I Kings 14: 23- 24 And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
I have been thinking about that phrase ever since last week..and then when I discovered my devotional was still at home this morning I decided to focus on the daily Bible passage that comes to my email. Very relevant it seems to me, in reflection of what it means top be fully devoted. And then there is the focus our church has for the next six weeks - on what it means to walk as a believer, one who loves God and whose life fully reflects that relationship, in particular our concern for others, and our willingness to sacrifice for their good.
My husband has always believed and practiced Ephesians 4: 28 : Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with [his] hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
We work to pay our bills, to serve God through the gifts and talents He has given us, but also so that we have enough to give to the needy...not so that we have enough to live a luxurious life style. OF course, the way most Americans live would be called luxurious by much of the rest of the world - after all - we have a closet full of clothes and shoes and cupboards full of food - to say nothing of our houses of many rooms. But I digress.
Being completely devoted - think of those you love, parents, mates, children, and how much of your decision making revolves around your love and devotion for them. Then think, and I am speaking to myself, how much of our decision making revolves around our love for God AND our love for one another....because that is what He calls us to, and being devoted to Him means also devoted to the well-being of others.
Judah had the high places and images and groves which completely distracted them from God. Today I am wondering what my high places and images and groves are that distract me from being completely devoted to God and His children.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of my mother's birth. I know she readily sacrificed much so that I could have - whether it was an outfit or go to college. To my shame, I think, I know too little of sacrifice.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
May 27 Turning Our Backs on God
I Kings 11:4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
Not fully devoted - powerful words! OK, I'm going to be transparent here... I have been a Christ-follower since I was eight-years-old. I confess that what that looked like varied over the years, as I grew to understand more and more of what pleased God and as I personally walked closer to and then farther from and back to God.
A couple of weeks ago, Jim and I had an opportunity to speak at a convention for home school parents and students. It was a powerful day as we wandered among shopping parents, some in the colorless or calico garb that reflected their faith tradition; others in smart stylish dress and still others in long denim skirts with hip-length hair. Since then, I have been reconsidering what it means to be fully devoted to God comparing my walk to that of these women, in particular. Not always a good thing, but sometimes a very good thing.
I do realize that clothing does not tell the complete heart story, but many of these families have chosen to separate themselves from the world and its influences to protect their children, to protect themselves from the temptations of the world. Are they somehow more spiritual than me because of their what we might call sacrifices - living a life-style not dissimilar from that of our grandparents or great-grandparents?
Of course not! But it does cause me to reflect on how fully devoted I am to God, what I might be willing to sacrifice for my faith, for my God. Solomon was drawn away from his first love by the influence of his wives. What influences do I have in my life that could draw me away from being fully devoted? What good things might distract me from the best? And what does the best look like?
I have been reading recently about other believers who chose to live monastic lives to give God more influence in their lives and to show Him their dedication to Him. How does such separation balance with a call to be light in darkness - how close to the darkness must or should we get to be light? And does isolation or complete separation from the world make our light brighter or less visible? Do we then become objects of derision rather than light? You can tell I am thinking out loud here.
David messed up, but he wept over his sin. Oh God, help me to choose rightly those who influence me, and may you be my first and primary influence. Then, I pray, that you will help me to be light, to be fully devoted to you, by loving those around me in your Name as you first loved me.
Not fully devoted - powerful words! OK, I'm going to be transparent here... I have been a Christ-follower since I was eight-years-old. I confess that what that looked like varied over the years, as I grew to understand more and more of what pleased God and as I personally walked closer to and then farther from and back to God.
A couple of weeks ago, Jim and I had an opportunity to speak at a convention for home school parents and students. It was a powerful day as we wandered among shopping parents, some in the colorless or calico garb that reflected their faith tradition; others in smart stylish dress and still others in long denim skirts with hip-length hair. Since then, I have been reconsidering what it means to be fully devoted to God comparing my walk to that of these women, in particular. Not always a good thing, but sometimes a very good thing.
I do realize that clothing does not tell the complete heart story, but many of these families have chosen to separate themselves from the world and its influences to protect their children, to protect themselves from the temptations of the world. Are they somehow more spiritual than me because of their what we might call sacrifices - living a life-style not dissimilar from that of our grandparents or great-grandparents?
Of course not! But it does cause me to reflect on how fully devoted I am to God, what I might be willing to sacrifice for my faith, for my God. Solomon was drawn away from his first love by the influence of his wives. What influences do I have in my life that could draw me away from being fully devoted? What good things might distract me from the best? And what does the best look like?
