Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7

The more I think about this passage the more I realize that "good theology" is only good when it leads to obedience. Orthodoxy is only meaningful if it leads to "orthopraxy." When the author of Hebrews tells us to "consider the outcome of their way of life" he is saying pay attention to what they DO. Not just what they say. What they DO reveals what they really believe. It is only after we have considered the OUTCOME the results of their actions that we are to "imitate their faith" which means to adopt their beliefs.

Unfortunately, too many times we get this backwards. We flock to those who say the right words with a slick and engaging presentation but pay little attention to the outcome of their way of life. The modern church in America is guilty of doing this in regards to leadership. Why? Because the American church adopted the American industrial/business model of leadership instead of following scripture. Instead of faithfulness to God and to Gospel, leadership is about results and only results.

Even though the outcome has resulted in burnout after burnout, every kind of moral failure there is, and an overabundance of narcissistic personalities who are convinced of their own superiority on all things, the church persists in following a worldly model for leadership. I say worldly because this model emphasizes, lives and dies by, GROWING UP LEADERS. Everything is about finding, growing, and multiplying leaders. This builds incredible organizations, but is NOT found anywhere in scripture. It isn't even based on Godly Principles. It is based solely in producing structures that get results as quickly as possible.

See, this is the problem. There is not one place in scripture where the Church is told to "develop" leaders. Why? Leadership is God's domain. HE CHOOSES HIS LEADERS from among his disciples. The problem is that we are horrible at choosing leaders and God does not like it when we try to do His job. When Israel chose their own leader it was a train wreck.

We are called and commanded to MAKE DISCIPLES of the Lord Jesus Christ who OBEY. But, the American business church would rather build organizations that grow into MegaChurches than make disciples who obey. So, we ignore passages like Hebrews 13:7 that says "consider the outcome of their way of life."

If we truly consider the outcome of the way of life of the American business church we find leaders who are narcissistic, arrogant, selfish, mean spirited, aggressive, immoral, and without Grace. Everything American business requires. Pastors under this model routinely burn out, self-destruct, or just walk away because it has "a form of Godliness, but denies it's power." (2 Tim 3:5) Why would anyone want to imitate the faith of someone like that?

The power of God is not found in developing great organizations and structures that ensure consumer driven people attend. The Power of God is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and obedience to Him. Yet, what we see is way too many churches and leaders are more interested in building successful organizations than they are in building successful disciples.

Are you in church leadership? What is more important to you? Attendance or obedience? I'm not saying attendance isn't important. I am asking which is MORE IMPORTANT? The ironic thing is that obedience will ultimately lead to attendance because mature disciples will engage in the Great Commission. But, the opposite is not true. Attendance does not equal obedience, yet, if you are of the Business Church Model, most of your time is spent focusing on structures, organizations, and developing "leaders."

Imagine what would happen if we took all that energy and put it towards making disciples whose "outcome of their way of life" was worthy of imitation. Instead of churches repeatedly trying to recover from another pastoral burnout, extramarital affair scandal, shady business dealings, or just the basic narcissist that is attracted to the business church model, we could have churches that showed the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You know, the stuff worthy of imitation.

Into and Out of the Fire.

So, here I am in 2021. I haven't posted anything since March of 2015. Why? Well, for one, I decided nobody was really paying attention and grew discouraged. I also moved out of Amarillo, TX to Spokane, WA in January of 2016. I spent 4 1/2 years in Spokane and it was a nightmare. 

NIGHT...MARE. 

In my time in Washington I dealt people who were absolute narcissistic abusers who, it seemed, had only one mission in life: to destroy anyone who wouldn't agree with them 100% of the time. I was metaphorically stabbed in the back by people who professed their friendship to me more times than I could count in those 4 1/2 long years. The hard part, was these people were pastors, servants, and professed Christians in the church I was serving in. These were the people who, at least on the surface, pretended to care about people. We also had to deal with horrible people outside of the church who were certifiably insane and very vindictive. 

