Listening

          The picture of the Church as the body of Christ is a common one in the New Testament.  Christ Himself takes on the role of the head, and we are the individual parts, perhaps down to the individual cells that make up the rest of His body.  This analogy hints at a fundamental choice God has made in interacting with our world and with us: the choice of self-limitation.  He limited Himself by taking on human flesh.  Then He died and rose, and limited Himself to the position of Head.  As Head, He establishes His presence in the world through us.  He doesn’t need us to work out His will in the world, but He has chosen to work through us. 

            Like a physical body, the body of Christ must follow certain laws to function properly.  Just as our nerves need to stay connected to our brain to properly function and communicate to the rest of the parts, we need to stay connected to the Head to truly function as His body.

“Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by…not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”  Colossians 2:18-19

           

Dr. Paul Brand tells us that if you take a frog and remove it’s brain, it will continue to swim easily across its pond.  You could get the impression that the injury was inconsequential until you look more closely.  The frog is swimming randomly, kicking its legs in reflexive patterns.  Without it’s brain, it has no purpose. Without its brain, it cannot choose to eat, or to swim faster to get out of harm’s way. 

Likewise, when we choose to separate ourselves from the Head, we can continue to go through the motions of Christian life, attending church and living basically moral lives, but our purpose, our connectedness to the rest of the body, and any hope for growth, is gone.  Apart from the head, we revert back to fleshly instincts, defrauded of the prize of our liberty in Christ. 

            Often the Body of Christ has functioned like a quadriplegic.  The head is intact and functioning perfectly, but the body remains motionless, paralyzed by sin or fear.  The Head is sending out messages and directing movement, but the body is not receiving those messages and isn’t sending any sensory information back to the head.  Only as we stay connected to the Head, obeying it’s every command, can we function properly as the Body of Christ in this world.  Only as we live in obedience can we effectively communicate God’s love and will to the world around us. 

            We are the Body of Christ.  Whether or not we choose to live as an effective, well-connected body is up to us.  Each of us must do our part to listen to and obey the Head, or the rest of the body suffers. 

            What is the Head saying to you, as a part of his body? Are you responding in obedience born of love? Each part of the body was designed to play a specific part. What part are you? Are you serving in the area he created you for? Are you listening?

A Day of Small Things

The people of Israel had been exiled.  They had hardened their hearts toward God, and turned away, worshiping false gods.  God had pleaded with them to return to Him, to repent so that He could bless them, and they had refused.  But now things were changing.  Men, leaders among the people, had stepped up, led a revival and the people were returning to Jerusalem. 

Zechariah, a priest and prophet, focused his efforts on rebuilding the temple.  In the scope of rebuilding, holding a plumb line to ensure that the walls were straight doesn’t seem like a big job, yet that’s exactly where we find Zechariah when God tells him that this will get done, “not by might nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”  Then just a few verses later He asks the question;

“Who has despised the day of small things?”  Zechariah 4:10

God chose to rebuild Jerusalem not by the strength of the people, but by His own Spirit, working through people doing small things in obedience to Him.

Our society is not impressed by small things.  The bookkeeper balancing yet another column of numbers or the salesman making another call doesn’t “wow” us.  We like big, splashy events with spot lights and fancy sound systems.  Even within the church we are more impressed by the musicians up in front than the janitor. We forget that God doesn’t see things the same way we do. We forget that the widow’s mite and the dinner prepared in worship and obedience are at least as dear to Him as those who walk on water or slay giants.  Homemakers complain that people think they have nothing to offer at the company party, but even they forget that a day of diapers and dishes can be sacred. 

Often our small things add up to big things when used by God.   David started the day Goliath fell by taking lunch to his brothers.  Did Moses know that by poking a stick into the water the Red Sea would part?  I wonder if Noah even knew what a flood was when he built a boat.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”  
Colossians 3:23

Today I am called to write a paper. Perhaps you are called to dig a ditch or wash a sink full of dishes or change the diaper of an aging parent. Perhaps today you are called to forgive someone who wounded you. Perhaps today you are called to love someone who is unlovable. Maybe you have been chosen to wipe snotty noses or love snotty teens. Whatever you are doing, remember who it is you are serving. Remember too how it will get done. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we love the way in a way that honors God, or serve with excellence the One who saves us.

Are you called to small things? Do you long for lights and glory?  Don’t despise the day of small things.  God doesn’t.

Lord God, help me to dedicate my day, with each small thing, to You and Your glory.  Use them as You will.  Help me to align my will to yours.

