Couch Cushion

“Since we have been united with him in death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:5-6)

 

I have to thank biblestudypodcasts.org for helping me find a verse for this morning. There is nothing like having an idea of what to write, knowing that there are verses, but not knowing where to find them. Biblestudypodcasts.org  is an excellent podcast that dives deeper into God’s Word, helping people understand the nature of God and how to apply Biblical principles to our lives today. Besides, what is so amazing is that I am visiting on a topic today that the host, Toby, has been speaking about for a while now: sin. So, it’s all good.

 

I have discovered something really neat about my couch. See, we don’t have a well placed table in our living room for me to be able to sit here and work and have my coffee close by. One night I decided to try an experiment. The cushions of this couch are not connected to each other. I had myself on one of the cushions and texts books piled up on the other. So, I thought I would try to put my coffee on a closed text book and see what happens. The cup, I believed I used a commuter mug for safety reasons, balanced quite easily. I did a tiny little wiggle on my side of the couch to see if the coffee reacted and there was nothing. So, I did a little bounce; nothing. Then I kind of hopped up and down in my seat (must have looked interesting) and still nothing. I can do all kinds of things in this seat and my coffee will stay right in place on the other cushion. I ended that evening quite proud of myself and felt like I was getting away with something sneaky.

 

But our lives cannot work the same way. There are times when we may feel like we have two different cushions we live on: the world and church. However, we don’t. We can’t bounce back and forth between worldly things and godly things. We have to understand that everything around us is God’s sanctuary and that the people are His church. The expectations that He has do not go into effect only when we are in the doors of a church building. We have to learn to comfortable in our faith skin and realize how full life is and that, choosing to walk this path, doesn’t mean you will or will not enjoy life as much as the next person. However, it does mean that you will be able to find joy and hope in everything. It means that you will never walk alone. It means that you know the end of the story and the author of Creation.

 

Stop trying to make two different worlds go together. Balancing coffee on a text book is a lot easier than trying to balance two different worlds within one person. Turn to God and let Him guide you and you will find your balance.

 

“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life.  So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under freedom of God’s grace.” (Romans 6:12-14)

What do you think?

“But—‘When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.’ This is trust a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial to everyone.” (Titus 3:4-8)

 

No where in this passage does Paul say that we did anything to deserve the salvation that Jesus Christ so freely gave. No where does it mention that some sinners are more deserving of this grace than others. No where does it say that the sins in our lives, and that is any sin because  they all carry the same weight, makes us more or less qualified to receive this salvation.

 

As I see the world and social structure change around us I see many Christians using their voices and really hurting the people that come in their path. We may say that we don’t agree with homosexuality or cohabitation of any kind without a marriage, for an easy example, but it’s not necessarily about what we do or don’t agree with. Our voices should reflect that of Christ and he didn’t like lying, stealing, gossiping, turning his church into a marketplace, being jealous, and not having self-control, gentleness, kindness, peace, joy, love, etc (Galatians 5:22-23). Every sin has the same weight as any other, so lying and cheating is just as disdainful to God as murder. And as much as Jesus wanted to set our minds and hearts against these things He also let us knows how much He loved us in spite of these things. He hates the sin but always loves the sinner.

 

 Look I know what I believe is right and what I think is wrong. But I believe that we are called to love everyone. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus and when the prostitute was about to be stoned He didn’t throw the first stone and neither should we. Free will is a beautiful thing we can thank God for daily and we cannot try to condemn or condone people for using their gift differently than we would. I don’t know where I am going with this today. I just know the white-lie you told your boss is as deep a gash in Jesus’ back as the one it sits next from the person who robbed the bank.  The sin that put one nail in Jesus’ hand is no different than the sin that put the other nail there. Love each other and know that God loves each of you because we are ALL His children.

