Jesus – Page 2 – Mandy Desilets

Slow

They’re my favorite animals, but I think they get a bad rap sometimes. Officially designated as the slowest mammals on earth*, sloths move an average of only 40 yards per day**! Their lack of speed even resulted in their being named “sloth” – a word that means “slow” and “sluggish”.

But sloths aren’t lazy – they’re just smart! On a diet of only leaves, twigs, and buds that take days to digest, sloths have little energy to burn which means every action is a purposeful decision – they don’t waste calories on needless movement. Their laid-back lifestyle gives them little reason to rush!

In our fast-paced “go, go, go” world, the perfectly steady, slow motion of sloths is fascinating to us. When I take my kids to the zoo, I feel like I could stand there and watch them for hours (but who has time for that?!).

If we could go back in time and eyewitness Jesus as He walked on this planet, I think we would be mesmerized by His pace. During His three years of ministry, He certainly moved, but He was never in a rush. Even though His supernatural skills were in high demand and the needs around Him were thousands-fold deep, His every action was calculated and He didn’t waste energy trying to do it all.

Jesus didn’t have a need for speed because, unlike us, He had a completely accurate view of God’s eternal plan. He knew that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8) and that even if it looked like He was missing opportunities, moving faster wasn’t going to increase God’s ability to work through Him. Even though He saw the crowds as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36), He did not bow to the pressure to meet all of their urgent and compelling needs. He lived in complete trust that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

If you’ve ever tried to mimic a sloth’s pace, you know that it’s incredibly hard for us humans to do. Our muscles have a difficult time moving that slow and it almost takes more effort than going fast!

As followers of Jesus, parents, employees, friends, family members, and community citizens, we are surrounded by a world of compelling and urgent needs, making “slowing down” seemingly impossible. We’d much prefer to flutter about, using up our valuable energy in an attempt to do it all. The needs are thousands-fold deep, causing us to live in fear of missed opportunities – especially when our skills and talents are in high demand.

In the animated children’s movie, “Zootopia” there is a scene featuring my ever-patient, smiling animal friends as Department of Motor Vehicle workers (If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/ONFj7AYgbko). Officer bunny Judy Hopps and her friend Nick Wilde the fox are working on a time-sensitive case and are in need of some information from Nick’s sloth buddy, appropriately named “Flash”. Flash, even with Officer Hopps’ increasing irritation, sees no reason to hurry, and even stops to tell his co-worker a joke!

Maybe the sloths get it and we don’t. Maybe they see that life is over in a flash and there’s no point in wasting our energy getting things done just so we can get more things done. Maybe if we intentionally and purposefully slowed down we would see that so much of what we think we’re doing to “help” is actually just our pride – after all, our skills are in high demand and if we don’t do it, who will?

A couple days ago, after having an extra-rough morning with one of our girls, I took her out for a special “Mommy Date” so we could chat. As we ate donuts, I asked questions, trying to get to the root of the problem. My mind was reeling with ideas as I thought about plans and strategies we could use as parents to help her navigate these frustrating times.

As we were driving home, I was still in “This-is-my-opportunity-to-be-Superhero-Fix-It-Mommy” mode and was so focused on my conversation with her that I ran a red light and ended up in the middle of a busy intersection, frantically trying to maneuver my car to safety. I was so focused on the problem and my plans that I forgot that my purpose in that moment was to simply drive the car and keep my child (and other drivers) safe!

Pride is sneaky and it’s so easy to get caught up in the urgency and opportunities that touch our lives. We don’t have the low muscle tone of a sloth, so our attempts to follow Jesus’ example of slowing down are going to take some effort. I need to practice regular evaluation of my heart’s intentions and my understanding of God’s purpose for me in any given moment. I may perceive that my skills and talents are in high demand but they are never a necessity to an all-powerful God!

“Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.”
(Psalm 127:1-2)

P.S. Speaking of slowing down, I’ll be taking a some blog-time off to give my brain a rest – see you in a couple weeks!

*https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/it-s-official-three-toed-sloths-are-the-slowest-mammals-on-earth/
**http://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/why-are-sloths-slow-and-other-sloth-facts

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Clear

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There’s nothing like a cool August morning on Lake Groton in northern Vermont. You just can’t beat waking up in a lakeside cabin, grabbing a cup of coffee, and walking outside to take in the crystal clear view of green mountains reflecting in undisturbed waters.

One morning last summer, though, the view was anything but clear:

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Thick, heavy fog had completely covered the lake surface, making it impossible to see the other side – or even the lake itself!

When I first walked outside, the only things visible were the dock and chairs. But as the morning went on and the warmth of the sun evaporated the mist, things began to appear.

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With every minute that passed, more was visible. The trees became greener and the blue of the sky was increasingly revealed.

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After about an hour, the last of the low-lying clouds retreated and our view was fully restored.

Isaiah 44:22 says: “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” This verse is such a fascinating picture of God’s work in our lives! The disorienting sinful nature we are born with continually clouds our judgment, leaving us in a fog when it comes to right and wrong. And not only that, it also obscures our view of God and His work in our lives.

But because of His great love, we who were once “strangers,” unknowingly “alienated from God” and “darkened in [our] understanding,” have had our eyes opened so that we might be “reconciled” and, therefore, “brought near”*. When our sin is “swept away” by the blood of Christ, our view of God is no longer hindered by its haze.

