"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." -Emerson

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Study of Esther

I am fully engrossed in the newest Beth Moore study, Esther. I think Beth Moore is perhaps one of the greatest Bible teachers of our time. God just uses her to expose His truths in ways that truly touch women and I just enjoy her books and studies so much. I wanted to share some of the things from this week's lesson and encourage you to pick up this amazing study:

1.) Meanness: She talks about how tough it is being a woman in a mean world and how each of us can contribute to that meanness in our own actions. She makes three important points about meanness: (1) it has a history, that is to say something in the past spurs the meanness forward, (2) it perceives a threat. Think about it. How many times do we as women degrade or talk bad about those who pose a threat: maybe they are smarter than us, maybe they are prettier than us, or maybe they threaten to take away our position in our circle of friends. and (3) it catches like a virus. Meanness is such an epidemic when it sweeps through our lives, we try to get as many people wrapped up in it in order to produce the greatest results. These truths just reminded me of how I need to control my own "mean streak" and to realize where the root of my malintentions come from.

2.) God is the ultimate judge: The best part about not having to deal with the meanness of others towards us, is knowing that there is a judge who can deal with it in such a way that is appropriate and good. So many times, especially as of late, my first reaction to the meanness of others is to get ready to fight to the death in making them see the error of their ways. Often times, this causes me to sin because I can't handle the judgement without my own fleshly emotions. It would be so much easier if I just let the one true judge deal with it on His terms and His timing.

3.) God hates meanness: Sometimes, it just feels good to have someone agree with you about how despicable someone elses behavior is. We can get that agreement from God without having to drag in every Sally and Sue into a war of gossip.

"There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."
Proverbs 6:16-19
How often do we take someones meanness and run it into a field of "can you believe what they did to me?" I mean, let's face it. It feels good to know that others agree. It feels good to know that our assessment of that person is in fact correct and they are mean, but we are supposed to live beyond feelings. We are supposed to allow our face to be slapped and move our head to offer the other side so they can do it again. We can still revile in the fact that we serve a God who hates meanness, with a passion that we cannot understand.


4.) God delivers us from those who are mean to us: Satan likes to use our own mental anguish against us and he is very good at it. Getting into our heads when someone slights us is a way that he can just unleash his own fury into our lives. But, if we can just remember God's faithfulness in times before, we can hold on to the truth that God will continue to be faithful in circumstances of mean people and mean situations. We just have to be willing to accept His timetable and not our own.


It is so funny how God puts things in your path at the exact moment you need them. This week's lesson could not have come at a better time as I face the meanness of the world and the enemy. It just solidified in me a hope that I don't just have to endure, but I can delight in God's goodness in times when it seems as though I can barely stand on my own.
Here's to lessons learned....


Until next time,

-C.


To get the Esther study, go to www.lifeway.com/women . You will NOT regret it!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Hide and Seek...

"Show the wonder of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings."
Psalm 17:7-8


Do you ever get the urge to just run away from it all? To crawl into a room and hide somewhere in a dark corner? It may be a situation, it may be a person or it may just be the daily stresses of life that bring you to a point in which your one desire is to just bury yourself in a hidden place. I am going through a time like that right now: it has to do with life and situations, but a lot it just comes from a certain amount of fatigue that I can't seem to shake due to the work of life.


I told God this morning that I just wanted to run and hide. He didn't laugh. Well, He may have slightly chuckled like I do when my toddler does something that is just too adorable and it becomes even more adorable when I realize she doesn't even understand what she has done that is so stinkin' adorable. He didn't yell. He didn't get mad at me for thinking such a terrible thing. He just said, "okay." He said I could hide in Him. As storm clouds brew around me, I can just get behind his shield of protection and no one even has to know where I am. What a comfort that is in times when I am ready to throw in the towel! What a gift to know that when I decide to become turtle-like, I have the safest, strongest shell in which I can retract my little head in to.


We all need to retreat sometimes. We need to go back to our center, our homebase, recollect our thoughts and just get our head back on straight. We can do that in a secret place with Him. Then, when we get everything back into alignment, we can go back into the world and face the struggles, the sorrows, and the challenges once again with our greatest protector.


What a gift.


He also told me that He controls the storms. With a single breath, He can make a cloud move in another direction. With a single command, He can stop the storm all together. So, He didn't want me to worry about the storms. I decided He was right so I stopped worrying. Now, I am just going to hide until they pass.


Here's to hiding...


