Blog - Page 11 of 15 - Jacqueline G Wallace.com

May 14, 2015

Keep on Running the Race

All kinds of people run. People of all ages run. They run for all different reasons. I would think it is safe to say most people run because they enjoy it, or some aspect of the running experience. I am not a runner so I am speculating here, based on my observations and what I know of human nature. We get involved in things that we like to do or that are meaningful to us.

I was up early Saturday to be at the site of a 5K Race and 1 Mile Family Walk. You have to seriously like to run or walk to be at the venue that early! Or, in my case, serious about participating in something I believe in: the ministry of She Is Safe (www.SheIsSafe.org). They are reaching out to women and girls around the world to “prevent, rescue and restore” them from lives of slavery, oppression and abuse, in the context of lovingly telling and demonstrating the good news of Jesus Christ.

I was at the race as a member of the newly formed Bakersfield She Is Safe Advocacy Group which sponsored the race. I assisted on the sidelines as others walked and ran, their race fees providing funds for She Is Safe to expand their work to more women and girls in the hard places of the world, bringing hope and new life to them.

Just like I had a specific motivation to be at the race to assist, the runners each had their personal motivations for being there too. And on the strength of their inner drive they accomplished their goal: crossing that finish line. Some wanted to be first. Others simply wanted to finish.

They all met their goals of crossing the finish line on their own two feet (or in their strollers!) because they set their minds to do it. All the runners were applauded and many got trophies or awards for placing in various categories, but the feeling of “I did it!” had to be the best prize of all.

Though I am not a runner of foot races, I am a runner in the race of life. We all are. We each have a race marked out for us and it is our responsibility to set our minds to give it our all, our best. Like Paul, we should be “bringing all (our) energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, (we) strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us” [Philippians 3:13,14, TLB).[1]

“What Christ Jesus did for us” should be all the motivation we need to stick to the race course, regardless of how difficult the going may get at times. Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross”[2] for us, should help us keep putting one foot in front of the other with hope burning in our hearts. He finished his race and sat down next to the Father in heaven. He won salvation for all mankind, for any and all who will put their trust in him.

May we keep our eyes on the prize God has for us at the end of our race, motivated by the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ. May we live “to win for the Lamb that was slain the reward of His suffering.”[3]

For fun viewing, here’s a video of the 5K and Family walk: http://youtu.be/OtyYT3DPYGI

Photos and Video by www.proshowweb.com

[2] Hebrews 12:2

[3] The battle cry of the Moravian Church’s missionary outreach, based on Isaiah 53:10-12. http://www.globaltribesoutreach.org/articlesmoravian

Originally posted on the Abide Prayer Group blog, a women’s ministry of The Bridge Bible Church of Bakersfield, CA.

May 10, 2015

Feeding Jesus

They filtered in slowly, mostly one by one. Loners, carrying their backpacks or bags. There were a few who came with a friend, but most entered the room alone. A wave and smile or nod of greeting between some, for they know each other. They see each other every day. On the streets. Their home. The community of the homeless.

They eventually packed out the room, an estimated 140 in attendance. Mostly men, a few women. The church service comes first, with singing and a message, then the meal. We, eight of us from our home Bible study group and a couple of other groups from our church, were there to serve the food, clean up and otherwise help as assigned. The men’s ministry from our church did the cooking.

FLOOD* hosts these worship service/meal events, called Community Celebrations, for the homeless each Saturday and has done so for several years. They have been perfecting their system for these Community Celebrations and it runs quite well. Compassion mixed with wisdom.

Karri and her husband and kids, also from our church opened the service with singing. She, with her strong mezzo-soprano, is the lead vocalist; her young daughter sings harmony and husband, Adam, plays guitar and sings. Their older son manned the audio-visual system (what a talented family!).

The songs were familiar; we sing them in church frequently. But somehow, sitting in the back of the room, seeing all these men and women singing, some raising hands, others standing in worship when the rest of us are sitting, stirred my heart and I sang the old words with new awareness. Words of God’s love and forgiveness, of Jesus’ death and resurrection, of his power to make us new.

