MAKE IT YOUR AMBITION

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”

I Thessalonians 4:11

I chose this as my life verse very early in my decision to follow Jesus and walk with God.  It serves me well when I heed it and waits patiently for me when I get off track and get over involved with too many causes that beckon me to be apart of.  Paul wrote it but I believe Jesus lived it; so it serves as a good pattern to follow.

These past few weeks have been like a deluge of hard rain falling.  Every issue under the sun has been brought to surface; racial violence, white supremacy, divided churches, marriage, and flags, all fueled by hate.  Our world of social media has given a venue for everyone to have and voice an opinion on matters they may or may not be well educated with, matters they have no personal experience with, and matters they would do better not to have an opinion on and certainly not voice one.  I felt bombarded on every side and finally decided enough is enough.

My sociology teacher back in my early college years had a poster in her room that said; “When all is said and done there is more said than done.”  If I learned anything in those years, it was that truth.  We, as a nation, talk way too much and do way too little.  It is as though having an opinion is the important thing, what more can be expected? 

There must have been a whole lot of bad things going on in the Roman Empire when Jesus came on the scene.  With the exception of the cleansing of the temple I don’t see him running around yelling and screaming, giving opinions on all the issues in his little corner of the world.  He simply went around doing what God had sent him to do.  That is the pattern I want to follow.

This is God’s world, a world that He loved enough to send His Son into.  God knows all the issues, all the injustices, all the problems, and all that can be done to solve them.  But His voice needs to be heard, which is often difficult when everybody under the sun is talking.  So I say, let’s be silent and listen.  He will give us the work for our hands if we sit in silence before him with listening ears and a listening heart.  Let’s keep our opinions to our selves and heed God’s voice and direction.  He will fix His world when we acknowledge it is His to fix and He is more that able to do so.

LABELS ARE FOR JARS NOT PEOPLE

Living things grow fully into what they are created to be.  I don’t think of that as progressing or advancing.  Life is a circle; seed to plant, plant to fruit, fruit to seed, season by season.  It’s not an evolving into something in a linear way.  An apple seed already knows it will become an apple.  The process was complete when it was created.  Left alone it continues season after season.

People labeled Progressives move beyond their earlier beginnings and beliefs, never to return to the simple basics of the process.  Those beliefs are considered stepping stones to advanced thinking and can now be put aside as primitive beliefs.  For Progressive Christians one of those primitive beliefs is God Himself as the all and end all of life; the theory of everything.  The world is more complicated and needs advanced thinkers to deal with the continuing changing culture.  So they look to the Academies of psychology, sociology, and theology for advice; books upon books and teachers upon teachers, sharing their knowledge of how life is to be now, in our time and space.

The progression seems to result into their growing into gods of their own making, constantly building their towers of Babel, reaching for the sky so as to make a name for themselves. They seem to follow the pattern of lifeless technology; newer is better, more efficient, more exciting; constantly throwing out the old to make way for the new, improved product.

God looked at what He created and said “it was very good”.  He did not add, “But it will get so much better”.  Personally I like God’s process and growth plan of growing into who and what I was created to be.  In the beginning God was the all and the end of all…the Beginning and the End.  I believe He still is and forever will be.

MY LIFE'S QUEST

“Everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.”

I John 2:29

All through time people have had a quest for Truth; for what was real; what was sound, reliable, and complete; for the “Theory of Everything”.  I certainly went through many years of exploration and experimentation trying to find it.  I would try ideas, philosophies, and lifestyles on and walk around in them for awhile seeing if they fit or if they would last.  Some of these paths to Truth were very lovely; some of the paths grew very dark; none of those paths brought me the lasting satisfaction I was looking to find.  None of those paths were sustainable.

Then, at one moment in time, Jesus walked into my life.  It wasn’t me or my quest that found him; He found me.  At the end of all the previous paths there was emptiness and disillusionment.  What he brought me was a fullness of life and love that has continued to this very day.  I have never been the same.  Even in my “prodigal daughter years” of squandering my inheritance, I knew in my heart that he was the way, Truth and life, and I knew he was with me during that time, waiting for me to return. Through that exploration and experience I came to learn the ultimate grace of repentance,

forgiveness, and love of restoration, so I made the choice to stop squandering and start living in the sustainability that only he can give me.

My quest now is centered and focused on following Jesus and walking with God.  I choose to live a life of personal integrity, adhering to the code of values that God gave me for my good.  I want to practice righteousness and be a witness of the love of God and the life of Jesus.  It’s not about being “Super Spiritual” or “Super Religious”.  It is simply about loving Him and Being all He wants me to Be.

THE CRISIS OF THE HOUR

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they know that they were naked…”

Genesis 3:7

Something changed on that day in the Garden of Eden.  In the very beginning they knew they were naked but felt no shame.  After their encounter with the serpent they responded in a peculiar way.  First they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths to cover themselves from one another. Next they hid themselves from the Presence of God.  Then they heard God coming toward them and they felt afraid.  This appears to be the birth of a conscience in the human being, and a declaration of good and evil into the world that God made and declared all good.  We continue to live in the consequences of that moment in time.

Originally it appears that God was the deciding factor in what was good and what was evil.  Because God is pure I would believe that His understanding is pure and good.  Now human reasoning and understanding has entered in to that decision and has created havoc down through time. 

When God was making up His people as the nation of Israel He made Laws for their guidance and protection.  Those Laws have lasted throughout time and provide a good standard by which to live a good life.  But human beings not only challenge God’s Laws, but now they think they can do better.  Unfortunately the outcome of that has proven to be a disaster.  Now God’s Laws are not only challenged, they are done away with and replaced by Laws contrary to God’s Laws.  And so it goes.

God’s Laws are eternal.  Man’s laws are temporary, according to how relevant they are to the present culture.  There is no firm standard and no sustainability on which to build a firm foundation.  That will always leave us adrift in a sea of waves that are getting fiercer as the storm comes nearer.

Many will be lost without something to hold on to. 

What are we giving our children today? Are we giving them an anchor to hold onto, a firm foundation on which to stand?  Or are we giving them teachings produced by false teachers, “shepherds who feed only themselves.  They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted; wild waves of the sea, foaming up with shame, wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 12-13).  These are empty of substance, illusions, and false teachings that will not stand the storms of life.

I believe that this nation and this world are in crisis.  These are the times when the rubber meets the road for Christians.  It all boils down to, “Did God say?” and “Is Jesus the Son of God?”  We need a change of venue.  We need to bring God back into the consciousness of our nation and our world.  Then we will see love, peace, and justice pour down like fountains of living water.

ALL LIVES COUNT

I have inner confusion about the death penalty; but I think I am beginning to have clarity.  It bothers me especially when young people are sentenced, like Lee Marvow, the young man who was the sniper in Maryland in 2002, Dzhokhar Tsarnrev, the young man who did the bombing in Boston, or Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in a church.  I look at those boys and all I can think is “what a waste of a life.”  Yes, they did very bad things and need to know that.  There are consequences to behavior and punishment is certainly a way to enforce those consequences outwardly.  But it sets up a weird cycle.  Because you killed, we will kill you.  The Bible can be used to justify that; but Jesus can’t.

“All Black Lives Count” is now the cry.  I say “All Lives Count”.  If I believe that, I can’t look for a way to justify taking a life; any life.  This is one of those things that makes God’s kingdom different than the world.  It is the flesh that seeks vengeance.  The Spirit seeks forgiveness, redemption, and restoration.  That is what God does for us; how can I do differently?

When someone has an inner conviction that he has done wrong, confesses that wrong, seeks God and receives forgiveness, he is a broken yet free man.  That is more powerful than pulling a switch.  Broken people who know God’s forgiveness and transformation are reborn into a life that matters.  They have a message that is real and needs to be heard.  Maybe we need to see our prisons as mission fields instead of the wastelands they are now and pray that God will give these young men that inner conviction and then be a witness to those who are around him.

It is easy to hate these young men.  Hate hides in human hearts and is often the default emotional response.  Fear hides in human hearts and is often the default emotional response.  Many feel they have the right to hate these young men.  Jesus would have had the right to hate and fear the men who tortured and killed him.  Instead, he asked his Father to forgive them. Love overcomes both hate and fear.  That makes no sense to the worldly mind.  It makes perfect sense in the kingdom of God.  That is why I continually ask God to create a clean heart within me and conform my mind to His ways.

Paul persecuted Christians and yet Jesus dealt with him in an amazing way; he converted him and transformed him.  Paul wrote most of his letters that became a large part of the Bible while he was in prison.  What if those kinds of messages were being shared today, both in prison and out in the world.

My prayer is for God to work in the lives of these young men and then give them a chance to share that message, in prison and out.

ABIDE IN ME

Once I followed Jesus’ invitation to come and see, and I beheld what manner of love he bestowed upon me, I had no other desire than to abide with him.  I had been so many other places with so many other people, and yet I was still lost and empty of any true meaning in my life.  That Sunday morning as I encountered him, it was as though there had been scales that suddenly fell off.  I could see clearly.  It was as though my head was filled with fog that suddenly dissipated in the sun.  I could think clearly.  Everything was different from the inside out.  I truly felt like I was reborn into a world I unknown to me, and yet I knew very well.  After forty plus years I am not perfect but since that one moment in time I was never the same.

Old lifestyles die hard; old habits are firmly ingrained and take time to change.  This rebirth was not the culmination of the Christian life; it was a beginning.  I look back now at all the changes that occurred in my thinking and in my life.  I now understand why God kept the Israelites in the desert for forty years.  He was making a people for Himself, and it takes a lot of time to redeem, readjust, and recalibrate people into what they were originally designed to be.  It has been no different for me.  It takes a lot of dying to old and ingrained ways to recreate new growth.  Looking back it was worth it; in the midst of the process it was hard work and many laments to “go back to Egypt”.  Only the love and grace of God sustains that kind of work.  Without that, it is impossible.

Being a follower of Jesus is not an easy path to take these days.  The calls to compromise and change with the times are all around me.  Along my journey I have done both and I know the results.  They are unsustainable and unacceptable to me at his point in my life.  There is no other Way for me, no other Truth for me, no other Life for me than following Jesus and walking with God. 

          “Abide in me and I in you…If anyone loves me, she will obey my

           teaching.  My Father will love her, and we will come to her and make

           our home with her” (John 15:5, 14: 23).

BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

I John 3:1

There was never a time in my life when I was anti God or religion.  Since I can remember I was always drawn to the beauty of them both.  I liked the stories, the singing, the stained glass windows, and the gathering together of the people for picnics and pot luck suppers.  But all of that was just part of my life.  My other parts were sports, camp, school, and hanging out with my friends.  I especially loved being outside in nature, especially at the beach and in the woods.  My life was made up of parts but never really came together.  Parts of my life were wonderful.  Parts of my life were horrible.  I would try to live in the wonderful but was often overwhelmed by the horrible. 

There was a time during my college years that I yielded more to the horrible part, feeding it more than the others.  Everything became filtered through the darkness I felt within myself.  I stopped the wonder and lived in the darkness.  I was depressed, I drank too much, and I didn’t let myself see any of the good stuff in life because inside I knew I didn’t deserve it.  I gave up on me and wanted to die and leave this world and everything in it.

My outer circumstances weren’t much better than my inward ones.  The late 60’s and early 70’s were a tumultuous time in this country.  The war in Viet Nam, assignations of Jack and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had a great effect on me.  The utter chaos surrounding me merely added to my own personal darkness.  I gave up on the world just as I gave up on me.  I was a mess and I knew it and didn’t even want to do anything about it.

That was who I was when Jesus walked along the shore of my life, stopped and sat next to me, put his arms around me, told me he loved me, and asked me to follow him.  In a moment of time, on Psalm Sunday April 15, 1973 I was changed from within into the real me.  Over the past forty plus years that inward change has been manifesting itself in my outward life.  It takes patience and time for good sustainable growth to come about.  Perfection will never come in this life of flesh; but the thought of it continues to make me aim high in all that I think and do.

I am drawn to Jesus because he loved me at my worst.  That kind of love makes me want to be the best that I can be, not out of duty to a commandment but out of devotion to a person.  I fail and he forgives me and helps me learn from my mistakes.   I succeed and he forgives me of my pride and helps me know that it’s not about failing or succeeding; it’s about being the me that  he created in his likeness.  It’s about love, true love that needs no response, simply recognition.  “Behold, what manner of love…”

          

COME AND FOLLOW ME

John 1:11-14

I love the thought that Jesus walked along the coast of the sea and it was there that he began gathering his disciples.  He walked and noticed those following him.  “What do you seek?”  “Where do you stay?”  “Come and see.”

What a beautifully simple scene.  What a beautiful invitation.  No preaching or teaching; no imparted condemnation or guilt; no revivals or altar calls.  Simply an inquiry of what they were seeking and an invitation to come and see, that led to a dwelling together with him for three years and beyond.

It is those who are adrift at sea who seek to be saved; who seek an anchor to steady themselves; who seek direction.  I was adrift when I saw him walking; I was adrift when he stopped and turned towards me, asking me what I was seeking; I was adrift when he reached out his hand to pull me into the shore; I was adrift when he said come and see.  I did, and we have been dwelling together ever since.  His words gave me an anchor and a direction to walk in.  I accepted his hand, I received his Spirit, and I believed in his name.  I was adrift at sea, with no way into shore, no anchor to steady me, no direction to go in, and he saved me.  I am eternally grateful.

COME AND YOU WILL SEE

Come and you will see

All I have for thee

I’ll give you life and set you free

So come and follow me.

Behold the precious Lamb

Behold his nail scarred hands

Behold his tear stained face

Those eyes so full of grace.

He’s come to show the Way

To change our night to day

He’s beaconing to thee

Oh come and follow me.

THE TRUE BATTLE

It doesn’t help to point the fingers of blame if they are pointed at the wrong thing.  I must keep in mind that at the root of all evil are the schemes of the Satan, the enemy of God.  The events of this present darkness hovering over our world in this age reveal the results of abandoning God and denying the existence of evil and the schemes of Satan. 

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). 

When I know this my anger will be channeled in the right direction.  This is the only way I can follow Jesus’ teaching of loving my enemies.  It enables me to have compassion on the people doing the harm and want to help them rather than hate them.  Jesus wished no harm or vengeance on anyone; not the one who betrayed him; not the one who denied him; not the ones who beat him and crucified him.  He continued to love them and asked God to forgive them.  Jesus washed Judas’ feet and Peter’s feet; he broke bread and drank wine, making a covenant with them.  He did these acts of love and kindness, looking beyond the faults and wrong choices, all in his darkest hour.

He knew the true enemy, the true battle, and why it had to be fought. It is the example he gave to me and all who follow him.

God created people free to make choices.  Their first choice was and is who they listen to and obey.  This choice will affect all of their actions.  This is the primary scheme of Satan; “Did God say?” and “If Jesus is the Son of God”. 

