Patti's Porch







Patti's Porch
Patti's Porch Patti's Porch
Porch Ponderings
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FIGHTING THE GOOD (and Right) FIGHT

  Porch Ponderings
“then comes the end, when He (Christ) hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.  The last enemy that will be abolished is death…. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”  (1 Cor 15:24-26, 28)

“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev 20:10)

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."….. “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.”  (Rev 21:1-5, 27)

June 2013
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s I have found myself lately bemoaning the state of the world - which seems to be careening into greater darkness and evil.  In the midst of news reports about evil people, evil acts, evil words, it is easy to believe that the enemy is people - people of differing beliefs, cultures, races, political persuasion.  So, it was good to be reminded from the book of Truth who the real enemy is, what the real fight is, and how we win this fight.  Hope this helps you like it helped me.

“My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews, but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”  (Jn 18:36)

“There was war in heaven…the dragon and his angels lost their place in heaven.  The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.”  (Rev 12:7-9)

“The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”  (1 Jn 5:19)

“Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.”  (1 Pe 5:8)

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  (Eph 6:12)

“We do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”  (2 Cor 10:3-5)

“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  Take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all this, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”  (Eph 6:10-11, 13-18)

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert...resist your adversary, firm in your faith.”  (1 Pe 5:8-9)

“Forgive and comfort {your brother/sister in Christ}...reaffirm your love {for your brother/sister in Christ}...whom you forgive, I forgive also...so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”  (2 Cor 2:7-11)
   
 
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CHICK

     
s I bought a horse late last year.  Chick, a Palomino Quarter horse, had belonged to a friend of mine who recently passed away.   I had been riding Chick for a couple of years before I bought her, and enjoyed riding her without the responsibility of ownership.   Now that she belongs to me, though, I have become aware that I need to do some foundational  ground work with her in addition to just enjoying riding.

Usually my friend Robin on her horse Whiskey and I on Chick ride out on trail, looking for opportunities to jog, canter, and gallop.  But Robin, a very experienced and talented horsewoman, has encouraged me to make progress in ground work with Chick so that she is a safe, obedient and mannerly horse.  As Robin pointed out, the work we do on the ground will matter when we are in the saddle.   I thought about that as Chick and I work in the arena.  Though she has been well-trained, there’s a little streak in her that just doesn’t want to work that hard to respond to my cues.  She just wants to do what she wants to do (sound familiar?), and she senses that I may not be skilled enough yet to exercise control over her.   And I must admit that after a few attempts with less than stellar successes, I, too, didn’t want to keep trying that hard.  Sometimes, it’s easier to let her do what she wants.  So, in the arena, we could remain a sloppy team and it wouldn’t really matter much.  But out on the trail, on precipices, on terrain that’s tricky, it matters very much whether we are a sloppy pair with both of us vying for control, or whether I have learned to give cues that she has learned to respond to immediately.  There are places where that could be a life-and-death difference.  And if she doesn’t learn to respond to me in the arena where it’s safe, how will she ever be able to respond to me out on the trail where it’s not as safe?

I think that God works similarly with us.  In a safe place, He trains us to listen to His voice, to respond in obedience, to choose to walk according to His Spirit rather than follow the desires of our flesh. Often it’s in situations where it doesn’t seem that our choice will make much difference.  But it’s those times that teach us to obey Him when the stakes are much higher, when they are “life-and-death.”  How glad I am that God does not get tired as He trains and disciplines us, that He doesn’t throw in the towel and just let us do whatever we want to.  He continues to train us in righteousness, in following Him
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without hesitation, in being obedient to Him from the heart.  And in doing so, we find ourselves in the safest place of all, humbled under the mighty Hand of God, doing His will.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  Hebrews 12:11

May 2013

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CHRISTMAS SPIRIT 2012

     
s A few nights ago I was driving into a crowded mini-mall to buy my last Christmas gift, and couldn’t find a place to park.  Apparently most of the area residents had the same idea and had gotten there before me.  As I was taking my road trip through the parking lot, I thought to myself that I really had not gotten into the Christmas spirit this year.  Here it was, just days before Christmas and I didn’t even have any decorations up.  No lovely Christmas smells, no peaceful evenings in front of the fireplace sipping hot cocoa or spiced cider.  No Christmas baked goodies, not even my traditional Christmas fudge!!  My house had been painted recently and I was still cleaning up from that, so nothing felt very cozy or Norman Rockwell-ish.  I bought most of my Christmas gifts at the local supermarket (thank you to the grocery guru who decided to carry a plethora of gift cards!!), but I’m not feeling like they’re very special; I used to give such special, personalized gifts…sigh.  I encounter crowds wherever I go: I work in downtown Los Angeles, and live in the suburban sprawl of that city.  And clearly, the masses had all migrated to the very parking lot which I was now touring.  Eventually finding a space to park, I followed all the crowds into the very store that had the one gift card I needed and that my local supermarket (referred to above) did not carry.

Porch Ponderings

For the past few months, I’ve been feeling pressure from all sides: implementing a major new program in my office, a pushy friend pushing, being a new horse owner (yes, I love it!), being gone most of the week between work and other commitments, and not having much space to just breathe.  And as I was driving, I was hearing the news broadcaster talk about more meddlesome government encroachment into everyday life.  No, I definitely was on the short end of Christmas spirit this year.

But, sitting at a stoplight on the way home, I thought about the actual event that we celebrate at Christmas – the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace – the One who would be our Peace and bring peace between a righteous God and sinful man.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her husband Joseph also experienced  meddlesome government intervention in their lives – a mandatory census, but no convenient survey would come in the mail and no nice census-taker would knock on their door.  No, everyone had to journey to their tribal home – so Joseph and Mary went from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea.  I googled the distance – it’s 80 miles, not much for me in a car (I might have nearly done that in the parking lot!!), but quite a different proposition for a woman who was nine months pregnant and riding on a donkey (a sort-of-horse owner!).  And when they looked for a room to stay in, they encountered the effects of the crowds – there wasn’t even a little room for them to lodge.  They were directed to a stable area – really, a stable area for a woman just about to have a baby???  Having a horse (yes, I love it!) in a stable now gives new meaning to that reality.  The Christmas card pictures of Jesus being born in a stable are lovely, idyllic, and clean.  But a stable is not clean, there are animals and the by-products of animals; there are noises and smells; hay and straw are itchy and can make you sneeze…and sneeze…and then sneeze again.  And every pregnant woman I have known wants to “nest” in her own home and prepare the place to bring her child into.  None have ever said they wanted to be far away from home among strangers in a crowded place, terribly inconvenienced, and there to bring their precious baby into the world among stable animals (by-products, smells, sounds, and all).
  It was into that chaotic, inconvenient, pressured reality that God sent His Son.  Into that crowded, far-from-home, no room where people normally live place, came what is really the Christmas Spirit – Jesus Christ born as a baby, the Son of God who had come in the flesh, the Prince of Peace.  There were some glorious moments – shepherds seeing angels, wise men from the Orient land making a surprise visit- but mostly, it must have been extremely disconcerting for this first-time, young mother and her husband.

Porch Ponderings
As I thought about my reality and theirs, separated by more than 2000 years, I adjusted my conclusion: maybe I really was entering into the Christmas spirit.  Even in this chaotic time of mine, the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ reigns in my heart.  God’s Holy Spirit in me reveals and glorifies Jesus; He leads me in the truth of God’s word, and He bears the fruit of Christ’s life in me. He is my peace, no matter what my surroundings.  No cup of cocoa or spiced cider can hold a candle to that for Christmas Spirit!

So, with about a handful of days left until Christmas day (some of which I won’t even be home), I put up my nativity scene – so very peaceful, clean, and serene…hah!!  Tonight I hope to put the ornaments on my little Christmas tree (but the jury is still out on that one), and (hopefully) I’ll make a batch of Christmas fudge and call it good.  After all, Christ dwells in me; He has forgiven my sin, and He has given me eternal life.  You can’t top that for Christmas Spirit!!

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”    
 Isaiah 9:2, 6-7


“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:1, 14

December 2012

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OLD FLESH OR NEW LIFE

     
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When I was much younger, I owned a horse. I still have the saddle I used those many, many years ago.  I’ve kept it all these years for sentimental reasons and more recently, thought it would be a nice decorative touch (I have this picture in my mind!).  Since it’s been in storage all this time, the leather is not in good shape.  It’s dirty and brittle, but I thought with some work and the proper leather care products, I could give it new life. 

I went to the store and bought what looks to me like a leather care product that will do the job.  I have held the bottle; I’ve read the directions; I’ve looked at the ingredients; I’ve read the warnings; I’ve read the directions again.  I pick up the bottle just about every time I do laundry since it’s right next to the detergent, and I read it again - the directions, the warnings, the ingredients, even the trademark!  But as of this moment, I have not actually poured out any of that leather care product onto my saddle.  I haven’t begun to work the creamy liquid into the leather, to clean and soften it up, and to bring some suppleness back into what has become brittle.  So the very product that I bought to “redeem” my saddle is useless.  It’s not useless because it can’t do what it promises or because I don’t know what to do.  I practically have all the words on the bottle memorized!  It’s useless because I haven’t poured it out onto the leather; I haven’t yet worked it into the saddle; I haven’t used it.  I can talk as much as I want to about how good the product is, but no one will know it by looking at my saddle.

