The Relentless Fight Workbook is now available!

I'm so excited to announce that The Relentless Fight Workbook is published and now available on Amazon! 

What is this new Workbook? It's not just a rehashing of all the same content from the original TRF book, published 5 years ago. It's not an AI-generated list of generic questions. Rather, it's a deeply interactive companion for sanctification. It's like weeks of mentorship meetings, praying and looking at Scripture together, and asking questions to get practical... taking all that, and converting it into paper and pen. It has the same core message as the original: Remember the Gospel and Keep Fighting. But there's not a lot of reading, it's mostly questions and lots of blank space to write out your thoughtful answers. 

If you know of people in your church, family, ministry, or friend group who are struggling with sin, feeling discouraged, and need some help in sanctification, would you please consider sharing with them about this new Workbook? 

Most importantly, would you please take a few minutes to pause and pray? 

• Please pray for God to deeply encourage people who go through this Workbook as they pray and read God's Word. 
• Please pray for God to empower people with the gospel and His Holy Spirit, to be able to say no to sin, and yes to Jesus. 
• Please pray for God to mightily equip Christians for the great fight of faith, with big picture strategies and battlefield tactics for sanctification.  

Overall, please pray for God to use this Workbook for the good spiritual growth of many people, that God would help them to remember the gospel, and keep fighting. Pray for God to use it for His greater glory. That's my eager desire and prayer. Thank you!

Book Review: Atomic Habits

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:2 (ESV)

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear is being highlighted here on The Relentless Fight because it could be used to equip you in the detailed practicals of sanctification. Mind you, it's a thoroughly secular book, there's no mention of the Bible or the gospel or repentance. And yet, just like a book on economics or medicine or architecture, it's a powerful tool when we redeem it through the lens of the Scriptures. When we start with the power of the gospel, and the goal of becoming like Christ, using these tools to create godly habits or stop sinful habits is not only effective, but glorifying to God. 

The backbone of Atomic Habits is what James Clear calls The Habit Loop (pages 46-52 from the book). He outlines this mental model with four parts to any habit (good or bad): 

Cue ---> Craving ---> Response ---> Reward. 

The cue is anything that prompts our desire, which leads to our action. Because the desire is fulfilled by the action, it feels satisfying, and reinforces the whole process. When this is repeated again and again, it becomes a habit, and is quickly ingrained in our lives. 

Here's a (sinful) example: You're feeling tired after a long week (cue), you want some rest and comfort (craving), so you look at porn (response), and experience a huge hit of dopamine (reward). Do that a few weeks, and you've got a life-dominating habit that's extremely hard to break. James 1:14-15 says it like this, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." Jesus warns about the trap that habitual sin brings in John 8:34, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." Ben Stuart summarizes it well, "What you think about, will be what you care about. And what you care about, you will chase." 

But the same is true of good habits. Consider this (godly) example: You wake up in the morning (cue), you want to start the day focused on Christ (craving), so you read the Word and pray for 1 hour (response), and your joy in salvation is stirred once again (reward). Do that a few weeks, and you've got a life-transforming habit that will lead to a life of godliness and spiritual fruit. Psalm 1:2 speaks of the righteous man, "but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

By understanding this pattern of human behavior, we can get insight into why and how we act, and therefore choose wisely what we feed and what we starve. The Bible uses the language of put off and put on. Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 call us to put off the old self with our sins (bad habits) and to put on the new man in Christ (good habits). 

From this simple four-stage model for habits, James Clear has created The Four Laws of Behavior Change (page 53 from the book) which restates the four steps in these imperatives:

1. Make it obvious 

2. Make it attractive 

3. Make it easy 

4. Make it satisfying. 

In a sinful world, with sin dwelling in our hearts, and Satan's temptation, far too often sin is right in front of us (obvious), it looks great and we want it (attractive), it's almost effortless to do (easy), and in the moment it feels like it delivers on its promises (satisfying). That's why Romans 13:14 instructs us, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." Cut off the supply chain! Don't provide opportunity or resources for your sin. 

