Formed by Jesus Podcast

Scripture as Mirror: The Freedom Behind Confrontation

In 1964, Norman Rockwell painted "The Problem We All Live With" for Look magazine. It depicted 6-year-old Ruby Bridges walking to her first day of school during desegregation, escorted by headless US marshals, with a tomato splattered on the wall behind her meant to resemble blood.

Rockwell received more hate mail from this image than any other in his career—not from Black Americans, but from average citizens angry that he showed something true, real, and ugly about America. It wasn't the content that made people uncomfortable. It was the confrontation.

Here's what's profound about the painting: Where are you positioned as the viewer? Rockwell made you both an observer of the image and a participant in the story. It forced viewers to confront who they really were in light of the Black American story.

Scripture works the same way. It's a mirror that confronts us, challenges us, and calls out our assumptions about God, the world, and ourselves. The question is: will we look intently at what we see, or will we walk away?

## The False Self and Fig Leaves

Genesis tells us Adam and Eve were created naked and felt no shame. They lived in wholeness and vulnerability without fear of confrontation. But after eating the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened. Genesis 3:7 says "they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."

The fig leaves are a physical symbol of a spiritual reality. When confronted, our inclination is to hide—from others, from ourselves, and from God.

Our version of fig leaves today is what psychologists and theologians call **the false self**—the version of ourselves we project to others to hide our weakness, woundedness, and wickedness.

- **Weakness**: The parts we're insecure about—our fears, personality quirks, things we feel unconfident in

- **Woundedness**: Our embarrassing history, family of origin, trauma

- **Wickedness**: Our sins, failures, willful disobedience—the anger we can't shake, the addiction we can't break free from, the pride in how we treat others

The false self is a coping mechanism based on self-reliance rather than God's love and providence. What are you hiding behind? Your busyness? Your personality ("I'm just not wired that way")? Maybe even something good you're subtly putting before God—your family, career, health?

## The Four Levels of Sin

Early church fathers and mothers understood how deep the false self goes. They identified four levels of sin:

**1. Gross Sins** - Obvious wrongs most people would agree are bad: sexual immorality, deception, greed. These are easy to identify but also easy to use to make ourselves feel better. "I might have an anger problem, but at least I'm not an alcoholic."

**2. Conscious Sins** - Things that are socially accepted but at odds with Jesus' way: How do you spend your money? What media do you consume? How do you talk about others? These confront not just our behaviors but our will and freedom.

**3. Unconscious Sins** - Sins of motivation: doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Dysfunctional relational patterns others experience in us. You might not yell at your spouse, but do you harbor years of bitterness?

**4. Attachments** - Good things that become bad things because of our reliance on them. Success in ministry. Career. Family relationships. If we lose these, we question who we are. A false self built on career success crumbles after retirement.

## Looking Intently Into the Mirror

James 1:23-25 says: "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it... will be blessed."

Scripture has power to show us who we really are if we're willing to look intently. Most of us approach the Bible cognitively—asking about context, author, genre. These are good questions, but if that's where we stop, it's just a higher form of control.

Try going deeper:

- How do I actually feel in response to what I'm reading?

- Where do I come alive? Where do I feel resistance?

- What aspects of my life are being touched?

- What do my reactions tell me about myself?

**If you don't feel resistance to anything when reading the Bible, you're probably not reading enough of it.**

When you feel challenged, discomforted, or exposed—that's an invitation to submit something in your soul to God. God forms us most deeply in the places where we are least like Jesus.

## The Gift of Confrontation

James says whoever looks intently finds "the perfect law that gives freedom."

Freedom from the false self you're killing yourself to construct. Freedom from wounds you'd rather hide than heal. Freedom from the weight of sin you'd rather manage than confess. Freedom from the fear of being found out.

Remember how God responded to Adam and Eve's fig leaves? He went looking for them. He didn't wait for them to get their act together. He found them, confronted them, and even though He kicked them out of the garden, God went with them.

What if that's how God is trying to call out to you today? What if the sign you're waiting for isn't behind a dream, vision, or miracle? What if it's behind confrontation?

**What are you hiding behind? What part of Scripture are you ignoring out of fear? What if that's exactly how God is trying to get your attention today?**

You don't have to cover yourself up to be seen by God. If you've given your life to Him, He's already forgiven you. The sins you're hiding, He's already paid for.

Let the mirror do its work.

Scripture works best when we allow it to work slowly over the long haul in our lives. But this confronts our impulse to seek immediate results and instant satisfaction. Where Scripture plants small seeds that bloom slowly over time, we often live too hurried and impatient to allow it to do its deepest work in us. But by adopting both a daily pace and a humble posture, we can slowly train ourselves to endure while letting Scripture do its deepest work in our souls.