The thought that I – a tiny little human – could somehow be given a even glimpse of the splendor and majesty of the God of the Universe boggles my mind! Unfortunately, though, it’s hard to be content with a glimpse because I want to see it all – I so want to understand God and mostly, I want to know exactly what He’s doing in my life. But like the clearing of the mist, God’s revelation of His work never happens all at once.

In Mark 8:22-25, there is a story of a blind man whose sight was restored by Jesus:

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Notice that Jesus’ work in the blind man’s situation happened in two stages. He was given sight, but at first he could only see partially. It was in Jesus’ continued work where the man’s vision was fully restored and he could see everything – including his Healer – clearly.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
(Romans 11:33)

God’s work in our lives is often exactly that – “unsearchable” and “beyond tracing out”. This is frustrating for us, but He doesn’t work like a television show where all the pieces come together, the answers are revealed, and the mystery is solved in an hour or less. Sure, we hear stories of people looking back and seeing clearly how God worked in a situation, but that doesn’t mean that’s a guarantee for us. There may be many things we never understand.

In Isaiah 44, prior to the verse mentioned above, God goes into detail describing the exact sin His people, Israel, were guilty of:

“The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.”
(Isaiah 44:12)

The idols God’s people had chosen over Him were gods made with human hands – they were gods originating in human minds whose ways fit into human understanding.

As author Peter Scazzero describes: “God is immanent (so close) and yet transcendent (so utterly above and far from us). God is knowable, yet he is unknowable. God is inside us and beside us, yet he is wholly different from us… Most of the time we have no idea what God is doing.”** If we’re going to call Him our “God”, then we must come to terms with the fact that He is not required to work only in the realm of our human perception!

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Looking back, that morning at Lake Groton was anything but disappointing, because even in the fog, the view was still worth looking at! The process was beautiful and in rushing it we would have missed out on an amazing experience.

Clearly, God is more interested in the process than the product because, as Jesus illustrated in His healing of the blind man, the process involves the greater thing. The experience of His loving touch as He continues His work in our lives will always outweigh the lesser product of our understanding of it.

*Ephesians 2:12, Colossians 1:21, and Ephesians 4:18, Acts 26:18, Colossians 1:22, Ephesians 2:13
**”Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”, p. 129

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Stickers

Their stickiness is irresistable – setting them apart from simple, plain, boring pieces of paper. Glittery stars and hearts, or better yet your favorite Disney characters, and you can attach them to things!

As a mom, I have a love/hate relationship with stickers. They are a fun prize, an easy activity, and our motivation to survive those long waits in the doctor’s office. But when they don’t do what they’re supposed to do – when they don’t stick because they’ve lost their stickiness (after being moved 17 times in the car ride home) – they result in great frustration!

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One of the hardest things about growing in our faith is that the things we learn seem to have a hard time sticking. We listen to a sermon, read a quote, or hear a song that moves and inspires us. We are reminded of a truth about God or see ourselves in a new way because of what He’s done and we know we’ll remember those words forever!

But by the next day (or even the next hour) the details of life and work and family have invaded and we’ve moved on. I always have really high hopes after I read the Bible in the morning that “THIS time I’m gonna make it stick!” And then the next morning I open to where I left off and realize I never thought about it again!

Mark 8 tells the story of Jesus miraculously transforming a small amount of food into enough to satisfy several thousand hungry people. We love this story because not only does it prove that Jesus had God’s supernatural power, but it also shows that He embodied God’s great compassion.

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” Mark 8:1-3

Jesus knew that with this many people in such a “desolate place,” (v. 4) His supernatural power was their only hope for food – so He made it happen: “And they ate and were satisfied.” (v. 8) Amazing! Everyone was not only fed, but they were full!

So now it was time to settle in and let Jesus continue teaching, right? That’s the picture I always had in my head, but verse 9 says that after they picked up the leftover food, “he sent them away”. He gave them the food so that they could go!

As we see from verses 1-3, the provision was meant to prepare them for the journey. They couldn’t stay there forever with Him – not just for logistics’ sake – but because His words for them were not meant to just be heard! They were meant to stick by being applied to their daily lives.

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One of the true marks of motherhood is going out somewhere, noticing that people are looking at you a little strange, and realizing there’s a random sticker stuck to your arm or better yet – in your hair! It may be embarassing, but it also makes me smile to think of my girls and wonder who decided I needed to be decorated that day.

A couple months ago, I committed to praying daily for a specific list of people in my life. I’ve never been good at remembering to pray for others, so I decided to set reminders in my phone every hour or so throughout the day. This seemed like a great idea, but after a couple days I was beginning to get overwhelmed as I thought about how I could best pray for each person. I knew if I didn’t make a change soon, I would just end up giving up!

One day, after closing my Bible and having a “That was so good! I hope I remember it all day!” thought, my first prayer reminder notification went off. I was in a hurry, so since the thoughts from my study were fresh in my mind, I decided to pick one, narrow it down to a simple phrase, and pray that for the first person on my list. Then I used the same phrase for each person I prayed for that day.

And guess what? You can’t pray the same phrase 12 times in a day without remembering it and without thinking about how it applies to your own life. All of a sudden what I read in the morning was finally sticking throughout my day!

