to say about giving. We find it in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. The backdrop for these verses involves the dire financial straits in which the Christians in Jerusalem found themselves at that time. The situation was so desperate that it led the apostle Paul to ask the various churches to which he ministered if they would take up a love offering for those Christians. As part of the closing section to his letter we know as the book of 1 Corinthians, he calls this love offering “the collection for the saints” and says to the church of Corinth:

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. (N.K.J.V.)

What’s important to see here is that Paul doesn’t say to those Christians of Corinth, “Bring your tithe to church on Sunday and let it count towards the love offering for the Christians in Jerusalem.” Actually, the truth is, you can search high and low but you will not find any New Testament passage where Christians are commanded to tithe. The reason is easy to understand: The tithe was a part of God’s law for Israel, and Christians do not live under that law. Paul himself frequently talked about Christian giving (1 Corinthians 9:1-14, 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:8-15, 9:6-15; Philippians 4:15-20; and 1 Timothy 6:17-19), but he never used the word “tithes.” (The only possible exceptions would be a handful of references to Old Testament tithing from the book of Hebrews, if indeed Paul was the unnamed author of Hebrews.)

And so, what is the New Testament’s standard of giving? It is giving in accordance with one’s prosperity. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:2, “…let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper…” Some people prefer the old K.J.V. rendering, which says: “…as God hath prospered him…”

We see this same standard of giving taught in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, which is another passage from Paul. This time he says to those Christians of Corinth:

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (N.K.J.V.)

Here again we find that Paul makes no mention of tithing. What he says is, “Every man should give as he purposes in his heart.” Let it be known, though, that Paul’s intent was to get Christians to be more generous in their giving, not less. We know this because he adds in the solemn reminder: “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” That doesn’t sound like a man who is trying to get Christians to give less, does it?

Now, to be fair to those who teach that tithing is mandatory for the Christian, let me mention that there are a couple of Old Testament, pre-law examples of tithing. First, in Genesis chapter 14 the Bible gives us the story of how Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils of a certain battle to Melchizedek, who was God’s priest in those pre-law days. And since that story has nothing to do with the Old Testament law, some take it as evidence that God has always wanted His people to pay a tithe and still does. Really, though, a careful study of Abraham’s life will show that God never instructed him to tithe or practice any kind of regular, systematic tithing.

Second, in Genesis chapter 28 the Bible gives us the story of how Jacob vowed that he would give a tenth of his possessions back to God if God would keep him safe and give him food and clothing as he made his way from Canaan to Padan Aram and back. Again, though, Jacob never practiced any kind of regular, systematic tithing. For that matter, there isn’t even a follow-up passage that says that he kept his vow and paid his promised tithe when he came back to Canaan. I figure that he did, but there is no Bible passage that confirms that he actually did.

What am I saying? I’m saying that God never commanded anybody to regularly and systematically tithe until He built that command into that body of law that He gave to the people of Israel. I’m saying that the Jews were the only people who were ever commanded to tithe.

Along these same lines, I should mention that Jesus spent His earthly life as a Jew living under Israel’s law. Therefore, it isn’t one bit surprising to find Him saying to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:23:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” (N.K.J.V.)

Someone says, “Aha, right there it is. Jesus said the paying of tithes ought to be done.” Yes, He did say that, but He said it to Jews who, like Himself, were living under the Old Testament law. Everything would change following His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

Christian, Jesus doesn’t want you to live under any kind of forced legalism involving tithing. What He wants you to do is make Him Lord of every penny and possession you have. He wants you to seek His will in where to work, what to buy, what to finance, and (yes) how much to give as an offering. You don’t even have to have a fixed, set amount that you always give as an offering. Just as some weeks or months will be tougher than others, there will surely be some weeks or months when you will be able to give more than a tithe. The key is to get in tune with the Lord on this matter of giving and let Him guide you concerning every offering.

You see, when you come to a right understanding of New Testament giving, you can begin to approach your giving in an entirely different way. For example, when you get your car paid off, you won’t just immediately start looking for a new one and a new payment. Why not? It’s because God might burden you to drive that paid-off car for a while and have a season of putting more money in church. Or, when you finally get your house paid off, God might say to you, “Now I want you to really bump up your offering.”

As we all know, there are ebbs and flows to life, and if you are hopelessly tied to the idea of always giving a tenth, you will sometimes give more than God wants you to give and sometimes less than He wants you to give. I do believe that a tenth can be a good general reference point for how much you should give, but it shouldn’t be an end-all-be-all kind of deal. Don’t allow yourself to become a robot in your giving, always stoically paying your weekly or monthly tithe like you’d pay your union dues or property taxes. God wants you to become much more spiritually minded with your giving as you join Him on the great adventure that He calls the financial part of your life.

You say, “But Russell, if I based my giving on what you are describing, I would have to THINK about what to give and PRAY about it.” YES, THAT’S THE IDEA! Now you’re getting it! Never forget that Christianity is about liberty, not legalism. We’ve got far too many man-made rules in our churches today, and I’m sad to report that the rule of tithing is one of them.

Posted in Giving, Money, The Old Testament Law, Tithing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment