Let it Go

“You will find it necessary to let things go; simply for the reason they are heavy.” - C. Joybell C.

My journey to a simpler life is more than just decluttering the material things in my home, as freeing as that is. Those boxes donated to Goodwill are heavy, packed with many smaller things no longer wanted. But I also find myself examining what might be cluttering my life physically (health), emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually. It isn’t always one big thing but can be a lot of seemingly little things that together feel like one cumulative burden.

As silly as it sounds, when I’m dealing with such things I sometimes find myself humming “Let it Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen”. (Ok, I often bring up the Pentatonix version and sing along but no one wants to hear that!) It lightens my mood as a reminder that it’s ok to just let go of whatever worry or angst is crowding my life. 

Of course I pray a lot too, surrendering to Jesus those people, thoughts and burdens that weigh me down in mind and spirit, knowing He wants to carry them for me (1Peter 5:7, Psalm 55:22) and help me see what I need to release.

The thing about letting heavy things go is that so many are out of my control and beyond my ability to change them so I need to quit dragging them around. They aren’t mine to carry. Things like the behavior, choices, or opinions of others. No matter how much I disagree and as long as it isn’t bringing harm to themselves or others in away that would require intervention, I need to not dwell on it or let it take up emotional space. It’s difficult to do when it involves a friend or loved one but I’m not discarding the relationship, just the angst.

I also need to let go of resisting change or holding on to seasons of life that have passed. I think of a quote by Ellen Goodman: “There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over - and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its value.” I like the last part of that…leaving what’s over without denying its value. It’s ok to put aside what’s over to make room for what’s next. 

As I let go of what is no longer wanted or has become too heavy, I focus instead on clinging to what is good (Romans 12:9) and “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)  Those are the things worth keeping.

Letters Unsent

One thing I’ve learned is just because something can be said doesn’t mean it needs to be said, especially when it’s likely that no good will come of it so silence is the better course. 

So the question is, how do I deal with the emotional overflow of words unsaid, of feelings unexpressed toward a person or situation? I have found therapeutic release in writing letters to the people I want to speak to but can’t. It helps to put into words the unedited thoughts without a filter, writing out the storm of emotions. 

When the words are negative or just me venting, I shred the paper afterwards. They were for my benefit only, letters unsent that validated my words and feelings without judgement from anyone, thereby unloading the weight of them. Nothing would be gained by sharing. 

The more difficult letters are to people who have caused hurt, letting them know I forgive them. The words are unsent because those who are responsible either refuse to acknowledge they did anything wrong or they have died, leaving no opportunity for resolution. Writing it down gives voice to the hurt and helps me forgive and move on. 

Sometimes my letters unsent are positive and kept in my journal. The most recent was to one of my best friends lost to cancer a few months ago. She knew how much I valued our friendship as we often expressed it to each other in phone conversations and sweet notes in the mail but it helped to write her a good-bye love letter saying it again even though she will never read it. I’ll see her again someday so that lessens the pain of grief a bit but the loss is still pretty raw. She was my kindred spirit and I miss her every single day.

I often write letters to myself as a path to objectivity and affirmation, confirming what I did right or seeing where I was wrong and how I can correct my course. Some are kept in my journal as a good reminder while others are relegated to the wastebasket having served their purpose. 

Prayer helps as I speak of what’s on my heart to God, but I often write them as letters because I express my thoughts better with pen to paper than speaking them. Those are also in a journal and I sometimes read them back to the Lord when the same matter of the heart arises again. 

Donald Trump has received a few as the election approaches, expressing my disappointment in the kind of man he has shown himself to be and why I won’t vote for him again. Obviously letters unsent and destined for the shredder but I felt better getting the angst out on paper knowing he and probably everyone else couldn’t care less what I think. 

Certainly there are situations where words are better spoken in person but when it isn’t, letters unsent provide a healthy way to acknowledge my thoughts and feelings.

 

What’s on Your Altar?

