John F. MacArthur. The Pillars of Christian Character: The Basic Essentials of a Living Faith. Crossway, 1998. See here to buy the book.
In this book, John MacArthur discusses nine foundational and
essential attitudes that Christians are to have. These include faith,
obedience, humility, love, forgiveness, self-discipline, gratitude, and
worship.
Here are some observations and rambling reflections:
A. As is often the case, MacArthur helped me to understand certain
details of Scripture better. When Habakkuk 3:19 states that God makes
Habakkuk’s feet like the feet of a deer, what does that mean? According
to MacArthur, the feet of the deer securely grasp onto rocky surfaces,
and faith, likewise, provides people with a secure footing as they
confidently grasp onto God’s faithfulness, righteousness, and
sovereignty in the midst of life’s uncertainties. What does Paul mean
when he tells Timothy that soldiers do not get entangled in civilian
pursuits but seek to please their commanding officer? MacArthur says
that Christians are involved in spiritual warfare, and their primary
goal in life is to encourage people to become free from darkness and
reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. They may be in the world, but
they are not entangled in worldly affairs, for they have a spiritual
purpose.
B. Related to Habakkuk 3:19, this book focuses significantly on what
believers do for God. Habakkuk 3:19 affirms that God makes Habakkuk’s
feet like those of a deer, perhaps through strengthening and encouraging
him. MacArthur, however, interprets it in reference to the act of faith
itself: faith enables believers to have a secure hold. The role of God
in sanctification could have been highlighted more in this book. At the
same time, MacArthur does well to offer practical steps that one can
take: his chapter on self-discipline is an excellent example of this, as
are his chapters about possible reasons for discontent and attitudes
one can have instead. Moreover, some Christians can get so preoccupied
with their inability to keep God’s law, that they lose sight of the
beauty of the law and the reality that Christian attributes are
righteous, admirable, wholesome attributes to possess, as well as
requirements to follow. All of that said, as I have said in other
reviews of MacArthur’s work, the only way that I can read MacArthur
without becoming discouraged about my flaws is to employ a Lutheran
law/Gospel paradigm: the law challenges me with my inability to keep it,
and that is why I need Christ as my savior.
C. A point that MacArthur makes more than once is that, if you are
not joyful, there is a possibility that you are not saved. That sort of
thought can put people’s minds into a tailspin. I do not think that I
would go as far as MacArthur here. At the same time, there is nothing
wrong with continuous repentance, humble turning towards God after being
confronted with God’s standards, and ongoing recognition of one’s need
for a savior.
D. MacArthur fails to deal sufficiently with the implications of the
negative Psalms and other negative biblical passages in his larger
discussion of the pillars of Christian character. MacArthur says that
Christians have faith and joy, and they are to put away sinful attitudes
when they come before God in worship. There are, indeed, biblical
passages that suggest that: for instance, I Timothy 2:8 exhorts men to
lift up holy hands without anger or disputing. At the same time, there
are numerous passages of Scripture in which godly people are angry and
disappointed with God and do not hesitate to complain to God. Some
people, of course, can appeal to those passages as an excuse to be
continually negative, when Scripture does want people to have and
exhibit positive attitudes towards God and their fellow human beings.
Still, the fact is that no one is going to be pure all of the time, or
even anytime.
E. MacArthur at one point says that trials humble people and make
them more compassionate towards others. Yet, he also says that
bitterness and unforgiveness can hinder one’s relationship with God and
effectiveness in God’s work. MacArthur defines forgiveness as putting
aside the feelings of pain and loving the offender. This creates a
paradox, in my opinion: pain can enhance people spiritually by helping
them to develop humility and compassion, yet it also can be a
destructive force that leads them to isolate and sulk and to fail to
love others.
F. MacArthur tells a story about a woman whose husband left the
ministry after a bad experience and refused ever again to darken the
doors of a church. MacArthur says that what he should have done was ask
God what God wanted him to learn from this experience. This passage is
noteworthy, since MacArthur strikes me as the sort of teacher who wants
people to stick with the Bible rather than “God told me” experiences.
Yet, if there is a real God, would not God want to guide his children?
Where I stumble over this kind of teaching is that, first, I am afraid
that God will ask me to do something I do not want to do, or find myself
unable to do. Second, I am hesitant to define any sentiment in my mind
as divine revelation, when it very well may be just my idea. My own
ideas, I have to live with, but I am not willing to take risks over
them.
G. Some of what MacArthur talks about is difficult for me to
conceptualize, let alone practice. MacArthur defines love as thinking
about others over oneself, and it is not just having positive feelings
about people but entails doing actual good to them, even at sacrifice to
oneself. Forgiveness, for MacArthur, entails love towards the offender.
I have questions about this. For one, can people be totally free of
ego—-and here I do not mean pride but more a desire for one’s own needs
and wants to be met? I can picture myself putting others first in
specific incidents: letting someone else have that last piece of pizza,
etc. But I cannot picture myself having an all-encompassing attitude
that places other people ahead of myself, like my needs do not matter.
Second, why do people need to show love to their offenders? Why should
everybody have to be friends? Even those who act as if that is God’s
command do not practice that in real life, since they are busy with
their daily tasks in life.
H. This book had good personal stories, such as MacArthur not
granting some students an extension on their assignment to teach them
the importance of preparation, and MacArthur visiting his sister on her
deathbed and marveling (in a positive sense) at her hope as a Christian.