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What I Saw

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I recently attended an engagement party for a young couple who are getting married later this year. It was a happy occasion, with lots of family and friends in attendance. It’s hard to be at a party when you don’t know many of the guests. I didn’t stay long because of that, but I was there long enough to watch people interact, both young and old, and to make some observations.

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I am sad today because of what I saw, and what the guests couldn’t. I look from a vantage point, a place of one who has lived many years. I see through the eyes of my experiences. I look from the place of one who has loved and who knows loss in life and I have learned to embrace the lessons from both. I look from the place of knowing, because of the Holy Spirit who lives in me.

I am saddened by men who don’t understand the gift they have in their wives. I have a heart for marriage and family because God does, and here’s what I know; God created the wife to respond to her husband even if the woman is unaware. God’s creation is still the same, and He created marriage. So, she usually does respond to however she is being treated by her husband.

I am not saying that the wife is not responsible for her actions. She is. She is accountable to God for how she conducts herself in the marriage. But ultimately, the husband holds the greatest responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required. As the leader of the home, the husband bears the majority of the weight when it comes to how his marriage and family function.

Most husbands don’t know the power that they possess because they are too preoccupied with the power they can never obtain. They could have a rich life with the woman they have married but they are blinded by an idea of riches beyond their reach. Each man’s family is the true treasure and yet they don’t see. Or perhaps, they don’t see yet.

There were tables of food in this more than modest house, and a well-stocked bar to boot. The cute paper umbrellas were enticingly placed in the glass of liquid lies, that promises to fulfill when in fact, it only leaves you feeling emptier, while beckoning you to keep searching for things you will never find here on this planet, without a relationship with the Father who loves with an unfailing, everlasting love. An umbrella drink doesn’t even come close.

I’m sorry too, for families–husbands, wives and kids who have lost the special moments along the way, and maybe more importantly, the seemingly mundane that make up a lifetime, because of preoccupation with the unattainable. The clock doesn’t stop ticking and the young don’t stay that way for long.

The pursuit of happiness will never be fulfilled with temporary people and things. It can only come close in this temporary world with the things that matter most–commitment, family and eternal life.

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I Was Reminded

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Last week was Easter week. I got texts and messages wishing me a Happy Thursday, Good Friday, Good and Saturday and Easter day. If I’m honest, I responded without much enthusiasm. I responded more out of obligation than anything.

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Saturday evening I went to church…in person, for the first time since March 2020. Don’t get me wrong, I have been involved in church most Sundays since the pandemic began. In fact, I am a part of the online services at Southeast Christian Church. I volunteer as a chat host and will continue to do so.

But Saturday night, sitting next to a good friend, in a sanctuary with so many other people…it was special. I had forgotten just how important gathering together in person is.

And the power of corporate worship blew me away. There were a few times I had to stop singing because I was overcome with emotion as I listened to hundreds of voice singing about our Resurrected King. It happened more than once.

And because it was an Easter celebration service, our pastor had us do the traditional response to “He has risen”! In which the congregation responded with; “He has risen indeed”. We did that a couple of times at the beginning of the sermon and then at the end. We also did it as the service concluded. I couldn’t. I mean I did, but by the second or third time we said that, during each of those segments in the service, I was overcome with emotion.

There’s just something about the sound of many voices, in unison, praising our God, the Risen Lord, that I gets me every time.

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I was reminded during that service of the many times that would happen to me on a regular basis, as I attended in-person services.

I was reminded again of the importance of meeting together to worship as a Body of believers.

I was reminded during of all Christ did between dying on the cross and leaving the tomb.

I was reminded of the fact that we need each other, even if we don’t always get along.

I was reminded of the loneliness that can ensue when we are separated from each other.

I was reminded of so many things as I gathered together with fellow believers, but what I was reminded of the most was how I had missed those times without even being aware.

I love that we have the ability to connect online with people from other states and nations. That is an amazing use of technology. But I was reminded that being in a physical place is special in it’s own way.

However you worshiped this Easter, I hope you were reminded too.

 

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Even When the Day is Hard

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Some days are hard. They just are. Yesterday was one of those days. I am accustomed to hard days so I know how to push through, but yesterday? It was just hard.

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Usually I jump out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off, whether I feel like it or not. Yesterday was not one of those days. I lingered in bed for about thirty minutes knowing that I had to get up because I had to be somewhere at 7:00. The only way I made myself get out of bed was to make a plan that would enable me to run the few errands that needed to be done before I made my way home and back to the safe haven of my bed where I intended to spend the rest of the day.

It didn’t quite go that way.