Until next time,


-C.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Love Test

I know, I know...I still owe you a blog on God's providence (I like to pretend that you all await on your Blogger Dashboard with bated breath for my next blog :) ), but in honor of this weekend o' love, I thought I'd do something fun (or not, depending on your take on it).

I found the Ultimate Love Test. Are you ready? So, to find out if you REALLY love your spouse, kids, significant other, etc., answer these questions about your loved one:
1.) Am I patient with him/her?
2.) Am I kind towards him/her?
3.) Do I never envy him/her?
4.) Do I never boast in front of him/her?
5.) Am I never prideful with him/her?
6.) Am I never rude towards him/her?
7.) Am I never self-seeking within my relationship?
8.) Am I never easily angered towards him/her?
9.) Do I keep no record of the wrongs he/she has done against me?
10.) Do I delight in the truth rather than evil?
11.) Do I always protect him/her?
12.) Do I always trust him/her?
13.) Do I always hope in him/her?
14.) Do I always perservere in our relationship?

If you answered "No" to any of the above questions, you FAILED the Ultimate Love Test!

Before you start beating yourself up, take heart! We all have "failed" this test at one time or another, but what a wonderful reminder it is to us as to what it means to truly love. Our world has such a messed up notion about love that we need to constantly be reminded of its true meaning.

Believe you me, I fail at this checklist day after day in my interactions with my spouse, daughter, and other loved ones. I proclaim such an undying, unchanging love for them, but my actions often show the complete opposite. God has really convicted me on the importance of my words matching my actions so I am really going to be working on this whole love thing.

One of the things I struggle with is using my mouth for encouragement rather than discouragement. I am going to be working on this more consciously now, especially with those I love the most. We have such an opportunity and power when it comes to those we love: we can be their greatest supporter or their most destructive foe. Ultimately, the choice between the two lies in how our actions line up with the Ultimate Love Test!

Will you take this challenge with me? Type up the Ultimate Love Test, put it in a place of prominence, that is someplace you will see it often (for me, that would be the fridge) and then challenge yourself to PASS the Ultimate Love Test each and every day.

THE ULTIMATE LOVE TEST

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude,it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”-1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Here's to love...
Until next time,
-C.
Your Turn (respond in my comments if you would like):
1.) What is the "hardest" part of the test for you? (For me, it is the whole patience, keeping no records of wrongs, and not being self-seeking, just to name a few...)
2.) What makes this test SO difficult?
3.) How can you show love in real, practical ways?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Mercy...

If grace was getting something you didn't deserve, then mercy is a bit of the opposite: not getting something you DO deserve. That's right...in the simplist of terms, mercy is not being punished when you surely have earned a good smack on the ol' hand. Specifically, mercy in the context of the Bible is referring most often to the mercy with receive each and every day:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 6:23


As fun as it is to think about, each of us has earned a one way ticket to no, not paradise...quite the opposite in fact, just based on the fact that we have fallen short to what God had required us to be. But, through His grace, He gave us the gift of Christ to totally wipe clean that debt that sin accumulated for us. Then, by His mercy, He didn't give us what we had coming to us, death, a permanent, unpleasant, not the kind of place you want to spend the afterlife in, death.


The bottom line in the whole mercy and grace issue is that God knew from the start how royally we messed this whole Earth thing up. We had it GREAT: no work, no pain, no saddness, no death. Life was PERFECTION! But, then this little thing called sin crept in and offered us an alternative to perfection we had and we, like the weak, fleshly beings we are, snatched it up and have dealt with the aftermath ever since. God could have just left us alone at that point. I mean, He had given us everything on a better than silver platter and we flung it in His face, saying we thought the less than perfect platter offered by some sneaky snake, was more enjoyable. He could have left us to our own devices. However, in His great compassion and kindness, He opted to give us another option to this less than perfect existence we had accepted as our fate. He sacrificed His own flesh and blood, His son. I think about that a lot since I had a child. I love that little girl sleeping on her floor right now because she refuses to sleep in a crib. I mean I love her A LOT. If God's love towards His Son was even an ounce more than the love I have for her, He loved Jesus a lot, too. Then, to willingly allow His Son to die, for a whole lot of people who didn't appreciate the sacrifice, must have pained Him deeply.


He could have made us each prove ourselves worthy of even setting foot in His presence. He could have made it all depend on how good we did in this life. He could have graded each and every one of us according to our ability to follow in His precepts. Instead, He chose to make it a "get out of jail" free card scenario, where all we had to do was believe and ask for Him to save us.


