Your Custom Text Here
Who Are You Listening To?
In my Bible reading, I recently came across a story that I have read before but it gives me pause every time. In II Samuel 10, we read that the king of the Ammonites died and his son became king. David, in a gesture of kindness, sent some of his servants to the new king “to console him concerning his father” {v2}. However, the new king, Hanun, listened to bad counsel and humiliated the servants of David {vv3-5}. When King Hanun realized his mistake, he decided to strike before David could. He called up the Arameans to join him and marched against Israel. It didn’t go well and Israel defeated both kingdoms {vv8-15}.
All this from listening to bad advice. The thing is, we are all susceptible to this at different times. And because all people are sinful, we need to be discerning. This obviously includes who we choose for friends but also who we choose to listen to in the broader sense. Authors, experts, analysts, pastors, teachers. A lot of people can sound smart and convincing but charisma doesn’t equal biblical advice.
Proverbs has much to say about who we follow and who should have our attention.
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” {12:15}
“He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.” {13:20}
“Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy.” {12:20}
Allowing good, godly advice to lead us is equated with righteousness and wisdom. The opposite is to listen to fools. I can’t think of anyone who would willingly listen to a fool but fools are often disguised. We need to be discerning with wisdom of our own.
And Proverbs has things to say about discernment also!
“My son, let them {knowledge/wisdom} not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion.” {3:21}
“The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” {18:15}
“For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding…Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” {3:3, 5-6}
Discernment comes from wisdom. When we hear anything — especially something labeled as biblical — we need to go back to the Bible and discern if it is truthful. Many things in today’s world have a grain of truth or sound really nice, but when we dig a little, we find inaccuracies.
I’m not saying to distrust everyone and only listen to yourself. But we should be knowledgeable enough in the Bible to hear when something sounds off and start asking questions. It doesn’t matter how popular the podcaster is, it doesn’t matter what letters are behind the pastor’s name, it doesn’t matter how many books the author has published. We need to consume any teaching with discernment and wisdom.
And James gives us a huge dose of encouragement here:
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. {1:5}
We aren’t mustering and striving to have wisdom on our own. The God of the universe will give us the wisdom we need if we ask! If we want wisdom, may we humbly ask for it as Solomon did and God has promised to give it.
Maybe it’s not a question of who we listen to as much as who do we believe? Who do we follow and submit to? Who are we giving our time to? May it be the God of wisdom first and above all else.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
The One Anothers
For all the connectedness we have, our society is more isolated than ever.
We sit behind keyboards and phones, “connecting” with others over the internet but only seeing what people want us to see. Algorithms make sure we are fed content we like and enjoy, creating echo chambers of agreement and anyone who disagrees isn’t worth keeping up with. We have people making emotional connections to an AI program! And we wonder at the state of things.
Throughout the New Testament we have what’s often referred to as the one another statements. These teach us about an important aspect of our Christian life: how we treat others. But it goes deeper than “Love your neighbor” because before we can truly love and care for those around us, we have to BE with them. We have to do things with them, live life, enjoy the ups and downs and still be friends. It’s not easy or glamourous but being in community is so important.
In the one another verses, we find statements like, “Forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens, encourage one another, exhort one another, comfort one another,” and I could go on. These are specific and go far beyond “love one another” to the daily grind of living life together.
In order to comfort others, we need to know them well enough to know when they need to be comforted. If there’s a health crisis, a family need, a sudden tragedy. Offering comfort can come through texts and cards, but it needs the personal touch of being in each other’s lives.
The one another statements are interesting because there are some verses that tell us what not to do. “Do not grumble against one another, do not speak evil against one another, do not provoke one another, do not lie to one another,” etc. These verses remind us that thinking of others isn’t always about doing something; sometimes it’s about not doing what our sinful nature wants us to.
There is a vulnerability in living these things with others. Do you have friends close enough that you feel like you can share your burdens? Do you forgive and work through differences?
These biblical statements and principles are reminders that this life isn’t about us, and the greatest things we do aren’t for ourselves. We are to live in community and grow and serve each other.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
The Danger of Pride
The longer I live, the more convinced I am at the destructive power of pride. It creeps into lives and habits, it appears harmless, it is easily excused. But the fallout destroys not only the demonstrator, but often those around him/her.
Why do I believe it’s a problem? Because it takes so many forms. We have probably encountered someone and thought, “He’s proud” based on attitude and manner. But pride also gets into our lives in less obvious ways. We think we know more than other people, we assume we understand situations better, we soon believe we are better. Maybe it’s an attitude of control because we know how it goes and no one does it as well as we do. That desire is often rooted in pride.
An intellectual pride is incredibly dangerous because it makes us unteachable. If we are always the smartest person in the room, no one can teach us anything. We have nothing to learn. And this mindset easily gets us into trouble in biblical matters. If we think we know everything about God, we are showing our arrogance. But I’ve seen many people who walk away from faith do so on the basis of their own intelligence, completely disregarding the One who gave them the ability to reason.
But pride isn’t just a sin that attacks the unsaved. Christians are just as vulnerable and prone to it. We might be tempted to label it as confidence, the dressed up word that makes pride acceptable. Or maybe we blame our attitude to personality. “That’s just who I am.” But the root is pride.
In Proverbs, we read that pride is the opposite of humility. This might seem obvious, but how often do we try to appear humble while we boast in our greatness? This is also pride.
When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom. (Prov. 11:2)
A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor. (Prov. 29:23)
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom. (Prov. 13:10)
In the last verse, the “well-advised” is also translated as “those who receive counsel” or “those who take advice.” Notice that that is not an attribute given to the proud.
Another hallmark of a life lived in pride is a lack of gratitude. If we are focused on how great we are and all the things we can do, it’s difficult to look around and be thankful for the people and circumstances around us. In many ways, we might be tempted to think things are so great because WE are so great! Isn’t this what so many people call out in the wealthy? That arrogant, pompous, look at all my things attitude. And yet, even those much less rich can have this same attitude about their things.
And finally, pride can lead to so many more sins. An unteachable attitude will drive us from godly counsel and correction. A proud spirit belittles and disregards others. Pride gives the illusion of being above the law, being able to get away with things, and talking down to others. We don’t have to imagine what pride leads to because we see examples in the lives of celebrities and politicians and, sadly, ministry leaders. People who thought so highly of their position or intellect or power that they were unfaithful in their marriages, dishonest at work, gained money fraudulently. So many of the sins we see controlling others, and ourselves, can be traced back to an attitude of pride.
God feels so strongly against pride that he says in Proverbs 15:25, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.” That is a strong declaration that should bring us to our knees in humility!
