Hurt Feelings

One of the toughest lessons to learn in this life is that your personal feelings are often irrelevant. I really mean that. Of course, there are some situations and relationships in which your hurt feelings are the most relevant aspect involved. But those situations are very close to home and heart, and for most of us, a great deal of our lives are lived beyond our most intimate circles.

And even there, we sometimes get it wrong when we let our personal feelings be the judge. I could totally flip out on my husband and have an emotional fit--and be not only wrong for exhibiting the fit, but wrongly motivated for having it to begin with.

It takes hard work to look past our personal feelings and evaluate a situation from an impartial point of view. I'm talking across the spectrum here, in everything from our relationships with family, with friends, with acquaintances and even that jerk driving too slowly in the car in front of me. When I've made the struggle to look past my FEELINGS, I have often seen that I am completely in the wrong. That, of course, is hardly any fun at all, which is why I think most of us avoid looking too closely, most of the time. (Am I being harsh? Maybe you do this all of the time?)

Anyway, here is where all of my rambling comes into play with God. I can't even count the number of things in the Bible that hurt my feelings. I'm not trying to be flip about this either. I should more accurately say that there are many things in Scripture that deeply offend my sense of justice and my own personal opinions.

Let's start with sin. The Bible tells me that all are sinners. That ALL is comprehensive. It includes that sweet little lady that I sometimes see walking around in my neighborhood, the funny guy who makes everyone laugh at every gathering, the person who reads the news to me on television, the crossing guard who stands in the middle of the road and seems to take her authority to the extreme by flailing and stamping her feet at every car driving past. Every one of them, no matter how kind, charming, famous or quirky, is a sinner who deserves God's condemnation.

That offends me sometimes, even though I know and accept that it is true. I didn't mention myself in the above list, because I have no illusions that I am free from sin. I have gotten to know myself too well over the years and I am not at all deceived about my lack of inherent goodness. But when it comes to other people, it is harder to swallow.

On a smaller scale, suffering and tragedy offend me. I know too many people who have suffered through gut-wrenching circumstances to gloss over this reality of life. You probably do too, when you stop and think about it. Or you could just turn on the news and listen for a few minutes. Your own personal bubble of life might be pretty charming and peaceful, but that is not the case for the majority of people in the world. Painful things, horrible things, really happen.

And that offends me. Where is God? How could He let this happen? Why is He allowing this? How can this be good? If God is so loving, why did he let that child die? If God is just, how can life be so unfair?

But, as usual, my feelings (while normal) are wrong. God is just, He is loving, and He is in control. I don't understand how all of those seemingly inconsistent things fit together, but I accept by faith that they do. And I accept that God sees things differently than I do. And He is the one who is right, and I am the one who is wrong.

Isa 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Fortunately, God is bigger than my puny emotional reactions. He has compassion on my confusion and weakness and invites me to struggle through those feelings by interacting with His revealed Word, Scripture. You see, I can't go around struggling with shadows and imaginations. I have to deal with God in truth. And the place to discover who God really is and what God really said is in the Bible ALONE. My feelings and I the things that I think are right don't count. Because, usually, they are flat out wrong.

If you have never studied something in the Bible that has offended you somehow, I can't imagine that you are actually paying attention to what you are reading. The Bible is not some kind of happy-happy-joy-joy fluff story about a swell guy named Jesus who just really liked and loved people an awfully awful lot.

It is the story of a Holy Creator God and the creation that rebelled and hated Him. It is a story of gut-wrenching, sacrificial love on the part of the Creator, and rejection and scorn on the part of the created. And the amazing Redemption of that creation back into fellowship with the Holy One, at the total cost to, and initiative from, God.

It's a hard read, but an amazing one. Because you and me and all of humanity don't get to play the hero's role in this true story. We get to play the villain. And a crazy reversal of justice takes place, as the villain becomes the cherished, adopted son of the hero, despite it all. If it wasn't such a good deal on my behalf-and yours-I would be tempted to be offended. But, as usual, I would be flat out wrong.

P.S. - I really shouldn't go for so long without posting. I tend ramble when I finally get around to writing something. Hope all of the above actually seems cohesive.

A Lion in a Manger

So, at church this morning, I was overawed at the profound implications of a song that the choir sang.

"There's a baby in Bethlehem, a Lion in a manger.
There's a baby in Bethlehem, a Lion in a manger."

I sat in the pew and reflected on the richness of that image. A baby, helpless and scrawny to the eyes of the world, and yet at the same time, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as described in Revelation.

Revelation 5:5

"But one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals."

How often we fail to see things through God's eyes, and are instead distracted by what seems to be true. It is sometimes hard to think of a Christian in a Chinese "reeducation camp" as a victorious saint who is ransacking the house of the evil one. Or of a starving Christian in North Korea as one who has been fed with oil, milk and fatness. We don't always see the elderly man in church as a mighty warrior, wielding weapons of battle: truth, righteousness, peace, and most importantly, a two-edged sword sharper than any surgeon's scalpel.

But so they are.

I was enthralled by the baby in a manger who was really a roaring Lion, ripping the power of the evil one to shreds and claiming His righteous bride.

Then I listened more closely to the lyrics of the song realized that I had it all wrong.

"There's a baby in Bethlehem, a lyin' in a manger.
There's a baby in Bethlehem, a lyin' in a manger."

Hmph.

I liked my version better...

Locks of Love

I had somewhere between 11 and 15 inches of my hair cut off today. It was 15 inches when I measured it last night, but the actual braid of hair that was cut off was only 11 inches long. I am donating it to an organization called Locks of Love. They provide natural looking, custom fitted wigs for financially disadvantaged children who suffer from long term hair loss.

I don't want you to leave me a comment telling me how great I am for doing this.

Instead, I want to tell you a little bit about why I decided to spend over a year growing my hair out in order to make the donation.

I don't usually mention my children on this blog, but I'm going to make an exception today. Because becoming a mother affected me in ways that are too profound to even express in words. I literally became a different person after the birth of my first child.

I don't have time to give you all of the details of that process. But I want to describe a snapshot moment which birthed an incredible thing that had previously been in short supply in my heart: compassion.

One of my children was born prematurely and suffered some complications for the first six months of life. That child is perfectly healthy today, but for the first few years, we kept a very close eye on whether normal development seemed to be taking place.

There were several episodes that gave us cause to panic. One, in particular, is imprinted in my memory. My child began to make strange, twitching-like head motions. It was odd enough, and recurrent enough, that I couldn't ignore it. I did some online research about strange head twitching, and the most common diagnosis was something called Tourette's syndrome. It causes a person to make strange motions or utter strange words in an uncontrollable way.

I had seen some daytime T.V. shows featuring children with Tourette's. To be cruel and blunt, they seemed strange. One of them yelled out cuss words in the middle of perfectly normal sentences. Another would hit himself on the head out of nowhere. Still another made clucking sounds for no apparent reason.

But suddenly, I was faced with the possibility of being the mother of one of those strange-seeming, different-acting children.

My heart was torn open at the thought of watching my precious child navigate through childhood constantly marked out as the one who was different. The one who had something wrong. The strange one. The one nobody wanted to be friends with. The one that everyone laughed at and made fun of.

I cannot even begin to describe the overwhelming sensation of pain and anguish that those thoughts generated. I could hardly swallow. It became hard to breath. I didn't want to think about it, but I couldn't seem to think about anything else.

In that moment, I would have given anything to take the place of my child, and suffer the ridicule and ostracising of being abnormal. But, of course, it doesn't work that way. Mother's can't take the place of their children.

In my case, my child did not end up having the condition that I so dreaded. My child is normal. But I have never forgotten the horror of those days, when the future seemed so uncertain and ominous.

And I can't forget that there are thousands upon thousands of mothers for whom my passing dread is a daily reality. This world is full of children who are born different. The multitude of possible health complications is mind numbing when you think about it. It is a miracle that even one child is born without health problems.

Growing out my hair in order to give some anonymous little girl somewhere a pretty wig is so minuscule an act that it should hardly register on the radar screen of kindness. I don't feel like I did anything spectacular. But I hope that somewhere, there is a mother whose child doesn't have to feel quite so different.

And in a bigger way, I hope that my own children will grow up feeling the compassion that I seemed to miss out on in my own development. I was not the nicest girl in the world when I was younger. I used people. I discarded friends if they didn't have anything to offer me anymore. A lot of that was plain old immaturity. But still, I think a big part of it was the fact that I lacked compassion for other people, and their pain.

I have no doubt that God intended the trauma of my experience to do exactly what it did. Because compassion is something that I have seen over and over again as I have read through the gospels. There are many references to Jesus feeling compassion for individuals, and even for whole groups of people.

Luke 7:13

"When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep.""

Mark 6:34

"And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things."

In Psalm 145, God is described as "gracious and full of compassion." There are plenty of other verses that ascribe compassion as one of the attributes of God.

And in the process of sanctification, God molds us more and more into His own image. For me, the most effective means of sanctification have been hard blows from a painful hammer. But the end result is beautiful. I wouldn't trade the ability to feel compassion for any kind of smooth and worry-free life. I would much rather see the world through lenses that help me to see things just a little bit more like the way God sees them.

And when God sees his children, He is moved with compassion for us. If my child had never suffered temporary complications, I wouldn't be able to understand that at all.

I can't say that I have a heart that is perfectly able to feel true compassion all the time. But I'm a lot better at it than I used to be.

A Proverb for Bloggers

Proverbs 10:19

"In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise."

I started thinking about this rich little proverb today. I am, by nature, a person who hardly ever lacks a multitude of words. Believe me, I'm much better at letting the other guy get a word in edgewise than I used to be. But still, if I don't consciously restrain myself, I will fill up all the air in a room with my own words. So, naturally, this blunt little proverb is one that I need to remember. Pretty much all the time. (And for any of you who happen to be in my Sunday School class, I should probably have read this proverb to myself 10 times last week. Sheesh. Sorry about that.)

But it has relevence for all of you, my fellow bloggers, as well. You see, as delightful and amazing as this whole blogging thing is, it is also rife with potential pitfalls. It is far too easy to get online and spout off about something or someone without fully appreciating the consequences our little catharsis might have.

Perhaps you are disgrutled with a friend or family member and it motivates you to blog. Naturally, you change the names and personal details so that your subject can't identify herself in your post. Or so you think...

Or, you hear a cautionary tale about a friend of a friend and you think it would make a great post. You can't imagine that this friend of a friend might ever stumble upon your blog, say, two years later, and find their story advertised to the entire world. Never mind that your friend probably didn't authorize you to spill the beans to begin with.

Maybe you write a funny story about your spouse. It sure does crack up all of your friends! But your spouse isn't nearly as amused, and 3 of your friends have already read it by the time you delete the post. There is no taking it back.

And perhaps the worst offense of all is blogging about a matter that is best dealt with quietly, and only between the two people involved. Why share the details of your dispute with cyberspace?

We would all be wise, my blogging friends, to use great caution when we participate in this amazing blogging technology. Because, where there is a multitude of words, sin is present. And more than likely, were there is a multitude of blog posts, sin is hanging around someplace close by.

I share this caution as one who has been bitten by blogging indiscretion. I've had to go back and delete some old posts myself.

Gluttons

I realize that the name of this post is somewhat ironic, considering that I am writing this the day after Thanksgiving. And I'll be the first to confess that I made a glutton of myself yesterday at Thanksgiving dinner--and enjoyed it a great deal!

But I am not thinking of gluttony as it relates to food for the purposes of this post. I am thinking in a much broader sense about our consumer culture and our insatiable quest for more, more, more. There is just no end to it: more clothes, bigger houses, fancier cars, better food, exciting vacations, upscale name brands, electronic gadgets, stylish haircuts, youthful skin, whiter teeth...

The list is endless. And every time I turn around, my lust for more is being fueled by the monolithic and pervasive god of marketing. Before I even have the chance to figure out that I am backward, unattractive and uncouth, the sly marketer has whispered it in my ear, all the while patting me on the back and offering to solve my woes for a small price. Or sometimes, for a very large price. But make no mistake. His solution is temporary. And he knows that no matter what the initial dose cost, I am likely to return again and again, seeking to be made cutting-edge, beautiful and elegant all over again.

Like I said, there is just no end to it.

Today, I read a scathing commentary on the greed that is so pervasive in our American culture. And I was cut to the bone by the truth of it. The commentary was part of an email devotional series that I subscribe to. As soon as I finished reading it, I glanced at the rest of the email waiting in my inbox. At least a dozen of them promised great deals and "secret" sales on things that I quite frankly don't need. The juxtaposition of the two got my attention.

Now, don't get me wrong here. Wealth is not evil. Money and things and even luxury are not bad in and of themselves. But they are not necessarily good either. Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:25) He also said that you cannot serve both God and riches. (Matthew 6:24) You will end up serving one and despising the other.

With the Christmas season and all of its excesses fast approaching, it's a good time to stop and think about who you are serving. Is it really God? Or is it a bunch of glittery junk that is worthless in the end?

Proverbs 30:8

"Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches--Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God."

Bathsheba Lite

OK, so I know that Bathsheba has been a little on the lite side lately, as far as deep and insightful material dealing with Scripture. It is this Ruth Bible Study, y'all. It is taking up all of my good inspiration! Pretty much every deep thought that I have, I have managed to work into the book of Ruth somehow. That is probably why I talked for 55 minutes last session! Seriously, I know that is waaaaay too long to talk. I'm going to try to contain myself a bit more next time (which won't be until January, by the way, in case you are following the study.)

But since I'm being lite-minded around here, I thought you girls might like this recipe. It is actually a recipe that I have come up with all by my lonesome self.

See, I love a good beef stew. It is just about my favorite thing to eat. But after I had each of my babies, I needed to shed some serious pounds. And the diet that always worked for me was a low-carb diet. So, this is my twist on beef stew without the high-carb potatoes.

Beef and Turnip Stew

8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
4 celery ribs, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, diced (or 1 bag of frozen diced onions)
1 1/2 lbs stew beef
6 (or so) medium-smallish sized turnips, peeled and diced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (or if you want a spicy beef and turnip stew, make this 1 tsp of
pepper. I did this by accident once and it turned out pretty good--but spicy.)
2 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf (optional)

Put all of the ingredients in a big crock pot on low for 6 hours. Remove the bay leaf. Indulge in fabulous beef and turnip stew. Email Hadassah and heap praise upon her for inventing this awesome recipe.

*Serves at least 6, probably 8
*You can also make this with fresh diced rutabaga (a root vegetable for those of you not from around these parts) instead of turnips. Both versions are delicious.
*We are eating this tonight at my house, served with skillet cornbread, 'cause I have given up being on a diet for the time being.

Gettin' With The Program

I've resisted adding the "Blog Roll" to Bathsheba's Children for a while now. I have a couple of reasons that I've been hesitant to do it. None of the reasons have anything to do with any of you, my valued friends and readers. But, I have finally overcome my internal reservations, and am happy to introduce some of you, my readers, and your respective blogs, to the rest of my readers, and their respective blogs.

I've started a list, but I KNOW that I have overlooked many of you. Please don't take it personally, I probably just didn't have your address handy! So if you don't see your blog listed under, "My Readers Who Blog" please leave a comment or shoot me an email, and I will happily add you to the list.

Pretty much the only requirement for being listed is that you stop by for a visit every now and again.

Cats and Sparrows

I've had a change of heart about...cats. I've always been a dog person, and I expect that I will continue to love dogs. But in the past week, a couple of cats have started to grow on me.

I come from a long line of dog people. My grandmother was never without a small dog, which she regarded as half child. Her son, my father, dislikes cats in the extreme. My mother defied him once and brought home a beautiful kitten, fluffy grey with bright green eyes. We named her Jade. But she turned out to be a mean, hissing sort of cat and promptly unleashed a flea infestation in our entire house that took months to control. Needless to say, Jade was never a big hit with any of us. Eventually, we gave her to another, more cat-friendly home. She met with a strange demise one evening when she climbed a tree during a lightening storm. Apparently the tree she sought refuge in was struck by a bolt of lightening. Jade's new owner found her body in the backyard the next morning, stiff and electrocuted.

So anyway, fast forward to sometime last week and I had a sudden need to add a cat or two to our family. I'll spare you the strange reason that we needed a cat, but we did need one, and quickly. As usual, there was an ad in the newspaper for "kittens, free to good home." So I called the kitten's owner and made arrangements to pick out a pair of them.

My husband brought them home later that night. Two puffs of fur with big eyes, big ears and six toes apiece. Yep, you read that right. Both of the kittens have got six toes on their front paws. Sort of like the famous six-toed cats that live in Ernest Hemingway's estate in the Florida Keys. (And sort of like Ann Boleyn, a woman whose life has always intrigued me. She had six fingers.)


Despite, or maybe in addition to, their unusual paws, they are a pretty little pair of kittens. One is a dramatically marked calico, and the other is white with patches of grey stripes. Particularly when I look at the calico, I am reminded that God put together the exact combination of DNA that painted her in such a beautiful pattern. He intricately ordered the creation and formation of that little, insignificant cat. How much more He must be aware of the way He has created and formed each one of us, His precious children. You do know that God has even got a tally of the hairs on your head don't you? And that not even a common sparrow falls to the ground apart from God's sovereignty? Well, both are true. And what a comfort it brings me to know that God is perfectly aware of every perfectly tiny detail.

Matthew 10:31

"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Not even hissing, flea-infested Jade hit the ground apart from God's will. Even so, I'll be sure to keep these new cats indoors if it looks like lightening might strike.

Ruth Session Three

For those of you who are following the Ruth Bible Study, session three has just been posted. As always, if you are a friend or a regular reader, email me and I will send you the link to the blog that has the Bible Study posted on it.

Retreat

I've just gotten back from an overnight women's church retreat. It was delightful.

It felt sort of like diving into a refreshing spring of sparkling water, in more ways than one. Fellowship with like-minded sisters in Christ is better than a day at the spa to me. (And a day at the spa is pretty good, I'll be the first to admit.)

The music was such a treat, too. I got to belt out all four verses of Amazing Grace at the top of my lungs, and still only hear the combined harmony of worshipping voices without my own caterwauling standing out. I love that. I cried like a baby when two women from Cameroon sang some worship songs in their native African tongue. And I walked around all day today humming "My chains are gone, I've been set free, my God my Saviour has ransomed me."

Actually I cried like a baby about pretty much everything this weekend. A casual observer would be tempted to think that my life is in shambles upon seeing all the salty trails steaming down my cheeks over the past 24 hours. But really, nothing could be further from the truth. My life is fine. I'm not suffering from any major trauma at the moment. I'm not wrestling with past hurts and failures right now either. I've dealt with all of those things before, but I don't happen to be right now. I'm simply overwhelmed by God.

As soon as the speaker read the first Bible verse on Friday night, I got misty. And it only got worse after that. About mid-morning Saturday I even gave up on that trying-not-to-let-the-others-see-my-embarassing-tears business. It was a lost cause anyway. I was dripping. A sprinkler. A leaking faucet.

It wasn't even that the message the speaker delivered was revolutionary. I've heard most of it before, maybe in a slighty different presentation, but still, the same basic prinicples were presented. I just needed to hear it again I suppose.

It's been a while since the gospel made me weep. It felt good.

Such Good News

Did you know that the word "gospel" actually means "good news?" I betcha did.

It is easy to forget, though, that this whole Christianity thing is supposed to be news that is actually good to hear. So much of what we hear focuses on our responsibility to "do better" and "be better." And of course all believers are called to be holy, just as Christ is holy.

But there is the problem, you see. Christ actually was, and is, holy. We...aren't. Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that we can be if we just try hard enough. (Hello! Pride and Self-Righteousness! Hello!)

But the simple truth of the matter is that we never will measure up. We won't ever do good enough or be good enough. We simply aren't capable of it. Plus, all of the good that we earnestly attempt to do is totally undone by the smallest guilty action.

Its enough to make a girl depressed and exhausted...all that trying and doing and being and never measuring up despite it all.

THAT my friends, is why the good news is so, well, good. It isn't up to us at all. We don't have to do it. The good news is that Jesus already has done it...all of it...and He did it perfectly. The better news is that He will give us all the credit for the righteousness that He accomplished.

If that isn't the most amazing news you've ever heard, then I'd like to gently suggest that you don't actually understand what the news is.

Psalm 40:9

"I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly"

Holy Holy Holy

While I would guess that most people are captivated by God's love, I would have to say that more and more I am captivated by God's holiness. We hear "God is love" all the time, in church and out of church, from believers and non-believers alike. Even people who only ascribe to some vague sort of spirituality have a sense that whatever-it-is they believe in must be based in love, and feel love and express love.

And of course God IS actually love. We find that exact phrase in the Bible.

1 John 4:8

"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

You can find the phrase "God is love" again in 1 John 4:16.

The problem, I think, is that we have so many mixed up, and flat out wrong, ideas about what love actually is. And we carry that confusion into the mix when we try to comprehend that God is love. Not only that, but real, true love seems to be in short supply in our modern culture, and that certainly doesn't help us out when we try to discern what God being love actually means.

I prefer to be overwhelmed by God's holiness. Now that is something special. I find all sorts of cheap imitations of love on television, in books, and in observing how people around me interact with one another. But not a single one of those things profess to be holy. Holiness is reserved for Yahweh. And it gets my attention.

I'm not trying to take away from the fact that God is love, because like I just said, He certainly is. But consider what the angels cry out to God when they are worshiping Him in His presence.

Isaiah 6:3

"And one cried to another and said:
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!"

And again in Revelation 4:8

"The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!"

The angels don't worship God by crying out that God is love, love, love. Nope. It is God's holiness that is proclaimed before Him in His throne room.

The twist to all of this is that the more I think about God's holiness, the more dumbfounded I am that this holy God could also choose to love me. The bigger God's holiness gets, the more amazing His love gets. I'm not sure that it works the other way around. Perhaps it has for you?

One of my favorite hymns is actually "Holy, Holy, Holy!" by Reginald Heber. You might be familiar with it, its an old standard in most traditional worship services. I've memorized all of the verses because I have a children's CD with that song on it that I listen to in my car. But it is the third verse that stands out to me.

"Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee
perfect in power, in love, and purity."

Something about that just gets me every time. I'm getting misty and stopped up just thinking about it now.

God is holy. And I'm going to find a tissue.

Emily the Chickadee

Two things you should know before you read this post. One, I don't buy very many children's books. My mother tends to gift me with armloads of them and I have stacks of them all over my house. I don't especially enjoy making my life more complicated than it already is, hence I don't purchase very many books to add the the aforementioned stacks. Two, I got this particular children's book for free! A reader sent it to me and asked me if I would write a review of the book for my blog. (Well, she said she was a reader. I have my doubts, but still--free book!)

Anyway, I must say that Emily Waits for Her Family is a sweet little story. It is gentle and easy and paced just right for young children. (I get sort of weary of the flashy, sassy, spunky characters splashed all over many of the books marketed to young children these days.) It is written in rhyme, which is nice for early readers, and for little listening ears.

The book follows the story of a chickadee named Emily who builds a nest, lays some eggs and feeds her chicks all under the careful observation of a young girl. The illustrations are colorful without being flashy and friendly without being childish. The book is printed on very high quality paper. I actually kept thinking that I had turned two pages instead of one because the paper was so substantial.

So anyway, I give the book two thumbs up. There is nothing Christian or Biblical about it. But if you are looking for an innocent children's story that explores nature, this is a good option.

It's Been Hanging Around Lately

Death.

