We are doing a study at church by Beth Moore...a study about having a heart like His. The study focuses on David, the man God referred to as "the man after my own heart". I am only in the first week and am so incredibly blessed by what I have learned so far. I have read countless books that challenge Christians to evaluate where we are in our walks with the Lord, that force us to question whether we have truly submitted to Christ or not. Many of them leave even the most confident believers wondering if we truly grasp what it means to follow Christ. Then God hits me with this study, and I am filled with relief and comfort, because despite the ugliness that comes out of me so often....the pride, the envy, the jealousy, the judgment and criticism towards others... God looks at our hearts, He sees whats deep down, what our true desires are. Others can only see what we show them on the outside, our actions and our words, but God sees our most personal and precious asset...our hearts. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 Praise Him for that! Even when I question my motives, my thoughts, and my actions...and even when others do... I know, and above all, God knows, that deep down I truly do desire to know and follow my Him. I fail miserably ALL.THE.TIME, but I absolutely do love Him and want Him to fill me and change my life continually.
I think this is true for many of us, but I have noticed that most of us (believers) fail to allow for each other's failures, for each others lack of maturity in certain areas. I have grown to despise Facebook most days, not for the same reasons most do... but because I am continually discouraged by the lack of love and encouragement we as believers are showing towards one another. I expect those outside of our faith to question us, to attack us, to criticism and mock us... and I can handle that. That is part of following Christ, our message is foolishness to them. (1 Corinth. 1:18) We are promised persecution, even though the persecution we face in America is NOTHING in comparison to what our brothers and sisters around the world are facing daily. What I cannot handle is the criticism and judgment that we all have towards one another, towards other members of the Body of Christ. I watch as we post things that each of us find encouraging or challenging, and the first people to attack and "bite back" aren't our non-christian friends, in fact many times they are liking these posts. Its other Christians! I watch as so many come back with a rebuke towards the article, blog, or quote, expressing why they feel it is completely wrong, un-biblical, or out of context. Who do we think we are?! How much are we hindering one another when we do that! How much are we interfering with God's work in each other's lives when we are constantly arguing and disagreeing over the silliest stuff! I understand if we are posting about things completely against God's word, things that are clearly a hindrance to our walk with the Lord. In those cases, we can privately message that person or meet with them if God so lays it on our hearts to do so, and point them to God's word, rebuking them in LOVE. However, most of the time this is not the case. Most often we are arguing over things that are completely a matter of opinion... we are airing those opinions out of selfish motives...and clearly the problem is that we all seem to expect everyone to share the exact same opinions and thoughts on EVERYTHING...and of course, our OWN opinions are always the correct ones.
Where is the patience? The love? The encouragement? Where is 1 Corinthians 13 in our relationships towards other members of Christ's body? What message are we sending to the watching world? None of us have it all together, none of us have all the answers...I think we need to be reminded that yes we have been saved from the ultimate consequence of our sins, but we are in the process of sanctification until the day we meet our Lord face to face. We are (well, we should be at least) in a constant state of growth and maturity in our faith and knowledge of God and His word. Our lives today look nothing like they did 5 or 10 years ago. Our lives 5 or 10 years from now will look nothing like they do now. What we think we know today will most likely change over the course of the next year or so. I can say that there are a dozen things I thought I was right about a year ago, and God has humbled and broken me over the last 12 months to show me I was completely wrong. And I guarantee I will look back and think the same thing again a year from now. I may think what "so and so" says is wrong now, but I may agree with them in a few months because the Spirit will have opened my eyes to that truth. None of us are always right! We should be in a constant state of humility, recognizing that even if we are right and our friends are wrong, it is only by the grace of God that we have gotten to this point, and we should pray that God will work on their hearts to reveal to them what He has so graciously shown us. In the mean time, praise God for the fact that our brothers and sisters in Christ are seeking after Him! God is ecstatic that their hearts are open to Him and choosing to follow Him, whether they have it all together or not, and we should feel the same way!
Look at David... man did that guy make some mistakes! His emotions were all over the place, he made terrible decisions on many occasions, but God didn't focus on that... God still called Him a man after His own heart. We look at his life and are encouraged by him, we admire him... and yet when it comes to one another we criticize? Those of us that may be more mature in our faith are intimidating those who are new to the faith, we make it difficult for them to grow and open their hearts to us because they are terrified we are going to jump down their throats for being "wrong". That is not the love of Christ, that is not the body of Christ working to encourage and build one another up. I am not simply pointing fingers either, God has been tearing apart my own heart and revealing to me the ugliness and lack of grace I have shown towards others over the years, and that I continue to show. May we all strive to live as 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15 says...
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up...Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else."
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
The End of the Story
We are called to faithfully follow Jesus in the midst of this sin-stained world, but we also have the sweet promise that it won't be like this forever. Jesus will return, and the world will be set to rights. Whereas now we experience injustice, God will bring justice. Where there is division, God will bring peace. Where there is sin, God will bring righteousness. This is the promise that carries us along when we feel as though this world is too broken to be fixed or that we are too weak to endure much longer.
The most important thing that we should understand about the future is that Jesus is coming back. When He returned to His Father, He left the church to carry on His mission and sent His Holy Spirit to empower us for the task. But Jesus is not done with this world. He will return, and when He does, He will rule over a perfect, peaceful, re-created earth.
Read the first chapter of Revelation and you will quickly see that Jesus' second coming will be much different from His first. The meek Servant, once ridiculed and spat upon, is shown to be the Ruler of the universe and worthy to be feared. At His return, Jesus will bring final salvation to His people, restore justice to the earth, and destroy all of God's enemies. The book of Revelation records fierce warfare and portrays Jesus as a conquering King, boldly reclaiming the world that rightfully belongs to Him (Rev. 19). As weak as the church has seemed at some points in history, as persecuted and defeated as we sometimes feel, this is what lies in our future.
God's plan of redemption has never been contingent. There has never been any doubt about the way history will end. This is God's world; He created it; He vowed to reclaim it; He died to purchase His people, and finally, when the time arrives, He will come and take the world by force...No matter how much opposition we face, the day will come when everyone will see Jesus for who He truly is. His reign will finally be realized on earth in the same way that it has always been realized in heaven.
Just as God's actions in the past should affect the way we live today, so God's actions in the future should shape everything we do now. One of the strongest features of the book of Revelation is its encouragement to remain faithful in the midst of seemingly hopeless circumstances.
We can follow the story line from beginning to end, yet there is one gap that still remains in the story, and that is the part that we are called to play. The end of the story has been written, but we still have the responsibility to faithfully play our part. The hope and healing of the gospel still needs to reach people all around the world today. This moment has been entrusted to us by God. Making disciples has always been the calling of the church, and it is our responsibility to be devoted to the end.
Let us pray that when Jesus returns, He will find us faithfully pursuing His mission with the skills, relationships, and resources that He entrusted to us.
From the book Multiply by Francis Chan
The most important thing that we should understand about the future is that Jesus is coming back. When He returned to His Father, He left the church to carry on His mission and sent His Holy Spirit to empower us for the task. But Jesus is not done with this world. He will return, and when He does, He will rule over a perfect, peaceful, re-created earth.
Read the first chapter of Revelation and you will quickly see that Jesus' second coming will be much different from His first. The meek Servant, once ridiculed and spat upon, is shown to be the Ruler of the universe and worthy to be feared. At His return, Jesus will bring final salvation to His people, restore justice to the earth, and destroy all of God's enemies. The book of Revelation records fierce warfare and portrays Jesus as a conquering King, boldly reclaiming the world that rightfully belongs to Him (Rev. 19). As weak as the church has seemed at some points in history, as persecuted and defeated as we sometimes feel, this is what lies in our future.
God's plan of redemption has never been contingent. There has never been any doubt about the way history will end. This is God's world; He created it; He vowed to reclaim it; He died to purchase His people, and finally, when the time arrives, He will come and take the world by force...No matter how much opposition we face, the day will come when everyone will see Jesus for who He truly is. His reign will finally be realized on earth in the same way that it has always been realized in heaven.
Just as God's actions in the past should affect the way we live today, so God's actions in the future should shape everything we do now. One of the strongest features of the book of Revelation is its encouragement to remain faithful in the midst of seemingly hopeless circumstances.
We can follow the story line from beginning to end, yet there is one gap that still remains in the story, and that is the part that we are called to play. The end of the story has been written, but we still have the responsibility to faithfully play our part. The hope and healing of the gospel still needs to reach people all around the world today. This moment has been entrusted to us by God. Making disciples has always been the calling of the church, and it is our responsibility to be devoted to the end.
Let us pray that when Jesus returns, He will find us faithfully pursuing His mission with the skills, relationships, and resources that He entrusted to us.
From the book Multiply by Francis Chan
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
One Day...
Yesterday was my "cleaning day"... Monday's usually are. However, I don't even know why I bother to call it that, it is more like my "damage control day" where I try and make my house look a little more like something CPS MIGHT consider overlooking. I managed to get the house in order...some what...and my laundry was half done and folded, but still in all the baskets waiting to be put away. I woke up this morning and looked around once again to realize my house was a complete wreck yet again. The dishes that I had washed yesterday were flowing out of my sink and all over my counter tops once again... my kitchen table was covered with juice, crumbs, and a few toys here and there. My living room toy basket was once again dumped all over the floor, and my folded clothes in the laundry room had been tipped over. What is that saying? "Cleaning with children in the house is like shoveling snow while its still snowing." Yeah... that's about right. My Mom continues to tell me to try and clean as I go... My friends with immaculate houses and vehicles continue to amaze me... And my poor husband continues to love me some how. I am not a messy person, I LOVE cleanliness... and for the first few years of motherhood, I felt total anxiety every time my house would be turned upside down in filth. It still bothers me to an extent, but I have come to realize that I can't have both. I can't have a perfectly clean house right now AND enjoy my kids. Other mom's may have mastered this, but I have tried for 4 years and it just ain't happenin' over here. Instead, I tackle what I can and try to climb my way through the rest (literally). We have all heard this said in a number of ways, but here is my version...
