Her Whole Livelihood

"And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came...she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood." Mark 12:41-44. The rich and the widow. Both were giving. Both letting go of what they held dear. Both serving by giving. Both offering and worshipping, but they couldn't be more opposite. The rich did indeed give much. Much! I mean much is a lot. They must have felt so good giving so much. Obeying and offering. But then we see someone give all. She gives her whole livelihood. Not much, but all. Not in part, but entire. The rich must have been so scared of losing. Of losing gain, control, and comfort. But she, the widow, believed. She trusted beyond the seen. She believed beyond what made sense. She loved. She didn't just love much, but wholly, with utter abandon, which speaks complete trust. God forbid we be a people who gives much out of fear and our need for comfort. Let us give all out of love and adoration and gratitude. Let us begin to believe He is our provider. He is our inheritance. He is in control. He is worthy of our whole livelihood, not holding even a little back. This is how He gives after all. Aren't you thrilled Jesus didn't just give much or pay for much of our sin or die for much of the world? No, He gave all! Loves all! Died for all! Gave up all! Like the widow and like Jesus, holding nothing back, let's give all. All our hearts' devotion. All our time. All our desires and abilities and talents. All of our energy for Him. To His cause. We can give much and indeed be givers, or we can give our whole livelihood, all we live for, and be imitators of Jesus. (additional reading: Matthew 16:24-26; Ephesians 2:4-7) (song: Worth It All by Meredith Andrews https://youtu.be/Dr01i-bCo5Y)

He Has It All

Mark 10:43-45 "...but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." To serve. To give His life. This is our Savior. The obedient Son who waits on His Father's commands. Who joyfully listens for His Father's desires. Who desires no name or face for himself. He knows who He is and who His Father is. How his Father looks at Him with the deepest love possible. He knows His Father's power and comfort and peace. He knows who He is and who His Father is. He doesn't desire to be great among the people or be first. He knows He is the apple of His Father's eye and there is no greater space to behold. He knows He has it all there in that space. It's enough. He trusts this. Perhaps when we are in the same mindset as Jesus, knowing who we are and knowing who our Father is, we are satisfied. We no longer vie for position or desire to be great in the eyes of the spectators. We know who we are and who our Father is. We know the depth of the love He has and is lavishing on us. We know how He draws us with His unfailing kindness. We know the power that rests in and around us. We want to serve our Father. We know what He bids us do is service to Him, and He is so pleased with us. (additional scripture: Philippians 2; Jeremiah 31:3; I John 3:1) (worship song: I shall Not Want by Audrey Assad https://youtu.be/VRnFVMn0uZw)

Through the many

II Corinthians 4:1,15-16 "...as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart." Grace. This beautiful phenomena. Our withholding hinders His glory. Hinders the heart transformation birthed from the giving of thanks. Because what else would a person feel when they're expecting walls, judgment, distance, but are met with closeness, forgiveness, and love. When we choose the wall, not only do we participate in the hardening of heart, it's as if we rob them of a spiritual experience. Their thanks becoming His glory. An intimate interaction of soul and Spirit. Our gift of grace, which is only a manifestation of our receiving mercy, swells His glory! And for this end, we must not lose heart. Not for the receiving of our own thanks or even to make peace. We mustn't give in or give up. When His glory is at stake, it's always worth it to give grace. To love and favor a person's soul over the circumstance. Over the words. Over the feelings, whatever they may be. Anger. Fear. Regret. Sorrow. Confusion. Control. Grace can mount on wings and cover all of those and more. It's Jesus' greatest act, and He gives it to us now to give. That His grace may spread through the many.

Fear and Love

FEAR. A four letter word that can cut deep. Bring us to paralysis. Bring us to our knees. It can makes us change course, change mind. Run for our life. A powerful double-edged sword. Put under the right thing, God alone, it can stay us. Motivate morality. Produce patience. Prompt prayer. God-given, like all the deepest parts of our being, it can be bent and skewed and overtaken. Instincts say flee. Run as fast as you can from whatever produces fear. Hide from it. Avoid it. Silence its whispers by covering ears. But God often takes his people into dire fear-producing situations. It is there they must step in. Walk closer. Stand surrounded. Feeling. Feeling the fear. Hearing the roars of lions, waves, warriors. Then, only then do they see the power and can trust. Fear either makes us stand or retreat. Those who stood in the fear surely felt it, deep and heavy in human skin, but they saw victory! David. Daniel. Gideon. Hosea. Paul. Stephen. They witnessed out of this world miracles. The did not deny fear of its place. They leaned into it, got under it, and came out knowing more of the fullness and mystery of God. So we should not be wary of fear, but we should dig it up, see all its roots and boughs and hunt the fear down to let God extend to our deepest parts. That is where the fear is rooted. Deep down. In our years. Yet, that is not too far for the blood-love of Christ. Where fear cuts deep, He loves deeper. LOVE. The other four letter word. The two are like opposing ends of a magnet. When His love settles into the cracks and soul chasms, fear flees. We can only drive out the fears by bringing them near to the Love. The Love which repels the fear. Why? Because it is perfect. The perfect 'agape', the love feast, that only He can offer. It violently throws out fear when they're facing off. And we realize that we are so loved by Him. That no matter our days on earth, our home and ever-after is with Him in His heaven. This is the love we must fall victim to. Not to fear. Let the fear drive you deeper into the romance. Let the fear leave you hungry for His love feast. Don't run from the fear; put it up against His love. Brick by brick, layer by layer, and the Love will have victory. When the fear is emptied out, dug up from the depths of our souls, the Love will seep in, warm and healing. I John 4:18 "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love."

