What? No Free Paper This Morning?

Jan19

My husband and I were faithful newspaper subscribers for years.  As time marched on, however, we became disgruntled with the paper, as it didn’t supply enough international news for our taste, nor enough articles of any type that truly interested us.  As a result, we switched to The Wall Street Journal, which we happily devoured for a couple of years.   When our subscription price increased dramatically and our schedules no longer permitted us to do justice to all the items of interest in that publication, we cancelled it and planned on a newspaper-free household for the foreseeable future.   After all, I never really was wild about cleaning all the newsprint off our white kitchen table, and I could not afford to spend time on the crosswords that tempted me.

Our newspaperless state lasted about two weeks.   We suddenly found ourselves the recipients of an unsolicited weekend edition of our local paper.  Assuming it was a publicity or advertising ploy to induce us to re-subscribe, we waited for our newspaper carrier to ring the doorbell with a proposition that we reinstate ourselves as his customers.   No carrier came to the door.   Over the course of the next few months, we regularly received, first the weekend papers, then the Thursday paper, and ultimately the Wednesday paper every week.  We had never agreed to subscribe to anything, and no bill ever arrived in the mail.   We reasoned that perhaps the carrier simply was required to distribute a certain minimum number of papers each day, and we had been chosen as the lucky extra recipients.

This pattern has continued for a couple of years — until this week.   Yesterday morning, I looked out and discovered no paper on the driveway.   “Never mind,” I thought.   “Perhaps they decided to skip Wednesday for some reason.”  However, again this morning, there was no paper.  My instinctive response was to wonder what happened to “my” paper, as our carrier has a number to call if your paper is not delivered.  However, it probably would not be appropriate to call and complain that the carrier had failed to deliver a paper I never paid for….!  Then the shock at my own thinking pattern struck me.  Suddenly I realized that I had developed a sense of entitlement to something that was delivered to me at no cost.   True enough, I had not  ORDERED the paper. However, I certainly had enjoyed clipping the coupons, scanning a few interesting articles, and attempting to complete the Sudokus.  I had become accustomed to reading the paper most days of the week and actually wondered why it wasn’t there this morning. 

The parallel between this situation and my attitude toward God was undeniable.   How often does God bless me with something pleasurable or surprising, something I did not request but certainly enjoy on a routine basis?   More often than I can count.  For one, it never occurred to me to ask Him for most of the benefits I enjoy; yet He daily invents little blessings that I could never have planned for myself at the moment they drop into my life (unexpected hugs from a child, kind words from a friend I haven’t talked to in awhile, a bank of flowers beside the road, four jalapeño plants my non-capsicum-eating husband bought to plant in the garden).  More than that, how often does He bless with me something I never paid for and certainly do not deserve?   All the time.   He allowed me to be born to parents who love me; He gave me a husband I not only love, but actually LIKE; He forgives me of every sin; He knows my needs before I ask; He forgets all the mistakes I have made; He knows my desperately wicked heart and promises to change it, even though I haven’t ever and cannot do anything to deserve His mercy.  He’s the Friend that sticks closer than a brother, whether I remember to talk with Him or not.  Then, when something I have been praying about doesn’t go my way in the time frame I specify, I have the nerve to demand, “What?   No paper today?”!   THAT definitely gives me food for thought.  (See 1 John 2:12; Matthew 6:8; Isaiah 43:25; Jeremiah 17:9; Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Timothy 2:13.)