It seems to have been hanging around lately. Or at least I've noticed it more than I usually do. I spent Saturday morning at a funeral. The last time I was in that funeral parlor was for the funeral of a 15 month old boy who died in a tragic accident. That was three years ago this past week. I have also just passed the one year anniversary of my grandmother's death. The date marking the death of a young member of my husband's family looms large around the corner. And several weeks ago, as I sat for a normal, uneventful moment in my living room, surrounded by my little family, the thought hit me, "We are all going to die."

Now, I'm really not trying to be morbid. I am not, by nature, a morbid person. But I am ruthlessly realistic. And the fact is that each of us is absolutely going to die. It might happen today, or many long and fruitful (or tragic) years from now. But it will happen without question.

How easy it is to forget death. How easy it is to live carelessly, as if there are no eternal consequences to the here and now. Even with the tinge of death darkening my normally bright days, it is an easy thing to brush away and worry about later. The rush and bustle of the moment, of busy days filled with living, breathing and active neighbors, seems to whisper a lie over and over again..."this is forever, it will never end, you have tomorrow to look forward to, another chance is always available."

How hard it is to remember death, to remember eternity, to focus on things that really matter. We live on a merry-go-round of distractions, pleasures and entertainments. Few of us see the creeping certainty of death just past the brightly colored bulbs of the dizzy round and round of our days.

But there it is. It is certainly coming, one way or another. Now or later.

The question is, are you prepared?

Revelation 1:17,18

"Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."

No Sign Will Convince You

I noticed an interesting contrast in Scripture the other day, and it got me to thinking about miracles and such. Consider the different reactions that Jesus inspired, first from demons, and then from His own disciples.

Mark 1:23-25

"Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy one of God!"

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him.""

That demon knew exactly who Jesus was. He named Jesus as the "Holy one of God." By the way, I found an interesting point about that particular title by reading through some commentary about these verses. Apparently that was the same title that is given to the high priest in Exodus 28:36, to be inscribed on a gold plate and worn by him on his forehead. (What an outfit that must have been!)

But let's not get sidetracked...

Don't overlook that Jesus commands the demon to be quiet. He does the exact same thing a few verses later when He is healing a crowd of sick people and casting out "many demons."

Mark 1:34

"Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him."

Again, the demons knew and identified Jesus on sight. This happens a third time in Mark 5:6, when Jesus encounters a demon possessed man in the land of Gadarenes.

Mark 5:6

"When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me."

Now fast forward to Mark chapter 6. Jesus has been with His disciples for some time by now. They have even witnessed the following miracles firsthand: the healing of multitudes of people from all sorts of diseases, casting out of demons, the calming of the wind and waves at the command of Jesus, a girl brought back to life, and the feeding of thousands of people from five loaves of bread and two fish. One would be tempted to think that these disciples would have figured out that Jesus was, well, God, or something like that, by this point.

But almost immediately after Jesus feeds thousands of people with five loaves and two fish, He sends His disciples away from Him in a boat and stays on shore to pray. Sometime in the middle of the night, Jesus decides to join the disciples in the boat. The wind is blowing hard and the disciples are straining at the oars, trying to row against the wind. Jesus walks out on the water to join them.

But the disciples reacted sort of badly to this sight.

Mark 6:49,50

"And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled."

But here is the kicker. Remember that the demons knew exactly who Jesus was immediately upon seeing him. He didn't perform any miracles to prove himself to the demons. They just KNEW who He was without question. But the disciples? Here is how they reacted to seeing Jesus walk on the water:

Mark 6:51,52

"And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened."

They didn't get it. They didn't understand. They were still in awe and marveling at the power of Jesus, even after He had performed so many miracles right under their noses. You might even say that signs and miracles were insufficient to convince their "hardened hearts."

So let me ask you a question. What kind of miracle are you waiting for? Does Jesus need to show you some kind of sign before you will "know" Him? There is pretty good reason to believe that you still won't believe God, even after He does give you a miracle or a sign, if He chooses to do so.

Consider the story of Lazarus and the rich man found in Luke 16.

Lazarus is a poor, miserable beggar who is ignored by the rich man whose gate he lays at, longing for the crumbs from the rich man's table. Both of them die and go to their respective places. Lazarus, the beggar, goes to "Abraham's bosom." The rich man goes to the "torments in Hades." The rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to testify to the members of his family who are still alive. But the response that Abraham gives to the rich man is pretty chilling.

Luke 16:29-31

"Abraham said to him, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." And he said, "No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent." But he said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.""

Did you catch that? Abraham tells the rich man that even if a person were to rise from the dead and warn the family members who were still alive, they would not believe. If they don't believe the prophets and Moses, then even a spirit sent to testify from the grave will be unconvincing.

The truth is that no miracle or sign or even a wonder from heaven will convince a hardened heart. Only God has the power to change a heart. So stop asking for a sign. Ask God to soften your heart instead. Because a hard heart plus a miracle still equals unbelief.

Matthew 16:4

"A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah."

The LORD's (Sometimes Hysterical) Providence

I've been trying to lose a few pounds lately. Not because I think I am fat or anything like that. My clothes have just gotten a wee bit snug (OK, a lot bit snug) and it makes me want to pass out when I think about how much money it will cost to buy all new clothes. So, I find myself in the unhappy position of being on a diet. And by the way, I have figured out what the problem with diets is. You have to be on one for more than a few hours for it to work. Hmph.

So this morning, as I put on a pair of jeans that I bought two years ago, I was pleased to find that they fit beautifully. So beautifully, in fact, that I made a mental note to check the tag for the name brand and size so I could go find a second pair to purchase.

I'm almost always in a rush to get out the door, and this morning was no different. It was also abnormally cold outside for this time of year, and I knew that I needed to put a coat on. As it happened, I spotted a wool blazer in the very back of my closet. Picture one of those long wool blazers that your stereotypical horsewoman would wear along with riding britches, tall leather boots and a crop in some kind of Calvin Klein Americana ad, and you've got this blazer down pat. It is not currently in fashion by any stretch of the imagination, but it was such a good deal when I bought it that I couldn't resist. And every once in a while, I get a kick out of wearing off-beat clothes. So this morning, I put in on, topped it off with a Burberry plaid scarf and rushed out the door.

As I was plopping down in the driver's seat of my car, it happened. My jeans split. I mean, they tore open with an audible "zzzziiiiippp" sound and everything. I was stunned. These were the same jeans that I had just congratulated myself on fitting into. AND I had been sitting down in them all morning, this was not my first sit since putting them on.

Horrified, I considered my options. I was going to the drop off line at school, and I didn't need to get out of my car for that. And I was running late. So I made a snap decision to swing back by the house and change pants AFTER dropping off at school. Nobody would know the difference, would they?

So I'm driving toward the school, with my chilly bottom pressed straight against the leather seat of my car, when I noticed a distinct whooshing sound. The kind of sound that you hear when the windows are cracked. But the windows weren't cracked. Confused, I asked if the doors were shut in the back of the car. "No," one of the kids happily informed me. "I opened it."

Great. I'm going to have to pull over, get out, show all of the passing traffic my fanny in ripped jeans and re-shut the car door. Fabulous. What a great way to start the day. So I stopped, jumped out, re-shut the car door and jumped back in the driver's seat as fast as is humanly possible. Whew. What were the chances of that happening?

Then it got even better. Just as I pulled into the drop-off line, my cell phone rang. It was the alarm company. My house alarm was going off and I needed to return home to meet the police. I am not making this up.

"Please, please, cancel the alarm to the police!" I said to the woman from the alarm company. "I am on my way home right now, and I'm sure the alarm was accidentally set off!"

As you can imagine, scenes of meeting the police officer with my bottom exposed were flashing through my head. The woman said she would cancel the call to the police, and I headed back toward my house. The whole time I am driving, all I can think is how horrible and random and embarrassing it would have been to get out of my car and meet a police officer in my driveway with my pants flapping open in the back.

Oh, you guessed it. There happened to be a very nice and considerate police officer right around the corner from my house when the alarm was called in. And even though the alarm company cancelled the call, this particular police officer was so courteous, and so diligent, that HE CAME ANYWAY!!!!