The condition of my saddle helps me to understand why we Christians sometimes may not look much like Christ.  We know the Bible, we believe the Scriptures.  We defend the inerrancy of God’s word, memorize passages and sometimes even whole chapters.  We own multiple versions of the Bible, have small pocket Bibles containing just the Psalms, or Psalms and Proverbs, or the Promises of God.  But our lives remain remarkably unchanged by the living, active, God-breathed words of Scripture.  It isn’t that we don’t have the right “product” to change brittle hearts to supple hearts made new; God’s word in us is more than sufficient for the task.  It’s that the thing we hold in our hands, the thing we’ve memorized and claim to depend on rarely gets poured out into our hearts and lives. 

And so we remain conformed to this old world because we have not allowed the word of God to do its transforming work.  Content to own various translations to understand the “full” meaning, to quote sections of Scripture to one another, to memorize portions of God’s word, we don’t let it actually do much transforming work in our hearts.  And just as my saddle is still old, dirty and brittle, so our hearts remain conformed to this old, dirty, brittle world. 

The upshot is that we know we should not gossip, slander or malign others (we’ve read the directions), but we do it anyway.  We know we aren’t supposed to be stingy or greedy (we’ve read the warnings), but we are anyway.  We know we shouldn’t love the world and all that is in it (we’ve read the fine print), but we love it anyway.  We can quote Jesus’ words to love one another as He has loved us, we just don’t.  How can all that be?  Somehow we have not let the words we know, and believe in, work in our hearts as they were meant to - changing us, transforming us, maturing us,

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reflecting in us the abundant love-saturated life of Christ. 

“…God is love.”
 
1 John 4:8

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  In Him was life... The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”  John 1:1,4,14

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12

It isn’t enough to know the words, even to commit them to memory. Atheists can know the words and quote them.  Satan and his demons know the words and can quote them.  Those living, active, and sharp words flowing from Jesus, the Living Word in Whom is all life and love, must be poured out into us through God’s Holy Spirit, transforming our hearts, our minds, our lives so much so that we don’t need words to tell anyone that we are followers of Jesus Christ; our lives will be the “tell.”

I want God’s love and His words poured into all of my life, brittle parts and all; I want the Holy Spirit to work all of it into me that I may have the fullness of new life in Christ and look just like Him.  Pour into me, Holy Spirit, the fullness of the life of Christ.

On a much smaller and very temporal scale, I think I’ll start working on my saddle.

June 2012

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KNITTED TOGETHER (with thanks to Loretta)

     
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“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”  (Jer. 31:3)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...”  (Jer. 1:5)

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb…”  (Ps. 139:13)

“that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love…”  (Col. 2:2)

“Love one another as I have loved you.”  (Jn. 15:12)

In an everlasting knowing love, God knits our physical bodies together in our mother’s womb.  In a laying-down-your- life sacrificial love, God knits together the hearts of each member of the Body of Christ.

We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made (twice over)!!!

  Porch Ponderings
May 2012

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FRUIT THAT REMAINS

     
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I was thinking about how God redeems all things, how nothing is lost in His hands.  Maybe I was reading again the feedings of the five and the four thousand and noting that both times, Jesus made sure the disciples gathered up all the leftovers.  I’m sure there are other reasons for that (though food production does not seem like it posed any problem for Jesus), but that gathering up of all the leftovers speaks to me of how God redeems all parts of our lives (even the parts we would gladly leave lying on the ground).  The worst things we have been or done, even those things, are redeemed.  Think of the apostle Paul, from would-be destroyer to bond-servant of Christ; of John Newton, from slave-trader to author of “Amazing Grace”; of Chuck Colson, from disgraced, imprisoned lawyer to founder of Prison Fellowship.  I think about the “from” and “to” of my own life; you can probably remember your own.

God seems to delight in redeeming that which we think is unredeemable; and humanly speaking, it often is.  Around a charcoal fire, Peter denies Christ three times.  After being raised from the dead, around a charcoal fire, Jesus gives Peter opportunity, three times, to affirm that he loves Jesus.  Maybe, in that moment, charcoal fires were forever redeemed for Peter.

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die,” says God to Adam.  Eve tells the serpent that they could eat from the fruit of any tree except that one.  But there came a day when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from that forbidden tree, and with a bite of its fruit, they ushered in sin and death.  Tempting fruit, accompanied by lies, ensnared them by its look, its taste, its treacherous promise. 

So, it makes me smile to know that when we are forgiven and redeemed by the death and resurrection of Christ, we are given new life.  Not just us – I think “fruit” gets redeemed, too.  As believers in Christ, redeemed from the fall and the power of that crafty old serpent, we are indwelt and filled by the Holy Spirit and we bear…what’s that…FRUIT!!! 

  Porch Ponderings
Not fruit that comes from a tree, but fruit that comes from the life of Christ in us, He the Vine, we the branches; His life coursing through us and bearing God’s fruit, fruit that remains.  We are appointed for that!!  And the fruit we bear is multifaceted – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

According to the opening verses of Revelation’s final chapter, in the New Jerusalem, there is “a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street.  And on either side of the river is the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”  How’s that for redemption?

If the AMA has determined that it’s good for our physical bodies to have at least five servings of fruits (I know, vegetables, too!), how much more has God determined that it is good for our spiritual lives to bear His fruit without limit or end!!  Throw away the junk food; dig into that fruit.
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…”  John 15:16

April 2012

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GOOD BONES

     
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I was reading again the account of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:3-11. This time, I thought I saw something peeking through the story, the “bones” of the New Covenant - the outline of which would be “fleshed out” (in a good way!) with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Most of you know the particulars, a woman, caught in the act of adultery, was brought by the scribes and Pharisees to Jesus. After telling Him what had happened they say to Jesus that the Law of Moses commands that a woman such as this be stoned to death.  And then, in order to test Him and find possible grounds of accusation against Him, they ask Jesus, “What then do you say?”  Rather than answer them, Jesus stoops and writes something with His hand on the ground.  Undeterred, they persist in asking Jesus what He thinks.

The scribes and Pharisees are correct.  The Law of Moses as put forth in Leviticus 20:10 did command that both the adulteress and the adulterer (not sure why he wasn’t there, too) were to be put to death.  This was the law of the Old Covenant.  The law both judged and condemned sinners, including adulterers.  And the penalty for adulterers was death.

Jesus, straightening up, responded to the question with a statement, not about the woman and her sin, but about each person standing in the group, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And again, Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground. Upon hearing this the scribes and Pharisees began to leave one by one, starting with the older men first.  Even they realized that none of them fit this description.  When Jesus looked up, it was to see only the woman standing there. “Where are they?  Did no one condemn you?” He asked.  She answered, “No one, Lord.”  However, at this point there is in fact One still standing there who is without sin, One who does have the right to throw a stone of condemnation at her - Jesus, the sinless Son of God.  And according to the Old Covenant law, He could (and perhaps should) have.

And it is here that the bones of the New Covenant begin to show themselves. Rather than condemn her according to the Law of Moses, Jesus responds to her in accordance with the New Covenant that He is ushering in.

            “I do not condemn you either.”  Why?  He had the right to condemn her and her sin certainly deserved it.  Because condemnation had already come through the Law; and “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”  (John 3:17) 

            “Go.”  Jesus not only does not condemn her, He set her free.  Why?  Because “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death,” and “it was for freedom that Christ set us free.”  (Romans 8:2, Galatians 5:1)

  Porch Ponderings           
“From now on, sin no more.”  How will that even be possible for her? Not even the scribes and Pharisees could live without sin!  In the New Covenant, the one in which we are partakers in the death and resurrection of Christ, “sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace,” and “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”  (Romans 6:14 and 1 John 2:1-2)

In the New Covenant that Christ brought us, our sins are forgiven and we are no longer condemned.  In the New Covenant, the old has passed away, all things are made new.  (“I do not condemn you.”)  In the New Covenant we walk in the newness of life – the abundant life that Christ gives.  In the New Covenant we walk according to the Spirit, bearing His fruit against which there is no law.  (“Go.”)  In the grace-full New Covenant, sin is not our master. (“From now on, sin no more.”)

Much would still take place before the New Covenant came in its fullness.  Jesus would be crucified, die and be buried.  God would raise Him from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures.  Jesus would ascend into heaven and there be seated at the right hand of the Father forever.  The promise of God, the Holy Spirit, would be sent to indwell all who believe in Jesus Christ.  The glory of the New Covenant and its supremacy over the old would be revealed throughout the letters of the New Testament writers, perhaps most notably in Romans, Hebrews and 1John. 