If you've never had to deal with a truly narcissistic and vindictive person who pretends to be a Christian count yourself lucky. They are evil. Not just broken people who need Jesus, but pure evil. They are what Jude refers to as "waterless springs." I now understand very clearly what the Apostle Paul meant when he said "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;" We have a real enemy who only seeks to steal, kill, and destroy and he will use fake /deceived Christians to do immense damage to people personally. 

When I say personally, I mean it. I do not mean a simple philosophical disagreement, or unfair criticism. I mean an outright assault on the foundations of your identity, self-worth, and faith. If you have been the victim of narcissistic abuse, you know what I am talking about. I have had to rethink, recommit, and find my faith again after everything that happened from 2016-2020. Things were so bad that I actually welcomed and benefitted from the Covid lockdown in 2020 because it allowed me time away from toxic people before God graciously heard my cry and allowed us to leave Spokane, WA.

So now I find myself writing on this blog again after a 5+ year absence. Why? I think catharsis and inspiration. The emotional toll was real. The scars are real. The deep personal changes are very real and I am still navigating exactly what those are. I know I am not the same person I was. Something has fundamentally shifted inside me. Something died. A part of me died and I trust God enough to say it probably needed to die, but this kind of death always has a steep personal price. 

I'm not so much trying to put the pieces back together as I am trying to figure out what is still there, and to identify the new things God is doing. I know those pieces will not go back together, nor do I want them to. I also know I cannot live fruitfully for Jesus without finding the new life that always emerges from experiences like this. 

I guess in the coming weeks and months I am going to write more about what God is doing in my own heart as a way of coming out of such a difficult season as faithfully as I can. One thing I know, God was with me when I went in and He is still there as I come out of that season. He is faithful and I am grateful for that, but I also learned a lot more about fearing God. But, that is a discussion for later. 

Grace in Theology

Nobody who takes the Christian faith seriously would argue that faith is a simple matter that requires little mental effort. No, understanding the full truth of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death requires that we spend much time in thought, prayer, study, and reflection. There are many other aspects of the Christian faith that also require a good deal of mental energy and all of this is a good thing. If the God that I follow can be easily understood and defined by my limited human mind then my God is not big enough. But, He is big enough. He is more than enough, and so I find that I study and ponder a great many faith issues.

What do I do, however, when I find that I have a disagreement, a true differing of opinion on a substantial theological matter with a brother or sister in Christ? My humanity, that is, the depravity within me, says I must destroy their argument, convince them of my theological superiority and win the day. The Apostle Paul, however, says something different.

In Romans 14:1-3 Paul says.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.  Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. (ESV)

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

For Paul, the issue was one of Grace and acceptance, both for me and from God. I am to be accepting of those who might be weak in the faith (but in the faith nonetheless) as a brother or sister, but not to “argue” over opinions. (Some translations say “disputable matters” or “over doubtful things). The point, is that we are not to make fellowship a matter of theological unanimity but rather, a common acceptance and practice of Grace that is found only through Jesus Christ. When Paul says “for God has welcomed him” he is telling us that we are not to focus on the performance of man, but the performance of Jesus on our behalf that secured us a place with our God.

Now, I can already hear some of you worrying that I am saying that theology does not matter. On the contrary, Paul thinks it is of the utmost importance to each individual. Look at what he says in Romans 14:5

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Basically, Paul has said that while there will be varying opinions on lesser matters than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, each person should be fully convinced as to what they believe and why they believe it. Paul lists examples of considering certain days sacred, eating meat, and drinking wine as issues that have the potential to divide people of the faith. Rather than drawing battle lines, Paul tells us to take the way of Grace and be fully convinced in our own minds, pursue what will lead to mutual edification (a focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and then Paul plays his two biggest trump cards in the discussion in verses 22 and 23. In Verse 22 he wrote

           

            The faith you have, keep between yourself and God.

Paul has just told us that we must not go on a crusade to convince the world of our theological position on a disputable matter. We should be fully convinced in our own minds regarding how we live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but that it is not necessary for everyone to agree on everything. We can show Grace in theology because it is not about our works, but about the works of Him who died for us. This is where Paul closes the discussion and brings it home. In verse 23 he said

            For whatever is not born of faith, is sin.

