A Little Exercise for Mind and Soul

             As a follower of Christ I should be able to articulate the Gospel, but sometimes I find it difficult to express the truth I hold so dear, and I know other Christians struggle in the same way.  So, today I will practice expressing that deeply loved good news.  If you are a follower of Christ, I hope this encourages you to meditate on the Gospel for the glory of God and for your good.  If you are not a follower of Christ, I hope you are curious enough to read on.

              Before I explain the Gospel, that is the good news, I must try to convey the seriousness of the bad news.  Of course, it is clear to anyone that things are not all right in our world.  Disease, injustice, broken relationships, natural disasters, war – the list of painful things is much longer.  As human beings we are all in rebellion against our creator.  The brokenness of this world is the result of sin against God.  We all have ignored our creator and worshiped his good gifts in the place of him.

Romans 1:18-23 makes clear our sin against God and our fearful position under his just wrath.

              For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

 

Our creator is holy and just.  To be consistent with his holy nature, he must punish sin against himself.  The thought of God’s wrath should terrify anyone.  The one who is powerful beyond our imagination should be feared.  But, the good news is that this just and holy God who will punish all sin is also merciful and loving.

              Ephesians 2:4-5

              But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved…

The apostle Paul also states the good news in Christ more clearly and concisely than I ever could in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

              For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Christ being fully God, one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the creator of all things, who was in need of nothing, chose to humble himself to the point of death because he desired to show mercy to sinful people.

              Philippians 2:5-8

              Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

God’s just wrath fell on him.  If you trust in Christ and his righteousness and not your own attempt at goodness, he has taken God’s wrath on himself for you.  If you are in Christ, meditate on this great love every day.  I pray this knowledge causes you and me to live a life full of gratitude and worthy of the new life we have been given in Christ.  If you have not trusted Christ for your right standing with God, I pray that you will, and I plead with you to repent and trust the Gospel, the good news in Christ.  Every breath you take is a gift from God.  In patience he gives you more time to trust him.  Don’t waste the gift of this moment.

May God bless you deeply with his joy and peace.

Bethany

There is much more I would like to say and clarify, but I will keep things as short as I can for now. 

If I love you more than God, then I really don’t love you:

Love for others must flow out of an even greater love for God and from God.

 

2 Corinthians 4:1-5

¹ Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ² But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

 

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I cannot compromise the truth just so I can seem a little nicer and maybe appear more loving (but in reality appearing nice or even loving is not the same as actually loving).  There are many things that are acceptable in our culture that are not acceptable to God.  God does not change, but praise him that he is merciful and gracious and changes us.  Not only did he offer Christ as the ultimate sacrifice to take our punishment for our rebellion against God be he gives those who trust in Christ a new heart and open eyes to see the truth.  Whether you believe in God and trust in Christ or not, it is not loving for me to gloss over or ignore the ways we rebel against God.  There is too much at stake.  I pray that God teaches us to love him first, and that we can love our friends and acquaintances more than the relationships we have with them. Here are just a few examples of things our culture generally accepts that God does not and how a loving and courageous follower of Christ might respond:

1.      Drunkenness – I have friends who regularly get wasted without regret (as long as no one got hurt and they didn’t do anything too dumb while drunk).  I could laugh at their funny stories of inebriation and never give any indication that I believe their behavior to be unwise and sinful, or I could say nothing and be less encouraging of sinful behavior, or I could take a risk and tell the truth as gently as I can without compromise.  Depending on the response I may not ever bring it up again.  The subject may cause a little rift in our relationship, but I pray my love for that friend will become evident in the way I speak and act so that the “rift” is actually an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work on my friend’s heart.   Your example of either moderation or complete abstention from alcohol is likely to be more powerful than anything you say about the matter.  If your example has not been good, repent, admit it to your friend and tell him or her why you desire to change your behavior.

2.      Using God’s name as a curse word – I am saddened when the name of God or Jesus Christ is used like a common curse word because he is everything to me.  If you don’t mind I prefer that you refrain from that kind of language at least in front of me.  I appreciate your sensitivity and kindness.

3.      Sex outside of marriage – This is very common and becoming more and more acceptable.  It is so common that you are likely to have people who have a Christian upbringing and even some who claim to follow Christ who fall into this as a sinful pattern in their lives.  The most unloving thing we can do is to tell them it is ok and that the desires are too strong to wait.  There is no doubt that sexual desire can be very strong, but desire does not trump the truth.  How this can be addressed and when to say something feels tricky.  If your friend has a respect for the Bible you can point them to dozens of scriptures about marriage and God’s design for sex.  If they do not there is not as much to say.  I can share my beliefs and assure my friend that my convictions do not change how much I value his or her friendship.  I want to share what I believe because I care about my friend and I believe the most caring thing I can do is to speak the truth.   I believe that sex was created by God for a married couple, and marriage was the first institution designed by God to be a picture of Christ and his Church.  That is the foundation for the family as God designed it.  That is the short answer for why I believe sex outside of marriage dishonors God and is not good for us.  God’s design is always best, but if you don’t believe that I certainly don’t expect you to live out God’s designs in your life.  We can agree to disagree, but I do believe that living contrary to God’s design is ultimately harmful to you.  I care about you, so I felt like I had to say something.  I won’t mention this to you again unless you want me to.