Beyond this physical world is a spiritual world and there is where the true battle is that fuels the battles we see manifested here on earth.  Satan wants worshippers and followers; God desires worshippers and followers.  Satan’s schemes are crafty, using deception, lies, and illusions.  God’s ways are clear, using truth, love, and life.  The choice lies in the heart and mind of every individual.

Evil is prevalent in the world today because we allow it to be.  We exalt and indulge flesh while at the same time we silence and stifle the spirit.  Satan is not stupid; he knows the places to attack.  Satan wants our kids and we have been handing them over to him for some time.  We crumble our foundations so that they have no firm place to stand; we dismantled the anchor so they are adrift in a sea of lies and illusions.  Little by little, generation by generation, it has been growing darker.  Now the darkness is so strong we can’t even see what we have done, so we adjust and adapt to it, which is just what Satan planned to happen.  But the battle is not over.

Christians are called to be light and salt in the world. We are told to be witnesses of all that Jesus taught and did.  When we do that God will reveal Himself and manifest His Spirit in wondrous ways. I experienced a great move of God upon the youth during the 70’s Jesus Movement.  It was as though God came and snatched kids right out of Satan’s hands; He gave them a firm foundation to stand on and an anchor to hold them steady, all in the person of Jesus Christ.  I experienced it then and I believe it will happen again.  God will do it but we can help by setting the stage.  Today we need:

   More intergenerational testimonials about how Jesus works in our lives.

   Less doctrine and more demonstration.

   Less preaching at and more presence with.

   Less proclaiming and more presentation.

   Less pulpit and more presence.

   Less sectarianism and more Holy Spirit.

   Less church affiliation and more Jesus affirmation.

Let’s gather together and set the stage.  Then let’s sit and watch God move.

This Time Was Different

There were no riots or outbreaks of violence in Charleston

Nine black people gunned down by a white man

And there were no riots; just sadness at a very deep level

God was present in this; it happened in His house

Is this what made the difference?

This bought many to silence

Those who spoke would have done better to be silent

For their words were empty and falling on ears not wanting to listen

Could this be the moment we come to the end of our rope

And find God waiting?

Could this be the moment we realize we are all to blame

And we all repent

Could this be the moment we realize that our ways fail

And turn to God for help

Could this be the moment we recognize our common humanity

And acknowledge His ultimate Divinity?

Could this be the moment of transformation

And bend our knees and bow our heads

To worship God, the creator of us all

There were no riots or acts of violence in Charleston

Instead there was the hope of redemption, revival, and renewal.

SOUNDS LIKE HEAVEN TO ME

I am beginning to wonder if this world that God created was created to be permanent.  Nothing or no one that makes up this world is permanent so maybe permanence wasn’t in God’s intention in the beginning.

The Scriptures tell me that this world will pass away and God will be doing a “new thing”.  Maybe that is what the whole “last days, end times” discussion is all about.  Human beings like to put themselves in the equation for all that happens or matters in the world.  Then they have someone to blame and then battle with.  But maybe the world was just going to eventually wear out all on its own as all other created things do.  So God’s plan from the beginning was to provide a way for people who love God and want to continue being with Him would be able to do just that. (I am simply day dreaming here, not making new doctrine).

I like the new thing that God will be doing. (Revelation 21) First of all He will be dwelling with us and will be our God; a firsthand experience not requiring faith.  There will be no new doctrine or theology required; just being there with Him.  There will be no pain, no suffering, no sadness; all we hunger and thirst for will be given to us freely.  There will be no tree of knowledge of good and evil, only the tree of life.  And most delightful to think about, we will worship Him, not out of duty or law, but totally out of devotion and love.  This will be eternal, forever and ever…Sounds like heaven to me.

AT THIS PLACE IN MY LIFE

A day of extremes.  I continue to watch the excitement of Charles and Dotty as they talk about the movements of God that are occurring all over the world.  It reminds me of the days when I lived in an intentional Christianity Community and everything I did, everything I talked about was All about God.  We were busy for God, building the kingdom of God here on earth, and bringing people into the knowledge of God and the Church.  Tonight I watched the movie, The Theory of Everything, about Steven Hawking’s obsession with figuring out how everything worked without God being in the equation and how excited everyone people were about that.  As I sat here in the quiet of my Morning Time I wondered what God thinks about all of that.

I am at a place in my life where I live a much quieter life, not running around doing this and that for God or the church.  I truly believe that God is The Theory of Everything, so I have stopped searching for this and that theory or teacher.  I don’t feel the need to prove anything to anyone; nor do I have the desire to.  It’s not as though I have answered all the questions of life; it’s just that life got centered and simple for me and I don’t need to search anymore.  I enjoy living in the mystery of it all and don’t want to know the various solutions that people feel the need to come up with.

There is something delightful in living and simply Being that makes me feel content and peaceful.  I have learned to avoid things that disquiet me.  God did a great job creating the heavens and the earth in the beginning.  Whatever He is doing in the world today I am sure He will do it equally as well.  The busyness I feel now is to be centered and focused in prayer, to hear God’s voice and to respond as He desires me to respond. This suits me.

The thought that God need’s man’s help seems equally as absurd as man trying to prove that everything, including him, came into existence without God.  God is God and in all likelihood doesn’t appreciate human help, especially when it becomes more of a hindrance to what He is doing.

As for me, I simple love Him and thoroughly enjoy His companionship and communion with me.  It’s not about being productive; it’s about being Present.  It’s not about being useful; it’s about the US-ness that I live in every moment of every day.

GOD IS STILL SPEAKING FOR HIMSELF

A lot of what people do in the name of God, and for God, really has very little to do with God at all.  God is asked to bless man’s ways and believing that He will we move out in our own power to do what we want to do, claiming it to be God’s will.  I am pretty sure that is not the way it is suppose to go.

Christianity comes out of Judaism.  Jews were known as people of the Book.  Christians grew out of that tradition but we are people of the Person of Jesus Christ.  The only thing he wrote was written in the sand and was never made known, much less permanent.  Jesus spoke and still speaks directly to those who receive and believe in him.  God spoke and still speaks directly through the Spirit of Truth that comes down from God.

God reveals Himself today as He always has.  He reveals Himself in the things that He created, ie nature. (Romans 1:20)  God reveals Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ, with whom He was One. (Matthew 17:5)  God reveals Himself in the sacred writings of Scripture. (II Timothy 3:16)

All of these revelations of God are ways for me to know God, know God’s ways, know God’s truth, and to participate in God’s life.  They are all of One Source and therefore all will be in agreement with what they say; they will not contradict one another in what they say.  They will stand together as one standard.  I cannot read one without reading the other two.  It is a natural check and balance for me and will guide me along the right Way.

Jesus came to earth to heal and to restore people’s relationship with God.  He corrected perceptions, interpretations, and actions that had developed by abandoning God and then building cisterns according to human intentions, broken cisterns that could hold no water.  He came as The Word from God to correct the many words written by man. “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you.”  He came to correct a faulty perception of righteousness. (Luke 18:9-14)  He came to correct a faulty idea of who mattered and who didn’t. (Matthew 9:13) When Jesus’ ministry on earth was finished and he returned to his Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to continue that work, from the inside out. (John 16:8) 

God has spoken and continues to speak clearly, through the things He created that surround me daily; through His Son as his words dwell in me through the Holy Spirit.  I am to look at God all around me and listen to God who is dwelling within me.  I am to love God with all of my heart, mind, and soul.  It is then that I will do what I do in the name of God and know that it is truly of Him.

A WHISPER IN THE WIND

Absolute stillness; not a breath of air anywhere

Then, at the very top of the tallest tree the leaves begin to flutter

Then the branches begin to sway

Moments later the movement drifted down the tree to the ground

Soon all of the trees, highest to lowest, were moving ever so gently

The branches simply swaying as the leaves broke through the still air

Moments later all movement stopped and the absolute stillness returned

A breath of God just came to bring its greetings to my hungry heart.

WATCHING MY WORDS

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.”

Colossians 3:16, 4:6

Today would have been my Uncle Matt’s 84^th birthday.  He is one of my heroes and I miss him very much.  He was a man of few words and I would say that his words were gracious and seasoned with salt.  I rarely (if ever) heard him say anything bad about anyone.  I knew he had issues with some people but he never voiced them; he kept them to himself.  I wish I had that discipline.

I am an honest person, seeing things as they are and dealing with them.  I think it is good to point out things that are wrong so they can be corrected.  These days that is considered being negative and negativity is now considered a sin.  I don’t think saying something is wrong is necessarily being negative.  Wanting something to be corrected and fixed is a positive thing in my mind.  So I say what I honestly think; if something is wrong I say it.  This has gotten me into trouble too many times to count.

I won’t stop being honest.  The discipline I need to practice is who I say things to and always checking my true motive for saying what I am saying. I have been wronged many times in my life and that has left me with many scars that could be opened very easily.  If I have been wronged by another person it is easy to fall into slander.  It is something I need to watch and control.

The key to my speech being gracious and seasoned with salt is to let the word of Christ dwell in me richly.  As I read about his interactions with people I learn how to speak to others.  He spoke honestly and directly with the Pharisees, pointing out their errors, so there is a time for that.  But I notice that these things were spoken after they had confronted him.  With his disciples, who were constantly missing the point of what he was teaching them, denying him, and even betraying him, he remained gracious, loving, and forgiving.  With people caught in sin he was honest but gracious and non confrontational or condemning.

I want to be more disciplined in my speech.  I do not need to talk about anyone who is not in my presence, even if it is to clear up a grievance.  That quickly becomes slander.  I want my words to be few.  I want my words to be gracious, kind, and easy to listen to.  I want my words to be the words of one who has Christ dwelling within me.

MY RETURN TO THAT POINT IN TIME

I have gone through many phases in my life; I have tried on many personas. I went through many life styles, many ideas, many ways of being, and many dreams.  What I have found to be true is that I always come back around to that one point in time when the real me came face to face with the real Jesus; that one point in time when I had nothing and he gave me everything.

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  He gave me nothing but himself and in that I had everything I needed.  That is the point in time I always find myself returning to and I always breathe a sign of relief when I return.

Life gets full of shouldas and couldas, dos and don’ts, and chasing after the wind.  That life is the way of the world, but it finds itself alive and well in the lives of many Christians as well.  Striving to succeed, adhering to an agenda, and trying to be all you can be by doing all you can do, and running out of steam.  It turns out that the shoulda, coulda, dos and don’ts come from a multitude of voices outside of me.  Those voices latch on to some inner tendency and ability or some need to achieve within me, and I find myself at the starting gate ready to ride.  I do what I can do, accomplish what I set out to accomplish, and in the end feel that “Is that all there is” feeling and find myself in an empty fog…again.  And that is when I come around again, full circle, back to the beginning.

This past return was the result of a project I got interested in.  I did a lot of studying, learning, and listening about these possibly being the last days that had been prophesied by the prophets and taught by Jesus.  These teachings and prophesies appear to be manifesting themselves in today’s news events and it makes for a great study.  The key point for me is not so much the hows and whys; it’s the final point and deciding factor in it all.  I have come to believe that the line drawn in the sand will be knowing and acknowledging who Jesus Christ was and is.  I believe he is the Son of God, God come to earth in the flesh, just as the Scriptures say he was?  The answer will cost me everything on earth but it will give me everything in God’s kingdom.   It’s like going into a final exam with the answers in my hand.

Now my focus returns to that one point in time when the real me came face to face with the real Jesus Christ and responded to that experience with a simple yet strong desire to get to know him, love him, enjoy him, and follow him.  That simple yet strong desire to, “reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ in whom are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col.2:2,3).

It is the first admonition Jesus gives as he is preparing his people for the final days.  “Remember the love you had at first and do the works you did at first”.  “This is the work of God, that you believe in whom he has sent”

(John 6:29).

That point in time I keep coming back to is where I did that work.  It is home to me and I want to remain there through all that is to come.  I can think of no other place I want to be.

THE WORK OF GOD

“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He has sent.”

John 6:29

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I can do for God.  There is so much work presented to me, so many needs to be met, and so many people in need that I often get overwhelmed.  I want to be a faithful steward and serve God; but where do I begin?  I read that faith without works is dead and works without faith is dead.  Both are true but it still leaves me looking for what I can do for God.

As I get older I find that usually when I am not thinking about what I can do, something comes along in my path that I know I can do without much thought at all; a friendly hello, a lending of my hands to help, or just looking at someone in the eyes so they know they are not invisible.  These may seem like small and insignificant things, but when I am on the receiving end of them they can feel like mighty things.

It is true.  I have experienced it.  When I know in whom I believe in and know who has sent Him, my work is done; then I can be used by God at any time and in any way.  What I believe in will be the foundation of my faith and my practice.  Who I believe in will be the foundation of my faith and my practice.  It is that simple.

THE KEY OF THE KINGDOM

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 16:16-18

Jesus asked his disciples a question.  “Who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus commended him for his answer and then told him, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”  I noticed that Jesus said the keys OF the kingdom, not TO the kingdom.  It seems to me Jesus was speaking about what the kingdom is about not necessarily how to get in.

Keys are of paramount or crucial importance in understanding things.  The key of an issue is the central, essential, indispensable, dominant, principle, and leading concept of anything and everything.  That says to me that the key of the kingdom of heaven is knowing and believing who Jesus Christ is, “the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  It was out of who he was that Jesus taught the things he had been teaching them and that they were commissioned to teach others.

In my studies about the “end times” I am convinced that the line drawn in the sand will be the belief and the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is and that what is said about him is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  It has become my focal point to all I think about, read about, and speak about.  It is the key to my faith and practice. 

Over the years I have wandered down other paths out of a desire to gain knowledge and understanding.  There are a lot of teachings to read and to listen to.  Some of them are very interesting and enticing.  While I hesitate in most instances to say whether they are right or wrong, true or false, I do know what truly feeds me and sustains me.  For me that is the pure teaching I find in the Scriptures.  The darker the days get, the more I am drawn to the pure and simple Scriptures, from which I believe God speaks his words to me.  They are what give me substance and sustain me in difficult times.  That substance and sustainability comes only from knowing and believing the key of the kingdom of heaven; Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.  It has worked for me for many years and through many difficulties and it continues to work for me.

THE LOST ART OF CONVERSATION

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Colossians 4:6

I find it difficult to have a conversation with others today.  Our ears are filled with the opinions that fill the air waves all around us.  Our minds are filled with the need to be right and therefore we remain in a state of competition.  Our hearts are filled with fear, pain, and injustice and therefore we are continually on the defense.  These conditions do not make a fertile field for good seeds of love and peace to grow.

The line from an old protest song, For What It’s Worth, comes to mind. “Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong”, and from the sounds of the voices all around me, everybody’s wrong.  So I wonder what good can come from that?

Everyone needs to have the right to speak what is on their heart and mind and know that they have been heard.  That is all I ask.  I don’t need people to agree with what I am saying or adapt to what I am saying.  I simply want to be heard and I want to be a person who offers that to another.