Father, THANK You for all the blessings, both small and large, both the ones I’ve requested and the ones I never dreamed of asking You for.   Thank You for the things You’ve given me that I never realized I needed or wanted.   Forgive me for developing an entitlement mentality toward YOU, as You do not owe me ANYthing — yet You chose and continue choosing to keep on giving to me anyway.   Thank You that it is Your good pleasure to give me the Kingdom!  (See Luke 12:32)


My Own Personal Gourd

Jan16

Most days, I love people — all kinds of people.  I love hearing their experiences and even the opinions they have that differ from mine — MOST of the time, that is.  Unfortunately, however, when I get annoyed with people, I get REALLY annoyed and tend to withdraw.   I have noticed that there are times I wish people would be forced to recognize how truly wrong they are and bear the consequences of their misdeeds (or incorrect judgments, as the case may be!).  Although I preach compassion and mercy, I must confess that, in the secret part of my heart, buried deep, I harbor some degree of ill-will toward people who consistently refuse to admit they have done wrong.   I  have found myself even excusing my attitude by describing myself as a person who is passionate about truth and justice.  I insist that people should be willing to recognize their wickedness and straighten up before they are allowed to be released from guilt and judgment.   (Never mind that I have only RARELY had to bear the consequences of anything I have done wrong!)

When I persist in this type of judgmental, condemnatory reasoning, I find myself becoming increasingly isolationist — unwilling to engage others in meaningful conversation, unwilling to participate in my customary activities.   Even if I invite others to my private, self-righteous pity party, they don’t want to accept my invitation!  Suddenly I realize that I have put myself in a very lonely position outside the reach of the pulse of human relationships; I find that, just like Jonah, I am sitting under the shade of my own personal gourd plant.   (It gets pretty lonely under there!)

When the people of Nineveh repented, God forgave them.  However, Jonah refused to rejoice and decided to pout instead.   He wanted the Ninevites to get what they deserved, as they had sorely persecuted God’s people.   If I am honest with myself, i must confess that I am not very different from Jonah; on occasion, I have relished the thought of someone who has hurt me “getting what was coming to him.”   Instead, I should rejoice when that person repents.

God, in His mercy, allowed the gourd to shrivel up; it withered and could not longer provide the shade Jonah needed from the hot sun.   God truly is merciful to us;  He not only forgives us of our sins, but also causes everything else in which we take refuge to wither.   Our only recourse is to run into His arms.   I am so grateful for His mercy!   He ensures I can only rely on Him, for nothing else is dependable, and nothing else can comfort, heal, forgive, and protect the way He can.

Lord, show me where I have been seeking shelter in things that are not from you.   Cause those things to wither in terms of their capacity to comfort, protect, and sustain me.   Deliver me from pouting, self-absorption, self-righteousness, and judgmental attitudes toward others.   Help me to rejoice when good things happen to other people , no matter how badly I feel they have behaved.   Let your love consistently be shed abroad in my heart.  (see the book of Jonah and Romans 5:5) Forgive me for my selfishness, and help me to see people with YOUR eyes.  Help me to be merciful, just as you have been merciful to me!  (Luke 6:36)

Breath of Heaven — Breath of Life

Dec12

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At this time of year, I pause to reflect on the impact of what God did when He sent a part of Himself to dwell on earth as a man.  The Bible tells us that when God created the first man, He formed him “of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).  God breathed His very life and breath into the being He had made in His own image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26).  Of course, as we know, Adam sinned, and, with his transgression, the image of God in man was damaged.   Our spiritual DNA was flawed due to sin.   

A few milllennia later, God sent His Son to live as a man, face every temptation known to man, and resist each one on our behalf.   Jesus lived a sinless life and died on the cross for our redemption.  Jesus, the express image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), gave His perfect, sinless blood for me and faced death and hell to buy me back from the power of sin.  All I have to do to by way of response is believe that fact and acknowledge His sacrifice for me, the sacrifice of One who was resurrected from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit and now spends time praying for me! (Hebrews 7:25).   

What’s more, God completes that redemptive process by breathing His life into me again!  Jesus set this precedent for imparting new life to fallen man in John 20:22 when He breathed on His disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  That breath, the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11), God’s very breath of life, dwells in me!  In fact, we are encouraged in Ephesians 3:19 to be “filled with all the fullness of God” and in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The God of Heaven and Earth delights in filling and re-filling me with His very own life and breath — again and again.  He is the only source of what we call in Texas “unlimited free refills!”  

