When Good is Bad...

Sometimes what starts out to be a good thing becomes bad and that is never good. 

Today's passages, 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chronicles 29-31 and Psalm 48 cover a period of time in the history of God's people when Hezekiah reigned as King in Judah.  We learn that unlike his father Ahaz and kings prior, he was determined to obey the Lord.  He didn't just give lip service to turning his people back to God, he took action by tearing down the "high places" where idol worship was going on, and by purifying the temple. Only 25 years old when his reign began, Hezekiah was called righteous.

In the book of Numbers (chapter 21) you may recall that Moses carved a bronze serpent on a pole that was to be held up whenever someone was bitten by snakes that were plaguing them.  This carving was to be an instrument that when gazed upon brought healing from the venom of the snake's bite. God prescribed this as a remedy during a time when death was sure and there was no other hope.

Having been preserved for 800 years, the bronze serpent was now among the things that were being worshipped in place of God, so in his determination to stop the idolatry, Hezekiah smashed it to bits. This life-saving relic from the past had become bad, so regardless of its value, its former glory, its historicity, its sacredness, Hezekiah got rid of it.

This account made me ask myself what I need to smash. John 3:14-15 teaches that the  bronze serpent that Hezekiah destroyed had once been a representation of a future Savior.  Jesus would also be lifted up high on a pole and when a person believed that He alone could save them, salvation from the punishment of death was theirs. 

Do I gaze upon my Savior intently, recognizing him as my only hope and worshiping him alone?  Like Hezekiah, I want to dispose of anything (even if it was once good, valuable, historical or even sacred) that has taken Christ's rightful place of priority in my life.

Help me Lord--open my eyes to what I idolize so that I, too, may be called righteous.

Woe No!

Today's passages--Isaiah 13 through 27--(which include some disturbing and amazing promises) tell of a wonderful, Holy God who asks little but offers much to an ungrateful world full of forgetful humans.  In contrast, when I think of how quickly I get "fed up" anytime I feel slighted, I have to wonder why The Lord hasn't already said, "Enough!".

Patience and long-suffering define our God, reminding me that I have far to go in learning to emulate and imitate Him well. Perhaps one of the reasons that I am so often impatient, even impetuous, stems from my lack of properly focused perspective. So what should my perspective be?

I think this sums it up nicely:

Isaiah 26: 3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

In Hebrew, repetition communicates intensity and the term perfect peace is actually "shalom shalom".

So who receives shalom shalom? The person whose mind is fixed on God. It's intriguing to me that this isn't a matter of the heart or soul. Scripture clearly tells us that to get this sort of peace involves our thought life.

Romans 12:2 speaks of this mentally transforming renewal that is possible when we surrender to the Lordship of Christ. This shalom shalom mentioned in Isaiah is not the kind of peace that world leaders, governments or our bank accounts falsely promise. This is eternal, internal peace that makes all of the confusing, disturbing, irritating, annoying, and disgusting stuff of this life grow strangely dim.  We enjoy perfect peace when we know that God is just (He settles all scores rightly) is love (He does appreciate us and forgives our sin) and is able (He capably carries every burden that threatens to break our backs).

So how do I fix my thoughts on these things? By renewing my mind daily through the study of His word. By praying, constantly. By taking every thought captive, weighing the messages I receive from the world against THE message of His Word.

And then...peace. What a promise! Still, it's optional. It's my choice. (And yours.) For me...woe? No! Shalom, shalom.

I'm a Fan!

Have you ever been to a college football game?  It isn't very difficult to distinguish fans of one team from the other.  Often, they wear team colors (and sometimes even body or face paint) to signify who they support, have noise makers and/or other accoutrements that help identify them as fans, and typically, they don't care who knows which team they love!  Without apology they shout, jeer, cheer and celebrate.

The dictionary defines "worship" this way: to idolize; to love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; to feel profound love and admiration for something or someone.

Could we accurately say then that some fans exhibit characteristics of worship for and of their team?  I think so.  It certainly seems that there is profound love and admiration when someone is willing to get crazy and possibly even spend all sorts of money in order to follow and support a group of people who are fighting over an odd shaped ball on a big field.  But don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking loyal fans, just making an observation. 

