What do you thirst for?

Our pastor (Thank you Pastor Tuuri!) preached a message titled "Spiritual Gifts and the Renewed Heart" yesterday.  I need this message every day!  I heartily encourage you to listen to it and to let it soak into your bones. 

Oh how we need Jesus!  His sermon made me think of a section from a book by John Piper (God is the Gospel)...on pages 15-16, it prompts us to question: "Would you be happy in heaven if Christ were not there? The critical question for our generation - and for every generation - is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? And the question for Christian leaders [and I would add parents] is: Do we preach and teach and lead in such a way that people are prepared to hear that question and answer with a resounding NO?  How do we understand the gospel and the love of God?...Can we really say that our people are being prepared for heaven where Christ himself, not his gifts, will be the supreme pleasure?...May the church of Jesus Christ say with increasing intensity, 'The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup' (Psalm 16:5). 'As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God' (Psalm 42:1)."


1 Cor 13:1-3 says: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

I don't want to be like sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  Jesus, please be my all satisfying Treasure today and forever.  Unite my heart to fear Your name. Please grow me in the knowledge of the heights and depths of Your great love.  And please make Your love to flow through me to everyone You allow me to interact with. 

love when?

But God 

demonstrates 

His own love toward us, 

in that while we were still sinners, 

Christ died for us.
~ Rom 5:8

"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.  To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.  And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.  But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.  Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful." ~ Luke 6:27-36

"Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. Therefore 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." ~ Romans 12:17-21

"Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." ~ 1 Peter 2:18-25

What do you let your children read? watch? listen to?

This is a question that has come up a number of times in my life in the last few years.  And just about every discussion has had valid things to consider.  We know that what they read, what they see, and what they listen to will influence them, and because we love them we want the influence to be favorable.  We also know that there are many worldviews competing for their attention and loyalty...there is One True God and many false ones that do not announce themselves as deceitful, though they are.  When our children are little, unable to read to themselves, this arena is not so hard...we simply choose what we read to them.  We pick the movies they watch.  We select the music being played in the house.  But as our children grow older, we cannot preview everything they read, see and listen to...we are finite and time does not allow for it. 

This picture found circulating on Facebook captures our aim pretty well:

What do you do to monitor what your children read?  Or watch?  Or listen to? What limits do you set, if any?  What kind of discussions do you have with your children about what they are interacting with, be it via movies, books, or music?  How do you help them know God and His story so well that they can discern truth from lie in our society?  I would love to hear from you in the comment area below.

 

Being still when waters roar because He is God

Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble. 

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 

Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Selah

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. 

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. 

The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted. 

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth. 

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire. 

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth! 

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

God IS our refuge and strength.  He IS with us, and He IS a mighty Deliverer, and He WILL BE exalted.  He IS a very present help in trouble.  It is all true!  

It is also true that this side of glory, there is trouble.  How else could He be an ever present help in the midst of it?  Jesus told us in John 16:33 that He made certain things known to us..."so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Last night I crawled into bed with an aching heart...and my husband, God bless him, sat quietly and listened to me.  Then, we prayed together for Christ to be exalted as the Deliverer of all the troubles in the lives of those we hold dear.  We weep with a number of friends who are weeping in ongoing scenarios of trouble.  For some right now, it feels like "waters are roaring," threatening to swallow them whole.  Their world, as they know it, is being severely shaken.  Feelings of hopelessness taunt them as deliverance seems doubtful to the human eye.  But we are not called to live by feelings, or even by sight, but by faith.  Faith in the One who is a very present help in trouble.  Can we be still together, and know that He is God?  Can we trust Him together for that next breath, and for enough light on our path to take one more step at time? 

I don't mean "trust Jesus" in some trite way.  I mean, let Him be the foundation upon which you stand.  Let His Word be a lamp unto your feet.  I know the temptations to veg, the flip on movies and tune out, to go numb.  I know the temptation to obsess with work as a diversion as well.  Or there is always that Costco size bag of peanut m&m's to snack on...surely that will comfort you, until guilt comes knocking.  I also know about painting on smiles and trying to pretend it away.  But none of these things will hold us up.  We need to flee to our Refuge, our Strength, our Help.

