Forcing Hypocrisy

 What does unfounded fear cause?  It causes you to think that a president who opts not to say "endowed by their Creator" in his quotation of the Declaration of Independence is a good reason to go ballistic.  The fact is that "by their Creator" is a statement of faith, and evidently, our President either doesn't believe that statements of faith should be included in government documents or he doesn't believe that these rights are actually endowed by our Creator.  Either way, he should probably not quote the document accurately.  He would be hypocritical to do so.  "Hypocrisy:  the act of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie."1

The prophets in the Old Testament would agree.  They were constantly warning Israel that God could care less about outward demonstrations coming from unbelieving hearts.  He accepts only those demonstrations that flow from a heart of love and commitment toward Him.  We waste valuable time and emotional energy when we try to force people to say what they don't mean.  When we insist on this, we create a nation of hypocrites(non-believers who go ahead and say it) and rebels(non-believers who refuse to say it).  We do this based on the fear that we are losing something great.  But when you think about it, we've already lost "it" if "it" must be forced.  Yes, I think a President should have some buy-in on our foundational documents and fearlessly quote them accurately.  More importantly, though, I want to know where the man stands, so, keep on being real, Mr. Obama.

Americans who love their Creator need not be afraid.  Even in light of the wild, unrelenting changes overtaking American society, changes like re-worded foundational documents, we should never be afraid of letting people speak honestly from their heart.  At least we know where we stand.  Americans who love their Creator need to take a step back, relax a little, in light of our status as God's family.  We already know the end of the story.  America and our President are not the answer for humanity.  Our purupose is to patiently bring Truth to every person we can.  Not political or social truth.  The Truth person, Jesus Christ, our Creator.  Bringing another heart to Him will bring shalom (~peace) to another life and could potentially turn the tide for generations to come.

1 Wikipedia ;-)

The Taming of the Shrew

Katharina:
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?     William Shakespeare

I watched the Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor version of this play on film last night.  Katharina is a raging, angry, frustrated young woman, reminiscent of some I know.  Her younger sister, Bianca, is charming, kind and beautiful.  They are quite the contrast.  Their father will not allow Bianca to marry until Katharina is wed.  Finally, one man, Petruchio, is willing to take her on.  Eventually, Katharina is won over to true, beautiful womanhood by the firm, consistent love, discipline and humor of a man unafraid to be all up in his God-given role as head of the house. 

It is a beautiful movie but I loved most the final message of Katharina partially quoted above.  It is a message for the ages.  From Eden until this very moment, a godly woman's challenge is to bring peace and not war into her relationships.  21st century American marriages have become battle grounds for dominating rivals and angry judges instead of peace bearers.  Every day, what are supposed to be Christian marriages, are falling apart.  I know what you are thinking, and yes, we could blame it on the men.  They can be selfish, and unwilling to show Christ-like love.  They can make terrible choices which wives must share in.  But it is an ugly world when children are forced to witness emotional and physical warfare between two stubborn, selfish adults inside their own home.  In my role, I am seeing it daily.

There is a hardness, an anger, a coldness in women today, even in the church.  The gospel of Matthew warns that as the world gets older and closer to the coming, " lawlessness will abound and the love of many will grow cold."  The kind of love that passage refers to is family love.  I see not only spiritual love dying, but the love of family, that was once considered a natural thing, dying away in our society.  Women are walking away from their husbands and families in droves.

I fear for our children.  Their concept of normal is so skewed.  For them it is normal that half of all families are broken.  It is normal for Daddies to live across town or across the country and be weekend visitors.  It is normal for Mom to "have her own life" and resent the responsibilities she has at home.   God help them as they grow up in this dark world.

Women, wake up.  We desperately need to realign ourselves with the beautiful images of femininity and grace demonstrated by godly women through the ages.  Instead of judging and despising our sinful and broken men, we need to lift them up in prayer.  Instead of pointing fingers, we need to soothe brows.  Instead of impatiently demanding our rights we need to minister to them faithfully in love.  Instead of first pursuing our own goals and dreams, we need die to ourselves and put others first.  There is no marriage that can withstand assault from the inside.  There is enough waging against it from without. 


