Performance Show or Celebration?

Photo courtesy of
freedigitalphotos.net and
David Castillo Dominici

I tell you, her sins - and they are many - have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love.

Luke 7:47

It was the last day of the writer's conference I was attending, and I was on a high! I enjoyed the peace and solitude that it offered, and the information I gained was invaluable. Not to mention I won second place in a contest I entered!


All was well in the world for me. I was even able to have a quiet time each morning without any distractions. What a gift! While reading the Bible that last morning, I came across the story of the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. I had heard the story many times, but had never read it for myself. I can almost see Jesus sitting there accepting all that this woman was lavishing upon Him. Oh, to have a heart like that for our Savior, and He hadn't even died for her yet!


His reply to her moves me, as well. It shows me that our affections for Him are a response to His love for us. When we realize what sinners we really are, and that only His blood makes us acceptable before God, we can embrace His love and forgiveness for us. This life with Christ is not a performance show, it's a celebration! And in this celebration, there is only one gift-giver, God, yet His gifts are many. So, celebrate with Him by receiving all He brings to the party and giving thanks in return.

Live Dangerously: Preach the Word of God!

OK, God is so awesome! I found a small torn out piece of paper that I had written some notes on from Matthew 25:14-30. Jesus is telling a parable of a Master and three servants. Some of you may know this one, but I had not heard it before. Simply put, the Master gives "talents", which are meausrements of silver (money in their day), to each servant. The first two invest this money and have a 100% return on their investment. The third one does nothing with his, well, that's not true. He buries it, therefore not having any return at all.

To the first two servants, Jesus says, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more resonsibilities. Let's celebrate together!" (vs. 21 & 23, NLT) The third servant, however is called a wicked and lazy servant. He had a response prepared for his Master whom he pretended to serve, when what he really did was put the money out of sight so he wouldn't be confronted with it each day the Master was away. The Master eventually tells this servant that he is to be "thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (vs. 30, NLT).

All three servants were entrusted with something that belonged to the Master, and they were expected to make investments with it. This is much like opportunities that God gives us to further His kingdom and serve His people. These opportunites almost always involve taking a risk on our part, but the return is 100%, as so perfectly depicted in Jesus' parable. God may get all the glory, but the beauty in that is that we get to share in the blessing when we are obedient.

Here's the part that made me say God is so awesome. OK, that was first this morning, and then I read a blog on that passage. Afterwards, and I mean at least an hour later, due to tending to children and starting a load of laundry, I opened the Bible to 2 Timothy 4:1-5, and here is what it said: "I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appearts to set up his kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you".

I don't know about you, but it sure sounds like a continuation of Jesus' parable in Matthew I started my quiet time with! How awesome is God?!

Confidence

Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.

II Cor 3:12

I have a hard time with self-confidence. I always feel like just about everybody else is better than me, and it can be exhausting. This way of thinking works its way in between me and almost every aspect of my life. When I enter into a situation feeling defeated, it affects not only me, but those around me as well.

For instance, my kids are on a swim team. I am the one who takes them to practice, and gets them to the meets. Most days we are late. Everyone else seems to get there on time, why can't I? Even when I manage to drag us all there on time, I don't know the first thing about swim team stuff. I enter in this environment feeling intimidated. When we are at meets and I try to help out, I literally feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! If you've ever seen that, you know what I mean. There's no head, but because it takes a while for the chicken to die, it still runs around aimlessly. That's how I feel at these meets. I'm doing who knows what to help out, but I don't really understand what's going on, so I'm not sure I'm doing anything helpful at all.

But here's Paul telling me that the new covenant with Jesus gives me confidence so I can be very bold. I know that he's not talking about being bold at a swim meet, but maybe he is. Our mission field is everywhere we go, so if I go into my mission field feeling intimidated and defeated, then my true purpose for being there goes unmet. I don't do a good job helping out, I lash out at my kids, and I certainly haven't been a good witness of the love of Christ. But, in God's grace, all I need is a simple reminder of the truth.

Romans 8:18 is one of my favorite "simple reminders". It says that "what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later". I know that believing Satan's lies and walking around feeling defeated is needless suffering, but it's suffering nonetheless. Unchecked, it can consume me and zap the life (& joy) right out of me. This verse points me back in the direction of an an eternal perspective, allowing me to walk in the confidence of not only who I am in Christ, but who God created me to be, tender-hearted and sensitive, becoming a blessing to those around me instead of a liability.

A murderer, No Doubt!