"Everybody has an altar. And every altar has a throne. So how do you know where and what you worship? It’s easy. You simply follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money, and your loyalty. At the end of that trail you’ll find a throne; and whatever, or whomever, is on that throne is what’s of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship."   - Louie Giglio

What’s on your altar? It can be relationships, a job/career, or service to others. A hobby or travel to beautiful places can be great for mental health. Bible study, ministry, and intercessory prayer are definitely worthy of space. Even material collections that bring us joy might show up on the altar. 

But what about the throne? Any thing or person that becomes an obsession or a singular focus of our money, time, affection, loyalty, and energy threatens to take over the throne of our lives. It could be the pursuit of wealth or status above all else. Or the pursuit of youth and beauty. Maybe social media consumes our time and energy. Any number of addictions might battle for prominence. 

For some a presidential candidate sits on the throne as an object of messiah-like worship. Sadly, I have witnessed this a lot the past few years and more-so lately. 

I hope Jesus is on the throne of my altar. I think He mostly is, but it’s a battle with the many other things vying for a place as well. 

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:21

Scarlet Letters

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” tells the story of Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman caught in adultery and forced to wear the letter “A” on her chest to expose her sin and shame. Public shame for sin is politically incorrect these days and that’s a topic I’d like to explore in another post sometime. But today this story has me thinking about the other side of wearing a “scarlet letter”; the misuse of it as we define ourselves or others by something long after amends have been made and forgiveness granted.

I’m reminded of another story in scripture when a woman found in the act of adultery was brought before Jesus. Here’s how it played out as recorded in John 8:

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. (v. 3-9)

I sometimes wonder if the woman was set up for the purpose of trapping Jesus. If Jesus said, "Let her go," then it would seem that he is breaking the Mosaic law. If he said, "Execute her for the crime of adultery," then Jesus would seem harsh and would break Roman law, because the Romans had taken away the right of Jews to officially execute people for religious offenses. But the fact is, she was guilty. Whether it was a set up or not, she was caught in the act of adultery and law was clear about the punishment. On a side note, I wonder what Jesus wrote in the ground…maybe the names of the accusers in the group who at one time or another had committed adultery with this same woman? Or perhaps he listed the sins they were guilty of themselves. We aren’t told but whatever it was it seems to have influenced the outcome.

Jesus never denied the woman sinned. He never denied the penalty the law required or the Pharisees’ right to carry out the judgment. What he did was force the accusers to acknowledge that they themselves were sinners. In Jewish law, witnesses to a capital offense were the ones who began the stoning. One commentator suggests that when Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” he was really saying "all right, let’s execute her. But let’s do it right. One of the witnesses has to have a hand in her execution. So who among you is the one who witnessed this crime, but only brought to me the woman, not the man?" Perhaps, caught in the trap themselves, the men left rather than expose their own guilt.

If the story ended there it would still be a good lesson for us. But for me, the beauty is what followed:

Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." (v.10-11)

We aren’t told in this account who the woman was or what happened after that but I have to imagine that after such mercy and forgiveness that she changed her ways. I can also imagine that it wasn’t easy because like Hester Prynne, she was likely defined by her past even if she never committed adultery again. The accusers were likely still pointing at her, gossiping about her; still trying to put the focus on her so that their own sins would not be found out. She likely had her own moments of self-condemnation.

These stories happen to be about adultery but that isn’t the point. What is on my mind today is how we let any sin define us long after we’ve confessed and received forgiveness from Jesus. Sometimes we allow another to keep putting a scarlet letter on our chests without justification. Sometimes we wake up every morning and pin it on ourselves out of shame for something we did years ago or even something that was done to us that we have no reason to feel guilty about. Mostly though, we have an enemy, Satan, who continually whispers in our ear each letter that represents why we are guilty, beyond forgiveness, beyond the reach of mercy and grace of the Saviour, beyond redemption, beyond hope. His greatest weapon against us is accusation to cause doubt in what Jesus did on the cross.