Taking this four-part model, applied to fighting sin, here is how to sabotage the process at each step: 

1. Make Sin Avoidable: What's the cue? Kill it. Is it a place? Stay away. Is it an app? Delete it. Do whatever you can to avoid even the awareness of temptation and sin. Make it hidden and turned off, locked up, as the old adage goes, "out of sight, out of mind." Proverbs 4:14-15 instructs us, "Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on." Don't underestimate your sin, thinking you'll be able to resist it. It's so much wiser to stop the fight before it starts. Flee! 

2. Make Sin Ugly: Memorize Scripture that speaks of the dangers of sin, like Galatians 6:7-8a, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption..." Think about the consequences. Remember the guilt and shame that will surely come after the fleeting pleasure of sin. John Owen advises in The Mortification of Sin, "Do you find your corruption to begin to entangle your thoughts? Rise up with all your strength against it, with no less indignation than if it had fully accomplished what it aims at." (page 110)

3. Make Sin Difficult: Create obstacles that prevent you from acting out your sin. Get help from other Christians to interfere with your foolishness. Remove access by deleting apps, blocking websites, canceling subscriptions, and throwing things away. Be like Joseph in Genesis 39:10, "And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her."

4. Make Sin Painful: If you do indeed sin, then what can you do after the failure to repent and experience the pain of your sin? Sin always brings suffering, but often that suffering comes much later. What might be an immediate consequence? How can you introduce accountability? Paul Worcester gives one example here,  "I told my Dad that each time I gave into temptation I would give our Church $100!" 

That's putting off, the defensive fight. The Scripture likewise calls us to put on, the offensive fight. We must cultivate good habits like remembering the gospel, and relentless prayer. Let's break down the four steps with an example of a good habit that many Christians struggle with... daily Bible reading:

1. Plan for the Bible: Use the tool of "implementation intention" by writing out, "I will [ACTION] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]." Which might look like, "I will read one chapter of the Bible at 8am everyday at my breakfast table." Ben Stuart says in this video, you need "a time, a place, and a plan." As leadership gurus, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." 

2. Enjoy the Bible: Do you like drinking coffee? Drink it while you read. Do you like going for a run? Listen to an audio Bible while you exercise. Do you like friends? Consider partnering up in the same Bible reading plan. But those are just earthly enjoyments. What about the spiritual benefits? Remind yourself of the mind-blowing rewards of the Scripture, like it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." Do you want to be equipped? Doesn't that promise stir your desire to read the Word? 

3. Make Bible reading EASY: Buy a Bible that you like reading (translation, weight, margins, even the color of the cover).  Put your Bible on your reading chair. Have your reading plan printed out and bookmarked on the next day's reading. Make the process as smooth as possible. If Satan is attacking you, trying to eat you, do what you can to defend against him! Identify whatever obstacles you are feeling and do what you can to eliminate those barriers. That probably means putting your smartphone in another room to minimize distraction.

4. Make Bible reading fun: Track your reading progress, perhaps with little x's on day squares on your reading plan (habit tracking). Eat a piece of candy for every chapter you finish. Reward yourself for streaks of 3 days in a row, 10 days in a row, or for finish lines like completing the Pentateuch. Spiritually, as you are increasingly satisfied in the morning with the steadfast love of the Lord, you will begin to love reading the Word simply for the Word itself. You will fall in love with the Author of the Word. You will be amazed at the simple fact: God wrote a book.

You might think these are worldly strategies, and we should read the Bible for more godly reasons? Maybe you object to these as fleshly tricks, as mere human precepts? But as people have studied people for centuries, they've discovered some pretty common patterns regarding human behavior. If these things are true, and they really work... then why not harness their power to kill sin and nurture righteousness? Why not apply the biblical command of "put off, put on" with some practical steps? Why not leverage these insights for greater holiness and enjoyment of Christ? 

