Do It Anyway

Lately I have been trying to work out more. For the past year the thought of exercise alone has left me tired. I have the "gift of laziness." It is a natural talent that hasn't taken much effort to develop just a lot of time. I was working out yesterday with a friend, and as we were walking around the track. I noticed my sneaker-laces were untied. I didn't feel like taking care of it right away because again I am lazy. Bending over, reaching for my laces, tying them, getting up...really is quite an effort (mostly sarcastic, slightly serious). Well several older women at the gym didn't know that I knew my shoelaces were untied, and that I planned to keep them that way for a while. Probably 4 ladies in a row felt the need to tell me my laces were untied. They didn't know me, but they were afraid I would trip and fall. At the time I thought it was funny how many ladies stopped to tell me about my sneaker-laces. I started to make predictions in my mind about who would comment next. After a couple of minutes I decided it would probably be a smart idea to bend down and tie my sneakers.

I am not big into hyper-spirtualizing things. However, I do believe that God uses common things to reveal Himself. After all He has chosen humans made of dust and dirt to bear His holy image. I love how Jesus taught deep truths through stories. For me it makes the lesson sink further into me, and I remember it more often. 

I began thinking about my untied laces and the ladies who told me about them. As Christ-followers we have a responsibility to tell others about their need for Christ. They may already know their need, but it isn't on their agenda to do anything about it for some time. They want to "live" their lives first, and then come to God "later." We are still supposed to speak with His love and most importantly live in His love. You may be seen as annoying or laughable in this world for speaking the truth to someone in kindness. Do it anyway.

Annoying Know-It-Alls aka Humans

 My pastor talked about an interview he saw on television of Mark Driscoll. Piers Morgan suggested modernizing the Word of God and removing what has become “irrelevant” in our day and age, such as the mention of homosexuality being sinful. Why do we desire to change what we struggle over?  We hate recognizing the limitations of our understanding. We desire to change God to our image rather than let Him mold us in His image. We are so afraid that we cannot comprehend the power and reasoning of God in the Bible, so we would rather remove what we cannot understand with our own human abilities. We project our failings and limitations onto Him. Instead of wrestling and struggling with God over things, bringing it to Him, we erase the questionable material. We label such texts in the Bible as “unworthy,” “outdated,” and “impractical.” It reminds me of a book I had to read in high school called Fahrenheit 451. In that novel books are outlawed. Instead the television ruled the day and age. Sound familiar?

I am struggling with God over certain passages of scripture, but having them erased is not an option. I do not fully understand them and a part of me fears them, but that is okay. That is not abnormal. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts. He is far above me, and with my mind I will never fully understand. This is where faith comes into play. We cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). I have to trust that His intentions are good, and I do. Jesus allowed Himself to be put on a cross because of His great love for us. Nothing but the greatest, most passionate love could endure such suffering. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  

To take out one word of the Bible says that a mistake was made, and God doesn’t and won’t make any mistakes. People make mistakes; we fail and fall short (Romans 3:23). He is blameless, and His Word is blameless. God cannot be separated from His Word because He is His Word (John 1:1). It needs to be made clear. We can NEVER be equal with God.

Ordinary to Extraordinary

This is probably one of my favorite places. It has two things I love: swings and a pond. I have always loved going to the park and playing on the swings. Whenever I go there it just makes me smile for some reason. It's like I go back to being a kid for a few minutes. I find a swing that has a soft creaking sound and take that swing as high as I can go. As I swing I look out at the pond and the day stops moving. Whether on my lunch break, an evening walk, or a weekend visit, happiness lives here for me. Nothing special or life-changing happened here. It's just my own special spot.

Reading through John 4 something new struck out to me about Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Everyday the Samaritan woman had to draw water from the well. I imagine that this was one of her favorite places. It was her time away from people that judged her. Even though she had to go to it in the heat of day, it was her spot to reflect and escape life for a few brief minutes. The peace of that place couldn't follow her back to her home, but the presence of Jesus brought new life. I love how He met her in her happy place. He met her at her own special spot away from the world and the life she created for herself. He called her out on things, but He did it so He could offer her life in abundance. He didn't meet her in a confrontational manner. He did it in and out of love. After meeting Jesus her life changed forever. That day it went from being just HER place to the place where that whole town of people came to know Jesus. Jesus turned her happiness into joy; a joy that followed her from that well into her hometown. I'm sure after that her special place held a new meaning. Jesus took an ordinary task like gathering water for the day, and made it life-altering. Don't you just love Him? :-)

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” John 4:4-7

You can't handle the Truth...or can you?