In Ephesians 6, Paul describes the armor of God and tells believers to take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” When Jesus faces off with the devil in the wilderness, he uses Scripture as his main defense. Each temptation from the devil was met with a specific truth from God’s Word. In the same way, we too are called to apply Scripture specifically to our lives in order to combat the deceptions, accusations, resistance, and temptations from the enemy. The more we saturate our minds with Scripture, the more the Holy Spirit brings specific verses, promises, or truths to our minds in the moments we need them most.

“Sweeter than honey to my mouth…” That’s how the Psalmist describes the Bible in Psalm 119. Which means that Scripture is not just information to absorb or rules to obey, it’s meant to reshape our desires. Where most of us either indulge or suppress our desires, the Bible aims to redirect them back towards God. In order to allow ourselves to be reshaped by the Bible, we practice meditating on it. By meditating, we’re not rushing or skimming, we’re savoring. We’re slowing down with God’s Word to allow it to slowly sink from our heads into our hearts. Over time, as we consistently meditate on God’s Word, our thoughts begin to align with God’s thoughts, and our desires begin to align with His.

In order to be formed by Scripture, we must learn to submit to its authority. In Psalm 119, the Psalmist describes God’s Word as a lamp, something that illuminates just enough for us to take one small step of obedience to Jesus at a time. This means that Scripture can’t simply be read, it must be obeyed. If our attitudes, actions, behaviors, and beliefs are never redirected by the Bible, then we aren’t treating it like a lamp unto our feet. But by ruthlessly assessing the darkness in the world and our own hearts, and by radically accepting the light of God’s Word, we can slowly practice submitting to Scripture and obeying it as truth.

For most of church history, access to the Bible came at great cost. William Tyndale gave his life so ordinary people could read the Bible in their own language. Today, we carry it in our pockets and have it in our homes,yet the Bible often sits unopened. From the life and teachings of Jesus we learn that the Bible is not a textbook, storybook, or rulebook. It’s a library of writings that together reveal God and tell a unified story leading to Jesus. It is both fully human and fully divine, “God-breathed,” and when we submit ourselves to its story, it does more than inform us, it transforms us. To become formed by Scripture means we must learn to both read the Bible, and submit ourselves to its story.

For most of church history, access to the Bible came at great cost. William Tyndale gave his life so ordinary people could read the Bible in their own language. Today, we carry it in our pockets and have it in our homes,yet the Bible often sits unopened. From the life and teachings of Jesus we learn that the Bible is not a textbook, storybook, or rulebook. It’s a library of writings that together reveal God and tell a unified story leading to Jesus. It is both fully human and fully divine, “God-breathed,” and when we submit ourselves to its story, it does more than inform us, it transforms us. To become formed by Scripture means we must learn to both read the Bible, and submit ourselves to its story.

The Christian life is not defined by a single powerful moment. Instead, Scripture shows us that formation happens through both moments and marathons. In Acts 19, the church in Ephesus experienced a defining moment where God moved powerfully to save its people and bring revival to the city. But years later, Paul wrote Ephesians to guide them through the long obedience of faithful discipleship. Eventually, Jesus Himself addressed this church in Revelation, warning that perseverance without love leads to drift. The invitation of the gospel is not to grit our teeth through the race, but to keep falling in love with Jesus. To do this we must learn to guard our hearts, walk in community, practice faithfulness, and rely on the Holy Spirit to form us peace by piece over the long haul.

Join our church as we pursue the way of Jesus, peace by piece. To learn more, go to: https://formedbyjesus.com

Peace By Teaching: Why Renewing Your Mind Matters

As we continue through the Peace by Piece series at Passion Creek Church, we’re exploring what it actually takes to become disciples who change—people filled with love, joy, and peace in a world that feels increasingly chaotic.

In a culture where the church often responds by becoming either consumer-focused or crusader-driven, we’re imagining a different way forward: a community whose hearts and minds are guarded by the peace of Christ.

The Tone Of Transformation

Ephesians 4:1 serves as the hinge point of Paul’s entire letter. After three chapters showing us the vastness of what God has done in Christ, he pivots to how we live in light of that grace. But notice three crucial words that set the temperature for everything:

Urge (parakaló) – This isn’t scolding or shaming. The word literally means “to call alongside,” carrying the tone of encouragement and comfort. It’s the same word Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit—the one who gently prompts and directs but never forces. Paul isn’t barking like a sheepdog; he’s beckoning like a shepherd.

Worthy (axios) – This isn’t about proving your worthiness to God. The word picture is a balancing scale—balancing what you’ve received with how you respond. You’re only accountable for what you’ve received, and that grows as you grow. When our walking and God’s calling are in balance, we’re whole—living maturely, living congruent with the way God calls us into being.