But before all that, in this one poignant interchange between Jesus and a sinful woman, we catch a glimpse of the good bones of this spiritual house that is being built with living stones.  I think we’ll see that woman again when the house is finished.

September 2011
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IT DOES A BODY GOOD

     
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I was working at a wedding last week and as I listened to the pastor who was officiating, I thought to myself that this must be a Christian couple.  As I watched the happenings during the reception following the ceremony, I revised my thinking.  Perhaps they weren’t a Christian couple but had only hired a pastor to perform the service.  Or perhaps the couple are believers, living with one foot in the kingdom of God and the other in the kingdom of this world.  Sadly, that seems to be a common occurrence among those who claim to be followers of Christ. It keeps us from growing “up in all aspects into Him who is the Head {of the Body}, that is, Christ,” “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13, 15)

The apostle Peter writes, “...like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  (1 Peter 2:2)  In our national pursuit of cutting calories to be as lean as we can be, perhaps spiritually we are doing the same thing.  Rather than longing for the pure milk of the word which brings growth, maybe we have simply settled for “skim” milk and we don’t even notice that our growth has been stunted. 

The pure milk of the word of God....it does a Body good!

  Porch Ponderings

August 2011

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JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

     
 

I’ve been thinking lately about the parallel between Christians (me included) and the Israelites near the end of the prophet Samuel’s life.  For most of his life, Samuel had been their judge, and a good one, but now he was getting old and his sons, taking bribes and perverting justice, were not at all promising replacements.  So the elders, not wanting his sons to succeed him, came to Samuel with a request, “Appoint a king to judge us like all the nations.” It perhaps had not occurred to them that God, who saw clearly what Samuel’s sons were, could have made other, godly, provision for them in a judge. This request displeased Samuel but when he brought it to the Lord, God said, ”Listen to the people, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”
Porch Ponderings

Though God understood that this was a rejection of Him, He sent Samuel back to the people with words of warning of what it would mean for them to have a king rule over them, just like all the nations - basically, taxation and conscription (sound familiar?).  The Lord told the people that there would come a day when they would cry out because of their choice.  Despite God’s warning, the people responded, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”   They wanted a human leader, one they could see and in whom they could put their trust and dependence.  And thus began the time of the kings. (To read the full account, see 1 Samuel 8.)

The irony here is that God Himself had pledged to do all of the things for His chosen people that any earthly king would do.  And God would do so much more for them than any earthly king could do for his people.  As they obeyed Him, God would bless and prosper them, the people, the flocks, the land, everything.  He would judge them, lead them out in battle, provide for and protect them.  He would raise those up through whom He would do some of these things, but God, as their King, would indeed accomplish all of this for His people.  All He asked of them was that they seek Him, that they obey Him.  They had the opportunity to live single-mindedly, serving their God without worrying about the common necessities of earthly life - not because they had no need of them, but because they had a God who had promised to supply them.  But the Israelites chose, instead, to be just like all the nations - to choose a man to be their king (thus rejecting God as king over them).  And in choosing to be like all the nations in having a king for themselves, they willingly chose the bondage that all the nations endured under a king.  Foolish, foolish people!

Fast forward hundreds of years through history to a day when Jesus was speaking to His disciples, those who would be the beginning of a new “chosen” people, the church.  Jesus tells them that even when one has an abundance of things, his life does not consist of his possessions.  He illustrates this with a parable about a rich man, crops, and barns.  And then, for emphasis, Jesus points out how God cares for the birds and the flowers, both of which are worth far less than men and women created in God’s image. 
Porch Ponderings

  Porch Ponderings
Then Jesus says something to them, which should stir a vague reminder, if not in them, certainly in us.  He says, “Do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.  For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” (For the full discourse, see Luke 12).  If I can put it in the context of 1 Samuel 8, it is as if Jesus was telling them not to let worrying and seeking earthly provision rule over them (as a king) just like all the nations do.  And the reason this need not rule them is not because God’s people didn’t need these things, but because God their Father, would add all these needed things to them. What they would then be free to eagerly and single-mindedly seek is God’s kingdom.

So here’s what I’m wondering:            

Every time we worry about what we are going to eat, to wear, to live - those basic necessities- just like everyone else in the world worries about them, aren’t we doing the same things the Israelites did in Samuel’s day?  Aren’t we saying to God our Father, “We need to worry about and eagerly seek all these necessities of life just like everyone else does, just like all the nations do”?
           
            By continuing to worry aren’t we, in our own way, rejecting God who has promised to provide “all these things” for us?  And aren’t we, just like those foolish Israelites, choosing voluntarily to live in the same bondage to worry, anxiety, and fear just like all the nations, every other person who does not know God? 

            Do we not also have the opportunity to live single-mindedly, serving our God without worrying about the common necessities of earthly life - not because we have no need of them, but because God, our Abba Father, has promised to “add them” to us? 

Presented with the same choice, let’s not fail to believe that God can and will fulfill His promises to us, and settle instead, for a human answer that only leads us back into bondage and slavery like all the nations.  I think that even for a child of God, one who is redeemed by the blood of Christ and believes in all of God’s promises, it seems nearly impossible to live without worry - nearly.  But I know, and am fully convinced, that “With God all things are possible “(Matthew 19:26) and “All things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)

We are NOT like everyone else.

July 2011

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TO BE OR NOT TO BE (Part 2)

     
 

A while ago (quite a while, actually!) I wrote about the discouragement I felt when speaking with a believer who asserted that the church is a business.  That view is definitely not drawn from anything in the Scriptures.  Thinking about what the church is not begs the obvious question.  If not a business or any other human organization, what is it?

I was planning on writing my thoughts, hopefully drawn from the Scriptures, about what the church is.  What I ended up doing instead is to let the Scriptures speak for themselves.

The church is “in Christ Jesus, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, those called of Jesus Christ, the household of God, the redeemed of the Lord, the family of God, the beloved of God, those who believe that God raised Christ Jesus from the dead.” 

The church is “the children of God, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, heirs according to promise, those who are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus, those who walk in newness of life, those who have been released from the Law, those who have died to the Law through the body of Christ.”

The church“serves in the newness of the Spirit, is led by the Spirit of God”; and the church is “the children of promise, saints, the Lord’s, those sanctified in the Lord Jesus.”

The church is “God’s building made of living stones, the holy temple of God, the fragrance of Christ, a new creation, God’s workmanship (His poem), the dwelling of God in the Spirit, the children of light, God’s sheep, the true circumcision, those who are buried with Christ in baptism and raised up with Christ through faith in God, the chosen of God, a people for God’s possession.”

The church is those who are “partakers of a heavenly calling, holy and beloved brethren, believers in God, aliens and strangers on this earth, the spiritual house for a holy priesthood, chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.”

The church is the “people of God, kept for Jesus Christ.”

These are just some of the New Testament descriptions of the church - it is like nothing else.  When all other organizations pass away, the church, being spiritual, will not pass away. Originating from God, the church is eternal. 

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On the other hand, everything that belongs to the earth is earthly.  Every human organization, however good or similar to the church it seems, will pass away simply because it originates from the earth.  And make no mistake: whatever is passing away has nothing to offer to that which is eternal.

What a great and glorious privilege it is “to be” part of the church, a member of the Body of Christ.  Take care of the body, the church - treat it right.  Here are a few more New Testament exhortations that will help you do that:

“Be devoted to one another *** give preference to one another *** be of the same mind toward one another ***do not judge one another *** pursue the things that make for peace and the building up of one another *** accept one another *** greet one another *** have the same care for one another *** serve one another *** bear one another’s burdens *** bear with one another in love *** be kind to one another *** forgive one another *** be subject to one another *** regard one another as more important than yourselves *** do not lie to one another *** increase and abound in love for one another *** comfort one another *** encourage one another and build up one another *** live in peace with one another *** seek after that which is good for one another *** spur one another on to love and good deeds *** clothe yourselves with humility toward one another *** love one another ***fervently love one another.”

If losing all that you possess in order to gain Christ is your “profit/loss” statement, you have chosen wisely.  If the love of God in Christ Jesus, the love that lays down its life for a friend, that one-another love is your “bottom line,” you are rich indeed.

July 2011

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LITTLE FEET FOLLOWING THEIR FATHER

     
  Yesterday at church as we were worshiping together, one of the dads got up to take his younger son into the next room.  When he was about halfway across the room, I heard the quick patter of little feet right behind him – his young daughter had decided she wanted to follow Daddy wherever he was going, so she ran to catch up to him.  As I heard the sound of her running feet on the wood floor, the phrase “little feet following their father” floated through my mind.

A few minutes later, we sang together the words, “I have decided to follow Jesus.  I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”  One of those leading worship spoke of this being a choice presented to us, not just the first time that we believe in the Son of God, but throughout our life as a disciple.  As I sang the verses and the chorus, “The cross before me the world behind me, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back,” I added in my own heart these words, “little feet following their Father.”