Tonight I took a walk around my neighborhood. I love walking at night because it is just still. You can hear the wind blow through the trees. Their branches sway and peace resonates over what once was hectic.  When I was in London I enjoyed walking to Waterloo Bridge at night. As they say cities never truly sleep, but a different sort of peace settled over it. A quiet you couldn’t find during the day found its way at dusk. I would just sit on my own little bench and just ponder out the day. I could ask questions I didn’t have time to consider in the middle of the day.

John 3 records a famous conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus. Jesus didn’t get along very well with a group called the Pharisees. In their day it was the ultimate religious clique.  If you have seen the movie Mean Girls they were the Plastics (They didn’t use a slam book, but they literally slammed people) They set the standards for the people, and made an example of those that failed to live up to their standards. They pointed out the weakness in others to try to distract from their own vile habits: pride, greed, and selfishness. Jesus threatened them because he called them out on their hypocritical ways. He saw beyond their “holy” appearances; he saw their hearts. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. To be seen with Jesus was a big time no-no for him, but he had questions and something inside of him said Jesus held the answers. In the cover of night Nicodemus met with Jesus. Nicodemus knew that Jesus was from God, but didn’t know what to make of it. The famously quote John 3:16 comes from their conversation. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The next verse goes on to that God sent His Son to save the world, not to condemn it. What does that really mean? I quote that a lot and I believe it, but what does it look like in my own life? What does it look like in your life? God’s love is for us. It means that God chose us. God wants us. God desires and plans good things for us. When we accept His love for us and the way He showed His Love we receive the ultimate reward: a life with Him, a life with the One who loves and wants us.

Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions, and He answered them; however, Nicodemus didn’t understand. God can handle our questions. He made us. He knows how to answer them. The real question is are our hearts ready to receive the answers. Personal opinion: I don’t think Nicodemus was ready. He wanted to hold onto his pride. He wanted to believe that he could somehow save himself through religious ritual. Today people believe that good works or reliance on their intellect can justify them. Jesus vetoed that idea then and He rejects it now. He said that his belief couldn’t be found in himself. He could only find life through Jesus Christ. Some of you reading this have been looking for the truth for a long time. I pray that you are ready to receive this truth. I also know that some of you will not understand. It doesn’t change the fact that this is the truth. Truth doesn’t become truth simply because somebody believes it. Truth is truth whether you believe it or not. God loved us enough to give of Himself to a world that rejects and hates Him. You may think God is crazy, and you know what you are right. He doesn’t think like us and his ways are not like ours. His ways are better. Much better.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8

Clumsy + Careless= Catastrophic Consequences

 

Have any of you ever broken anything really valuable? As a child I was probably the clumsiest kid you could ever meet. Okay, if I am being real I am still pretty clumsy. One time in particular stands out to me. When I was 12 I accidentally shattered my mom's Lladro. If you don't know what that is just know that it is really expensive and on top of that it had sentimental value to my mom (catastrophic combination!). I remember how it happened so well. I was sitting at the computer with my friend Mattie. I was being stupid and pushing the rolling chair back and making it stand on its wheels. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. That really helps a clumsy girl be more graceful... Needless to say the chair fell completely back and I tried to stabilize myself by grabbing the desk. The shaking desk knocked the Lladro to the ground. I remember watching helplessly from the floor as the Lladro descended in slow motion. All I had to do was reach out and catch it, but nope I was paralyzed. My friend Mattie just stood there. He said he saw it going in slow motion too, but he couldn't move either. I grabbed all the pieces and put them in a box under my bed. I went to find my dad. Before I could my mom walked in the room, BUSTED! I looked at her in shock, tears starting to form. She somehow just knew. She exclaimed, "MY LLADRO!" Yeah that is when I full on ran out the door. I found my dad and he asked if there was anyway we could put it together again (can you tell that this was a conversation me and my dad had often? yeah...) It was shattered, completely broken, beyond repair. My mom accepted my apology and forgave me, but it didn't change the fact that something precious was broken through my careless actions.