I had no choice. I parked my car behind the police cruiser and got out, complete with a blast of chilly morning air hitting my rather bare bottom. We exchanged a few words. He had already checked the back of the house, everything looked fine. A neighbor had even called in to make sure the police knew my house alarm had been tripped. I was oh-so-careful not to turn around the least little bit while I conversed with the officer. But at the same time, I was horribly aware of every single car that drove past the front of my house. I could only hope that they weren't enjoying the neighborhood scenery and had their eyes glued to the road. But, how many times have you driven past a police car in someones driveway and failed to rubberneck? I assume that all the passers-by this morning did the same.

Finally, the officer was satisfied that all was well, and I carefully walked away from him, BACKWARDS, to the safety and modesty of my car. All the while hoping that he didn't think I was a weirdo who walked backwards for no apparent reason.

When I got into my house, I immediately rushed back into my bedroom and turned around to see how bad the damage was in my full-length mirror. I couldn't believe my eyes.

That random wool blazer, the one that I just happened to spot in the closet this morning, reached down to exactly the spot where the pant rip stopped. I was covered the whole time, and I didn't even realize it.

And that, my friends, I can only chalk up to the LORD's sometimes hysterical and unexpected providence. Because I have worn that blazer exactly one other time in the whole year that I have owned it. But something made me notice it and take the time to put it on today, just before I walked out the door. I don't know how else to explain it, but I think there are a few verses in the Bible somewhere about modesty...

Submission of the Gut Wrenching Variety

And just so you know, I'm not talking about husbands and wives in this post. Although I could, cause, boy, is that fertile ground for the topic of submission. But, nope, I'm going to be talking about Jesus.

There are times when we read Scripture and it is just kind of, well...a thing to get through. I have those mornings just like the rest of you.

And then, there are those days when you see something in the text that makes the hair on your arms stand up and your gut suck in a deep breath. I had one of those moments a few days ago.

Most of you are probably familiar with the story of Jesus being arrested by the mob of thugs in the Garden of Gethsemane. It's a Bible story that we church-grown folks grew up hearing. Maybe we even heard it so often that we got kind of casual and flippant about it. Sometimes reading it afresh divulges a gem that is so astounding we can't believe we've MISSED IT all these years!

Let me set the stage a little bit for you and then see if I can wrangle the same WOW out of you that I experienced.


Jesus was a perfect man. He was also fully a man. However, unlike any of us, He was also fully God. The theological term for this seeming contradiction is hypostatic union. And as God in the flesh, Jesus had at His disposal all of the power of God. As a man, who walked around on the earth and felt human needs like hunger and fatigue, He was also the same God who created the heavens and the earth by speaking words. Now, I should be able to stop typing at this point and just leave you with that thought. Because, honestly, if that doesn't make you go, "Whoa," then you haven't thought about it long enough, or deep enough.

But there is more. Jesus, as God, also had at His disposal command and control of the angels. Far from the chubby babies with feathery wings of our popular culture, angels are actually pretty fearsome things. Think of the angel that swept through Egypt and killed all of those first born sons before Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go. And that was just the work of one lonely angel. Imagine the power that Jesus had at His command as a man who could call down the power of all the angels in heaven at his whim.

NOW, imagine Jesus as He is praying in the Garden, just hours and moments before He knows He will die a humiliating, painful and horrible death on the cross.

He doesn't really want to go through with it. Now, bear with me here. Jesus is always in perfect, sinless submission to God the Father. But as a human being living in flesh, Jesus the Son had some real anxiety about what was going to happen to Him.

Matthew 26:39

"He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will."

Jesus says, I will do your will. But, Father, if it is possible, let there be another way. But there isn't. Jesus must die. There must be atonement for the sins of His children. It has to happen this way.

And so, despite the natural resistance of His human nature, Christ willingly submits to the will of the Father. I say willingly, because nobody ever forced Jesus to do it. He willingly submitted to all of the horrors of the cross and all of the horrors of broken fellowship with the Father as He endured the holy wrath of a holy God in order to redeem OUR lives from the pit of destruction.

As the multitude carrying swords and clubs laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him, Peter couldn't contain himself. You can imagine that they were roughing Jesus up in the process of arresting him. And in reaction, Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of the servant of the high preist.

It is what Jesus said next that is so astounding.

Matthew 26:52-54

"But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then can the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus." (emphasis mine)

Did you catch that? The Father will provide angels. Not He might, or He may, or its possible that He will take that into consideration. He will do it. If I ask, He will. If I ask, this whole plan will not be fulfilled, it will not happen.

But Jesus didn't ask. He died on the cross.

And that, girls, is submission of the gut wrenching variety. Wow. Is there anything else to say?

Hebrews 12:2

"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Lying Hearts

You have all heard the stories. Or maybe you know some people that it has happened to personally. Dedicated Christians, servants of the LORD, caught in horrible, shocking and devastating sin. I got one of those phone calls this week. I sat down and cried, and tried my best to encourage my sister in Christ on the other end of the line. But what can you say in such situations except, "I am so sorry. I love you and will pray for you?"

You don't need to know the details. I'm guessing that most of you have heard a similar tale and can fill in the details of your choice. We all know that Christians are still sinners, but for some reason it is harder to process when a fellow believer falls into blatant, public sin. It just hurts in a different way.

And in this particular situation, there was some serious self-deception happening. When the Bible gives a clear command, and a person chooses to believe that something contrary must be what God would want them to do, you can bet there is a whole lot of self deceiving going on.

The scary thing is that we are ALL capable of self-deception. Even those of us that know the truth and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Our hearts really are that wicked, and our natural desires really are that corrupt. That is why, again and again, we MUST study God's Word. We must constantly go back to the living and active Word of God and drown our sinful man in its purifying waters. There is no substitute for constant exposure to God's Holy, revealed Scripture.

If we wander around, oblivious to what the Bible actually says, relying on our inner sense of right and wrong to guide us, we will get it wrong almost every time. Consider Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Or better yet, Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

How about this:

"She said WHAT about me??? Well, let me tell you something about her..."

Matthew 5:44

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."

Or this:

"Well, I know I shouldn't tell you this, but you won't repeat it, right?"

Proverbs 16:28

"A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer seperates the best of friends."

Or even this:

"I'm not going to let myself get taken advantage of like that!"

Matthew 5:39

"But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also."

You get the idea. Our natural inclinations are often at odds with the commands of God.

I just needed to get this one out of my system. Read your Bibles, girls. Otherwise you may find yourself subject to the deceitful whims of a lying heart. And that much I do understand.

Ruth Session Two

Hello friends! Just wanted to let you know that Ruth Session Two is up and available for downloading. Like last time, it is posted to another blog, so if you need the link, just email me from my contact page.

On Bows and Rainbows

I don't have time for a "real" post right now. I've been out of town all weekend and I'm trying to play catch-up before the start of what I expect to be a super busy week. (I'm teaching Ruth Session Two on Wednesday, so please pray for me if you think of it. And I'll try to post the audio by the end of the week.)

But I wanted to share something really interesting that I heard twice this weekend, that I think you will enjoy as well.

Several weeks ago I happened to be riding through town after a wet and rainy afternoon. It was about an hour before dusk and the sky was still filled with gray, misty clouds. Suddenly, my husband pointed out an amazing sight: two full arcs of a double rainbow brilliantly displayed in the sky. I had never seen a double rainbow before, and it was breathtaking. Not only were there two visible arcs, but you could see the full arch from one end of the horizon to the other for each individual rainbow. We pulled the car over and unloaded our family in the middle of an empty parking lot just to stare at this wonder in the sky.

If you remember your Sunday School lessons, you will remember that the rainbow is endowed with special meaning by God. In Genesis 9:13-16, we read the following:

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind of the earth."

