Christ Our Crucified Creator

The first chapter of John's gospel paints a beautiful protrait of Christ in His humility and gracious love. Verse 4 of chapter 1 describes Jesus as the Creator of the world: "All things came into being by Him and apart from Him nothing has come into being that has come into being." Then in verse 10, He is referenced as the Creator again: "He was in the world and the world was made by Him..." But then the passage goes on to describe the response of man to the Creator as He walked among them. "And the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him."

Picture the Creator, the Son of God taking on flesh and blood, becoming a man and visiting the world that He had spoken into existence! He had sent advanced notice that He was coming. There had been many prophecies from His spokesmen concerning His arrival, and then the messenger of the King running ahead crying, "Prepare the way for the Lord!"

And yet, no grand reception welcomed Him. He was a stranger to the world. His own people had no place in their hearts for Him. They ignored the proofs of His messiahship, rejected Him, hated Him, and then crucified the One who had made them. Still, their Creator hung there dying on the cross in the place of all those who would turn from their sin and receive, embrace, and believe in Him.

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (verse 12)

What humility! The Lord of Heaven set aside His glory to come to Earth and die a criminal's death at the hands of His creation! And what amazing love that He would do all of that to save the ones that He had set His affection on before the foundation of the world was laid. As Chris Tomlin says, "How can I keep from singing Your praise! I can never get enough! How amazing is your love!!!"

Read More

Weary In The Trenches

When I look back to the days when I only had small children, I remember that at times I felt like a weary soldier fighting in the trenches of a battle zone, not sure who would still be standing when the smoke cleared! The conflicts seemed so intense, and the mental and physical exhaustion of caring for small children was often overwhelming. (Of course it wasn't always like that. Thankfully the Lord weaves the challenges together with unspeakable joys, and I am thankful for every day of the last 18 years of motherhood! It is a great and humbling privilege to be entrusted with children to raise up for the Lord. With that said...) Every day of training was done simply in faith, having not lived long enough to find out what spiritual fruit looked like in the lives of my children, and if I would ever see any.

My thoughts were turned back to those days recently as I was studying about Paul's exhortation to Timothy to be a good soldier of Christ. Paul urged Timothy to be aware that a spiritual battle is always going on, and that a good soldier will be on the alert and engaged in the conflict, always watching lest he become entangled in civilian affairs and rendered useless in the battle.

For those of us entrusted with children, we've been given a divine mission to point little souls back to their Creator. It is a daunting task, and when the conflicts are intensified by fatigue and our own sin, it is really easy to forget about the spiritual battle that we are in. We are not just changing diapers, and wiping up that millionth spill, and looking for that lost shoe. But it is Divine Duty to care for and love and build a relationship with our children, so that we will have a platform from which to give them the Gospel.

Unfortunately, I sometimes forget that when everyone is crying or the bedtime routine is unnecessarily drawn out, or I'm simply distracted by the busyness of life. Praise God for His Word that grabs us by the shoulders and points us back in the right direction when we are straying off the path!

Read More

A New Approach

A few months back I was at a place where I needed to start something new in my Bible reading and study time. So a friend and I decided to read the Gospel of John as we study through parts of it in a discipleship workbook. But, instead of the approach I've always taken, (reading a chapter a day until I'm done with the whole book) I have taken a different approach. I have been reading the same chapter every day for 7 days, and I am learning so much! Throughout the week I also read the notes from my JMacArthur study Bible, and try to jot down just one main thought each day to meditate on. Spending 7 days on each chapter allows me to really live with the content, and helps me notice and ponder things that I always missed before by covering a greater number of verses in a shorter amount of time. It has been a rich way to take in the Word and meditate on it through out the day.

Read More

"How Can I Ever Fight Against Him?"

Our pastor reminded us recently to look back to the cross when we find ourselves facing the choice to submit to or fight against the Lord in a difficult situation. He was actually preaching about the roles of men and women in marriage. Often a woman will reject the teaching of the Scriptures on submitting to/respecting her husband, because she feels that his sinful mistreatment of her makes him undeserving. A man, in a similar way, will give up on choosing to love a woman that belittles him and treats him in a dishonoring way. While these responses are the natural human response, they are not the right response.

Instead, the believer has been given the power in Christ to actually love as Christ loved. With the power of the Holy Spirit at work in her life a Christian woman can actully submit to and follow the leadership of an unreasonable, even hateful husband. And dependent on his Savior, a husband can have the grace to tenderly love a woman that fights against him.

How? Looking back to the cross will motivate us to love others as Christ loved us. We will remember that when we despised God and mocked His Son and cared nothing for all the kindness He had shown us and were ungrateful for the gifts He'd given, even then Jesus suffered and died FOR US!

How can we ever fight against a Savior so gracious and kind??!! How can we not obey His commands when He has forgiven us every affront?

Read More

Long Days, Short Years

Baby Blues is my favorite cartoon. My family thinks the mom in that strip, Wanda, even looks like a caricature of me, and she and I have had much in common for many years now.Today my kids, who love to read the funnies, made sure to show me Baby Blues, because they knew I would appreciate it.

The first frame said, "The days are long" and it showed the overly eager mom peering into the baby's mouth wondering if the first little tooth would ever appear. The second frame said, "But the years are short."   Fast forward in time and the same mom is now showing the dad the bill from the orthodontist for braces for the same child! The dad's response: "Already??!!?"

That is how it feels to be a parent. One minute it seems you're waiting in great anticipation for those "1st" events, but before you can even believe it, that same baby is adult size and making plans to go out into the world to make a life of her own. It really does go by so fast!

