tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34419080409825019032024-02-19T02:36:30.481-08:00The Good Portion. . . is found at the feet of Jesus
(Luke 10:38-42)Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.comBlogger507125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-20981674251123629402023-12-18T19:53:00.000-08:002023-12-18T19:53:51.878-08:00Complete Fulfillment, Part 1<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> <strong style="background-color: white; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments” </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(Deut. 7:9).</span></p></blockquote><article class="BlogItem hentry category-laurie-mathers category-complete-fulfillment tag-christianity tag-living-hope-chico tag-chico-living-hope tag-gospel tag-biblical-theology tag-biblical-typology tag-covenant tag-new-covenant tag-abraham tag-adam tag-sin tag-salvation tag-hope tag-gods-promises tag-deuteronomy-79 tag-genesis-315 tag-noah tag-genesis-6 tag-hosea-67 tag-genesis-17 tag-complete-fulfillment author-living-hope post-type-text has-categories has-tags" data-item-id="61de07808e44e82ff6fe2134" id="post-61de07808e44e82ff6fe2134" style="background-color: white; color: #140055; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px;"><div class="sqs-layout sqs-grid-12 columns-12" data-layout-label="Post Body" data-type="item" data-updated-on="1641942578655" id="item-61de07808e44e82ff6fe2134" style="margin-bottom: 10px; order: 5;"><div class="row sqs-row" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702957373881_809" style="margin-left: -17px; margin-right: -17px; width: auto !important;"><div class="col sqs-col-7 span-7" style="float: left; width: 698.438px;"><div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-de70bf5aaa761435b304" style="clear: none; height: auto; padding: 0px 17px; position: relative;"><div class="sqs-block-content" style="outline: none;"><div class="sqs-html-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God is a covenant keeping God. It is through covenant relationships that God has chosen to reveal his character (and ours), and it is through covenants that he accomplishes his “plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1:10). This is why covenants form the backbone of the Bible’s story, and this is why a proper understanding of the Bible's covenants and how they relate to each other is so essential to a correct understanding of Scripture and proper application of God's word to our lives.</p><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The graphic below<strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">*</strong> began to take shape in my mind during the biblical theology class I audited in August. It is a very simple picture of how the Bible's covenants fit together, how they all point to Christ, and how they all find their fulfillment in him. </p><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It begins with God's covenant at creation, commonly referred to as the <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Adamic Covenant</strong>. God formed Adam in His own image, placed him in a garden of His own planting, and entered into covenant relationship with him there. From the man's side, God created a woman to be his wife and gave them dominion to rule the earth as God's representatives. They were given perpetual access to the Tree of Life and enjoyed warm fellowship with their Creator. They had only one prohibition, but disobedience to it was accompanied by the promise of death.</p><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As we know, Adam broke the covenant (cf. Hos 6:7). Sin entered the world. Death followed, just as God had promised. But this was not the end of God's planned self-revelation. With the first broken covenant also came the first promise of a Savior (Gen. 3:15).</p><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The decline of sinful man was rapid. Just three chapters later:</p><blockquote style="border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em;"><p class="" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Gen 6: 5-6).</p></blockquote><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Famously, God chose to destroy his creation in a great flood, sparing only Noah, the one man of faith left in the world, along with his family and a boat full of animals. With the earth temporarily purged, God re-established his covenant with creation in what is known as the <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Noahic Covenant</strong>. Through Noah, mankind would again be fruitful and multiply. And though they would yet again fill the earth with sin, God vowed to never again flood the earth in judgment.</p><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By Genesis 11, mankind had already grown so wicked that God confused their languages to slow their ability to succeed in their sinful ventures. And it was in the wake of the ensuing chaos that God called a man named Abram out of idolatry (Gen. 12-17) and entered into a covenant relationship with him:</p><blockquote style="border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em;"><p class="" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">multitude of nations</strong>. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">fruitful</strong>, and I will make you into nations, and <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">kings shall come from you</strong>. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">offspring</strong> after you throughout their generations for <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">an everlasting covenant</strong>, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">I will be their God</strong>” (Gen. 17:4-8).</p></blockquote><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is the <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Abrahamic Covenant</strong>. Through it God's plan comes into sharper focus as his promises begin to funnel down through this one man's offspring. In my next article(s), I plan to trace the rest of the covenants through to their fulfillment in Christ and the New Covenant.</p><p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p class="" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><div class="sqs-image-shape-container-element
