Gentle Answers

"A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger," the Bible says. (Proverbs 15:1) And yet, how often do we respond to situations with humility, graciousness, and love? Maybe if more of us did, the hate that exists in the world would not be so great.

Of course, there are those people in the world, that no matter what you do or say, are simply  just going to be hateful. And not like you. And say mean things about you. But ya know what, those people are really the ones missing out in life. Those are the ones, that to me, have completely missed the point of life. The only thing to do for those people is to feel sorry for them, pray for them, and leave them to God.

But I have noticed, over the past decade or so, that praying for the people that you are in conflict with creates a love for them that goes beyond understanding. When we ask that their hearts remain open, that the words we speak to them will be received well, and that God will do a work of restoration...whether that is a day, two weeks, or two years from now...then God usually does what He does best. And that's redeem, restore, and resurrect the dead and lifeless things in our lives, relationships, and hearts.

Just today, I had the opportunity to get back at someone. But the Bible says, "Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it." (1 Peter 3:9 NLT)

So what did I do? I smiled at her and laughed at a joke she made. And ya know what, her face brightened and she seemed to have an extra skip in her step. Who knows? Maybe she was waiting for me to lay the smack down. Or maybe she just had a really bad day the other day when I felt mistreated. Who knows. Only God does. A bad day doesn't excuse bad behavior. But being treated badly by someone does not excuse my treating them badly in return.

"Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing." Proverbs 12:18

Maybe the world's answer would have been different. Maybe I should have made a snarky comment or ignored the person. Maybe I should have tried to undermine her character with others. But we are supposed to be different than the rest of the world. We are supposed to be known by our love. We encourage, we lift up, we bring life to people. We heal. If we call ourselves Christians, we have a higher calling. And I am going to start trying to live up to it a little harder, one small choice--one gentle answer--at a time.

Enduring Promise

"For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." Hebrews 10: 36 (NASB)

I know I shared in a blog a few weeks ago that I had not heard very much about the promises of God until recent years. Now, the topic is blowing up Christian author's books, pages, blogs, and posts. Pastors that I have listened to for years are doing sermons about God's promises to us. My mother wrote something interesting lately on her blog--that there are between 300 and 30,000 promises from God in the Bible. Wow!

But one thing to think about, when we are contemplating the beautiful, comforting, and encouraging promises of God is...what do we do to receive these promises? I think this verse puts it fairly clearly.

We endure. We do the will of God. And we trust that someday, we will receive what God has promised.

But why is it that it seems like the culmination  and consummation of our hopes is so far away? Or maybe it seems that God puts us through a whole lot of fire first?

I can't really answer that. Except that it is the way God has worked since the beginning. Abraham and Sarah had to wait until they were a century old to receive the promised child. Isaac was 40 and Rebekah is thought to be around 23 (ancient for a woman back then to get married) when they tied the knot. Hannah prayed for years for her son, Samuel, to be born even while her husband had a hard time understanding why he wasn't enough for her. Joseph waited 13 years, through prison and trying circumstances, before he was made second to Pharaoh in Egypt. The Israelites waited 40 years to enter the promised land. The Jews waited for thousands of years for the Messiah. Jesus waited 30 years before His ministry began. And we continue to wait, 2,000 years later with anxious expectation, for His second coming.

There may be a lot of reasons that God works this way. Part of it may be timing. If Abraham and Sarah had given birth to Isaac 60-70 years before they did, he'd have been really old when Rebekah was 23. Samuel was born at a time when Eli needed someone to train up to take over after him because Eli's sons were so evil, and when Samuel was in his old age, he was the one that God chose to anoint David as king. Thinking of that kind of gives me chills.

So, trusting in God's timing seems like it would be a good thing.