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This weekend we had company coming from out of town, which called for a kids’ bedroom cleaning. If you’ve been upstairs in our house, you know this is big deal! Our three girls share a room and the bigger they get, the more stuff they accumulate – which means the floor of their room is a rare sight.

When things were picked up, I stood back to take in the view (because it may only last a day) and noticed at least seven old stickers stuck to the wood floor! For all the times you want something to stick and it won’t, these stickers are stuck because years of daily life have walked all over them. They are pretty much ground into that floor and not coming off anytime soon!

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” (Psalm 119:97) God’s words can not only satisfy our hearts and minds as we read them, but they also have the ability to remain in our thoughts as we go. It may take some effort on our part, but when we apply His words to the mess and chaos of daily life (especially when we feel like life is walking all over us), that’s when they really start to stick!

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Aha!

When my friend Sue and I drove into Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah, we were in need of a break. After three days of driving, crowded parks, and catching up on each other’s lives, these introverts needed some quiet time – and Sue’s “Secrets of the National Parks” book showed us exactly where to go.

The trail to the “White Rim Overlook” was a short 8/10 of a mile to a majestic view of the canyon. Most people visiting parks like this head straight for the “famous” views or hikes, so the parking lot for this trail was almost empty. There were no people in sight and it was remarkably quiet – Perfect!

We quickly parked, grabbed our stuff, and headed out. After seeing the sign for the trail, we continued on, following the small rock tower ‘cairns’ that marked the path.

After a few minutes, though, we started having trouble. In our experience thus far, the National Park trails were well marked – at every turn there was a cairn and any place you might be tempted to veer off was blocked off. But this trail was all over the place and the markers seemed few and far between!

At one point our hike came to a halt – we couldn’t see a trail marker anywhere! Since we were not interested in getting lost that day (especially when no one else was around), we had a couple options: Keep moving and risk getting lost or retrace our steps to find the trail again.

I’m not one to give in and go back, so I took the next step in front of me and “Aha!” – there it was. That mere 2 and 1/4 feet (or whatever my stride length is) made all the difference – the next cairn was now in plain sight and we were on our way!

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? I know I have moments every week where I feel at least slightly lost, overwhelmed, or just unsure of what the right choice is. I always wish in that moment that I had someone who could show me – with 100% assurance – what my next step should be.

When Paul prayed for the church at Collosae, he knew that one of the things they needed most was God’s direction and guidance, so he prayed that they would “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9). Paul knew that God was the only one with that 100% assurance and His desire was to “fill” His followers with His perspective.

The thing is that it’s not just about knowing what to do – it’s about actually doing it. As Paul went on, he mentioned why God would give the knowledge of His will: “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work” (Colossians 1:10a). The knowledge, wisdom, and understanding they received from God was meant to define their stride as they walked.

And then if they did that, something really cool would happen – they would end up “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10b). It turns out that it’s a cycle: God gives the knowledge, we act on it, and then He gives us more! “Aha!” Knowing what to do in the unclear only becomes clear after we do what we already know to be true. As Ellicott’s commentary suggests: “Do and thou shalt know”.*

Recently, I was at an event for one of my kids and in my sitting-there-forever-waiting boredom, I opened Facebook (mistake number one). It had already been a stressful day, so I was hoping for some fun pictures of my friends and their families to make me smile (why would I ever think that?). But instead, I clicked on something I never should have clicked on (why do I do these things?) and read words that I could never unread.

I quickly spiraled into panic-mode. I was trapped in a room full of people and I couldn’t get in touch with my husband (who normally calms me down in these moments). I couldn’t stop the words from running over and over in my brain and I felt totally lost – I was overwhelmed and I didn’t know what to do. I prayed and prayed, “God, why is this happening? What do I do? Please help! I need Your peace!”

But a few minutes later, instead of feeling peace, I started feeling like God was telling me to go talk to another mom at the event. “Are you kidding me?” I thought, “I’m a mess! I don’t even know her and You’re expecting me to do this NOW? You give me the peace first and then maybe I’ll do it.” I sat there stubbornly for the next few minutes thinking I must have heard Him wrong – surely He wouldn’t expect this socially-awkward introvert to do something like this on a day like today!

But… I did it anyway. And guess what? Half an hour later I had pretty much forgotten about my stress – I had had a wonderful conversation, learning about someone else’s life instead of focusing on my own, and “Aha!” – it was there that God gave me the peace.

There are so many times that we don’t know what to do – times where we feel lost and overwhelmed and we want God’s help! We want Him to fix the problem or at least show us what we need to do to fix it! Last week, as my friend Emma and I were studying this passage, she said, “Sometimes we just can’t let go of our stressful situations because we don’t think we can move on until it’s all fixed. We have to get THIS taken care of first! But maybe it doesn’t work that way.”

The problem is that God’s “will” is not my happiness and comfort. His will, according to Colossians 1, is Jesus. So instead of the peace we’re expecting, according to author and speaker Jill Briscoe, “He gives you courage”.** And every time I use that courage to obey the next step He has put in front of me, even if it’s just one single stride, and even if it’s in a completely different direction than I first thought, “Aha!” – He opens my eyes up to even more of who He is.