has-aspect-ratio
" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1702957373881_803" style="mask-image: -webkit-radial-gradient(center center, white, black); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 796px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><img alt="" class="loaded" data-image-dimensions="600x1800" data-image-focal-point="0.5,0.5" data-image="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png" data-load="false" data-loader="sqs" data-src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png" data-stretch="false" decoding="async" elementtiming="system-image-block" height="1800" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, (max-width: 767px) 25vw, 25vw" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png" srcset="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=100w 100w, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=300w 300w, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=500w 500w, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=750w 750w, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=1000w 1000w, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=1500w 1500w, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/657467ad-0683-44fe-acee-b0d392bb8c4e/The+Covenants+the+funnel+of++faith+%281%29.png?format=2500w 2500w" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 796px; left: 0px; max-width: none; object-fit: cover; object-position: 50% 50%; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 265.333px;" width="600" /></div>*This graphic borrows several details from Fig. 16.3 in <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Kingdom Through Covenant</em>, by Peter Gentry & Stephen Wellum. Wellum was the teacher of my above-mentioned biblical theology class. When I realized that his book contained a diagram similar to the one I had envisioned, I included several details of his diagram into my own.)</div><div class="sqs-html-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><br /></div><div class="sqs-html-content" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/12/19/complete-fulfillment-part-1" target="_blank">here</a>.</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="BlogItem-share" style="margin-bottom: 10px; order: 7; text-align: center;"><div class="Share sqs-share-buttons" data-item-identifier="61de07808e44e82ff6fe2134" data-item-path="resources/2021/12/19/complete-fulfillment-part-1" style="line-height: 0;"><div class="Share-buttons" style="margin: -5px;"><a class="Share-buttons-item Share-buttons-item--social" data-service="pinterest" href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?description=Covenants+form+the+backbone+of+the+Bible%E2%80%99s+story.+This+is+why+a+proper+understanding+of+the+...&media=https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/1641942242857-HCR7K65HI92P2JW2X7VO/Complete+Fulfillment+SQUARE.jpg&url=https%3A%2F%2Flivinghopechico.com%2Fresources%2F2021%2F12%2F19%2Fcomplete-fulfillment-part-1" style="background-color: transparent; border-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(251, 122, 0); color: #fb7a00; display: inline-block; fill: rgb(251, 122, 0); height: 20px; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 20px; margin: 5px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; text-wrap: nowrap; vertical-align: middle;" target="_blank"><svg class="Share-buttons-item-icon" viewbox="0 0 64 64"><use xlink:href="/universal/svg/social-accounts.svg#pinterest-icon"></use></svg></a></div></div></div></article><nav class="BlogItem-pagination clear" style="background-color: white; color: #140055; font-family: Gidole !important; font-size: 14px;"><a class="BlogItem-pagination-link BlogItem-pagination-link--prev" href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/12/26/do-you-pray-like-this" style="background-color: transparent; float: left; text-decoration-line: none; width: 581.667px;"><div class="BlogItem-pagination-link-content" style="display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: calc(100% - 43px);"><div class="BlogItem-pagination-link-label" style="color: #fb7a00; font-size: 35px; letter-spacing: 0em; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 4px 0px;"><br /></div></div></a></nav>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-58705489807698491042022-08-11T16:19:00.012-07:002022-08-11T16:31:06.291-07:00Timing Is Everything<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(251, 122, 0, 0.3); padding-bottom: 0.05em; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.15s ease-out 0s;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjolLxN8-j77OK3_XhEEhBy-gUN6H6NR53X_peS-PJybImGTqmsTTl8IKKrzFnxbKQh3SHxRcxSrPyMv_XO6xYtk9MnFHumsqMQBdi4N8rQXgjyevn8MfXURv1TBPHA5_neHZaiKN6-bfuSmU78pkmkXaDOKF7H2n6e6mhmBr7IJJoXjQChioeytXFwoQ/s750/Timing+Is+Everything+(Instagram+Post).