Travel Alarms

            Several years ago, a good friend was going through a nasty divorce. She was depressed and angry. My marriage stunk and then my husband left me. I was depressed and angry. We would get together and talk about our current obsession, Celtic Thunder (and Irish man-band, don’t judge!) and dream of taking a trip to Ireland.

            Ireland seems like a magic place. All the men are handsome, and when they talk, they sound like they sing everything they say. It’s always green, the people are kind and they like potatoes. What could be better?

            I was in the Eddie Bauer Outlet one day when I came upon a cute little travel tool. It had a flashlight, an emergency strobe light, and a travel clock with alarm. You would twist the top and it would show the time of the city you chose. I bought two, set the city for Dublin, and gave one to my friend. It was a symbol of hope. Someday, life would be better, and we would go to Ireland. We would use our travel clocks!

            Somehow, the alarm on mine got set for 10:00. I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off! Eventually it got annoying so I stuck it in a cupboard under a pile of towels. This morning as I stood in my bathroom putting on my makeup, that alarm went off. Apparently its been going off every day for the past three or four years. Immediately a flood of emotions hit me between my half-mascaraed eyes. Longing for a place I’d never seen. Sadness for a friend who has since moved far away. Hope that things would someday be better. Humor, laughing at an alarm that has been set for a time that means nothing, and isn’t needed.

            And yet it was needed. I’m at a bit of a low place right now. I needed to be reminded of my friend, who loves me. I needed to be reminded of that hope that things will someday be better. I needed to be reminded of a Friend who loves me, and of that place far away that I view with longing.

           

            “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and I therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:19-23

In the midst of the stuff of life, we have hope. God has not forgotten us. He are not consumed.

            We all need travel alarms, those little insignificant items that remind us of God’s faithfulness, of his love for us, and of the beautiful place that awaits us. I have a longing for a place I have never seen, but is my home.

           

            “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21

            My travel alarm is now sitting out on my kitchen windowsill, reminding me of the good that God intends for me. What reminds you of the goodness of God? What brings your flagging spirit hope? Hold on to those things. Put them where you can see them. Practice smiling at them, and be grateful that God is present.

Crying in Costco

            Have you ever sat in the middle of Costco and had a good cry? Me, neither. Well, not until today.

            This hasn’t been the best week. I am miles behind in my schoolwork. I overslept and got to my early class late. Squirrels are eating my cucumbers. My health insurance was cancelled.

            That was the thing that pushed me to the tipping point. I went to Costco to pick up my prescriptions. I am diabetic, and the medicine I take to keep it in check is usually about $15. Not yesterday. Yesterday it was $125. Naturally, I questioned that. “Nope, that was correct. Did I know that my insurance had been cancelled?” Nope, I didn’t know that. I asked them to hang on to my meds while I checked the insurance thing out. After talking to the very nice lady at the school who informed me that I had received a letter about this last spring, I was offered the option of renewing my insurance, at three times the cost of what it had been. None of this was my fault, but it was my reality. The nice insurance man I called informed me that that was 25% of my total income. I already knew that.

            So today I went back to Costco to pick up my medication. The pharmacist was very nice, but paused to ask me if I had gotten my insurance issues taken care of. “No,” I told him. “I’ll just pay for it.” He smiled and told me it would be about ten minutes. Ten minutes turned into twenty minutes, and I sat in the waiting chairs feeling very defeated. The pharmacist came out and handed my prescription to the nice girl at the cash register, smiled at me and left. She called my name, and I went up to pay, credit card in hand. She scanned it in, and the price showed on the display: “$6.99.”

            Wait, what? I asked the nice girl how that could be and if there was an error, and she said that she didn’t how it happened, but that was the price. How would I like to pay?

            That’s how I found myself having a good cry in the middle of Costco.

            “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, thought the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46:1-3

            I didn’t ask God to provide for my medicines. I didn’t have faith that he would. It never even occurred to me that he might. But I am grateful that he did.

            (Mom, I am hoping you aren’t reading this. To my family: I am fine. No worrying. God is taking good care of me. I have plenty to eat and everything I need. Really!)

            God has been teaching me to depend on him. A year ago he asked me to quit my job and just do what he called me to do. So I did. And for the past year he has taken care of the details. I have done my part to stop spending and focus on school, and he has provided in ways I never would have imagined. But money is tight. I am poor. I hate that word, and the very idea. I am rich in many ways, but when it comes to money, there just isn’t any. I am learning to do without it. It’s not a lesson I want to learn. Most of the time I don’t think about it much, but today I thought about it a lot.