I was in Kroger, hurriedly making my way through the aisles I needed and then to the self-check lane. As I was exiting the store I noticed an employee with a disability. She obviously had trouble walking. As I approached where she stood on my way to the doors, she spoke to me. She wished me a good day. I was suddenly incredibly grateful for the things I have instead of dwelling on the hard situations I had endured through the years. The ability to walk, see, hear and to have good health are things I often take for granted. But not at that moment. I was very much aware of the blessings that have been bestowed on me by a loving Father.

Don’t get me wrong, I have aches and pains. After all, I am sixty-one years old. In fact, earlier in the week I had an appointment with a podiatrist. Arthritis, orthotics and surgery were a few words being flung around as the doctor and I discussed the issues I was having. But I digress.

After picking up my order at Walmart, I decided to stop and get gas while the lines were non-existent and the price was still reasonable. It was early, but the sky was beginning to show signs of daybreak. As I was driving away from the gas pump, I couldn’t help but notice the stunning hues of red and pink exploding through the myriad of clouds, where the sun would soon become briefly visible before disappearing just as quickly behind those far-reaching clouds.

I found it difficult, as I drove, to keep my eyes from straying to the horizon bursting with signs of great artistry. I had no other choice but to pull my car into an empty parking lot and absorb the beauty of God’s creation. I retrieved my phone from the console and pulled up Youtube to listen to a couple of my favorite worship songs as I sat there in awe of the magnificence before my eyes.

There are times I don’t understand why life has to be so hard. I know why, but I don’t get it. Does that make sense to you? I prayed the prayers over the years and believed that God could change the circumstances of my life. It didn’t happen the way I had planned. And that’s okay, because I still trust in my Father even when I don’t understand.

I know that I have a choice to make every time I get to this place of not understanding when life gets hard. I know how to choose to abandon the thoughts of the negative events of my life and go with the positive, allowing God to use me how He wants to use me, and change me in the ways He wants to change me.

But sometimes…

I’m human, just like you. I know I’m not the only one who has this battle to fight daily, minute by minute, as I struggle to stay positive, or as close as I can get. I know too, that I am not the only one who has had hard events to deal with. I’m not the only one who has prayed the prayers and hoped in the One who could change the circumstances, while they stayed the same. I know that I am not alone.

If you are still with me, then I am going to assume that you too have had to find a place in your mind to stow all the things you didn’t ask for or didn’t see coming, those hard places. You too get to choose to hide behind the façade of smiles, pretending that your life is just as good as the ones being shown to you on social media, or even in person, or go to the a place of peace where you accept the things you cannot change and trust the One who knows. It’s challenging to be visible, to be who you are because of where you have been, but so very important.

As a fellow warrior of all the seemingly injustices that have come my way, I see you. I hear you without you  uttering a single word. But more importantly, God knows you and He has a plan for your life. He will never leave you or turn His back on you no matter how hard life gets, and He loves you even more than you can fathom.

Some days are hard. Yesterday was for sure, but even so, I choose to stay connected to the One who knows. Help us Lord, to always trust you with all of our hearts, and lean not on our own understanding. In all of our ways, O Lord, help us to acknowledge you, and you will direct our paths.

Even when the day is hard.

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Hope

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I am starting to sound like a broken record, I know, but New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp, gives me much to ponder throughout the day since I added reading from this book full of biblical nuggets, to my time spent with God in the morning. This day, hope is what grabbed my attention.

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We all need hope. In this crazy world, we need hope. In the year of Covid, riots, and a jacked-up presidential election, many have been left with feelings of despair and so much pain. There are people I know who are walking through some pretty intense situations in their close relationships. They have no hope of anything ever changing on it’s own. In fact, they’ve tried everything they know to do, and nothing has made a lasting impact that brings the desired and needed change that has to take place in order to continue in the relationship.

Just so we’re clear about what hope is, here is the definition (according to my internet search). Hope is: 1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, a person or thing that may help or save someone, grounds for believing that something good may happen.

And just so we’re a little more clear, hope is Jesus personified. I mean let’s be real, there is no real hope unless your hope is in Jesus. Everything else is flawed. It’s conditional. It’s temporary at best. When you find yourself in a dire situation like having a child who is deathly ill, a marriage that has been trashed, a lost job and means of support or any other monumental life event that can happen faster than a blink of an eye, you need a dependable hope. You need a hope that can change the circumstances of your life and the only hope for that is Jesus.

Jesus came to give you hope for a better life than the one you have now. He came to give you a better life than the one you are living. He came to give His life so you can have hope outside and beyond what we have and see in this life.

Hope is always about the future, whatever that looks like in your life. Tomorrow, in five minutes, or next year. Hope is what you fix your eyes on while going through the junk. Hope is what you hold onto when there is no reason to expect anything different than what you’ve already experienced.

Hope is Jesus.

Proverbs 13:12 says Hope deferred makes a heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life (ESV). Hope isn’t a wish, or a longing. Hope is real. Hope is a person. Hope is Jesus.