Also, I believe that there are developments in our lives, both in the outward and in the spiritual, that build up like premises to a certain conclusion. God is doing things in our lives and in our spirits to prepare us for the promised outcome. Sometimes, when we think we are ready, we really are not. And sometimes when we think we are not ready, God is ready to push us out of our comfort zone into His ultimate will for our lives. If Joseph had not been sold into slavery by his brothers, he would not have worked in Potiphar's house. If he had not worked in Potiphar's house, he would not have been approached by his wife. If Potiphar's wife had not approached him, he would never have gone to jail. If he had never had gone to jail, he would not have interpreted the baker and the butler's dreams. If he had not interpreted those dreams, he would not have been remembered two years later (TWO years later) to interpret the Pharaoh's dreams. If he hadn't interpreted the Pharaoh's dreams, he would never have become second to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. If he had never become second in the land of Egypt, he would not been able to save his family from starvation during the famine. 

And yet, I'm sure when Joseph was going through all that, he may not have understood why or what God was doing. But he trusted God. And followed Him through everything. And God led him to where and who he was supposed to be.

I can't really answer all the questions of life, but I do know this: God has a purpose for you on this Earth. If you are alive, He has a reason for you being here. So look up. Ask Him what He would have you do. It may take some time, but if you follow the steps He lays out, you will eventually reach your destination. We may not all end up advisors to Kings, but we will be living the very life that God has given us to live. And why would we want anything else but that?

Enduring the race, we look to the end. And there at the finish line, Jesus stands waiting with open arms. Because He is our ultimate promise. He is our ultimate prize. I don't know about you, but I'm going to do my utmost to keep trying to get to Him. Even if I don't understand everything along the path to Him. Because it's my path--the one He laid out for me. I don't have to look to anyone else's path. Only mine. And if I endure my own race to the finish line, what an unbelievable glorious uncomprehensible fulfillment of His Promise at the end!
 

Unveil My Face & Make Me Up



A complete makeover. That's what I need.

And although I might need a few tweaks here and there when it comes to my style, that's not quite what I mean. But I do need someone to make me up.

The Bible says, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV) The New Living Translation is also a cool way to read this verse: "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."

That's the makeover I'm talking about--being changed into the image of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

And wow, I have a lot of work still to be done! But the good news is, my true face--the one that I was created to have--has been unveiled. Sin has fallen away and God is transforming me. It may be a slower process than He might like some of the time. But the process is underway.

I'm not sure about you, but I am making imperfect progress along the way of my sanctification. But that's okay. Most of us probably are. God understands that we are human--that we are "only dust." But if we, as Christians, are not constantly trying to improve ourselves--cut out those few words that slip out, forgive that person that slighted you, make an effort to be self-sacrificial when you want to be selfish, cut the ties to something that you know is holding you back from a pure heart or mind, and even consider if there is anything that you are doing that might not be conducive to honoring Christ, knowing Him, and expanding His kingdom...then what are we doing? Are we only playing at being Christians? Is His grace active in us or is it, truly, in vain?

Wow. Yikes. We have a high calling, don't we? But how glorious--to have that calling, to have that hope, to know that He is patient enough to still work on us.

As I said last time, the Bible says our "righteousness is as filthy rags." So, even our very best is, simply put, not good enough. We need the covering--the cloak--of Christ's perfect righteousness to be able to enter the presence of God. Otherwise, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I'd be struck down by lightening. So, thank God that He had the perfect plan for an Intercessor--Someone that would take our place and plead our case before Him.

But in this life on Earth, the truth is, we are just flawed people. Our flesh haunts us, and until we are in our eternal body, we will continue to have fits with ourselves.

There is one good thing about our imperfection, even as we strive for better and continue to be transformed into His image--there is no danger in leading people to ourselves as the example. It is always Christ that is Who we should be pointing people to. At least until we think we are like Paul, that is. I think he did tell people to do like he did if they wanted an example to immolate. But I am not Paul yet. I'm not sure that many of us are. And even he admitted that he was the chief of sinners. Christ, alone, was righteousness personified.

I think that "working out our salvation" is the process of our sanctification. We show in deed and word, in continuing to be transformed into the image of Christ, that we are, indeed, saved.

Because if our deeds do not line up with what we say that we believe, especially over a long period of time, I think a serious questioning needs to occur--are we even believers in the first place? Why would we say that we have taken up the cross of Christ, have died to ourselves, and live now only for Him....only to do the very exact things that He tells us not to? And if you are in sin, especially grievous sin, and you are not constantly haunted by it and moving toward repentance--I think that you have some serious praying and seeking to do.