I have found that in that spirit of conversation things can come to light and understanding can occur as the direct result of simply talking to one another, people to people, face to face.  A conversation that is full of grace and seasoned with salt is inviting and makes me thirsty to hear more.  The more depth I share with another, the more in common I find I am with them.  I become less defensive and more compassionate.  We may leave the conversation unchanged in our minds but I believe we will be changed in our hearts.  Conversion and transformation are God’s job.  Mine is a conversation full of grace and a heart full of compassion and love.

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

George Fox once said, “Walk cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone.”  What does it mean to answer that of God in everyone?  Harvey Gillman shares an insight in his Essay, What is Spirituality.  He says, “There is a seed or a light in each of us.  That seed often lay dormant, the light often dim.  The role of one human being for another is that we help the seed in each other grow; we help the light to shine.  But before we can do that we must actually see each other.  We must give each other attention as each is unique, precious; a child of God…The deepening of the spiritual life of the group arises from the sharing of story.  Each story is important.  All people have their stories. We need others to hear our stories and care.”

It is my personal experience and many observations of other people lives that have led me to the conclusion that people want to be really known; not just recognized in a crowd, not just snapshots of what they do in certain instances.  It is built into the hearts of people to be truly known in the context of their full lives; known in the context of their life story.

This was easier in the former days when people lived their lives with one another; when their lives were centered in their families and communities.

The world has changed and I believe we have lost something very precious and necessary to a fulfilling life; being truly known by others and truly knowing one another.

I believe that knowing each other’s story is a key to the process of sowing the seeds of friendship. You reap what you sow.  I desire to cultivate a hospitable heart and a personal presence to friends, strangers, and enemies.

I want people to know that I want to hear what they say. I want people to hear what I say.  It is in these conversations that love, peace, and understanding are cultivated.

GOD IS A MYSTERY

I love a good mystery.  The most amazing Mystery is God and that is one of the things I love most about Him.  In all of His greatness and awesomeness in the entire universe, He takes the time to be with me, in my presence, in my little corner of the world that He created and watches over.

While God’s thoughts and ways are not my thoughts and ways; while His thoughts and ways are much higher than my thoughts and ways, He still comes and shares them with me, heart to heart.  I cannot understand with my mind at times, but I know them in my heart.  The complex complexities of life are far beyond my mind’s ability to understand, but in my heart they are simple enough to believe.  While I can’t solve the Mystery I am content to know the Master of the Mystery, and that is enough for me.

God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of everything.  He is the one thing, the theory of everything that many have spent lifetimes trying to find.  He is the Mystery that will never be solved but will be forever intimately known by those who seek to know Him. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all in One.  He is the same yet different just as every sunrise and sunset are the same yet different and all of creation is the same yet different.  He is a Mystery and it’s one of the things I love about Him.

GOD'S SECRET SERVICE

The Bible speaks to me about how to live a life pleasing to God, to others, and to myself.  But it also reveals who God is and how He acts and I find those examples as helpful as the commandments and words.  There is a lesson in everything He does; it may be a silent lesion but it is a substantial one.

One of the lessons I love the most is who God deals with; those who are no one special, who are unknown, who are the marginal people who others think don’t count for much.  He comes to these people, interacts with them and works through them.  He is not impressed with titles, education, certifications, gender, or popularity.  God sees people differently than people see other people.  He looks beyond and sees within.  He looks beyond faults and sees potential.  He looks beyond limitations and sees abilities.

Another lesson I love is that God tends to be a backstage hand in events, not a star performer.  He works in secret as he accomplishes His work, wanting that work to simply be an expression of who He is.  He breaths more than shouts.  God is more real than famous.  His acts are may be small but they are mighty in the end.  He starts with seeds but they produce mighty results.

God is more interested in reality than regality, companionship more than celebrity, and faithfulness more than fame.  The Spirit is love; the flesh is lust.  Love is full and content.  Lust is empty and always wanting more.  When actions come from love there is contentment; when they come from lust there is always a desire for more.

I want to be on God’s Secret Service, simply being who He is creating me to be and doing what pleases Him.  I want to be content to be no one special among the other special no ones who know and love God; I want to be the expression of who I am by breathing and not shouting; I want to simply scatter seeds and know that they will grow into mighty things, without possessing them; I want to give out of the fullness of love that I have received, not needing or expecting anything in return.  I want to follow Jesus and walk with God, enjoying their companionship, learning their ways, and being content in the love we share between us.

GOD IS MY PASSION

My nephew David asked me what my passion was.  While I love a lot of things, my passion is first to my relationship to God.  In light of that relationship I love Jesus, I love nature, I love the Bible, and I love people.  But all of those draw from my passion for God.  All life draws from Him.  I can’t imagine it any other way.  I have simple faith in who He is and what He means to me.

I don’t understand all the arguments about God.  I don’t understand all the hatred that people have towards God.  I don’t understand all the divisions there are over God.  It makes me sad.  I don’t get intimidated anymore. I don’t feel the need to defend myself to anyone anymore. I don’t feel the need to be right anymore.  I know who I love and believe in; I know what I believe in, and that is enough for me.