Because these types of discussion often focus more on us and our actions than on Christ and His work Paul reminds us that it is not about our performance, but about faith, and faith is about Jesus Christ and His work. When we start focusing on our works we start living by our own strength and we sin. Thus, when we are more focused on a “disputable matter” than we are on Christ, we sin.

 So as you study the scriptures and listen for God’s voice, remember, Grace is about all of life. It is not just the transaction that “gets you into heaven.” It is to become the engine that drives everything, including our theological study and our communities. It is through Grace that we can welcome the one who is weak in the faith without passing judgment. It is by Grace that we refuse theological arrogance. It is by Grace that we are saved, not through convincing everyone of our particular theological nuance. 

Physical Fitness vs. Spiritual Fitness

We all know the old saying "no pain, no gain." In the fitness world it means we all have to work harder, longer and more intensely than our bodies want us to work if we want to see progress. We have to earn our results. If we shed pounds, gain inches, run farther, or lift more weight, it is because we have put the time in to make it happen ourselves. There are no shortcuts and there is not an "easy" way to do it. It is hard work repeated consistently. We progress in fitness because we follow the "law" of physical fitness: exercise + diet + consistency = progress.

It is a mistake, however, to apply this same thinking to spiritual training. Romans 3:20 says "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." If we are relying on our efforts to draw us closer to God, or to make us righteous we are in for a huge disappointment. The truth is that we cannot, on our own power, be righteous at all. The "law" of spiritual growth is this: our effort (even if we are trying to be righteous) + our sin nature = greater sin. It is a continuing loop of defeat and sin that will never end.

The Apostle Paul wrote about this struggle in his own life in Romans 3:15-18 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out."

By the end of this description Paul cries out "Wretched man am I! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Paul answers his own question in Romans 8:1-4 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,c he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

The key to spiritual training is to look to the one who started, finished, and perfected the training for you: Jesus Christ. His life, death, and resurrection provide a righteousness from God that we cannot ever produce through our efforts. It is the finished work of Christ on the Cross that provides everything we need for life and Godliness. To grow Spiritually is not a matter of trying harder, doing more, and performing better, but a matter of moving more and more deeply into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His Grace has already made you perfect. What we have to do is to come to know the truth about ourselves (we are utterly sinful and every effort to produce righteousness is doomed to failure) and the truth about God (He has provided righteousness through the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ.)

We are to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. To grow spiritually is to learn to rely on His Perfect life, His sacrificial death and His powerful resurrection in all things. The pain, then, is not the pain of effort and performance (which wear you out but provide nothing), but he pain of dying to self. It is the pain of realizing the truth, as Paul did, that "no good thing lives in my flesh" but that the finished work of Christ has already made you Holy in God's sight. So, no pain, no gain stands, but not in the area of effort, but rather, in the area of denying self.

How are you denying self today and relying on the Grace of God through Jesus Christ? Do you beat yourself up for not "doing more" or do you feel you have to "try harder" all the time? All these behaviors are based in the assumption that we can be righteous. Listen to the truth of the Gospel, because the Truth will set you free.

Intellectual Legalism

I remember when God led me to begin studying the scriptures I would read for hours, devouring everything I could. I loved reading commentaries and listening to teachers who seemed to have an endless wealth of knowledge. I loved every bit of it. Questions were being answered and life seemed to make more and more sense.

Then, it happened.

First, I began encountering differing opinions on what appeared to be straight-forward scriptures. Some were good food for thought while others seemed to be so far out in left field they might have been from a different Bible. Not only that, some of these teachers began to accuse those who dared to disagree with them of being God-hating heretics.

Then, I went to Bible college and seminary. Wow…that was eye opening. What seemed like a straight-forward call to make disciples was often turned into an argument regarding God’s sovereignty and man’s will. What looked like a call to God-focused spiritually responsive worship was turned into an argument regarding traditional forms versus new…well, you know the drill.