How can we fight against pride? The first step is to realize we are all susceptible to it. We’ve already noted that pride comes in many forms and some might be more of a struggle for us than others. But we shouldn’t develop an over confidence in our ability to not be proud. We need to ask God to help us be humble and to point out ways that we are proud.
The next step is to accept correction. When someone points out sin in our lives, we need to prayerfully bring that to God. Even if we consider it more of a personality issue, or someone taking something the wrong way, we need to be humble enough to recognize that personality or preference doesn’t excuse sin. The fastest way to fall into pride is to believe there’s nothing wrong with us and it’s everyone else who has a problem.
Finally, the key to everything in our lives is to stay in God’s Word and in prayer. We need to daily be dwelling on the truth of the Bible and daily talking to our Lord. It is through these avenues that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin as we grow in our walk each day.
Photo by Dave Hoefler on Unsplash
Change for a Believer
People have different thoughts on change. Some people relish the opportunity for something new. Others reluctantly go along with it. But change is inevitable. There are many changes we can’t control, like children growing up and seasons continuing on. It doesn’t mean it’s easy but it is predictable.
One positive change comes when we accept Christ as our Savior from our sins. This change is both sudden and slow. Suddenly, we see things differently. Our worldly desires don’t hold the same attraction for us. With the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are reoriented in our thinking, our behavior, and our values. We see the world and the things in this world through the lens of the Gospel.
Why is there evil in the world? Because of sin. Why do people do evil things? Because sin is controlling their lives. Now obviously there is nuance and Christians are still sinners who make mistakes, but our desires and goals are changed because we are changed. We are serving God above ourselves.
But this change doesn’t happen all at once and we never think about it again. We are also gradually being conformed to Christlikeness in a process called sanctification. This process won’t end until we step into eternity. Each day, we have a chance to grow in Christ and learn. We realize new truths about God we didn’t see before. His Word becomes more precious and valuable to us. We relate to people differently. It is a change that is noticeable to those around us and one of the strongest witnesses to bring the lost to Christ.
I have clear examples of people I knew before and after they were saved, and I can see the difference the Holy Spirit has made in them. From gruff and unkind to thoughtful and gentle. These are changes we can’t will or force to happen. They go deeper and change us from the inside. Gradually. But so sweetly.
In Colossians 3, we read that our new self in Christ needs to put off the things of this world and put on the traits of God’s chosen ones (vv5-17). And again, it’s not us willing ourselves to be better. It’s the Holy Spirit guiding, convicting, showing us what we need to change and then helping us live that way.
Romans 12:2 gives us helpful instruction on what this looks like:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The word translated “transformed” is the Greek word “metamorpho” where we get the English, “metamorphosis.” It’s hard to think of that word and not picture a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. I think it’s one of nature’s most fascinating things. A gross, small, wiggly caterpillar crawling along. A delicate, beautiful butterfly sailing higher than trees. This is what happens when we accept Christ. Just as the life of a caterpillar is completely different when it becomes a butterfly, so do our lives transform when we accept the free gift of salvation.
I’m not a huge fan of change. Some of it is good, a lot of it is hard. But watching a believer grow in faith and discover God is a change I love to see, in others and in myself.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Should Christians Criticize Each Other?
One thing that blows my mind is how the Christian community relates to the rest of the Christian community. I don’t understand when I see/read “Christians” who make it their life goal to point out how other Christians are misbehaving and being unChristian.
Yes, I acknowledge that Christians sin and are susceptible to temptation of all kinds. And when we sin, we need to be held accountable so we can repent and be restored. But much of the noise going on among Christians today is not calling out sin but denouncing what one side views as unChristian living; ie living counter to the culture.
I’ve seen so much of this recently, mostly centered around politics, but not exclusively. Some big names in Christianity have been slandering other Christians for things like not “loving your neighbor” because Jesus told us to love others and speaking up on cultural issues isn’t being a loving Christian.
I’m not surprised when the world criticizes Christians because Jesus said that if we follow him, it would bring persecution. But when Christians call out their fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord — not to correct sin but to lambast their thinking on clear biblical principles — we have a problem.
The Bible is full of one another statements and the interesting thing I’ve found that people don’t mention about these statements is that they are in reference to other believers. When the Bible says, “Forgive one another, love one another, confess to one another, don’t judge one another…” these are all in the context of Christians to Christians, NOT unbelievers.
Yes, we are to forgive, love, etc. those who are unsaved but with the purpose of sharing the gospel. There is no mention in the Bible of misleading the unsaved from the truth of their sin so they feel better about themselves. It’s been said, “You have to hear the bad news before the good news makes sense.” If people aren’t told they are sinners in need of a Savior, they won’t care that Jesus came to Earth to save them.
When Christians need to criticize other Christians, there is a standard to follow. We have Matthew 18:15-20 which begins with the words, “If your brother sins…” and some manuscripts have the words “against you” making the sin a personal affront. This isn’t permission to say, “That Christian is talking against an issue I care about! I’m going to call him out!” It is for an actual sin issue, not your pet peeve or a perceived slight.
In the most general sense, if you are criticizing another Christian over a non-sin issue, you are discounting the words of I Thess. 5:11 — “So encourage each other and build each other up…”
But what if you think it is a sin issue? Should you jump online and start blowing off steam? Let’s approach it carefully.
First, check the Bible. Are you misrepresenting a passage and making it say something it doesn’t say? Read the entire context. Who was Jesus talking to and about?
Second, pray about it. What is your motivation for the criticism? Do you actually care to see them restored? Are you jumping on a bandwagon with your two cents? Do you know the person and situation personally? Can you address it in private? Are you shooting your comments at a famous person without knowing the full story?
Third, if you believe you really need to say something, do it kindly. The internet and the world are nasty enough. We shouldn’t be name calling, ranting, or tearing down others. Yes, we can point out error. But we don’t have to be rude about it. We can lovingly, patiently seek to win the erring brother through a generous, gracious answer.
How We Change
Change is inevitable.
Nothing stays the same for long. Where I live, we are currently inching from winter to spring. Snow is on the mountains, trees are starting to bud out, the temperature climbs a little more each day.
I look at my kids and I see change. My teenager is suddenly looking me in the eye, excited to pass me up in height this year. My 11 year old is growing more confident, my first grader is trying to read more. Nothing can stop the change.
In life, we change; I look back at who I was 16 years ago when we moved to Utah and I’m thankful parts of me have changed. Motherhood, ministry, experiences, walking with friends through hard things. All that continues to work through me and I’m {prayerfully} being changed to be more like Christ.
But how do we look at things in our lives and know if a shift is necessary?
We are told many places in the New Testament that there is an “old man” and a “new man” for those who trust Christ. The old represents who we were in sin, living for ourselves. The new is who God has changed us to be and is currently sanctifying through the rest of our Christian walk.