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjolLxN8-j77OK3_XhEEhBy-gUN6H6NR53X_peS-PJybImGTqmsTTl8IKKrzFnxbKQh3SHxRcxSrPyMv_XO6xYtk9MnFHumsqMQBdi4N8rQXgjyevn8MfXURv1TBPHA5_neHZaiKN6-bfuSmU78pkmkXaDOKF7H2n6e6mhmBr7IJJoXjQChioeytXFwoQ/s320/Timing+Is+Everything+(Instagram+Post).jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(251, 122, 0, 0.3); padding-bottom: 0.05em; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.15s ease-out 0s;"></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(251, 122, 0, 0.3); padding-bottom: 0.05em; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.15s ease-out 0s;">In <a href="https://lauriemo.blogspot.com/2022/08/a-timeline-of-ages.html" target="_blank">last week’s article</a></span>, I mentioned that I recently audited a class on Biblical Theology taught by author and Christian theology professor, Stephen J. Wellum. In addition to the timeline I wrote about last week, one of the big lessons I brought home is that when it comes to biblical theology, timing is everything. If we intend to interpret the Scriptures properly and make sound application to our lives, we need to consider all of the events of Scripture and all of its instructions in light of their biblical timing.</span></p><p></p></div><p></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="background-color: white; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Apostle Paul illustrates the importance of this when he bases his argument for salvation by faith in large part on the <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">timing</em> of Abraham’s circumcision: </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">before or after </em></strong>he had been circumcised? It was<strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">not after, but before</em></strong><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </em>he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">while</em></strong><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </em>he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had<strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> before </strong>[Gen. 15:6] he was circumcised [Gen. 17]” (Gal. 4:9-12, emphasis mine).</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fact that Abraham was counted as righteous before he was circumcised is not incidental; it is critical, and it is intentional. God declared Abraham righteous <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">long before </em>he was circumcised, because he wanted to make it perfectly clear that Abraham’s circumcision was not the basis for his righteousness; faith was. And in this we are expected to recognize that it is not circumcision, but faith, that makes someone a child of Abraham: </span></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">beforehand</em></strong> to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Gal. 3:5-8, emphasis mine).</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By tracking the chronological order of events, Paul is also able to prove that just as the gospel of salvation for the Gentiles [Gen. 12:3] was promised to Abraham <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">before </em>the rite of circumcision [Gen. 17], so also it was promised <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">before </em>the giving of the Law. As a result, he can safely conclude that submission to the covenant of Sinai is likewise not necessary for salvation:</span></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">430 years afterward</em></strong>, does not annul a covenant <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">previously ratified </em>by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, <strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">until</em></strong><em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"> </em>the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. . . the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Gal 3:16-19, 22, emphasis mine).</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em; text-align: left;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Did you spot that “<em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">until</em>”? Because the Law came <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">after </em>the covenant of promise, we know that the promise cannot in any way be contingent upon it. And because of this, Paul could show that it was never intended as the means of salvation, even for Jews. The Law always pointed forward to an ultimate fulfillment, to the arrival of the Messiah, Abraham’s promised Seed, who would set free whoever trusted in him. So, “now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ . . . And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:25-26,29).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When we follow Paul’s method of interpreting Scripture we see that the roots of the New Testament doctrine of salvation by faith reach all the way back to Genesis. And this is only one example of how important it is to pay careful attention to the story-line of Scripture. In my next article I hope to share a simple way to see how all the covenants of Scripture point to and find their fulfillment in Christ. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/11/30/timing-is-everything" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-11671159802492291232022-08-11T16:07:00.004-07:002022-08-11T16:08:14.257-07:00A Timeline of the Ages<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in August I was blessed with the opportunity to audit a class on Biblical Theology taught by author and Christian theology professor, Stephen J. Wellum. The focus of the class was on how the Bible—by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—fits together as a cohesive whole. One of my favorite take-aways from the class was this timeline: </span></p><div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image sqs-text-ready" data-block-type="5" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1637616936258_94340" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; height: auto; padding: 17px; position: relative;"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4642"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below design-layout-inline combination-animation-none individual-animation-none individual-text-animation-none" data-test="image-block-inline-outer-wrapper" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4641"><figure class="sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4640" style="margin: auto; max-width: 1800px;"><div class="image-block-wrapper" data-animation-role="image" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4639" style="line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-align: center;"><div class="sqs-image-shape-container-element has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4638" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 231.4px; position: relative;"><img alt="" class="thumb-image loaded" data-image-dimensions="1800x600" data-image-focal-point="0.5,0.5" data-image-id="619c26a81085456aaa5b3e87" data-image-resolution="1000w" data-image="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/34c0fdde-2b4a-4a68-833b-7bb82342dd45/Bookmark+The+Ages+.png" data-load="false" data-src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/34c0fdde-2b4a-4a68-833b-7bb82342dd45/Bookmark+The+Ages+.png" data-type="image" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/34c0fdde-2b4a-4a68-833b-7bb82342dd45/Bookmark+The+Ages+.png?format=1000w" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 231.725px; left: 0px; max-width: none; position: absolute; top: -0.1625px; width: 694.2px;" /></div></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1637616936258_97226" style="background-color: white; clear: none; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; height: auto; padding: 17px; position: relative;"><div class="sqs-block-content" style="outline: none;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the purposes of the class, this timeline was intended to show how the coming of Christ altered the redemptive timeline from what had previously been expected. Before Christ’s ascension and the day of Pentecost, a timeline of redemptive history would have looked more like this:</p></div></div><div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image sqs-text-ready" data-block-type="5" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1637616936258_103515" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; height: auto; padding: 17px; position: relative;"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4665"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below design-layout-inline combination-animation-none individual-animation-none individual-text-animation-none" data-test="image-block-inline-outer-wrapper" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4664"><figure class="sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4663" style="margin: auto; max-width: 1800px;"><div class="image-block-wrapper" data-animation-role="image" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4662" style="line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-align: center;"><div class="sqs-image-shape-container-element has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1660258868210_4661" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 231.4px; position: relative;"><img alt="" class="thumb-image loaded" data-image-dimensions="1800x600" data-image-focal-point="0.5,0.5" data-image-id="619c2730cd8ed01045dec548" data-image-resolution="1000w" data-image="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/9fbf414f-12bd-4548-afef-20ba755515f8/Old+Testament+Redemptive-Historical+Timeline+%281%29.png" data-load="false" data-src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/9fbf414f-12bd-4548-afef-20ba755515f8/Old+Testament+Redemptive-Historical+Timeline+%281%29.png" data-type="image" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59e6979b8a02c7265b5c165c/9fbf414f-12bd-4548-afef-20ba755515f8/Old+Testament+Redemptive-Historical+Timeline+%281%29.png?format=1000w" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 231.725px; left: 0px; max-width: none; position: absolute; top: -0.1625px; width: 694.2px;" /></div></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1637616936258_103870" style="background-color: white; clear: none; color: #140055; font-family: "Day Roman"; font-size: 14px; height: auto; padding: 17px; position: relative;"><div class="sqs-block-content" style="outline: none;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Old Testament expectation was that Messiah, the Son of David, would come as a political ruler to re-establish the throne of David, destroy Israel’s enemies, and restore the kingdom to Israel. He would make all things right, and God’s promises to Israel would be fulfilled—all at once—in one uninterrupted timeline. </p><p style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">What the prophets did not anticipate was a delay between the coming of the Messiah (Christ) and his ultimate reign over all the earth. They