In the stillness of the morning, before the birds are awake, amidst the buzzing insects and gentle breeze, you can hear it.
It's a sound you're familiar with, always present and always changing, yet always uniquely identifiable.
The quiet chaos.
The inner struggle, the war of flesh against spirit, the battle that feels eternal and yet we know is temporal.
It's the sound of light versus dark.
Selfishness versus selflessness.
Worldly lust versus zealous obedience.
Life versus death.
You try and pretend that it's not from you. It's the outside: the circumstances of life, the daily grind, the environment you're forced into. It certainly isn't you. But that sound isn't coming from outside.
So you try to cover it. It's quiet, after all, and if you can fill the space with louder noises, then you won't notice it. But you can only keep the white noise for so long.
So then you try to ignore it. It's easy to ignore at first, no more than a minor annoyance. But the consistency of unbridled chaos cooks at the back of your mind and boils your heart.
You start to look at what is causing the chaos, and though you may not want to admit it, many of them have come out of your own heart. But you see some new faces among the familiar ones. Regardless of where they came from, they are beating you down, old and new; they are united against you.
So you have a choice: do I stay down, or do I step up and fight?
The battle armor seems heavier, your arm feels sluggish as you try to use your sword. But you can't stay down, even if you keep getting knocked back, because you know you aren't fighting alone.
But....
Are you fighting well?
And so we cry out with Paul, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death??"
8/26/2017
8/16/2017
The grass is greener. . .
Found myself in Psalm 100 today-
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Matt preached on John 10 this past week, focusing on Jesus as the good shepherd, so I couldn't help but be drawn to that part of this psalm. "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."
It's good to be reminded that God is still in control, in spite of personal difficulties, national tensions, or world events. That doesn't mean that we sit passively either, but we can have peace of mind that God will take care of His church. However, THAT DOES NOT mean that the USA is or will be made perfect and holy- it does mean that we, wherever we are, should be even more sensitive to the needs of those around us and share the good news that we have: that this life here on earth is not the end-all and that there is both a present and future hope in Christ. We should desire as God does that all should be saved, regardless of who they are and where they are in life.
So. . . are you inviting people to come to the pasture of the Good Shepherd, or are you just enjoying the grass?
Or, if you've seen the Church, and you recognize that the sheep are ugly and pretty dumb and imperfect, are you willing to look past that and learn why it is that they follow their Shepherd?
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Matt preached on John 10 this past week, focusing on Jesus as the good shepherd, so I couldn't help but be drawn to that part of this psalm. "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."
It's good to be reminded that God is still in control, in spite of personal difficulties, national tensions, or world events. That doesn't mean that we sit passively either, but we can have peace of mind that God will take care of His church. However, THAT DOES NOT mean that the USA is or will be made perfect and holy- it does mean that we, wherever we are, should be even more sensitive to the needs of those around us and share the good news that we have: that this life here on earth is not the end-all and that there is both a present and future hope in Christ. We should desire as God does that all should be saved, regardless of who they are and where they are in life.
So. . . are you inviting people to come to the pasture of the Good Shepherd, or are you just enjoying the grass?
Or, if you've seen the Church, and you recognize that the sheep are ugly and pretty dumb and imperfect, are you willing to look past that and learn why it is that they follow their Shepherd?
8/07/2017
Authority
Been meaning to clarify something I wrote last week but haven't been able to set it down into words. Cue Holy Spirit bringing me to a verse as I worked on my school assignment-
Titus 2:15- Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
I said something last week about not wanting to sound too authoritative. However, I have no issue standing on the authority of Scripture, on the promises of God and how they have been revealed in my life, and in trying my best to base my life on that belief system. What I am not an authority on is living a perfect life and doing all of that without fail. I think that's an important distinction, because many times as Christians I think we feel unqualified to speak about things because we know our own heart and the struggles we face. We know that we say and do stupid things, we know we know better, and so we let either guilt consume us or fear of being called hypocritical keep us from standing on God's Word.
But we can. We can claim God's authority on our lives, even as we are still figuring it out. Because we are always going to be figuring it out until we are made perfect in Christ.
The interesting thing about this verse is that I could not get a definitive answer about the grammar of the sentence from Greek (probably because I don't really know anything about Greek). The way it is written, is it saying that we teach, we exhort, and we rebuke with authority, or is it that authority carried across all three of those (if I were writing it in English clearly it would become "with authority we teach, we exhort, and we rebuke)? What I really discovered is regardless of the exact intent of that specific verse, we are given authority to teach and we are given authority to exhort. Teaching in some form is the calling of all disciples, whether it's done on a small scale or a large scale. That can be intimidating, but we can trust God's Word to speak into all lives. It's also exciting to think that God wants us to encourage each other. That we aren't meant to face life alone. That we can comfort others because we have been through difficult times.