To understand the significance of this particular covenant agreement that God made between Himself and all life on earth, you need to remember what God just finished doing. We love to tell the story of Noah and his ark to our children. But how often do we point out to them that the real point of Noah and the ark was to save them from the massive wiping out of life that God purposed and performed? God literally destroyed every person and creature on earth, expect for the inhabitants of that relatively little floating capsule we call the ark.

God did not put the rainbow in the sky as a warm fuzzy feel good to make us smile and reflect kindly on Him when we happen to see one. No, He wanted to assure mankind and all of creation that He was never going to bring such a war upon them again. At least, not in the form of a flood.

While I was at a conference this weekend, the speaker made an offhand point about the shape of the rainbow. It is very similar to the spape of a bow, as in a bow and arrow. The bow and arrow are mostly employed as a sport by archers today, with perhaps some hard-core bow hunters thrown in the mix. But in the days of ancient warfare, the bow and arrow were deadly and effective weapons.

And some have speculated that when God put that bow shaped arch in the sky, He was signifying that He had hung up His weapon of war, never to use that particular one against His creation ever again. I've also heard it speculated that not only was the weapon hung upon the wall, but its curve was pointed up, toward heaven itself, instead of down to the face of the earth.

Because, you see, God did still need to declare war. A war against sin. And we all know who ended up taking the brunt of that war upon Himself. It was God, in the human flesh of Jesus Christ. God put all of His holy wrath upon Himself in order to redeem His fallen children. And that is why the "bow" of the rainbow pointed up to the sky. It was a reminder, a promise and a foreshadowing all at the same time.

Cool, huh?

Judge Not Part Two

(For first part of Judge Not, see the post below)

For all of the things that Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged," doesn't mean, there are surely some things that it does mean.

And the context in which it should be understood is stated in the verses immediately following.

Matthew 7:2-3

"For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?"

So what does that mean anyway? Well, I touched on the meaning of the plank/speck comparison in my last post. And basically, it means that you should only approach others about their sin with a great awareness of, and conviction over, your OWN sin. In other words, there is no room for self-righteous condemnation. We all have sin. We all fall short. And only when you take on the mindset of a "fellow-sinner" do you have the right framework for humbly and gently correcting your brother.

Not only is this likely to be a more effective approach anyway, but there is a strong caution given to us against approaching our brother and his speck in any other manner. Jesus says that we will be judged using the same criteria we use to judge others. In one sense, we are condemning ourselves if we don't use mercy and humility in our dealings with others.

This concept is stated again in Romans 2:1

"Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."

In other words, use caution when you gear up to judge someone. You are probably guilty of the same thing. And by standing in judgment of another, you are condemning yourself. Because in order to declare him guilty, you have to first knowingly consent to the fact that his actions are a violation of some kind. And like I just said, chances are you have that same sin, in one form or another, lurking about in your own closet. Kind of like, "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." You incriminate yourself when you apply the law to others. Because you've just proved that you are aware of the law. And you are therefore without excuse when it comes to your own defense.

But, if you want mercy and compassion applied to you, apply them to those you judge. If you use mercy, you will be given mercy. If you harshly condemn, you will be harshly condemned.

As a side note here, let me add that these cautions are given to each of us as individual brothers and sisters. The church is given very specific instructions for dealing with its members who are in sin. I'm not talking about those things here. I'm only talking about our dealings, as individuals, with individuals.

And lest you think that somehow I am giving the green light to blatant sinners, and a yellow light to righteous standards, think again. Just because we are cautioned about the way we apply judgment does not mean that we are to relax our standards as Christians. Part of the reason that we don't have to judge our neighbor is because God has already done it. God has given us His law. And God's law has already explicitly condemned sin in all of its shapes, forms and fashions. It is not up to us to decide what is a sin and what isn't. The law of God has taken plenty of care of that, thank you very much. You either accept it or you reject it.

Just because some people want to make the law do handstands and backflips in order to justify their fleshly desires, doesn't change the fact that they will stand condemned before the law. Their tricksy reasoning and human wisdom will be meaningless before the Judge of all the universe. He has access to the thoughts of their hearts and minds. We don't. And that is why ultimate judgment can only be left up to Him.

In the meantime, practice mercy and compassion. And mourn over your sin alongside the sins of others. In doing so, you will be equipped to help your brother out when a speck appears in his eye. Otherwise, beware of your measuring stick being turned around and held up against you.

Judge Not

If there was ever a verse that the non-Christian loved to beat over the head of the Christian, it must be Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged."

And, sadly, many a Christian is so easily duped and befuddled over the meaning of this verse that they lay down, roll over and play dead in the face of obvious sin and violation of God's standards.

Even, I, who know better, have totally blown it when confronted with this verse being horribly misapplied and taken out of context. So, in order to (hopefully) spare you some of the confusion and conviction that I experienced after I DID blow it, I thought that a little bit of expounding might be in order.

Keeping in mind, of course, that I will only handle this topic lightly, and can't possibly cover all of the nuances of such a complicated topic in one blog post. But I'd like to give you a jumping off point to think about or study this topic further.

First of all, that verse, Matthew 7:1, is part of the Sermon on the Mount, one of those sections of the Bible that is somewhat well known even among non-Christians. For that reason, we, who are Christians, ought to be very familiar with it and able to talk about it with our friends and neighbors.

And, yes, clearly, Jesus says those words "Judge not, that you be not judged." But you can't just stop reading there. Like all of Scripture, this verse must be taken as part of a whole. You should never ever take one verse, isolate it from the context in which it was given, isolate it from the whole teaching of Scripture, and build a truth on it. That, my friends, is how heresy is born.

So, let's look at some of the other things that Jesus has to say about how we judge others in the Sermon on the Mount, and a few of the other directions that Scripture gives us on this topic.

First, if you will look at Matthew 7:5-6, you will immediately see two situations which do require that we make a judgment of some kind:

Matthew 7:5-6

"Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

I realize that in verse 5, which refers to the plank and the speck, Jesus is primarily chastising people who are blind to their own sins while at the same time happy to self-righteously condemn every minor infraction of those around them. But, still, clearly, you have to admit that person number two does have a speck in his eye that needs to be addressed. Jesus doesn't say to remove the plank from your eye, and then pat your brother on the back and lie to him that there is nothing wrong with his peepers. That wouldn't be helping the poor guy out at all. He still has a speck to deal with.

What Jesus is saying, is first, see your own sin. And really, see how huge and gross it is. C'mon, you have a PLANK sticking out of your face! Deal with that first! Presumably, once you have, you will be able to approach your brother and his problematic speck with humility, compassion and gentleness. Much like the attitude described in 2 Timothy 2:24-25:

"And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." (emphasis mine)

And secondly, getting back to Matthew 7:6, the Christian is commanded not to throw their pearls before swine, or give what is holy to the dogs. I'll admit, that verse seems harsh. I've heard people explain it all kinds of ways that seem to strip the plain meaning right out of it. But, the best explanation I have heard, and the one that I ascribe to is this: Don't keep preaching the gospel to those who have overtly and consciously rejected it.

In order to follow that command, you must be able to judge, or discern, who should be considered a swine or a dog. (Hey, I know those are strong, insulting words, but Jesus used them, not me.) I really like the word discern better than the word judge. Because while we are explicitly commanded NOT to judge, we are elsewhere told that we must use discernment. And in verses 15-20, we are told what the criteria should be when we practice this discernment.

Matthew 7:15-20

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, not can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

By their fruits you will know them. By their fruits you will be able to discern who is a sheep and who is a wolf in disguise. That, my friends, in our language, is referred to as making a judgment. And that kind of judgment is necessary so that the sheeps don't get eated by the wolfs.

In Galatians 5:22-23 we are told that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Right before that, in Galatians 5:19-21, we are given another list. This one lists the works of the flesh, the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. And those works are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness and revelries.

Usually, in my experience, when people pull out the "judge not" card, it is for one of two reasons. Either they are blatantly sinning, and resent the idea that another person finds fault with their sin, or they are scared to call a spade a spade. Saying, "but you know, the most important thing is that we don't judge other people," is often a cop out for saying something unpopular, like, "the Bible calls that a sin."