4.      Same-sex marriage – Same-sex sexual relationships would, of course, fall into the category above.  God’s word plainly teaches that sex outside of marriage is a rebellion against him whether heterosexual or homosexual.  Scripture also clearly teaches that from the very beginning God designed marriage for one man and one woman.  People have rebelled against this design for thousands of years.  There was polygamy, incest, homosexuality, fornication and rape in several instances in the Old Testament, however, God’s design for marriage is made even more clear in the New Testament in Romans 1, 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and Ephesians 5, and I know there are more.  If your friend is not interested in the Bible and does not want to hear it, you probably will not have an opportunity to share scripture, but I put these references here for you who are followers of Christ so that you can stand firm in your own beliefs.  May Romans 1:32 never be true of you, my brother or sister in Christ, “Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”  Honestly, I do not have any close friends right now who practice a gay or lesbian lifestyle.  I did in college, and I am afraid I said too little.  For them it seemed like so much of their identity was wrapped up in their sexual desires, that any words about God’s design for sex felt like personal attacks on my friends.  You are so much more than sexual desire; love is so much more than that.  Our rebellion against God is so great, but his love is greater.  The joy and pleasure of God’s love is wonderful, and that is what I want you to have at all costs.

 

In any of these conversations and confrontations there must be immeasurable amounts of grace flowing out of your knowledge that you are a recipient of more grace that you could possible fathom.  God took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh.  He opens my eyes to my sinfulness and my selfish idolatry.  I have nothing good in myself that he did not give me.  What a joy it is to work with him in bringing truth and life to others!  I will not pass up this opportunity for lasting pleasure for short-lived shallow friendships or respect from the majority of my countrymen.  

Writing and posting this takes almost no courage.  Very few people will actually read it, but I hope that I am the first to change because of what I have written.  I pray that I will be loving and courageous in all my conversations.  May the Gospel of Jesus Christ have such a hold on my life that his love and truth overflow.  Dear God, fill me with your Spirit and help me to diligently love and serve.

I wrote this somewhat quickly with less proofreading than I would prefer, but I do not want to delay in posting something on this subject.  I am saddened by the number of people claiming to follow Christ who allow cultural shifts to affect their beliefs over the timeless Word of God.  Maybe my next post will be a little clearer, but I stand firmly by the truth in God’s word.

A Testimony of God's Grace

The beauty and intricacy of God’s creation has always captivated me. Even as a very young child I began to see the “bigness” – the awesomeness of God through his creation. More than that, though, I knew about God as he is revealed in his written word, the Bible, because of my parents’ teaching me about God’s character, his laws, our sinfulness, and our need for reconciliation with him. At age five I asked God to forgive my sins though the sacrifice of Jesus Christ his son and to teach me to follow him. At the time, my understanding of God’s holiness and my detestable sinfulness was very small.

Romans 3:23 says,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.


I knew God was good and I was not, but I did not have a great grasp on how far I really did and do still fall short of the holiness of God. He did, even with such little understanding, give me the beginning of great desire to know God and be with God. As I grow in knowledge and faith I learn more and more the horror of my sin and the depth of my sinful character. This alone would, of course, be devastating, but I also continued to learn and experience the depth of God’s mercy and grace knowing that the penalty for my sins has been paid by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Romans 5:8 says,
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Not only have I been justified by his sacrifice, but he continually grows my character and molds me to his perfect character. Although, in this life in this earthly body – my flesh, I will always have sinful desires, God faithfully sanctifies me – that is, he teaches me and enables me to live in more complete submission to him and to model his character. As he does this work in me, he increases my capacity to experience the greatest joy and pleasure possible under any circumstance, whether in scarcity or abundance, happiness or sorrow. That great joy and pleasure that no circumstance can destroy is simply being in the presence of God. Though my sins and weaknesses still keep me from seeking my greatest joy in submission and obedience to God which leads to wonderful fellowship with him, he is merciful and persistent in his guidance.