We know we will change after salvation because our desires and habits are transformed. We are no longer given over to worldly things but our desire is to pursue Christ. We want what God wants, we mourn over things that grieve him, we view our lives as made for God’s glory.
However, this reality of being transformed has limits. Over the last several years, I’ve heard of Christians deconstructing their faith and many times, it leads to them completely abandoning their faith for secularism. We also have bitterness and anger changing people after a tragedy or unexpected situation. I would argue change is not always good or helpful.
So how can we know we’re changing in a good way?
First, we need to honestly ask if in our change we are moving away from God or closer to him. Questions aren’t bad but we need to be going to the correct place to find the answers.
Which leads to the second point. We need to stay in our Bibles. I’ve heard many deconstructionists say that in their attempt to get a fuller picture of the truth they turned to secular sources. This is not how we find out about God or truth. The world is at odds with its Creator. If we ask an atheist about God, we’re going to get a warped view of who God is. That will not help us change in a beneficial way.
The Christian life shouldn’t be stagnant. Sometimes in our questions and experiences, we might falter as we walk through difficult valleys. But don’t stay there! Don’t turn around and abandon the path. May we keep our eyes on Christ and pray that everyday, we are changing to be more like him.
Why Work Matters
The beginning of the year is filled with resolutions and new ideas and entire lists of wishes.
It is also filled with work. Cleaning up after Christmas decorating and parties. Decluttering. Maybe scrubbing germs away from a sickness. Work fills our lives, not only in January but throughout the year.
It can be easy to just plow through the work; much of it is necessary. Cleaning, laundry, cooking, learning. All these things are needed but that doesn’t mean that it’s always fun or easy.
One of the conversations I have with my kids is in the realm of their schoolwork. They wonder why it’s important, why it matters, why they can’t just do it fast and be done. I have one child who would be willing to do a year’s worth of science assignments in a week and be done with science for the year. But that’s not helpful. Often work is slow, takes perseverance, needs focus and continual effort.
Many people in today’s society believe that work is bad; some Christians might even consider it part of the fall. However, in Gen. 2:15, we see that the LORD gave Adam the responsibility to keep and cultivate the garden before sin entered the world. We also see Adam naming all the animals in verses 19-20 {which seems like a huge job to me!}.
So if work isn’t inherently sinful, how should we approach it? Well, again, the Bible gives us a guideline. The book of Proverbs alone has almost a dozen references to work. Here are a few —
Our work will return to us {12:14}
Work leads to profit {14:23}
Being lazy will have consequences {18:9}
Our work will be noticed {22:29}
The New Testament mentions the heart motive behind our work: Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. {I Cor. 10:31} This verse doesn’t put stipulations on what type of work is valuable but rather EVERYTHING we do should be for God’s glory. Meaning putting forth our best effort because God is the one who gives us the ability for it all.
I don’t believe we can effectively glorify or accurately represent God when we do things grumbling, upset, or half hearted. Yes, the work might be hard but hard doesn’t equal sinful, bad, or wrong. Hard exists because of the curse of sin {Gen. 3:17-19} but it doesn’t mean hard things are bad. I appreciate the wisdom of Abbie Halberstadt, a homeschooling, podcasting mom and author, who wrote a book titled, “Hard is Not the Same Thing as Bad” {I encourage you to read it}.
We have this mindset that difficulties should be avoided. Work that is too hard, too strenuous, too time consuming isn’t worth doing at all or can be done begrudgingly because it’s bad. That’s not the truth from the Bible. We can learn valuable lessons from doing hard things. We can discover that we actually enjoy the challenge in some tasks.
I remind my kids — and myself — that trying new things is hard but it is necessary. We shouldn’t complain or give up when we attempt work that is hard and we don’t immediately succeed. That’s part of the learning and growing process! Despite what you might have heard, nothing is easy for anyone the first time. Musicians, craftsmen, athletes, teachers, everyone has to work to improve to the point they are at. They might naturally have good hand/eye coordination but they have to practice to gain the accuracy to make the shot. They might have good pitch naturally but they have to learn to read music and play with musicality.
It’s all work. Plain, honest hard work. And it’s worth doing because we can glorify our Creator through our efforts and attitude.
Photo by Raphael Rychetsky on Unsplash
Consistently Faithful
Why is faithfulness so difficult?
I believe most Christians would say they want to live a faithful life, serving Christ over the long haul. But I think if we were honest, we sometimes think more about the razzle dazzle of service than what faithful living really looks like.
We read missionary biographies and marvel at the adventures and answered prayers. We follow social media Christian influences who travel and speak and do all the “cool things” of serving others on a large platform. We have our favorite teachers and musicians and think they are living in ultimate service for God. If only we could have a portion of that excitement in our lives!
Instead, we moan over the routine and daily grind of where we are. Social media certainly doesn’t help as we see the vacations, ministries, parties, and activities of sometimes friends, sometimes random people we follow. But that is such an incomplete view of someone’s life and faithfulness! Online is definitely a curated place, not meant for true authenticity.
Just like we don’t see the hours of practice for athletes and musicians, we don’t see the everyday moments that create a faithful lifetime.
I believe a big part of this mentality is the “now” mindset about everything. Food, internet, movies, entertainment. Our society thrives off of the immediate gratification movement. It’s not worth doing/having if you have to wait. We want it and we want it now! But this mindset and faithfulness aren’t compatible.
The Hebrew word conveys the idea of stability and trustworthiness. Neither of those can be proven in the short term. It takes time and familiarity to be known as trustworthy. It takes day in and day out living to show you are stable in how you live and what you believe.
Consistency is not a fast and flashy lifestyle. It is small moments, unseen moments, doing what is right and necessary and needed, even if no one ever knows.
Glenna Marshall is the author of “Everyday Faithfulness”* which I highly recommend. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
“Today’s efforts aren’t just for today! They’re for tomorrow and next week and next month and five years from now.” {p23}
“Our hearts will not casually become more holy while we sit around and no nothing to feed our faithfulness.” {p28}
“Our faithfulness isn’t just for us. It announces to the world that Jesus is worth every drop of our devotion.” {p155}
Faithfulness in the Christian life is doing what we have been called to do today — tending children, meal planning, laundry, yardwork, cleaning, encouraging someone — it all matters. And it’s these small disciplines of consistency that lend to a fully faithful life.
*“Everyday Faithfulness” published by Crossway, 2020
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
What Does Giving Grace Mean?
Something I’ve been hearing a lot in recent years is, “Give them grace.” And I think some people use this phrasing to mean, “Be patient with her.” Maybe the person is a new believer and she is struggling through theological truths and you need patience as you help her. Maybe someone is walking through a trial and you need to demonstrate patience in your expectations on her during this time.
