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Archive for the ‘Fifty days with Jesus’ Category

On Godliness 2

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , , , , , , on November 11, 2008| Leave a Comment »

As I contemplated what I would write today, the story that came to mind was that of the “rich young man” from Matthew 19:16-22.

16Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17″Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18″Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, ” ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.'”
20″All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Now, I’m sure many have used this story to illustrate a love of money perhaps or an unwillingness to “bear Jesus’s cross” or an unwillngness to sacrifice, but for me, it’s simply a way to show how the Lord sometimes places a mirror before us in order for us to see more clearly our hearts.

Not everyone is interested in looking inside the heart. I find the state of the heart fascinating and I am often asking the Lord to reveal my heart … to refine my heart with the “refiner’s fire.” But there are times when the true state of my heart remains hidden; my true motivations clouded. These are times, the Lord puts up the mirror and says, “Look! this is the real reason behind your actions.”

The rich young man had “done everything” outwardly to “get” eternal life. But all that doing was without the heart. I believe he expected a real “atta boy” from the Lord, but instead he was challenged further. It was here that his heart was revealed.

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On Godliness 1

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , , , on November 10, 2008| Leave a Comment »

After the sermon on Sunday about godliness and altar call, my overwhelming impulse was to leap to the altar. It was not that I felt all of my motivations have been false or that I was under deep conviction, or worse, condemnation (which I have, historically, battled).

No, this time, I knew, I just wanted to make a covenant with God to allow Him to do daily sweep through my heart so that impure motives would not gain root. If we come to Him often and ask for this “examination of the heart,” it is so much easier to confess, accept His forgiveness, and move on.

This step in the plan from II Peter 1:3-11, is a spot check. We’ve been moving along with all these other steps and now the Lord is saying, “Stop a moment, let’s check your heart.”

When I had my little cardiac scare two weeks ago, the hospital staff take seriously even the smallest warning signs. They have a routine to confirm whether it is indeed a matter of the heart, from EKG’s to nitro-glycerin, to blood work, and stress tests. We should be equally introspective in spiritual terms. Don’t wait.

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On Perseverance 4

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , on November 8, 2008| Leave a Comment »

I’m really hard on myself. I mean, I can really give myself a pretty brutal lashing for mistakes I’ve made or wrong decisions or bad behavior. It was not until a few years ago that I realized how much of this self-attack is a type of condemnation.

While working through our Having a Mary Heart in Martha World study, we came across this quote which is quite apropos, in which the “enemy” tries to convinces us, before we become followers of Christ, that we don’t need a savior, and then after we commit to Him, the littany changes and the script we hear in our heads is that we do not “deserve” a savior. All, not true!

Instead of spending a lot of time rummaging through our sins, I think it’s more productive to put some energy into reviewing the times that went right. When was God present? When did we respond to His call? When did we stay the course despite obstacles? Let us be encouraged by our own histories. These very stories may help us as we face the next challenge.

The elements we have learned about from II Peter 1:3-11 over these past weeks grow stronger with use and practice: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control and now perseverance. “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” II Tim 1:12b

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On Perseverance 3

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , , , on November 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »

There is a perseverance that comes with our roles in life. As parents, we must be steadfast in our desire to train up our children or our failure to persevere will affect them adversely. For instance, to teach a toddler simple courtesies like “please” and “thank you” takes, at minimum, 10,000 repetitions. Think how many more repetitions it takes for other fundamentals of living.

But for the sake of their ability to survive and thrive, we do it. We tell them again and again and again. Hopefully, we also model these behaviors… and model our faith.

Perseverance is not just for us. We must remember that we are all intertwined in a great fabric. Our children, our grandchildren, our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our neighbors and so on, are impacted by our actions, our decisions, our beliefs.

So, now, what do we do in the face our failures? What do we do when we realize we have not persevered? I say, “we begin again.” It is never too late. In God’s eyes, there is no time. We can always start over. God can redeem anything and everything. Perseverance includes beginnings.

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On Perseverance 2

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 4, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Sometimes we have to back into this process. What I mean is that there are times when circumstances drop into our lives and we are faced with learning perseverance the hard way. It can be done, but it’s not God’s best for us.

For instance, you might become ill with a serious disease that will take months or even years to battle. If you have not built on the phases Peter lays out in II Peter 1:5-7, you will probably discover that you must go back and pull them into the equation. If you want to live, you’ll do whatever it takes. And so, you endure. But as you endure, you discover you must control yourself, your anger, your frustrations. Careening emotions do not help the process. And then, you discover that the more you know about your disease and how others have handled it, the more knowledge you have, the more understanding you have of your circumstances, the stronger you feel. And then, you may find a desire to share that knowledge with others in the same situation. You may actually find that you feel better when you reach out beyond yourself and “do some good.” And finally, your faith in God is re-kindled!

And then, you head back up the chain and you are amazed to discover that you are stronger in each area and you are able to endure another day … another hour … another minute.

I discovered some of this backward/forward movement when Mike and I were in the adoption process for Lily. Being steadfast in our determination to adopt her was foisted upon us for a full two years. We did not go gently into this period of perseverance!

Perhaps it’s more accurate to call this process cyclical. It wasn’t a straight path from faith to virtue to knowledge to self-control to perseverance for me … it felt more like a circle and often there were times when I felt like I was on a race track going round and round and round with no progress; suddenly, a ramp would open up and we would be on another level. Yes, it was still going round and round but the view was different, the road was different, the goal was more clearly in sight, and the fire of hope was fanned into flame again.

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On Perseverance 1

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , , , , on November 3, 2008| 1 Comment »

Here’s what comes to mind before anything else: the tortoise and the hare. This story has, by far, gotten the most mileage in my life… I suppose it’s because I’m the hare trying to learn the lesson of the tortoise. There are lots of spiritual applications, but perseverance is the dominant one. It’s the slow, methodical tortoise who holds fast to his goal. All of the circumstances and “common sense” say that he will lose the race and yet he wins. He’s good for the long haul. He knows how to keep on going no matter what. This is just one more paradox in Christianity and all true.

And let us not forget, this perseverance is grounded in the other elements of our plan to not fall away: self-control, knowledge, virtue & faith. I’m thinking that some of us “hares” are trying to do the perseverance dance without the grounding of the other elements.

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On Self-Control 3

Posted in Fifty days with Jesus, tagged , , , on October 30, 2008| Leave a Comment »

What is it that controls me? Unfortunately, I often feel as though I am blown about by a wind… a great hurricane that pummels me about quite a bit depending on my circumstances … and that is NOT God’s best for me.

Self-control should be a steadying force within that gives me the strength I need to withstand and weather what life throws at me. Instead, my self-control is often undermined by my emotions. They are my “old friends” who have laid claim to a big space in my heart. They are squatters. They have been in residence so long that I don’t know what it would be like in there without them. They are using old scripts. They have become a habit.

That’s not to say that there are not good days when I am anchored to His Spirit. But it requires a discipline to be mindful of it. This is part of my current journey… I am working on being more present in the moment… more present in Christ. I know, when I am conscious and “fully connected to the vine,” my emotions do not run free.

I think this is the whole point, learning how to be “spirit-controlled.” That’s the ultimate in self-control.

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