Sacred Scars

I often wish the scar on my abdomen were not so unattractive. My youngest son, Seth was 10 lbs 11 oz and had to be taken cesarean section. Because of his size the incision was vertical rather than horizontal. Many years later due to a benign tumor, that same incision would be reopened. It is a significant scar but I’ve come to the realization that everything we face in life and all of our experiences are framed with perspective.  I can choose to focus on how unattractive this scar is and feel ashamed or I can choose to focus on the fact that this scar resulted in producing the life of an amazing young man that I adore.  This same scar reminds me that God was faithful at a very scary time in my life when doctors were certain something terrible would be found in my body.  In addition, I have another scar on my neck that is a result of my battle with cancer. These scars share a common thread, they all tell a story and they are all framed by the way I choose to view them. They tell a beautiful story of God’s faithfulness and His promise to never leave nor forsake me.  Everything we face in life has the potential to serve as a memorial of God’s faithfulness or our resignation to defeat.

 

Two thousand years ago scars were formed that would reshape all of humanity. These scars would be suffered unjustly and change the world forever. The scars Jesus bore serve as a beautiful reminder of His unfailing love and His selfless sacrifice. The scandalous cross with all of its violence and gore is framed with a beautiful picture of redemption. When we remember His suffering we cannot help but feel overwhelmed with gratefulness that He was the propitiation for our sin. The spotless, perfect Lamb of God left all of the comfort and splendor of heaven to suffer a scandalous, violent death as the single greatest act of love ever to be performed on Earth. Do we think of the gore and the violence? Do we focus on the wounds on His Hands, His Feet? No. We focus on the beautiful result of His sacrifice. The gore, the violence, the scandal yielded a beautiful love story. We frame the shame of the cross with the beauty of redemption and reconciliation. We frame the injustice of it all with the realization that there was no greater love than this. We frame the sufferings of Christ with the victory of His resurrection and the promise of His return. We choose to remember these scars, the shame of His nakedness on the cross, and the injustice of it all can be framed by continual awareness that God so loved us that He gave. He gave His all because His greatest desire is to have relationship with us. Oh, what a Savior!!! I am eternally grateful for His sacred scars.

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Holiness

LIFE:

Before receiving Christ and committing my life to Him, I had a sense of emptiness. Even when I felt happy, there seemed to be something missing. I always felt there had to be a greater purpose in life. Satisfaction and contentment seemed to elude me. In the bad times the hopelessness seemed almost too much to bear and the sense of aloneness overwhelming. I look back now and realize how thirsty my soul was for a relationship with its Creator. I believed in the existence of God. I believed in the existence of Jesus and even in the existence of the Holy Spirit. But I realize that even the demons believe and they tremble. If I am drowning and someone throws me a life preserver, I have to know how to utilize that life preserver to save my life. If I don't go beyond knowing God exists and arrive at a relationship with Him, I will never fill the emptiness in my heart. The age old question, "What is the meaning of life" is easily answered in the Word of God. We were created for Him!! It's that plain and that simple. We were created for His purposes, His pleasure, His glory. Am I always "happy" now that I have a great relationship with the Lord? No. But I am always filled with joy and more importantly the assurance that even in the not-so-good times I have a Savior that has promised to never leave me alone and a resolve within my heart that He is working all things together for good. However, that "good" He is working is not necessarily my definition of "good". God sees all, knows all and has the wisdom required to use my life for HIS purposes and I trust Him because I know His character and that He loves me.

 

LIBERTY:

The world will tell you that Christianity is a set of rules and regulations and that entering a relationship with Jesus means giving up everything and anything that is "fun". This couldn't be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, entering a relationship with Jesus sets you free to choose a life of holiness. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 "We are allowed to do all things, but not all things are good for us to do. We are allowed to do all things, but not all things help others grow stronger.  Do not look out only for yourselves. Look out for the good of others also." So, in essence, a life without Christ is a life of bondage where we are giving in to our own desires rather than being free by the Spirit of God to honor the One that created us. Without the Lord in our lives, we are destined to carry the burdens of life ourselves. God never intended for it to be that way. He lifts our burdens and we are able to rest in the fact that He sustains us and gives us exactly what we need each day to make it thorough victoriously. So, you see dear friends, after we commit our lives to Christ, He gives us liberty and freedom to walk out the rest of our days honoring Him.

 

PURSUIT OF HOLINESS:

Once we develop our relationship with Christ and realize the unbelievable price He paid for us and how He set us free, we can't help but desire to give our lives back to Him. It's not about "buying" our salvation, rather a reasonable act of worship to say, "Lord, I am so grateful for all You have done for me and I love You so much but I recognize I have nothing to offer you. Nothing that would even come close to commensurate the sacrifice you made. So, I offer you my life, a living sacrifice. Have Your way in me. Mold me and make me and remake me into the person You desire me to be. Use me to glorify You. This kind of surrender pleases the Lord and releases our burdens. We trade the stress of making our lives count in the way we think they should in exchange for His will, purposes and plans for us. We no longer live for self but dedicate our days to honoring Him and our fellow man. This pursuit for Holiness reminds us that only the Lord in us can cause us to walk in victory and in ways that would draw others to Him.  