Here's something else I've observed: a lot of us who would dance, yell, shout, paint, wave flags, and spend money in support of our favorite team, wouldn't be caught dead appearing to be that excited about the God of the universe who loves us so much that He has numbered the hairs on our head.

Apparently, neither would those obstinate children of Israel and Judah back in the day of 2 Kings. Today's passages, 2 Chronicles 28 and 2 Kings 16 - 17, cover the period of time when no matter the warning, God's children refused to worship Him, and instead worshipped idols and sinned grievously even to the point of sacrificing their own children in the fire.  As I read these disturbing verses, I couldn't ignore a few similarities we seem to share.

No, we don't burn our children in fires, but we do sacrifice them on the altar of convenience through abortion each and every day in this country.  And no, we don't worship sex gods--oh wait. Internet pornography (and other forms of lewd business) is booming according to the latest reports.  Sadly, we have just as many (or more) idols today as then, and the very real possibility is that God's loving kindness and patience may soon run out with us as it did with His stubborn, idolatrous people.  He is, after all, a jealous God. (Exodus 20:4-5)

Maybe even scarier in some ways than the fact that we may face His discipline for choosing to worship everything but Him is the real possibility that we, like the children of Israel, may become worthless as a result of our misplaced worship. 

Here's what verse 15 of 2 Kings 17 says: They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

The word hebel was translated in the verse as "worthless" and may also be translated "empty."  Hebel means 'air,' 'delusion,' or 'vanity.'  Because these people worshipped empty, worthless gods, they were essentially bowing their knees to nothing--and scripture says as a result, that's what they became.

I believe with all my heart that God wants so much more for you and me than this.  I am convinced that if we can just get this worship thing right our lives will be abundant and we will not roam around as others who seek but don't find, yearn but aren't filled, crave but are hungry. 

My hope is that I am a fan of God first, and that I have no idols in my life above Him. My prayer is that you'll share my hope.

Father, help me wear your colors proudly, cheer for you loudly and praise you with all my heart. Sincerely and with genuine fanaticism and adoration.  Amen.

Pet Peeves and Blinders...

What is your pet peeve?

Recently, my hubby confessed one of his to me.  He then proceeded to say that it was probably something he was guilty of from time to time since he finds it so offensive.  So, what was it?  It was blatant double standards that are either expressed or implied.

Like my husband, I'm convinced that the things that bother us most in others are potentially areas in which we struggle--sometimes unaware.  For this reason I am almost reluctant to write what I found most compelling about today's scripture passage.

Micah chapters 1 though 9 are the focus of today's reading and it is in these difficult passages that we again find the fickle, disobedient, hard-hearted people of Israel getting reprimanded and warned about what is to come if they don't shape up. 

God's messenger, Micah, communicates clearly the frustration and grievances that The Lord has against His people and then in chapter 6 he begins to share with them how their "day in court" might go. 

In this dramatic portrayal, we see Israel theoretically shaking angry fists at God and griping that He just asks too much. When they demand a response, God's reply is almost startling. Listen to what He told them in verse 8:

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Wow.

And this brings me back to the pet peeve thing.  I really don't like to be around boastful/arrogant/pride-filled people.  I figure if you have to toot your own horn something must be wrong.

But are high volumed speaking voices, bragging words or snotty attitudes the only evidences of pride?  Is it possible to be quietly prideful, silently boastful, and secretly snotty? I'm afraid of the answer to that question.

What I do know for certain is that I'm asking God to reveal the hidden sins in my life this year--to remove all blinders that keep me from seeing the log in my own eyes and prevent me from walking humbly with Him. 

So how does one walk humbly with God (which I believe will usher in the other two requirements [doing right and loving mercy] by default)?
 
Charles Spurgeon said this:

“True humility is thinking rightly of thyself, not meanly. When you have found out what you really are, you will be humble, for you are nothing to boast of. To be humble will make you safe. To be humble will make you happy. To be humble will make music in your heart when you go to bed. To be humble here will make you wake up in the likeness of your Master by-and-by.”

My goal for this year is to wake up each day in the likeness of my Master.  What's yours?

Father, thank you for the reminder that I am nothing apart from you and that with your help I can do right, love mercy and walk humbly in your likeness.  Make my goal a reality by the grace and mercy and guidance available to me and to all who believe in Christ The Lord. Amen.