What are some of the scarlet letters you carry around? I have my own collection that I drag out every now and then in my moments of doubt but then I choose to lay them at Jesus’ feet. In the shadow of the cross scarlet letters lose their power. Like the woman brought before him, if we just look through the filter of redemption we will find our accusers, or rather THE accuser, have left empty-handed with no evidence against us. 

Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He promises forgiveness when we confess wrong doing (1 John 1:9) and not only forgiveness but that the sin is removed and forgotten (Psalm 103:12). Those are powerful promises that make the scarlet letters fall away as Jesus whispers in our ear, "neither do I condemn you."

(reposted from 2010)

The Way We Like it Doesn't Change the Truth

Retired Church of Uganda Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said, "The moment you’re far away from your Bible and you are not making a difference with your Bible, then you are losing God’s wisdom to help you to walk righteously before Him."  

That is one source of the weakening of the church. Without the personal study of scripture with the Holy Spirit guiding us to truth, we rely more on experiences or teaching that makes us feel good without questioning whether they are Biblical. We rely more on what the latest best-selling author or charismatic pastor of a mega-church is saying without testing it against what God says, or we rely on social media to form our opinions and even our theology based on what is going around on X (formerly Twitter) or Facebook. 

Without the Bible to guide us, we are in danger of being lured into believing what God says is sin really isn’t, justifying it by saying scripture was misinterpreted, that it applied to a different people or time or circumstance and is irrelevant to us today, or that it isn't what God really meant.  We try to convince ourselves that if God really loves us that means he wants us to be happy even if it goes against his word. 

It sobers me because I know God is clear that not everyone who stands before him saying "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven. There will be no excuses, no debate anyone can give to convince Him that they are the exception to what He told us in his word.

We can spin it any way we want but as Orombi says, "the way you like it doesn’t change the truth that is in the Scripture."

God Sees Us

I pay attention to men and women in the Bible who are the misfits because there is always a lesson to learn from their stories. One of my favorites is that of Hagar, the slave of Sarah and Abraham. The story is in Genesis 16 and to summarize, Sarah (then called Sarai) had been unable to conceive so she encouraged Abraham (then called Abram) to have a child through their Egyptian servant, Hagar. Hagar taunted Sarah after becoming pregnant and in turn, Sarah treated Hagar harshly to the point that she fled into the desert.

If anyone felt invisible and unwanted, it was Hagar.  She was living every woman's nightmare…pregnant, alone, utterly abandoned. Or so she thought. God knew her circumstance and sent an angel to minister to her. After this encounter with the Lord, Hagar said to him (verse 13), "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." In Hebrew, that name is El-Roi, the God who sees.

I'm reminded of a line from the movie Shall We Dance?, a story about a man (played by Richard Gere) who takes up ballroom dancing while going through a midlife crisis. In one scene his wife (played by Susan Sarandon) is explaining to someone why people get married: "Because we need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage...you're saying 'your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will witness it.'"

Isn't that what we all want to some degree? To be seen? Witnessed? Acknowledged?  El-Roi does this for us. He says to each of us, "your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will witness it. I see you."

When we forget that our heavenly Father sees us, we will feel invisible and unimportant and will seek acknowledgement from others that will always leave us wanting.  That’s why the story of Hagar is an important reminder of God’s character. It reminds us that even if no one else notices, God witnesses a life he lovingly created for his glory and purpose.  He never abandons his watch over us. He sees us through the filter of Jesus and the cross, redeemed and worthy. That's hardly insignificant!

God has much to say about how important we are to him.  Psalm 139 is a beautiful testament of the God who sees as he supervised the formation of each one of us before we were born and has remained constantly aware of every moment of our lives thereafter. In fact, there is nowhere we can go that he does not see.  Psalm 121 tells us that the Lord never takes a break from watching over us.  Isaiah 61:3 says we are a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor. Isaiah 40:10 reminds us that even if the mountains fall, His unfailing love for us will not be shaken nor his covenant removed. 