 

It's Up to You(as in..not me)

I think I have hit a new watermark in my faith!  Several years ago, I came under pretty strong conviction about worry being a sin and that I should stop.  This was a big deal because worrying is genetically and environmentally hardwired into me and was part of my very personality.  The Lincoln girls could write the book on how to derive the most hysteria and drama out of any situation.  God was going to have to radically alter my heart, my brain, my emotional makeup to root this out.  "But everybody's doing it!" is my most workable excuse.  Instead of stopping, though,  I think what my sin did was just go under cover.  Instead of an open wringing of the hands and chronic complaining about the dramas of ordinary life, it took on a new form(though some might disagree) and could now be better described as a  case of quiet, persistent gnawing in the abdomen accompanied by an occasional irregular heart rate.   I'm not ranting aloud so much my worries like I did, just an honest telling of the situation with a few "I'm trusting God"'s thrown in.  And I could even keep in close check the "what if's" that dominated my thought life.  But had I really learned to trust my God?

I don't think so.  If lust is undercover adultery and hate is undercover murder, then could this pain in my gut be a new pushed-down, slow-burn way to worry. Honestly, it was much harder on my health than verbalizing.  Finally,   I  had to ask myself the question:  I am still less than sure about the truth of Romans 8:28 that He can work all things to my good?  Do I personally know with certainty the thematic testimony in scripture about the radical goodness and capability of my God?  Can He truly take care of everything and allow me to live like the spoiled little girl.  Is He seriously the awesome Papa bearing all my burdens who just lets me be the contented child.  Can He really right all the wrongs in my life, restore all the broken things, heal all the diseases, free all the prisoners, and mount us all up on wings?  I read a lot about this stuff daily. But do I believe it?  I do believe. I don't just believe, I know!  He has faithfully demonstrated Himself personally to me enough.  I know. There is a new place in me where I know for sure.   And as that new place of knowing grows my raw place is healing up, my heart rate settling, even in the middle of some seriously stormy drama.  I might even fall asleep.

A Ram is on its Way

By Glynnis Whitwer
"So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" Genesis 22:14 (NIV)

Have you ever been in a situation so desperate that it looked hopeless?

Have you ever sat at the kitchen table wondering how you were going to pay the electric bill? Have you ever stood at a door that's been slammed in your face by an angry teenager and despaired at ever having a relationship with him again? Have you ever had your heart broken so deeply that you wondered if you would ever feel whole again?

Sadly, we live in a broken world where desperate situations happen every day. I know someone reading this devotion is wondering how she will make it through the day because her situation looks hopeless. If that is you, I encourage you to keep reading. I believe God has a message of hope for you today.

That message is found in the Bible, in the story of a man who was dealing with his own desperate situation. His name was Abraham and he faced the greatest testing of his life. After longing for a son for many years, God finally gave Abraham a boy, whom he named Isaac. Abraham never imagined God would test his faith by asking him to sacrifice his son. But it happened.

It had to have been the darkest day of Abraham's life as he trudged up the mountain, with firewood strapped to his son's back. Every step took Abraham closer to what he believed to be the sad ending of a hopeless situation – the death of his son. Yet in spite of his sorrow, Abraham trusted God. His heart wasn't soaring with joy. He wasn't dancing up the mountain. But he put one foot in front of the other. Walking through the darkness of the situation; obeying His God's commands.

Unbeknownst to Abraham, som ething else was walking up that mountain. Quietly. Out of sight. On the other side of the mountain. Something else was putting one foot in front of the other. Only Abraham couldn't see it.

For every step Abraham took, a ram on the other side of the mountain took a step.