I have been reading recently about other believers who chose to live monastic lives to give God more influence in their lives and to show Him their dedication to Him. How does such separation balance with a call to be light in darkness - how close to the darkness must or should we get to be light? And does isolation or complete separation from the world make our light brighter or less visible? Do we then become objects of derision rather than light? You can tell I am thinking out loud here.
David messed up, but he wept over his sin. Oh God, help me to choose rightly those who influence me, and may you be my first and primary influence. Then, I pray, that you will help me to be light, to be fully devoted to you, by loving those around me in your Name as you first loved me.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
May 26 Man, Woman and Mystery
Proverbs 30:18-19 There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.
Are we any different from the wise writer of these proverbs in our capacity to understand these things? I think about evolution and the laws behind it - that living creatures evolve in relationship to their needs to survive. Tell me how the eagle knew it needed to fly to survive and how long did it take it to develop the wherewithal to fly? Well, you get the idea.
Let's think about the way of a man with a maiden and the author's comments that each was created to supply what was missing in the other. I would like to consider this or take it one step further. Mankind was created in the image of God, but it seems to me that it requires the best of both genders to reflect the image of God as completely as is humanly possible.
Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I took a course on feminism. I wanted to understand what it really was all about, and in the end, what I learned was vey helpful. First, the literature seemed to say that for a woman to succeed in the world, she had to function as a male. Interesting! In their search for equality, women were driven to reject who they were and where God made them most comfortable and adopt male values and style of relating. Instead women not only were to dress in male garb but reject the feminine as something weak. Child-bearing was deferred; homemaking was demeaned, until....they realized that the corporate world and life-style did not satisfy. And for many, it was too late.
Then in my research for my final project - showing that there are indeed intentional male and female biological and psychological differences, I found a scientist who made no pretensions of being a believer who affirmed all that we might say about those differences, except that God designed them intentionally.
All of that to say this, God is our Protector, and males were given the physical body and muscular development to be the protector. And God is our Refuge and Strength, our very present Helper. Woman was given the emotional makeup to comfort, to support; her very identift and job from God's mouth is to be a helper....like He is.
It is not possible to fully develop this topic in these few lines, but I am so thankful that I am designed by God and given this role, of representing Him, created in His image, and of filling the gap of what is missing - being a helper, like He is.
Are we any different from the wise writer of these proverbs in our capacity to understand these things? I think about evolution and the laws behind it - that living creatures evolve in relationship to their needs to survive. Tell me how the eagle knew it needed to fly to survive and how long did it take it to develop the wherewithal to fly? Well, you get the idea.
Let's think about the way of a man with a maiden and the author's comments that each was created to supply what was missing in the other. I would like to consider this or take it one step further. Mankind was created in the image of God, but it seems to me that it requires the best of both genders to reflect the image of God as completely as is humanly possible.
Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I took a course on feminism. I wanted to understand what it really was all about, and in the end, what I learned was vey helpful. First, the literature seemed to say that for a woman to succeed in the world, she had to function as a male. Interesting! In their search for equality, women were driven to reject who they were and where God made them most comfortable and adopt male values and style of relating. Instead women not only were to dress in male garb but reject the feminine as something weak. Child-bearing was deferred; homemaking was demeaned, until....they realized that the corporate world and life-style did not satisfy. And for many, it was too late.
Then in my research for my final project - showing that there are indeed intentional male and female biological and psychological differences, I found a scientist who made no pretensions of being a believer who affirmed all that we might say about those differences, except that God designed them intentionally.
All of that to say this, God is our Protector, and males were given the physical body and muscular development to be the protector. And God is our Refuge and Strength, our very present Helper. Woman was given the emotional makeup to comfort, to support; her very identift and job from God's mouth is to be a helper....like He is.
It is not possible to fully develop this topic in these few lines, but I am so thankful that I am designed by God and given this role, of representing Him, created in His image, and of filling the gap of what is missing - being a helper, like He is.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
May 24 Of Hidden Motives
Proverbs 16: 2 All a man's ways seem innocent to him but motives are weighed by the LORD.
I know this is from last week, but it seems like many of the entries since them have been related to this one. The first few words: all a man's ways seem innocent to him, caused me to stop, to reflect on what the writer is really saying. The man in question, who reviews his ways and calls them innocent, is only evaluating those ways from his own perspective, from how they impact his life.
I have to be upfront about what I am going to say here, I seldom get out of bed and think through my agenda for the day to determine how it is going to affect the rest of the world. what it is going to say about who I really am. Instead, I run through my to-do list and consider how I am going to get it done...how I am going to achieve my goals set for my good that day.