"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
- Romans 9:15-16


That is why this whole mercy and grace thing is so important in Christianity. It is kind of the crux of it all. We don't deserve God's love. We can't earn God's love. He is just freely giving it to us and not giving us the fate that we deserve. That's it. That's the whole point of it, period.


If you are tired of waking up each and every day thinking about how bad you messed up the day before. If you are sick of constantly feeling the ache and pain of a broken home, broken heart, or the broken people around you. If you just want to feel as though you matter in those whole, big universe. You can. You just have to accept the free gift and the freedom from the punishment that would await you had it not been for God's grace and mercy.


Here's to not getting what we deserve...


Until next time,


-C.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

In my mind...

If I had to create a word picture for what it is like to be in my brain, it would be like the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy gets whisked away by the storm: frenetic, dizzying, whirlwind with the occasional cow whizzing by.

What is it like in your brain?

Our regularly scheduled blog will return later today or tomorrow...

Until next time,
-C.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Grace...

I LOVE presents! I mean any kind: big, small, in between. The present itself doesn’t really matter. It is just the idea that someone knowingly, willingly, consciously thought about me and what I would like and put it in a box and tied it with a bow. I try to hide it with a coy, “oh, you didn’t have to get me anything!”, but deep inside, I am thinking Thank God you did! If you have ever read The Five Love Languages, the language of gifts is at the top of my list. I show and receive love through presents a lot of times. My favorite type of presents aren’t the birthday ones, or the anniversary ones, it’s the “just because” ones. You know, the unexpected, with no rhyme or reason, didn’t know this was coming or I would have prepared a more joyful and elated reaction instead of the shock and awe response I am having, ones. Those are my favorite presents to receive.

I think my love of gifts really made the concept of “grace” quite easy for me to grasp. After all, grace is the kind of gift I most cherish. It is the unexpected, undeserved, “just because” present I love to unwrap. I’ve heard it said that grace is “getting something you don’t deserve.” Man, if there is something I love, it is getting something that I hadn’t necessarily earned, that doesn’t cost a thing, and that is mine for the taking.

Christians use the words “God’s grace” a lot and I think it is one of those things that many non-believers, those new to the faith and the spiritually mature often don’t quite understand. We hear that we all have the gift of God’s grace, but what does that mean? What does it mean to receive something from Him that we don’t deserve?

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.”
Romans 5:12-16

Sin came through Adam. We all, from that point on, could not be the perfect individuals God had created us to be before Adam and Eve fell. We weren’t meant to know the pain and torment that we all know now because of sin: sins we’ve committed, sins of our fathers, sins of the world. We were never supposed to know this kind of pain. But, since we did know it, God gave us a gift to get out of it. A way to not have to pay for the wages of it. He gave us a gift, an unexpected, undeserved, “just because I love you” gift through the death of His Son.

The best part is this isn’t a one time only gift. It is the original gift that “keeps on giving.”

“[But] where sin increase, grace increased all the more.”
Romans 5:20

Have you ever heard the phrase, “The higher you climb, the harder you fall.” God’s grace is a lot like that. If you wake up one morning and realize like I do everyday, man, I have royally made a mess of this one! If you look at your life, your past, your choices and have the constant what was I thinking thought, you are a great candidate for a whole lot of grace. God will always give us something we don’t deserve in the midst of the giant, muddy mess that we have created down here on Earth. It is the gift of His Son to save us from ourselves and the disaster we’ve created.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
Ephesians 1:7-8

He picks the most foolish of us to shame the wise. He selects the weak ones to shame the strong. He chooses the unimportant, non-influential, the lowly and despised, the undeserving ones to do the most incredible of tasks. He gives us His undeserved favor so that we can show a broken, messed up world that yes, it is true, you aren’t going to make it out of this place alive, but you can make it out with life if you just choose to take the unexpected, “because I love you” present that He has placed in our hands.

Grace is a gift. It is one we didn’t earn. You don’t have to be “good enough”, you don’t have to add notches on the ol’ Christian belt with how many nice things you’ve done or people you’ve brought to Jesus, you just have to accept it, unwrap the bow, and open the box.

Here’s to the gift…

Until next time,
-C.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A new blog series...