We all have some serious praying and seeking to do, no matter where we are on the scale or pendulum swing toward our eventual completion and perfection in Christ (which I don't believe will be completely fulfilled until we are out of these fleshly bodies as mentioned earlier). But we all need to ask the Lord where we are failing Him and where we can let some things go or improve our character.

I don't want to arrive in the presence of the Lord someday and see His eyes filled with disappointment. That would break my heart. I want for Him, someday, to see me as His handmaiden, that walked, lived, prayed, believed, and worked out her salvation with sincerity of heart, knowing all the while that without His blood and grace, I wouldn't be able to face him at all. But still, to please the Lord with who I am and how I live my life, is there any greater joy?

I read somewhere that our job is to be obedient and that His job is everything else. So, let's take some steps of obedience today, shall we? And leave the consequences with Him, knowing that partaking in His glory will be so much more, so much a better replacement for whatever we let go of, that we might very well be taken under by His faithfulness to us.

Enough

The truth is, I am not good enough. And neither are you.

None of us are. The Bible says that even "our righteousness is as filthy rags." Thank God for His grace, right? And the covering of His blood. It is because He took our place--our punishment--that we can take on His cloak of righteousness. He made a pretty incredible trade for us. Taking our death so that we could take part of His glory.

And it is His blood, His grace, His breath of life in us, that makes us good. Enough for Him. Enough for everyone else.

Enough for me.

Ouch, that is hard one. I have to write that out with gritted teeth. Maybe this is more of a female thing, but I think both sexes deal with it. We want everyone else to treat us like we think we deserve but we don't treat ourselves very nicely. We say negative things about ourselves, sometimes even out loud.

I am going to challenge myself and everyone reading this blog to not say one negative thing about yourself or over yourself for the next week. From January 8th to January 15, there can be no "I am such an idiot," "I'm a mess," "I can't do that," or  even "I don't like that mole," "I'm having a bad hair day," or "I wish I had smaller, bigger, better _________."

For one week, only say the things that God says about you. I am "fearfully and wonderfully made," "a child of God," "His beloved," "a co-heir with Christ," and a "friend of God."

God is for us and not against us. So, maybe we shouldn't be either. Maybe we should trust God--that what He says about us is true. Just maybe...if we try to believe Him instead of Satan, at the end of the week, our attitudes, our perspective, and our lives might even be changed.

More than Lesser Things: A New Year's Post

Most of you have probably heard Laura Storey's song, "Blessings," posted below. In that song, she says that God's "love is way too much to give us lesser things." Meaning, that all the things that we want--health, happiness, and prosperity are the lesser things in life. The better things are love, grace, and the presence of God. And if we always had the former, would we even want the latter...or recognize our desperate need for it? Would we come to understand that He's the reason we were created, the reason we breathe, the reason we get up in the morning? That His love is, in fact, better than life?

It's funny, isn't  it, the way the human mind works? Perhaps it is because we are fallen. Perhaps it is because we can only see one day at a time, one hour, one moment...but I don't like it very much when I'm going through the trials and tribulations of this world. I want to believe the prosperity gospel people and think everything will be great all the time if I follow the Lord.

There are huge problems with that philosophy though. One of them is that Jesus told his people that they would suffer. That's a pretty big one to me. Also, there are stories of righteous people in the Bible that go through trials (Job, for one. Also, there is the story of the blind man that the Lord says his blindness was not through his fault or his parents but that the glory of the Lord would be shown through him). That's not a thought that makes much sense to us, is it? That God would allow this hindrance or handicap in this man's life for His glory? But it is obvious in that man's story and the miracle that Jesus performed, that God was honored. I think of Nick Vujicic, the Christian speaker and author with no arms or legs. It was that exact story that caused him to become a Christian at twelve years old. It was when he realized that God could use his handicap for good and for God's glory. And look where Nick is now...probably where he would never have been with his arms and legs intact.

So, we live, we breath, we pray...and we trust God in His sovereignty. And thank Him for not giving us lesser things...for standing in our place, interceding for us, and holding out for our best. And this New Year's Day, that is what I am praying for--for more than the lesser things in life--for God's very best.

"We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not,
This is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise"