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Posts Tagged ‘Romans’

Holy Roots

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2010| 2 Comments »

Isn’t the root issue always the most important? So often, we judge people and circumstances by first impressions or appearances without looking for the heart. But looking inside can be treacherous.

Romans 11:16
If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

In the plant world, roots have very particular responsibilities. They absorb water and inorganic nutrients and they anchor the plant to the ground. They also control how quickly a plant will grow and store nutrients for later use. (Wikipedia for more on roots)

This description is not much different than the work of the human spirit who ultimately directs our growth and maturation into adults. A child whose spirit is broken will not thrive. A wounded soul is incapable of experiencing the fullness of love or hope: essentials to happiness. A slumbering spirit will no longer absorb truth.

Some years ago I was active in the Elijah House ministry. This is where I first heard about the negative power of “bitter root judgments” [See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Romans 12:15]. It is so important to search out and prayerfully confront deep root problems. As long as these issues from a person’s past are boxed up and unattended, they will continue to impair and cloud daily life (sometimes without our conscious knowledge). Elijah House was instrumental in revealing some of these obstacles in my own life and how to become aware of their negative influence. Some of those roots had to be pulled out altogether and cast away. Some were cleaned and lovingly returned to the soil of my heart by the Holy Spirit: inner healing.

When a personal spirit is united with the Holy Spirit, the process toward wholeness [holiness] begins. It is just another way of explaining “sanctification.”

Sanctification works both directions, from the outside in and from inside out. Yes, we must choose to change our behaviors and extend ourselves outside the comfort zone: loving the unlovely, helping those less fortunate than we are, investing our “talents” in those people and areas that can use them. But we must also change from within, exposing our hearts and spirits to the Light of God’s Holy Spirit. And as our roots are healed, the outside choices become much easier.

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Pick me! Pick Me!

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2010| 2 Comments »

Can’t even begin to say how uncomfortable I am with the phrase “chosen by God.” I think it’s supposed to be a comforting thought, instead I feel traitorous to all the “rejected” ones. After all, I grew up the last one picked for kickball, I know what it means to be left out.

Romans 11:5
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Sometimes I’m glad I’m not Jewish and have to contend with the idea of an entire people group being “chosen.” No thanks. This chosen thing carries a lot of responsibility. It’s like being a perpetual PK (preacher’s kid). Every mistake is amplified. Every wrong word is noted. Every outfit is scrutinized. On a national level, it’s the policies, wars, peace treaties, etc. It’s being under a microscope.

Nonetheless, God is in the choosing business, whether I am comfortable with the idea or not. Some people die, some live, some people win the lottery, some lose their loved ones, some people struggle with illness while others struggle with poverty or stigmas. There are lots and lots of things that are out of our control. How we respond to our circumstances is our responsibility. That is where we choose.

Being chosen for a 4th grade kickball team was usually based on my ability (or lack thereof) to kick and catch a ball. The few times I wasn’t a default choice, but chosen at the beginning, I felt the pressure of performing. But of course, whether I was chosen first or last, I still couldn’t kick worth a toot or catch. And so the cycle would continue.

But God’s choosing parameters are outside anything we can possibly understand. Our “goodness” or “abilities” do not put us on God’s team. This is the grace part.

When I chose to follow God through Christ, I was fulfilling my small part of the equation, but truthfully, God had already done an awful lot of reaching out to me first. Am I unique because I’m a follower of Christ? Don’t think so. Am I part of some remnant? Doubt it.

This is all a mystery to me. But I do know God is a God of love and mercy and grace. This I truly know. And I believe anyone can cry out to God: Pick me! Pick me! And God will choose by grace.

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Hearing

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

One thing really gets my goat at home: not being heard. The kids tune me out and apparently, they do the same thing at school (What test? What homework? etc.). My husband is in his own world and even the dogs tune me out. Is it the messenger?

Romans 10:17
So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself) [Amplified]

These verses of Romans 10 are often used to support the need for missionaries around the world. After all, they say, someone must go to preach the message, the good news, to all those unbelievers.

But the hearing part is just as essential to the equation. Why don’t people hear? Are they unready to hear? Is the message unclear or poorly presented? Is the message given in love or draped in fear?

Over the years, the messengers (ministers, preachers, missionaries, evangelists) have wrapped the good news into a variety of packages. As a result, we now have the “four spiritual laws,” Evangelism Explosion, Billy Graham Crusade, Seeker-sensitivity, Christian infotainment, Veggie Tales, contemporary, rock, and even hip-hop music, along with movies and multi-media, to name a few. All of these were created to make the “message that came from the lips of Christ” accessible.

But is it really all necessary? Have we possibly diluted the message? Or, have we lost the simplicity of the message?

Jesus came with a story. He spoke it and they listened. We do a greater service to the message of God if we simply tell our story as well. The story of God touching my life cannot be argued. I lived it, I walked it, and it’s mine.

People don’t usually tune out story unless it sounds false.When speaking the story of Christ touching me, it is important to be truthful and transparent. Truth resonates.

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Freedom to Believe

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s ironic, when Paul the Apostle declared Christ as the Way, it was a testament of freedom to anyone who chose to believe, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or foreigner. Anyone could enter this new relationship with God. But today, the Christ message is treated as limiting, exclusive, or prescribed.

Romans 10:4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness [right relationship with God] for everyone who believes.

Several chapters of Romans are dedicated to the logic Paul lays out for the Jews of that time, the reasons and proof texts to support the reasons a Messiah came. He wants to convince them that the way was now open to God for anyone to believe. The season of the heart had come. “For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God), . . . ” [Amplified, Romans 10:10a].

Many are guilty of limiting the Christ message, perhaps Christians most of all. We have codified the process and made rules of engagement. We have created denominations that have additional requirements such as specific types of baptism, communion practices, sins by degree, and methods of confession.

Today, we would need another Paul to set the Christians from their own chains of law.

The Christ message is one of freedom. That freedom invites us to participate in an intimate relationship with God that has never been possible before. For Christians, we must return to the simplicity of belief and confession. For non-believers, we must focus on the open door of Christ. All are welcome.

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Raised for a Purpose

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 26, 2010| 2 Comments »

It’s difficult to see something with new eyes or get new understanding when our memories abound with old movie images and Sunday School bible stories. Who can forget Yul Brynner’s angry, jealous, heart-hardened Pharaoh who would not let Mose’s people go?

Romans 9:17
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

I used to believe that people who were marked for despicable acts by God were literally “born and bred” for those moments. I limited my definition to the word, “raised” to be “reared” as in a child who is reared by his parents. But there are over 31 meanings for the word including “setting in motion” or “to cause” something to happen. That means someone could be “raised up” in a single moment, a single choice.

We will never know much about the childhood of Rameses or what challenges he faced as he was being trained for leadership. Perhaps he had always struggled with making decisions and his tutors put heavy constraints on him to “stick to his guns.” In any event, he came to a point in his life, when he was confronted by Moses and said, “No.” And with each “No” he uttered, the future of a people was set into motion.

I cannot assume that Rameses was particularly evil or cruel as a child, teen, or even young man. In fact, a quick trip over to Wikipedia shows that he was actually known as “Rameses the Great” and ruled for nearly 66 years. Or was it Rameses I (even that is unclear historically)?

Whichever Pharoah oppressed the Israelites and then later tried to block their “exodus,” his “raised up” moment could have happened in a heartbeat and God used that encounter to birth a nation.

I don’t believe I’ll ever be comfortable with the idea that a child is born with an evil future. Depending on the scenarios and the choices made along the way, there will be always be turning points that can bring a person to an evil day and time (or not). Does God know how a life will go? Sure, as I have written before, God is outside of linear time. And yet, a life still has more to it than a signature event or time period. Men and women who are remembered for evil may have kissed a child, planted a tree, loved a mate, or created something of a beauty as well.