This Christmas season, ask Him to fill you, to breathe on you — then ask Him to re-fill you, again and again, until you sense HIs life-giving presence flooding you with joy and peace.  God promises that, if we believe in Him, out of our heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38).  Take a deep breath and drink Him in until He spills out onto everyone around you!

Need a little more inspiration?  Listen to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RVTZDgcpqM&feature=related

Lord of the Clean Slate

Nov19

In the world of magic slates, Magna-Doodles, and Etch-a-Sketches, our children learn that mistakes are readily erasable.   If our drawing or writing does not measure up to what we envisioned, we can simply wipe it out with a single motion of the hand.   Life, however, is not like that slate or screen.   More often than not, what I write on the tablet of my life is not so easily expunged.  There are consequences to my actions that I may be powerless to undo.   Although I may be able, in some cases and to some degree, to correct my mistakes or compensate for a less-than-stellar performance, some faults and sins are irrevocably engraved on my slate.  For years, I dragged that slate of guilt around with me; every time I made yet another error, I felt compelled to recount to myself all the other major sins and faults I could recall.  Without exception, the result was a leaden sense of failure and hopelessness.

However, the good news is that God not only forgives us our sins based on the atoning power of the Blood of His Son Jesus, but also WIPES our slate completely clean!  “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”  (Colossians 2:13-14).  In addition, the omniscient, almighty Father actually throws our sins into the depths of the sea and FORGETS them! ”Who is a God like you,  who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-10). “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25).  When my slate is covered with marks and the dust of my sin is rubbing off on every area of my life, I can trust Jesus to remove every trace of my failures.   He loves me unconditionally and delights to redeem me!  “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12).

As the HOLYday season approaches, let us remember that we serve the Lord of the Clean Slate — He erases every sin and removes every stain!  Hallelujah!

I Don’t Want to Grow Up!

Nov3

One of numerous vivid memories of my early childhood has spoken much to me of late.   When I was about two and a half years old, I remember running toward the hall closet where my mother kept a pile of shoes readily accessible.  Summertime was approaching; the weather was getting warmer, and I had a sudden impulse to get out my favorite sandals from the previous summer and put them on.  They were white leather, and I was very excited at the thought of wearing them again.  As I approached the closet to get them out of storage, my mother asked me what I was doing.   I replied with delight, “I am getting my sandals!”  To my chagrin, she responded with laughter that I couldn’t possibly wear them that summer, as my feet had grown, and the sandals would be too small for me.   Decades later, I still remember that disappointment.   What is odd, is that I do not remember whether my parents bought me new sandals or not (although they most likely did!).   I simply remember the sadness of not being able to wear the ones I had worn before, the most comfortable and prettiest white sandals in the world, the sandals I loved best. Moreover, I didn’t really understand how my feet could be too big for the sandals that had fit me perfectly. 

The process of growth continued to be a mystery to me.  (“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.”  Mark 4:26-27)  When I was in junior high, I began  to look forward to growing up, because I had begun to grasp that privileges would accompany maturity.  Later, as a college student, I realized that simply growing older wasn’t always characterized by an increase in maturity level!  People may age physically, but maturity is not guaranteed, for, unlike the physical aging process,  gaining wisdom and maturity requires cooperation from the individual!  I also noticed that I wasn’t always terribly eager to cooperate with the maturing process myself, as some of the responsibilities associated with growing up were not so pleasant!

As a young adult who appeared younger than my actual years, I could get by with a little immaturity now and then.   However, I ultimately found that I needed to quit resisting the process and begin to cooperate with the “forward march” of time!   Whether I liked it or not, I had real-life obligations and was not a child (or even a college student — an excuse for much!) anymore.  Behaving in a manner that was NOT commensurate with my phase in life would be equivalent to cramming my toddler-sized feet into the baby’s sandals.   My immaturity would be evident to all, no matter how insistent I was on remaining in the former phase of my development or how much I had enjoyed the previous season!