How different it might be if I thought through what God would want me to do, or how He might want me to do it, or how my plans would affect those touched by them. Good choices, selfless choices require contemplation, and too often we march through our day with no time for reflection. Oh, we may be doing what we think of as good things, harmless things even, but if we took the time to think through our motives for all of our choices, perhaps we would make some different ones.
The word meditate appears 15 times and the word consider 71 times in the New America Standard Version of the Bible. It would appear that God places significance on our taking time to think about things - to mull them over so we can make right choices. I wonder if our failure to do this is a by-product of our American culture and the false virtue of busyness. It is almost as though the busier we are, the more virtuous we are. And I am pretty sure that God does not think of it that way.
He would be more honored by our taking the time, even building it into our schedule, to slow down, and think about what we do and why we do it....so that we act with pure motives and He gets the glory.
I know this is from last week, but it seems like many of the entries since them have been related to this one. The first few words: all a man's ways seem innocent to him, caused me to stop, to reflect on what the writer is really saying. The man in question, who reviews his ways and calls them innocent, is only evaluating those ways from his own perspective, from how they impact his life.
I have to be upfront about what I am going to say here, I seldom get out of bed and think through my agenda for the day to determine how it is going to affect the rest of the world. what it is going to say about who I really am. Instead, I run through my to-do list and consider how I am going to get it done...how I am going to achieve my goals set for my good that day.
How different it might be if I thought through what God would want me to do, or how He might want me to do it, or how my plans would affect those touched by them. Good choices, selfless choices require contemplation, and too often we march through our day with no time for reflection. Oh, we may be doing what we think of as good things, harmless things even, but if we took the time to think through our motives for all of our choices, perhaps we would make some different ones.
The word meditate appears 15 times and the word consider 71 times in the New America Standard Version of the Bible. It would appear that God places significance on our taking time to think about things - to mull them over so we can make right choices. I wonder if our failure to do this is a by-product of our American culture and the false virtue of busyness. It is almost as though the busier we are, the more virtuous we are. And I am pretty sure that God does not think of it that way.
He would be more honored by our taking the time, even building it into our schedule, to slow down, and think about what we do and why we do it....so that we act with pure motives and He gets the glory.
Friday, May 20, 2011
May 20 Disciplining for Eternity
May 20 Disciplining for Eternity and Of Hidden Motives
First I want to speak a moment with my readers. Just because I do not write a post does not mean I have not read either our devotional or the Word of God in some form. It is not that I think there is some special merit to going through the motions of "doing devos," and I need to confess to you or justify my absence from these pages. However, I do believe that this practice of using a devotional can be one tool in developing or growing intimacy with the Father.
Wednesday we visited our son and his family, and I would appreciate your continued prayers for his recovery. It looks like this is a months' long endeavor.
Yesterday I attended a conference for work, a conference with other counseling professionals from colleges and universities in northeastern Pennsylvania. It as a very helpful conference dealing with the care of care-givers or counselors...helping us identify how to do a self-check to make sure that we are people-helping for the right motives and then how to care for ourselves so that we remain healthy enough to do a good job. I will be reworking some of that material for our Res Hall Staff here at BBC.
Now to some other notes:
Proverbs 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.
While we were at my son's house the other day, my three-year-old grandson misbehaved. He was given a time-out on the stairs - the stairs led up to the bedroom level and we could see him from the dining room. He trooped over to the stairs and sat there knowing he was missing the dinner fellowship because of his disobedience. Earlier in the day, he was told to clean up his cars, and when he failed to do so, his mother started to count. She didn't get to 2 before he began the (to him) arduous and unpleasant task.
This verse came to my mind, the subject of discipline in general. At the time this proverb was written, the concept of time out had not been invented. In that culture, the idea of time out meant nothing. There were no TV shows, or games, or play dates, or whatever that a child could be restricted from. Discipline meant some kind of corporal punishment. Not so today.
Discipline today can be as effective, for most children, without the rod being used. The important elements are consistency, unpleasantness, and relevance to the child. I had a friend who said his three children would respond differently to a time out. One would love it - that child delighted in alone time. Another would love it because there were may things to entertain him in his room. The third one would hate it because of his social nature. So for discipline to be effective, it must be thoughtful.
I think God is thoughtful in the way he disciplines or shapes our lives as well. Sometimes he uses the words of a friend. Sometimes even the unkind words, with the ring of truth in them, from an acquaintance. Sometimes we must learn from the consequences of our choices. God knows how to get our attention, but He leaves the response to us. Tommy is three, but he knows already what is expected of him and what the consequences are. Sometimes he chooses well, and sometimes not so well...but he is learning. I pray that you and I pay attention and that we are so often in fellowship with God that we recognize His voice of warning when we begin to tread in unsafe territory.