Merry Christmas Every Day!

When the lights and decorations of Christmas have all been put away, I always feel a tinge of sadness that another year's celebration of Jesus' birth has ended. The anticipation that builds until that one special morning in December comes and goes, and all too soon it seems it's time to pack away everything shiny and bright.

Almost providentially--on the day I returned the last box of ornaments to the attic--my chronological journey through the Bible took me to Isaiah chapters 9 through 12, and I'm reminded that the miracle of Christmas never ends unless I let it.

Imagine a time when having been ravaged by war and plundered as a people, a spokesman for God heralded the promise of One who was to come and make all things right again. Picture with me the hope that would stir in a desperate woman's heart upon hearing God's prophet promise that a deliverer was coming!

Scholars have written that the promised Messiah could have been an angel or even God without humanity, but we are clearly told here by the prophet Isaiah that our deliverer would be born a helpless, dependent child. The promised One would be more than just man though, He would be the eternal Son of God who was able (as a result of his humanity) to identify with us in our weaknesses.

Jesus Christ, the child who was born of both God and man in fulfillment of every Messianic prophecy, was fully human and yet perfect--sinless.  If you're like me you have probably blamed your big blunders on the fact that you're only human.  Somehow though, knowing that it is possible to be perfect and human is a reminder that our problem is not our humanity but the fact that we are fallen, sinful humans. 

We, just like the people of Isaiah's day, are a desperate lot--lost and without hope apart from the deliverer that came to rescue us from the penalty of death that is the wage of our sin. Because He was fully man yet sinless, Christ could stand in our place as a substitute for the punishment that was to be ours--and that is the message of Christmas.  This message is bigger than one day each year and this story cannot be contained in a few short paragraphs on a page--this is epic!  To think that a baby born over 2000 years ago loved me (and you) enough to humble himself, take on human form and carry my sins to a cruel cross is not something easily summarized or lightly acknowledged.  He bore my shame and my sin and saved me from having to pay the debt I owe--and it cost me nothing except my willingness to believe, to trust, that He indeed is my only hope and the only way.

C.S. Lewis said it well in Mere Christianity:

..."The Second Person in God, the Son, became human Himself: was born into the world as an actual man—a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular colour, speaking a particular language, weighing so many stone. The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a foetus inside a Woman’s body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab.” 

I haven't learned to love that much--to care enough to stoop so low or sacrifice so fully, but I will always and forever be grateful that He did and He does.  And I think as a result I should say, "Merry Christmas!" to everyone I meet--every day--for the rest of this year.

Father, thank You that You saw fit to send Jesus Christ: Deliverer, Redeemer, Savior, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father into the world as a baby to identify with me, inviting me through His sacrificial death and resurrection to share in the riches of His perfect relationship with You.  I will forever thank You and praise Your Holy Name.  Amen.

Resolutely Speaking...

As 2011 begins, like most of the population, I have resolutions. Three, to be exact.

This declaration of  these "vows to myself," is a little scary, and I realize that recording something this important  in a public forum means that I am open to scrutiny, query and accountability--but I've decided to be okay with that--so, here's my list of daily do's...

1.  My Spirit--20 minutes (at least) with Jesus--first and best.
2.  My Body--20 minutes (at least) active--exercise of some sort.
3.  My Mind--20 minutes (at least) learning/studying--something new.

One hour each day of intentional living that is treated as sacred--a no excuse, no loophole kind of legalistic ritualism that usually makes me bristle. Wow.

I imagine that some people reading my little list are laughing because it sounds so simple, so doable. But for me--well--call me Mrs. Undisciplined.  It's sad to admit, it's painful to confess, but I have spent a good deal of time praying for God to reveal the blind spots in my life and He has graciously--clearly--answered my plea, causing me to acknowledge some ugly truths that I'm continuing to pray through and work out (with fear and trembling).

I know that I'm bound to have blind spots yet to be realized, and I also recognize I have miles to go in this journey.  For that reason, my prayer is that 2011 is not merely a "happy new year," but a transformational new year for my spirit, body, and mind. And if I successfully keep these resolutions, it will be.


^{Romans 12: 1-2} So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (TM)