No matter how invisible we feel on this planet at times, we are never out of God’s sight. Even if no one else ever knows who we are, even if we never get credit for anything good that we've done, God sees us inside and out.

The Heart Wants to Remember

"The heart wants to remember. That is why we journal, and take pictures of the events of our lives. Even without the actual pictures and written words, the heart records and remembers every experience, even if at the conscious level we sometimes forget...we need altars to commemorate the special events of our lives, and we need signposts to lead those we are leaving behind. The heart not only wants to remember, it needs to remember where it has gone, in order to move forward."

My friend Lidj (Crown of Beauty) wrote this on a post at her blog and it caught my attention. I feel the same way. The heart wants to remember but the heart also wants to be remembered. We want to know our lives count for something; that we are important to others. I think that's why we blog, tweet and Facebook. We not only want to remember the moments of our lives, but we also want to be acknowledged and to know our presence has mattered to someone else.

Friends and family who love us serve as witnesses to our lives. So does God. His heart remembers. The same God who is my Savior is also the One who knows how many hairs I have on my head (and how many are white and how many are still brown!), has the sands of the sea numbered, and takes note when a tiny sparrow dies. Not only am I cherished by Him, everything I do for Him is of great importance and He takes note of those moments in my life even if no one else ever sees.

My heart wants to remember not only the moments and events of my life and those of my family and friends, but also of the ways God was present in them.

(reposted from 2009)

The Hidden Years

"In hidden years, God is our only consistent audience. Others come and go, but only He always sees. God alone realizes our full potential and comprehends the longings in our souls. When no one else is interested (let alone impressed by) our capabilities and dreams, God is STILL wholeheartedly with fatherly pride shouting His love over us. Anonymous seasons afford us the opportunity to establish God as our souls' true point of reference if we resist underestimating how He treasures our hiddenness and take the time to decide whose attention and acceptance really matters in our lives."

Alicia Britt Chole

God is Bigger

"It is only when God looms hugely larger than anything you could ever face in this fallen world that your heart is able to experience peace even when you don't understand what is happening (and you don't have the power to solve it if you did). - Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies

Sometimes, Say Nothing

“American culture is incredibly diverse. We don’t all watch the same movies or television shows in this country. We don’t all go to church. We don’t all read the same thing or listen to the same music. The one thing that we can all get into is politics, and that’s not healthy. Politics has become the national pastime that brings us all together, only so it can drive us all apart. The task of the church, in this polarized environment, is to slow down, set our minds on things above, and stick to our own script. To be sure, we should not always be silent. But neither should we be the noisiest people in the room, especially when the room tries to tell us what we should be talking about.

Brothers and sisters, it’s OK to have an unarticulated thought. It’s OK to go about our lives in quiet worship and obedience. It’s OK to do your homework, read your Bible, raise your kids, and make your private thoughts prayers instead of posts. Alison Krauss was right: sometimes you say it best when you say nothing at all.”

- Kevin DeYoung

Respect Without Affirming

"Christians cannot be tolerant of all things because God is not tolerant of all things. We can respect differing opinions and try to understand them, but we cannot give our unqualified, unconditional affirmation to every belief and behavior. Because God doesn’t." - Kevin DeYoung

The Gift of Faith

"Faith so completely takes God at his word that it is willing to do what he says and stay inside his boundaries. Faith is a response of your heart to God that completely alters the way you live your life. You don't just think by faith; you live by faith. ...But putting your entire existence in the hands of One whom you cannot see, touch, or hear is far from natural. This is why faith is only ever a gift of divine grace. You and I have all the power in the world to doubt and no independent power at all to believe. So if you are living by faith, don't proudly pat yourself on the back as if you did something great. No, raise your eyes and hands toward heaven and thank God for gifting you with the desire and ability to believe" - Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies

The Next Big Thing

"The Next Big Thing is not another Pentecost or another apostle or another political or social cause. It is Christ's return. In demanding an immediate satisfaction of our heart's longing, we replace this event with manufactured spectacles. Ironically, the most faithful Christian life is one that embraces a pilgrimage rather than a conquest. The ordinary life - sustainable discipleship and disciple-making - is the order of the day, as we live each moment in eager expectation of The Next Big Thing on God's schedule." 

- From "Ordinary" by Michael Horton

Boldly Speak Truth

"The Bible tells us to, boldly and humbly, and without fear or shame, proclaim the Word of Truth. The unchanging Word of God always overrules anything any man has ever said which contradicts it – no matter how brilliant it may sound. As 1 Peter 1:24-25 says, all men are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and flowers fade…but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Every book we read, every sermon we hear, and every piece of advice we both give and receive must line up clearly and perfectly with the everlasting Word of God." (from a blog I read recently but I'm not sure who the author is)

In Times of Darkness, Do Nothing

"What should you do in times of darkness? Actually, the first thing to do is nothing. This is a difficult thing for our lowly human nature to do. When you are confused and do not know what to do, do nothing. When you find yourself in a spiritual fog, do not run ahead, but slow the pace of your life. And if necessary, keep your life's ship anchored or tied to the dock.

The right thing is simply to trust God, for while we trust, He can work. ...Only the peace of God will quiet our minds and put our hearts at rest."

- L.B Cowman, Streams in the Desert


"Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God." - Isaiah 50:10

The Word of God Will Defend Itself

"The Word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose and the lion will defend itself." - Charles Spurgeon

Good reminder for me today. I tend to want to "prove" scripture with someone who disagrees but God doesn't need me to do that. It is not up to me to do the job of the Holy Spirit. The Lord only asks us to share the gospel and and He will do the rest. His Word alone is more powerful than anything we can say or do.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12

Holy Exchanges

From the book Choosing Joy by Angela Thomas:

"The heart falls into despair when we forget.  When we forget who we belong to and how very powerful God is.  When the ways of evil seem to be winning and we forget that the victory has already been won by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet says that God promises to make holy exchanges for those who belong to Him.  He takes mourning and gives comfort and gladness.  He exchanges a crown of beauty for ashes.  And for every one of us filled with a spirit of despair, God promises to exchange our despair for a garment of praise.  A garment is a whole new outfit, not just a tiny handkerchief or a new tie.  A garment is a complete covering.   Only God could replace despair with a praise that becomes our joy."

God Sees My Potential, Not My Past

"I realize that God is in control of the universe, that the mistakes in my past, while dramatic to me, did not ruin God's plan beyond repair. God is sovereign, and His plans cannot be thwarted by someone like me. He can fill in the blanks of my mistakes, teaching my children what I failed to teach, restoring what I destroyed, rebuilding what I tore down, redeeming what I sold away.

And He tells me to stop looking back, to press on toward the prize...He knew my mistakes before I ever made them, yet He still planned to use me anyway.  He didn't see me as The Great Loser, but as someone uniquely gifted with something to be used in His kingdom work. Where I see myself as a disappointment, He sees me as an asset. He already knows the fruit I will bear for Him, and my future is on His mind so much more than my past.

If He can see me that way, why wouldn't I want to press on toward that goal, and wave good-bye to my fragmented, imperfect past? The future is so much brighter in Christ, and I have so many sisters and brothers who need strengthening.

Thank you, Lord, for seeing my potential instead of my past."

- Terri Blackstock

The Way We Like it Doesn't Change the Truth

Retired Church of Uganda Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said, "The moment you’re far away from your Bible and you are not making a difference with your Bible, then you are losing God’s wisdom to help you to walk righteously before Him." 

That is the source of the weakening of the church.  We rely less on personal study of scripture with the Holy Spirit guiding us to truth and more on questionable experiences and false signs and wonders, what the latest best-selling author or speaker is saying, or we rely on social media and form our opinions and even our theology based on what is going around on Twitter or Facebook.

As a result, we are lured into taking what God says is sin to not really mean that, and try to say scripture was misinterpreted, that it applied to a different people or time or circumstance and is irrelevant to us today, or that it isn't really what God meant.  We try to convince ourselves that if God really loves us that means he wants us to be happy even if it goes against his word. 