That being said, your motivation for reading the Bible shouldn't be chocolate snacks, so let's land more firmly on those godly reasons. Let us pray that God gives us a craving for Him like in Psalm 63:1, "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Let us pray that God empowers our obedience like in Colossians 1:10 to "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God..." Let us remember the superior joy found only in Jesus. Nothing satisfies like the Lord! Everything else is a broken cistern. Psalm 16:11 says, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Let us fight to believe that Jesus is Better! 

Love and faith will drive your activity of Bible reading, prayer, and walking with the Spirit. Love for Jesus drives obedience, as He says in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." If we believe that God is satisfying, that will drive our pursuit of him, as Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." 

So let us fight to remember the gospel. Nothing else gives us joy like the gospel! The only reason we are able to enjoy the presence of God is because of the reconciliation offered to us by the Cross of Christ. Leverage these laws of behavior change from Atomic Habits for your greater joy in Jesus! Get the book, read it, and apply it to your Christian life for God's glory. 

All Scripture quotations are from the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

The Reason Why You're Bored With the Bible

There are many reasons why you could be bored with the Bible. Maybe you have read the whole thing and already think you know what it says, so for you the repeat content is boring. Maybe you haven’t read much, but you’ve been in church enough times that you figure you know the basic gist… and it’s not something you want to hear more of. Maybe you just aren’t into books, and since the Bible is a book, therefore it’s boring. Maybe you’re into stories, and so all those Pauline epistles, poetry, and case laws in Deuteronomy… are boring! 

But I’d like to suggest one big reason why most people are bored with the Bible: because you are treating it like entertainment. 

Have you ever zoned out after reading a few sentences of the Bible? While you’re reading, are you tempted to pick up your phone to check your notifications for the 10th time? Do you regularly skip other things in order to play video games or watch that next show on Netflix? Have you ever binge-watched more than 3 episodes in a single sitting? Can you quote The Office better than you can quote Romans? 

Given the choice between reading an hour of the Bible, and playing an hour of video games… which would you more naturally choose? If someone looked at your schedule and calendar, what would they conclude you loved more: entertainment, or Jesus Christ? Let’s get crazy: Have you ever binge-read the Bible? Did you ever procrastinate on an assignment by reading the Bible? When you come to the end of a hard week, do you reward yourself with a long session of reading the Psalms? 

Our minds and hearts have been shaped by entertainment. And because the Bible isn’t “pew pew pew, superhero, scene change, boom explosion, scene change, pew pew pew, scene change, music, wow great finish!” ...we just get easily bored and distracted. We are so used to the image, the screen, the movie, the 20-minute episode that ends on an emotionally engaging cliffhanger that when we come to the BOOK it’s boring. The written Word is too slow. It doesn’t grip us. Our hearts respond with a yawn. Virtual love and digital danger seem more real to us than divine love and spiritual danger. We are so inundated with trivial (but titillating) entertainment that God's glory is obscured, as earthly banality has replaced God's beauty.

Tony Reinke, in his incisive book Competing Spectacles, explains this threat, "In sum, all my concerns are dwarfed by this one: boredom with Christ. In the digital age, monotony with Christ is the chief warning signal to alert us that the spectacles of this world are suffocating our hearts from the supreme Spectacle of the universe." (page 143) The classic sc-ifi book Fahrenheit 451 sounds a similar warning that entertainment will shrivel our minds, stunt our relationships, make us parochial, and enslave us to its thrills. 

Let’s look at the offramp to this suffocation and slavery of entertainment: The solution to your boredom is the gospel. 

The gospel is the most binge-worthy drama in the whole world. The gospel is the good news that we were made by God, rebelled against Him, deserved death, but that God loved us too much and desired to show us mercy, so He sent Christ to die in our place, to rescue us from our slavery to sin and forgive us of all our guilt and rebellion. Now we are reconciled to God, made new creations, and able to enjoy the infinite pleasures in His presence! THAT is good news. 

