Dead Sea or Living Waters?

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” —Matthew 16:24-27

A few miles south of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth—1,476 feet below sea level. Six and a half million tons of water flow into it every day from the Jordan River. But the Dead Sea has no outlet. Everything flows in—nothing flows out. Because of that, the water has become incredibly salty and absolutely nothing can live there. Plant life cannot exist. If a fish flows into the Dead Sea, it dies almost immediately. The whole thing is completely dead.

A lot of Christians are just like the Dead Sea; stuff flows into them like crazy, but nothing flows out. The way to grow spiritually is not to pack every study, every sermon, and every lesson into your skull and store it. You might think you are some great Bible scholar but more Bible information in your cranium than anyone around does not make you spiritually strong. You’ve got to transfer truth to others in order for it to make a difference in your own life by living your faith out loud. Maybe that’s the reason why many don’t have a clue what it means to live in the Lord’s strength. They hoard their knowledge of Christ and salvation rather than sharing it with a neighbor, co-worker, and family…every nation, tongue and creature. Sound familiar?

How about this: find someone next week and entrust to them an insight God has shown you. Talk about what you’re learning in your Christian life over lunch or in a phone call. How about it? Don’t become ‘The Dead Sea’ of the Word. Jesus taught His disciples and told them to go tell everyone else what He shared with them. Jesus is alive! The Word is alive! Keep it flowing in and out of you. Be a living witness in the dead world around you.

Fresh Word of Restoration

There are times in our lives when people or situations ‘pop up’ seemingly out of nowhere that bring a fresh insight or word of encouragement just when we need them. These are ‘divine appointments’ I believe God brings to us. He gave me a fresh insight through the words of another Christian blogger and His holy word this morning. I relished it over and over. I had to read it several times to make sure I was getting what I thought I was getting from it. It was so simple, so pure and so…GOD…that I thought surely I was reading more into it than was actually there. I was wrong. In its simplicity, the complexity of pain, angst and ugliness of human sin melted away. I was set free from a lifetime of feeling inadequate and ‘not as good as’ because of sins done against me.

We are unable to purify ourselves from the stain of our sin; and only He can heal us of the shame of sins against us. There are the words that moved me so this morning. Only He can heal us of the shame of sins against us. Intellectually, I may have known that but this morning it penetrated deep within my spirit and touched the wounded soul within. I wore a robe of shame most of my life. My first awareness of this rag was as a child in elementary school when my brother and I were the only kids from a divorced family at our new school in small town Texas. We were different and we knew it. It felt ugly and shameful. I was eight years old when I first believed I wasn’t as good as the other kids because of it.

Sin is a give and take ordeal. We do it; it is often done to us. Even if it wasn’t your “fault”, the sins done to you can leave you under a heavy weight of shame and filth. It is no easier to bear as an adult than a little girl, the rag grows heavier. You wish you could wash yourself both from the outside and from the inside… but you can’t. You’re not able to. God Almighty, however, can. He is able to purify us, both from the sins we have committed and from the shame and pain left by sins that have been committed against us.

Jude 24-25 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

God is all-powerful. We might try to describe that with all sorts of theologically sounding words or with earthly analogies, but the fact is this: He is able to do far above and beyond anything that we can imagine or think—He joyfully presents us blameless before Himself because of who He has made us to be in Christ. I had full understanding, trust and belief that He has cleansed me from MY sin and I knew He used me for His purposes in spite of myself; that is even part of my testimony when ministering. I completely believed He used the ugliness of my life to help me witness to others and was grateful for it. Knowing He used it for His glory, turning the evil for good made it all worthwhile in my mind. ‘He is able to purify us…from the shame and pain left by sins that have been committed against us’ was my gift and lesson this morning.

Never think you have such knowledge of the Word of God that you can’t learn something new, fresh and timely. It truly is too incredible to fully understand. What can we do but kneel with our hearts and hands raised toward heaven in worship and thanks?

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, today, I thank You for the amazing grace You have poured out on me. Thank You for cleansing me of my sin. Thank You for healing me from the sins committed against me. You and You alone are worthy of glory, majesty, authority, and worship. I give that to You now. Amen.

What are You Packing?

Have you heard the statement, “Everywhere you go, there you are.”? Basically, it is saying don’t expect circumstances to be different just because you change locations (jobs, spouses, etc.); you take your issues and attitudes with you everywhere you go. You live in a state of ‘Déjà vu’ and start to think the whole universe is against you because the same problems keep coming around thwarting your efforts at a better life. Every job is filled with employers and co-workers that are out to get you. Every man/woman with which you’ve ever been involved used and abused you. Every landlord you ever had demanded the rent no matter how bad things were going for you. Every time you start to see the light at the end of the tunnel you realize it is a train speeding toward you. The world just will not give you a break!  

I, myself, have proclaimed several times in the last few months, “Nothing is ever easy!” It’s human nature to want things to run our way, a smooth path with no speed bumps on the road to happiness. I’m here to reinforce the fact that there is no such road. Happiness is not a destination, there is not a road sign stating you’ve crossed over in the city limits of Happiness, population 120,000. The city of Happiness will not descend from the sky in a foggy cloud like the mystical village of Brigadoon. Even if it should, if you walked the streets of Happiness, you would find employers and coworkers out to get you because ‘everywhere you go, there you are.’