It sobers me because I know God is clear that not everyone who stands before him saying "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven.  He won't care what celebrity speakers on television told us, or what tens of thousands of people "tweeted".  He won't care what we read in best-selling books.  He won't care how human judges interpreted our rights in court. There will be no excuses, no debate we can give to convince him that we are the exception to what he told us in his word.

We can spin it any way we want but as Orombi says, "the way you like it doesn’t change the truth that is in the Scripture."

Simple Truth

"It may sound boring or out-of-date, but it just happens to be true: the way to grow in your relationship with Jesus is to pray, read your Bible, and go to a church where you'll get good preaching, good fellowship, and receive the sacraments. I'm not suggesting Christianity can be boiled down to a few external requirements. I'm not saying that at all. I'm arguing that if you want to be Christlike you need to have communion with Christ, and if you want communion with Christ you need to do it on his terms with the channels of grace he's provided. And that means the only way to extraordinary holiness is through ordinary means."

- Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness

The Hard Path of Discernment

"If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul." It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. ...If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them."  Deuteronomy 13:1-8

This scripture seems to warn against more than worshiping false gods or idols. Could it also be warning that the other "gods" we sometimes chase after come in the form of a popular book or teacher that seems sound on the surface but when tested against scripture reveals unbiblical teaching? Could the claim by some ministries that certain practices or supernatural experiences are from God actually have elements of the occult or other religions mixed in and we are to "turn away from them"?

I can't help but be reminded that the original temptation started with the serpent's words "didn't God say?" as he mixed in enough of God's exact words to make it sound credible so that the lie was hard to detect. Satan is crafty that way. He always wraps deception in enough truth to make it look and sound right so we won’t bother testing it, yet 1 John 4:1-6 instructs us to test everything to see whether it is from God and promises when we do so, we will be able to tell the difference.

It's hard to not follow the crowd - especially when other Christians are doing so - but as this scripture points out, even if our family and friends are inviting us to follow something that isn't biblical, we are to turn away from them. That is a hard thing to do. Choosing the narrow path is lonely and difficult, but it's the path we are told to follow and it’s the path that leads to life instead of destruction (Matthew 7:13, 14). God doesn't ask us to take the less chosen path or to question everything so we can become targets for those who think we're just being judgmental, close-minded, or intolerant. He simply wants to protect us from the lies that can derail our faith. 

Discernment isn't always a fun companion because she asks us to stop and seek truth when we don't want to. She sometimes asks us to confront the wolves in the flock (Matthew 7:15) when we'd rather just look the other way. We are always to test and listen with a discerning heart and true teachers of God's word will welcome that and not be offended, just as Paul commended the Bereans when they wanted to verify what he taught with the truth of scripture (Acts 17).

Part of discernment is to determine if it is really false teaching or simply needing to clarify whether differences in denominational wording of doctrine can sound different than our own yet remain truth. That is sometimes a tricky thing to do but seeking discernment from the Holy Spirit and checking everything against what scripture says helps us separate one from the other so that we can embrace truth and turn away from lies.

*****

 “Among the gifts of the Spirit scarcely one is of greater practical usefulness than the gift of discernment. This gift should be highly valued and frankly sought as being almost indispensable in these critical times. This gift will enable us to distinguish the chaff from the wheat and to divide the manifestations of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit.” - A.W. Tozer

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."  James 1:5

"Beware of interpreting Scripture in order to make it suit a pre-arranged doctrine of your own." - Oswald Chambers

"Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness." - Luke 11:35

The Kind of Fear We Should Seek

From Note to Self by Joe Thorn:

"You don't need to be afraid of anything, but you do need to fear your God with a holy reverence. Such "fear" is an aspect of faith that responds to God's holiness, sovereignty, and transcendence. This higher form of fear is that which leads to awe, adoration, and carefulness of life because of the intimate knowledge of your Maker and Redeemer. What should you fear in life above a holy God who forgives the sins of unholy men like yourself? What can be taken from you? Your possessions can go up in flames, but you have treasure in heaven and stand to inherit the kingdom. Your reputation may be sullied, but you are justified in Jesus. You may be rejected by those you admire, but you are accepted by God. You may be hated, but your Father in heaven loves you with an undying love. What is there in this life to fear?

The fear you need to maintain and cultivate is a fear of God, for in it you will discover wisdom and develop strength that enables you to persevere in faith to the end."




The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
Psalm 111:10

Remember...

In my Bible study these days a thought keeps resonating: Remember.

It's a significant theme that appears many times in scripture as we are instructed to remember days, events, places, people, and teachings that speak to God's holiness, power, character, and sovereignty.

Without remembrance, we are in danger of listening to other voices that tickle our ears with promises of another Jesus who is more politically correct and gives us a pass on sin, a salvation where "love wins" and the cross doesn't matter, and special revelations and mystical experiences that aren't biblical no matter how spiritual they seem. Before we know it we have forgotten who God is, what He has done for us, and what He promises with protection and blessing when we obey...and dire consequences when we choose our own way over His.

He is a jealous God who will not share our affections for other things more than Him. He is a holy God who will not overlook our deciding to ride the fence on issues that He has declared sin. And He will not tolerate being mocked when we we ascribe to Him through the Holy Spirit words and manifestations He did not say or do.

But ultimately, I think what what we are in danger of forgetting is that the whole of scripture is one huge love story with the bright scarlet thread of redemption woven into the drab fabric of our fall from grace, leading to His perfect plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. I think that is what He wants us to remember most of all and it is the message being lost in the church.

Remember the cross and the empty tomb and why we need a Savior. Remember who you are in Christ. Remember what God has done and will do. Remember His holiness.

Remember.

Resting in God's Sovereignty

From When You Are Weak by Brian Cosby:

"The sovereignty of God is one of God's attributes that speaks of his complete control over all things, all people, and all time. Nothing happens apart from his providential governing, not even the death of a sparrow (Matt. 10:29).

Because God is sovereign, wise, and works all things for our good and his glory, and if he sees fit to give us many earthly possessions or very little earthly possessions, we can rest in the knowledge that he is in control. Whether we find ourselves in plenty or in want, the sovereignty of God should comfort us, humble us, and grant us a steady contentment in the outworking of his eternal plan." (p. 78)

Be Careful in Your Theology

This excerpt from Note to Self by Joe Thorn says well what's been on my mind lately.


Be Careful in Your Theology

"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." 1 Timothy 4:16

"Dear Self,

Your views of God and self are not small ideas of little consequence. You must carefully do the hard work of building a theology that reflects truth. Do not merely settle for the study you have already done. This is more than laziness; it is carelessness with the truth of God. What you have already accomplished is not sufficient to have arrived at a perfect "body of divinity." You need to continue to study and articulate the truth throughout your life. As one who believes that sin has corrupted every faculty of a man, you must acknowledge that if there is corruption in your heart and mind, there is probably some error in your doctrine as well.

Don't settle for the teaching of one teacher or system because you like the leadership there. And do not blindly embrace a tradition because you believe it is simply the closest option out there to what the apostles gave us. While you will do well to listen carefully to those teachers who have gone before you, especially those teachers who consistently preached and taught the whole counsel of God, you must remain careful.

To be careful in your theological development is to be ultimately persuaded of the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture, as well as the worthiness of God. If Scripture is the only perfect and certain word from God, which alone is the flawless revelation of God, then read it, study it, and then articulate the truths it teaches carefully, so as not to misrepresent God or lead people away from the truth.

You do not get to rest just because you believe you chose the right theological tribe. You must continue to exercise due diligence in your investigation and articulation of the truth. By it you will both know God and make him known, or you will misunderstand God and lead others into error."


From Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself by Joe Thorn, page 121.