At the end of our White Rim Overlook hike, Sue and I stopped to look at the trail sign that we had blown by in our rush to start the hike. “Aha!” There was a good reason for our confusion – we had taken the wrong path! We assumed the trail went straight ahead when, in reality, it went to the right. Thankfully, in our confusion and wrong turns, the paths had met up and we did not end up on the 2.7 mile “Gooseberry Trail”!

I love these verses from the book of Job: “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?… Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand… Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!” (Job 38:2, 4 & 21)

In our limited human knowledge and wisdom we tend to think things should be done a certain way – especially when we’re overwhelmed. But when we ask God for His knowledge, we can expect His direction might differ from the way we thought we should go. It may even be completely the opposite!

What situation do you need God’s guidance in today? The word for “understanding” in Colossians 1:9 comes from the idea of two rivers meeting – it means “a putting together in the mind”.*** So ask God to pour into you the knowledge of His will, meet it with a step of obedience, and get ready for the “Aha!” on the other side!

*http://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/colossians/1.htm
**IF:Gathering 2017
***http://biblehub.com/greek/4907.htm

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Shockproof

“These will be perfect for us!” I said to Tim. With our very active, fairly disorganized lifestyle, ‘shockproof’ phones would surely suit us well. I had done my research and the Samsung Galaxy S5 was said to be one of the most rugged phones on the market – I even watched videos of it being dropped onto cement and run over by a car! So we signed the contract and each became the proud owner of a Galaxy S5 – the “Sport” (a.k.a. even more rugged) version.

But, alas, within a couple months, even with our extra-tough cases, we had both cracked our screens! We were, of course, *shocked* because this wasn’t supposed to happen. It was hard to accept the fact that even our best efforts couldn’t prevent the cracks from forming… and that we were now stuck with damaged screens for almost two more years!

In my early years of being a Christian I thought I was strong. The cracks I had from my childhood hardships and teenage mistakes were erased. Because of Jesus, I had overcome and was ready for any challenge that lay ahead of me. I was going to make a difference in this world, no matter how hard things got, because nothing could be too hard for Him! I genuinely believed I was shockproof.

But time after time I’ve found myself broken – shattered by circumstances and people – or most often, by my own sin. It turns out I’m much more fragile than I thought I was and just because I have the power of Jesus inside of me, that doesn’t make make me immune. Every time I think I’ve got it all together, another crack appears – and most of the time I don’t even know how it happened!

In 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul encouraged the believers by reminding them of the incredible gift they had been given: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” As believers, a light has been powered on inside of us so that we can see the truth about Jesus and then help others see it, too.

Which sounds great… until you read the next verse:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (v. 7)

Clay jars, like glass phone screens, are fragile and easily broken. No matter how strong and powerful the light inside of us is, that doesn’t mean the container is unbreakable. Our human bodies, hearts, and minds are prone to cracks. Notice the “we” and “us” of this verse. Even Paul – the writer of a large portion of the Bible, a man who gave his entire life to growing the church and who did give his life in refusal to stop growing the church – even Paul knew he wasn’t shockproof.

When I think about this it frustrates me. Why would God do things this way? It doesn’t make sense! If you were going to choose a “vessel” for your “light,” why would you not search for the strongest thing you could find? Why would you purposely choose something weak?!

It reminds me of the scene in the gospels where Jesus walks up to Matthew, a despised tax collector – a man who betrayed his own people by working for the enemy and, in his selfishness, likely stole from them as well. Matthew was sitting at his tax collector’s booth – he was literally sitting in his sin – when Jesus looked him in the eye and said, “Follow me”.(Matthew 9:9)

Every time I watch this scene in “The Bible” series (Episode 7, about 10 minutes in – check it out if you can!) it breaks me all over again. It just doesn’t make sense! Why would Jesus choose someone like that? Why would He choose someone like me? He knew from day one how fragile I would be and how many cracks I would take on and yet He still looks at me, in the middle of my darkest moments, and says, “I choose you“. WHAT?

It turns out, though, that this cracked-up life of mine is exactly what He’s looking for. Because my cracks remind me of where I came from and how much I don’t deserve anything that God has given me. They remind me of how He’s worked in my life by covering every single one of them with His grace, peace, and love. And when I look at them, I know without a doubt that I have no room to tell Jesus how He should do His work.

A few months ago, we were finally able to upgrade to new phones (yay!). But, honestly, I kind of miss the cracks. No matter how annoying they were, there was a certain camaraderie I felt with other people whose screens were also shattered. It was an easy conversation piece as we swapped stories on how it happened – and it was never offensive to ask the question because mine was obviously broken, too.

It’s frustrating to look at our lives and realize we’re Matthew. But that means we’re Matthew! Because “while Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.” (Matthew 9:10) Sometimes our brokenness, even when it’s a result of our own sin, has less to do with us and more to do with those who can relate to us and meet Jesus because of it.

We’re not shockproof, but maybe that’s a good thing. We don’t know why God would choose us, but maybe He knows something we don’t. Maybe the cracked ones are the best ones because they allow the light to shine though. And maybe all those fracture lines in our glass reflect the light of Jesus a little differently than we otherwise would.

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Ice

Brrrr… Winter has officially arrived in Pennsylvania. Below freezing temperatures and wind chills are upon us, so get out those warm coats, hats, and gloves – or better yet, just stay inside!

Last Friday morning, I fought the urge to sit in my cozy house and went for a run. The temperature was under 30° and the wind was whipping. After a mile-and-a-half I was still chilled, but it was good motivation to just keep moving!