And the good news doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other, leaving our lives unchanged and unaffected. Titus 2:11-12 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…” So God’s grace comes first, but then training come next. Grace motivates different habits. We renounce worldly passions, like binge-watching Disney+. We live self-controlled lives, not slaves to hours of video games.

So practically, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you as you’re reading this…. here are some steps to take:

1. Confess your sin to God. Admit that your heart loves entertainment more than it loves Jesus. Be honest with God that you are bored with Him. Ouch. 

2. Remember the gospel. You are forgiven of all your sin! Oh what good news that is. And it’s only good news if we really are guilty like in step #1, if we really have sinned against God. If there’s no sin, there’s no need for Jesus to die. The cross is for failures.

3. Put off that which suffocates your joy in Jesus. Make no provision for the flesh. Consider a fast from all entertainment (streaming shows, TV, video games, YouTube, movies, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc) for the 40 days of Lent (this year it starts 2/17, and goes until Easter). Yes that’s crazy. Yes it will feel like death. You might think, “what in the world will I do instead of those things…” which leads to #4.   

4. Put on that which cultivates joy in Jesus. Read the Word, binge the Bible. Pray for God to help you not be bored of the Bible. Then pray again. Pray with others. Prayer walk. Pray for unreached people groups. Pray for a friend. Listen to worship music, and sing along, loudly. Share the gospel with someone. Memorize a chapter of the Bible. Read a solid book about enjoying Jesus, like Habits of Grace. Serve others as you have been served by Jesus. Fight for joy in Christ. 

   
   

As you practice these things, I guarantee you it will not be as exciting and “pew pew pew” as entertainment, the same way that eating salad and beans isn’t as exciting as Pop Rocks and Mountain Dew. But pursuing God will satisfy your soul and give you greater joy than a hundred years of entertainment. Psalm 4:7, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” Psalm 84:10a, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere."

God Himself is more satisfying than anything else, including all the best of today’s multi-million-dollar-budget entertainment. He’s the fountain of living waters, and everything else is just a broken cistern. The real God of the Bible is far superior to the fake god of entertainment. Jesus really is BETTER. Enjoy Him, don’t settle! 

What if you were so happy in Jesus that today’s entertainment was boring to you?

Don't Underestimate Your Sin

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. - Proverbs 22:3

There is a critical miscalculation that we must not make in the fight of faith: underestimating our own sin. 

Consider this military analogy: if you underestimate the enemy and overestimate your own strength, you will know an attack is coming, but do little to prepare for it. If your calculations were correct, you’ll be fine. But if your strength was not as great as you had thought, and the enemy was greater than you accounted for, you will suffer an incredible loss. To ensure victory, your army should do the opposite: overestimate the power of the enemy and underestimate your own strength. You will mount up a strong defense, prepare for a hard battle, call for reinforcements, and maybe even launch a counter-attack. The result? More likely you will enjoy victory, because you took the threat seriously and prepared accordingly. 

In the fight of faith, we are tempted to underestimate our own sin. This miscalculation is the fruit of at least three underlying problems: 

1. Pride: We overestimate our own strength. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” We think we’ll be able to resist temptation when it comes, we think we’ll be clever, we think we will have the self-control to win in our own strength. 
2. Deception: Sin lies to us. Hebrews 3:13 says, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We don’t recognize how our sin is destroying us until it is too late. Instead, we become blind and numb to our own depravity; sin creates its own protective blindspots. Sin deceives, and then it hardens. 
3. Unbelief: We underestimate our own sin because of a lack of faith in the gospel. Underneath pride and deception is the most dangerous problem: unbelief. We are prone to forget the gospel. When we forget the gospel our faith shrivels, and it leaves us vulnerable. This is the decisive failure that will result in ceasing the fight against sin and becoming complacent. We won't even show up for the fight. 

What is the solution to these underlying problems? How do we avoid underestimating our sin? 