Since these writings are called ponderings, I need to make a disclaimer here.  I don’t think I’m so much pondering all that is involved in deciding to follow Jesus, what issues are included, or how it works.  Rather, since being gathered in worship yesterday with believers whom I love, pictures from the gospels have flitted through my mind, leaving an impression.  I haven’t tried to hold on to those impressions and examine them; I have just let them leave their fragrance and imprint in my heart.

“Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ And they said to Him, ‘Teacher, where are You staying?’  He said to them, ‘Come and you will see.’  They came therefore…and saw…and stayed…”     John 2: 38-39

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men.’  And they immediately left the nets and followed Him.”    Mark 1:17-18

“Which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish all who observe it begin to ridicule him…Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?... So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”    Luke 14:28-33

“…someone said to Him, ‘I will follow You wherever You go.’  And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’  And He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ But he said, ‘Permit me first to go and bury my father.’  But He said to him,

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s s ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.’  And another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.’  But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”    Luke 9: 57-62

“No one can serve two masters…”     Matthew 6: 24

“…many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore.  Jesus said therefore to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’  Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have words of eternal life.  And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”          John 6: 66-69

“For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me”….”As You have sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”  “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’”              John 6:38, John 17:18, John 20:21

Little feet following their Father… I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

October 2010

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TO BE OR NOT TO BE

     
 

I just ran into a friend this morning whom I hadn’t seen for awhile.  We started talking about church things and somewhere in the conversation he told me that the church was a business.  When I said that wasn’t what the Scriptures taught about the church, he continued to insist that it was a business and should be run like one.  I know the church as a legally recognized non-profit organization has to abide by state and federal law; I know the church has to observe accepted accounting practices; I know.  I think these things all fall under, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”  My concern (and the subject of conversation with my friend) is that Christian churches are rendering to Caesar (and to corporate America) what is God’s.  I work in a business-type environment from Monday through Friday and I like my job.  Having said that, I know that’s not what the church is nor should it be.  We went on to discuss some specifics, but despite Scriptures to the contrary, I think he still holds to his view.  Though, in fairness, he said he would like to talk more about it.

As I drove away, I was discouraged.  This friend has been in church over forty years, an evangelical church with a reputation for adherence to the Scriptures.  Over the years, he held various positions of leadership in that church; he attends regularly.  How, I wondered could he come out of all that with such a skewed view of the church, a view drawn primarily from corporate America, resembling very little that’s contained in the New Testament, reflecting even less of what Jesus is building that withstands the gates of hell.  I mean, how could he sit in the pew every Sunday for over forty years and come out thinking that the church (people whom Christ died to redeem) is a business? 

As I continued to drive (it was a long drive), I thought about other Christians I know who think the same thing.  Perhaps they are all naive, or maybe they’re making grocery lists during sermons and Bible studies, or maybe they are just plain stubborn and ornery.  Or maybe this is what churches are teaching them.  Certainly not from the pulpit.  I don’t think you would hear an evangelical, Bible-believing pastor stand up on a Sunday morning and announce from the pulpit that the church is a business.  In fact, if that pastor is teaching from the Scriptures, he would declare the opposite.  However, I know from experience that it is very possible to declare from the pulpit on Sunday that the church is not a business and then from the office on Monday through Saturday to think of it, to make decisions concerning it, to view its people, to chart its course, to run its meetings in exactly the same way as a business does.  It is very possible to seek elders based not first on what the Scriptures say about them, but primarily on their business acumen.  It is possible to hold church leadership meetings or congregational meetings that have very little to do with the things Christ and the apostles taught.  When we do this, we teach the people what we really believe.  Perhaps our churches are becoming like the politician who says one thing while he’s running for office and then does another after he’s elected, the outcome being that very few people believe what a politician says.  While it may be acceptable in politics to say one thing and do another, it is not acceptable in the church.  The Scriptures call it hypocrisy.  Perhaps the wonder is not that people in the pews think the church is a business; perhaps the wonder is that there is anyone in the pews who thinks the church is NOT a business.  I’m more discouraged........

After I arrived at my destination (did I mention it was a long drive?), I opened my Bible to John 17.  My pastor has been teaching from this chapter for the past few weeks and it was healing balm to my soul to read what Jesus said to His Father as He was about to finish the work the Father had given Him to do on earth, the work that is the very reason for the existence of the church.  I read there of the glory of God, of eternal life which is to know God and His Son, of the sanctifying and keeping power of God’s word, of the fullness of joy that is in Christ, of our unity in God and in Christ, of God’s love for us that is as great as His love for His Son and of that love being in us, of this love and unity testifying to the world that Jesus is the Son of God, of the promise that we will be with the Father and Son in glory forever.  Markedly absent was any mention of a business plan, marketing strategy, cost-benefit analysis, profit margin, product or program evaluation, sales techniques, or (insert your favorite business phrase here).

I’m sure that about now some reading this are saying, “Yes, that’s true, but....”  Following the word “but” is something that undoubtedly makes all this a bit more practical, down-to-earth, and probably a bit more business-like.  What I have discovered when people say those words is this: Whatever follows the word “but” is what you really believe, thus, for all intents and purposes, nullifying the words that precede the “but.”      

So, you can tell me until you are blue in the face that the church is a business, that it should be run by sound business principles, that a pastor should be a CEO, or any version of the foregoing, ”but,” here is just some of what it really is (for the rest, read the entire New Testament - it’s a worthwhile read):

“Glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.  This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.........I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word........for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me........

 

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I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.  I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 

“The glory which You have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.......O, righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”    (Selected from John 17) 

No business in the world can do that!

I feel better.

October 2010

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  WHICH ONE OF THESE DOESN’T BELONG      
 

I love it when I get these kinds of questions on a test!   Usually it’s a series of shapes, a group of sentences, or a variety of items.  I think it’s a challenge to decipher which one is different than the others, the one that doesn’t belong with the group.  To do that you need to know which things are alike and why they belong together.  Once you figure that out, you can pick the one that doesn’t belong, the one that’s different.

So here’s the test: Which one of these three doesn’t belong with the others?
God’s interests ....... Man’s interests ....... Satan’s interests

You may already know which one is different and why, but just in case you’re not quite sure yet, here’s some thoughts that might help you pick the one that’s different.

Early in His ministry as Jesus was casting out demons, the Jews accused Him of doing so by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.  In response Jesus asked them, “How can Satan cast out Satan?  If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished!”  (Mark 3:23,26)..........{Clue #1.  God and Satan are different, divided.}

Later, when Jesus told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the religious leaders, be killed, and raised up on the third day, Peter took Him aside and rebuked Him, saying that this should never happen to Jesus.  I sympathize with Peter.  To hear of the unjust suffering and death of the one he loved, the one he had followed, the one he had just days earlier proclaimed to be the Messiah, must have been beyond Peter’s comprehension.  He wanted Jesus to live, to do all the things He came to do, to be Israel’s Savior.  In Peter’s mind, he must have thought that none of that would happen if Jesus were dead (at this point, maybe he wasn’t too sure about the “raised on the third day” part).

Jesus, however, was anything but sympathetic to Peter’s outburst.  You probably know His response, “Get behind Me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”  (Matthew 16:23)..........{Clue #2.   Satan gets us to concentrate on man’s interests.  Jesus says that man’s interests are not God’s interests.}

As Jesus was teaching His disciples a parable that ended with Him saying that no man could serve both God and wealth, the Pharisees who were listening began to scoff at Him.  The reason the Scriptures give for their scoffing was that they were lovers of money (makes sense!), and moreover, they were those who justified themselves in the sight of men.  To them Jesus says,  “that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”  (Luke 16:15b)..........{Clue #3.  God detests what man highly esteems.}

So, like an “elementary” Sherlock Holmes, let’s summarize our clues : 1) God and Satan are different; 2) Satan promotes man’s interests which means that Satan’s and man’s interests must be compatible in some way; 3) God’s interests are different from man’s interests; and 4) God detests what man highly esteems.  So, looking again at our list of three, we deduce that the ones belonging together are man’s interests and Satan’s interests.    The one that is different, the one that doesn’t belong with the other two, is God’s interests. 
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Perhaps that’s not a surprise to you.  Perhaps it’s not a surprise to you because what you actually think is that God’s interests are not compatible with the evil that man does, but surely man’s noblest interests are compatible, even synonymous, with God’s, right?  Look again at Peter’s rebuke of Jesus.  It was not evil, it was not base.  As far as Peter knew, it arose out of love and concern for Jesus’ welfare - except that it was not God’s way, it was Satan’s and it made perfect sense to Peter.  Connect that to an earlier time in the wilderness when Jesus addressed Satan directly.  Satan promised to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would only worship him.  God Himself was going to give into Jesus’ hands all the kingdoms of this earth - except this was not God’s way, it was Satan’s.  Both Satan’s direct and evil assault in the wilderness, and his indirect assault through Peter’s concern for Jesus, were aimed at turning Jesus from the cross.  Since Adam and Eve first believed Satan in the garden, he has found a willing accomplice in man.  Satan will always try to find a way around God, and so will man.

I think many Christians live as if man’s good and noble interests (and even man’s “neutral” interests) are compatible with God’s interests.  I think that is why and how so much of the world’s thinking and so many of man’s interests find a comfortable home not only in our lives but also in the church.  We think the one that is different in that list of three is Satan’s interest.  So while we would be adamantly opposed to partaking either individually or corporately in Satan’s interests (probably horror film and late night news fodder), we openly invite the things of this world that we esteem as helpful into our own lives and into our church life.  The problem is that the things of man are inextricably entwined with the interests of Satan, and will be until this world comes to an end.  Perhaps that is why there is so much biting and devouring among Christians; after all, Satan is the accuser of the brethren.  Perhaps that is why there is so little spiritual maturity, holiness, or power in our lives individually and in the church corporately.

If you’re brave, make a list of the things that interest “man” (people).  List things that “man” (people) highly esteem.  Maybe you’ll be tempted to list only things that are bad or negative.  Don’t limit your list to those things.  Include good interests, things like a man’s desire for his friend to live and not die.

After you’ve made your list, write at the top these words of Jesus, “You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s; that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”

And then Christian, “if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (read here, “man’s highly esteemed interests”) (Colossians 3:1-2).

Those are things worth being interested in.  Those are things to hold in high esteem.

October 2010

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2:49 a.m.

     
 

That’s what my digital clock read this morning when I woke up and could not get back to sleep.  Looking out my window, it was so bright that I thought I had left the outside lights on.  Going out to take a look, I discovered that it was the light of the full moon on a cloudless night.  I’ve seen full moons before, but this one seemed unusually bright.  When God created that moon, as it’s recorded in the first chapter of Genesis, He called it the “lesser light” that governs the night.  Well, that “lesser light” was shining its heart out this morning at 2:49 a.m.

As I stood outside just staring up at the moon, I remembered my pastor talking about Psalm 148.

“Praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!  Praise   Him, all the angels; Praise Him all His hosts!  Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light!  Praise Him, highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens!  Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.  He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away.  Praise the Lord from the earth, sea monsters and all deeps; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruit trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and winged fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and virgins; old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven.

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And He has lifted up a horn for His people, praise for all His godly ones; even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!”

My pastor said that sometimes it is good for us to exhort all the things that God has created to praise Him, just as this psalm does.  So, it’s okay for me every now and then to tell the squirrel sitting on my fence to praise the Lord as only squirrels can do.  Early this morning as I stood looking up at that full moon, I quietly whispered (in deference to my still sleeping neighbors), “You go, moon.  You just keep on praising the Lord!”  I wouldn’t swear to it, but I think that moon actually shone just a bit brighter and, honestly, I think I saw it smile!

I went back inside, doing quite a bit of praising of my own.

September 2010

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ON THE HEIGHTS

     
  I recently attended a retreat near the beach with a great group of women.  During a time of sharing, one woman related that she and some friends had gone down to the beach in the afternoon.  She had wanted to climb a somewhat steep embankment there on the beach in order to see from the top.  She said, however, that she was a little afraid to make that climb.  Most of the friends she was with climbed the embankment and called to her, encouraging her to climb up and see the beautiful view.  Another friend who had remained with her said that she would climb with her.  So, slowly and carefully, they climbed up the embankment to meet their friends.  The view was indeed as beautiful as they had said.  After a bit, her friends climbed to an even higher point.  They called back to her, “You have to come up here.  The view is spectacular!  You can see even more from here.”  She said that on hearing that and seeing the height she would need to climb, she thought to herself, “I don’t know – the view is pretty spectacular from right here where I am!”  She was afraid to climb higher, but the same friend who had initially climbed with her said she would again accompany her higher up.  So they climbed.  And when she reached her friends and looked around, she said that the view was truly spectacular.  They could see so much from that vantage point that was hidden from them on the lower point, including a pod of dolphins!  She was ecstatic and testified to how glad she was that she had overcome her fear and climbed all the way to the highest point.

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s she was talking I thought how like our Christian life her story was.  The Lord calls us on with Him, and we are often afraid to go.  It means leaving the safety and security of what we know, of what has been good.  It means going into unknown territory and we’re not even sure we can make it.  Often, God will give us a friend to travel with and encourage us; but even in the absence of another person, the Holy Spirit is our ever-present companion on the journey.  Overcoming our fears, we reach the place where the Lord has led us and we’re glad, glad we overcame our fears, glad we made it.  The view is better.  We know the Lord more intimately.  We see and understand more of His ways; we ourselves have been transformed more into the image of Christ than we were before.  Then, after a time, the Lord calls us again to a higher place – a place where more is open to us, and we find ourselves struggling with the decision to climb yet again.  The place we’re in, we reason, is pretty spectacular, it’s filled with goodness, and we are tempted to think that it is enough.  We are satisfied here.  This is all of the Lord that we need.

I hope that if you find yourself in this place, that you, like the woman at the retreat, will decide to go on.  I hope you won’t be satisfied with what you have attained, that your fear or complacency won’t win out and keep you from experiencing all that God has for you.  I hope the Lord gives you a traveling companion to climb with you.  I know the Holy Spirit accompanies you.  And I know that you, too, will see and receive things from the Lord that can only be had in that place “further up.”  The view at the end of the climb will be worth the cost.  The riches of our inheritance in Christ Jesus can never be exhausted.  We keep discovering more all along the way.

A week after this retreat I began a two-week vacation in Alaska.  In the second week, we saw many of Alaska’s animals in the wild.  On a few occasions, we saw herds of Dall sheep, pretty white sheep that can live high in the mountains.  Our guide explained that their hooves are such that they can safely scale the crags and crevices of mountains in a way that few other animals can.  In part, this keeps them safe from their main predators, wolves and bears, who cannot safely follow on that kind of terrain.
As I watched them, I was reminded of the story I just related about the woman who conquered her fear and climbed to the height of the embankment at the beach.  Her feet had not slipped, she was able to walk on those high places.  She conquered her enemy – fear – and had enjoyed the victory.  Later I read Psalm 18.

For who is God but the Lord and who is a rock except our God, the God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless?  He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and sets me upon my high places.  He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.  You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great. 

  You enlarge my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped.  I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and I did not turn back until they were consumed.  I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet.  For You have girded me with strength for battle.”  (verses 31-39)  
 
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God makes our feet like hinds’ feet (or like the feet of Dall sheep!) so that we can nimbly and safely climb on our own high places without fear.  We can experience the fullness of joy in the abundant life that Christ has promised us.  Not only is the view spectacular, but there, with our God, we are strengthened and trained to fight our enemy, one who is fiercer than any wolf or bear.  And there we travel with others whose journeys carry them to their high places.

One thing our guide said piqued my interest.  While the hooves of the Dall sheep were fitted to allow them to travel confidently and safely on those narrow and craggy mountains, their hooves didn’t make very good shovels.  By that he meant that if they were in a place where the snow was too deep, they couldn’t get to the food under the snow.  Their hooves were not fitted to move deep snow out of the way. 

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So when the snow gets very deep, these hearty sheep look for places on the mountains where the wind is strong enough to blow the snow off the ground, allowing them to forage for their food in the harsh Alaskan winters.  Often these winds are upwards of seventy miles per hour, strong enough to blow seven to eight feet of snow off the ground!  What a picture this was to me of the Christian’s need for the power of the Holy Spirit in his or her life.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the obstacles that would prevent us from receiving all that God has for us.  Our flesh is not strong enough to overcome them, nor can we attain to the riches and blessings of Christ in our own strength.  Just as the sheep depend on the wind to enable them to survive, so we depend on the Holy Spirit.  And knowing they need the wind, the sheep actually seek out places where it is active and powerful.  We could take a lesson from them.  How often do we attempt the things of the Lord in our own power?  How often do we come up empty?  How often do we live as if we do not have the powerful indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit?

So bringing it back full circle, thinking of the woman at the retreat I am doubly glad for her.  My sister, you were made to climb.  You were made to enjoy the view from the heights.  You were made to revel in all the goodness of God.  If you are in Christ, these things are for you, too.  Keep climbing!

September 2010

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DECLARATIONS

     
 

This morning I boarded a plane in Fairbanks, Alaska, on my way home to southern California.  As I write this I am looking out the window of the plane onto a carpet of white clouds.  Breaking through that floor of clouds at various points are snow-covered mountain ranges as white as the clouds themselves.  Every now and then I can see through this floorboard of clouds to the earth below.

I opened to the psalm I’m reading today – Psalm 19.  It begins with familiar words, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world.”