At one point, though, I looked off the trail and decided it was worth the pause to get a picture of this:

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No matter how much I don’t like the cold, I love ice. The idea of fluid, formless water taking shape and becoming solid is fascinating! The smooth, soft surface of a frozen pond – or even a puddle – reflecting the light of the sun on a crisp winter day = perfection.

Unfortunately, no matter how pretty it looks – ice can also be dangerous! When we were little, my sisters and I knew we weren’t allowed to begin skating on the pond in our neighbor’s backyard until the ice was deep. The air temperature had to be cold enough for long enough to penetrate and affect the water below the surface. We knew (and probably found out the hard way) that some ice may look solid, but if you step on it before it’s fully frozen, you’re gonna get wet!

As Christians, I feel like we should all come with a “Danger: Thin Ice!” warning label. When we first come to know Jesus, we feel a revolution of change as we see our lives being impacted by His love, His grace, and His power. A solid, initial layer of God’s transformative work has occurred.

But, due to the nature of our society and our humanity, it can be really easy to stay there. It can be really easy to make some surface changes and begin to ‘look’ like a follower of Jesus. We learn new behaviors, add some new activities, and season our language with a little Christian ‘salt’ so that we look smooth, sparkly, and solid from afar.

Eventually, though, the pressure’s gonna hit. Maybe it’s just a pebble or a stick someone threw out there and we can handle it. But at some point, someone’s foot is going to come down and we’re going to crack.

This is especially true when it comes to our pain. I’ve seen so many students meet Jesus or experience a revival of their childhood faith in their high school years. They become excited about God, eager to know more about Him, and expect Him to work in their lives!

At the same time, through a combination of their developmental stage and the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they are becoming more aware of their sin struggles and patterns – as well as the hurt that others’ sin struggles and patterns have caused them. Unfortunately, instead of dealing with their pain – instead of confessing and finding accountability, instead of processing their issues with a mentor or counselor, instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to penetrate to the deep – they put on a surface layer of “God’s got this!” and pretend “It’s all good!”.

You know what happens next – the pressures of college and ‘real life’ start to crack and disintegrate that thin layer of “faith” they thought they had. Some will realize what’s happening and seek out the help they need, some will simply hope to repair the cracks by getting their God-fix when they come home and attend church, but many will walk away from their faith altogether.

When God commanded His people to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” (Deuteronomy 6:5) He was telling them that this ‘religion’ was way more than ‘religion’. He wanted to be sure they understood that having Him as their God would go way beyond duty, attendance, and outward morality. As their God, His work in their lives was intended to penetrate to the innermost parts of their entire being.

And it wasn’t just about their love for Him. In the Psalms we’re reminded that His “benefits” apply not just to “sin”, but to our whole lives – our well-being, our emotions, our pain, and our desires (Psalm 103:2-5). Psalm 130:7 says that “with him is full redemption”. His love for us has the power to fully permeate, transform, and restore even the most broken parts of our hearts and minds!

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If you’ve ever looked for a place to skate in the great outdoors, you know that your best bet is to find a pond or lake. The moving water of a river is much less likely to be deeply (and therefore safely) frozen. It’s in the stillness that the water becomes solid.

It’s so easy, especially at this time of year, to just keep moving. There’s so much to do and even when there isn’t anything pressing, we have devices full of entertainment and mind-occupying social media in our hands. We know the pain is there, but it’s so much easier to just say “God’s got this!” and pretend “It’s all good!”

But to stop and be still and allow that wind to chill us to the bone seems uncomfortable and something we’d much rather avoid. We know that if we let God in, it might hurt. We might find there are parts of us we haven’t let Him touch – parts of us that we don’t even realize exist yet. And even worse – He might ask us to take those solidifying steps of accountability, counseling, or making this ‘stillness in His presence’ thing a regular habit.

Yes, God does have this and yes, it is all for your good and His glory. He’s got “this”, but does He have you? Does He have all of you?

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23‭-‬24)

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Good

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Growing up is hard – especially when you have to learn to do hard things like tie your shoes! Learning how to properly hold those laces, wrap them around each other, and then pull tight without undoing everything you just did can be frustrating. And the fact that you’re usually doing it in a hurry because it’s “Time to go!” doesn’t make it any easier!

Thankfully, for us modern parents, there are now several time- and sanity-saving ‘shoelace alternatives’. One in particular that we’ve made good use of in our family are ‘elastic laces’ – these bungee-like cords thread through shoes like regular laces, but are easily loosened and tightened with the squeeze of a button.

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This summer, after buying a new pair of sneakers for one of our girls, I sat down to replace the laces. When I did this for the first time a few years ago, I found the process to be intimidating – things need to be measured and cut, the plastic pieces are complicated, and it all involves a very specific order of operations! But, having successfully installed several sets over the years, I thought, “I’m glad I’m so good at this now!”

A few minutes later, though, I realized my confidence was unfounded. After incorrectly measuring the first lace, I made the cut too short and once that cut was made – there was no going back. I had to throw it away and start all over again – what a waste! But I think it was my pride that was cut the shortest.

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As a “church kid” I grew up with a solid understanding of “right” and “wrong” and I seemed to have been born with an inclination to follow the rules. Behavioral standards seemed like common sense to me and I can count on one hand the number of times I was spoken to for even coming close to breaking a rule during my elementary school years!

Religiously, I also considered myself “good”. I believed in God, knew all the Bible stories, had perfect attendance at Sunday School, and was nice to people (although my sisters may beg to differ on that one!). If you had asked me if I had a relationship with God or if I thought I was going to Heaven to be with Him someday, my answer would have been, “Of course! I’m really good at this!”

It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that my eyes were opened to the truth. It was during those years that God so graciously allowed me to see how good I wasn’t. I may have been a “nice” person in my actions, but in my thoughts I was judgmental and mean. I may have been a “rule follower” when the world was watching, but behind closed doors I was allowing selfish desires to rule my choices.

By the spring of my junior year of high school I finally understood the truth of Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” It turned out that in all those years of believing I was “good,” I was doing exactly what the prophet warned God’s people about when he said, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (17:5) With all of my confidence in myself and my “good”ness I was actually turning my heart away from the Lord.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” (Jeremiah 17:7)

This truth has always been at the core of our faith, but in our human nature we tend to get things a little twisted up. Those of us who have an easier time obeying certain outward commands tend to think, “I’m good! I’ve got this!”. And even those of us who are on some level aware of our shortcomings still tend to think: “At least I’m trying, right? Isn’t that good enough?”

But if the message you’ve gotten about Christianity is that “good enough” is “good enough,” then you’ve been sold a bill of goods! “Good” isn’t the standard – holiness is – and that’s not something we can ever achieve on our own.

When Jesus came to earth, He didn’t do it to model a “good” life and hope we would try to follow His example. He didn’t do it so He could humbly see what it was like and then return to Heaven to put in a good word for us. He was holy and He gave His holy life as a sacrifice so “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

To “trust in the Lord” by “believ[ing] in Him” is the only way to meet God’s standard. And it’s not just a prayer you prayed the day you first accepted Christ – it’s a present tense, constant, every day and every moment choice!

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Sometimes we look at the Christian life like learning to tie our shoes. We think we’ll just try a few times, figure it out, and then we’ll be “good”, securing our position on God’s good side. But when we put our trust in our our own flesh, we’re actually headed in the other direction altogether.

If someone was to ask you today why you believe you’re spending eternity with God, what would your answer be? That you hope so because you’ve been “good” or that you know so because you’re trusting in Jesus? It’s not too good to be true – it is the truth – and it’s never too late to put your confidence in Him!

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Gospel

When my children grow up and move on to do all the great things I – oh sorry, I mean – God has planned for them, I hope they look back at their time in this family and know one thing is true – that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life!

Unfortunately, as is the case with most families, this absolute truth has a chance of getting lost in the mix of other things we hold dear as parents. For some it may be the importance of a certain sport or team, for others it’s a style of music or career goal, and still others a specific character trait or attitude.

For my kids, though, I worry it may be this: That public toilets are the source of all evil.

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Before I go on, let me say that I am so thankful for the existence of the “public restroom”. As adults, we may have the ability to ‘hold it’ until we get home, but with little ones, that’s not always possible – and definitely not a risk any parent wants to take! With the advent of your first potty-trained child, you become acutely aware of the location of the restrooms in places you frequent.

However, there are times when the risk of having to deal with wet clothes or a smelly car seem overshadowed by the much greater risk of allowing your small child to sit where who-knows-who’s germ-covered-self has also sat or where some poorly-aimed-squatter has also attempted to avoid who-knows-who’s germs! YUCK!

In our family, it’s near-gospel truth that public toilets are to be avoided at all cost. And if you can’t possibly hold it, you must abide by the following rules:

The seat must be wiped first (even if it doesn’t “look” dirty)
If there’s a seat cover available, you must use it (it may not help, but it makes your Mommy feel better!)
Absolutely NO hands on the toilet seat (even if you think you’re falling in)
Flush with your foot (Yes, I understand this may require an extraordinary feat of balance)
Even if you “didn’t touch anything” your hands must be washed (the air in there is surely just as filthy!)
If you so much as think about touching that door handle with your bare hand on the way out, you will be washing those hands all over again!

No matter how slight the risks of being exposed to dangerous bacteria or contracting a virus may be, this is a life-or-death situation and if my rules aren’t followed, watch out, because a mommy-freak-out is on the way!

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When Jesus used the word we translate as “gospel”* in His teaching, He was speaking of the “glad tidings” or “good news” of “the kingdom” (see Matthew 4:23, 9:35 & 24:14). In Luke 4:18, He explains why this news was so “good”:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed”

The message of this “good news” became reality when Jesus Himself laid down His life to become a victorious once-for-all sacrifice, restoring whoever would simply believe in Him to a right relationship with God – the source of all true help, healing, and freedom. Now that’s good news!

In 1 Corinthians 15:1, Paul reminds his readers, “of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved”. After Christ’s death and resurrection, the term “gospel” took on a different meaning – rather than just being “good news,” it came to specifically refer to the message of salvation through Christ.