 

“For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14)

Reorganizing

“No one can serve two masters. For you will have one and love the other you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

 

Last summer (2007) my econ teacher said that a good depression would probably benefit us more than hurt us and I have to agree with him. Our own personal finances have been hardest by the gas prices but other than that we have always been kind of tight so we have been used to trying to be conservative with our spending. However, as I listen to the news I hear companies readjusting their projected sales for this coming holiday season but I haven’t heard many people I am incredibly close to talking about cutting back their spending habits but that doesn’t mean that isn’t not happening. Money is a tricky thing.

 

Today is a beautiful day in our economy but let me qualify this. Do you know how hard it is to teach your kids that they don’t need every new toy, game, and gadget when all their friends are getting them? I have been forever thankful that we don’t have a lot of extra money because it has forced us to prioritize and teach the kids some good stuff about values. So, now I look around and I am hoping that this crunch on credit and the slight scare of a slippery economy will force more people to be smarter with their money. My econ teacher said, something to the effect, that today’s generation is so free with their money because we had never really gone through the depressions or wars that our parents and grandparents had experienced. Well, I am hopeful that people will start re-evaluating what they do with their money and we start living smarter as a nation because of what we are experiencing today.

 

So, where are you today? Are you cutting back on expenses? Is there a slow down in your business and you are worried you may have to let some employees go? Do you count on that second job during the Christmas season to help pay for Christmas but with the retailers slowing down you are worried that it won’t happen? Or, have you experienced a reduction in income and you don’t know where the money is going to come from week to week? Or, are you just fine? Wherever you are I hope you are willing to meet Jesus or know that He is right there with you. During this time when people are so scared of the markets and of the banks we can rest assured that we can find the peace and satisfaction we need to keep on going from one source and that is our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember, what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again.” (John 14:27-28)

Safe Haven

“Jesus replied, ‘Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?’ Then he said, ‘Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.’” (Luke 12:14-15)

 

I spent much of last night tossing and turning. I was having a hard time sleeping and so I had a lot of time on my hands to think of the news, economy, up-coming elections, and anything else that came across my brain. However, the big thing on my mind has been the Nebraska Safe Haven Law. The law went into affect in July of this year (2008) and already 23 kids have been abandoned. Of these 23, at least four were teenagers…almost adults.

 

I actually can appreciate a law that protects children so well. I find it equally sad that such a law is needed but if it ends babies being found in trash cans or behind broken down buildings I think we are making progress. It’s the older ‘child’ that I am most sad for today. How does it feel to be 17 and dropped off and abandoned? Weren’t there any other options? Weren’t there family or friends that could have helped? What was the situation at home that his or her parents was protection them from?  Was it financial? Was it homelessness? Did it have anything to do with drugs or abuse? And, then, what happens to this teenager? What is the future like? Is it brighter? Is it safer? My heart pounds as I try to wrap this around my brain.

 

Then, as I have done so often lately, I am able to put my own life in perspective. We may not have a lot “extra” assets lying around but our bills are getting paid and we have food on the table, which is enough for me to feel as I am doing everything I need to do for my children and more. There may be things I want to do or I want the kids to do but it may not be in the cards today. However, our family is healthy, we laugh together, we fight together, we say our prayers together, we are part of a beautiful family of faith, and we are full of hope.  What kind of hope did these parents have that they gave up their kids? What kind of future is in store for someone who knows they were abandoned? What aren’t we doing, and what can we do, to reach out the community and help those who need it so that they don’t have to give up their kids?  

 

We are so blessed beyond measure, now is the time, and economic outlook, for us to reach way down within ourselves and see if we are giving, serving, and loving as much as we can to make this world a better place and to build up the Kingdom for Jesus.

 

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his might power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20)

The Alarm Clock

“There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care.” (Isaiah 53:2b-3)

 

I actually feel animosity toward our alarm clock. I pop right out of bed in the morning and hit the snooze for an extra seven minutes. My husband on the other hand doesn’t hear the alarm so when it goes off I have to wake up to wake him up only to have him hit the snooze and do it all over again in seven minutes. Most of the time I am up before him anyway so this part of the routine isn’t normal. However, last night I set the alarm wrong and he didn’t wake up when he was supposed to. Being the freak that I am I popped out of bed at 5am automatically and then I heard the light sounds of a fuzzy radio and realized I did something very bad. We both scrambled to get up and get going and because I am human I just glare at my alarm clock casting my accusing stares, mad at it once again for giving me a headache.

