Ever read the Berenstein Bears book called Inside Outside Upside Down? It is a cute book to introduce prepositions, with Brother Bear inside a box, outside on the back of a truck, and eventually upside down.
I have been very inward focused lately. Instead of being focused on others and my interaction with the world. And it has left me feeling upside down.
I have been trudging (good word, trudging) through the murky mud of medical tests, feeling very discouraged, the whole nine yards. My friends are all very supportive, always asking me how things are going, how the latest test turned out, if I need anything. And I am grateful for their kindnesses. But I felt angry this week, thinking, "I am more than this illness! Ask me about what I am reading, what I am learning, what I am doing."
The irony is that I am not doing anything. I have not read my Bible outside of church in I can't say how long. I don't go anywhere. Sadly, my life does revolve around this illness.
But I am the only one who can change that. So I am putting together a perpetual calendar of outward focused things I can do: write to a missionary, call a friend. I need 31 different things for this calendar.
What do you do to take your mind off yourself and focus on God's world and His people around you? Share your ideas!
Let's be outside inside right-side up!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Promises
I am doing a personal in-depth study of the prmises of God. What, exactly, has God promised us? A song by Sanctus Real, recently released, is called "Hold On To the Promises." The bridge of the song recites Romans 8: "neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God."
This is definitely a reassuring promise. Nothing I do or experience will make God love me less.
But I wanted to know what other promises God makes, so I started in Genesis. I determined that there are at least 5 categories of promises in Scripture:
* to individuals
* to Israel
* to Christians
* to everyone
* promise of consequences
It is this last category I want to discuss. Remember as a kid, your big brother said, "If you don't smell my sweaty socks, I'm going to knock you out."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, it's a promise."
God is kinder than my big brother (just slightly!), but I got that impression when I first read Genesis 2:17 -- do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die.
I questioned this. I almost wanted it to not fit into the categories I had assigned, make it not really a promise. Why is the first promise God gives that harsh?
Keep reading...
Genesis 3:15 -- after Adam and Eve sin, God promises a Savior, the first time in Scripture that Jesus is foreshadowed.
Why is God harsh first?
Because if I first don't know I am a sinner, I won't accept the wonderful gift of a Savior.
This is definitely a reassuring promise. Nothing I do or experience will make God love me less.
But I wanted to know what other promises God makes, so I started in Genesis. I determined that there are at least 5 categories of promises in Scripture:
* to individuals
* to Israel
* to Christians
* to everyone
* promise of consequences
It is this last category I want to discuss. Remember as a kid, your big brother said, "If you don't smell my sweaty socks, I'm going to knock you out."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, it's a promise."
God is kinder than my big brother (just slightly!), but I got that impression when I first read Genesis 2:17 -- do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die.
I questioned this. I almost wanted it to not fit into the categories I had assigned, make it not really a promise. Why is the first promise God gives that harsh?
Keep reading...
Genesis 3:15 -- after Adam and Eve sin, God promises a Savior, the first time in Scripture that Jesus is foreshadowed.
Why is God harsh first?
Because if I first don't know I am a sinner, I won't accept the wonderful gift of a Savior.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
food and the Spirit
This blog will be reposted at both Transformed and Not By Bread Alone...
This diet that I have been on is both good for me and hard to do, hard to stick to and yet so necessary.
Over the Christmas holidays I ate more bread products and sugar than I should have, though I was still good on the dairy end. By the weekend between Chritmas and New Year's , nearly a week of not eating what I should, I felt it. My joints hurt and my belly revolted. While I could blame the joints on the snowstorm Saturday, there is no reason for my belly except I cheated.
And once again I acknowledged this truth and vowed to eat only what I need to in order to avoid this problem.
*
*
*
My thought life and spiritual input have been less thans stellar lately. So much so that I am in the dark. I have immersed myself in the equivalent of marshmallows, and sometimes even the equivalent of antifreeze. When I stop long enough to think, I realize I am sad and lonely and unhappy. So I reach for more "marshmallows" to make me feel better, but the results are always the same.