Hebrews 12:14 "Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, since no one will see God without it."

 

Growing in Grace

Over the 30 plus years I have served the Lord, I have heard Bible verses, quotes and statements made by many believers about growing in grace. However, recently, this idea came alive to me. I am currently enrolled an a theology class being taught by my Pastor. Over the years I have heard him on multiple occasions give the definition of grace (unmerited favor) and even heard him expound on how grace is not a license to sin. Recently, however, he has repeatedly taught us the difference between mercy and grace. Even though they are in some instances very interchangeable, they are two distinct and different characteristics altogether. In rather simple terms, he defines the difference this way: Mercy is what I need when I fail. Grace is what I need so I won't fail.

In our theology class last night, Pastor mentioned that the more intimately we are acquainted with Christ, the more grace we receive. I meditated on this for quite some time and of course this makes perfect sense. The more I know Him, the greater my understanding is of what pleases and displeases Him. I thought of the perfect example: After work on Friday, I ran several errands and decided to stop at Saladworks for dinner. I purchased my meal and sat down at a table and began eating and was interrupted by a man seated at a nearby table with his girlfriend:

             Man: Excuse me?

             Me: Yes?

             Man: I was wondering if I offended you just now?

             Me: Ummm, no. Why?

             Man: Well, my girlfriend said that she believes you would be offended by my using

                       the "F" word moments ago.

             Me: Oh, well, I didn't hear you.

             Man: Oh, good. I didn't think you were offended.

             Me: Well, if I HAD heard you, I would have been sad because I am a follower of

                    Christ and believe in using words for good and ones that promote peace.

             Man: (Surprised look on his face) Oh, well then I'm glad you didn't hear me.

As Pastor discussed the idea of growing in grace by knowing Christ more intimately, I thought of this encounter. You see, this man did not know me. He did not know me at all. Had, he known me, he would have been well aware that foul language would be offensive to me. In the same way, the greater we know Christ, the better we understand what grieves Him and what pleases Him. We cannot simply assume that He is well pleased with us. Rather, through spending time in the scriptures and prayer, we are afforded the opportunity of seeing His heart and getting to know Him on a level that subdues us from participating in things that would grieve Him and focusing our time and heart on things that bring Him honor. Thus, the process of "growing in grace."

In the same way, I have shared in the past that there is a difference between knowing ABOUT someone and knowing on a level that you have an intimate relationship with them. If I were the leader of Tim Tebow's fan club, I would more than likely know a lot about him, probably more than the average person. I may even know his address, his favorite color, his favorite Bible verse, his birthday and even some childhood stories. Yet, I've never met him.  Even if I have met him, I've never spent time intimately with him. I've never heard him speak from his heart or built a relationship with him. In the same manner, we must be diligent to know and love Christ intimately and not simply know OF him. Even the demons know of Him. I encourage you dear brother, dear sister, grow in the grace of God by becoming more intimately acquainted with Christ and knowing Him in an even greater way. 

"You therefore, beloved, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:17-18

Pin the Tail on the Donkey

I can remember as a child going to birthday parties and playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I didn't particularly like this game because I remember feeling very vulnerable with blindfolded eyes and being spun around and losing all my bearings and sense of stability. To fully surrender and completely trust another with your safety as well as point you in the right direction can be very intimidating.

 

I have been meditating on this thought lately and how many times in my walk with God, I would not fully surrender. I would feel my plans and my thoughts were better for my life than His. Inevitably, I would find myself in a mess and crying out to God for help. I have come to the realization that I'd rather be in the middle of the most uncomfortable situation and feeling helpless if it's the Lord's will than to be heading on a path of my own desires destined for destruction and less than God has planned for me.

 

We have all suffered broken trust. Some of us more than others and we can allow it to shape the way we trust God or we can decide that in spite of all our disappointments, God is perfect and trusting Him is NEVER in vain. He never fails.

 

I want to possess the faith and trust of Abraham. The Bible tells us that "By faith, Abraham when called to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING." Hebrews 11:8 God blindfolded Abraham, spun him around, placed the "tail" in his hands and said "Go." Feeling dizzy, uneasy, off-balance and completely vulnerable, what did Abraham do? He went!!! He trusted God. He didn't allow his own level of comfort or his own ideas cloud the voice of God. Nothing was keeping Abraham from possessing all God had for him. This is the kind of heart I want. When God says, go, I want to go. When God says, no, I want to say thank you because You know best.