Calling (klēsis) – Our calling is to encounter and then embody peace (shalom). In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it was shalom. We were at peace with God, with others, with creation, with ourselves. But sin disrupted that shalom. Since Genesis 3:15, God promised to send a Savior to restore it. Jesus is our shalom, and the church is called to embody shalom in and to the world.

The Gap Between Vision And Reality

Here’s the rub: what we see described in Ephesians typically isn’t what we see in the church. The picture on the puzzle box looks nothing like the pieces we have on the table. We quit on the vision of peace because all we see and feel is chaos.

How do we embark on truly becoming peace in such an anxious and evil world? How do we “grow into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness”?

Three Frameworks That Have Failed Us

In our lifetime, popular streams of the church have given us three frameworks for fullness that, while containing truth, have ultimately failed to deliver complete transformation:

Bible Study – “If we just knew more truth, we’d be transformed.” Yes, to an extent. But Scripture itself says, “Knowledge puffs up; love edifies.” We have more information at our fingertips than ever and we’re still not at peace.

Encounter – “If we just encounter God in worship, we will be changed.” We live for the next conference or summer camp, putting pressure on worship experiences to deliver transformation. But experiences fade and don’t seem to work on the deeper issues of maturity.

Missional Movement – “If we just multiplied ourselves, maturity would come.” But what are we bringing people into? Are we sure we’re not just a spiritual pyramid scheme?

We’ve made transformation too simplistic, and it has failed us. But it can’t be too complex, or we’ll quit before we begin.

A Better Framework

Our framework for fullness is: Teaching, Community, Practice, Holy Spirit, Moments & Marathons.

These aren’t revolutionary or novel—they’re essential pieces that, when done faithfully over time, lead to real transformation. Today, we’re focusing on why teaching is such a crucial piece (but still not the whole piece).

Why Teaching Matters

Ephesians 4:14 warns that children are gullible and easily fall for lies. But Paul is implying that adults are just as easily duped. Without proper doctrine, we stay stuck in immaturity, instability, and gullibility. Our lives become like a storm, tossed back and forth by every new deceitful teaching.

Here’s what’s critical to understand: deception happens without us looking for it.

This is unintentional spiritual formation. Just by existing in 2026, certain presuppositions shape your life. Consider this: In the Middle Ages, people didn’t trust their desires. The assumption was, “If I follow my desires, I will wreck my life.” But in the modern world, we’ve flipped that completely. Our default assumption is, “If I don’t follow my desires, I will wreck my life.” Most of us never consciously chose that belief—it’s just the air we breathe.

Ephesians 4:17-19 describes those who walk with futility in their thoughts, darkened in their understanding. Sinful behavior always starts in the mind. If your mind is devoid of truth, it leads to destructive actions.

Ideas and Images

This deception doesn’t just come from obviously false religious teaching. It comes through the stories we tell ourselves, movies we watch, books we read, heroes we glorify. It’s primarily through ideas and images.

Dallas Willard puts it this way: “Ideas and images are, accordingly, the primary focus of Satan’s efforts to defeat God’s purposes with and for humankind… When he undertook to draw Eve away from God, he did not hit her with a stick but with an idea.”

Ideas and images are subtle ways we are sabotaged and deceived. Many have the image of God as an angry traffic cop waiting to bust them for mistakes. Others are stuck in the idea that they must earn their salvation. Some imagine the church should be like a wild meadow with no structure, no planning, no budgeting—when Scripture says it’s a body that needs sustenance, a family that needs leadership, a vineyard that is pruned regularly.

Some of the greatest destroyers of peace in your life aren’t circumstantial; they’re intellectual.

If we don’t start here, it doesn’t matter if you do the practices or live in community. If we don’t allow truth to penetrate and change our ideas and images, we’ll be tossed about like immature children.

The Call To Renewal

Ephesians 4:20-24 calls us to renew our minds, and this happens over a lifetime. Sometimes there are lightbulb moments. But more often, it’s the slow and steady marathon of Scripture that changes us from the inside out.

Showing up to church is a great start. But that’s probably not enough when it comes to transforming the big stuff: overcoming sins you’ve promised God you’d never commit again, breaking free from bitterness and anger, no longer living in catastrophic thinking or for people’s approval, feeling deep in your bones that you truly are forgiven.

Six Ways to Renew Your Mind

Read large chunks of Scripture

Memorize small portions of Scripture

Sit under the teaching at church

Read books

Listen to podcasts

Study Bible in community

This is the first step, but it’s not the last. This will take you pretty far in the beginning years of the Christian life. You can’t think your way to Christlikeness alone. You can’t skip this step, but you’ll starve yourself if it’s the only step.

Peace is possible because of the Prince of Peace. One major piece we must begin with is teaching—renewing our minds. We must walk worthy of the calling we’ve received, and that starts by confronting the lies we’re already believing.

What lies are you already believing?