Broken, shattered, troubled lives in front of and around me, every person a different story. Stories wrapped in human flesh. For a few moments they find something real: the Presence of God. They sing songs of worship. More than for just a meal and a bag of groceries, though those are terribly important when you are hungry. I know there were brothers and sisters in Christ singing “the songs of Zion” with me in that room. And I thanked God, and prayed His blessings on them.

Then we served up their plates of food, serving Jesus in a strange disguise.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:34-40, NIV).

* www.floodbako.com, a ministry to the homeless of Bakersfield, which grew out of another home Bible study group from our church.

April 23, 2015

The Other Guests at the Door

Seven p.m. we show up. Well, a few of us were at the door a bit earlier. It’s just that we all enjoy our small group so much, we like getting there to see the rest of the gang. And the others seemed to troop in all together a few minutes to seven. “Hi’s!” and hugs all around.

As usual, Brynn opened the meeting with the by now traditional question: “What has God been doing?” He smiles as he says it, carrying on the tradition set by Randy. It is an effective thought provoker, getting us to think back over our week and recognize God at work in our lives. There are always interesting incidents brought up, fuel for prayer or praise.

Our group likes studying books of the Bible rather than topics, for the most part, so a few weeks ago we chose the book of Romans to study. No slouches in our group! We agreed on a study guide by a well-known and respected theologian and teacher and now, three weeks in, finished the first chapter of Romans. Heady already.

The part I love best about studying a book of the Bible is reading and re-reading the chapters for the duration of our time in the book. As I read I begin to see patterns, repeated words, progressions of thought. All those good things you miss with a simple read-through and on to the next book.

There was good discussion, some of us waxing passionate in our sharing. What a great group to let each of us be ourselves and still love each other!

After several of us shared needs, spontaneous prayers were offered and Brynn tied it up with a closing prayer.

Snack time! Suzie brought the cookies and Naomi the fresh strawberries.

We were all standing around talking and munching the goodies when a distinctly unpleasant aroma assaulted my senses. Or sense—of smell. Since I was talking and not paying complete attention to this intrusive element it took me several minutes to identify it. Looking at the open patio door I suddenly realized I was smelling skunk!

About the time I mentioned it, others were saying the same thing, telling their skunk and raccoon stories.

As we started to leave for home there was a commotion at the front door. Brynn had opened it to allow folks to exit but quickly drew back and shut the door. Four skunks were on the front porch, huddled in a corner!

The talk was loud and excited, laced with laughter. Greg was looking between the slats of the window blinds, trying to see the little black and white critters. Should we leave, should we wait? It was quite humorous.

I heard someone say, “They’re nocturnal so if you shine a light …” It must have worked because in a minute or so everyone was filing out the door. I followed Ernie, who was holding up his cell phone, shining the light this way and that. Good job, Ernie!

Now if someone asks us, “How was your week?” (or in our “group talk”: what has God been doing?) we have some funny stories to tell.

March 18, 2015

Encourage One Another to …

In 1992 our family moved from southern California to Roswell, a community north of Atlanta, Georgia. Roswell was not our final destination; we were on our way to start a ministry, Mustard Seeds and Mountains, in West Virginia. Our “stopover” in Roswell turned into a three year hiatus in which we joined mission staff at Fellowship Bible Church, started several local ministry outreaches and raised our missionary support to move to West Virginia full time.

We considered FBC our “home church” for all the years we lived in West Virginia. As missionaries with FBC we still receive their Serve (missions) Newsletter. This month featured an article by Corinne Simpson, Children’s Ministries Director at Fellowship Bible Church. I felt she had a powerful challenge for me, and for us all, so I wanted to share her article with you. Below is an introduction by FBC mission/outreach staff and then Corinne’s article.

“If you like your life just as it is and don’t really want your assumptions challenged, stay away from the fringes of downtown Atlanta and don’t get too far away from the boat if you go on a cruise. And most certainly don’t do go to a place like Bangalore, India. You just might see the world as God sees it. And you might be changed in ways you didn’t expect. It happened to one of our own at Fellowship.”

Corinne Simpson, Children’s Ministries Director at Fellowship Bible Church

“When I boarded the plane to visit mission partners in south Asia, I didn’t foresee how God would use this trip to change me.