We must remember the gospel! Meditating on Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross will humble us by revealing our weakness and need of salvation; we could not save ourselves! The gospel brings a sharp wake-up call of truth to replace the deception that sin creates; sin is serious, Christ had to DIE for our sin! And the gospel stirs and strengthens our faith as we meditate on the object of our faith; Hebrews 12:1-2 calls us to set our eyes on Jesus as we run the race. 

Faith in Christ’s salvation results in humility and gratitude. In that humility and the power of the gospel, you’ll be able to fight your sin. But you won’t fight lazily—you’ll fight strongly because you’ve rightly evaluated your sin, seeing it through the eyes of God’s holiness.  In that gratitude, you’ll rejoice in what God has done for you in Christ. You’ll have a superior joy in Jesus that drowns out the fleeting pleasures of sin. Backed by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can put your sin to death. Romans 8:13 promises, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” 

So practically here are some next steps:

1. Remember the gospel: Do whatever is necessary to remind yourself of the gospel. Your enemy is pride, deception, and unbelief! But the gospel will humble your heart, reorient your mind with truth, and strengthen your faith. Fight to remember the gospel. 
2. Expect difficulty: Don’t pridefully expect an easy fight. Rather, go into the fight against sin knowing that it will be hard, then you won’t be shocked when it is hard. Expect resistance, develop a wartime mentality! Prepare your mind for battle. Expect a hard, long, bloody fight. You must make war! 
3. Prepare in peacetime: When you are not currently under temptation and attack, take the opportunity to prepare for war. Memorize Scripture that can be accessed and used in time of temptation, as the antidote of truth against the poison of lies. Cultivate a superior affection for Jesus. Research your battlefield. Remove access to sin. Be ready for the fight so that when temptation comes, you can meet it with overwhelming firepower, and attain victory over your sin. 
4. Call out for help: If you rightly estimate the power of your sin, you will recognize your own insufficiency to fight it by yourself. First call out to God, He will come to your aid! Pray relentlessly. Establish accountability, ask for help from others. If you know a particular weekend or evening is going to be a time of temptation, text a few Christian friends to ask them to pray for you and check in with you. And if help isn't available (or no one texts back), be prepared to flee with a tactical retreat. 

Don’t underestimate your sin. It’s a deadly miscalculation. But also, never underestimate your Savior! Your temptation might be crushing and your sin might be devastating, but it is no match for the awesome power of His strength and grace. You cannot overestimate His power because you cannot measure infinity! He is MIGHTY to save. Jeremiah 20:11 says, “But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.” And the opposite is also true, the eternal glory of the cross of Christ will never fade. Fight to remember the gospel! 

Don’t Waste Your Coronavirus Season

"Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." - 2 Timothy 2:22

The advent of the Coronavirus pandemic has had major effects on our world. It has created incredible uncertainty and anxiety, and has resulted in closed workplaces and a new era of social distancing. (For the latest information on Coronavirus (COVID-19), please see the CDC website.)

The purpose of The Relentless Fight blog from the beginning has been to encourage, empower, and equip Christians for the great fight of faith. There are so many good articles and responses about this season (for a sampling, visit The Gospel Coalition) but here at TRF we wanted to focus on the fight of faith and the fight against sin.

You may be experiencing a big increase in time spent at home, uncertain of how long this season will last. Faced with this sudden openness in your schedule... what might happen? There really are two directions you can go with spending your time: wasting or investing.

• Wasting: It will be very easy to waste this season. Through boredom and social isolation, there's increased temptation to turn to entertainment, social media, video games, and various distractions. This Coronavirus season will reveal your heart. And one key place you'll see your heart displayed is in how you use your extra time. 
• Investing: You have an incredible opportunity for spiritual investment during this season! Perhaps life has slowed down now more than ever before. How will you use that extra time? Heed this challenge: use this time at home for intense spiritual activity. 