If I love someone today, anyone, that moment could turn the tide the other way, for me as well as for the “other.” It is why the power is in the now. We can all be change agents for God through touch, compassion, friendship, love: koinonia.

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God’s Mercy

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Mercy is the best thing ever, particularly when we’re on the receiving end. But, it gets a little dicey when we see some other “undeserving” soul get the good stuff.

Romans 9:14-15
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” [Exodus 33:19]

God is at the bottom line and no matter how hard we try to understand God’s distribution of suffering and mercy, we will never be able to get it. What often appears “unfair” is not for us to judge. Scripture promises that God is just; our understanding is not required in God’s dimension.

My essential characteristics, my natural abilities, my intelligence, my body, my mind, my spirit: these were the ingredients God put together to make me into “me.” These, along with the circumstances and environments out of my control (where and how I grew up) including my parents and genealogy, all come together as my life’s infrastructure. Upon these, I can add building blocks while others can add to the structure as well. I grow, I become, I change. . . or not.

God’s mercy has kept me alive these many years. There were roads I supernaturally avoided that would have led to my early death. There were dangerous people that I fortunately bypassed. There were places I never had to visit. I wasn’t just lucky, I was under grace.

But there was still my willfulness and it narrowed my journey and brought me to turning points that I chose; many of those choices were not wisely considered. For good or ill, they brought me to this day, this hour, this life.

I cannot go back and relive or choose differently. I cannot project who I will be tomorrow. I can only walk out today, being mindful of the gifts, the mercy, the presence of God, the possibilities.

Oh Lord, what will we make of this day together?

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A Lament

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

I think of Paul as a punctilious kind of teacher, quite linearly-minded, regimented, and formal. But then, he surprises me with this verbal requiem over a particular loss he feels in traveling the “new way” in Christ: losing the people and all that was familiar to him to “boldly go” and explore this “strange new world.”

Romans 9:1a, 2
I [Paul] AM speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying; . . . I have bitter grief and incessant anguish in my heart. [Amplified]

I remember the weeks after I first became a follower of Christ. Even though I was clear about my choice and more than willing to venture forth, I also experienced a type of grief. Who would I be? How would this new way look? Would I lose all of my old friends? Would I have to conform to behaviors that didn’t feel like me because I agreed to follow this Messiah?

But, as the true adventure took hold, a joy and confidence grew within. My spirit was shooting off and I knew, despite any lingering questions and doubts and even grief, this was the way. I started telling everyone my story. But there were only a few who wanted to listen. I had to let go of them because I understood, they were no different than I had been. In the years before my spirit woke up, I had considered the Christian way old-fashioned, ineffectual, narrow-minded, and confining. Their discovery would be in God’s time. I cannot say, even to this day, why the planets aligned and I had that revelation glimpse of Christ. Others would say that I was chosen (one of the elect), but I find that too prideful to say. All have the potential to Christ.

Paul had his own supernatural experience on the road to Damascus and subsequent miracle when his eyesight was restored through the prayer of a man who should have feared being in the same room with Paul, a former enemy because of his faith in Jesus. [Acts 9:10-17] Paul was the least likely conversion.

As I walk through Paul’s writings, his dominant proof message is that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. For Paul, this was the whole point! And he could not fathom why his own people didn’t “see” what he saw, didn’t understand what he understood, didn’t accept what he had accepted. They had all the information, the genealogy, the promises, and the prophecies.

But to accept the Messiah meant changing everything. It was easier to keep waiting for the Messiah than to consider he might have come.

My lament is that many people see the trappings of Christianity and cannot project themselves into that perceived lifestyle. They are actually rejecting what they assume it means to become a follower on the Way. But I know now that accepting Christ doesn’t have to “look like that.” The first step is to open the inner door and simply allow God to direct the way.

There is always some loss in change, but there is also gain.

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