Last night I realized this truth -- again; just as the bread makes my belly hurt, what I have been reading and thinking about is making my heart hurt. And it is a hurt that doesn't work itself out. It needs the grace and intervention of God.
Every time I go through this cycle (I am sooooo like the Israelites in the time of the Judges!), I return, eventually, to 2 Peter 1: 3-9. And it seems each time God emphasizes something different for me to learn.
This time it is verse 4:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Why has He given me his precious promises? Such promises as "I will never leave you or forsake you" and "There is therefore now no condemnation" and "Come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest."
These promises are so that I can participate in his divine nature and ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION IN THE WORLD CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES.
My problem is neither that I like bread, nor that I read what I shouldn't.
My problem -- my sin -- is that I am not fulfilling God's purpose for my life.
This diet that I have been on is both good for me and hard to do, hard to stick to and yet so necessary.
Over the Christmas holidays I ate more bread products and sugar than I should have, though I was still good on the dairy end. By the weekend between Chritmas and New Year's , nearly a week of not eating what I should, I felt it. My joints hurt and my belly revolted. While I could blame the joints on the snowstorm Saturday, there is no reason for my belly except I cheated.
And once again I acknowledged this truth and vowed to eat only what I need to in order to avoid this problem.
*
*
*
My thought life and spiritual input have been less thans stellar lately. So much so that I am in the dark. I have immersed myself in the equivalent of marshmallows, and sometimes even the equivalent of antifreeze. When I stop long enough to think, I realize I am sad and lonely and unhappy. So I reach for more "marshmallows" to make me feel better, but the results are always the same.
Last night I realized this truth -- again; just as the bread makes my belly hurt, what I have been reading and thinking about is making my heart hurt. And it is a hurt that doesn't work itself out. It needs the grace and intervention of God.
Every time I go through this cycle (I am sooooo like the Israelites in the time of the Judges!), I return, eventually, to 2 Peter 1: 3-9. And it seems each time God emphasizes something different for me to learn.
This time it is verse 4:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Why has He given me his precious promises? Such promises as "I will never leave you or forsake you" and "There is therefore now no condemnation" and "Come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest."
These promises are so that I can participate in his divine nature and ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION IN THE WORLD CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES.
My problem is neither that I like bread, nor that I read what I shouldn't.
My problem -- my sin -- is that I am not fulfilling God's purpose for my life.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Humility
Last week I heard, what for me, is a profound statement: THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAYING THANK YOU AND ACTUALLY MEANING IT.
Sounds obvious.
But how many times do I rattle off a list of things I thank God for: a hot shower and a soft bed and making it through another day with a debilitatingly painful disease? Am I truly thankful? Do I approach the situation -- thanking God -- with humility?
James 4:6 tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
The biggest thing I need to overcome in order to be truly humble is . . .
myself.
I need to acknowledge I cannot do it, achieve it, supply it on my own.
I have not been doing this lately. I have been striving with every ounce of my being to gain what I think I need in order to be happy. But God tells me HE is all I need, and He will supply everything else.
Another thought: When Jesus humbled himself, even to death on a cross, it was
a choice
intentional
purposeful
OBEDIENT
I must offer no less when I am humble.
Sounds obvious.
But how many times do I rattle off a list of things I thank God for: a hot shower and a soft bed and making it through another day with a debilitatingly painful disease? Am I truly thankful? Do I approach the situation -- thanking God -- with humility?
James 4:6 tells us that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
The biggest thing I need to overcome in order to be truly humble is . . .
myself.
I need to acknowledge I cannot do it, achieve it, supply it on my own.
I have not been doing this lately. I have been striving with every ounce of my being to gain what I think I need in order to be happy. But God tells me HE is all I need, and He will supply everything else.
