As we make plans, life happens...

The title of this post comes from our senior pastor, Chris, who said these words this past Sunday in light of the week our church had. On Tuesday morning, one of our younger members passed away at the age of 9. Young Raymond had a heart condition that was diagnosed when he was an infant. His parents were told he wouldn't live to his 1st birthday nor many birthdays following, but he made it 5 months past his 9th birthday. The funeral was scheduled for Saturday.

Our women's ministry team had planned to have a retreat this weekend which had to be canceled, again.  This was the 3rd time it had been scheduled.  I don't think it is any coincidence that the main subject and title of this particular Beth Moore study was Loving Well because once again the people in our church did just that.  They loved well by praying for the family, by bringing chips because Raymond was not a salad person, by making desserts, by setting up tables and serving food, by directing traffic and shuttling people to the building door.  The weekend quickly changed from a setting of learning to love well to actually having to love well and needless to say many others had to change their plans as well. 

All week I found myself quoting James 4 to fellow nurses at the hospital, to patient families regarding their special situations and when thinking about our women's ministry team.  James 4 says,

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

We make plans.  We look to the future and say this day we will do this and that day we will do that.  But James is very clear, we do not know what tomorrow holds.  For Raymond's family, they were unsure when his last day would truely be his last.  For our women's team the question remains if this retreat will ever go as planned.  But our lives are so momentary, or as James states a mist that soon vanishes.  Just a couple weeks prior to Raymond's funeral we had the funeral of the eldest member of our church and for her those 95 years were as quick as the snap of a finger.  Whether we live to be 9 or 95 we do not know what God has instore for our lives.  That's why James states in verse 15, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."  When making plans or life decisions we need to remember that we are not in control of the final say but it is the will of the Lord that shall be done.  Praise to our soverign Lord whose will is to be done on earth as is it is Heaven.  

Who or what is your God?

I believe there is one Holy God who created the universe. One God who with a word said, "Let there be light," and there was light. I also find it difficult to keep our Mighty Creator at the forefront as the only god of my life. Our lives present us with opportunities to be very easily distracted by things that are much less Holy than God. In our culture, we have the internet at our finger tips that helps to fill longing desires of loneliness or lust. We turn to our spouses, friends, or kids to fill the aching void but expect perfection that we can't get from imperfect humans.

I'm looking at 1 Chronicles 16 as a reference that expresses the mightiness of God in comparison to the gods that we humans look to as a replacement for the Almighty.

25 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and he is to be held in awe above all gods.


26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.


27 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his place.

Idols are things we worship, meaning our time is consumed with admiring or exalting the thing that seems to dominate our heart and mind. So to expose our idols we can ask, what do we look to keep us happy and fulfilled?

Its a hard thing to admit but I know there are times when my husband is an idol of my life. And some would say that's okay, but I know its not. Its simply not fair to my spouse to hold him at such a high regard to fill my every need and desire while expecting perfection. I am married to an amazing man but he's still a man, he's human. "For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods (vs. 25)." God is worthy of awe and praise over any earthly thing or being. Even those we hold dearest to our hearts are not superior to the greatness that God deserves.

Psalm 96:5 states, "For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols." Think of what consumes your mind in a day on top of those we love. We hunger and thirst for perishable food or we anticipate the coming episode of our favorite TV show to be entertained. Our minds are consumed by things that are not worthy of our praise.

My husband has posed these questions (adapted from John Piper) in a recent sermon that I think are appropriate for this post when thinking about "What is your God?"

• Is there something I could have in Heaven that could make me happy forever if Jesus wasn’t there?
• Or is there something here on earth that if I found out wouldn’t be in heaven would I still want to go there?

These questions help to expose our idolatry, or our love for something more than God.  When we leave this world and are in the presence of our Almighty Creator we will see in full circle what 1 Chronicles is claiming in verse 27, "Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place."  Our eartly idols cannot give us the splendor, majesty, strength or joy that is found only in our eternal King.  My prayer is that God exposes our idols and changes our hearts to be fully satisfied in Him alone.  All glory and praise to God our Father who radiates strength and joy from his heavenly throne!

What's in it for me?

In our culture we are self indulgent. We do things with the mindset of "what can I get out of this" or "what good is this going to do for me". So when asking "What does it mean to be a Christian", I'm sure some people ponder the same self indulgent question, "What's in it for me"?

There is a very simple answer that I struggled to wrap my head around. The answer: We get God. When this life ends we get to be in the presence of our Almighty Creator with the absence of pain, suffering, and tears. I do need to clarify that I didn't struggle with this answer because I wanted more, it was the complete opposite actually. I simply wanted nothing. A few times in my life I wanted to not exist, I wanted the absence of everything. The thought of eternal life was daunting. Thankfully God's mercy has saved me from those thoughts. The absence of everything was not the answer because the few times I wanted nothing it was the presence of something that actually ended my desire for nothingness.

Psalm 16 reminds me of the strength and courage we receive from God:

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your a holy one see corruption.