Here are some practical suggestions for how to spiritually invest in this season:

• Bible: There's only one book that God has written. That makes it worth reading! Read huge chunks of the Bible. Did you know it takes just 18 hours to read the whole New Testament? And the whole Bible takes about 74 hours (Crossway made a helpful infographic with time breakdowns). If you need some help getting started, check out this 6-min video by Ben Stuart on Practical Helps for Bible Reading. 
• Books: What a fantastic time to read more solid books to invigorate your spiritual growth! You can read book reviews here on The Relentless Fight for these titles: When I Don't Desire God, Side by Side, The Mortification of Sin, Competing Spectacles, and Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. 
• Learn: If reading isn't your thing, there are so many ways to learn via audio and video teaching. Here's a few to start: TGC Courses, The Bible Project, and Look at the Book. 
• Serve: You can reach out to someone who is lonely and ask how you can pray for them and serve their practical needs. Philippians 2:1-4 calls us to consider others needs, not just our own. 
• Evangelize: This Coronavirus and its many effects are shaking our world, and there may be unique opportunities as people open up with spiritual interest. Here's a list of 10 ideas. Pray for gospel opportunities! And when God gives them.... be bold and speak the Word of life! Who knows, the Lord may just use this to bring revival to our broken world. 
• Pray: You might be facing extra anxiety and fear. That's understandable, these are wild times of uncertainty. Turn those worries into prayer! Pray for God's mercy in this pandemic. Pray for others who are affected. Pray for God to give you peace and increased faith in Christ. Pray relentlessly. 
• Make Disciples: Paul Worcester said it well in his open letter, Dear College Students: The Mission Isn't Canceled. Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations. That mission is NOT canceled! Whether you're a senior student or a senior citizen...if you are a Christian, you have a purpose: Jesus commissions you to make disciples. And this coronavirus does not stop that mission. 

You've probably heard the old adage, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!" Practically, it may help you to come up with a "Coronavirus Season Plan" to maximize your spiritual growth during this time. Get a piece of paper or open a new note on your phone and write down some answers to these three questions:

1. What are your spiritual growth goals? 
2. What are going to be some time-wasting distractions? 
3. Who can you share this with for accountability and community help?

Here's the key question: 
....Who do you want to be at the end of this Coronavirus season? 

And above all, remember the gospel. The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). As one pastor put it, we live "in the the grip of a pandemic outbreak called sin. What is your hope in the face of that virus?" The answer is the gospel. Fight to remember the gospel! 

PS: Author Andy Cimbala created a 3-min video "How to Fight Temptation During Coronavirus Season" with some recommended free resources from The Relentless Fight during this time, view it on YouTube here:

YouTube Channel for The Relentless Fight

The Relentless Fight now has a YouTube channel! You can watch the videos and subscribe here.

Hopefully these videos will be used by God to encourage, empower, and equip you for the great fight of faith.

As of publication today, the channel is starting with these four new videos:

1. The Relentless Fight: New Book Promo Video
2. Why did you write this book?
3. What should I do right after a sinful failure? (based on the previous blog post Right After the Failure, featured as Appendix A in the book)
4. What’s the hope for the end of the fight? (based on the Conclusion: The End of the Fight from the book) 

Watch, share, and enjoy! And don't forget to subscribe, hopefully for more videos in the future. 

What videos would you like to see? What questions would you like to see answered on the channel? Comment below or on Facebook. 

Book Review: Competing Spectacles

"Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man." - Proverbs 27:20

Tony Reinke is a senior writer for Desiring God, author of several books, and host of the popular Ask Pastor John podcast. He wrote a fantastic book two years ago called 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You. His latest book asks, "What images should I feed my eyes?"

Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age is being highlighted here on The Relentless Fight because we need this clarion book. In our cultural soil of entertainment there grows an endless number of distractions from Jesus. We need to wake up to this insidious undertow, and fight to make Jesus our treasure. If we fail, we will be smothered not by the grossest explicit sins, but rather the deluge of high-quality, captivating, awe-inspiring ocular delights.