            Lately I’ve been thinking about my future a lot, too. I want some specific direction. I want to know what I am going to be doing after I finish school. I want to know his plans, and what I should be planning for. I have asked God repeatedly to give me some direction. His answer is found at the end of Psalm 46, the one I quoted above:

            “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

I am to be still. I am to know who is God. I am to exalt him. The appropriate response to living with God as your refuge, ever present in times of trouble, is to stop worrying and lift him up.

            That’s pretty specific direction. It’s not what I was looking for, but today, it’s enough. Today I saw him work in my behalf. I will try to live in it tomorrow. 
            But what about those other times? The times when the bill doesn't go down or go away? The times when healing doesn't occur or the house gets foreclosed on, or when the flooding destroys everything you have? Where is God when all you hear is silence? The answer is the same. He is our refuge, ever present. I don't know why he works the way he does. I know that when I can't hear him, I will remember today. Today will be my stone of remembrance, that occurrence that gets me through the silence.

            What are you struggling with today? What do you need to set down, and just trust God to handle? Can you be still, and know that God is God, and we are not, and trust that this is a very good thing? God loves us more than we can imagine. We don’t know why he allows us to go through some of the things he does, but we can trust what we know about him: that he is good, that he is present, and that he loves us. That’s something to praise him for.

Our Year of Jubilee

            God chose a man, Abraham, and told him he would become a great nation.  One son became twelve sons, until at the time of the exodus they have become twelve tribes of over two million people.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.”  Lev. 25:38

 As He moved them from Egypt to the Promised Land, He began to make them a nation, a unique people whose very civilization would be marked by His nature.  As He organized this new nation, He established the Year of Jubilee.

            Every 50^th year was to be a year of celebration for the people.  The shofar would blow, and freedom and restoration would follow.  The Year of Jubilee had three main components; all slaves or bondsmen were set free, land was returned to it’s original owner, and the land was given a year of rest.  These ensured that the Israelites remained a separate culture, as these laws were far different from those of the peoples around them.  They ensured that the people would never forget that they were once slaves to Egypt, and reminded them of the nature and provision of God.  The people could not permanently sell the land because it belonged to God.  They could not permanently enslave another human being.  Humans were created in the image of God, and God created us for freedom, as they had learned first hand in Egypt.  For two years their land would be uncultivated (the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee), but it didn’t matter, because God was in control of their well-being.  He would provide.  God had brought them out of Egypt.

            Those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus are living in Jubilee.  Through the work of Jesus on the cross, our debts are forgiven.  We are no longer slaves.  One day the shofar, or trumpet, will sound, and we will be completely restored to living the way we were created to live.  We have put ourselves into God’s hands, and He will provide.

            The challenge today is to live our liberty.  We are no longer slaves to sin, and yet we continue to offer ourselves for bondage. We treat others as our slaves, those who owe us or belong to us in some way, ignoring the image of God that we could see if we looked for it. We are set apart for God, and so should be different from the world around us, reflecting his nature in everything we do. Raising children, folding clothes, interacting with neighbors, loving our spouse, each activity we engage in should be purposeful and intentional, imbued with holiness. We are free to do whatever God asks us to do. We are free to live secure in his love, bathed in grace.

Our freedom is a reality.  The Year of Jubilee is a permanent state of being for us.  It’s up to us to live in joy and freedom, and to reflect the nature of the One we have chosen to be our God.

“If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”  John 8:36

Truly Safe

Do you remember where you were when the twin towers in New York City collapsed on 9/11, twelve years ago? Many of you were children. Perhaps what you remember is a feeling, an overwhelming sadness that you didn’t understand. I was getting ready to go to work. I turned on the television for background noise. I couldn’t turn away. I remember watching, horrified, as I saw the second plane hit the second tower, and seeing it collapse down upon itself. I hurried in to work, mostly to be with other people who could verify that what I was seeing was real. I worked then in a public high school, and the place was eerily quiet. We followed what was happening on our computers.

I learned two things that day:

1.     Security is an illusion. Since then we have implemented the Homeland Security Act, beefed up TSA, and allowed innumerable encroachments on our freedoms, all in the name of security. The truth is, if a person is determined to cause mayhem and pain, he will find a way. The only security in this life is to trust in God.