And so I will keep writing authoritatively, not because my words are powerful, but because God's truth is undeniable.
Titus 2:15- Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
I said something last week about not wanting to sound too authoritative. However, I have no issue standing on the authority of Scripture, on the promises of God and how they have been revealed in my life, and in trying my best to base my life on that belief system. What I am not an authority on is living a perfect life and doing all of that without fail. I think that's an important distinction, because many times as Christians I think we feel unqualified to speak about things because we know our own heart and the struggles we face. We know that we say and do stupid things, we know we know better, and so we let either guilt consume us or fear of being called hypocritical keep us from standing on God's Word.
But we can. We can claim God's authority on our lives, even as we are still figuring it out. Because we are always going to be figuring it out until we are made perfect in Christ.
The interesting thing about this verse is that I could not get a definitive answer about the grammar of the sentence from Greek (probably because I don't really know anything about Greek). The way it is written, is it saying that we teach, we exhort, and we rebuke with authority, or is it that authority carried across all three of those (if I were writing it in English clearly it would become "with authority we teach, we exhort, and we rebuke)? What I really discovered is regardless of the exact intent of that specific verse, we are given authority to teach and we are given authority to exhort. Teaching in some form is the calling of all disciples, whether it's done on a small scale or a large scale. That can be intimidating, but we can trust God's Word to speak into all lives. It's also exciting to think that God wants us to encourage each other. That we aren't meant to face life alone. That we can comfort others because we have been through difficult times.
And so I will keep writing authoritatively, not because my words are powerful, but because God's truth is undeniable.
8/03/2017
Carried
I feel like there's a lot of things I could write about, which is good because it means my brain is processing, but summer is apparently over because I have been staying quite busy between school work, stuff for church, running, and rehearsals. So there are a few "drafts" in my head that I may eventually set down, or maybe not, but this morning I just need a quick moment to get my heart oriented the right direction before the day really begins.
A few days ago I was looking for something in the Psalms, I wasn't sure what, and came across Psalm 146, which says this (v. 5-9):
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
There's a few key things: God is sovereignly in control as Creator; He is forever faithful; and He helps people in bad positions, including widows. I have so little knowledge in Hebrew and how it works, so I tried my best to figure out that word "uphold" and what it really means. From what I could gather, the root word is sometimes translated as "admonish," to earnestly advise or urge, but another thought about the word is that it means "return, go about, repeat, do again." The idea of something that is done over and over to show its importance. So in this case, it may be better to think of it as "restore" or "relieve." (Unfortunately the way the word is written it only occurs like this in this verse so that makes this exploration all the harder).
So after all of that, at the very least, I can say that God comes to us again and again, continually helping us, because He wants us to know that we are important enough in His eyes.
Which brings me to the next verse I read this morning, Psalm 68:19:
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.
Totally different word here, this idea of bearing up is literally to "carry a load." Whether talking about loading up a beast of burden or physical labor, or the emotional side of carrying something like a weight, the idea here is much more clear. God carries us. Daily. And so Psalm 68:19 shows us the daily, repeated relief God gives us that is talked about in 146:9.
The One who made galaxies and ants. Light and gravity. Each and every unique thing, great and small. He carries us.
Because He cares about us.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
A few days ago I was looking for something in the Psalms, I wasn't sure what, and came across Psalm 146, which says this (v. 5-9):
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
There's a few key things: God is sovereignly in control as Creator; He is forever faithful; and He helps people in bad positions, including widows. I have so little knowledge in Hebrew and how it works, so I tried my best to figure out that word "uphold" and what it really means. From what I could gather, the root word is sometimes translated as "admonish," to earnestly advise or urge, but another thought about the word is that it means "return, go about, repeat, do again." The idea of something that is done over and over to show its importance. So in this case, it may be better to think of it as "restore" or "relieve." (Unfortunately the way the word is written it only occurs like this in this verse so that makes this exploration all the harder).
So after all of that, at the very least, I can say that God comes to us again and again, continually helping us, because He wants us to know that we are important enough in His eyes.
Which brings me to the next verse I read this morning, Psalm 68:19:
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.
Totally different word here, this idea of bearing up is literally to "carry a load." Whether talking about loading up a beast of burden or physical labor, or the emotional side of carrying something like a weight, the idea here is much more clear. God carries us. Daily. And so Psalm 68:19 shows us the daily, repeated relief God gives us that is talked about in 146:9.
The One who made galaxies and ants. Light and gravity. Each and every unique thing, great and small. He carries us.
Because He cares about us.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
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