Here's a few highlights and ideas from the book:

• The Cross is the ultimate Spectacle: Of all the spectacles across history, and of the thousands that vie for our attention right now, the ultimate and greatest spectacle is Christ on the Cross. It is the divine Spectacle, the centerpiece of the Bible and of human history, and in heaven we will all see Christ and give Him worship as the Spectacle of our eternal delights. "Christ's glory is the spectacle of all other spectacles, and its power is most clearly seen in how it equips and motivates and animates our faithful obedience in all other areas of life." (page 90) The glory of Christ is preeminent, it gives us the highest delight, but it also motivates our obedience. If we remember the gospel, we will keep fighting. 
• Focusing on Christ will be a fight: The Spectacle of the Cross has many competitors for our attention. We will not be captivated with Christ as the default, and our attention will be ripped away with competing pleasures and delights. Therefore we must fight to look at Jesus! We should pray that God gives us faith to "see" the glories of the gospel. We must mount the counter-attack and fight to believe that Jesus is better. "Each of us must learn to preserve higher pleasures by revolting against lesser indulgences." (page 122) Does Jesus interest you? If not, you must fight for joy. We must fight relentlessly to remember the gospel, and "the recelebration and rearticulation of the glory of Christ must be set before us, over and over, and fed to our souls day by day." (page 91)
• Practically, learn to say no to competing spectacles: In this media age, perhaps repentance looks like digital detox and closing our eyes to the glories of entertainment. "Attention is the new commodity of power; the viral spectacle is the product. Which means that when we ignore a spectacle, we unplug its power." (page 126) When we give our attention to a thing, by default we must say no to a hundred other things. It's part of our limitation as humans, our attention is precious and can only be given to one thing at a time. To say yes to Christ means saying no again and again and again to hundreds of sparkling, attractive, shouting competitors. It will be a fight! Expect great difficulty. In Mark 4, Jesus tells a parable of thorny soil that chokes out the Word and makes it unfruitful. We live in an age of thorns; everywhere in our attention economy, our eyes are being bought and paid for. We are being marketed to and seduced and screamed at. When we hear the Word, it’s amidst the cacophony of louder noise of the cares of this world, and riches, and desires for other things (consumerism). So we can’t even hear Jesus anymore. He’s one voice, out of thousands. We must learn to say no to competing spectacles, so we can say yes to Jesus. What do you need to do differently this week, in order to hear Him? What event will you say no to, to say yes to church every Sunday? What entertainment will you say no to, in order to say yes to Bible study? What phone notifications and news stories and music will you have to say no to, in order to create the quiet and space in order to say yes to praying? How can you develop habits of saying no to competing spectacles? Perhaps you will fast from a certain viral movie or TV show that everyone is watching, and you want to watch too. This will strengthen the muscles of saying no. Perhaps you will delete the social media apps on your phone to limit your enticements. Maybe you'll delete your Netflix subscription. Do whatever it takes to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh. 

Reinke concludes with this key point, "In sum, all my concerns are dwarfed by this one: boredom with Christ. In the digital age, monotony with Christ is the chief warning signal to alert us that the spectacles of this world are suffocating our hearts from the supreme Spectacle of the universe." (page 143) Amen. If we forget the gospel, it will not be because we don't have access to Christ. But it's because our attention has been so diverted, so disintegrated, so fractured, that we have but slivers to give to Him and His Word. It's the thorny soil choking the Word so it proves unfruitful. And when we forget the gospel, we will stop fighting our sin. "Soul boredom is a great threat, and when our souls become bored, we make peace with sin." (page 144)

In summary, Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age is highly recommended because our culture is guilty of worshiping the god of entertainment. This book wakes us up and shows us the exit ramp of repentance. May God help us fight to remember the gospel.

Note: Crossway provided a free ebook copy in exchange for this honest review, as part of their Blog Review Program. Win/win!