I’ve decided to do a “series” of blogs this week. I am not quite sure why, perhaps namely for my own personal edification, but hopefully, you can gain something as well. I’ve been thinking about some “Christian concepts” lately. Some that I myself have at one time or another wondered exactly what does that mean? Sometimes Christians throw around a few “buzz” words and we all shake our head in agreement without truly knowing what we are talking about.

So, this week, I am challenging myself more than anything, to find out exactly what we are talking about. The four ideas we are going to explore are:

(1) The Fear of God
(2) Grace
(3) Mercy
(4) Providence

I hope you will join me and do some of your own “homework” in discovering what ideas are you constantly hearing, yet don’t know the meaning of. There is a good chance that these blogs will be too long for your typical glimpse on your blog roll, but hopefully, some of you can find something to glean!
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The first concept I want to explore is the fear of God. For the longest time, I thought I was supposed to be afraid of the Lord. And to some degree, I was. I thought He was just some cosmic killjoy, who could smite entire nations, and was looking to catch me doing wrong so He could zap me with his scepter. But, this is the furthest from the truth of who God is and the true meaning of fearing Him.

According my study Bible commentary, the term fear of God is an important one in the books known as “wisdom literature”, specifically from the book of Job all the way through Song of Songs. Wisdom literature teaches right living and how to truly commune with God in all circumstances. The words fear of God is defined as, “to have respect and reverence for God and to be in awe of his majesty and power.” (Life Application Study Bible)

Where do we see His majesty and power, in order to stand in awe of it? According to His word, it can be found in two places: 1.) nature, His creation and the world around us (see Psalm 19), 2.) in the stories of His people, the Bible. Think about this idea for a moment. We are to stand in reverence and awe of Him. If you truly want to do that as He commands, you got to go outside and see the amazing beauty He created and you have to get into His word to discover instance after instance of God proving His strength and power. You’ve probably experienced this sense of wonderment: on a vacation in the Colorado Rockies, on the white sand beaches of exotic locales, any place where the scenery literally takes your breath away and points you to the fact that something bigger than all of us, created this place. Those are moments of truly fearing God.

The thing I’ve struggled with in understanding this concept and the others we will look at this week, is how do we put into action the commands we are given? I mean, what do I need to do to truly fear God? Ok, so I’ve learned I can look at nature and be amazed by the beauty it possesses. I can look in His word and find examples of miracles, His hand, and things that only the God of the universe can do. But, it seems, there has to be more, some sort of action I need to take in addition to those things.

The Bible often equates fear of the Lord with one thing we all struggle with from time to time, obedience. This is such an important step in our walk. We are saved by faith alone, but if we truly want to show our heart and our love towards our God, we have to be obedient to His word.

To truly fear God means to be obedient in our words and actions matching the precepts He has given us:

“ Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” -Psalm 34:11-14 (NIV)

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV)

In order to truly fear God, we must obey Him, a logical question that might follow in our selfish little minds is: what do I get out of it? Come on, don’t deny it, you know you thought the same thing as me. The truth is that SO much is to be gained from a sincere fear of the Lord. Let me show you. If you can, in your daily renewal, take up again the desire to show true reverence and awe towards your God, you can find things in life, our broken minds and hearts didn’t think existed. You see the answer to many a question is simply to fear God.

Q: How do I become content in life, untouched by trouble?
A: Fear God

“The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” –Proverbs 19:23

Q: How do I keep from doing such evil and sinful things that I regret?
A: Fear God

“Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.” – Proverbs 16:6

“Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."- Exodus 20:20

Q: How do I gain wealth and honor and a long “life”?
A: Fear God

“Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.” –
Proverbs 22:4

Q: How do I gain knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in my beliefs?
A: Fear God

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”- Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”- Proverbs 1:7

“He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.”- Isaiah 33:6

I have heard the words fear of God since I was a child, but never before did I know its true meaning. Never before did I know how important this idea is to those who proclaim to know Christ. Never before did I know that if I want to live the limited moments I have on this earth untouched by circumstances, contented in all situations, wealthy, honored, and with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, I needed to learn the true meaning of fearing Him. I need to stand in reverence and awe of His creation, His works, and to show Him my stance through my obedience to His word. This is the challenge of our life. This is the one thing I am to do every day, above all other things on my to do list. I struggle daily with this, but I know by looking out my window and in my Bible, there is a God that can help me with anything I face.

Here’s to learning a new kind of fear…

Until next time,
-C.

Author’s Note: sorry for the “essay” like quality today…I’ll try to make the other entries less essay-ish and more fun J.