Where do you put your hope?

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Fear

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I’ve been thinking a lot about fear lately. This is not a perfect life, so there can be much to be in fear of. Not that I am fearful. I’m not at the moment. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ve lived with plenty of fear, but that’s not where I am currently dwelling even though people in the world seems to have lost the ability to think for themselves. And, I’m pretty sure there is plenty to be in fear about. But still, that’s not where I’m coming from today.

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As I have mentioned in Mysteries, Every Little Moment and I Am Not, I have been reading New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp. The line at the top of today’s reading had to do with fear. Here is what Tripp said; “For the believer, fear is always God-forgetful. If God is sovereign and His rule is complete, wise, righteous and good, why would you fear?”. Why indeed?

That’s the reason I have been thinking about fear. If we believe what we say about God, then why are we afraid? If we believe in Psalm 139, as I talked about in Mysteries, then what is there to be afraid of? 2020 was off the charts world-wide. Most of us alive today have either never experienced a pandemic, nor remember one, so everything that happened…all the sickness, death and uncertainty, all the political and racial unrest, all the families who have lost jobs and so much more, gives us great reason to fear. But do we believe in God? Do we believe in Who He says He is? Do we believe in the Bible, and specifically Psalm 139?

It isn’t easy. Everything that is happening is scary. There is a natural reason to be in fear, but are God’s ways not higher than the natural?

And then there’s the chaos in your personal life. I have it. I’m pretty sure you do too. Plenty of reason to be in fear there, but what I am learning is if I have and continue to submit my life to God each and every day, if I continue to trust Him with my future no matter what I had prayed and hoped for, then all things will surely work together for God’s good and mine as well.

It’s tempting to be in fear, on a world-wide and personal level, but He truly has never failed me yet. He is there for you in that exact same way.

God is greater than anything that is going on in our country and our world. He is greater than the pain of our marriages and families. God is bigger.

What is there to be in fear of?

 

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Every Day We Need It

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Every day we need it because this is so not a perfect life. After the day we just had in our country, how can we think we’ll ever NOT need it? After the year we had and all the things…we need it every day.

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I was reading New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp this morning, like I do every morning, and I was struck with the truth of this statement at the top of the page; “Every day you need it. You and I simply can’t live without it. What is it? The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit”.

We can’t do life on our own. We need each other, now more than ever. Our country has gone insane. We need the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit every single minute of every single day. Romans 8:13 states: For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if you live by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

It’s not enough for us to believe. It’s important, but the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is how the inside of us changes. God in us. He is our only Hope.

 

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Imperfect Perfection

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The enigma of the gospel is imperfect perfection. In our imperfections we are made perfect (righteous) in Christ Jesus.

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This morning I read Paul David Tripp‘s New Morning Mercies and this is what it said ; “If you obey for a thousand years, you’re no more accepted than when you first believed; your acceptance is based on Christ’s righteousness and not yours”.

Did you get that? I mean, if you have been around the Christian world for any amount of time, you are aware that our righteousness has nothing to do with us, right? But do we know that? Like really know that to the point that we must simply sit in awe of this love that is so astounding we have nothing to offer? No praise seems worthy enough. No amount of worship or adoration could ever be enough in exchange for what Christ did for us.

The problem is we’re human, and yet that was exactly God’s plan. We are made imperfectly perfect in Him. In the work of the cross. And not just the work of the cross, which will always be an act of love beyond our ability to comprehend, but Jesus rose again, victorious, having defeated death, hell and the grave, for all mankind, for ever!

When I begin to compare myself with anyone else, when I begin to remotely dip my toe into the righteousness of anything I may think, say or do, then my righteousness is as filthy rags. Here’s the rub…we are always unworthy of what Jesus accomplished at His death and resurrection.

We didn’t earn it.

We don’t deserve it.

We are sinners, every one.

But He isn’t.

Romans 3:20 says “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight”.

And this in Romans 5:8 “God shows His love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us”.

Nuff said.

While we were sinners. We are sinners. All of us. All the time. In His perfection, we who are imperfect, were not left to remain so. We are made righteous in Him. In Who He is and what He did.

There are no words for me to say, no other words to explain what He did or what this means for me, for us.

God, in His merciful love for us…for you…for me, sent His Son, the sinless Lamb, to be the atonement for our sins, to pay the price that we could never pay, to die our death, but then He rose again, so we could have Life.

It truly is about eternity, this life we live. It’s not about us. It’s not about our happiness, or lives of perfection. It’s not about our hopes and dreams. It’s about eternity and what He did for us.

It’s about our being imperfectly perfect in Him.

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Mysteries

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Psalm 139 is one of my favorite books in the Bible. Because this is not a perfect life we lead, this book brings comfort, especially during the chaos and confusion that we lived through in 2020, and, let’s be honest, the new chaos and confusion that will follow. We live in a fallen world as I have mentioned before.