But when we consider what grace means and how it is used in the Bible, what should we be meaning when we say we’re giving grace and how do we go about actually doing that? Do grace and this idea of being patient go together? Or should we use another word?
A flip through the New Testament and we are confronted with the word “grace” many times. We probably recognize it the most for being Paul’s standard greeting in his letters {Rom 1:7; I Cor 1:3; II Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; I Thess 1:1; II Thess 1:2; I Time 1:2; II Tim 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philem 1:3} where he says, “Grace and peace.” He also closes all of his letters with “grace” {Rom 16:20; I Cor 16:23; II Cor 13:14; Gal 6:18; Eph 6:24; Phil 4:23; Col 4:18; I Thess 5:28; II Thess 3:18; I Tim 6:21; II Tim 4:22; Titus 3:15; Philem 1:25}.
So what is this grace and peace and grace of our Lord Jesus that Paul finds so important? God’s grace is what saves us from sin. Eph 2:8-9 tells us it is by grace, not works, that we are saved. I learned the definition as grace is God giving a free gift that we can never earn. Nothing we do will give us grace. God offers it because he loves us and is rich in mercy toward us {Eph 2:4-5}.
The Unger’s Bible Dictionary says, “Any intermixture of human merit violates grace” {p504}. If we try to work our way to salvation, we are saying God’s perfect grace, his gift of salvation to us, isn’t good enough. We have no part in salvation except confessing our sins and accepting the free gift of God’s grace. A note in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states that, “Karis {the Greek word for grace} contains the idea of kindness which bestows upon one what he has not deserved” {p666}. In God’s kindness, he gives us karis; grace we don’t deserve.
When we think about peace, we think of calm, restful, quiet. But Paul isn’t merely wishing his readers a calm day. He is talking about spiritual peace, rest and confidence that comes to us because we have God’s grace. True biblical peace is not something we can fabricate. There are hundreds of things that steal our peace and only knowing and acknowledging Who controls them all will give us any semblance of rest. Note that when Paul opens his letters, he says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” {emphasis mine} He is reminding the reader that our peace comes from God, not from meditation or anything we can force. God offers grace. God gives peace.
So bringing this back to our original question, what should we mean when we say we are giving someone grace? To be consistent with what the Bible means, we are stating that we choose to show kindness to someone who doesn’t deserve it. It almost seems to have more to do with forgiveness than patience, doesn’t it? We offer grace to someone who has hurt us, we show kindness to someone who isn’t kind to us.
It’s not wrong to say, “Give them grace” but keep in mind what grace means: Unmerited favor. Undeserved kindness. What God gives us freely in salvation and what we should freely offer those around us.
Photo by Maurice DT on Unsplash
Be Not Anxious
It’s hard to ignore the state of our country and world today.
More than ever, we seem divided, angry, bent on proving we are right even if it divides more. And all of this tension can bring anxiety to the calmest soul.
I am usually a glass-half-full, optimist kind of person. I can get discouraged but I have learned from experience that things out of my control shouldn’t control my attitude. So I try to go with the flow and not allow things to make me uptight. {I should add I’m still working on this!}
However, when the world is rioting, countries are on the edge of war, our country is fighting and changing what we stand for, and up seems to be down…. I have to remind myself of biblical truth because nothing else will help.
One of my take aways from reading Proverbs is that the wisdom of the Lord is far greater than that of man. One verse I have been continually coming back to in this season is:
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps. Prov. 16:9
We might feel like the world is out of control and crazy. But that doesn’t mean God is thwarted. Man is out there trying to work his plans and God is not bothered. Nothing we do can keep God’s ultimate plan from happening.
I’m also reminded of Psalm 140. David pleads with the Lord to save him from the evil/wicked people that seem to be winning and surrounding him. He uses words like “deliver me,” “guard me,” “preserve me.” He is asking for help, not revenge. And he knows God is the only one that can help him. Lydia Brownback in her book on Psalms, says, “Revenge isn’t his {David’s} motive. His hope is the triumph of righteousness over evil.”* And so should our goal be.
When we are anxious and crying out to God about the state of our world, our prayers should be focused on God showing his strength and justice in an unjust world. What strikes me about Psalm 140 is that it ends without God judging the evil. However, David has a firm assurance that his prayers will be answered in God’s time.
I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence. Ps. 140:12-13
Do not be discouraged or anxious. As much as everything is in turmoil and the wicked seem to be thriving and winning, God’s plan will ultimately come to pass. Everything that happens today is moving us toward what God has planned and foreseen from the beginning. Nothing catches him by surprise, nothing forces him to change strategies. He is the Ruler of all and we can live in full hope of that.
*Sing a New Song: A Woman’s Guide to Psalms by Lydia Brownback copyright Crossway 2017
Photo by Mario Álvarez on Unsplash
The Danger of Your Own Truth
The world is becoming an increasing unfamiliar place to me.
Things I never dreamed would need to be explained, debated, discussed are now huge talking points that can sometimes come to blows. Truth is no longer a set guideline. If you don’t like what has been truth for generations of mankind, you can make you own! No matter how ridiculous it is, others aren’t allowed to critique or criticize without being labeled hateful.
In every part of our culture, we see truth thrown aside for something new. And the disturbing thing is Christians are following along! Watching a sinful world adopt these practices is difficult but it’s hardly surprising. People who don’t have the Holy Spirit guiding them are going to act like people who don’t have the Holy Spirit. But when people who claim to be following Christ develop this ungodly “live your truth” mentality, they do more harm than good.
When we “live our truth” and encourage others to follow that logic, we are falling for the lie that truth is objective. But the very definition of truth is that it is solid, unchanging, and the opposite of a lie. If there is more than one truth, it defeats its own definition!
Another danger is that if sinful men get to decide what truth is, that truth is tarnished. People are fickle. What is a convenient truth today might be out of favor tomorrow. And so we are constantly bending in the wind, not grounded on anything solid.
Speaking up in a world gone crazy is hard. We will be attacked, mocked, cut off, canceled. But the reward of standing on God’s truth and living by God’s standard far outweighs the current scorn. We need to believe that this world is not the end; earth is not our final home. We are living and longing for heaven.
Photo by Eric Lagergren on Unsplash
Being Consistent
On our family trip to Hawaii last year, our children were allowed to pick out souvenirs at a few places we visited. At one stop, my son chose a lucky cat {much like the picture above}. When the sun hits the cat, its paw waves up and down with a slight clicking sound.
Every morning, when I open the curtains in his room and the morning sunlight falls on his cat figure, the clicking and waving immediately begin and they continue until the sun moves and the cat is covered in shadow.