Our drive from the airport to their home was our first memorable experience in their country – lanes mean nothing! Stepping out of the familiar—new tastes and smells, poverty, kind and gentle people, the cost and joy of obedience— is hard to forget. We worshipped, played, had sweet connections with their team, heard stories and got a glimpse of what God is doing in the nations!

Here are a few of my learnings:

*Prayer – steadfast prayer – is needed for our “heroes of the faith” as they live their calling. Pray for the nations and for the persecuted church. We stayed a few days in a guest house where nine of the people who stayed there in 2014 were martyred as they went back into their countries.

*Loving people includes knowing them and serving them. I asked a lady who had been there fifteen years why she stayed … “I love the people.” A personal conviction for me back at home translates to prayer-walking my neighborhood and reaching out and serving my neighbors – and then sharing the gospel. Lord, help me to love people.

*The cost of discipleship and obedience is sometimes hard. Suffering seems to be part of the deal. Will I embrace that as normal?

Back in Atlanta, last week in church we sang “Hosanna” by Hillsong. Worshipping together with my church family, we sang: ‘break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am for the kingdom cause’… ‘I see a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith’… ‘I see a near revival stirring as we pray and seek, we’re on our knees’… ‘Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen … Show me how to love like you’ve loved me.’

‘Lord, it is a privilege to glimpse what it looks like (here and there) to give our life for a worthy cause. Keep us faithful. Help me (us) to not be lured into less important endeavors. Time is short. You are worthy.’

May we press onward in step with Him and live our calling to be disciples who make disciples!”

Article and photo used with the permission of Fellowship Bible Church ( http://fellowshiproswell.org/ ) and Corinne Simpson. Thank you, friends!

February 13, 2015

Happy Anniversary, Mustard Seeds and Mountains!

Twenty-three years ago today, February 13, 1992, Mustard Seeds and Mountains, Inc., became a Christian Community Development, non-profit organization duly incorporated in the State of West Virginia. This event took our family, by faith, across the country from southern California, via Georgia for three fruitful years, to West Virginia. What adventures! What stories we could tell, both of our work with people and the faithfulness of God. Today the ministry to the people of West Virginia continues under the care of the West Virginia Director and staff. More stories in the making!

Two and a half years ago God very clearly led Randy and me back across the country to settle in central California, extending the ministry of Mustard Seeds and Mountains, entering into new geographical areas and ventures of faith. It is exciting to us to be able to use our spiritual gifts as never before.

This summer we will be celebrating a Reunion of as many former staff of Mustard Seeds as we can contact. A Facebook page, Mustard Seeds and Mountains Reunion, has been set up to invite former staff, and other invitations will be sent out but we don’t have contact information for everyone. If you know of someone who was a summer college intern with Mustard Seeds, please tell them to check out that Facebook page or otherwise contact us (you can leave me a comment).

We rejoice in the opportunity to have served and to keep on serving the God above all God’s and our King, Jesus! Thanks to those of you who have ventured in faith with us. God’s blessing be on you.

February 9, 2015

Let us Gathering: Work to Rest!

“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11, ESV)

So just what is the “rest” of God? What is it we are talking about that is so important that we need “anxiously fear” that we might miss it and that we must strive, putting forth effort as believers, to enter it?

The writer of Hebrews was referring back to the word “rest” from Psalm 95: 11, which he had quoted: “Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Of course, there is a whole story behind those words, a rationale for that harsh statement.

The story is found in Numbers 13 and 14 (worth taking a moment to read). God had made a promise. The Israelite majority, out of fear, rejected God’s offer. They rebelled against the “word,” the promise of God. Their unbelief, fueled by fear, made it impossible for God to give them what he had promised: the land of Canaan. They would not believe him, did not obey him, and therefore they could not receive from him.

God’s pronouncement against them: “They shall not enter my rest,” was the outcome of their unbelief and rebellion against God. God was not being unreasonable. They refused to enter the land, therefore God could not give it to them. When we refuse to believe and act on God’s word, we shut ourselves off from receiving the benefits of his word, his promises.

But God’s promise, his “rest,” is still open and available to whoever will believe it: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Psalm 95: 8a). Do not harden your hearts “as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways’” (Psalm 95: 8b-10; ref. Numbers 13, 14; my emphases).

“For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened” (Hebrews 4: 2).