 

But then, how often do we hit the snooze on the alarms in our lives? How often are we told to WAKE UP and we, knowing it’s time to do something, just hit the snooze and go back to what we were doing. How many times has the “alarm” gone off but it wasn’t the jolting alarm that we were used to but the quiet radio or static going on in the background? And then, how many times are we so immersed in our own lives that the alarm goes off over and over again and it is starting to bother everyone around us but we don’t even know it’s going off?  Why is it sometimes so hard to get up and move?

 

The Jewish people were given all kinds of warnings and alarms but they stayed in their same state and Jesus hung on the cross. As children we were told don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t drink and drive, don’t have sex, don’t this and don’t that….but, for some, the curiosity to do what we wanted overruled (and as teenagers/young adults we think we know everything so obviously no one else can be right). Then, as Jesus enters into your heart, no matter what stage you are in, He very gently guides you to taking the steps that will bring you closer to Him…instead of alarm it’s more like a song in the breeze you keep chasing until you get there, altering your course and changing your travel method when necessary. Quiet your life for just a moment and then listen for that song and see where it leads you. Stop hitting snooze on the alarm clock of your life and get up and live the way that God had planned for you.

 

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die.” (John 6:47-50)

Good Old One-Eye

“No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future.” (Ecclesiastes 10:14b)

 

When I woke up yesterday morning I would have never imagined that my day would end trying to play softball with only one good eye. Sure, I was advised to be careful or not play at all. My sister told me that I would be just fine since she has played ball before and she has almost no depth perception. So, I did play.  I played with a white bandage over my left eye through two games in a heat index of over 100 degrees. Oh yes, I looked and felt ever so special and my team had a lot of fun at my expense….all in love and fun, of course.

 

Let me back up. I have a scratch on my retina (I think that is what it is). I was in a lower cabinet and a cord was hanging from an upper cabinet and I hit the cord and the plug part hit my eye. I went down hard and then, later, felt like a baby for going to the doctor but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to play our last games of the season. I practiced playing catch to make sure I could see and I felt confident that I was good to go….regardless if no one else did. Truly, everything went fine. It was hard for me to see action on my left side but we worked it through and actually won our first game of the season. The team thinks I should play with one-eye more often.

 

As I was sitting there with my husband debating going to the doctor he made some extremely good points. Because of someone’s carelessness, not putting the toaster away right, our whole team could have been affected. If I couldn’t have played we would have had to take a drop out because we would not have had enough girls. And that sucks but how often in life does that happen? Very rarely do our mistakes, bad judgments, or close calls affect only us. Because we do not live in a world by ourselves even our accidents have consequences that go far beyond the reach of our own arm. Every single step we make is going to affect someone else. We need to be careful of our foot placement and realize that, when making decisions, it’s not all about us.

 

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

A Beautiful Sound

“Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)

 

This verse caught my eyes this morning. Lots of versus I try to look up, or that I come across, have to do with God’s perfect plan or the beauty and perfection of God’s ways over mine. However, sometimes perfection is hard to see when our lives are so broken at times. So, I like the idea of not trying to see the beauty of something but, instead, admiring the brokenness.

 

You have to admit that it is not our smooth sailing and happy go lucky lives that bring us to our knees before God. Although we can look back and ask God why He would allow something to happen, when it comes down to it would you have changed it? The trials I have gone through, the valleys that Jesus has carried me out of and the mistakes I have made have done more to deepen my lean on God more than anything else in my life. I have slowly discovered that depending on me and relying on the world is not the way I was designed and we all know that when we do not use things the way the manufacturer intended the warrantee does not cover the damage.