This daily routine and noise caused me to think about being consistent in aspects of life. Consistency is a trait that seems to be falling away. People have so many pulls on their attention and time that they have trouble being consistent, especially in areas where it matters.
I freely admit that this is a struggle for me at times. Consistency requires time, effort, and a conscious drive to do what we know we should do, not only what we feel like doing.
Bible reading
We know we should and yet…it’s difficult to consistently open God’s Word and read it. Why? Maybe we find it boring. Maybe we believe there’s nothing new to understand. Maybe we don’t make it a priority so it naturally gets squeezed out of our routine.
None of these are valid excuses. The old adage “You make time for what’s important to you” is very accurate here. If we love the Bible, if we hunger to know God better, we will certainly prioritize time reading the Bible. But we have to decide and commit to consistently be in the Word.
I prefer to read a physical copy for my daily devotions but if I know it’s going to be a crazy day, I listen to the Bible on my phone while doing my makeup, washing dishes, etc. However it works for you, do it!
Prayer
One of the hardest things for me is prayer. Not because it’s difficult but because I get so wrapped up in other things or worry that I just don’t think about it. Until I’m convicted that I’ve been trying to solve the problem on my own instead of laying it before God.
Having a consistent prayer life is important for every Christian. Not because it gives us a step up in bragging rights or eternal glory but because we are coming before our Creator and he hears us! Our worries, requests, hardships, questions, praise all matter to him and he welcomes us into fellowship with himself. We should be clamoring to spend time in prayer!
Consistently talking with our Lord strengthens our faith, teaches us to rely on him, and helps us grow in our Christian walk.
Discipline
Until you’ve told a child to stop a certain behavior several times in one morning, you might not realize what a struggle for consistency this is. It’s easy to think we’ve said no enough, we’ve sent them to their rooms enough, they’ve been punished enough. But if your children are still struggling with that sinful habit, we must keep being consistent in how we deal with it.
I’m not telling you how to discipline your kids here, although I certainly have thoughts on it. I’m telling you being consistent in dealing with sin is an important part of discipline in general. If we correct our children for throwing a fit up until the tenth time then let them go because we’re tired of dealing with it, they will always persist until that tenth time because they have learned you can be worn down and then they get what they want.
kindness
This shouldn’t need to be said but we are sinful people living with and among other sinful people and sometimes we snap! I have found being kind, compassionate, nice, etc. are not taken as the norm. In fact, in some situations, smiling and speaking kindly stand out as a rare thing. Think of moments where frustrations, tempers, and attitudes tend to run high. Now imagine being the person working in that environment, where everyday people are yelling, glaring, or upset with you but you can’t always solve the problem {I’m thinking of customer service and flight representatives, hotel staff, but I’m sure there are others}.
Most of these interactions will probably be the only time you’ll speak to the people in question, but if we choose to just be kind consistently, it will be easier to default to that attitude when we might be tempted to blow up. And of course this applies to family, coworkers, friends, and people we see on a regular basis.
Every morning, that clicking, waving cat greets me and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down. But every morning I’m reminded why being consistent in my Christian life matters.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Taking Time to Pray
If I’m being honest, prayer is one of the hardest things for me.
It should be one of the easiest, but making consistent time to sit undistracted and pray can be a challenge. However, having a consistent prayer life is one of the most important disciplines we need to cultivate.
As with many things in life, we often think until we’re ready to do it “perfectly” we shouldn’t do it. The perfect time to sit uninterrupted, the perfect notebook to write requests in. But the truth is, there will not be a perfect moment or setup. We need to just begin! Here are a few things I’ve found helpful as I try to make a habit of prayer.
Make a list
Lists are helpful in many areas of life and prayer is no different. I have found it easier to stay focused and not get distracted when I have a list of prayer requests I can focus on. As I hear of needs from family and friends, I write them down and keep the paper or notebook within easy grabbing distance.
Give thanks
Days can be dark and discouraging. At times it’s difficult to find the words to pray, even with a list. At moments like this, I begin with thankfulness. Reciting the good things God has done for me or provided helps encourage me to bring more before him and also refocuses my mind.
Routine
They say it takes 59-70 days to create a new habit. Something I have found helpful in many disciplines of life is to attach the new habit to a certain time of day or regular activity. I try to begin and end my days with prayer. Before I fall asleep, I think back on that day and ask forgiveness, praise God, bring requests and burdens. Anything about that day that pops into my mind. In the morning before I get out of bed, I give my day over to God, ask for help in certain activities, etc. Here’s another blog post I wrote about attaching prayer to something else as a reminder to pray.
evaluate the day
I realized there were moments in everyday that I was wasting. I was scrolling on my phone, sitting at my desk wondering what I should be doing, researching things I didn’t plan to buy. And I decided when I caught myself doing some mindless task that didn’t need doing, I would pray.
Often the biggest challenge to prayer is our own attitudes. We don’t want to take the time or we think it has to involve closing eyes, kneeling, etc. The truth is, prayer is for every hour of every day. This is what I Thess. 5:17 is talking about when the Bible says, “Pray without ceasing.” God knows we have tasks that need to be done. He’s not saying we need to kneel at our beds 24/7. But wherever we are, we can come before him in prayer.
How will you incorporate prayer into your daily life?
Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash
Hero Worship or Bible Steeped?
Have you heard the saying, “Don’t meet your heroes”? Google many sports figures and celebrities and you will probably find a story about a regular person meeting someone famous and coming away not impressed. So many people seem amazing from afar but the more you know about them, the more you realize they have feet of clay. It’s hard to know what people are actually like.
We also see this in politics. We choose a candidate who looks like a savior, someone to make a difference the way we want, and suddenly they fall short. They turn sides and take bribes and disappoint us.
You might think that this wouldn’t apply to Christians. However, with people following authors, pastors, and Christian influencers, we can easily get caught up in the wrong thing and focused on the wrong person.
We don’t like to think that by following everything a certain person says or by believing he/she can do no wrong equals hero worship, but that is essentially what it is. We are propping people up on a pedestal and basing what we believe on what they say. We feel the need to defend them to others because some of our identity is wrapped up in how people perceive them. If someone has a problem with my person of interest, they must have a problem with me too!
I’m not saying it’s wrong to have a favorite author or to learn from a popular Bible teacher. I hope you respect your pastor and church leaders. I have podcasts, books, and people that have definitely helped me in my Christian walk and taught me things that are valuable and biblical. But I always have to remember a few things, no matter how I’m gleaning wisdom from others.
Everyone is a sinner and therefore capable of getting something wrong.
Only God is omniscient (all knowing).
I am capable of responding in a sinful way.