This is the God who creates storms with good purpose, and calms storms in His time.  The One who says in Job 38:11, "This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!" The One who makes blind eyes see, and replaces hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.  This is the One who sets captives free.  He makes wars cease.  He will be exalted among the nations, exalted in the earth. So come: "come, behold the works of the Lord."  Don't let your expectations of your future be configured by present circumstances, but by the One who delivers and resurrects.  He has an eternal perspective and knows exactly what has to happen and where He needs to take us in the process of conforming us into Christ's image.  He is transforming us and this world.  Be still and know that He is God.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

Hello Father, goodbye fear

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, 

but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 

"Abba, Father."
~ Rom 8:14-15

These verses have been mulling around in my brain for weeks.  What does God tell us we did NOT receive?  What DID we receive?  I think it is amazingly kind that God does not contrast fear, or "the spirit of bondage again to fear" with something like peace or courage.  As nice as those attributes are, He gives us something far better. He tells us we have received sonship!  He's adopted us...we get HIM.  Goodbye Fear, I am in my Father's arms.

All of creation is His handiwork. I love this quote by Abraham Kuyper: "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" Yep, every square inch belongs to Him.  No matter where we go in earth, sky or sea...we are in His backyard.  Why fear?...He always has His Fatherly eye on us.  Nothing is able to separate us from His love (Rom. 8:37-39). Not even the really hard stuff we sometimes face.

While sitting in my chair one morning, sipping tea and enjoying the quiet before the kiddos awoke, I began watching the shadows dance on the floor as the sunlight made its way through the window.  God was giving me the gift of a few minutes to rest and reflect on His Word.  Oh how I need those quiet minutes with my Father!  I was chewing on those verses out of Romans 8 when I noticed the shadows.  Have you ever seen a shadow without light? It dawned on me that I haven't. Psalm 23 came to mind.  The first half of verse 4 says: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."  More shadows for me to ponder...this time the shadow of death.  That is not a very friendly sounding shadow.  How can someone walking through the valley of the shadow of death NOT fear?

The verse goes on: "For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."  It is that same idea...goodbye fear, I have my Father.  He's my good shepherd and He will take care of me.  The shadows on my floor are not scary at all, but being a rather symbolic person, I couldn't help but think of shadows figuratively.  The shadows we live in can be dark and frightening and full of unknowns.  Do they make us fearful? And do we find ourselves clinging to strange things like the picture above portrays so well because of fear? Or do we remember that shadows are a proof of the Light...do we remember that our Father is with us and is taking care of us, lovingly leading us even when we need to go through a valley of shadows, even the valley of the shadow of death?  

"...I have set before you life and death, 

blessing and cursing; 

therefore choose life, 

that both you and your descendants may live; 

that you may love the Lord your God,

 that you may obey His voice, 

and that you may cling to Him, 

for He is your life..." 

~ Deut 30:19-20

You are not alone in the dark

And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. 

He will be with you, 

He will not leave you nor forsake you; 

do not fear nor be dismayed.

 ~ Deut 31:8

Three posts back I wrote about learning to walk...Chloe, my sweet toddling inspiration was at my house yesterday.  Last week she was barely making a few steps, and now she is puttering around fairly well.  I was hoping to encourage you (and me) to keep that imagery in mind when considering God's people learning to walk in His ways. It does us good to cheer each other on, and to be there to help each other back up when we go down.  Sounds good, right?  Then I wrote about forgiveness...it doesn't come easy (like anger, bitterness and revenge), but Jesus gives us what we need (an ocean of mercy purchased with His blood) in order to forgive those who sin against us.

But what if we want to help someone up, and being filled with gratitude for the ocean of mercy we've received from God we stand ready to forgive every offense, even the incredibly painful ones, but the offender refuses the help?  What if they have fallen down and they don't want to get up? What if they argue that they haven't fallen at all and they are walkin' just fine, thank you very much? What if they are choosing an idol over God and nothing you do or say seems to register?  What if it is your spouse, or your child, or a parent, or a close friend?  People experience raw pain in this life...these sorts of scenarios play out in our lives and in the lives of those we love.  I know (in part).  Excruciating does not come close to describing it. I bet every one who reads this knows what I am talking about.  Maybe your spouse is threatening divorce.  Or maybe there is ongoing unresolved conflict that has created a very odd living arrangement for the rest of you in the house.  Or maybe you have a child who thinks you're old fashioned and that God is perfectly fine with them shacking up with someone.  The list of possibilities is very long.  You'd be the rare exception if at some point in your life, either you or someone close to you has not had your heart ripped open and trampled on in this ongoing, no easy fix sort of way. 

My son asked me to read from 1 Samuel 8 this morning.  The kids and I sat around the kitchen table doing just that.  It told us about how Samuel's sons did not walk in his ways.  The elders came to Samuel and said they wanted him to appoint a king for them like the nations round about them.  This was nothing short of a rejection of God as their king.  Samuel knew this and he was not happy about it.  God confirmed it in verse 7: "And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.'"  Of course the people didn't see it that way.  God told Samuel to warn them, but also to heed their voice, which is what Samuel did.  He had to entrust them all to God as he watched them all fall down, refusing to get up.