We take our selfishness, attitudes of entitlement, sin, angst and anger, our scars and battle wounds with us everywhere we go. Some wear them like badges for the entire world to see. Others may have them packed away but will quickly pull out the baggage to show you so you will know just how badly life has treated them. Others stuff them down inside their hearts till it is hardened and calloused with the burden. They may laugh and be frivolous on the outside but behind the façade, a wounded, damaged human lurks just waiting for the next assault. The mother of all roots, Bitterness, grows with wild abandon as a new layer of ‘victim’ coats their lives and they come out swinging.

That paints a bleak and dark picture, doesn’t it? Sadly, it is an accurate description of the human condition without Christ. We see the world and all its evil as a mountain in our way on the road to Happiness.

However, with Christ… For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says [Mk 11:23, Matt 21:21, Matt 17:20, Lk 17:6].

But You, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for Your name’s sake; out of the goodness of Your love, deliver me. For I am poor and needy and my heart is wounded within me.
Psalm 109:21,22

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:35-37)

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me....Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation" Psalms 51:10;12)

"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2)

So, if everywhere you go, there you are…what are you packing to take with you? We get to choose, you know. As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord…not negative humanity.

Forgiveness is Serious Business

Proverbs 17:9 He who covers over an offense promotes love ...

This morning I headed to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and saw some tasks I had ‘intended’ to do last night staring at me, quite undone this morning. I was miffed at myself about it but promptly justified it. In a matter of seconds I saw the offense, justified it and blew it off. I even tossed in a quick, “Sorry, Lord” for good measure. Then it came…tap, tap, tap.

I hung my head, not because my offense was so dastardly, but because of the nonchalant attitude about letting myself off the hook and less than sincere apology to my Lord. “Really, Girlie, you’re gonna get flippant to the Lord as the start to your day?” You see, if you dismiss your wrongs and failings without so much as a nod of the head, you are setting up a pattern of easily skating through life. Little things become big things and your ‘get off the hook’ card gets bent with so much use…or is that abuse?

You might think this is a bit overboard, it was after all just a few tasks left undone, but follow the line of thinking. I’m not saying we should beat ourselves up over every little thing. I am saying we need to be accountable, as Christians, and not give ourselves permission to slack off when we would surely hold the next guy’s feet to the fire. You might be thinking this doesn’t apply to you. Really? Look around. When was the last time you heard of, saw or had knowledge of something someone had done wrong and made your mind up about the penalty that person should be dealt, yet, you quickly justified your own? Hmmm….  

But, you may say, Jesus paid for our sins and we are forgiven. We are much quicker to forgive ourselves than we are the next guy that offends us. Jesus gives us stern and uncompromising warnings about forgiveness.  

First, we must not try to minimize or dismiss the offense as if it never happened. If it hurts, then we must face it and feel it. A common misconception that keeps people from forgiving is that they think in order to forgive they must come to the place where they look upon the things done to them as being really not that bad. That is excusing, not forgiving.

C. S. Lewis says: "Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it. That, and only that, is forgiveness."

Second, we must see that forgiveness is not an emotional thing (though it can affect the emotions), but a matter of the will. It is making the decision that the wrong done against you will not count or cause a separation. In making that decision, remember you have all the resources of God available to you. This applies not just to minor matters like snubs, but major matters. The task of forgiving must be more than a match for the magnitude of the pain involved. Our text today makes clear that a choice is involved. No matter how we are wronged, we can choose out of a desire for love to forgive. Jesus Christ looked into the eyes of those who hammered Him to a cross and cried: "Father, forgive them."

Motivation Check

I sit on my couch writing this today. My plans were to be in another town visiting with family. My circumstances changed, thus the plans needed revision. Yesterday, I felt a bit bewildered by the circumstance change. I was disappointed I was not going to be able to see all the people I love that I had planned to visit. This morning, the holy tap came as instructions; Check your motivation. I’d like to say I didn’t know what that meant, but I did.

Not only did the ‘holy tap’ bring up the subject, but in my daily reading…there it was, everywhere I turned. Such a God thing.

My list of Pro’s and Con’s for making the trip looked something like this:

Pro’s – A chance to see an aunt that is seriously ill               

            Get to see all my older relatives on one trip              

            No job yet, good time to go

            Plans for pup care worked out

            Time away from computer would rest injured elbow

Con’s – No job yet, can’t afford to go

            So much work to do on house repair

As you can see, far more Pro’s than Con’s. I made plans to go. I was excited.

Then, night before last, a dental issue hit the crisis management point. I knew I should not try to go out of town because of the uncertainty and potential pain involved.

The holy tap, in the bright light of this clear morning, brought home my questionable intent. All my Pro’s are good reasons, they are not anti-scriptural, and are circumstantially agreeable. Good to go.

Here’s the catch; the trip would validate feelings I have been fighting in making decisions for my life. Going to that ‘safe place in the bosom of family’ would foster my need for a sense of security, the warm fuzzy comfort zone which takes some of the scary out of new direction. It would encourage to me to follow MY desires for my life over waiting for God’s plan.

I was busted by God and I knew it. He didn’t cause the dental issue. It is a consequence of years of bad dental decisions on my part. He did, however, tap me on the shoulder to point out what we both knew; I was playing on powerful emotions, counting on them to sway me, rather than waiting on my Lord. Motivational trickery is not a good thing, most especially when you use it on yourself. Thank you, Lord, for keeping me honest, my accounts short, and focused on Your will, not mine.