I only know one side {usually my person’s side} of the story but there are two perspectives in every incident.
By reminding myself of these truths, it helps me keep men (or women) in the correct place and God in his much deserved place.
I don’t log in to Twitter often because it’s too overwhelming for me. But I have the people I follow grouped into lists so I can choose to only read updates from authors or Christian leaders or Princess of Wales fashion posts. Unfortunately, the times I’ve logged in to Christian Tweeters I follow, there’s usually some disagreement or conflict going on. A popular Christian has been involved in a scandal or said something contradictory in a new book. Or someone just decides to go after someone else. It’s a messy place.
But the problem doesn’t stop there. Sometimes the person in question jumps on social media to defend his/her position. Sometimes it’s gracious, oftentimes not. Then their followers will lash out with name calling, Bible misquoting tweets to defend the honor of their favored influencer. And the mess just gets messier.
This exulting in people rather than God is contrary to the examples in the Bible. Think of Joseph in Genesis 40-41. Before he tells the two prisoners and Pharaoh what their dreams mean, he makes sure to mention it is God, not him, who can interpret dreams and should get the credit. Think of David in I Samuel 17 as he boldly goes against Goliath. He declares several times that God will deliver him from this Philistine. In another event concerning dreams, Daniel gives God the credit for showing Nebuchadnezzar’s dream meaning to him in Daniel 2. In fact Daniel points out that no one except God can do this (Dan. 2:27-28).
We also see New Testament examples of doing things for God’s glory, not man’s attention. In this, we see that God should be preeminent in everything. In everything we do and, therefore, in how we treat and emulate others. If we are respecting the words and teachings of a person — no matter how well educated or intentioned —- over the words and teachings of the Bible, we need to recognize the hero worship in this and follow God above all else.
I’ve recently seen someone post, “If this {supposedly bad thing} happens to so-and-so {read Christian teacher who is important to her}, my faith in God’s justice will be broken.” Really?! Your faith in the Creator of the Universe rests on how your favorite Bible speaker is treated, talked about, etc.? What a sad place to be in! To have your very faith in the power of Who God is hinging on a mere mortal who I guarantee is sinful and will make mistakes. We must be careful, even as we learn and grow from the teachings and writings of others that their words, actions, and personalities are NEVER a substitute for the actual Bible.
If I get too caught up in the unfairness, the injustice, the criticism, it might hurt my testimony with others. Christians shouldn’t be backbiters. Even if we don’t like an outcome or what we see as unjust commentary, we need to watch our mouths and monitor our hearts.
Consider this small sample of verses from Proverbs:
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. {Prov. 10:11-12}
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. {Prov. 15:1-4}
And so my challenge to you is this: consider those in your life who have impact and influence. Do you accept everything they say without reading or studying for yourself? Do you only believe their version of events and criticize any who speak against them? Do you assume if so-and-so said it, it must be true? Do you find yourself getting into arguments defending the honor or insight of a certain person?
None of us are able to walk through this life without making mistakes. We will say the wrong thing, be swayed by popular teaching, respond sinfully to situations. But if we spend more time reading and studying God’s Word than we spend hearing from the popular voices of today — however wise they may sound — we will have a better foundation to respond biblically and know God’s teaching on certain matters. In a society of ever-changing opinions and “truths,” I’m thankful for the unchanging God we can trust Who has given us unchanging truth to live by.
Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash
Cling to the Rock
Our family recently returned from a vacation in Hawaii. My husband and I had been 15 years ago but this was the first time for our kids. We filled our days with beaches, the pool, hikes, and trying as many local fruits as possible.
After the thrill of stepping in the Pacific and running up and down the beach to avoid oncoming waves, my son came to me a little disheartened.
“I see fish and things in the sand but the waves keep coming and I loose them.” I assured him we would go to a place where the waves wouldn’t be a problem. He looked doubtful.
The next day, we went to a beautiful lagoon that was by several large resorts. {Side note: our local Hawaiian friends told us no one can own beaches in Hawaii, all beaches are open for anyone to use even “on resort property.”} We parked the car, walked up a grassy hill, and down into the sand. After a layer of sunscreen, the kids made a beeline for the water. And they instantly noticed something: no waves. The water was completely calm.
This manmade cove or lagoon had rocks piled against the ocean side, breaking the waves and keeping the water inside the cove calm and shallow. There were fish, crabs, even a sea cucumber. It was a great place to learn to snorkel and we built sand castles, swam in circles, and enjoyed the afternoon.
The thing was, on the other side of that rock barrier, waves crashed and hit and were just as rough as ever. The rocks didn’t keep the waves from being waves, they simply protected those in the cove.
As I sat on the beach, happily digging and watching the kids, I couldn’t help but think about all the Psalms that mention God as our Rock. We usually think of this in terms of God’s strength and solidness, a firm foundation we can trust in. But it also points us to how he protects us. The waves of the world are constant and relentless. Sin pounds at us from all sides. It can be just as exhausting as standing up to physical waves all day. But when we seek shelter in the Rock of our Salvation {God}, we can hide behind him and find peace and rest from the waves.
Meditate on these words from Psalm 62:
1 I am at rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from Him.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I will never be shaken.
No matter how high those waves struck on that Hawaiian beach, we were safe behind the rocks that made our lagoon. We didn’t even think about the possibility of the tide pulling us deeper into the water or the waves knocking us down. We were happy, secure, and enjoying the beauty around us.
God does the same. Life isn’t perfect or trouble free because we’re clinging to the Rock but we know he’s there. We know the sin and wickedness of the world can’t move him. We know we can always find refuge in him. When you feel as if the waves are pulling you away from the safety of the Rock, read Psalm 91. God is our refuge, our fortress. In him we can trust.
Photo by Wei Zeng on Unsplash
Longing for Home
Recently I was walking around my neighborhood with my four-year-old who had chosen to scooter. After about 15 minutes, she declared her legs were giving out and she just couldn’t go on. We stopped for a minute to rest and than I told her we were on our street. We were almost home.
She immediately began singing the chorus to “Almost Home” by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell. It’s become a favorite of hers, although she doesn’t understand it’s talking about something much better than just our physical home. The song is urging Christians to keep fighting and pressing on here knowing heaven — our eternal home — awaits.
While she eagerly stood on her scooter, swinging her left leg to hit the pavement and send her down the sidewalk, I thought about the song she continued to sing. And as her volume got louder the closer we came to our house, I wondered if our enthusiasm for heaven is as exuberant as that little girl cruising into the driveway.
It’s interesting to me that many Christians have recently begun to talk about longing for heaven because things are so bad in our broken world. But really, even if everything was perfect here, our true desire should be heaven, right? Eternity in the Lord’s presence, free from the distractions of this world, nothing tarnished by sin.