As Christians, I believe we are guilty of the same kind of resistance to the maturing processes God uses to shape us into His image.   We love the season of childhood with our Daddy, where He caters to our every need and holds us tenderly by the hand.   We love learning to know Him better and experiencing His power.   We long to do great things for Jesus (kind of like playing the part of a superhero when we were children).   We imagine that we are more spiritual than we actually are; the time is then ripe for God to test and hone us.   When that process began full force in my life, I longed to return to that toddler phase and wear my spiritual little white baby sandals.   They were so pretty on my feet, and they were perfectly comfortable.   I didn’t ASK for bigger shoes — just for a little more attention, perhaps!   Nonetheless, in the Body of Christ, we ultimately must repent of wanting to wear our old clothing that no longer fits us.   We need God’s forgiveness for wanting to use His power without true maturity of character and accountability in relationship.   Trials are definitely painful, but they allow His DNA in us to replicate exponentially, as we are compelled to abandon self-indulgence if we ever hope to survive the trial!  

Father, help me to abandon the trappings of past seasons that I treasure and move on into the next phase of my journey with You!   Don’t allow me to resist the tug of Your Spirit to see You work victory in the face of fresh challenges.   Deliver me from the fear of the unknown!  You are with me!  I DO want You to transform me more and more into Your image!  Daddy, help me to strap on the new sandals You have purchased for me and take up the weapons of truth You are putting into my hand, in Jesus’ Name!

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”  2 Corinthians 3:18

” Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”  1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Poetry in Motion

Oct14

A few weeks ago, my husband and I took a spent a couple of days with our eldest son and his family.   Our five-year-old grandson’s first soccer game proved to be the highlight of the morning.  We had gotten up extremely early to arrive on time at the 10:00 a.m. game, as we live over three hours by car from their home.   We were exhausted from the events of the past week and sat down, happy but somewhat bleary-eyed, to watch the game.   Our grandson Caleb was running up and down the field with his teammates, delightedly pursuing the ball and clearly relishing the opportunity to play.   In between greeting all the family and interacting with Caleb’s younger sister, who was not as interested in watching her brother play, I happened to glance up at the field.   Caleb’s team had just kicked a goal, and all the children on his team were in the process of turning around to run back in the other direction.  In that split second, as I glanced up to see Caleb pivot and charge back toward the other end of the field, a flash of recognition washed over me:  recognition of our firstborn son, Caleb’s daddy, in the way  Caleb moved and ran in that twinkling-of-an-eye moment.  The word poetry popped immediately into my head.   “Yes,” I thought, as the tears welled up in my eyes, “you have your daddy’s ‘dash’ in you.  You have your daddy’s way of running and moving.  I see it.  I recognize it.  You have your daddy’s exuberant precision in the charge, his alacrity and ease in shifting gears.  I see it!”  The rest of the game proceeded as any small children’s soccer game might proceed.   However, for that split second, I caught a glimpse of an enduring gene pool I recognized as my own.

“Do you suppose,” I asked myself, “that THIS is how God feels when He recognizes something remarkable in us that He knows is His very own genetic code in us?”   By the power of the Blood of Jesus, we are changed from degenerate to regenerate beings (2 Cor. 5:17).   Since the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us (Rom. 8:11), we literally have His Presence resident in us.  His Presence means His very essence, the DNA of God Himself!  Paul explains in 2 Cor. 3:18 that we are being transformed into the image of the glory of the Lord.  When I meditate on that statement, I realize that it means we are being changed to reflect the very glory and nature of God Himself! In Colossians 1:27, Paul declares that we are stewards of a great mystery:  Christ in us, the hope of glory!

Just as that glimpse of recognition thrilled me when I saw Caleb turn and run the way his daddy used to when playing the same game, God’s heart must swell with joy when He recognizes Himself in us!   “There’s my boy!” or “That’s my girl!,”  He must proudly declare to Himself.   It is truly His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, to give us Himself, and He loves to watch us receive Him with joy!  I am so thankful for this glimpse of poetry in motion!