That was a pretty broad overview without any specific events other than my initial conversion, but there have been many significant events and lessons along the way – all used by God to teach me and bring me closer to him. Here are a few of those events:


- My baptism at age nine
- Learning the importance of reading the Bible on my own at
age 11
- Beginning a more consistent habit of reading the Bible daily in middle school
- Seeking God during a time of doubt and feeling of terrible distance from God during my freshman year of college.
- two and a half months in Peru on a summer mission trip during college
- engagement
- marriage
- having children

There are more, and more detailed stories behind each, but each event’s commonality is that God was at work every time. I know he will continue to lovingly guide me. Philippians 1:6 says,

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

I pray that God continually increases that desire for him that he gave me 23 years ago as a small child.

What an Unexpected Joy!

What an unexpected joy it has been to partner in prayer with my friends on the mission field. When I had Levi, almost three years ago, a friend at church told me a very valuable lesson she learned after having a few children. (Thank you, Angela). She told me how nice those middle of the night feedings for a new baby can be when you spend that time in prayer. It may be one of the few consistent quiet times for prayer and is very beneficial. When Melissa, my teammate on a summer mission trip to Peru in 2005, went back to Peru as a missionary this past summer, she asked for people to partner with her in prayer. I told her I would pray for her, and what a surprising blessing it has been for me to pray for her. Although there is infrequent personal communication between us, it has still greatly helped me keep a more eternal focus. As Americans with comfortable lifestyles, it is easy to lose focus on God and his will and become very self-centered and spiritually weak. Melissa writes frequent blog posts detailing lessons God is teaching her on the mission field, and they are excellent reminders of our purpose as believers in Christ.

Also, over the past few years, my husband and I have developed a friendship with Mary and Daniel and their five children who were raising funds to go to Malawi as missionaries. As they were raising funds, they also asked for people to pray for them, so we have been doing that for a few years now. They made significant sacrifices and worked very hard for years to raise the needed funds. They finally raised enough money to move and left for Malawi this past September. Their sacrificial lifestyle extended into their friendships as well. Not only have we been blessed by the opportunity to partner in their adventures and challenges through prayer, but we have been blessed by their prayers for us and their friendship.

It seems that in the months and even the last few weeks before Mary and Daniel moved to Malawi, my friendship with Mary grew significantly. I knew I would miss her, so I tried to spend as much time with her as I could, especially the month before they moved. With my husband’s new job we were out of town four to five days a week, but in August we were in Chattanooga, so we were back in town for the same month they were back in Chattanooga from their seven weeks of training. I believe God wanted to cement our friendship and enable us to be more helpful during the time they were preparing to move. It was also inspiring to see so many people from church surround them with support and meet their needs. The logistics of moving a family of seven to Africa is overwhelming, but God’s provision through the Body of Christ, the Church, is incredible.

Time with God in prayer and His wonderful gift of meaningful friendship is amazing and truly an unexpected joy.

Success to Significance

Some time ago I heard the phrase, "move from success to significance," in a promotional video for a missions' organization. A shift in the focus of Christians from success as viewed by our culture to a significant life in Christ is profoundly needed. Many times doing what God leads you to do is not going to bring you the greatest wealth, education, or status. There is nothing wrong with these things, but if they are not used for significant purposes, they are worthless. Referring to our physical needs, Christ said in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." In Timothy Keller's book "Counterfeit Gods," he discusses several different idols that can easily take hold in our lives. Chapter four, "The Seduction of Success," clearly demonstrates the destructive nature of success as an idol in one's life. When success is our primary goal, we live lives in fear of failure instead of joy in the work God has given us. With worldly success as an idol, we can never measure up to God's standard - perfection. Keller states, "More than other idols, personal success and achievement lead to a sense that we ourselves are god, that our security and value rest in our own wisdom, strength, and performance." That, like many sins with which I struggle, is rooted deeply in pride. We must be reminded of our depravity and from where we came, so that resting in God's grace, and not our own power, is the obvious choice. When overwhelmed by the grace of God, I feel I am less likely to be discouraged by the ways I don't measure up to someone else's idea of success, whether that has to do with my career, education, or any other ability. Having pride in myself will only lead to disappointment. I find it ironic that humility can actually make me feel better in the long run than pride can.

Corruption, Part 2, A Confident yet Cautious Rebuke for Believers

If you have not read the previous entry, please stop reading this, and read it first.

As before, I want to be clear that wisdom comes from God, therefore, this rebuke is a reminder to me as well as other believers. If you don’t have God’s Spirit guiding you as you read his word, you will distort it because of your own selfish desires. We must not forget that our natural hearts are “deceitful above all things and desperately sick…”

There are many practices our culture accepts and even condones that are wrong and despised by God, and some of them are even becoming accepted by the Church. The one that I will look at today is our culture’s standards regarding sex and marriage and God’s standard presented clearly in his word.