Around the middle of the second century A.D., though, another shift happened, as idioms of “gospel truth” and “take as gospel” came about.** Because the “gospel” message of Christ’s death and resurrection was the central and absolute truth of Christianity, “gospel” began to mean “something regarded as true and implicitly believed” or “a doctrine regarded as of prime importance”.***

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, one of his goals was to clear up some confusion about the gospel. With all of the mixed messages they were getting, He wanted to make sure they understood what was truly at the core of their faith:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

As believers today, we have to be careful about the “gospel truth” we are preaching. We may not be a pastor giving messages from a stage, but our words and actions are constantly communicating what is “of first importance” to us. Are we messengers of the “good news” or is something else being given equal (or even greater) emphasis?

We live in a messy world where it can be easy to live in fear, while consequently (and even unintentionally) elevating the “gospels” of ‘safety’ or ‘morality’ or even ‘tolerance’ and ‘justice’ to “first importance”. It’s not that those things aren’t important or layed out clearly in Scripture, it’s just that it’s way too easy to set up blanket rules and zealous absolutes that distract from the core message of Jesus.

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In all of my fretting and freaking about taking my girls to public restrooms, I’ve created a monster. My youngest has developed a magnetic attraction to public toilets – especially port-a-potties! My elevation of the importance of this issue has only drawn my curious, limit-pushing child toward it – accomplishing the exact opposite of my goal.

It’s great to have passion and then to take a stand on those matters we’re passionate about, but when we allow those matters overshadow the most important Matter, there’s a chance we’re missing out. Instead of spreading the message of the best news ever, we may be inadvertently sending people in the other direction. Or even worse – drawing them to ourselves, but never giving them the true “reason for the hope that is in [us]”. (1 Peter 3:15)

We don’t have to be intimidated or antagonized by the mess around us because there’s GREAT news! Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, loves to change people’s hearts and lives (and, oh yeah, He’s really good at it!) True help, healing, and freedom are found in Christ alone.

*https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g2098
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2097&t=KJV
**http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/take+as+gospel
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/gospel+truth
***http://www.dictionary.com/browse/gospel

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Ditch

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Well, there’s one thing we can’t complain about this fall – we’ve had amazing weather! My 5-year-old and I have taken full advantage of these beautiful afternoons and opted outside. We’ve visited parks and playgrounds, but mostly we’ve been going on long bike rides around the neighborhood.

One of Anna’s favorite bike-ride traditions is to stop and point out things she notices along the way. This past week, one of the things that caught her attention was a large grate built into the edge of a homeowner’s lawn.

“What’s that, Mommy?” she asked.

“Oh, that’s just a grate,” I replied.

“But why is it there?” she asked.

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I explained to her that because the area around it was higher, whenever it rained the water would all run down into that one low spot. And when water collects and sits in one spot, bad things can happen – not only can it damage your lawn, but it can breed and grow all sorts of yucky stuff! Putting a grate in the ‘ditch’ allows the water to drain, preventing all the yuck.

Later on in our ride, we passed another yard with a hill. Anna, proud of herself for learning something new, said, “Where’s the ditch?” If there was a hill, she assumed there must be a ditch at the bottom to collect the water!

Ditches can be purposeful and helpful things. However, you don’t ever hear people say, “Let’s go hang out in that ditch!” or “This ditch is magnificent!” With all that muck and junk down there, a ditch isn’t really a place you want to visit or spend any amount of time!

The funny thing is how often I become one. I, like most humans, have this tendency to allow the dripping negativity of others to collect inside my heart and mind. When people in my world (or even not in my world) say things that threaten or offend me, I let those words sink down deep while I sit in the muck trying to stir up my response:
“Well, they just need to hear this…” or
“If they knew that…” or
“They should understand what…”
Because my (always accurate, of course 😉) opinion must be known!

In our Moms Bible Study this fall, we’ve been studying the wisdom found in the book of Proverbs. A couple sessions ago we focused specifically on our words and how we use them. One of the things we talked about really hit home for me:

“Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.” (Proverbs 18:2)

We all have opinions and sharing them with others is part of getting to know each other. Many of our opinions are non-threatening – like where we like to go for pizza (Angelo’s!) or our favorite TV show (Survivor!). We are uniquely-formed beings with unique tastes, preferences, and ways of expressing our individuality.

Some of our opinions, though, are more threatening because they involve our personal perception of a situation or our judgment of another person’s character. We may not always share these opinions openly, but as soon as we start entering ‘ditch’ territory – as soon as we feel threatened or offended – they seem to be on a race to our lips.

And, I don’t know about you, but I always find that my “delight” in “airing” whatever I so desperately needed to get out (like a couple weeks ago when I told my husband exactly what he “needed to hear”), is short-lived. I don’t feel any better and, in the end, I often make things worse!

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Proverbs 13:3 says, “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.”

Just like the grate in the neighborhood lawn, we have the opportunity every day to choose ditch-prevention. Instead of letting negativity, threats, and offense sink into our souls and muck things up, we can let them run right through and go where they belong. And who knows? Maybe if we don’t let that stuff hang around, it won’t find its way back out in our responses.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve found the most helpful ‘grate’ to be one simple question: WHY? First, I ask myself – “Why is this offending or threatening me?” There’s always a below-the-surface reason that I don’t at first realize. Is it my pride or selfish ambition that’s been wounded? Am I reacting out of fear or perceiving a personal attack when that may not be the case?

And then, as I form my response, I ask “Why am I sharing this?” Is it because I think I’ll feel better after my opinion is made known? Is it because I think I can change their mind and then they’ll be ‘right’ like me? Or will my response show humility and a sense of care for everyone involved?