The Prosperity Deception

The Word of Faith “prosperity gospel” movement promises health, wealth, prosperity, and power - usually guaranteed when you give a financial contribution ("seed offering") to their ministries.

One look at the bookshelves in a Christian bookstore or online gives witness to the movement with titles like:

5 Steps to Release God's Power for Promotion and Increase in Your Life

The Laws of Prosperity

God Wants You To Be Rich 

The Power of I Am

Your Best Life Now

You're Supposed to be Wealthy

Speak What You Want and Receive it Supernaturally

Release Your Destiny

Prosperity is the Whole Gospel

and so many others.

It is a movement that falsely promises we can “name it and claim it,” and God will deliver, or that we will receive supernatural experiences by tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit as if he is ours to command and manipulate like a genie in a bottle to give us whatever power, experience, or material thing we want. Both teachings overshadow the true gospel of Christ and living a life in humble obedience and surrender to Him. 

The thing is, our requests are not promised to be granted just because we ask. What IS promised is that God will give us whatever we pray for that is in agreement with his will: "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." (1John 5:14-15)

He delights in giving us what will bring the evidence of his Holy Spirit into our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), but he will not say yes to requests that come from a wrong motive (James 4:3: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."), or when we ask out of a prideful sense of entitlement (James 4:6: "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.").

If we are genuinely seeking God's will then our motives will be pure, our hearts will be humble, and our desires will line up with His. Even Jesus, who asked to be spared from being crucified prayed "not my will but yours be done" (Luke 22:42), then responded in humility and obedience.

The Lord invites us to come to him with boldness and confidence (Hebrews 4:16) and to bring him our petitions (Philippians 4:6), but we must also make sure our hearts are in the right place; that we are coming before the throne of grace with an attitude of submission and glorifying God instead of elevating ourselves. 

The Significance of God's Affection

"Don't lose sight of God's holiness and power. Those very qualities make his love significant. Without a healthy respect for God's greatness, his affection loses value. ...The affection of a familiar, buddy deity is one thing; the love of the Lord of heaven and earth, the one who dwells in unapproachable light, is something else entirely. As Francis Chan wrote, 'The fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you is nothing short of astonishing.'" - Drew Dyck, Yawning at Tigers

Resting in God

"When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

“. . . O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him."

By Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Embracing a Manna Mentality

One thing I'm learning as I downsize and simplify home and life is to let God provide what I need when I need it instead of feeling I have to cover all the bases myself or prepare for every possible scenario.  I'm learning to live with a "manna" mentality.  The Bible tells of God's provision for the children of Israel in the wilderness after they left Egypt.  Each day he provided something called manna for them to eat.  It was fresh every day and in fact, except for taking extra for the Sabbath, it would spoil if they tried to take more than they needed for one day.   

I think it is wise to plan ahead and do things like stock a pantry, put money away in savings, buy extra when things we use regularly are on sale, etc., and I do those things.  But what I'm seeing in myself is a shift from fear and "what-if" thinking to one of common sense and balance where I trust God for my daily bread, both figuratively and literally, instead of feeling I have to provide for myself on every level.  There will always be what I need for the day.  I don't have to worry about tomorrow.  There's enough to go around.  They will make more.  God is already there.

What I'm finding is a renewed sense of peace and gratitude when I don't worry so much about provision and instead trust that the Lord will give what my family needs when we need it and often in more abundance than we expect.  When I focus on just today I'm able to be thankful for all that it holds without being distracted with what is around the corner whether real or imagined.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:25-34

Simple Obedience

Faith Over Feeling

"Because of practices invading both the culture and the church that promote experience over doctrine and feeling over faith, Christians might get the idea that they are missing out on something and need "deeper" experiences with God. Although we have a Savior who died for us and we have the scriptures, which are "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3.16, 17), it is being suggested or implied that this is not enough.

Could it be that Christians are not immersing themselves in the study and learning of God's word, and therefore are trying to fill that void with ways to have spiritual experiences? We should remember the power of God's word, and that it is our spiritual nourishment. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12)."

- Marcia Montenegro