 

Geoffrey Moore sings a song called “Beautiful Sound”. In this song he names events that make a beautiful sound: waves crashing down, knees hitting the ground, song of praise, lost being found, a proud man breaking. All these things can bring us closer to God and how much more beautiful is that? Without breaking would we still seek out God or would continue to rely on ourselves? Would we go to our Maker for redemption if we thought we could do it on our own? I thank God for the crooked path my life has taken at times because I am even more thankful for the grace that He has given me because of it.

 

“’In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,’ says the Lord’” (Jeremiah 29:12-14a)

A Time for Everything

“History merely repeats itself.  It has all been done before.  Nothing under the sun is truly new.  Sometimes people say, ‘Here is something new!’ But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.  We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)

 

One thing I love about the Bible is that I can read the same versus over and over again and still be struck by the beauty of God’s Word. I am sure I have read Ecclesiastes before but this morning everything struck me very hard. The first three chapters, at least, are dedicated the futility of living a life for ourselves…although Solomon doesn’t come right out and say it. If you read this section you find that Solomon has tried to live for pleasure, wisdom, and work and all of them are like chasing the wind. Life repeats itself over and over again. Do you feel alone in what you have done in your life, or what direction our country is going in, read Ecclesiastes and find that this has all happened before and it may happen again.

 

Solomon said he tried to find satisfaction in everything: money, sex, drinking, knowledge, and possessions and came up with everything being futile and meaningless. If Solomon, in all his God given wisdom, found that life is empty when you live for these things 3,000 years ago what do you think has changed in God’s plan for our lives that we will find any lasting pleasure or satisfaction from them now? If Solomon is right, and everything simply repeats itself, than nothing has changed and that is why we are left searching and seeking when we are turning to worldly things to find our fill.

 

However, when we turn to God and His promises we can never run empty. If we go to God He will constantly fill us with however much we need. Our relationship with God is not a cycle to do over and over again throughout time. Our relationship with God is solid and eternal. As money, knowledge, carnal pleasures, and possessions come and go God is right there the same yesterday as today and the same today as tomorrow. Where are you finding your pleasure? Where are you finding your purpose? Look to your Lord and feel satisfied; open your heart to Him and feel the blessings flow and the joy fill you better than any thing this world could ever offer.

 

“Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us.  And the Scriptures gives hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” (Romans 15:4)

Bells and Whistles

“A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions.  The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” (Proverbs 27:12)

 

I got to go on my first fire truck ride the other day. Not only that, but the ride was done on one of the runways at the Des Moines International Airport. The driver, a very good friend, and I have a love-hate relationship and I am sure he took great pleasure in terrifying me to the point of screaming and squirming as he drove that truck taking extremely sharp turns and taking it up to 75 MPH before hitting the breaks. He and my husband thought it was pretty darn funny.

 

This fire truck was the neatest thing I had ever seen. It didn’t look like the normal one you would see driving down your street. This fire truck had a front end like it could be a boat and the hose on top of the truck could be operated from the inside. Basically, this truck was designed to be operated by one person, inside the cab, if need be. The truck also had this really neat feature where bells and whistles start going off inside the cab when a turn is taken too sharply. When I think on the couple crazy corners my friend took, and as I remember the bells going off, I am reminded of how many times I have gone ahead and made a bad choice with bells and whistles were going off in my mind.

 

I will admit that much of my life has been spent with my bells and whistles going off and my doing whatever I wanted to anyway. I even got to a point where bells and whistles were going off, there was something before me I knew was wrong and I didn’t want to do it, and I went ahead and did it anyway without any reason. So, I had to start doing something that I am not very good at: be quiet.

 

I had to learn to just be quiet and learn to just listen. Instead of acting on something right away I take a step back and try to keep my mouth shut, or my body still….my success rate is steadily climbing and you know what I have learned? It is not better to act first and ask for forgiveness later and living in guilt and second-guessing is no way to live.

 

Do you have bells and whistles going off all the time? Do you listen or just keep going? Grab onto God’s Word and your decisions will become easier and still your self long enough to recognize His voice when He is guiding you.

 

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)