Good news? Isn’t that a New Testament concept? What was the good news preached to the ancient Israelites that compares to the good news we have had passed down to us?

In a nutshell: the Kingdom of God; the rule of God in their lives and our lives. The Israelites of Moses’ day were given the Laws of God, mediated by angels, laws for life which were meant to be kept for the good, the welfare of the people. Tremendous blessings in this life would have accrued to them, had they obeyed from the heart those laws of God. One of the first steps of obedience was entering the land of Canaan. God had promised to give it to them. But they dug in their heels and revolted against God.

Those Laws given to Moses were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, who preached, “Repent! For the Kingdom of God is near.” Jesus demonstrated the kingdom and power of God by his actions while here on earth. He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, after dying on the cross taking on himself the sins of the world (that world is you and me and everyone else).

Now we, two thousand years later, have heard the Gospel, the Good News that is good news indeed, that Jesus Christ has come and is setting up his kingdom in the hearts of those who will trust in and obey him.

Jesuit chapel door by TheBrassGlass http://mrg.bz/Hsznqd

But what about this strong admonition to believers to “fear” coming short of, and to “strive to enter,” God’s rest; how do we do this? As a friend of mine expressed, “I humbly and reverently understand (that) to walk in his word is to rest.”

It comes back to hearing God’s word with ears that hear, i.e., ears that obey those words to:

abide in him and in his words (John 15:7),

grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18),

continue in his words (John 8:31),

work out our own salvation with fear and trembling … (Philippians 2:12),

walk in the Light as he is in the light (I John 1:7),

live by the Spirit … walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25),

diligently add to your faith … (2 Peter 2:3-11),

be doers of the word and not hearers only who deceive ourselves … (James 1:22).

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12, 13).

Jesus so succinctly stated it in his grandly simple and simply grand invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).

Come: Believe. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me: live in and live out the Word of God.

And our souls will have the Rest of God.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4%3A11&version=ESV

February 6, 2015

Let-us Gathering: Fear!

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.” (NIV)

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (KJV)

“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.” (NASB)

I found it interesting that in this verse we are told to fear something. It got me to thinking about 1) what we are to fear, and 2) how often in scripture (well, at least the New Testament) we are told to fear something or someone. There are many passages where Jesus or the writers of scripture tell us not to fear, and I take courage from them to “not fear.” But there are also definite things we are to fear. One is here in Hebrews chapter four. There are others but you’ll have to look them up yourself. I’m going to focus on what we are to fear.

Since we are to fear something, what does that mean? Or more to the point, what did the writer, by inspiration of the Spirit of God, mean by the word used? Bottom line: What is God telling us? These are his words to us.

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” (ESV)

In the first three chapters of the book the writer of Hebrews had been building an argument for taking heed to (hearing and doing) God’s Word, which had been spoken in the past by prophets and finally through his Son, Jesus Christ (Heb. 1: 1-3). He presents evidence that Jesus is greater than the angels, those spirit-servants of God, because Jesus is God (1: 4-14). So then we should anchor our lives to what we have heard so we do not slide away from the truth into sin and the penalty of disobedience (2:1-18).

Then the writer makes a comparison between the position of a servant in a household to that of the builder of the house who is, in fact, the builder of everything: God. Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house, but Jesus is greater because he is the faithful Son over God’s house. And we are that house of God over which the Son resides, “if it be that” we “hold fast or maintain our confidence and the hope of which we boast firm unto the end” (3:1-6).

So in light of that, and the fact that there is still a Rest of God open to us, we are not to be like the Israelites who refused to believe God’s word and therefore could not and did not enter that rest (3:7-19). (There is a whole study in itself on the Rest of God, but I can’t go there now; you’ll have to jump on that yourself.)

We are all too much like those Israelites; we have the same sinful, fallen nature they had. But we also, like them, have the freedom to choose to believe God—or not. They heard the words of God, we have heard the words of God. Will we believe and obey (for to believe is to obey)?

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” (ESV)

The word “fear” in this verse carries the sense “to be fearfully anxious.” It is a strong admonition. This is not to be taken lightly! There are dire consequences to ignoring and disobeying the word of God. Look at the Israelites (Numbers 13-14).