A New Song

Sing to the LORD a new song. Singing a new song is mentioned in nine verses in scripture. The word new also has the meaning of fresh or freshness. Have you ever experienced singing a song you've sung a thousand times and all of a sudden it has a newness to it? God can reveal himself to us however he wants. Usually he does it through a verse from scripture or a word from a wise friend. Sometimes through enjoying an intricate butterfly or a painted sunset. I find he often speaks to me through song. More often than not, mainstream Christian songs are rooted in biblical truth. The holy spirit has a way of bringing the bible to life through the harmonious melodies of his saints. Saints whose abilities were carefully and beautifully formed before they were even brought into this world. I love music. I love to sing. And I love to let the truths of God's word flow from my lips through song. There's something about singing his truths and praise that is more powerful than sorrow or loneliness. Our feelings can be very damaging if allowed free reign. I think communal and individual praise are ways to reign our feelings in. Reign them in to his will and redirect them to truth. Again and again we are told to sing a new song to the LORD. I think in order to sing this new song instead of old stale songs, something has to happen. God has to intervene. Maybe he gives grace where we've felt judged. Maybe he grants us with the ability to forgive when we've sought revenge. Maybe he rekindles a God-spark when our fire has been quenched. Whatever it is, God has a keen way of taking the mundane and familiar and giving it a little sparkle, just enough to let us see it as new. Next time you sing at church or in your car, shower or living room, make it a fresh song. Ask God to show you a new perspective or to change your heart so your song can be new and come alive with praise!

WHEN IT'S GOOD TO HAVE A RECORD

Today I read Psalm 77. I found it a beautiful reminder to the well known verse in Philippians 4:8. Here, we are called to think on what is true or truth. The author in Psalm 77 has been through something tragic. It's obvious. When someone writes about crying out loud to God and stretching forth his hand all night long, and still his soul is not comforted, you have to wonder what in the world happened to this guy. He is stuck in some sort of sorrow, sadness, or maybe just a spiritual funk as many of us can probably relate. I have to notice though, that he is wrestling it out with God instead of keeping it all inside. That's the first step. Sometimes it's the hardest step, for it feels like a jump across the Grand Canyon to speak out loud those first prayers after a drought with the Lord. I know, I've been there. Sometimes it feels almost awkward. But, our author of Psalm 77 is doing it. In the beginning of his Psalm, we can feel the reality of his own emotion. The desperation and despair. In verse three he says just the thought of God makes him moan. Have you ever? You're in a dusty spiritual drought and some little miss sunshine is over there holding her Bible going on and on about how "the Lord has just blessed us". (I picture her having a southern accent for some reason). And literally, you can almost feel the vomit rising in your throat. Is it just me or have you ever been there too? Maybe you lost something precious. A child. A marriage. A carefully laid out plan. Every human will lose. I think every human will find themselves at some time wallowing in despair. I heard someone once say about depression, just don't stay too long or go too deep. If you know anything of the name of Jesus, you have a reason to begin the swim out of the spiritual funk. Our Psalmist did this too. After asking God, out loud I'm sure, if his goodness, favor, promises, and care will cease, he finally does it. One little phrase changes His entire perspective. In verse 10 he says, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." In one split second, his focus shifts from his sorrow, from himself, from his fears of abandonment to a very impressive record. A most beautiful thing begins to occur in this moment. He describes his conformity of will. How? By remembering the truth. He writes about remembering, pondering, meditating. He is thinking about the truth! What truth? The truth of the history of the works of the Most High. His deeds. His wonders. His workmanship. His holiness! I love this part. He remembers that God is holy, which means he is different or set apart from other gods and from our own mentality. So when we think something should or will go a certain way, and it doesn't, why are we surprised? God's way is different than ours. His way and he himself is holy. That is what makes him worth loving. That is what makes him worth following. That is what makes him worthy! Even most great leaders of old were nonconformists. It's in our nature to follow greatness. Unfortunately, it's also our nature to forget greatness. That's why we need to often, out loud, speak of the greatness of God. I'm sure when the Psalmist wrote, "what God is great like our God?", instantly God became brilliant, while all else seemed dull in comparison. Next he remembers God's reputation of being made known among the peoples. See God had a reputation among those who were not even his followers. In verse 15, God is a redeemer. If you have been rescued and placed in the family of God, you have at least one truth to hold fast to that can loosen you out of any swamp. The truth of redemption. What a sweet story. In verses 16-19, we see a stream of God's power running over infecting all places of the earth. We hear of his many great assists to the Israelites, and the writer cleverly announces, "yet your footprints were unseen". Huh? What's that all about? Why the spooky ghostlike description? It reminded me God is a vast mystery. And he should be, because it always keeps of lingering around trying to figure him out. Like a lover obsesses over, studies and watches his love to best win her heart. We will always be in awe of him. We will always be required to live with at least a mustard seed of faith, even when we feel like we have him mostly figured out. Finally, the Psalmist remembers God as a shepherd leading his flock. Dear Jesus followers, even when it feels like the shepherd has left you on the edge of a barren mountain-side, try your hardest to cry out to Him. And then when you find yourself not know what else to say, speak of his amazing record. His might in creating the galaxies. His gentleness in caring for the lilies. And his love in sending us a redeemer.