First I want to speak a moment with my readers. Just because I do not write a post does not mean I have not read either our devotional or the Word of God in some form. It is not that I think there is some special merit to going through the motions of "doing devos," and I need to confess to you or justify my absence from these pages. However, I do believe that this practice of using a devotional can be one tool in developing or growing intimacy with the Father.
Wednesday we visited our son and his family, and I would appreciate your continued prayers for his recovery. It looks like this is a months' long endeavor.
Yesterday I attended a conference for work, a conference with other counseling professionals from colleges and universities in northeastern Pennsylvania. It as a very helpful conference dealing with the care of care-givers or counselors...helping us identify how to do a self-check to make sure that we are people-helping for the right motives and then how to care for ourselves so that we remain healthy enough to do a good job. I will be reworking some of that material for our Res Hall Staff here at BBC.
Now to some other notes:
Proverbs 23:13-14 Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.
While we were at my son's house the other day, my three-year-old grandson misbehaved. He was given a time-out on the stairs - the stairs led up to the bedroom level and we could see him from the dining room. He trooped over to the stairs and sat there knowing he was missing the dinner fellowship because of his disobedience. Earlier in the day, he was told to clean up his cars, and when he failed to do so, his mother started to count. She didn't get to 2 before he began the (to him) arduous and unpleasant task.
This verse came to my mind, the subject of discipline in general. At the time this proverb was written, the concept of time out had not been invented. In that culture, the idea of time out meant nothing. There were no TV shows, or games, or play dates, or whatever that a child could be restricted from. Discipline meant some kind of corporal punishment. Not so today.
Discipline today can be as effective, for most children, without the rod being used. The important elements are consistency, unpleasantness, and relevance to the child. I had a friend who said his three children would respond differently to a time out. One would love it - that child delighted in alone time. Another would love it because there were may things to entertain him in his room. The third one would hate it because of his social nature. So for discipline to be effective, it must be thoughtful.
I think God is thoughtful in the way he disciplines or shapes our lives as well. Sometimes he uses the words of a friend. Sometimes even the unkind words, with the ring of truth in them, from an acquaintance. Sometimes we must learn from the consequences of our choices. God knows how to get our attention, but He leaves the response to us. Tommy is three, but he knows already what is expected of him and what the consequences are. Sometimes he chooses well, and sometimes not so well...but he is learning. I pray that you and I pay attention and that we are so often in fellowship with God that we recognize His voice of warning when we begin to tread in unsafe territory.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
May 17 Wising Up the Hard Way
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Maybe you've never struggled with what it means to fear the LORD, but I have. It seemed impossible for me to reconcile the God who loved me enough to redeem me and give me a path to a life of love, joy, and peace with a God of whom I should be afraid.
As I thought about it this morning, it made me think about my context for fear or being afraid. Unfortunately, I do remember being afraid or fearful of what my father might do (alcohol does terrible things - to the one who abuses it and the one who is abused by it). That fear had little to do with respect and much to do with fear of emotional or physical harm, about the reality of that kind of pain being visited upon me personally or others I loved. So fear of someone had a real context for me...and one I struggled to connect with God.
Smith defines fear this way: the fear of God that begets knowledge is a fear which manifests such profound respect for God's authority that one dare not questions his word on any matter. This I can buy or understand. God alone has all power, all authority over His creation and the right to do with it as He pleases. God alone knows exactly what we need at any point of our lives to move us toward Him. We, as His children, have no right to ask Him why, as if He owes us any explanation for what He allows into our lives, unless....unless that question is not a challenge but an inquiry that would allow us to extract the greatest good fro our circumstances.
As I think about fearing God personally, I wonder if I have, like many women who have experienced unhealthy relationships with their earthly fathers, confused fearing or respecting God with fearing, being afraid of my early father. And in the process, missed out on something important. I wanted a sweet Daddy who always smiled at me, who would embrace me and take care of me. But I needed a Daddy who also set boundaries because He, not only had the right to, but because He loved me enough to. I needed a Daddy who had and exercised authority and was worthy of my respect and obedience.
Today, young people do not give respect easily as an older generation was taught to. Recent generations have required others to earn their respect. God has already done that. He made the greatest of sacrifices to show us His love, and He has never failed us. Not one word in all of His WORDs will fail us, will fail to move us toward peace with Him and peace within...and unending joy.
What a paradox - fear can being peace and joy!!