One day, I will not walk into a bathroom to find my sink covered in hand soap and toothpaste, the floor stained with sip-up juice spots and random shoes and toys, and the walls won't serve as part of my son's pooping ritual (you don't want to know). Today, it will remain the grossest room in the house... next to my kitchen.
One day, I won't walk through my house and step on cracker crumbs, juice spills, and chewed up green beans that my kids secretly spit out in another room when I wasn't looking. There will not be trails of sip-up wrappers, chip bags, and sippy cups, ( ok, this may still happen later too because of my "larger child"). Today, I will just wear shoes.
One day, I won't open my van with a friend or stranger nearby and see the look of horror on their faces when they realize I could feed my family for a week with the amount of crumbs on the floor. Crayons, markers, shirts, shoes,cups, dolls, cars, coloring books and crumbled up papers will not be the floor, and there won't be fruit snacks and gum stuck to the seats. For now, at least I know in an emergency situation my vehicle will provide all that we need to survive.
One day, I will not go to pay for something and pull out a wallet overflowing with receipts and a diaper stuck to the side of it ( a clean one, don't worry). It will be organized, and I won't be that lady holding up the line trying to figure out where I stuck my debit card the last time I used it. For now, I will unashamedly share my travel screw driver with a stranger, and watch as they struggle to open it up because there is gum jammed inside of it from the bottom of my purse.
One day, I will no longer wake up to countless dishes covering my counter tops and kitchen table. It will be spotless and I will be able to safely eat my breakfast off them immediately upon waking up. But for now, I choose to leave the after dinner mess each night to go spend time reading, playing, or watching T.V. with my sweet kids.
One day, my husband and I will not pull back our blankets and climb into a bed of crumbs and children.We will have sweet smelling fresh sheets that I hung out on the line and lay peacefully with one another as we watch New Girl. But for now, we lay in our sheets full of "snacks", with four little wiggly bodies crawling all over us as we watch The Lorax for the 150th time.
So the next time you come over and see my house, my van, or witness me struggling at the grocery store register, know that I am not naturally a messy person, but in the battle between myself and "messiness", messiness is winning...and so are my kids. ;)
One day, I will not walk into a bathroom to find my sink covered in hand soap and toothpaste, the floor stained with sip-up juice spots and random shoes and toys, and the walls won't serve as part of my son's pooping ritual (you don't want to know). Today, it will remain the grossest room in the house... next to my kitchen.
One day, I won't walk through my house and step on cracker crumbs, juice spills, and chewed up green beans that my kids secretly spit out in another room when I wasn't looking. There will not be trails of sip-up wrappers, chip bags, and sippy cups, ( ok, this may still happen later too because of my "larger child"). Today, I will just wear shoes.
One day, I won't open my van with a friend or stranger nearby and see the look of horror on their faces when they realize I could feed my family for a week with the amount of crumbs on the floor. Crayons, markers, shirts, shoes,cups, dolls, cars, coloring books and crumbled up papers will not be the floor, and there won't be fruit snacks and gum stuck to the seats. For now, at least I know in an emergency situation my vehicle will provide all that we need to survive.
One day, I will not go to pay for something and pull out a wallet overflowing with receipts and a diaper stuck to the side of it ( a clean one, don't worry). It will be organized, and I won't be that lady holding up the line trying to figure out where I stuck my debit card the last time I used it. For now, I will unashamedly share my travel screw driver with a stranger, and watch as they struggle to open it up because there is gum jammed inside of it from the bottom of my purse.
One day, I will no longer wake up to countless dishes covering my counter tops and kitchen table. It will be spotless and I will be able to safely eat my breakfast off them immediately upon waking up. But for now, I choose to leave the after dinner mess each night to go spend time reading, playing, or watching T.V. with my sweet kids.
One day, my husband and I will not pull back our blankets and climb into a bed of crumbs and children.We will have sweet smelling fresh sheets that I hung out on the line and lay peacefully with one another as we watch New Girl. But for now, we lay in our sheets full of "snacks", with four little wiggly bodies crawling all over us as we watch The Lorax for the 150th time.
So the next time you come over and see my house, my van, or witness me struggling at the grocery store register, know that I am not naturally a messy person, but in the battle between myself and "messiness", messiness is winning...and so are my kids. ;)
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