People fall down, and it is good for us to reach out to them with grace-filled hands.  Forgiveness does not come easy, but God gives us all we need.  But if someone rejects our help and refuses to repent, reaching out and forgiving doesn't bring the peace we long for.  Like Samuel, we can pray and entrust them to God.  We can pursue peace, but we have limits (Romans 12:18 tells us "as much as depends on you, live peaceably")...other people make choices.   Psalm 120 expresses the anguish of one whose peace pursuing life is not reciprocated: "In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord...Woe is me...My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war."

When we don't know how to take the next breath, God hears our cries.  As far as it depends on us, let us pursue peace.  Let us reach out with grace-filled hands.  Let us forgive as Christ forgave us. And let us entrust those we love to the only One who can change hearts.  We may not know the next step to take, but we have the promise of God that He will never forsake us.  He will lead us, one step at a time.  He is the Light in the darkness.  Let us follow Him, even when it hurts, even when our life feels overwhelmingly disoriented and we fear the sun will never shine again.  Take the next breath He gives...He is holding your hand and will not let you go in the dark.

If you know someone is going through a hard time like this, walk with them.  Be present.  Listen with a gentle and merciful spirit when they are speaking out of raw pain.  Tell them you love them and mean it. Hope for them when they are feeling hopeless.

The foundation of our Savior in marriage

"All the self help methodologies in the world cannot help you, unless you repent.  It is like thinking that the solution to a house full of garbage is to go in and polish the silver…that is not the solution and it will not work. Nothing but repentance and forgiveness solves the problem, and when you do that you have a place where you can begin to rebuild on the right foundation, the foundation of our Savior and have the life you stopped thinking is possible." ~ Steve Wilkins

My husband and I are in our 20th year of marriage.  Besides Jesus, he is my best friend and my favorite co-conspirator in life's grand adventure.  Loving God and loving people together is our family mission motto. But we mess up in a myriad of ways ~ when love gets twisted, pain, frustration, distrust and anger quickly enter as unwanted guests, often bringing other undesirables with them.  Steve Wilkins is right...self-help methodologies are not the answer.  Yet how often do we turn to them?  How often do we make one small compromise after another in our marriages, learning to stuff the pain and begin a life of coexistence, a businesslike relationship at best, letting the friendship and joyful love God intends for us slip away?

When there is trouble in marriages, the tendency seems to be to stop listening to each other.  We tend to nurse our own hurts. The story we tell ourselves about the other can get quickly skewed as we dig through our filing cabinets of past sins (forgiven though they supposedly were) and build our cases.  So God in His kindness often sends friends our way.  There is a reason Psalm 141:5 is in the Bible:  "Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it."  I memorized that verse early on in our marriage because it never quite "feels" like a kindness to be stricken...in order to count it a kindness, I have to trust God (in contrast to my own reasoning, self-justifications, and feelings).  I have to be willing to hear those who love me as His messengers when they challenge something I am doing or saying.  My experience is that they have usually been right, and I have needed to repent.  God has shown us great mercy throughout our marriage, moving us to repentance quickly.  We have friends who have spoken the truth in love to us, and we have grown in thankfulness for their kind strikes over the years. 

Maybe there are areas where you could use some encouragement. There are a gazillion resources available, and I have read many of them.  Some are much more helpful than others.  There are 3 (a book, a sermon, and a sermon series) that I highly recommend.  Sometimes books and sermons can be like friends, kindly striking us.

The book ~ What did you Expect?, by Paul David Tripp.

The sermon ~ Forgiveness in our Marriages, by Steve Wilkins (This is a segment from a series he gave on marriage at a church camp this last year in California...by all means, feel encouraged to listen to the whole series, but this one in particular I found to be incredibly good stuff, and applications can easily be made to relationships in general too).

The sermon series ~ an eleven part series titled "Real Marriage," by Mark Driscoll, available free for download here. Father, give us ears to hear! I intend to listen through these again. Excellent!

We want the next 20 years to be even better...more grace-filled, more fruitful, more joyous as we serve our Father together.  A number of friends have recommended Timothy Keller's book The Meaning of Marriage.  A fresh copy just made its way to my "soon to read" pile...I'll keep you posted.  Of course, the best resource of all is God's Word which is the basis of the instruction the above mentioned teachers offer.  May God give everyone who is married the desire to honor Him in their marriages, and may we avail ourselves to the helpful teaching He's graciously made available to us.