did not expect the overlap of the ages in which we now live, this time of tension between the inauguration of Christ’s kingdom and the day of its ultimate fulfillment. They never expected the Last Days to be so long. </p><p style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">And, though they knew that God’s reign would one day encompass the nations, the prophets did not foresee the great mystery of the Gospel: that Jew and Gentile would be restored in one body – the body of Messiah himself (Eph. 2:11-3:13), to the unity they once had in Adam, a unity so complete that there would ultimately be no more distinguishing between the two (Gal. 3:27-29). What they never saw coming was the Church. They knew the New Covenant would be new, but they didn’t expect it to be <em style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">that </em>new. </p><p style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">The chart at top was created to be a simple, helpful visual of God’s redemptive timeline, a picture of the “already and not yet” of prophetic fulfillment in Christ. But I see more than that. Sandwiched between “This Present Age” and “The Age to Come,” I see us, Christ’s people struggling to remain faithful in the Last Days. In those diagonal lines I see the tug of sin and the flesh and the world. I see sickness and death and grief. I see the promised persecution and tribulation (Mt. 10:16ff, Jn. 16:35). I see the downward pull of political saviors and the drag of bucket lists. I see a thousand worldly fears and a thousand temptations to invest our time and energy in this dying age, to keep our eyes fixed on the here and now, and to just have fun.</p><p style="overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">But all I have to do is look up to see The Age to Come. The promised Messiah has come. All of God’s promises find their fulfillment in him (2 Cor. 1:20). He is the mediator of the promised New Covenant (Heb. 9:15), bringing salvation for his people and inaugurating God’s kingdom. He is the last Adam (Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:45), the covenant head of God’s new creation, and we are his new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17). His new temple is already under construction, and we are it (Eph. 2:19-22). The promised day of judgment is on its way, and he will be the judge (2 Tim. 4:1). On that day, This Present Age will meet its end. But for those of us who are living in The Age to Come, it will be a day of unimaginable joy, </p><blockquote style="border-color: rgb(251, 122, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-left: 1.618em;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><strong style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. </strong>(Rev. 21:3-4).</p></blockquote></div></div><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/11/22/timeline-of-the-ages" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-40360950002548839782022-03-29T19:56:00.002-07:002022-03-30T09:23:58.204-07:00A Decision to Forgive<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSDrYr2EKzrxekU7CyEuxVXQxF2CTvzao1hqekqQq3GVbQqly0E4RVynRb8wVo3D3oC4bM7pKJB0qhI5Woy0ofVGOAuo-Df4UvBKZz_FHmjfitZD6rjYX3ohfMWWdeNACkHuTVwk7KJ4TQHzS_XAaraOFcgVExneIW5yjIdXlBPSVRqhnHvBEOVmBPxQ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSDrYr2EKzrxekU7CyEuxVXQxF2CTvzao1hqekqQq3GVbQqly0E4RVynRb8wVo3D3oC4bM7pKJB0qhI5Woy0ofVGOAuo-Df4UvBKZz_FHmjfitZD6rjYX3ohfMWWdeNACkHuTVwk7KJ4TQHzS_XAaraOFcgVExneIW5yjIdXlBPSVRqhnHvBEOVmBPxQ=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div>Thirty years ago, I had an employer who was a professing Christian. He was a charismatic man with big dreams, and his employees were devoted to him. But his dreams were bigger than the reality in which we all lived. The business foundered. Paychecks became sporadic, but his bright optimism and our loyalty kept us around. <p></p><p>Eventually, however, it got to the point that he would neglect to pay us for weeks on end. One of the last straws for me was when I learned that during all the months that we went without pay, or settled for partial pay, our boss was renting a luxury home in Dana Point. Indignant, I finally quit. But there were others who stayed far longer waiting for that oft-promised ship, carrying its thousands of dollars of back-pay, to come in. </p><p>Like my boss, I, too, was a professing Christian at that time. I knew the Scriptures teach a man not to withhold wages from his workers. So, when I finally quit my job. I felt justified in taking my case to the Labor Board to try to force payment. But before I got very far in the process my conscience began to trouble me:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? . . . To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?" (1 Cor. 6:1, 6-7)</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>And there was this:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>". . . and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtor" (Mt. 6:12).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Convicted, I abandoned my claim and wrote my former boss a letter forgiving him the debt he owed me.</p><p>When I look back to that time of my life, what I remember most isn’t the money I lost, it’s the joy of being able to look that man in the eye again and smile, and to see him smile in return. The freedom to love is more precious than whatever it costs. And it does cost. In order to forgive, I had to determine to absorb the loss and the offense that had come with it. I never regretted that decision.