The people of the island saw it (a snake) hanging from his hand and said to each other, "A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live." But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn't harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

Acts 28:4-6

Isn't it funny how we let circumstances change our minds? I mean, reallly, these natives thought he was a murderer, then they thought he was a god! Talk about wavering, but that's how we can be as well.

I just got finished reading some emails from other Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer's Conference attendees talking about "flat tires". In essence, they were talking about how we let the circumstances of life change our course of direction. At this writer's conference, we all got pumped up on what God has in store for us (note the present tense of the verb has), and we had big plans of following through on each and every one of them. Once we got home, however, life threw it's nails in our path and began to deflate the tires of our enthusiasm. Let's not let Satan derail us from the path God has already chosen for us. Oh, rest assured he will try any and everything he can think of, but remember two things: 1)Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4); and 2)God already has big plans for you, you just have to walk them out! (Jer. 29:11)

Why Do We Read Scripture, Anyway?

There are many reasons to read God's word, but here are a few from John 17, Jesus' words to His Father just before He is betrayed and arrested.

1. Joy. In John 17:13, Jesus says"...I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy." He was able to tell His disciples this truth in person, but we still have access to the truth by reading His precious word. And here we see that He does not give us His word so we would know right from wrong, or so we would be able to do things for Him, but that we would be filled with His joy.

2. Protection. Jesus goes on to ask God to protect us from the evil one, because we do not belong in this world any more than He does (vss. 15-16). This gives me great comfort when I think about the obscure fact of spiritual warfare. We know it exists, but few of us really understand it. This puts new meaning on the verse that says "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). I know that all things are in His hands, and that He is capable to do more than I can ever imagine, or understand.

3. Holiness. "I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth" (vs. 19). Just what is this truth? "...teach them your word, which is truth" (vs. 17). It's God's word, and His word at that time is what we call the Old Testament. This is plainly shown to us by statemets made by Jesus after His death and resurrection. He finds two of His followers on the road to Emmaus and "takes them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Sciptures the things concerning Himslef" (Luke 24:27). We also see that this truth is intertwined with Jesus being the supreme sacrifice. Only through believing in Him as God's only Son and putting Him first in our lives can we be made holy. John 17:20 says, "I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message." This includes you and me!

4. Unity. Jesus prays that we will all be one, just as He and God are one. This sounds too good to be true, but when put into context, it all makes perfect sense. He prays this so that the world might believe that God sent Him, therefore giving us the gift of salvation, and our last nugget from the seventeenth chapter of the gospel of John: love.

5. Love. Jesus prays for us to have unity with the Father not only for the world to know Jesus is His Son, but also that we would know that God the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus. (vs. 23). Now, I don't know about you, but that's a hard one to wrap my brain around! I will just have to take Him at His word, and that's where this all started, with Jesus giving us God's word. How convenient that we have such easy access to His word. Many of us have multiple Bibles in our homes, and I have recently learned that you can go to a Lifeway bookstore and purchase a Bible for a dollar! As if that wasn't convenient enough, He tells us in Romans that His word is on our lips and in our hearts (Romans 10:8); we have it with us all the time. What a mighty God we serve!

I pray that you, and I, can go out today with the full assurance of God's love and acceptance because of the sacrifice of Jesus. Any struggle I have, I know that God is protecting me from the evil one. I pray that I can walk in the truth that Jesus came to this earth to give. Thank you, Father for giving us your Son. In His precious name, Amen.

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Janaka Dharmasena

Heavenly Daddy

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
and imagerymajestic.

Yesterday at church, we sang Unashamed Love by Ten Shekel Shirt, one of my favorite songs. During it, something amazing happened. For the first time, I truly saw God as my Heavenly Father. It felt as though He was holding me, and we were at a Father/daughter dance. Every girl longs to be cherished, and strangely enough, as I was worshipping Him, and telling Him how worthy He is, He seemed to be saying the same thing back to me. With eyes closed, all else seemed to fade away, and I had a private moment with God, my heavenly Daddy.

Then, today as I was listening to that same song and thumbing through the Bible, I came across this scripture, which is Jesus saying: "At that time, you won't need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and He will grant your request because you use my name. ...Ask, using my name, and you will receive and you will have abundant joy." John 16:23-24

I just love the way He starts something beautiful and continues to make it more beautiful. As if dancing with the Daddy of the universe isn't enough, He tells me one more time, in yet another way, that I can come into His presence with full assurance that He wants me there. This is all because of the love He lavished upon me with the glorious sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you, Daddy, for being who You are!