 

Lord, may my entire life be surrendered fully to You. May I possess an attitude of gratitude no matter what storms may be raging around me. May I continually realize that You are worthy of praise, completely void of and aside from any and all circumstances in my life. When you blindfold me, spin me around and command me to "Go", may I confidently step out and go. Even if I'm feeling dizzy, off-balance and shaky, may I trust you to guide me and secure my journey with your peace. May your Word stabilize my footing and your Holy Spirit strengthen me for the path you have prepared for me.

Priceless

Have you ever felt unimportant? Have you ever felt insignificant? Have you ever felt as if you didn't matter? If you have not, count yourself extremely fortunate. Most of us can so clearly identify with feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency. Contrary to our feelings, God places great value on us. He sacrificed it all just to reconcile us back to Himself. The Bible likens us to a valuable lost coin and so important that everything else ceases until we are found and returned to Him. (Luke 15:8-10) We are also compared to lost sheep (one among many) and the Shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to come after just one of us because we are THAT important to Him. (Luke 15:3-7)

I would be remiss if I did not balance out this encouraging post with a healthy dose of humility. We live in a society filled with narcissism where all the focus is on self. "Do what feels good." "Look out for number one." "I, I, I." "Me, me, me." As a result, we have a generation that wants to know what faith in Christ can do for THEM. How will they benefit?  This is not the importance I am referring to. I am reiterating your value for the Kingdom of God. He did not reach down and rescue us so we could obliviously live our lives with some false sense of heaven-bound security. We are on assignment. Our reasonable act of appreciation to the Lord for His indescribable sacrifice is to offer our lives to Him. (Romans 12:1) Our love and commitment to Him should so overflow from us that our greatest desire is to share it with this hurting, desolate, hopeless world we live in. Otherwise, why wouldn't He just miraculously transport us into heaven once we are redeemed?

Dear one, when feelings of inadequacy, unimportance and insignificance seem to overwhelm you, meditate on His amazing love for you and how He sacrificed it all just to have a relationship with you. Even when you despised Him or ignored Him or didn't even acknowledge His existence, He still sacrificed it all in hopes that one day you would see how great His love is for you. (Romans 5:8) 

 

Surely you recognize that you would not sacrifice your life for something that has little or no value. How much more the Creator of all things would not waste His time redeeming something of no value. He places great value on us because He desires to know us intimately and He wants us to be in a loving relationship with Him.

 

The Bible says He fashioned and formed us while we were still in our mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13) You are His masterpiece, one of a kind, formed by His majestic Hands. If you were a painting, you would be exceedingly more valuable than any Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, da Vinci or Michelangelo because you were inspired and created by the Master Artist, The Maker of all things beautiful and lovely. (Ephesians 2:10)

 

It is my prayer that today you would have a revelation of how important you are to the Lord. I am asking the Lord to place His Hand upon you today and pour out His amazing love on you so you might know the neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from the amazing love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Because you are priceless.

SWEETLY BROKEN

I have never proclaimed to be a poet nor the daughter of a poet. In fact, I have never written a poem in my life. However, throughout this week during my quiet time I had phrases and poetic "lines" coming to mind. I began to journal those thoughts and this is what they yielded:

SWEETLY BROKEN:
Well acquainted with heartache, calling loneliness her friend

Under the weight of abuse and betrayal she’d bend

Cruelty and violence were visiting kin
While mistreatment and insults clothed her skin

Where could she turn, who would understand?
Is there one who would lovingly offer their hand?
Secrets so plentiful and pain that abounds,
She found it much safer to quietly drown
No solace to be found neither day nor night;
Her memories torment and fill her with fright
Year after year she resolved this was her life,
Convinced she was destined to be companioned to strife

She embraced self-loathing and shame like lovers
And dreamed of the day this life would be over
Greeting her loved ones with no tear in her eye,
She built up walls so no one would pry
The prison she built was comfortable it seemed
‘Til one day she realized gone were her dreams

Finally she pondered of what she once knew,
How He would hold her and kiss her and comfort her too
How she never had to walk alone or afraid,
If only she turned to the One by whom she was made
She fell on her face and sobbed and sobbed,
Lamenting over all she’d been robbed

Then tenderly He embraced her and drew her near,
Reminding her sweetly that she was dear
His touch was tender, compassionate and kind,
She realized so quickly He was renewing her mind
Dear child so weary, broken and worn,
Why do you insist on being torn

I’ve sacrificed utterly to make you complete,
All you need do is sit at My feet
Allow me to strengthen and make you free,
The only fare is surrender to Me

In victory she walks, her head held high
Not prideful or boasting but by His side
She knew more battles were coming one day
But fear didn’t grip her or cause her to stray

She surrendered completely and decided to trust
The One who was flawless and made her from dust
Hand in hand they now journey this life so restored
She was fulfilled and delivered by the One she adored