How does this happen? How can those who “know” the scriptures so well sometimes become the most divisive, unloving, and judgmental people in the room?

I’ve come up with a name for this phenomenon: intellectual legalism.

Our world is dominated by humanistic philosophies. Humanism is the belief that the human mind is the final arbiter of truth and is able to recognize and apply truth without outside help. In humanistic systems education reigns supreme due to the belief that the more knowledge a person gains, the better choices he or she will make, and the better person he or she will become.

There are those who seek to combine faith in God with humanism; they admit that truth is found in God, but that it is up to the individual to find it, define it and apply it. “Christian humanism” tells us that we can study our way into righteousness—by knowing more about God—as we seek and find the truth. The answer for a weak spiritual condition is simply more study. Learn the scriptures better and you will become a better person.

This, however, is not true Christian spirituality. Jesus ran into this exact same problem with the Pharisees. Look at John 5:37-39:

“And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…”

The Pharisees had a broader knowledge of the scripture than anyone and yet they did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God. They depended on their own intellectual abilities, which failed them. They were intellectual legalists. They believed that the more they knew, the more spiritual they were. We have the same problem today.

One of the counterintuitive things about Christianity is that Jesus didn’t call us to find the truth; he called himself the truth. Our spirituality begins and ends with him. He is the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). It is not our study or intellectual ability that gains us anything, but rather the perfect, finished work of Jesus Christ that gains us everything.

Just listen to how the apostle Paul describes the humanist mind in Ephesians 4:17-20:

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!”

The first thing Paul tells us to do as Christians is to stop trusting our own intellect! The mind, apart from Christ, is futile, darkened, calloused, and given to sensuality. Worse, we deceive ourselves and equate theological information with knowing Jesus himself. We quickly forget that we did not marshal all of our intellectual power and so discover Christ. We forget that we know Christ because God graciously revealed Him to us.

The answer then, is to live under grace, even in our Bible study and discipleship. We must admit to ourselves that we cannot “figure God out” no matter how hard we study or how much we know. We are dependent on Him for all things.

Our dependence is answered by his grace. He promises that his grace will be sufficient, filling our every void. Where we are weak, he is strong. Where we are faithless, he is faithful. Where we are ignorant, he is wise. His power, the Lord told a suffering Paul, is made perfect in weakness. 

Active Grace

 One vivid memory from my childhood is my mother’s love for exercise equipment. We always had some piece of exercise equipment in the house. I can remember a stationary bike, a rowing machine, a stationary bike with moving arms, a resistance workout bench, and a stair climbing machine were all, at one time or another, positioned neatly in our house in different places…holding laundry. Though the equipment was purchased with full “intent to use,” and the knowledge that regular use would lead to better health, the truth is simple: they were rarely ever used for exercise.

It became a running joke: I used to give my mother a hard time when she would look at a new piece of exercise equipment. “This doesn’t have enough room to hold more than four hangers,” I’d say. “This one can hold some folded blankets, but nothing more.” Yes, it really was that bad. And many of you know exactly what I am talking about.

The value in exercise equipment exists only through consistent use. Simply owning a rowing machine doesn’t make you healthier, it just means you own a piece of equipment whose purpose is to help you along your journey toward fitness. It is the doing that matters. You actually have to row.

But imagine you could buy a piece of equipment that did the hard work for you. What if you were guaranteed to see results simply by making it a part of your life (as most owner of exercise equipment vainly hope)? If there was a guarantee of this kind of return, everyone would have a rowing machine.

This is what God’s grace is like. It is guaranteed to bring results and change your life. It can do nothing else. When God sent his son to live a perfect life on our behalf, (to do the work for us) and die a sacrificial death on the cross in our place (to pay the price for us) it was so that we could be made into a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that exercise bike could make the same promise? “If anyone purchase me from the store and take me home, he will be fit. Behold, the fat is gone, all things have been made trim.” God’s grace is the only force in the universe that can make this bold and wonderful claim. Through the grace offered by Jesus Christ you are made new. You are not merely given the tools to be made new, or taught how to improve yourself until you are new. No, you are a new creation simply through God’s amazing, life-transforming grace.