Sleeping Beauty

Sep21


One of my favorite stories as a child was the tale of Sleeping Beauty, also known as Brier Rose.  I remember playing dress-up, and my favorite item in the dress-up box was the shoes my mother had worn at her wedding.  I loved to wear those shoes and pretend I was Brier Rose dancing with her prince, as I found the story irresistibly romantic.  I was fascinated that a prince would fight through a forest of thorns and (at least in the Disney movie version) slay a fierce, fire-breathing dragon in order to reach the sleeping princess, who was unaware of his existence.  The fact that his kiss wakened her and broke the curse over her and her household made this tale the most romantic story imaginable.  Of course, not only did the sleeping princess awaken, but her entire family and all the servants in the castle awakened as well, for everyone had fallen under the spell uttered by an offended fairy (aka witch) years before on the princess’s  christening day.   The family had lived happily until the princess, as foretold by the witch, pricked her finger on a spindle on her sixteenth birthday and fell into a deep slumber.  As she fell asleep, the entire castle succumbed to the curse, and everyone remained asleep, with the castle and grounds untended, for over a hundred years.  The spell was broken by the kiss of the prince, which apparently was the only way the spell COULD be broken.

The Church in America bears a strong resemblance to Sleeping Beauty.   She has wandered into her own fortified tower and fallen into a state of deep slumber.  She has access to abundance — abundant spiritual resources and gifts, talented and influential family members, skilled artisans craftsmen of all kinds, and material riches.   However, she lies asleep and powerless, anesthetized and unconscious of what is transpiring in the outside world.  Lethargy and paralysis have overtaken her.  Her gifts lie dormant and largely unused, and her energy is depleted.   She desperately needs the kiss from her Prince to waken her from her stupor.  

God wants us to awaken from slumber, shake off the spells and curses that have kept us numb to His direction, and follow Him.   The kiss of His love has already been given at the Cross — perhaps, however, we need a reminder of that first kiss.  He is still wooing His Bride to respond to Him and set about His Kingdom business.  In Isaiah 52:1a, God encourages us with the words:  “Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion.” The very next verse exhorts us to “Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem!
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!”  (Isaiah 52:2) In Ephesians 5:13, Paul echoes this imagery and commands us to “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I pray that, in His kindness and mercy, God will wake me up and not allow me to continue in my self-absorbed, anesthetized state.  I pray He will quicken me to be sensitive to His voice and to be receptive to the things He wants me to do.   I pray for a fresh infilling of His life and love to empower me for the tasks at hand.   I pray that Jesus will defeat, once and for all, the spirit of apathy and powerlessness that has dulled my senses and plundered my spiritual energy level.   Church, our Prince HAS come.   Let us not be deceived by the devices of the enemy or paralyzed by his deceptive words.   Awake, shake yourself off, and arise!   Lord, raise Your Bride from the dead, in Jesus’ Name!



  

Who’s First?

Aug21

It’s fascinating to listen to children playing games of any kind.   Inevitably, they argue about who will have the privilege of going first.  In my own experience, I learned that being first does not always prove advantageous, particularly in strategy games.  Sometimes it’s better to hold back and observe what the other players do before making my own move.  

In sports, earning the championship of a league or your state is a particularly sought-after goal.  Initially, I assumed that the person or team who placed first was, without a doubt, the most skilled.  THAT was before I spent years watching my children play various sports and discovered that players cheat, and referees don’t always see everything.   On occasion, strategy in team sports may also trump skill.

Since I personally was NEVER good at anything athletic (with the exception of giving birth, which was one of my more stellar feats for a number of years), I never once experienced the thrill of a sports champion.   However, in spite of the fact that, as a child, I was passed over when my athletic friends picked teammates for any given sport, I was their first choice for an academic teammate.  That fact heartened me considerably, until I figured out that some of those people, in actuality, were NOT real friends, but were instead using me for my spelling or math ability.   Ah, the woes of the lessons of life!