You see, this world has been flawed since Adam and Eve chose the fruit over obedience. People have been longing for heaven and communion with God for thousands of years, not only based on what was happening around them but because they believed eternity with God was better than anything a sinful world could give.
But it’s very easy to get used to this world and it can be difficult to long for something that’s completely foreign: a sinless existence. I remember as a child, thinking of heaven in terms of just like earth but with nothing bad. But as I got older, I realized how much sin has polluted and corrupted everything — even things we might consider good or nice have a shade of this fallen world about them. It’s difficult to imagine a place perfect, whole, sinless.
And it’s incredibly easy to get used to what is around us, what we are familiar with, the only thing we know. Yet in the heart of every believer should be a longing, a fervent desire for our eternal home. Even though we’ve never seen it, we should have an excited anticipation for what God has promised.
If you aren’t familiar with the song I mentioned above, I encourage you to look for it on Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you listen to tunes. It’s a joyful, encouraging reminder that this place is temporary; it may be dark but dawn is coming. Press on, Christian, we’re almost home.
Photo by Dawid Zawila on Unsplash
The Running List
I am a list keeper.
Even as a child before I could spell words, I would fill notebooks with lists of squiggles {ask my mom; she remembers throwing away mountains of scribbled paper}.
And once I could write, I was all about journals, lists, to-dos. When I started high school and got my first day planner, I wrote EVERYTHING down. Every assignment, every sports game I attended, who I ate lunch with…I was kind of obsessed.
With each new school year brought a new planner. August became my favorite month. And as I moved into adulthood, lists and planners followed. I have a notebook in my purse at all times, along with several colorful pens. I have a planner and lists on my desk. I keep a separate planner with lists in the schoolroom. I have scraps of paper by my bed,
I’ve found lists to be extremely helpful and use them for so much more than groceries. One of my favorite things to list {just for my own reflection} are gratitudes. The older I get, the more I realize how much there is to be thankful for. And while some of the things I list are incredibly small, the act of writing them down helps me to pay attention to things around me.
This idea isn’t new or unique to me. Books have been written about the value of cultivating thankfulness and recording them in journals or lists or photo snippets. But as with many things, you often don’t really understand the value until you put it into practice for yourself.
I list people, places, things, events, memories. I’ve found when I’m actively looking for things to be grateful for I can go on and on, much longer than I thought. And the simplicity of writing them down in a list means I can pull them out, return to those items listed, and remember to be thankful all over again, even when times are rough.
Some of my most challenging lists of gratitude were during quarantine in 2020. When you can’t leave your home, everything is cancelled, and the future looks like a big empty void {remember, I love to plan and my new planner in 2020 went from full to empty for weeks on end. It was crushing}, it wasn’t surprising that finding reasons to be thankful didn’t flow easily from my pen.
However, when I looked, when I thought and concentrated for just a few minutes, there was always something.
Health
Sunshine and a yard to enjoy when all the parks closed
Technology to see friends virtually
Food
Family games and movies
I’m sure you get the idea. There’s always something we CAN be grateful for, but sometimes it takes a little more effort and thought. And now I have list upon list of gratitudes, even for 2020.
I still have running lists — groceries, gift ideas, birthdays, projects, writing ideas, school resources — but the one that continues to help me the most is my list of thankfulness.
Photo by Paico Oficial on Unsplash
Faithfulness
We’re still in that bubble at the beginning of the year where people are envisioning and resolving and dreaming of all the possibilities that 2022 might hold. But sometimes, we struggle to take that first step. We know the end goal we want to achieve but how do we get there?
Maybe we’re afraid of doing it wrong or making a mistake or failing. Maybe we believe we need to sit back and let God work. Maybe we’re waiting for a sign that never comes so year after year we press toward the same goal but we never get any closer.
One thing I’ve learned in life is that it’s not passive. Yes, we need to be wise and sometimes steps are slow and steady instead of fast and furious. But we need to keep showing up and doing what God has called us to. Often that means just doing the next thing. And sometimes we don’t know exactly how the next thing is going to help us or serve God but we keep going.
When I was going into my last year in high school, the seniors had the option of taking one university class for credit. Most of my friends were taking History of Civilization which was a class famous for the amounts of reading you needed to do and dates you had to memorize. I wanted to do something different. I decided to take a language since I knew my major would require two years. But which language?
My mom had been working with a lady from the Ukraine and I loved how the Russian language sounded, not harsh like German but fluid, smooth. So with no reason but that, I signed up for first year Russian and bought my textbooks. I’ll be honest and say it was hard. I spent hours in the language lab after class listening to phrases and repeating them into a microphone and practicing writing in a different alphabet.
I enjoyed the class, my teacher made it interesting, but it was hard. There were times I wondered why I was doing this and if I’d made the wrong choice in choosing this class, this language. At the beginning of second semester, our teacher gave us a heads up: our final for the year would be to recite the wordless book with at least two Bible verses per section. It ended up being two pages of Russian text to memorize and we had to understand what we were saying enough to answer questions our teacher asked about the Gospel.
During this same semester, my senior class was preparing to go to New York City for a missions trip. It was a busy few months but just before finals, we loaded into buses and drove to Brooklyn. One of the afternoons, we held a children’s club at the church and we shared the Gospel message using wordless books. Just before we started, several classmates excitedly ran up to me and said there were two Russian children in the back who didn’t understand much English.
With nerves rattling, I approached and introduced myself and asked if I could explain this book without words to them in Russian. They sat by me while I slowly staggered through every section, every Bible verse I had spent the semester memorizing for my final. They left the kids club with a Russian tract, a wordless book, and the gospel. I have no idea if they ever visited the church again but a seed was planted by a very overwhelmed and nervous high schooler.
It’s an extremely humbling experience to be used by God. To take your simple efforts and things you’ve unknowingly been cultivating and have God use them in ways you never imagined. When I set out to take Russian, I never dreamed that nine months later I would be witnessing in another language to two children who knew nothing of the Gospel. When my teacher assigned us that final project to work on, I had no idea my missions team would be sharing that same material in the children’s program. But God…
I often think when we set out to make resolutions and reach our goals, we only have that in mind: our goals. Our desires. Our purposes. But how much richer our lives become when we set our priorities on God’s desires for us. What he has for us this year, this month, this day. And while we can’t anticipate everything God has for us, we can practice faithfulness, right here, where he’s placed us.
It’s impossible to know how God will use what we’re doing today for the future. But that’s okay. We don’t need to know the ends and outs of what God will do or how. We just need to be faithful where we are. We need to be praying for opportunities and studying the Bible so we know what to say when the need arises. How will you be faithful today?
