The and his people in the battle against sin.

And over the years, it has become plain to me that not everyone likes the idea that life is war.

I remember a colleague when I was teaching 40 years ago

saying to me, I don't like the warfare imagery that you use.

I think what we need is the family image. What we are his children, sisters life is is fellowship.

And I remember just 20 years ago

at our church in a terrible crisis

a group of members, friends whom I loved gathering around me and criticizing me because I put

too much emphasis on the Christian life as a fight, a fight of faith, a fight for joy.

Reminding me, his yoke is easy

his bird in his light lighten up

with the fight talk.

Well, we all need critics because we're all prone to distort truth by the way we use truth, not just by rejecting truth, but by the way you use truth.

We can get a hold on a biblical truth. We can get a hold on a biblical truth and put such an emphasis on it that it gets all

out of biblical proportion.

So that a person looks at the Bible

and they looks at your ministry and they say,

those don't have the same proportion

of the way that truth is being handled and the Bible is our measuring rod when it comes to

proportionality of truths in our ministry, right? The Bible is our guide. And in the Bible the

Christian life is sometimes family life and in the Bible sometimes it's the life of a farmer

and sometimes it's the life of an athlete and sometimes it's the life of an investor.

...