All Abraham saw that day was his solitary journey of pain. As he got closer to the top of the mountain, his dread must have increased. I wonder if he asked himself any questions. I would have. I would have wondered why hadn't God intervened? Why hadn't God stopped this testing? Couldn't God see that Abraham was a man of faith? Why test him in this way?

But there was no answer. There was no voice from heaven. And so Abraham kept obeying his God's command. He put Isaac on an altar and prepared to sacrifice his one and only son.

And just at that very moment, at the very last second, when it looked like the end had come, God spoke, stopping the sacrifice. Abraham looked up and there caught in the thicket was a ram. Abraham took his son off the altar, replaced him with the ram, and offered the sacrifice to God.

Abraham named that place "Yahweh-Yireh" or "The Lord Will Provide." And the story was written down for generations of God-followers to read. It was written so that you and I today would read it as we face our own hopeless situations. It was captured in print so that you and I would know that God is already planning for our provision. We don't see it. We don't hear it. But we can trust that our God is at work. On your behalf, and on mine.

I choose to trust God today. A ram is on the way.

A Sign of Hope?

Yesterday I drove by a sign that said, "Burning in hell for those without Jesus Christ."   This sign was planted right in front of a building where people who supposedly have Jesus Christ meet on a regular basis.  And their proclamation was "Burning in hell..."  I cannot properly describe the physical and emotional response I felt at that moment.  I've seen signs like this before, but never felt such a powerful anger and disgust over them.  I guess I am just on edge right now.  But because while it is factual, it seems almost unforgivable and perverted for this to be presented as The Big Message of a gathering of God's people. 

Lots of people in different situations are going to drive by that sign.  People who are already saved will either respond with smugness or sadness.  People who are lost will either respond with anger or indifference. The problem is, the kind of person who would consider coming to Jesus, a person who is weighted down by the sin in their life, a person who has a deep need, a person who is lost and hurting, will not be ministered to by that stupid sign.  It will only further convince them of their hopeless situation.  So why put it up there.  So I called the church and let them have it!  Just kidding.  I did call though, and state my case.  We will see if it gets a better message next time.

Noun

1.

reconciliation - the reestablishing of cordial relations

 
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  2 Corinthians 5:18-19    

Up to My Neck

A dear friend and I finally connected last night after missed calls and desperate texts for several days.  Texts that said, "got to talk this out."  "Could I have gotten this wrong?"  So while I baked chicken and tore lettuce and sprinkled cheese, we talked it out. 

Oddly enough, her angst was exactly mine.  The angst being, if you not so long ago had clear confirmation that a certain direction was the one you were to take, as in "He leadeth me..." in no uncertain terms, then why does that path, the path of obedience, now seem so difficult, so sort of not the right path.  Why must you feel the need to question said decision, if, at the time it was made, you had complete assurance that it was a "God-thing" and that it was where He wanted you to go?

So after some serious "talking it out," this soul sister of mine and I decided that life is just like that, that no matter how closely we're trying to walk with the Lord, no matter how clear the Spirit's leading seems, there are times that those beautiful clear waters turn muddy and start running out of control.  Someone(don't you hate him) is trying to rob you of God's gift of balance and peace....the life we innately long for.

When Life starts to feel like a trip down the Nantahala (got to be GRITS to get this analagy), we decided it is time to revisit the faithfulness of the One in whom we put our trust.  Like David recounted the saving grace provided during the attack of the lion and the attack of the bear before he slew the giant, we need to recount all those places in our life where God has made a way for us, make a sort of a list of spiritual mile markers. We surely have one even when we don't realize it.  He is ever faithful despite my clueless lack of acknowledgment. 

It is also time, my sister and I concluded, to go back to the drawing board and use the age-old "if the world came to an end tomorrow" measuring stick to clear out life clutter, right wrongs, turn from transgressions(I like this word.  It has the needed weightiness.), update our important relationships and get back to a desired homeostasis.

Acknowledging His Amazing Faithfulness on the platform of my Utter Flaky Inability is the only thing that will keep life in perspective.

Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.  Psalm 69:1