How did the Israelites “hear,” and how are we expected and warned to “hear”? They didn’t believe God and live by what he said. They heard the same good news which has been handed down to us, and which we have now heard as well. Do we believe God? Do we believe and obey him in the hard times as well as the easy times of our lives?

This is how we are to differ from the Israelites in the way we “hear” the word of God: do not harden our hearts; hear with the intent of obeying. We must humble our hearts (3:12-19). We are to be fearfully anxious that we do not allow our hearts to become hard to the things God says. And miss out on his promised rest.

And not just for our individual selves, but we are to “encourage one another” (3:13).

Peter put it another way, a more positive way, as a command to action to intentionally add to what we already know and do (II Peter 1:3-11; 3:18). Paul said it another way as well: work out your salvation with fear (same root word) and trembling, for it is God who is working in us (do we know that?) to do his will and that which pleases him (Philippians 2—the whole chapter is gripping).

The more I think about it, the more I see the Spirit of God saying the same things throughout scripture. It is all of a piece.

Hebrews 4:1 is one of the Let-us commands: Let us fear. We are to be fearfully anxious that we not allow our hearts, individually and corporately, to become hard against God by lightly dismissing his word, by not being intentional to carve out time to read/hear and obey it, by ignoring it, by refusing to obey it.

I’ve only begun to scratch at the surface of the riches of this one verse. There is so much here in this book of Hebrews!

What will we do with the Word of God? Anchor our lives to it or cast off and drift away from it?

See also Interlinear for the rest of us: the reverse interlinear for New Testament word studies, by Wm. D. Mounce, published by Zondervan; and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible by James Strong, published by Hendrickson Publishers.

Scriptures taken from Bible Gateway https://www.biblegateway.com/

February 2, 2015

God’s Let-us Garden

“As a result of this (the hard words of Jesus) many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.’” (John 6:66-68, context John 6:26-68)

Recently I was asked to write the weekly blog for our women’s Abide prayer group. The women’s Bible study at church is going through the book of Hebrews and several of the women who receive the Abide blog also attend the Bible study. Hmmm. I decided to go for a walk in the garden, God’s Let-us garden.

Remember the Cabbage Patch kids? Yeah, a big fad of funny looking baby dolls. They were popular for a while, but didn’t endure.

Well, I believe we should be Let-us Ladies (and Men; remember this was originally addressed to women, but applies just as much to the guys). But unlike the quickly fading Cabbage Kids, we should endure. Not a flash in the pan but for the long haul.

What is a Let-us Lady (or Man), you ask? If you’ve ever studied the book of Hebrews you know; Hebrews is God’s Let-us garden.

There are twelve Let-us patches we should walk through and carefully observe. Observe-to-do the Let-us’s.

Ready? Then let us go for a walk in God’s Let-us garden.

Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”

Hebrews 4:11 “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

Hebrews 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”

Hebrews 4:16 “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”

Hebrews 10:22 “… let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful …”

Hebrews 10:24 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds”

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us …”

Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe …”

Hebrews 13:13 “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”

Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”

The Let-us patches are, of course, nestled within a larger garden. Notice all the “Therefore’s”? Yeah. What went before is there for a reason. Reading the context is crucial.

Food for life is to be found in God’s garden and his Let-us’s are extremely beneficial. For now and forever.

“Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).

Scriptures used are from the NASB http://www.lockman.org/

January 26, 2015

Let it go!

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” (Matthew 16: 24, 25)

“I don’t want to put my family at risk. That area of town is not safe. I hear about the crime on the news, so I don’t feel comfortable about bringing my kids and wife there to work on Saturday.”

We have heard comments like this one when we asked Christian parents to come with us and serve with their families to help build homes for the poor residents of inner city Atlanta. We had recently moved there from the West Coast with our youngest son, a junior in high school (our oldest was away in college), and while we raised support to enter Appalachia to work among the needy there, we jumped into ministry with existing organizations working among the poor in the greater Atlanta area.

I always felt sorry, and a little scared, for professing Christians who made those kinds of statements. Did they think their middle and upper-middle-class lifestyles in the ‘burbs was safer than the inner city? I’m talking soul-safe.