What’s the point?   Being first is not always a glorious experience.  It carries with it advantages and disadvantages, joys and sorrows.   Whoever goes first is the one who takes the initial risk, the one who confronts the opponent.   Whoever goes first often sets the tone for those who follow.   Success or failure may hinge on the wisdom of the first move.   Moreover, the person who starts out may not end up being the person who reaches the goal first.  The ultimate winner, the first to cross the finish line or the one who ends up with the most points, is the one who will win the prize.

A forerunner is a more elegant term for someone who goes first – one who runs ahead of the pack.   Forerunners are often misunderstood, as they often set out for a goal that, for various reasons, remains invisible to others, at least for a season.  Forerunners take a risk in choosing their path, as there is no guarantee anyone else will follow.   They must be convinced in advance of the purpose of their venture and absolutely certain that the prize will prove worth the hazards of the journey.   Forerunners risk loneliness, ridicule, roadblocks, injury, and failure.  They are pioneers on a heretofore-unblazed trail. 

Some people seem to specialize in the forerunner role – they are quick to perceive the need to pursue a particular goal and seem to have innate energy to run for the prize.  Despite the inherent loneliness of the journey, they manage to sustain enough energy to finish the race, and they enjoy encouraging others who later catch the same vision and follow them on the same path.  True forerunners persevere in the race, even long after the initial (and spurious) glamour of “going first” has evaporated.  They remain in the game when others have tired of it.

However, if a forerunner truly longs to remain a forerunner, he/she must be careful not to get too comfortable hanging out with the masses who eventually endorse the same goal and catch up with him.  He must not glory in the fact that he chose the right path or that others are now adopting the same practices or behaviors.   When that happens, he/she is, by definition, no longer a forerunner.   It is far too easy to lose one’s edge when what was once fresh and new and challenging develops into something that is generally accepted. 

As always, Jesus is our example.   We must never forget that HE is the quintessential forerunner, the One Who lived a sinless life on our behalf, the One Who became sin for us on the cross, the One Who was resurrected FIRST by the power of the Holy Spirit (not to mention the fact that He is the Beginning AND the End, Alpha AND Omega, the First AND the Last.   He is the one who has always gone first and the one who always wins – for us!  From His position at the right hand of the Father, He always serves to intercede for us, cheer us on, and empower us!  

We must be vigilant to honestly monitor the condition of our hearts.   Let us not be encumbered by our past – the overweight baggage of sorrows and fears, even of past triumphs and treasures.   If we are called as forerunners, we cannot continue to count ourselves as such if we get bogged down in those triumphs and treasures or if we languish with others in what used to be fresh but now has become common, even stagnant.  If we are called to be forerunners, let us follow His example:  “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast and which has entered the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”  (Hebrews 6:19-20)  Let us run with perseverance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith!  (Hebrews 12:1-3)   He will empower us to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). 

Father, help me to remain fresh and watchful, untiring in my pursuit of You!   Help me let go of souvenirs and prizes from past races that are now hindering my gait and my pace.   Empower me to continue to run for the prize and press my ear to Your heart!

Afraid of the Stench? Jesus Isn’t!

Aug15

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”  Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”  John 11:38-44

Most of us are familiar with this account of the miracle-working, life-giving power of Jesus when He raised Lazarus from the dead.  There are a few interesting nuggets of truth buried in the details of this story.   Jesus had deliberately waited two days after receiving the message of his friend’s illness before setting out on the journey to Bethany (see verse 5). When He finally arrived, Lazarus had already died.  Prior to heading to the tomb, both Mary and Martha, sisters of the dead man, remarked that their brother would not have died, had Jesus been there (see John 11:21, 32).  They understood that Jesus had the power to heal Lazarus and were disappointed that He had not come to them sooner.  However,  expectation was still high, as Martha expressed her confidence that whatever Jesus asked of God, God would do (verse 22).  Others who followed the bereaved sisters to the tomb also reasoned, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” (verse 37).