“Telling, declaring, speech pouring forth, knowledge revealed, utterances” – all of this “talk” is coming to us with no speech, no words, no audible voice.  And yet, they give their witness so that we know.  I can’t even see from my vantage point in the plane all of the expanse that God has made; I think the astronauts on the space station can’t either (thus the word “expanse”!).  But though the heavens are continually speaking, do we hear?  One evening a few days earlier in an Alaskan hotel lobby, a couple was talking to each other.  Their 4-year old son was standing about fifty feet away, impatient to get on the elevator.  From there, at the top of his lungs, he began to shout over and over again, “Mom!, Mom!, Mom!, Mom!, Mom!....” and on and on and on.  After about twenty “Mom’s” (no exaggeration!), and long after all the rest of us in the lobby had heard him, his mother turned around to answer him.  Clearly, she had learned to tune him out for lengthy periods.  It was a strong picture, though, as I ask myself, do we “tune out” the poured-forth speech of the heavens, the declarations that could reveal to us so much about the greatness of our God?

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The psalmist goes on to declare that this God whose glory the heavens are revealing has words, precepts, judgments, commands that are pure, clean, true, enduring, perfect, sure, and altogether righteous.  They restore our souls, make us wise, cause our hearts to rejoice, and enlighten our eyes.  But I wonder how much the two parts of the psalm are connected.  If we can’t hear the “wordless speech, and the soundless utterances” of the heavens that reveal the glory of God, will we be able to recognize God’s words and His ways as pure, clean, true, enduring, perfect, sure, and altogether righteous?  Will we allow them to restore us, to impart their wisdom to us, to be the source of joy to us?  Will theirs be the light by which we walk?  Or might we, missing His glory, seek other sources of wisdom, restoration, joy, and light?

As I sit here on the plane, “listening” to the heavens proclaiming their revelations about God, I know they speak the truth.  It is just as they say.  And I long for their utterances to open my soul in greater measure to the words and the ways of this glorious God of whom they will never cease declaring.

(P.S.  Technically, this ” pondering” was not on a porch, but on a plane!)

August 2010

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ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

     
 

Thinking about spacious places brought me back to the Apostle Paul’s words in both 1 Corinthians 6 and 10 that all things were lawful for him, but not all things were profitable.  What makes something profitable in the kingdom of God?  I’m guessing we all know what makes things profitable here on earth and we could each generate a substantial list. 

I think some clues as to what is spiritually profitable come in those same two Corinthians passages when Paul continues to say that there are things that, while lawful, don’t bring much profit.  He says that not all lawful things edify and he suggests that some lawful things might actually end up mastering us.  Things that have spiritual profit are also things that aren’t ended by death.  Think of the works of believers that will be tested by a fire that reveals whether they were gold, silver, or precious stones (surviving the fire) or merely wood, hay, and stubble (only good as fodder for the fire).  When Paul speaks of things that will abide, he has a fairly short list: faith, hope and love, the greatest being love.  So, things that have spiritual profit undoubtedly partake of faith, hope, and love. And the love that is spoken of here is a sacrificial love that lays down its life for another, a love that doesn’t seek its own, but seeks to benefit others.

That concept of benefitting others has been in the forefront of my mind for some months now.  When David had received the entire nation of Israel as his kingdom, the Scripture states, “David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.”  (2 Samuel 5:12)  David knew that what God had done for him was intended to benefit all of Israel.  To the Colossians, the Apostle Paul declares that the stewardship that God bestowed on him as a minister was for the benefit of the church.  That both men could walk in this knowledge and thus benefit God’s people was due, in part, to the humility that marked their lives.

Conversely, years after King David, God graciously granted another king, King Hezekiah, fifteen additional years to live.  2 Chronicles 32:25 summarizes those years in these words, “But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received because his heart was proud…” 

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For the benefit he received, Hezekiah should have returned benefit to the people, to the kingdom he ruled, and to his God.  What nullified that benefit was his pride.  One of the reasons the Lord hated false prophets is revealed in Jeremiah 23:32 when God says that all their falsehoods lead the people astray and do not furnish the slightest benefit to the people.  Here, too, the falsity of their words and the absence of the slightest benefit to the people are connected to their reckless boasting.

Much of what we see around us, what arises out of the human heart, is a belief that in order for something to be profitable, it must benefit me.  The boastful pride of life sets “Me” up as the standard of measurement by which I judge a matter “profitable.”  Spiritual profit, however, comes when the love and grace of God in our own lives results in benefit to others (often to our own hurt, or at least the subverting of our own interests).  A cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name, putting others’ interests above ours, bearing the burdens of another, serving rather than being served, being last rather than first, dying to myself – all of these yield spiritual profit when they flow from the benefit we have received from God (forgiveness of sin and eternal life are very good benefits indeed!).

So, perhaps our list of things that make for spiritual profit should include those things that edify, that don’t end up enslaving us, things that are eternal, things done out of the love of God, things done in faith and in hope, things that benefit others regardless of whether we are benefitted.  I suspect that this list will be very different from the one that reflects things that make for earthly profit.  I wonder, which list will we choose “to do”?

November 2009

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A SPACIOUS PLACE
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I’ve been thinking lately about the narrow way.  Jesus said that the way is narrow that leads to life. But while the way to eternal life is narrow, once you’ve entered through that narrow gate, you are ushered into a spacious place.  In the psalms, David speaks of the Lord bringing him into a broad and spacious place.  Echoing this are Paul’s words proclaiming the liberty and freedom of the children of God.  This liberty was so great and so free that Paul twice declared that all things were lawful for him (whether all things were profitable was a different matter).  In this spacious and free place Paul states without equivocation that all things belong to the church, to the people of God (1 Corinthians 3:21-22).  In this spacious place there is grace so abundant that it covers all sin, love so lavish that it is beyond knowledge, things that are done exceedingly above and beyond all we could ask or imagine.

Because to be “in Christ” is to abide in this spacious place filled with love, grace and freedom, we who are in Christ ought to live in a manner that befits such a large place, not merely content to live in a small corner.  And as we live that way ourselves, we become a spacious place of love, grace, and freedom to those around us.  We become a place where there is room for lots of people, where they are met with the love of Christ and the grace of God.

     
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Of course, there are a myriad of ways to make a spacious place so cramped and small that few people can fit and even those few do not flourish.  Think of the stories we have heard (or maybe the people you know or have watched on “Clean House”!) of houses so filled with clutter and junk that they aren’t fit to live in.  Some of the things that can cramp our spacious place, from the Scriptures, include traditions of men (think of your favorites), weak faith, strong opinions and preferences, spiritual immaturity, legalism, judgment, condemnation, favoritism.  That is only a partial list, and not everything on it would necessarily look bad to us. In fact, some of them masquerade as righteousness.  But they all make for a cramped place to live and leave room only for those who are just like us (a small party indeed).

I’ve been asking God to clean out of my life the clutter and things that crowd people out, things that make for a cramped place where only a few can fit.  I want to be a reflection of the spacious place that God has made for me in Christ. I want to love with the love that God has lavished on me in His Holy Spirit.  I want to possess a graciousness that flows from the grace God has shown me.  I want to live in the freedom that Christ has won for me and allow others not just to live but to flourish in that free place as well.  

I think I may even begin cleaning out my house!

September 2009

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A FORETASTE OF HEAVEN

     
  Lately I’ve been reading through the Gospel of John again.  When I got to chapter 4 and the account of Jesus with the woman at the well, I began thinking about worship.  Jesus talks to this woman about a change in the way that God would be worshiped.  In the Old Testament, God had established that worship to Him would be in a place He ordained (the tabernacle and later, the temple) and worship would be done according to a sacrificial system that He had prescribed.  Worship was tied to place and procedure, and to deviate from that was disobedience.

As the woman at the well was seeking to question Jesus about the acceptable place of worship, He announced to her that a time was coming, AND NOW IS, when all that had gone before would be changed.  No longer would worship be tied to place and procedure, but the Father would now seek true worshipers who would worship in spirit and in truth.  Because God is Spirit, His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and truth.  Place and procedure were fulfilled in Christ (as was all of the Law), and what was ushered in was worship in spirit and truth.  Jump ahead to something that Paul said to the Corinthians and to the Galatians about the Holy Spirit: that where the Spirit is there is liberty (freedom), and that it was for freedom that Christ set us free. So for us who now seek to be true worshipers, our worship in spirit and truth is inextricably bound up with the freedom that Christ has won for us.

I suspect that many of us who sincerely desire to worship God, try to effect a peaceable marriage between worship done according to the Law (place and procedure being paramount) and worship in spirit and truth.  In doing this we are perhaps doing something like Peter when he wanted to build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus, incorporating the best of the Old Covenant and the New.  While worship that incorporates the Law and the Spirit  may seem as good an idea to us as the building of the tabernacles did to Peter, perhaps God would say a similar thing to us: “This is My Son, listen to Him.”  Christ and the new covenant He brought would overshadow and replace all that came before Him.  And I suspect that if we try to do this, we find ourselves being among those addressed by the apostle Paul when he says that to add the Law back into Christ is to fall from grace, and to make Christ of no benefit to us. 