Another thought: When Jesus humbled himself, even to death on a cross, it was
a choice
intentional
purposeful
OBEDIENT
I must offer no less when I am humble.
Friday, September 28, 2012
declarations
Another song out on the radio these days is "Stand" by Kristian Stanfill. One line in particular this morning caught my attention: this life declares Your promises.
My life declares the promises....
God is faithful...
Forgiving and gracious...
Sustaining through pain and hardship and physical infirmity...
Providing...
Loving enough to take me as I am and loving enough to not leave me that way..
What promises does your life declare?
My life declares the promises....
God is faithful...
Forgiving and gracious...
Sustaining through pain and hardship and physical infirmity...
Providing...
Loving enough to take me as I am and loving enough to not leave me that way..
What promises does your life declare?
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
contemplations
There is a new song by mercyme out on the radio: "I AM." I was contemplating last night what this title of God implies. Heady stuff!
The biggest -- and I do mean biggest! -- thing that strikes me in God saying, "I am who I am," is His eternality. "Am" is an ongoing verb. When applied to God in this way, it implies no beginning and no end. He just is.
But I was taught that theology is only part of learning about God. I need to apply this truth to my life. It needs to affect and change me. So what does that look like in my life? (Not that I am changing God to fit my circumstances, but my circumstances are particular to me and this truth must apply even in very specific ways.)
For someone like God, who has been around for all eternity, there is nothing He hasn't seen. There is nothing that will shock Him. Not my sin, or my fear, or even my greatest insight. So....
I do not need to be apprehensive when I take my concerns to Him. I don't need to worry or wonder that He might roll His eyes and tell me to get over it. If He was tired of dealing with the petty problems of existence on this planet, Jesus would have returned by now. But He hasn't. That tells me God isn't fed up or tired or ready to call it quits.
If He isn't calling it quits, neither am I.
The biggest -- and I do mean biggest! -- thing that strikes me in God saying, "I am who I am," is His eternality. "Am" is an ongoing verb. When applied to God in this way, it implies no beginning and no end. He just is.
But I was taught that theology is only part of learning about God. I need to apply this truth to my life. It needs to affect and change me. So what does that look like in my life? (Not that I am changing God to fit my circumstances, but my circumstances are particular to me and this truth must apply even in very specific ways.)
For someone like God, who has been around for all eternity, there is nothing He hasn't seen. There is nothing that will shock Him. Not my sin, or my fear, or even my greatest insight. So....
I do not need to be apprehensive when I take my concerns to Him. I don't need to worry or wonder that He might roll His eyes and tell me to get over it. If He was tired of dealing with the petty problems of existence on this planet, Jesus would have returned by now. But He hasn't. That tells me God isn't fed up or tired or ready to call it quits.
If He isn't calling it quits, neither am I.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
How big is your God?
How big is that problem? How critical is that illness? How desperate is that need?
Is your God big enough to handle it?
I ask that question with the personal pronoun "your" because often the God we think of when we pray is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible IS big enough, strong enough, powerful enough, loving enough. But we often look at our problems and think He can't possibly fix it, or more often in my case, love me enough to care.
Isaiah 40: 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit[d] of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
Is your God big enough to handle it?
I ask that question with the personal pronoun "your" because often the God we think of when we pray is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible IS big enough, strong enough, powerful enough, loving enough. But we often look at our problems and think He can't possibly fix it, or more often in my case, love me enough to care.
Isaiah 40: 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit[d] of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
God can hold all the dust in the hollow of His hand. He can weigh mountains. He needs no one to teach Him. BIG. POWERFUL. ALL-KNOWING.
OK, so He can handle my problem in the best way possible.
But does He want to?
I am but a speck of dust on a speck of dust in a universe so small it can fit in the palm of His hand. And yet... This God, who created all things and stands outside of time and outside of space entered time and space to be born, to live, and to die on a cross.
For me.
For you.
If He loves us enough to do that, why wouldn't He care about these problems weighing on our hearts?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)