But the idea of "long days, yet short years" resonated with me for another reason. Many times I find myself focused on how LONG a particular day seems because of the conflict and opposition that is a very real part of raising children. To begin with, parenting is simply hard work, and sometimes continues around the clock. Meeting the constant physical needs and striving to engage children in the spiritual dimension can be exhausting. But then factor into that equation a child that is not responsive, but resistant, and in fact openly rebellious against your instruction or parental wisdom, and the day seems to slowly drag by.

There are so many wrong ways to respond to the opposition, and I'm sure I have been guilty of all of them at one time or another. The tension and stress can tempt me to become angry, lose my joy, withhold affection, become self-righteous, despair, focus on their sinfulness, and forget the power of God to change them and me! Choosing any of these responses just complicates their sin with my own.

But "the years are short"! And I don't want to wake up one day and realize that my house is empty, the eternal souls given into our care for a short season are gone, and I wasted my opportunity.

So aside from repenting when I have responded wrongly to my children's opposition, I am asking the Lord to help me pursue love. It is a pursuit that makes me get on my knees and pray for the Holy Spirit to work in my heart and give me the grace to do it. It is not natural, but can be done by God's supernatural enabling.

There are a couple of passages from the Bible that I've found very helpful when the conflict is intense. Colossians 3:12-14 is an all-time favorite: "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity."

And, I love the convicting truth of I Corinthians 13:4-8a: "Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek it's own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

May the Lord help us to love especially during the long days, with an eye to the future as the years are short.
*****
BTW, if you are also a Baby Blues fan, you can visit their site by clicking here.

Read More

How I Came To Live For Him

I am a Christian, and for many years now, I have been a follower of Jesus Christ. All those years ago, the Lord showed His mercy by sending someone to tell me that I was a sinner who deserved the wrath of God. That was the bad news, though I knew it immediately to be true.

Thankfully, they also told me the Good News. That same God, who was as merciful as He was just, had made a way for me to be forgiven of all the sin I had committed against Him. There still had to be a payment for my sins, though, but God Himself had given His only Son, whom He loved greatly to take the punishment in my place. The Son of God, Jesus Christ had come into the world over 2,000 years ago to live a sinless life, be rejected by His own people, and die a hideous death on a Roman cross, all to pay for my sins. And His sacrifice, being perfect, would be accepted by the Father on my behalf. He took all my sin on Him, though He had never done anything wrong, and gave me His righteous standing before God, though I had done nothing deserving of God's favor.

God opened my mind to His truth, and made me His Child. I acknowledged my sin against Him, my pride, disobedience, ungratefulness, my rejection of His commandments, my unloving ways toward other people, and my apathy toward all that He had done for me. I saw that Jesus Christ was indeed the one sent by God to be the Savior of the world, and suddenly I loved Him! All that He had suffered for me, all that He had done to give me a joyful life of peace here, and eternal life after I died--these thoughts flooded my heart with such a sense of hope and gratitude and love!

My life was changed so radically then. I was no longer at home here, though my life has been filled with wonderful blessings like a loving husband, precious children, many dear friends, and significant things to do here. But, I am on my way to another place. It is hard for most of us to really ever even think about Heaven. We are too comfortable with the life we have here. But the One who shed His own blood is preparing a place for me in His presence, and I long to be there with Him.

Meanwhile, I look forward that day when I will see Jesus face to face. He has many lessons to teach me that will help me be ready to meet Him, and much to do here to see His name proclaimed and exalted through my life. He is teaching me to love in all the relationships that are in my life, and most of my thoughts recorded here relate to my role as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and believer in Jesus Christ.

Read More

Training Children For the Long Haul

Years ago, when we only had small children, I remember complaining to my husband after a particularly rough day. My entire day had been spent dealing with our children's disobedience and I was worn out and frustrated. He listened patiently, then put his arm around me and congratulated me for spending my day wisely! Then he reminded me that we were in this for the long haul, and to be patient and not give up.

When the Bible says "train" up a child, we need to make sure we realize what train means. It means practicing over and over against resistance until something becomes part of your nature. That is what God is calling us to do with our children. It will not be accomplished in a day, or a month, or a year, but is something you must engage in until your children leave your home and enter the adult world. Now, it is reasonable to long to see some fruit from your labors before they leave, but just keep in mind that it is a long process. I know that many times today, even after many years of being a mom, I still feel overwhelmed and exhausted and discouraged, but now I am enjoying fruit in my older children that the Lord is producing in their lives, and I wouldn't trade that for any less stressful, or more restful, or irritation-free life. It is worth everything we go through!

Also, remember why we do what we do. We are giving our lives away to train and love these children all day long because it is what God commands us to do, not because of the fruit we see in their lives. I've had some moms say that they gave up on training their kids because it didn't work. But the Lord doesn't give us that out. We are to keep on obeying Him and leave the fruit production in His hands. He will grant fruit whenever He deems best, and we have to continue on in faith and trust Him. Work as if it all depends on you, but PRAY for your children, remembering that ultimately it all depends on His work in their hearts. You have every reason to expect fruit, though, because He says that His Word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish His purpose. (Isaiah 55:11) Keep giving your children His Word, and keep striving to obey it yourself. God doesn't usually give a divine zap out of nowhere to change the hearts of people. He uses His Word, and people who bring His Word to needy hearts. He wants to use you.

Let's say you are faithful to this task until your children reach adulthood, and then they openly rebel and reject everything you have tried to impart to them. Was it still the right thing to do? I say absolutely YES! You will have a clear conscience that you tried to obey the Lord, and you will have gained great sanctification along the way. Also your children will have been given the keys to abundant life here and eternal life afterward. Keep pressing on!

Read More