At the end of John chapter 2 Jesus full on loses it when He goes into the temple courts. He sees that what should be a place of worship has turned into a mall of sorts. People are using the temple of God to sell cows and sheep! All I can imagine at this moment is how filthy they must have made His House. Animals don't really control their bowels if you catch my drift. Sacrifices had become common business to the people rather than out of a place of repentance and humility. The people clumsily and carelessly had forgotten about the Most High God. They had failed to show Him the adoration that He deserved. They brought unworthy things into His presence, and what should have been a house of prayer became a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13). Instead, of desiring intimacy with God their pocketbooks ruled their lives. Sound familiar?It became more about what the temple could do for them than what they could bring to the temple. The temple of God was built for who? GOD! Today this sentiment still exists. "I don't go to church because it does nothing for ME." Part of the problem is we care too much about ourselves. Our appearances, our reputations, our money, our clothes, our cars, etc. All of those things will one day pass away. We are missing out on something precious by making church about us, and not about going to recognize the greatness of God. John 2:24-25 ends with these verses: "But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person." He didn't trust them because they believed readily in signs and wonders for their own enjoyment and pleasure. They didn't want to know Him and befriend Him. They wanted the spectacular more than they wanted a relationship with Him. 

Unlike my mom's Lladro  this can be fixed and repaired. Through the grace of God He can get the church's focus back to Christ and off ourselves. The only way true peace and joy can be experienced in this life is when we let ourselves go and take the hand of Christ. Jesus allowed His sinless, perfect life to be crushed for our iniquities and our sins. He allowed Himself to be broken, so that our souls could remain intact with Him in eternity. Stop forgetting that! Praise and worship Him for He is worthy! 

"His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:17

Without Blinking an Eye

Woohoo! I woke up. Very excited about this if you can’t tell by the woohooing. I decided to stick with John 1 another day. It is just full of too much awesomeness to only do 1 blog on it. It amazes me how fast the disciples followed Jesus. For what these men would sacrifice to follow Jesus it is humbling to think they went forward without blinking an eye. Sometimes you just know without a doubt that something is right.

I graduated from Florida State University, and I can still remember applying to attend there along with some other colleges. I wanted to go everywhere, but stay in Florida. I applied to a school in Chicago, another in California, and another in New York City. Florida State was my in-state application. When I got the acceptance letter from FSU I knew that was where I was supposed to go, so I moved forward with the next steps. Only things were I had never visited the campus, had no close friends going there, and I didn’t know much about the school or the area in general. Even though it didn’t make much sense “logically,” I just knew that was where I needed to be. Couldn’t really explain it with words. Couldn’t justify it on my own.

When two of John’s disciples heard him say that Jesus was the Lamb of God they followed Jesus (1:35-37). No hesitation. I firmly believe that God set a peace in their hearts because he knew them. Many others would come to him and express with words no hesitation, but with one question Jesus would reveal how much they wavered. They also couldn’t keep the joy they had found to themselves (41-45). They weren’t even full-fledged disciples themselves, but they had to go out and make more! What they had been waiting for had finally arrived! Nathanael’s response is probably one of my favorites. When he is told about Jesus he says, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (46). Then he is easily swayed over when Jesus reveals where he was sitting before he was approached. In response Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man” (50-51). More amazing things are to come from our discipleship under Christ. More amazing than even our conversions. Carry that with you today. The best is yet to come.

Words Matter

I’ve decided this morning that I am going to go through the book of John on this blog. With God’s help, a loud alarm clock, and strong tea/coffee I want to start off the day reading the Word of God and meditating on it. I am good at reading the Bible…you know the Speedy Gonzalez approach of checking it off my list and going about my day. That simply isn’t enough.

The first chapter of John is packed with application. I almost want to spend a week on John 1 alone. I might split the chapter into parts. Every time I read this chapter something new can be discovered. John 1:1-5 consistently stands out to me. If you don’t know me, let me tell you about my love of words. I LOVE words! I love to sing them, rhyme them, turn them into metaphors or similes, speak in hyperboles, encourage others through them, challenge them to go deeper, use them to make people laugh, etc. Words and me go way back, but not as far as the Word and God.

John 1:1-5 basically says God is His Word. God brought forth the world with words. Genesis 1:3 records that God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He cannot be separated from His Word. That is why there is one thing that God can’t do. He cannot break His Word because it is who He is. John 1:14 describes Jesus as “the Word [that] became flesh and dwelt among us.” Really take time to consider what this means. If Christ Followers are called to be like Jesus and His Word is the same as whom He is, then we should reflect on what our words say about us. We need to mind our tongue. Words bring life or death. If you speak lovingly, then you are love. If you speak profanely, then you are vulgar. Matthew 15:18 says, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’.” What do your word choices, promises, vows say about you?