I look at a world so desperate for God, yet continually either denying Him or trying to usurp Him.  I am sure that makes God sad.  He created such a beautiful world to dwell with His creation in, enjoy walks in the cool of the day with, and work with one another and enjoy one another.  But our first ancestors thought they knew best.  I get that.  I spent many years thinking I had it all down, all together…but I didn’t.  It was there for the taking. 

It was there all along; I read it many times, and yet I went cheerfully along on my own way, thinking it was the best way.  Now I believe what I read.

          “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is

           near…For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways

           My ways.” (Isaiah 55:6-8)

Now my passion is to simply dwell with God and enjoy His Presence, to dwell with Jesus and enjoy His Presence, and to be who He wants me to be and do what He wants me to do.

CIVILITY & REVERANCE

“He was heard because of his reverence.”

Hebrews 5:7

It disturbs me to see and hear the lack of reverence that is given to God by those who claim to know Him and follow Him.  In an advertisement for a Christian gathering they interviewed a woman with tattoos all over her body and that punk hair style that stood straight up on the top of her head.  It is not my choice of look but if it works for you, fine.  It wasn’t her looks that bothered me; it was her overall demeanor.  She was sharing her past experience at last year’s festival and referred to it as “this Jesus Christ thing”.  It made me curdle.  Comic strips, off colored jokes, and other informalities I see these days in speaking about Jesus and God give me the same reaction; I curdle.

I enjoy an intimate and personal relationship with God and Jesus, and I certainly am relaxed in their Presence.  But, foremost in my mind, heart, and in my actions is the Truth of who they are and how they should be treated.  Jesus, who was God’s Son, showed respect and reverence for God his Father at all times.  How can I do anything less?

This says something to me about the lack of respect and reverence I see in how we humans treat one another.  There was a time when that wasn’t the case, but that time is history.  It’s one thing to be informal; it’s another to be insolent.  Let’s bring some civility back into Christianity and reverence for God back into Religion.

ABOVE & BEYOND

The Christian faith is in itself mysterious and prophetic by nature.  We worship a God whose ways are neither our ways nor our thoughts His thoughts.  His are so much higher than ours.  And yet, God is a very personal and intimate God with His people.  Those who are truly born of the Spirit of God will have to be people of mystery and prophetic, living on true faith in the Mystery of God.

The Christian faith requires me to look up and beyond what is right here in front of me. The Christian faith requires me to put my faith and trust in what I cannot always see; to things that will be but are not yet; to promises waiting to be perfected.  It is not that I ignore or don’t pay attention to the present; it’s just that I keep the now in the perspective of what is to come.  This requires an understanding that is fueled not by proof but by Covenant.

That “old time religion” the fathers and mothers of faith lived, and the old bumper sticker I once had on my car, is good enough for me:

“God said it – I believe it – That settles it”

God made a Covenant with Abraham that continued down through history.  That Covenant was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who then ushered in a new Covenant on the roots of that original one.  That Covenant includes all who receive and believe in the Covenant Himself.  I did and I do.

In a world full of arguing about God and proving everything about God and the Story of God in the Bible, I choose to simply believe God.  That requires me to live in the Mystery of God and the Prophetic Vision of God.  It requires me to look up and beyond, to trust in the Covenant He has made with me, and to know with all my heart and mind that His ways and thoughts are not mine, but they are trustworthy and will stand forever True.

This world is not my home and I must not cling to it or look for the living among the dead while I live in it.  He alone gives me life, abundant and eternal.

I'M A COVENANT WOMAN

Christianity is a Religion based on Relationship.  The ultimate relationship is revealed in the beginning, when God said, “Let us make man…” and goes throughout history to, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This relationship continues throughout eternity as God and Jesus, the Lamb sit on the throne of the kingdom and we, His servants, his treasured possession, worship him in Spirit and truth forever.  At the heart of Christianity is the story of that relationship being ruptured but then being healed through repentance, reconciliation, and restoration by God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit Himself.

If people fail to acknowledge the original relationship or fail to acknowledge the story of restoration, there is no hope for human relationships, and the world will be filled with people forever at odds with one another, forever fighting for dominance and control over each other.  As I look down through history that is a proven fact.  God created a beautiful garden to walk with one another in peace and cohabitation with one another, and with Him.  Man made a jungle to hide in and control by strength and power, where only the strong survive and there is no peace.

The God of Christianity rules by Covenant.  Humans and man made gods of power rule by control.  Covenant has requirements, control has demands; Covenant is fueled by love, control is fueled by fear; Covenant is two sided, control is one sided; Covenant is side by side, control is hierarchal, top down rule; Covenant draws obedience, control demands obedience; Covenant results from love, control results from lust.

The church that Jesus initiated on earth is made up of people who have entered into a Covenant with God.  Malachi 3:16, 17, and John 4 give a picture of these Covenant people.  They are people who fear the Lord and speak to one another about Him.  They are true worshippers who worship God in Spirit and Truth.  These people will make up God’s treasured possession and they will dwell with God and He will be their God.  That is where I want to be.  My desire is to be a Covenant woman.