Photo by Charles Black on Unsplash
Seek the Light
I’m not super great at houseplants.
I have good intentions. I buy indoor plants, get them in {what I think} are perfect locations, and promptly forget to water them. Or I really want a plant in a certain place that gets no sunlight and it doesn’t last long.
When my kids learn about living things in science, we talk about what living things need to survive: food, water, and for plants, sunshine. It seems like such a simple list. How hard could it be to give plants sunlight, water, and food {nutrients in soil}?
Several months ago, I wanted to do a little sprucing up in our master bathroom. Our bathroom is somewhat large with a sink, linen closet, walk-in shower, and a large tub in the corner with big windows on two sides. The toilet is in its own little closet-like room with a small window. I found some cute shelves for above the tub opposite the windows and a matching over-the-toilet storage rack with shelves.
I’d never thought about putting plants in a bathroom before but we had these great shelves and lots of natural light pouring in. It seemed like a good fit, a little spa-like. I put a few starts from my spider plant in two containers, set them on the shelves in all that light, and waited to see how long they’d last.
The thing I love about spider plants is all the viney little shoots they send out. I love how they hang and fall and fill in so much space. And before long I noticed something that really shouldn’t have surprised me. The spider plant sent out a long narrow shoot right at the window. In fact, the whole plant began leaning toward the light in such a way that I was afraid the weight would tip the pot right off the shelf! So I rotated the pot, moving the fullness of the spider plant and that first shoot away from the window and toward the bathroom.
I didn’t keep track of how long it stayed that way but one day, I noticed the plant was leaning again and sending out another shoot, again to the natural light of the sun filtering in. The plant could not be stopped in its relentless seeking of the sun, one of the things needed for its survival.
Now, I’m not getting sci-fi and suggesting that the spider plant as a will, mind, conscious. I am pointing out that God designed the plant to need certain things and grow when those needs are met. And in a weird way, the plant unknowingly seeks out what it is designed to need.
God designed people with needs also. Our needs aren’t just about survival but about thriving and glorifying our Creator. We have basic health needs {food, water, oxygen} but we also need community, encouragement, to be productive, and above all, we need God. Even people who don’t acknowledge God’s existence have a need for him. And they will feel an emptiness, a desire to fill that space with something, even if they don’t admit it.
The trouble is sin. We get so wrapped up in the things of this world that we stop really seeking after what God wants. It might start with the lie that we are too busy to read the Bible then grow to skipping church and fellowship with believers because we feel out of touch or that it’s not convenient. We stop praying because we don’t see the need.
The Christian life is not a one and done. It’s a daily pursuing of the One who Created us. Just as my spider plant will send out shoots in pursuit of the sun’s rays, we as Christians should be seeking the truth of God’s Word and leaning toward Him. We need His guidance, care, strength, and grace more than we often believe. We daily pull away from the cares of this world and seek Him, the giver of light and life.
Photo by Matti Johnson on Unsplash
When Anxiety Threatens
Anxiety is an equal opportunity villain.
I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who hasn’t experienced fear or anxiety at some point. We might be more prone to it depending on active imaginations (me!) or always jumping to worse case scenarios (me!) or being a pessimist (not me!). There is something in our human, fallen minds that lands on fear when uncertain or frightening things happen.
I didn’t consider myself a fearful person in my younger years. Maybe I naively always thought that difficult things happened to other people, not me. But over the course of a few years, I had several times when I was gripped with a sudden anxiety that was difficult to shake. One of these times was when my daughter was born.
When I went to the hospital to have my daughter, I was so excited. I was two weeks overdue and those weeks seemed like a lifetime. Every appointment those last few weeks, I had to have a stress test which meant I sat in a comfortable chair for 30 minutes while a machine took my vitals. I was declared stress free every time.
My labor was long and slow. Even after induction, my water didn’t break on its own and the doctor had to do it. And when she did, a problem was discovered. My baby had already had a bowel movement in the womb and there was a high likelihood she had swallowed fluid and developed an infection. The doctor warned that when she was born, her lungs would need to be suctioned and cleared before they would attempt to get her breathing.
With that on our minds, we continued to wait for labor to progress. When our baby came hours later, it was a rush of activity. As soon as she was born, she was put on a cart and suctioned again and again. I couldn’t see anything happening, but I also couldn’t hear a baby crying. Time seemed to stretch until finally, we heard a little slap on skin and a baby’s wail.
She was cleaned up and placed in my arms for the first time but not for long. In less than an hour, the nurses needed to get her to the NICU and run tests for infection and start antibiotics. Watching my daughter being wheeled away was not how I had pictured our first hours as a family. I slept on and off and was finally put in a wheelchair to visit our baby and move to a new room.
For the rest of the week, every day was a new anxiety. The baby wouldn’t nurse and would only drink half the bottle of milk I pumped. We were told she would need to stay in the NICU for at least five days of antibiotic, but I could only stay in my hospital room for 48 hours. We could visit and hold our daughter except for a few hours each day when the nurse schedule rotated. Every doctor round brought some encouraging news coupled with discouraging news. They needed her to eat more at each feeding and gain more weight before releasing her. A certain number of wet diapers a day. A certain heart rate and oxygen number and blood test.
I would look at the other babies in our NICU room and feel grateful, knowing many of them had more serious issues that required them to stay longer. But seeing my baby in an incubator, needing a nurse to help me lift her out with all the wires and tubes connected to her, not knowing when she would get to come home. I would sit and rock her and sing Jesus Loves Me until my husband came. Then I would head home to shower, change clothes, eat, and head back to the hospital to catch the doctor on his rounds and hear a test update. I would pump and deliver small bottles of milk for the nurses to try and feed her.
Those five days were life changing. I realized in a way I hadn’t before the fragility of life and how little control we truly have over life’s circumstances. Until my water broke, we had no idea our week would be spent driving back and forth from the hospital, sleeping when we could, cheering for every milliliter of milk our daughter would drink. Finally bringing her home was exhausting relief that we had made it through. God had provided the strength, stamina, and wisdom we needed.
Most people I know like to have a feeling of control or knowledge of a situation. When we are afraid of outcomes that scare us, we start focusing on the problem instead of on God.
Anxiety can be paralyzing, taking over our physical and mental capabilities. But again and again, we find comforting words in the Bible, meant to encourage and give us rest.
Psalm 23 is a beautiful example. It shows the range of depth our lives can have, from the joy and comfort of peaceful moments to the fear and dark times of shadows. While familiar to many, this Psalm isn’t one to be hastily quoted; it deserves consideration and consistent remembering, especially when we are feeling the weight of anxiety pressing in.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Photo by David Mark on Pixabay