Research reveals the lie it is to assume safety in our North American middle and upper-middle class form of Christianity as lived by many in today’s churches. A huge percentage of young people who have grown up in church, Sunday school, and youth group with all their associated activities, leave home and also leave the church. Too many never return, except perhaps on the two big holidays: Easter and Christmas.[1]

Anyone who has been awake in church over the past decades knows this to be true. We love seeing young people and young families involved in our churches, but the truth is, too many stay away, living their lives and raising their children outside of the rule of God.

Frightening. Jesus knew what he was talking about: “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” Are we listening? Because Jesus is still speaking the same words to us today. Do we believe what he says?

I weep sometimes as I pray for my own children, and now, grandchildren. Giving up the people you love is not an easy, light matter. It is an every day matter, though.

It is the bedrock of following Jesus. Giving up first ourselves and then the ones we love. To love God supremely, over every other love, is what he demands (Matthew 23:37). And rightfully so (I Peter 1:17-19).

I believe him. I believe what he says. I do not want to be the loser, nor see my loved ones the losers, eternally, because we held onto our lives and loves now rather than letting God have them.

I believe these words of Jesus as well: “but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Finders keepers.

This is the happy part! We see through a glass darkly now, but if we obey Jesus, because we know he is trustworthy, one day we will have overflowing joy in the Presence of our Lord. Everything we thought we were losing in this life, we were gaining forever.

And forever is a very long time.

This giving up to gain is the crux of discipleship, the core of discipleship, and to call ourselves disciples of Jesus, we must be living this truth. Jesus said so. It is something we must renew daily because it doesn’t come natural to us.

Right. So he gives us supernatural power to do it.

[1] Refer to The Barna Group https://www.barna.org/ ; Unchristian: what a new generation really thinks about Christianity … and why it matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Baker Books, 2007; Almost Christian: what the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church by Kenda Creasy Dean, Oxford University Press, 2010.

January 23, 2015

Gettin’ up off the duff

“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’” (Mark 8:31-38, NASB, companion passage to Matthew 16: 21-27)

So now we have determined the time we will set aside to intentionally read and study God’s word. That’s the first step in a “camp out” in the scriptures. You have to be reading the Word to experience a passage standing out, calling you to come aside and spend some time there.

I do not avoid the seemingly difficult or hard sections of scripture. I remember when I would sit in church and felt like I could go through the motions of the morning service half asleep and not miss a beat. Those were the days of the stirrings of a desire to know God and his Word, when I began to seek a challenge from what God said, to understand it and run with it. Surely there was more to Christianity than these boring formalities. Whatever that “more” was, it would be like a splash of cold water on a sweltering day. Refreshment. God’s Word would wake me up!

Now let me clarify, I was feeling frustrated and bored with church not so much because anyone else was doing something “wrong,” but because I was a baby Christian and God was bringing me from spiritual crawling to the point of beginning to stand and walk.

A baby has to want to walk and not be satisfied with crawling on all fours. That’s where I was, spiritually speaking; tired of the old, itching for the new. But I didn’t understand that yet; all I knew is that I was frustrated with the boredom of church as usual. God was nudging me to get up and walk.

In our women’s Bible study this week we were asked to write a prayer for ourselves as we begin the study of the book of Hebrews. My friend Betsy wrote: “Challenge me to be intent on my study in Hebrews, that I will grow spiritually during these weeks. Thank you for the gift of Your Word—may it become more alive for me daily.”

We should seek to be challenged by God’s words. When we are confronted with things too big for us to understand in our human finiteness, that is the very moment we have the opportunity to expand our faith in the God who spoke those difficult to understand words. We can choose to rise to the challenge.

Do we reject and turn away from something we cannot mentally grasp or a problem we can’t solve? If we all did that in ordinary life, we’d still be living in caves and gnawing on raw meat.

In the same way, we should not reject or avoid challenges in our spiritual lives or from God’s Word. God intends us to stand up and learn to walk, meeting the challenges to our ideas and interests and adopting God’s ideas and interests. This is one reason he sent his Spirit to be with us, to teach us.

Mastering our time and rising to the challenge set before us by God in his Word, learning to embrace God’s interests as we unwrap our arms from our own interests, this is what camping out in God’s Word can stir up in us.

Scriptures taken from New American Standard Bible (NASB). http://www.lockman.org/