Mommy-Porn. Say What?

I recently read an article in Thriving Family that brought a new vocabulary word into my brain. The word was “mommy-porn”. The article, “Christian Women and Mommy-Porn”, basically challenges women to have a healthy and holy mindset concerning sex. This got me thinking about my passion for sexually pure relationships before marriage. By the grace of God, my husband and I began our marriage on the right foot, in this area at least. Praise be to Jesus alone! Then I started thinking, about a continual pursuit of sexual purity after marriage. It’s not like the sin of sexual temptation goes away after you’re married. For the record, I hope this blog does not leave anyone feeling condemned. That is not my desire. I do, however, want to give you a challenge and a hope that is straight from the Bible. Whether you are single, dating, engaged, married, divorced, or homosexual, you are called to a life of purity, specifically, sexual purity. And, whether you have had sex before marriage, are addicted to pornography, have had an affair, or are constantly bombarding your brain with “mommy-porn” through romance novels or sketchy movies, you can change and be free. In our world and culture, this is something that requires intentionality and straight up hard work. Be intentional about choices of entertainment, whether it’s movies, magazines, or a novel, choose to put things out of your viewing that will tempt you! Be intentional about memorizing scripture. Here’s a good black and white one, “Flee (or run for your life) from sexual immorality. (I Corinthians 6:8) I think God told us to flee because he knew how powerful the stuff could be! I know from experience. I was introduced to pornography from a neighbor’s older brother when I was in like second grade. Actually, I had two neighbor friends whose fathers left magazines and videos out in the open for any eight-year-old to peruse through. Come to think of it, none of my neighborhood friends that I grew up with, spending the night at their house and all, were Bible-believing families. So, on that note, be intentional about where you send your kids and in finding out who their friends are. When I was fifteen I got a job, and both of the other workers were men, and they also had pornographic files left up on the computer. Then, as an adult, and missionary, I was fronted again with it in Spain. There are magazines in kiosks and storefront windows for eyes of all ages, and on the local television, porn is available for your evening viewing. We decided to unplug our TV in Spain because even we, as missionaries there, were not above such temptation. A life given to purity is also hard work. Our culture and society encourages us to look at whatever we want, whenever we want. On your phone, the TV, the internet, spam emails, billboards, the list goes on and on. I am not anti-social media, but I am pro-purity! If you are married, work hard at pursuing your spouse, enjoying your spouse, sharing intimate moments with your spouse, and falling in love with your spouse every day. You know, I’ve heard people say, (heck, I’ve even said it) negatively, about sex in marriage, “it’s not like the movies”. Well, of course it isn’t always like the movies. Movies are fake. They are actors. But, I think God gave us a gift of sexual purity in marriage that has every capability to be better than the movies. If you don’t believe me, read Song of Solomon. Work hard at living in grace if you have fallen to some sort of sexual sin. Confess. Tell a stronger brother. Repent. And then bask in his glorious grace. Work hard at spending alone time in prayer and in the word. This is like the magic that transforms us. Please, don’t make excuses for sin even if it is culturally acceptable. Stand up for God’s word! It is clear as crystal concerning sex. And, the good thing about the Bible is it is absolutely true.