God’s Revealed Word

God’s Word is an amazing gift of revelation. He wants us to know Him, so He revealed Himself through the written word and through His Son the living word. Amazingly He transforms our minds and our hearts, He gives us the ability to grasp and understand something of the depths of who He is. I’ve been reading little bits of Psalm 119 this week, and I’ve been encouraged by the psalmists example. He seeks the Lord diligently and looks to the Word for answers in all sorts of moods, he is both frank and honest, while being consistently thankful. I’ve always seen the Psalm as a tribute to God’s Word, but this week I’m noticing that it’s a portrait of His character as well.

Let’s help each other remember that God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. “How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart” (Psalm 119:2).

The Fog

Admittedly, a 7:30am Greek class isn’t, in and of itself, all that appealing. It requires that I crawl out of bed before 5:30 aim my Beetle for seminary before the sun comes up, and use my pitifully weak brain in ways that feel impossible so early in the day. However, there’s nothing quite as beautiful as the sun peering over the horizon in brilliant hues of morning color. One long stretch of my drive lifts and falls along a country highway and passes over Falls Lake. Often blankets of fog, settled just above the still water, linger until the sun is warm enough to melt them away. It’s as if the lake huddles under the warmth of nature’s blanket not quite ready for the day to begin. I’ve come to look forward to the stretch of road that awaken my heart to worship and as I watch God’s creation greet the day.

This morning I’m home, enjoying Easter Break. As the 9:30am sun warmed my face , I  listened to Pandora and Tenth Avenue North’s, “By Your Side.” The words caused me to reflect on the fog that blankets my heart sometimes. My heart strives, tries, searches,  for what is already mine in Jesus because of the cross and as a result of the resurrection. I need to wake up, throw the blankets aside, and look!

“Look at these hands at my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world’s sin
So I could carry you in and give you life
I wanna give you life.”

As I read the Word the brilliance of the gospel burst through as I read Paul’s closing word to the Romans:

“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all nations, leading to obedience of faith. To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 16:25-27).”

Restoration

My studies this term include Old Testament prophets like Joel and Obadiah, Amos and Hosea, Micah and Isaiah. I’m learning things like the progressive nature of prophecy, the test of a true prophet, the Hebrew literary style called a chiasm, the theology of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

As I continue to learn from and study the OT I just can’t get over the grace of God. While the heart of the prophetic message centers about Israel’s idolatry and faithlessness to the Mosaic Covenant, their religious formalism, and social injustice, the warnings always include future hope and restoration.

Israel is described as stubborn, stiff-necked, and hard-hearted, and as a nation never turns back to God.

God, however, remains faithful to His Covenant. He remains faithful to His word and His promises. It’s remarkable to watch history unfold through the Old Testament and to see the thread of promise that points to Jesus Christ – whose death paid the price for sin, whose resurrection ensures new life and complete restoration – for Israel and for us.

Micah 7:18-19 speaks, beautifully, about God’s forgiveness and points to the hope such forgiveness brings. God pardons idolatry, faithlessness, injustice and casts sin into the depth of the sea, throws it as far as the east is from the west, forgives and forgets, makes all things new, and restores. Not only in the now, but also in the not yet.

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity
And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in unchanging love.
He will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquities under foot.
Yes, You will cast all their sins
Into the depths of the sea.

 

 

Who Do You Adore?

ἁγιάζω : I sanctify: I revere, adore in such a way that dispels all fear of man.

So, I’m blogging away about idolatry, rejection while preparing a talk on I Peter 3:15 – “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart always being ready to make a defense for the hope that is in you.” Or, as I’ve learned from my study of the Greek: “Revere and adore Christ in such a way that dispels all fear of man.” In the context of the chapters and verses leading up to this it’s clear that the process of setting Christ apart as Lord has a lot to do with relating to people. Not always, but quite often. Hmm, what a coincidence.

I think it’s safe to say that sometimes, due to sin in relationships we rebel against Christ’s lordship. We refuse to call Him Lord. We suffer for the sake of doing wrong rather than the sake of doing the right thing for Him. We are convinced that if we relinquish control then He’ll ask even more from us. We dig our claws in even deeper and hang on to our low-budget version of the “good life” – we don’t want to let go of the reins.

Sometimes we’re reluctant to submit to Him. We don’t feel loveable, we believe the lie that slinks around in the shaded corners of our hearts and accuses us of being worthless. We are quite certain that every pair of eyeballs does the once-over and decides, “She’s a loser.” Why do we believe the lie? He calls us to something so much more.

Sometimes we’re resistant. It’s easier to throw a pity party than celebrate the beauty of perfect grace and love. We settle for a poorly painted facade of happiness; we risk nothing and protect ourselves from a deeper satisfaction. We’d rather stay mad. “I deserve to be treated thus and so.”

The cadence of I Peter beats with God’s grace, forgiveness, resurrection, sacrifice.

HIS for us.

“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense, to give an account, for the hope that is in you.” The hope Peter describes, repeatedly, as living, and forever and is elsewhere characterized as never disappointing,  a sure and steadfast hope in the now and the not yet, anchored in Jesus Christ.