Maybe you've never struggled with what it means to fear the LORD, but I have. It seemed impossible for me to reconcile the God who loved me enough to redeem me and give me a path to a life of love, joy, and peace with a God of whom I should be afraid.
As I thought about it this morning, it made me think about my context for fear or being afraid. Unfortunately, I do remember being afraid or fearful of what my father might do (alcohol does terrible things - to the one who abuses it and the one who is abused by it). That fear had little to do with respect and much to do with fear of emotional or physical harm, about the reality of that kind of pain being visited upon me personally or others I loved. So fear of someone had a real context for me...and one I struggled to connect with God.
Smith defines fear this way: the fear of God that begets knowledge is a fear which manifests such profound respect for God's authority that one dare not questions his word on any matter. This I can buy or understand. God alone has all power, all authority over His creation and the right to do with it as He pleases. God alone knows exactly what we need at any point of our lives to move us toward Him. We, as His children, have no right to ask Him why, as if He owes us any explanation for what He allows into our lives, unless....unless that question is not a challenge but an inquiry that would allow us to extract the greatest good fro our circumstances.
As I think about fearing God personally, I wonder if I have, like many women who have experienced unhealthy relationships with their earthly fathers, confused fearing or respecting God with fearing, being afraid of my early father. And in the process, missed out on something important. I wanted a sweet Daddy who always smiled at me, who would embrace me and take care of me. But I needed a Daddy who also set boundaries because He, not only had the right to, but because He loved me enough to. I needed a Daddy who had and exercised authority and was worthy of my respect and obedience.
Today, young people do not give respect easily as an older generation was taught to. Recent generations have required others to earn their respect. God has already done that. He made the greatest of sacrifices to show us His love, and He has never failed us. Not one word in all of His WORDs will fail us, will fail to move us toward peace with Him and peace within...and unending joy.
What a paradox - fear can being peace and joy!!
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 14 -16 The Best Laid Plans
2 Chronicles 6:8-9 But the LORD said to my father David, "Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart, Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood - he is the one who will build the temple for my Name."
Can you imagine how David felt when he heard this? A man after God's own heart, yet with both great regrets and great ideas has those good ideas confirmed but is denied the privilege of carrying out the plan.
I wonder whether he mourned these words, wondering or knowing perhaps, that this is the consequence of his sin, that he would be denied the honor of building God's temple. He could imagine the temple, see it in this mind, feel like he could almost touch it, but it would never be his to do. I am not sure that this is why God denied the building of the temple to David, but I am sure that sin has consequences.
As I talk about the consequences of sin, it is important not to get them confused with the forgiveness of sin or the payment of sin. Indeed, Christ paid the price of all of our sin on the cross and in the days of his separation from the Father. That sin debt has been paid for the believer. But....there are still consequences. The divorced cannot be undivorced. The premarital sexual experiences cannot be undone. The lies cannot be retracted...well, you get the idea, and you can see the consequences, in one's mind if not visible to the outside world.
I wonder if we might preach the gospel of forgiveness and redemption so clearly that it gives people a false sense of security. They know Christ has paid the eternal price of their sin; they forget that they must pay the temporal price, the earthly consequences of those same actions.
David was not permitted to build the temple. I wonder what blessings we are denied by the sinful or selfish choices we may make on a day-to-day basis....the personal peace, perhaps, if not the undefiled relationships.
Can you imagine how David felt when he heard this? A man after God's own heart, yet with both great regrets and great ideas has those good ideas confirmed but is denied the privilege of carrying out the plan.
I wonder whether he mourned these words, wondering or knowing perhaps, that this is the consequence of his sin, that he would be denied the honor of building God's temple. He could imagine the temple, see it in this mind, feel like he could almost touch it, but it would never be his to do. I am not sure that this is why God denied the building of the temple to David, but I am sure that sin has consequences.
As I talk about the consequences of sin, it is important not to get them confused with the forgiveness of sin or the payment of sin. Indeed, Christ paid the price of all of our sin on the cross and in the days of his separation from the Father. That sin debt has been paid for the believer. But....there are still consequences. The divorced cannot be undivorced. The premarital sexual experiences cannot be undone. The lies cannot be retracted...well, you get the idea, and you can see the consequences, in one's mind if not visible to the outside world.
I wonder if we might preach the gospel of forgiveness and redemption so clearly that it gives people a false sense of security. They know Christ has paid the eternal price of their sin; they forget that they must pay the temporal price, the earthly consequences of those same actions.
David was not permitted to build the temple. I wonder what blessings we are denied by the sinful or selfish choices we may make on a day-to-day basis....the personal peace, perhaps, if not the undefiled relationships.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)