However, in the midst of the expectation and heightened hopes of Lazarus’ family and friends, faith faltered when Jesus asked that they roll the stone away from the mouth of the tomb.  Martha, who had been confident God would give Jesus whatever He asked, now warns:  “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days” (verse 39).  Her confidence that Jesus could do something began to waver when faced with the reality of death’s effects on her brother’s lifeless body.

Often, I implore God to intervene in a situation.  I even imagine various ways He most likely could or would choose to redeem that situation.   However, it seems He always comes up with something I never could have invented myself — a plan so unusual, that, when confronted with it, I begin to protest.   When God (finally!) begins to direct a solution to the problem, I am capable of thinking of all sorts of reasons not to do it God’s way.   If I am honest with myself, I am afraid of the stench of my own humanity.  Sin brings death, and death brings a stench — the stench of rotting flesh.   This is no surprise to God, as He sent Jesus to die for me when I was a sinner unaware of my need for redemption.   He knew I would die in my sin and that the stench would be great — and He chose to face sin and death on my behalf and face the stench fearlessly.   In fact, the Bible says that Jesus literally BECAME sin for me (2 Corinthians 5:21); since the Father cannot tolerate sin, Jesus was separated from the Father on our behalf as He hung on the cross.   Our sin was crucified with Him there.   He paid for every sin for all time.  Jesus was NOT afraid of the stench.   He KNEW God would give Him power to vanquish sin and death, and the stench along with it.

As we receive His life, we should remember that we are NOT odious to our Savior — SIN is repulsive to Him, but we are not.  He has set His love on us.    Similarly, we should not shrink back in the face of the sins of others God is rescuing.    They may reek in their lost condition, but God loves them anyway, just as He loves us.   Let us trust Him enough to use us to truly love others with His love and power and thereby rescue many who are longing to be resuscitated.  Don’t be afraid of the smell of death!

Been Eating Dirt Lately?

Jun27

In my more melancholic, self-focused moments, I often find myself dwelling on a prevailing sense of my own inadequacy, particularly when I compare myself to what I think God expects me to be.  In a matter of moments, I find myself eating dirt — feeding on failures (both present and past), dining on disappointment, chewing on the clumps of soil that remind me of the hardness of my heart in many areas.    In these moments, I turn inward and bemoan the futility of my pathetic efforts to change and to truly become what God intends me to be.  After all, I am just a pile of dirt and dust!  

The more consumed I become with spooning the dirt into my mouth, the more I withdraw from others, as it is clear I have nothing good to offer anyone else.   Now and then, when a friend insists, I might fish out a little “meat” from the supply of dirt in my soul and tenuously proffer a worm, the best I have, to feed him or her.  “It’s really nothing,” I protest, when thanked, “You know I have nothing good to offer you, but it’s the best I can do right now.”

Lately I have realized that this kind of attitude is only a poor counterfeit for humility — at best, it might be classified as self-pity.  However, the real root of it is something far more serious:  unbelief!   I consider myself a person of faith, but God has revealed to me that I have Tupperware containers full of unbelief on the pantry shelves of my soul, containers I delve into when I am paralyzed by fear, a sense of failure, disappointments, or my own human mistakes.  The root of that unbelief is a simple refusal to believe that the God who created me and delighted in what He was creating is capable of using anything He pleases to make anything He wants.   In judging myself to be nothing more than a pile of dirt, somehow I forget that God made man out of the dust of the ground.   Surely God, who made man out of dust and breathed His life into him, is capable of working the same miracle again with what I deem to be my pile of dirt.

Moreover, when feeding on my personal bowl of dirt, I am actually relegating myself to a future reserved for the enemy of my soul.   In Genesis 3:14-15, God placed a curse on the serpent as punishment for deceiving the woman.  “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed [aka Jesus!]; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”  What a devilish plan of deceit for the enemy to trick me into thinking HIS destiny of eating dirt is MINE!  May it never be!

Forgive me, Father, for eating dirt and not trusting you to transform me!     Will I dare to believe God or not?