Nowhere in Scripture does God command us to make ourselves new. Why? Because God knows we cannot do that. Look at what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:2-4:

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (ESV)

See that? God, through grace, has done what the Law could not do. Law cannot create, it can only condemn. Grace does not condemn, but transforms death into life through the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are made fit without having to exercise!

Now comes the even more mind-blowing truth: it is grace alone that keeps us fit, as well! Martin Luther once said that grace “gives our works a work-out.” Our lives now change from demanded exercise to grateful responses—exercises—of faith. Many people, though, think that once we are saved, we must maintain our righteousness through obedience. We get back on the exercise bike, determined to maintain by our own effort the sculpted spiritual physique that came as a pure gift from God. We submit ourselves “again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

Paul ran into this type of regression in Galatia. In Galatians 3:2-3 Paul asks a question that we must all consider carefully. He said,

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

If grace was enough to save us from sin, renew us, and put us in a right relationship with God at the beginning, is it not enough to grow us in faith also? If we are trying to grow ourselves—or at least maintain our spiritual standing—then we are assuming that grace is actually not enough and that God needs our help in the matter. Is this harsh? Yes, it is. But the point must be made. If we can make ourselves holy by any effort, before or after salvation, then the cross is insufficient and a travesty.

Our growth, then, must be about God’s active and awesome grace changing us and not about how hard we try to change. Change is what grace does. Grace is always active and never passive, giving us the good works that God has prepared for us in advance (Ephesians 2:10). Grace is God’s working on our behalf from a place of love, forgiveness, and redemption. Don’t look at God’s grace as a piece of workout equipment only made effective through your own sweat and effort. Grace like that—not grace at all—ends up as a laundry rack. Look at grace as God’s wonderful, active working in us through the Holy Spirit, doing what we could never dream of accomplishing for ourselves. 

Distraction and The Squirrel Everyone Loves!

Distraction. Sometimes we need it. Most of the time we do not. We've all heard the jokes: "I was ADD before it was...oh look a squirrel." And sure, who hasn't spent a few days of their lives looking at endless YouTube videos of other people doing things? Which, by the way, have you seen the one where that couple dances to open their wedding? Or the one that talks about James "just got dunked on..."

But, I digress...

Distraction has become something of a national fad that is becoming more and more of a national nightmare. Texting and driving is killing way too many people and yet, every day we see someone driving distracted, or checking Facebook during a movie, or a family sitting together at dinner not talking because everyone has their phone out.

Seriously, when did we lose the ability to focus in America?

Apparently, this has been seen on the horizon for some time. Check out this comic strip from 1906 that predicts what will happen if a wireless telegraph machine is ever invented.

Replace those telegraph machines with high powered personal computers that connect you to everything imaginable and well, we see what it is doing.

But, there is a deeper issue at work here that really is dangerous and needs to be addressed. As we lose our ability to focus we are also losing our ability to think deeply and critically about the issues that truly matter today. In our churches, pastors are commonly called on to be "more practical" with shorter sermons. Gone are the days of true theological discourse that could be "applied" to all areas of life because of its breathtaking depth. (See Jonathan Edwards if you would like an example.) No sir. Now the sermon is seen as the infomercial between schizophrenic worship sets that are complete with smoke and lights.

Churches are not the only group affected. Take our wonderful politicians in Washington and at the State level. Gone are the days of true debate where those running for office were allowed to question each other and had to give real, substantive answers. Nope, just stick to talking points, recycle old cliches and count on the public tuning you out after 30 seconds because some celebrity is drunk and acting the fool again.

Proverbs 4:25 says "Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you."

One of the wisest men who ever lived, Solomon, warned us against allowing ourselves to be distracted. His instruction was to stay focused on our path, our destination, and our purpose. Solomon's dad David wrote in Psalm 119:147-148 "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may MEDITATE on your promises."