11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

"I shall not be shaken... my flesh dwells secure," verse 8 and 9 of Psalm 16 rings in my head as I recall one of the nights I needed a verse such as this. I needed peace and comfort and there it was in the written word of God. The presence of God led to the absence of my fear.

So... "What's in in for me?" Psalm 16 gives us the answer in verse 11 "In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." With eternal life comes the presence of Jesus Christ, which simply should be enough. But because of His presence we also receive full joy and pleasure with the absence of all suffering. I praise the Lord for His Word which comforts in time of suffering and gives us insight to His kingdom.

Pointing the finger...

As Christians we are called to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ or what many call the "Good News". As a fairly new Christian my husband would say I am in the "cage stage"* the point where I feel as though what I hold to be true is the only way and I want everyone I come into contact with to know it and believe it.

With that said I want to reflect on Matthew 7:1-5

Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (ESV)

I've been called a hypocrite before and was very offended. At the time it was probably rightfully fitting but now in this light, as I attempt to spread the gospel, my prayer is that I don't take that "hypocrite" title again.

For my second post I had originally planned to discuss what it means or looks like to be a Christian or follower of Christ. When reading through the scripture I stumbled upon Matthew and was convicted to address my own personal struggle with judging others. When thinking of how one is to live the Christian life I am very quick to point my finger and say someone else is wrong. But as Jesus says,

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

I need to judge and examine my own life as a Christian. As I continue this process of defining my faith I am pointing the finger back at myself to help chisel out the hypocrisy in my life. My standard or measure of judgement is not my own, I did not create it, it is the written word of God.

Final Note:
Thankfully we humans are not the final judges of who lives and dies. I'm sure that those who I have wronged would have me condemned for eternity, I know because I once felt the same for those who wronged me. As James 4:12 states,

There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and destroy- But who are you to judge your neighbor?

We cannot save ourselves. We need the God of grace and mercy to be in control of our final judgement. Praise to our Lord and Savior for his judgements are fair and just.

*The cage stage is a term to jokingly describe how new found Calvinists react when they discover other believers don't share the same beliefs. They should be put in a cage until the initial excitement wears off. Unfortunately for you, the reader, my husband let me out of the cage to start a blog :-)

Where it started for me...

I was saved, or came to Christ in November of 2006. I believe that was the time when God removed the veil (2 Cor. 3:16) from my eyes in order to fully see his glory.

I had claimed to be Christian many years prior to that, I even directed children's choir in my home town church for 5 years. I went to church every Sunday, I was involved with the youth group but for me, at the time, church was just an extracurricular activity like cheer-leading and golf. I was "doing" Christianity but not "living" Christianity. I do want to talk about what being a Christian truly is but I'm going to save that for a later date. With this post I want to discuss the verse that had a great impact on my life as a new Christian.

And I'll just lay it out there:

Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive in Christ

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I don't remember how I came across this verse when I started digging into scripture, but when I did I couldn't get enough of it. After reading it over and over and writing it in different journals and on note cards I eventually had it memorized. Scripture is not always straight forward, sometimes it's very difficult to figure out what God is really trying to tell us. This is one verse I find to be very straight forward. My husband uses a 3 question method when discerning what scripture says: "What does this verse say about us?" "What does this verse say about God?" and "How should I respond?"

What Does Ephesians 2 say about us?

Take a closer look at verses 1-3

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

We are dead in sin. We follow the ways of this Earthly world. We are like those who are disobedient. We are objects of wrath. The first time I understood these verses I was relieved. When I had accepted Christ and sought after his forgiveness I was struck with guilt because I thought to be a true follower of Christ he expected my personal slate to be completely clean: no lying, no cheating, no sexual activity. But Ephesians helps us to understand that we all fall short, "we all lived among them at one time". When we live in this world and of this world we are under the control of "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" or we know him better as Satan.

What does Ephesians 2 say about God?

4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

God is love. God is mercy. God is grace. God is what we need to overcome the "ruler of the kingdom of the air." "Even when we were dead in transgressions" God loved us, he showed grace and mercy on us. We are worthy of wrath but because of his love God sent his Son to live the sinless life and then to sacrifice it all not to simply wipe my "slate clean" but to replace my slate with Christ's spotless slate. God is kind and gentle when all we humans deserve is hell.

Finally, what does Ephesians say about how we are to respond, or what are we to do with this information?

Verses 8-10 will help finish this discussion.

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We are saved by grace. By God's love, mercy and grace we are saved. We must have faith which is also one of the many gifts we receive from God. We cannot earn his favor, there is nothing we can do that will impress the mighty God who created the entire universe.

I was dead in transgressions, I lived the ways of this world. I gave into the constant temptation that is dangled by the spirit of the disobedient. But I was awakened by God who revealed his love and grace; he had mercy on my life. I was saved by grace and given faith in order to boast in that faith, not by own doing but to boast in the One who gave me life. This does not make me perfect, my life is still challenged by the ways of our world but God has given me the defense to overcome the temptations provoked by Satan. Thanks be to God our Father who has revealed himself to me and has given me grace and love when I deserved wrath.