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let not the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and the adulterous.” Hebrews 13:4

Throughout scripture it is clear that God designed sex for within the covenant bond of marriage. It is the God ordained means of the “two becoming one flesh (Gen. 2:24).” God intends this commitment to last for life. Of course, anyone can see the obvious emotional advantages to a marriage lasting for life for the couple and for their children. Statistically, there are typically even financial advantages to a couple staying together. Even with this knowledge, with our incomplete view of love and attempting it in our own strength instead of God’s, many become discouraged and believe it is better to divorce than to remain married (I do believe that divorce is allowed by God when one spouse has been unfaithful and remains unrepentant. I also believe that separation and possibly divorce are also necessary in cases of abuse). However, I think that most Christians still oppose divorce even though they have failed marriages just like unbelievers, but for some reason the view of sexual purity before marriage, including the engagement period, has become a grey area even for many Christians. It is not a grey area. It is difficult, and the temptation is extreme, but it is not grey. As Christians we are called to the standard taught by Jesus Christ. He says in Matthew 5:28, “… But I say to you that everyone who looks with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” By his standard even our thoughts should be pure. Other than those gifted by God to have no sexual desire, everyone is guilty of adultery of the heart. So we are all in the same sinful state. This reminder should help keep us humble when standing up for Christ and his standard of purity. We all fall short, but by God’s grace and his Sprit working in us, we can do better, not perfectly in this life, but better. With all our shortcomings in mind, we must say what is right even if we are hated because of the truth we speak. To my Catholic friend who is living with her fiancé, I must say, “You know this is not right.” That is not an enjoyable thing to do. I don’t want to upset my friend or put a rift between us, but if I really love my friend, I’ll tell her the truth gently.

Because I have been tempted to be sexually impure, I can identify with others who struggle with this, but nearly everyone can. However, when it comes to the temptation to engage in sexual activity with a person of the same sex, I don’t have a clue. That is why, I am even more afraid to touch that subject, but any sexual activity outside of the bond of marriage is wrong. We should not engage in it or indorse it. Some Christians have said that a homosexual lifestyle is good as long as it is in a lifelong commitment just like a heterosexual marriage. Therefore, they are for same sex marriage. No matter how sweet a homosexual relationship appears, no matter how good the friendship, no matter how long-lasting, God still calls it impure and degrading.

Before you agree or disagree, take time to read Romans chapter one with a prayerful and humble heart and mind. There are many more passages to read and study about sexual purity as well as marriage that will give you understanding with God’s guidance.

Don’t be afraid. Search your heart, take the “log out of your own eye” so you can see clearly, and then speak the truth confidently with love.

Better is an open rebuke

Than love that is concealed.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 27:5-6

Corruption

Ephesians 4:18-22

“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Chirst! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off you old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…”

The passage above is just one of many describing the terrible state our hearts are in without the regeneration of Christ, and as long as we remain in this world, we are temped and weakened by our own sinful desires. That is why we must constantly seek the truth through time studying God’s word, praying for his guidance, and encouraging one another as believers. Without using the means God has provided for us to seek him, we will be deceived. I should at this point also recognize I can be deceived and what I write may not be quite correct, but the following comes out of my desire to know the truth and express it so that by this exercise I may be able to clarify things in my own head and so that other believers may be encouraged as well.

In many areas our culture has taken what is corrupt and made it seem right and even beautiful, and what is good has become seen as intolerant or hateful. When we understand the deceitfulness of our own hearts, this is not at all surprising. Before I even attempt to attack any of our skewed views, I would like to look at a few more passages about the “heart” or “natural man.” Jeremiah 17:9 probably states the most bluntly the condition of our heart:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Not only is the hearts' condition deceitful and sick, but it is blind, foolish and helpless as shown in the two following passages.

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’” 1 Corinthians 1:18-19

I encourage you to read these passages in context to understand them more clearly, but I think it is clear hear that our understanding is clouded and incomplete; only wisdom that comes from God can allow one to see the truth. Relying on one’s own understanding is foolish, and God will allow you to remain foolish while seeking your own understanding. God’s ways are beyond our human understanding, so we must have his guidance.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

Since understanding and wisdom come from God, it does not concern me to the same degree when those who do not claim to follow Christ are corrupt and not only willing to break God’s commands but encourage others to do the same. However, when Christ’s church is blind to sin and corruption and even endorses it, that is tragic and weighs heavily on my mind.

I have written this cautiously and will do the same for my next entry as I attempt to bring to light some terrible things that I see fellow brothers and sisters in Christ doing or supporting. The main reason I must be so careful is that my pride is always lurking around me ready to take my best efforts and twist them into selfish and spiteful things.