Rising early, staying awake at night and meditation on God's words are all images of prolonged focus. In an age of everything "right now" and even "Your Best Life Now" God's ways are calling us to slow down, focus and think about his promises and words. In short, we are to keep ourselves focused on the truth and refuse to be distracted from it.

If the ancient wisdom was to focus and think deeply, then the modern folly is to be distracted by everything and yet see nothing. If we want to stop being taken advantage of by slick politicians, catchy salespeople, and ill trained, theologically incompetent church leaders, it is time for us to stop worrying so much about who got voted off of Idol and start focusing on truth until it finds its way into our lives, our families and our communities.

Your Best Life?

Do you want to be happy? Do you want fulfillment? Do you feel like you were made for success? Then we have an offer for you! It is time for you to live "Your Best Life Now!" Pastor Joel Osteen wants to help you become everything you ever wanted to be because as a child of the King you were made to be rich, successful, at ease, and have perfect teeth just like him. So come on and start claiming everything you ever wanted. Don't worry about the cost, God has already taken care of that. Just start living!

PUKE!!! 

Aside from Osteen's complete lack of Biblical knowledge, fake smile, and his canned repeat sermons there is something far more sinister about his message. It's like we've heard this before somewhere. Can't quite place it? Let me point it out...

Genesis 3:1-5:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. 

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

From the beginning, Satan has tricked humanity into believing that they are made for something more than serving God, that we could actually be God. 

And he is still doing it today. 

The "Best Life Now" brand of Spirituality isn't about God, Jesus, or even being spiritual in the sense of looking for greater purpose or meaning. It is about inflating the ego of sinful people who have no sense of God and therefore attach God to materialistic success. 

When the message of Osteen's "Best Life Now" is held up against the Gospel message preached by Jesus, it is found so completely lacking that one wonders if Osteen has ever actually read the Gospels. 

Osteen says "God wants to increase you financially, by giving you promotions, fresh ideas, and creativity."

Osteen says "Your best days are ahead of you." 

Jesus said "If they hated me, they will hate you" and "blessed are you when you are persecuted" and "take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me." 

Deny Yourself.

DENY YOURSELF. 

Osteen is merely a false prophet cashing in on humanity's longest running delusion. Namely, that we can have the favor of God and still hold on to our sin. Or, to put it another way, we can reject God's standards and still claim to be good people because we are "happy." And, if we are "happy" it must be proof that God is for us. 

The major flaw in this thinking is that the proof of what God thinks of us is found in the cross of Jesus Christ. God has already provided your best life now in the cross. The Christian life is not about what material success we achieve in this world, but about what Jesus Christ achieved for us on the cross. This is what makes Osteen's message and those like him so absolutely insidious. 

It takes our attention off of Jesus and places it squarely on us. Even if we are trying to be "good people" and do "good things" with our success, we are still focused on ourselves with the incorrect idea that we can somehow be righteous or see proof of God's favor apart from Christ. 

Some have described this as "all the blessings of God without the sacrifice" but it is worse than that because the blessings of God have nothing to do with financial and material success. We simply have to stop thinking that because we did the right thing, God is waiting to give us everything we want. 

Jesus has told us that to follow him we must carry the cross of self-denial. Stop looking for meaning, happiness, fulfillment, or favor in anything in this world. You must look to the cross and the cross alone. 

Quit defining yourself by your own feelings and take on the identity that Christ gives you as a part of His body that has been redeemed by the cross. Stop thinking about your own happiness and start thinking about Christ's sacrifice and what it means to your life. 

The truth is that as long as we continue to ignore the truths of scripture in favor of feeling "happy" or "contented" or "fulfilled" we prove that we have not even begun to enter into denying ourselves and carrying a cross. Do you want to rise Above Reality? Then reject the gods of this reality and follow the God of Heaven and Earth. Learn His ways, His values, His Truth, and Trust Him instead of your own feelings. Your life is not about living "Your Best Life Now." 

Your life is about moving from Death to Life through the perfect life, sacrificial death, and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. Stop looking at yourself and start looking to the cross.