I know that from experience. Because I've pulled out the "judge not" card in the past. And pretty much, my motivation was that I was being a yellow bellied chicken. In other words, I was not willing to deal with the truth, because it might have been uncomfortable to do so. I (think) I'm over that.

Well, let me put it to you this way...by the grace of God, I will do better next time. I will speak the truth in love, with gentleness and humility. But I'll speak it nonetheless. If there are no swine or dogs involved, of course.

Happy Birthday Bathsheba!

Somehow in the past week and a half of a crazy schedule, getting prepped for the Ruth Bible study, having a bout with food poisoning/stomach virus, and heading out of town with the whole family, I have totally missed the first anniversary of Bathsheba's Children!

AND, I've been saving a story just for this occasion. So here it is, a little bit behind schedule...

God works in big and small ways, my friends. Sometimes the small things turn out to be big things. Like this blog.

A little over a year ago, my husband started blogging. You can find a link to his page on the left. I had never really thought that much about blogging up until that point, but suddenly, it seemed to be just the thing I was searching for. I was in the midst of a serious spiritual awakening (OK, I don't really have any idea what to label the "thing" that I was experiencing, so consider "spiritual awakening" my best shot at describing something that is beyond my ability to describe.)

I had all of these thoughts and realizations hitting me one after the other "bam, bam, bam." And I didn't know what to do with them. I was pretty much wearing out my friends by going on and on about God and the Bible every time we spoke. I can see that there is a time and a place for that, but honestly, it was getting to the point of obnoxiousness. I am all for being effective and persistent and deliberate, but there is a point...you know what I am talking about...when it becomes ineffective, annoying and alienating.

Anyhow, blogging seemed like the most awesome prospect for dealing with all of the things that I just had to get out, and feel like I was getting them out in a way that other people could hear them, so to speak.

Only one problem. My husband highly, highly, values online anonymity. He was solidly against me writing a blog. And girls, I must tell you, I am solidly FOR Biblical submission, of each wife to her own husband. To be fair, he wasn't totally against the blog, period, but there were so many "cautions" and "conditions" associated with the whole thing that I almost felt like it wasn't worth the effort. And he was highly skeptical that I could blog effectively and still remain anonymous, based on what I wanted to talk about on the blog. (You have noticed nary a reference to my kids, haven't you? That is absolutely deliberate. If they were fair fodder, this blog would have twice as many posts.)

And so, after only two posts, I deleted this blog. I actually deleted it. I mean, I went online, signed into my account, fooled around with the various menus, found the button that says "Delete This Blog" and clicked on it...twice.

And twice, I got an error message, informing me that the blog could not be deleted, due to some technical problem the site was experiencing. I thought that was sort of strange.

So the next day, I did the same thing. I signed in, etc, etc, and deleted the blog. Same response. Technical problem, no deletion possible. Hmm.

Then I realized. Sometimes God uses small things to make bigger things happen. Small things like technical glitches that prevent a blog from being deleted. So I just kept putting up posts, and eventually I even told some of my friends about this little project of mine. A few of you found me online and started reading and leaving comments. And one or two of you have even emailed me privately, or spoken to me in person, about things that you have learned from this little thing I do on the side, when I have the time, that have affected you personally.

And now, a whole year later, I am almost crying about it. I had no idea I had all of this in me. Or better yet, that the Holy Spirit was waiting to put it into me, so I could put it all here. 'Cause really, friends, I'm not that smart, I'm not more spiritual than you, I don't have a higher degree of Biblical comprehension. I just love God. And I love His Holy Word. And I really want others to love both of those things like I do.

So, if Bathsheba's Children has done either of those things for you, mission accomplished. Its a big thing. And it was a little thing that got it all started (and kept it going.)

PS-to the very first person to leave a comment on this blog--Classic Mama, you have no idea how exciting that was for me.

Ruth Session One!

Well, friends and readers, I have an announcement to make. I have officially taught my very first Bible study session. A session that I actually researched and wrote by myself, that is.

For those of you who have been reading this blog consistently, you may have seen me mention the Ruth Bible study occasionally. It is a 7 session Bible study that I am (still) writing for my local MOPS (that stands for Mothers of Preschoolers) group. I will be teaching it once a month. And last week I taught the first session.

I have posted an audio recording of the session on another blog. And I would be glad for those of you who either know me personally or comment here regularly to have access to it. But I'm a little bit cautious about online privacy, and for that reason I'm not going to post a direct link to the other blog where the file is posted. If you want it, you will need to email me from my profile page. If I recognize you, I will send you an email with the link.

I really do have some other things I'd love to post about, but I've been super busy for the past week. But check back in a few days. I never can resist writing a post for too long. Some things just need to get said!

The Sword of the Spirit

After Jesus was baptized, Scripture tells us, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (Matthew 4:1)

There are a few things in just that one sentence that are pretty interesting. Did you notice that Jesus temptation was not outside of God's plan, but seems to actually be part of it? After all, it was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus out there into the wilderness. He wasn't tempted to journey out there by Satan. God planned that it would happen exactly as it did happen.

We know from James 1:13, which says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He Himself tempt anyone", that obviously God was not the one who tempted Jesus. And in fact, God never tempts anyone. But is seems pretty clear that God allows us to be tempted, just as here He allowed Jesus to be tempted. I find that comforting. God is sovereign even over my temptations. They don't catch him by surprise.

But what happens next, in the account of Jesus temptation in the wilderness, is equally fascinating.

First of all, let me just say, that sometimes the Bible understates things to the point of humor. I don't mean to be irreverent about God's Word, but when I read Matthew 4:2, I just had to grin.

"And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry."

You think? I'd say something more like, "He was starving to death" or "He was famished." But, still, we get the point; Jesus was feeling real, physical, (probably) overwhelming, hunger.

I'm trying really hard to stay on my message here, and I haven't even gotten to it yet. But this section of Scripture is just full of interesting things, and I can't help but point some of them out. Like, for instance, did you notice that Jesus fast lasted for 40 days? Does that number sound familiar for some reason? How about the length of time that it rained in the days of Noah? Or, how about the number of years that Israel wandered in the wilderness before entering the promised land?

But here is the what I really wanted to point out. Satan tempts Jesus three times and with three different sins. But each and every time, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, refutes Satan by quoting Scripture. He uses the same defense against temptation that is available to every single one of His children: Scripture.

When Satan tempts Jesus to exhibit a lack of faith in God's physical provision for Him, by turning stones into bread, Jesus says:

"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4) This is a quote of Deuteronomy 8:3.

When Satan tempts Jesus to pridefully prove that He has the power of God to call angels at His whim, by telling Him to throw himself off of the temple wall, Jesus says:

"It is written, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:16.

And finally, when Satan tempts Jesus with an offer of kingship, a way to rule the earth without suffering on the cross, if only Jesus will bow down and worship Satan, Jesus replies:

"Away with you Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD you God, and Him only you shall serve.'" This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20.

Now, if that is not sufficient motivation for all of us to get to know and understand Scripture, let me point out one more thing. And this last bit kind of gives me chill bumps when I think about the potential damage it can cause.

In this encounter between Satan and Jesus, Jesus is not the only one who quotes Scripture. Satan does the same thing. Only when Satan quotes Scripture, He does it out of context and twists its intended meaning.

When Satan tempts Jesus the second time, by suggesting that He throw Himself off of the temple wall and call on angels to rescue Him, He adds this little barb:

Matthew 4:5-6

"If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over You,'

and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Satan is quoting Psalm 91 to Jesus. The problem is, Satan is quoting it in exactly the opposite way it was intended. Psalm 91 is a declaration of trust in the care and provision of the LORD. It contains that famous verse, "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, In Him I will trust." (Psalm 91:2)

When Satan tempts Jesus to throw Himself off of the temple wall, He is tempting Jesus to test God, instead of have faith in God. Testing God is a result of little faith, not a result of great faith.

I don't know about you, but I find it startling and disturbing that Satan quotes Scripture. And if Satan can know and quote Scripture, twisting the truth right out of it, then we can be sure that Satan's servants can as well.