Are you rebelling, reluctant, resistant…?

Sanctify – revere, adore in such a way that dispels all fear of man – Christ as Lord.

On Rejection

It occurred to me that often the reach for approval is often motivated by the fear of rejection. We keep the Idol of Approval perfectly placed, front and center, to remind us to work hard to avoid the “brush off.” Very few of us enjoy being on the outside of the crowd, the last one chosen for the team, some guy’s second choice, or the after-thought for a party invite.

In recent days I’ve had to wrestle with rejection. I’ve felt confused, hurt, angry, sad, small, and like an outsider. I’ve wracked my brains, “What did I do?” I feel stupid for not “reading between the lines” all along.

I’ve been praying for wisdom while in my dark heart I flip-flop between extending grace and feeding the root of bitterness. My flesh wants to abandon ship, walk away and never turn back.

But, the Spirit urges me to a deeper place. “Sanctify – set apart – Christ as Lord in your heart” (I Peter 3:15). “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruit, unwavering and without hypocrisy or fraud” (James 3:17-18). “Be devoted to one another in love” (Romans 12:10).

The Lord calls us to a life far different than the world around us. The life of the believer is one that is transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit and is able to persevere, to love, to extend grace in the face of rejection.

Experience tells me we will come to intersections like this throughout our lives. We will face situations where we must acknowledge the idol and the temptation to bow down, to give in, to serve our flesh. When we do we must remember: When we are weak He is strong.

“Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou has brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by the mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox, that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that the bear the cross is to ear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the depper the wells the brighter thy stars shine; let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my povery, thy glory in my valley” (Taken from: Valley of Vision-A collection of Puritan prayers)

 

 

Of Mouse & Monaco

Last night while reading about general revelation I sensed movement in my periphery. “Surely not,” said I to myself. But, I glanced, only to see the perfect silhouette of a medium-sized, smokey grey, long-tailed, mickey ear’d mouse against my ivory covered footstool. The irony.

I froze. The mouse darted under the stool, and then I hollered (I refrained from screaming), “BAHHHHB?! Can you come here for a minute? I saw a mouse!” He came quickly and stood in the doorway, safely and at a great distance from the sighting, and asked me if I was sure it was a mouse.

With my knees tucked under my chin, my eyes darting to and fro, my skin crawling, I answered, “Yes I am sure” (my eyes just rolled).

You see, we live in a new, third floor condo. Our first floor neighbors have had some mouse troubles lately, so we weren’t completely surprised…but still. I started thinking the worst, “Where there’s one mouse there’s 20 more.” I envisioned families of mice crawling between the walls in search of a warm, snuggly place to nest. I did take solace in the fact that there’s almost no food in the house.

Anyway, Bob sought our neighbor’s advice and borrowed all their devices – traps that simply trap the rat…I mean mouse, a plug-in thingamagig that makes noise only a mouse can hear, and hates.

After we gingerly overturned the stool, inspected under every piece of furniture, and used our CSI flashlight to inspect the most obscure corners, shook out our shoes, we slathered the traps with peanut butter, positioned them strategically, and went to bed.

At about 1:30am the trap clicked and our victim was caged. Creepy.

This morning brave Bob took it with him on his way to Walmart (where he bought steel wool to fill any holes and poison for future intruders). Our little pest was released into a whole new field. Lucky duck.

Bob returned home and sealed a nice sized hole behind the stove, and we hope that’s the end of it.

So, I got up at 5:00am because I didn’t sleep much after the little bugger was captured. Bob never went back to sleep. Then, I got to school late, forgot my glasses, took a Greek quiz and could barely see. Last evening and today was completely thrown off-kilter — all because of a tiny weeny little mouse.

But, we are getting to know our neighbors!

I found this little saying that doesn’t give me a whole lot of comfort, but it did make me laugh: “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”

Topple the Idol of Approval

For weeks I’ve been unable to shake a comment I heard on talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, “on loan from God (so he says)” with some sense of sincerity said that he wished he could give all of his friends the gift of “not caring about what others think.” He, of course, doesn’t struggle with approval (or so he says) BUT, what struck me squarely between the eyes is the fact that I’ve been given the gift of God’s approval, through Jesus Christ, who is the one and only source of God’s approval. In the grand scheme of life and death and eternity, His approval is the only thing that matters.

Nearly every day I fight the Idol of Approval. Did I do well enough in class to gain the respect of my professor? Am I doing as well as the kid sitting next to me? Will Bob be frustrated with me if I don’t perform in school? Do the women in my small group think highly of me? Do I dress trendy enough, is my hair styled the right way? If I park in the spot closest to the door will my neighbor dislike me? Does the other neighbor think I’m weird?

I may not have an idol carved from wood placed carefully on a shelf to remind me to worship approval. I wouldn’t be so obvious, instead I kick it around. I try to hide it, but it’s there tempting me and my thoughts – especially my thoughts. It comes easily for me, and I hate it.