“Do not put your trust in princes (or presidents), in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – the Lord, who remains faithful forever.” Psalm 147:1

2.     We need each other.  Think how different that day would have been if the people of New York had lived up to their reputation as cold loners. The whole world looked on, wishing they could do something to help. The people of New York were our hands and feet in those first hours. We are created for community.  We are better together than we are alone.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and had no one to help him up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one many be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

People ask me where God was on that horrific day. We know where he was; he was there, embodied by the many men and women who reached out to help, risking their own lives. He was there comforting the dying and strengthening the rescuers. He was there feeding and loving and weeping right along with us. God doesn’t always prevent evil men from the terrible things they devise; we wish he would. Instead, he works through us, his body, to comfort and lift each other up.

We are afraid of so many things. God wants us to take shelter in him, remembering that he is our only security. He wants us to reach out to each other. It is in sharing our stories, in remembering those who were lost and the heroic people who acted that day that God is glorified and evil is overcome. It is in sharing our fears today that God can overcome them. We can rest in him.

What are you afraid of? Find someone and share. Lay your fears down.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.' Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear…” Psalm 91:1-5

Bubbling, Clean and Life-giving...

God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet of destruction to His people.  The people were about to be assaulted from both Babylon and Egypt, and God lists two reasons why He is allowing their overthrow; they had forsaken Him, and had turned to their own devices to meet their needs.

“For My people have committed two evils:  They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”  Jeremiah 2:13

A cistern was a large holding tank that was either dug out of the ground or hewn out of rock.  It collected seepage and rain runoff, often through gutters and pipes.  The water was stagnant and there was often debris floating on the top.  Occasionally animals would stumble into them and drown.  So the water from these cisterns was usually flat and stale tasting at best — at its worst it could be deadly.

Living water was naturally occurring, flowing water.  Streams, rivers and underground streams that spill out of the rock in waterfalls or bubble up out of the ground were all living water.  Living water was extremely important to the Jewish people.  God demanded it for ceremonial cleansing.  He had provided it in the wilderness when the people followed Moses, and He had consoled and protected David at the oasis of En Gedi where the water bursts out of the rock.  They celebrated the Feast of Sukkot that included prayer for rain for the upcoming harvest.  Only God could provide it, just as only God can cleanse.  It was during the Feast of Sukkot that Jesus declared Himself to be the source of living water in John 4:10.

           

God says “I am living water.  Come to me and I will quench your thirst and give you life.”  Instead, we build cisterns. We collect the runoff of real life. We tell God that we can take care of ourselves, thank you, we don’t need Him.  And then we proceed to quench our thirst in ways God never intended, poisoning our souls and leaving ourselves aching for water that will quench our thirst and provide life. We turn to alcohol or we overeat or we turn to any number of dead and dying things to provide life. To make things worse, our cisterns are broken, and couldn’t hold even brackish water.  We are unable in every way to make the life for ourselves that God intends for us.

           

Apart from Him, we can do nothing.

Dear God, help me to see the difference between the life I make for myself and the life You want to give me.   Help me to choose You.  

A living witness

            In the Old Testament, when a monumental event took place the person involved would erect a Standing Stone or stones.  These were large stones set on end or perhaps a pile of stones arranged in a particular order or shape according to what was available.  When others saw it they would stop and ask “What happened here?”  They were stones of testimony.  When the person involved passed that way again they were reminded of the event and of God’s instruction or provision, and could use it as an opportunity to share what God had done with his children.  We see this done in Genesis 28 after Jacob’s dream of a ladder to heaven, and again in Exodus 24 when Moses reconfirms the covenant between God and His people.  Joshua and Samuel both erected standing stones.

“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…”

 I Peter 2:5

            Peter calls us living stones.  We as individuals are being built into the Church, which stands as a living testimony to what God is doing, of His provision and instruction in our world today.  We are Standing Stones.  When people see us and the manner in which we live our lives and conduct ourselves in the world, they should stop and ask “What happened here?  Why is this person different?”  When they ask, we can give the answer “God happened here.  Here’s how He changed my life…”  Our very lives are to be stones of testimony.

            We can have a testimony of peace in the midst of adversity.  We can be a witness of God’s power at work even when we are at our weakest.  The church should be standing as a testimony of truth and righteousness.    

           Too often we testify instead to defeat and despair.  We could be standing as a pillar of love to our community.  Instead we are often another social club. We need to be making thoughtful choices, living intentionally. Our actions inform people’s opinion of God. What are we doing to his reputation?  We are a testimony; the question is to what are we testifying?