As followers of Jesus, we are aiming to do life the way He did, and He did it with ultimate humility and love. He knew who He was and knew He needed nothing from this world – and therefore nothing could be taken from Him. As God in human flesh, He knew all wisdom and truth, so He was never threatened by anyone’s opinions.

In his book, “Unoffendable,” author Brant Hansen puts it this way: Christians “should be the most refreshingly unoffendable people on a planet that seems to spin on an axis of offense.” We know Whose we are and, although we need nothing from this world, we do have something to offer it.

Lord, help me to be unoffendable today. Instead of letting the negativity puddle, let it drain right though me. Guard my lips so I can use my words to show others your love. Amen.

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Raisins?

I stared at the ceiling awaiting the results as Dr. Assad reviewed the x-rays. Having upped my dental-care game over the past few years, I was sure this long silence meant good news!

My joy turned to near-tears, though, as he began to list off tooth after tooth that was in need of repair. And he just kept going. At the end, he stood up and said, “I’m not even sure what to tell you. Your gums are receding, your crowns are falling apart, and you have several new areas of decay. You’re going to need a lot of work done.”

After surviving the initial emotional meltdown, I got myself together and did what I always do in these situations: Pulled out my phone and asked my trusted old pal Google for help: “What have I been doing wrong?”

Of course the answers are the same as always – brush two to three times a day (✔), floss (✔), fluoride rinse (✔), and stay away from certain foods (working on it…). But as I read through the lists of foods to avoid, one of them caught me by surprise: Raisins?

According to the American Dental Association, “Sticky foods are your mouth’s worst nightmare” and “When it comes to picking healthy snacks, many people put dried fruit at the top of the list. But many dried fruits are sticky. Sticky foods can damage your teeth since they tend to stay on the teeth longer than other types of food.”*

Who knew, right? All this time I thought I was making a “healthier” choice and I may have been causing just as much damage!

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I had a similar reaction when I read Hosea 2 a few months ago:

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” (Hosea 2:1)

Wait, they loved what? “Cakes of raisins”? I mean, I like a few raisins every once in a while, but I’m not sure I would ever find a whole ‘cake’ of them to be a temptation! Why was this even mentioned?

If you’ve read much of the Old Testament, you know that God’s number one desire for His people was that they would simply worship Him – and then continue to keep Him first in their hearts. Unfortunately, the worship of other gods – often more dramatic and sensuous – proved to be a perpetual source of temptation for them.

Hosea was a messenger sent by God to His people during a time of crisis. Though they had once been a prosperous kingdom, “the more they increased, the more they sinned” (Hosea 4:7) – and their repeated habits of trusting in their own way (10:13) and giving God ‘lip-service’ while giving their hearts to idols (10:4-5) – eventually led to their destruction.

When God instructed Hosea to marry the wayward and adulterous Gomer, He was giving the people an example of His deep love for them – even though they preferred ‘cakes of raisins’ over Him. Of course, it wasn’t the ‘cakes’ themselves that were the problem, there are plenty of references to them being used as everyday food throughout the Bible. The problem was what they represented: the self-indulgence of idol worship.

To God, it wasn’t so much their sin that was the problem, but their love for their sin. They may have occasionally repented and asked for forgiveness, but in the end they still let the ‘cakes of raisins’ stick around. In doing so, they were revealing the condition of their hearts and what they truly loved – which wasn’t God.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”. Sin, like raisins, has a way of “clinging” to us and preventing us from “running the race” as a follower of Jesus. We know that God loves us deeply because He gave His Son so that we could be forgiven and free! But when it comes down to it, we tend to let our sin ‘stick’ around longer than we need to.

For many of us, we let the guilt and shame linger – there’s something about beating ourselves up over our mistakes that makes us think we’ll somehow feel better about them. Some of us cling to rules and ‘trying harder’ – we know we’ve messed up and we don’t want to do it again, so we obsess over sin-prevention. The rest of us get stuck in defeat – using excuses like “This is just who I am” or “It’s not really that bad”.

The thing is that when we turn our focus to the punishment we feel we deserve, we’re no longer worshipping the One who already took the punishment for us. And when we obsess over anything, even sin-prevention, it can easily become the winner of our hearts. Even in resigning to defeat, we’re making the sin what we cherish. We may think we’re making the healthier choice, but God wants so much more for us!

There’s not much I can do about my teeth – my genes have pretty much doomed me to a mouth full of fillings (although this raisin-avoidance thing shouldn’t be too difficult!). But there is something I can do about my sin – I can admit it, receive the forgiveness, and move on. I will slip up and, in moments of weakness, choose self-indulgence, but I also have the choice to not let those moments stick around and drag me down.

Hebrews 9:14 reminds us that “the blood of Christ” has been offered in order to “purify our conscience” so that we can “serve the living God”. As long as we’re still humans living on this planet, we’re going to sin, but the whole point of being saved by Christ is that we’re free. Our sin no longer gets to hold us back from living the full life God has for us!

What sin are you allowing to ‘cling’ to your heart today? Don’t let it stick around! Call it what it is, receive the forgiveness, and let’s get moving!

*American Dental Association (http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/nutrition/food-tips/9-Foods-That-Damage-Your-Teeth)