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We will have chosen a religious observance (albeit one that was ordained by God) instead of faith expressing itself through love. And rather than finding ourselves in a place where the Spirit is, a place of freedom, we will have unwittingly put ourselves back under bondage to the Law.  (From Galatians 5, but read the whole book!)

What does it look like to worship in spirit and truth?  Couldn’t Jesus have spelled it out in a little more detail, thus resolving many disagreements through the ages?  We often wish that He would have given us a “new” procedure to follow so we would know if we (and everyone else, by the way) were doing it right.  That He did not do so is in itself instructive.  The new command Christ gave us was not about how to worship in spirit and truth, it was to love one another as He had loved us.  So, rather than giving a new law by which we must worship God, He has given us characteristics of the worship the Father seeks from us: spirit, truth, freedom, love (I know this isn’t an exhaustive description, but it’s a pretty good place to start!).  Whatever “form” our worship takes, it is not the worship the Father seeks if those realities are not present in it.

I hope to be one who worships the Father with the worship that He seeks, worship that flows out of spirit and truth, worship that is filled with love and that abides in the freedom for which Christ has set me free.  And I desire to be that worshiper in the midst of a company of like-minded worshipers, precious saints of God, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.  What a foretaste of heaven that will be!

June 2009

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DEVOTION - PURE AND SIMPLE

     
 

I’m intrigued when the Lord puts seemingly unrelated Scriptures together into one cohesive unit.  When that happens, it’s usually because He is using it to teach me or to remind me of something I may be forgetting.  That’s been the case for me lately with three passages.

“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4)

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  (Luke 10:41-42)

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Luke says that Mary was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.  She was choosing at that moment not the earthly “bread” of Martha’s preparations, but the bread of life that proceeded out of the mouth of the Son of God.  I think she’s a picture of one who was not led astray by the serpent’s craftiness from the simplicity and purity of her devotion to Christ.

For Mary, the things that might have led her astray at that moment from the purity and simplicity of devotion to Christ were not evil things; they were not sinful things.  They were things that are practical and of earthly good.  She was being asked to join the sister that she loved in making preparations for their guest, whom they both loved.  What could be wrong with that?  How could a good thing like that possibly be the tool of a crafty enemy?  As Jesus spoke of the choice Mary had made, He did not frame it in terms of good and evil.  He framed it in terms of the one necessary thing, the good part, and the many things that are not necessary.  He said that Mary had chosen the one thing necessary, the good part, when she chose to sit at His feet and listen to His every word.  Martha’s preparations were certainly not evil, but neither were they the one thing necessary.  Perhaps pragmatic, they could never equal in importance the choice Mary had made.   Martha’s preparations distracted, worried and bothered her - so much so that she missed the one good thing for herself, and was in danger of drawing Mary away from it too.

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It is perhaps easier than we know for our minds to be led astray from the purity and simplicity of devotion to Christ.  It doesn’t necessarily take sin to draw us away.  Our crafty enemy knows that sometimes all it takes to lead us astray is for our minds to be distracted, worried, and bothered by the earthly concerns that are common to flesh-and-blood people. Those concerns don’t even have to be frivolous, they are often very legitimate.  It’s just that they carry with them the inherent potential to distract, worry, and bother us.  In doing that they can lead us astray, drowning out the voice of our Shepherd, causing us to respond to the competing voices of earthly needs.  And when we are led astray, we are in danger of taking others with us.

What do we do with these legitimate cares that rise up, threatening to draw us away from our devotion to Christ?  We remember that we have a Father who knows every need we have and has pledged Himself to care for every thing that concerns us.  It is our loving and powerful Heavenly Father who has told us not to worry about such things as food, clothing, and shelter because He knows we need them.  Jesus’ word to us (remember, this is what we live on!) is to seek God first, His kingdom and His righteousness (read “purity and simplicity of devotion to Christ”), and God will add to us what we need.

I like Mary, and I like Martha (so did Jesus!).  I understand them both.  I know my flesh will always be tempted to side with Martha, to respond to the call of earthly bread in all its many forms.  But I pray I will choose as Mary did - to remain purely and simply devoted to Christ, seated at His feet, listening to every living word that proceeds from His mouth.  He is, after all, the Bread of Life everlasting.

February 2009

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  DEPENDING ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW...      
  I've been thinking about how the same thing can seem so different depending on your viewpoint.  That’s true for many happenings in the Scripture, how they look depends on whether you are privy to them from heaven’s vantage point or are involved as they unfold here on earth.  I’m thinking of two specific examples from the Scriptures, one each from the Old and New Testaments, although there are many more than these two (I’m sure you can add your own)!

It takes one verse in the Psalms to disclose God’s purpose for Joseph and to describe how that purpose was accomplished.  Here it is:
“He (God) sent a man before them (Israel), Joseph who was sold as a slave.” Psalm 105:17

Fairly simple from heavens perspective, right?  So, if the angels were discussing how God was going to protect His small, fledgling nation from a widespread famine that would threaten to destroy them, it would be a relatively short discussion - one verse covers it.

But that same story from earth’s perspective is about twenty two years worth of events involving such things as hatred, jealousy, betrayal, lies, deceit, grief, slavery, false accusations, imprisonment, abandonment, vindication and restoration.  That one verse in the Psalms exacted a toll of twenty-plus painful, grievous years on Joseph, his father and brothers.

In the New Testament, Jesus gives a fairly clear and direct description of how the gospel of redemption will spread all over the earth - one verse covers it  “..and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

However, the fulfillment of that one verse declaration swept the entire lives of the flesh-and-blood men who heard it into a course that included hatred, persecution, beatings, imprisonments, loneliness, scattering from their homes, and the laying down of their lives for that most glorious gospel.  But it did start in Jerusalem.  And after Stephen was stoned to death, the believers who “were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1) took the gospel with them, and it did go to
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I draw great comfort and strong encouragement on my journey from these accounts.  When my own life seems confusing, circuitous, inexplicably painful, or just very different from what I had expected, it is encouraging to remember that God has a plan and purpose for me, just as He did for Joseph.  He has good works that He prepared beforehand for me to walk in.  And regardless of how “circumstantial” the path at times may look or feel from an earthly point of view (as perhaps it felt to some of those early believers), it makes perfect sense to God on high.  And were my life to have been included in the Scriptures, there would be no need for chapters of explanation - one verse would cover it........from Heaven’s point of view.

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January 2009

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  MATTERS OF THE HEART      
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Twice in the first chapter of Ezra, it is said that the Lord stirred people’s hearts.  When he stirred up their hearts, they did something.  God stirred the heart of Cyrus, a pagan king, and Cyrus issued a proclamation to allow the Jews to return home to build a temple to the Lord.  Then the Lord stirred the hearts of the Jews and they left Babylon, returned to Jerusalem, and rebuilt the temple.  I love it that God can stir anyone’s heart and it results in doing the will of God.  Years ago I learned this lesson in my own life.  I was experiencing what I thought was discontent in my work situation.  For months I confessed and repented again and again.  Then I came across Ezra and read how God moved people to do His will by stirring up their hearts.  It was the first time I realized that what I was experiencing was perhaps not discontent, but the stirring of the Lord to move me in a different direction.  I acted upon the stirring in my heart and it did lead me down a very different road, a rich and a good one.

But there’s another account in Scripture about things we carry in our hearts that I also love.  In 2 Chronicles 6 as Solomon dedicates the temple of the Lord, he reveals a very interesting exchange between God and his father King David, who himself had wanted to build the temple for the Lord.

“Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.  But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.  Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you, he shall build the house for My name."   2 Chronicles 6: 7-9


Here is a case where a man carried something in his heart that he very much wanted to do, but it would not be for him to accomplish.  Even so, God said it mattered that David had carried it in his heart. Who knows how much Solomon’s
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building of the temple was connected to the fact that David had carried it in his heart all those years?  I, too, carry things in my heart that I may not actually accomplish.  Perhaps they are for someone else to do.  If so, I believe that it still matters that I have carried them in my heart.

I think that as American Christians we are tempted to gauge “success” or “faithfulness” by accomplishment.  We think we have not been successful, that we have not been faithful in Gods eyes if we have not been able to do the thing we set out to do.  Perhaps from these two accounts, our understanding of the way in which God judges a matter will be expanded.  He truly does look upon the heart and gives credit for what’s in there.  There may be times in each of our lives when, like the people in Ezra, God stirs our hearts and we move to accomplish that which stirred us up.  There may be other times (and maybe more than we realize) when like David, the Lord gives us only to carry something in our hearts, waiting for the one who will bring it forth.  God’s call and His will include both.  Our faithfulness encompasses both.  He is pleased with humble obedience from the heart, whether in doing or in carrying.  It matters!
November 2008
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The MOST and BEST EXTREME MAKEOVER

     
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I love watching home remodeling shows.  I am always amazed at what the designers “see” in those old, run-down houses and how they are able to remodel, renovate, and restore them.  Damaged homes are made new.  Houses that have deteriorated through years of just being well lived-in are restored.  Often, my response to the finished product is something along the lines of,  “I never would have thought to do that!”  They all look different, reflecting the taste and style of designer and homeowner, and I love seeing all the varieties.