Why do we care what other people think? Why isn’t enough to know that God Himself loves us? Well, we have to face it, we are at our very core narcissistic, shrink-wrapped in self, the kings and queens of our domain. It’s the natural way we lean, it’s proof positive that we are sinful.

I hate to admit it, but I’m convinced the Lord used Rush Limbaugh (of all people) to rattle my self-centered cage. As a child of God I have every reason to rid myself of the idol of approval. Rush Limbaugh can’t ever give anyone that gift, but Jesus can and did because he deserves 100% of my worship.

So, I confessed my sin, again. Then, I’ve begun to simply replace the lies with the truth. I’ve been taking my thoughts captive instead of letting them dominate. So, when I start clenching my teeth, obsessing about something I said or did, replaying conversations in my head – I start reciting Scripture. Trading the lie for the truth…the truth about me in Christ, but more importantly, the truth about Him and who He is. Can I say – it has made a huge difference. Scripture sets my mind on Him, which brings relief and freedom.

He alone is worthy of all worship, and glory, and honor, and praise.

¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶ for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together. (Colossians 1:15-17 NLT)

He toppled the idol at the cross.

 

 

What I learned today in Greek…

So, it’s the “J-Term” and in three weeks I’ll finish the equivalent of a semester’s worth of Greek…I hope. My brain and my body is revolting against a full day of studying…it liked doing very little for three weeks.

So, among a bunch of other stuff that I’m momentarily avoiding, I learned today a more accurate translation of John 3:16: “For God loved the world in such a way that He gave His only begotten Son….” The emphasis being not so much on God’s love for the world but rather on the gift of His Son. Of course my ability to translate Greek into English is less probably less than kindergarten level, so I’m grateful for my prof who’s a pro. He shares all kinds of cool stuff like this with us. Motivates me to plug along.

Such discoveries make finger cramps and brain fatigue worth it.

A Clean Slate and Forgiveness

I blogged about a clean slate last night – that freshly erased board of life that allows for fresh starts – like a brand new year. Every single one of us have started the first day of a whole new year.

There is something that I am confident about as I begin 2012 and that is God’s forgiveness. Not because I’ve lived a particularly good 2011, nor because I’m so sure that in 2012 I’ll do better somehow. My confidence rests in what God did for me through Jesus Christ. He paid the penalty for all of my sin – past, present, and future – His payment cancelled out any degree held against me, His death paid the bill in full.

However, this incredible and absolute truth, this gift of God’s love and forgiveness doesn’t always permeate my every day life. Tim Keller, quoting John Newton, said, “You know you’re holding on to remnants of a legalistic and childish view of Christ’s forgiveness when you’re overly sensitive to criticism (me), when you find repentance difficult and galling (yep), or when you’re insecure about how you’re being perceived (does he follow me around?). He goes on to say that these attitudes reveal that we’re not living in light of God’s forgiveness, love, and acceptance, and shows “works righteousness” still clinging to our souls, instead of depending upon the might and power of His name. Hmm, maybe I don’t really comprehend a clean slate in the deepest sense of the word.

So, at the top of my 2012 list I’m going to add: “Live – in my head and my heart, in my relationships – in the blazing truth of His forgiveness – given to me freely and at great cost.”

 

 

 

A Clean Slate

,

It’s almost a new year. I’ve always liked starting fresh, starting over, starting anew. There’s nothing quite like a clean slate.

This year I’m going to embrace where God has me – I wear myself out when I compare , I twist my stomach into knots when I strive, strive, strive, and I drive myself insane because I fall short of lofty goals.

So, upon reflection, I’m deciding right here and right now – this year will be different!

I don’t want to miss those little moments when God whispers in my (nearly deaf) ear. I want to hear His voice. I’m more and more convinced than ever that it’s loudest in the written form. Oh may His Word be like honey to my lips – savored and swished, tasted and enjoyed, then swallowed in such a way that changes me from the inside out.

2012 marks 30 years of marriage. So, I want to make this a year of 1000 thank yous. I owe at least that many to Bob for being more than a perfect husband, and 1000 more to the Lord for knowing how perfectly suited we’d be. Marriage is a mysterious thing and so worth preserving – I’m going to treasure mine this year. 

I am determined to exercise regularly – without pulling a muscle or breaking my neck.

I hope to write something meaningful, and see my hair grow three more inches.

I plan to do produce something lasting to give to my niece for her graduation, and frame a cherry pie recipe written by my mom. I miss my mom.

By this time next year, then on the cusp of 2013, I hope to be half-way through seminary and a whole lot smarter, even though the first three weeks of 2012 include intensive Greek, which may do me in. I want to persevere through the next three weeks, and the 49 that follow, with grace and patience, discipline and balance, joy and laughter, and straight A’s.  

Yet, even as I type these words and make these plans and set these goals, I’m so very well aware of the fact that I have no idea what tomorrow holds – let alone even one of the next 365 days. So, by faith I wipe the slate clean and begin anew.

And just so you know…we just received a text from our favorite young friends, “We need you at our New Year’s Eve party!” So, maybe we’ll throw convention to the wind and change from our pj’s back into our jeans and end one year and start the other with a party.