Let me counter that statement by saying that Jesus is already declared victorious. The battle has been won, and Satan has been defeated. He is still our enemy, and he can still cause us harm, and we need to be wary of him, and his servants.

But we have God on our side. And we shouldn't forget that. And, we shouldn't forget that God has provided us with an extremely powerful weapon against evil: the sword of the Spirit: God's Word.

But the sharpest, most lethal sword in the world isn't going to do you any good sitting up on a shelf collecting dust. The more time you spend with your sword, the more precise you will become in defeating the enemy.

Ephesians 6:17

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;"

The Slaughter of the Innocents

I started my day reading in the Gospel of Matthew. Even though I know what is coming, the account of King Herod killing all the baby boys in Bethlehem always upsets me. Especially since I have become a mother myself. I cannot even begin to image watching a soldier wrench my precious child from my arms to murder him.

Matthew 2:16

"Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determinded from the wise men."

I was already emotional because baby Jesus had just been born (in my reading), and for some reason that always makes me cry. Then Herod orders all of those sweet innocent babies put to death.

The next verses only added to my emotional drama.

Matthew 2:17-18

"Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more."

I sort of felt like weeping myself. Not too long after that, it was time to get the day started, get the family out of bed and feed everyone. I turned on the news.

I have known that September 11th was coming. For a few months I have had today's date floating around in my mind. I always wonder what each anniversary will be like, if I will find it as jarring and devastating as I did the first time around.

This morning, it was almost too much. I stood in my kitchen, with my children safely out of view, and let myself just cry. The news was showing footage of that day that I remember so vividly. I can tell you all the details of that morning, but I'll spare you my recollections. I'm sure that you have some of your own.

All of those people in the airplanes, and in the towers, and in the Pentagon--murdered. Thousands of years ago, in a remote Jewish village, hardly important enough to garner King Herod's attention, and obviously not important enough for him to travel to in order to see the "king of the Jews" that the maggi came seeking, all of those baby boys--murdered.

In the case of September 11th, 2001, it seems that those responsible may escape earthly justice. And King Herod obviously never faced a judge and jury for his atrocities.

So what on earth are we to do about such horrible crimes, and such horrible injustices, that are never answered for here on earth?

Well, I've kind of answered my own question in the way I posed the question. Some justice just won't get done here on earth. But there is one Judge that every single human being, from every period of human history, will have a date with. And there will be no escape from His justice. He is El Roi, the God-Who-Sees. And all will answer to His justice one way or another.

King Herod already has. As far as the other well known terrorist who will remain nameless on this blog, you can be sure that he will too.

Isa 66:16

"For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh;"

A Dog By The Ears

I almost laughed out loud.

You see, very occasionally, I get fired up. I try to contain myself, and I usually do a good job. But there are times when I wish I could get problem-causing (in my opinion, of course) people in a room, sit 'em all down, and set 'em all straight. And you know, sometimes that is exactly what is called for. (But I think it's pretty rare, especially for me to be the setter-straighter.)

Tonight, I was searching through Scripture, trying to find that "perfect" verse to call down on another person. I was full of righteous indignation, too. The other party was clearly in the wrong, and clearly blind to that fact, and clearly needed some setting straight.

And I found the perfect verse all right, but it wasn't for the other party.

Proverbs 26:17

"He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own
Is like one who takes a dog by the ears."

Duly noted, Lord, duly noted. I'll just let that dog pass on by...

And it gets better.

Proverbs 26:20

"When there is no wood, the fire goes out;
And when there is no talebearer, strife ceases."

Gotcha. No more tale-bearing-strife-causing wood for this fire.

Sometimes we just have to put our fingers in our ears and stop listening. Cause, girls, I can do without the strife.

Got Guilt?

Got guilt? Oh, of course you do. And if you haven't done anything lately to feel guilty over, I bet it doesn't take much effort to think back to some occasion that brings that unwelcome sinking sensation in your gut.

So what are we supposed to do with guilt?

To start with, I think we should recognize that not all guilt is a bad. Sometimes we are so eager to get rid of the unpleasantness of guilt that we fail to deal with the problem that is causing us to feel guilty to begin with. This is a bad thing. If you feel guilty, ask yourself why. It might be that you actually need to repent of something. Often, we are reluctant to repent, and guilt is the byproduct.

But there are plenty of times when guilt is just self-condemnation.

The Bible teaches clearly, and in so many places, that those who are found in Christ have absolutely no reason to feel condemned. This truth is so startling and revolutionary that I think we sometimes gloss over the profoundness of it. I mean, come on, God can't really mean that we are totally washed clean and forgiven can He? Surely there is going to be some cosmic extraction of penance or sudden onslaught of punishment, isn't there?

No. There isn't.

It has already been taken care of. Yes, all of it. Yes, really, even THAT thing.

When Jesus came to this world in the flesh, and died on the cross, every bit of it was paid for. The big word for this is "propitiation" and the Greek for propitiation is hilasmos. The literal definition of hilasmos is atonement. Jesus atoned for our sins. He made them right by paying the price for them.

1 John 4:10

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

We, who have faith in Christ, are declared pure, because Christ has made us pure.

1Jn 3:3

"And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

What right in the world do I have to accuse and condemn what God has declared pure, including myself?

Romans 8:33,34

"Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."

Have you ever thought about it that way? When you point a finger of self-condemnation at yourself, you are disagreeing with God. You are claiming that what Jesus did on the cross wasn't really sufficient for you and your sins. Do you really think you are that significant? Do I?

Listen, I need to be reminded of this just as much as anyone. Lately, in particular, I feel like Satan has been making quite an effort to remind me of who I used to be.

But God, through Scripture, tells me who I am in Christ. And that is the opinion that not only counts, but is perfect truth.

Rom 8:1

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Odd Reunions

I have a confession to make. I am a Facebook addict. I seriously love the social networking system called Facebook. I have literally found friends that I haven't spoken to or even thought of in over 20 years. Some people seem to be exactly the same. Some people have changed dramatically throughout the course of their lives. I feel like I'm one of those "changers", and every once in a while it gets hammered home to me.

Some of the old friends I have been reconnecting with knew me during my wildest years. Years when I ran as far and as fast from God as I possibly could. When I look back on those years, I have to admit, I had some fun. But I also had a lot of inner turmoil, and a deep sense of emptiness and inadequacy. Even with the fun times, I wouldn't relive those years the same way, if I was given the chance to do it all again. (Boy, is than an understatement.)

And how do you communicate something so profound to a long lost friend via email or instant messaging? I don't know. I wish I did. Not that I feel like I need to give my entire testimony to every old acquaintance that I find online. But with some of them, if we were to meet face-to-face, I would feel compelled to do exactly that.

So, I've been thinking of these verses today.

Phil 3:13,14

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

This internet stuff is changing the world, my friends. In some really big ways, and in some very small and personal ways as well.

Unheavenly Things

Just wanted to check in with you, friendly readers. I'm doing fine, I'm just plain busy. But things should settle down here in the next few days, and I'm eager to get a good post up.

In the meantime, something occured to me this morning. I'm pretty sure that cockroaches will not be in heaven. Now, of course, God can do whatever he wants in heaven, and I'm sure that if He decides to allow cockroaches, then they will be some fantastic cockroaches. And we will enjoy their presence immensely.

But as I was cleaning the bathroom sink this morning, and a big sucker of a roach ran out of the drain, causing me to scream so loud that the dog came running, barking and freaked out; it occured to me that we just shouldn't have those nasty things in heaven. Spiders either. They in fact, are worse than roaches, and I'd take a two inch long flying cockroach over a two inch long spider any day of the year.

Even in the little things, I'm longing for heaven. A heaven free of horrible roaches and spiders. Maybe we should just go ahead and put in a request for no snakes either. Whatcha think? What do you hope to never encounter again once we have passed into glory?

Now excuse me, I think the heebie-jeebies have worn off enough that I can go and clean the toilet.