Probably for many of the same reasons, I love Jesus and this life in Christ.  God, our Creator and Designer, takes these broken lives that have been ruined by sin, that have deteriorated under the weight of life on this earth, and when invited to do so, He performs an extreme makeover on them.  The invitation for Him to come in and begin this grace renovation is our confession of faith in Jesus Christ and His work of atonement on the cross (Jesus’ death is the means of God’s forgiveness of our sin - already a good deal for us!).  At that point, our Designer moves into His restoration project.  God sends His Holy Spirit to live and work in us until we look like Jesus (the good deal for us just keeps on getting better!).  And we, too, come in lots of varieties - reflecting Designer and “homeowner.”

Just like any builder, God has many tools that He uses to bring His projects to completion.  One of the most prominent is the renewing of our minds through the word of God.  What we think determines our actions and, to a large extent, our feelings.  Ideas, even the ones we are unaware of, have incredible power to direct us.  The grid through which we receive information determines how we perceive it and what we do with it.  A simple example is to think about how the color of your sunglasses affects your perception of what you see.  When our minds are renewed in Christ, what we know changes, how we think about what we know changes, our understanding of what to do with what we know changes.  The word of God becomes the grid through which we examine everything that enters. 

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Renewed minds think as God thinks, and the result is our agreement that God’s will (and ALL that it contains) indeed is good, and acceptable, and perfect.  And when this is true, we act and walk in a manner that is worthy of our Designer.  Now that is an extreme makeover!

[Caveat:  As I was reading this again, it occurred to me that the home remodeling projects shown on television are completed in a 30 or 60 minute program.  I have to remind myself that it really isnt that easy or quick, that these are just thehigh points of a project that involved months- even years- of labor, mess, and upheaval (as anyone who has actually undertaken a renovation project will attest) Likewise, Gods restoring and rebuilding work in us continues for a lifetime (ours!) and also includes labor, mess, and upheaval.  During these times, it helps to remember that whatever the cost, its all worth it in the end!]

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be.  We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.”   “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  1 John 3:2 and Philippians 1:6
September 2008

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  PONDERING GRATITUDE      
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I like the word “ponder.”  The dictionary definition is “to weigh in the mind, think about, reflect on; to consider or examine attentively or deliberately.”  It’s what the Scriptures say that Mary did when the shepherds related to her the words the angels had spoken concerning her newly born son Jesus.  Often, as I ponder a matter, understanding is given bringing with it wisdom, guidance, and peace.
I have, for a very long time, been pondering these words which came to me at different times.  They stand on their own and each is worthy of consideration for what it says.  But in my pondering, they have become connected:

“Even the saddest things can become, once we have made peace with them, a source of wisdom and strength for the journey that still lies ahead.”
- Frederick Buechner

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life; it turns what we have into enough.” - Unknown

 It’s hard to be grateful for sad things.  They usually make us cry, or make us mad, or cause us regret.  We rant against them, perhaps we try to deny them, often we try to find a way around them.  But if we come to the place where we can make peace with them, they do become a source of wisdom and strength. 

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What once brought forth tears and sorrow can now draw out from within us gratitude and contentment that are based on things far deeper and more unchanging than happy circumstances (though, I, for one, am a fan of happy circumstances!).  I can give personal testimony that these are true words, indeed.  And I continue to ponder them - individually and together.

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
September 2008
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  FINGERPRINTS OF LOVE      
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I love it when the fingerprints of God are all over a happening in our life.  I have a friend who is for me a contemporary story of the prodigal son.  He has returned to the Lord in the last few years in a major way!  He loves God, he is seeking God’s will for his life, and he is being conformed to the image of Christ through some very difficult circumstances.  He is humbling himself under God’s hand.  And God has done for him just what the prodigal son’s father did for him.  God has met my friend, given him the best robe, the ring and the sandals, and has prepared a very great feast.  I have rejoiced to see the love and the grace of God to him in all its manifold ways, and I am sure the angels in heaven are continuing to party. 

My friend literally prays every day for his daily bread.  He is in a place in his life right now where that is a reality he faces each day.  Recently he received a notice from the court of some money that was due him.  This was an unexpected provision and came at a very opportune time.  But here’s where the fingerprints that not even a rookie CSI could miss come into play.  The first name of the court clerk who had signed the notice was “Jesus.” (no kidding!)  I’m not sure what meant more to my friend - the provision or the name signed on that page.  When he went to the court expecting to receive a check, he was told he would need to complete some forms (no surprise there) and that the check would be mailed to him in 12 weeks - and no, the process could not be shortened.  His heart sank a bit, but he put it back in the Lord’s hands.  Two weeks later, just before a large bill was due, my friend had the check in hand!  God’s timing trumped that of the county of Los Angeles.

 

s Porch Ponderings
Not all of God’s doings in our lives are this obvious or dramatic.  But it’s often these that remind us that everything we have comes from the Lord.  We can trust Him for our daily bread, whatever form that takes for us.  An old adage advises us not to put all our eggs in one basket, but I think we can safely place them all in God’s basket, trusting Him to give us what we need and, yes, even what we desire.  As I watch the Lord’s care of my friend, my own faith has been stirred up.  I find myself wanting to press on even further into knowing, loving and trusting my Heavenly Father to accomplish all that concerns me, and to receive even more abundantly of the riches of His grace.

“I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me”...“grace upon grace”. Psalm 13:6 and John 1:16
September 2008
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  FLEXIBLE FRIENDSHIPS      
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I just attended (with great joy!) the wedding of the son of my dear friends Linda and Bob.  As I watched, I was reminded of the many, many years that Linda (and Bob, too!) and I have been friends and how deeply grateful I am for that friendship.  We began our friendship in California.  Linda is married and has four children; I am single without children.  Despite that difference, we have been friends from the time her children were small to now when they are grown and I also call them friends.  Our friendship has journeyed through joys, through sorrows, through sickness, through financial challenges, through calls to ministry that separated us by 3000 miles of these United States.  Through it all, our friendship has endured because it has had the flexibility to bend through all those times and seasons, but to be broken by none.  We grow and change; so do our friendships.  What a blessing it is to have a long-time friend with whom you have journeyed through the changes life brings. Here, too, at the wedding are other long-time journeying friends.  As I think of them and others at home who are dear, I realize what a precious gift a friend is - and I am grateful.

s Porch Ponderings
"A friend loves at all times..."  Proverbs 17:17
August 2008


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  UNFADING GLORY      
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Watching the summer Olympics has put me in mind of another summer Olympics, one held here in Los Angeles in the summer of 1984.  I was able to go to some of the events as well as to the closing ceremonies which were held in the L.A. Coliseum.  The closing ceremonies were truly spectacular.  They had, at the time, the most prolific display of fireworks, one for every state in the Union.  I remember the evening being warm, and by the time the fireworks began, it was dark.  There was a full moon, a large yellow one that hung low in the sky over the peristyle end of the Coliseum.  The fireworks shot up and exploded right next to the moon.  All through the display, people were again and again amazed at the grandeur of each of the fireworks.  They clapped, they cheered, each one seemed better than the one before.  Finally, the fireworks were over, the closing ceremonies truly closed, and a stadium filled with thousands of people slowly began to empty.  We sat in our seats a long time, waiting for the crowds to thin.  As I sat there, I looked up to the place in the sky where all those incredible, spectacular fireworks had just thrilled the stadium.  Now, in their place, were only long strands of gray vapor and even they had begun to dissipate.  But still there, shining in its full glory was the moon.  When all evidence of fireworks was gone, the moon remained.

The Lord revealed some things to me through that sight on that evening when thousands were gathered to celebrate man’s achievements.  Those achievements, both in the human athletic arena and in the closing ceremonies, were great.  But they passed, they faded.  No amount of brilliance or excellence could sustain them.  In contrast, that which the Lord created, that incredible full yellow moon, remained - and it will remain until the Lord Himself brings this creation to an end.  Man who tirelessly strives for permanence and to be remembered does, in fact, fade like a vapor, but the Lord endures forever.

s Porch Ponderings
I was reminded that night, through an arresting visual display, of the fleetingness of man and the everlasting God.  I was reminded not to be too impressed with human achievement, though it has its own small glory.  In the end, it is gone and “its place remembers it no more.”  I was reminded to be continually impressed with what God has done, with what He is doing.  And when man’s achievements and God’s glory are side-by-side, it’s good to fix my eyes on God and His glory.

So as I’m watching the Olympics (and am truly amazed at the athletic ability!), I’m also remembering that this, too, will fade.  These athletes will grow old as all before them have done.  The grandeur of these ceremonies will fade, as all before them have.  But God will never grow old.  God will never change.  The eternal God and all His glory are unfading.

"In the beginning You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing, You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end." Psalm 102: 25-27
August 2008  

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Still pondering on the porch...


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