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When I read this morning’s devotional, I spent a little time reflecting on the things I read. The first line didn’t grab my attention as much as the last three days did, but the lines in the devotional itself, is a different story all together.

After telling of a family crisis Paul David Tripp had gone through, he said this; “I held onto the thought that our lives were not out of control”. That is Psalm 139. God is never caught off guard no matter what you are going through. He is not afraid nor is He wondering how it will all turn out. From the very beginning, He knows. He will never be found scrambling around trying to work out your situation. Daniel 2:22 says He knows what’s in the darkness, and light dwells with Him”. He is in the thing, no matter what it is. No matter how dark it seems…He is there.

Mysteries are only mysterious if you don’t know what lies ahead. I serve a God who is already in the future. He is not limited by time or space. This thing that you are facing, He is there waiting for you to get through it…AND He is in it with you. That is the greatest mystery of all, to me anyway. It is beyond the limits of our human thought process. He can be, and in fact IS in ALL places at ALL times, and that includes your future.

So take heart today, my friend, no matter what it is you are going through, no matter how dark and mysterious it appears, He is light, He is here with you, and He is at the end of the tunnel, waiting for you. This is not too hard for God, though the pain may be unbearable to you. This life event has not caught Him unaware. He is not worried about what will happen to you or those you love. And in this unpredictable and imperfect life that we live, that is the greatest gift of all.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6.

 

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Every Little Moment

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Keeping in line with my current blog posts based on the top line of my devotional New Morning Mercies by Paul David Trip here we go again! “If eternity is the plan, then it makes no sense to shrink your living down to the needs and wants of this little moment”.

We live in a world where it’s not a perfect life because I am not and neither are you.

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Eternity is the plan. Maybe it wasn’t our idea or even our plan, but it is THE plan. If we humans could grasp that concept from the very beginning, as soon as we were able to formulate thoughts outside of our wants and needs of every little moment, then life would be much less messy.

If eternity is the plan, would it not make sense for us as individuals to conduct the affairs of our families and our marriages, our going-about-every-day life with the very thought of what would lead us to do better, be better for the sake of eternity?

Maybe I’m making this too complicated. Here’s the thought that occurred to me; what if we based every decision we made, as one part of a couple, or one member of a family, or a team mate of any kind…what if the underlying thought for every decision we will ever make in life is this; is this action for the good of my family, my marriage, my team? Does this action fall under the wants and needs of this little moment, or does it fit with eternity as the plan? Would that not simplify life in general?

I get that is isn’t that easy. Life can’t be that simple. If it were, there would be no dysfunction. No war. No divorce. If we could live our lives in such a manner then we wouldn’t need a Savior. It is because we live in a fallen world that we make poor choices based on our own selfish desires of every little moment.

But what if we could? What if I strived everyday to “Be Holy, as I am Holy” (I Peter 1:15)? What if I did take into account how every decision I make will affect the lives of those I love, because it kinda does.

If we could let go of “the wants of the little moments” and look at the bigger picture, our lives would be more calm and serene.

It’s just a thought I had.

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I Am Not

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I started the day with this thought; “What do you do when something is so big it will have to be all God, but it seems like, at the moment, it’s all you?”

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That’s where I was yesterday, in my thoughts, about my life. I can’t fathom how it’s suppose to go, much less work. I am required to make a choice. I don’t like the options. I am not equipped to be successful at any choice I make. And then it hit me, that’s exactly where I’m supposed to live. That is the place where I was supposed to land…and take root. I am not.

As much as it depends on me, I am ill-equipped. But it doesn’t depend on me. If I can stay there, then I’m good. Here’s the thing, though, I can’t stay there. It isn’t humanly possible. I can only desire to be there. I can only follow the Lord there. I can only stay open to what He desires to do and His will for my life because I am not.

Here’s the thing too…that applies to you as well.

As long as I am looking at my own strength and ability to do this mammoth thing in my life, I am defeated before I even begin. But if I choose to look to Him, (“When I am weak, I am strong”), when I choose to allow Him to do the work in my heart, minute by minute each and every day that I live, then I will find success. It’s only in Him. Because I am not.

And if that wasn’t enough of a way to begin my day, I read this in New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp’ “Your rest is not to be found in figuring your life out, but in trusting the One who has it all figured out for your good and His glory”.

And I was off again because I am not able on my own to do this thing.

I don’t have to have it all figured out, which is brilliant, because on a good day, I can’t even wrap my mind around the magnitude of it all. The beauty comes, indeed the rest comes from trusting the One Who knows me well, who knew me in my mother’s womb before I breathed my first breath. My strength, courage and my ability…my sufficiency comes only when “I trust in the One who has it all figured out for my good and His glory”.

Because I am not.

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