</p><p>All these years later I have come to understand more fully the gospel I never really grasped all those years ago. Back then I followed, when I followed, as one following a rule book. But even then, I experienced the sweet reward of warm affection and renewed relationship that forgiveness brings.</p><p>In order to have true fellowship, we have to break down every barrier to love and relationship. This means we have to forgive offenses, over and over. And, yes, this also means we have to absorb the costs. But this is exactly what God has done for us: </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. . ." (Col. 1:21-22).</blockquote><p></p><p>While we were still his enemies, God paid the price of his beloved Son’s life. He absorbed the cost of our sin in order to regain fellowship with us. And this is the basis upon which he expects us to forgive one another:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" Col. 3:12-14.</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Harmony with God and with each other is worth everything it cost Christ and everything it costs us. I've lived a lot of years on this earth, and I have a lot of regrets. But I have never regretted a decision to forgive.</p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/11/2/a-decision-to-forgive" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-13759235287346951112022-03-29T19:37:00.005-07:002022-03-30T09:23:15.188-07:00The Impossible Burden (of Self-forgiveness)<p style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDe8s1KHVI6Gk49iywxDCKWWqKX_o5skXSPx7z7J6gNQHEffM3jxvu78ETFLJe0oTzX26SpRy0xo2tQgOhjX6W2dwcdH_a1l3UE941CJOc_sm2YB3cOgAtqRAmN7uhY4EmoOquqJT7YCUq3TNguiBIAOK_umPCpR3UVnrbxAxCdzHJVOTvbwYZf1OzIA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDe8s1KHVI6Gk49iywxDCKWWqKX_o5skXSPx7z7J6gNQHEffM3jxvu78ETFLJe0oTzX26SpRy0xo2tQgOhjX6W2dwcdH_a1l3UE941CJOc_sm2YB3cOgAtqRAmN7uhY4EmoOquqJT7YCUq3TNguiBIAOK_umPCpR3UVnrbxAxCdzHJVOTvbwYZf1OzIA=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></b></div><b>You need to learn to forgive yourself! </b><p></p><p>How many times have you heard those words? Maybe they came from a friend, or a counselor, or a book you read. Maybe you’ve said them yourself to someone you care about, someone you want to set free from the burden of guilt and self-condemnation. I’ve heard and said them myself. I’ve tried to follow those words, but the burden of guilt never went away. </p><p>I’ve lived a sinful life. I’ve said and done many things I am deeply ashamed of. I’ve hurt others and disgraced myself. And there are witnesses—people who will never forget, and people who will never forgive. How can I be free from the burden of all that guilt and shame? I can’t undo what I’ve done. And I know, deep in my heart, that I have no more authority to forgive my own sins than I have the right to forgive my own debts. </p><p>After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged the murder of her husband, Uriah, he cried out to God in a prayer that is shocking unless you understand the nature of sin: </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>“Against you, you only, have I sinned</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> and done what is evil in your sight”</b> (Ps 51:4a).</p><p>“You only?” But what about the murdered man? What about the exploited woman? Don’t they matter? Yes, Uriah and Bathsheba mattered. But they mattered because God said they did. It was God, who created mankind in His own image, who said, “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13). It was God, who designed marriage to be a picture of His own faithfulness, who said, “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex 20:14). I am not the righteous standard. My pride is not the judge, God is. </p><p>David understood that every life he destroyed was God’s, and every law he broke was God’s. Though he had disgraced himself and destroyed his own reputation, it was not his self he had offended, it was the God who made him, the God whose image he was called to reflect to the world. And so, David knew where he had to go with his guilt, to the same God whose law said that he deserved to die—not once, but twice— for his crimes. “Hide your face from my sins,” David cried, “and blot out all my iniquities” (Ps 51:9). </p><p>Was David ever able to look himself in the mirror again? We don’t know. What we do know is that looking at himself was not his concern, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps 51:11). What David cared about was not being able to look at himself in the mirror, it was being able to look God in the eye—the God who loved him, the God he had betrayed.</p><p>This is how I came to Christ, and, if you are a Christian, this is how you’ve come, too—with nothing but a load of sin and guilt for Him to absorb, and with one great hope, that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:6b). God’s is the only judgment that matters. Christ is the only sacrifice sufficient for our sins. And when we realize what it cost Him to forgive us, our self-image becomes of little consequence. When we look in the mirror, it’s His face we want to see. </p><p>Have you sinned? Are you trying to escape your feelings of guilt and shame? Stop trying to forgive yourself. You don’t have the right. Look to Christ. Let go of the impossible burden of self-forgiveness and accept His. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt 11:28-30).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>**********</p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/10/20/the-impossible-burden-of-self-forgiveness-wkw5t" target="_blank">here</a> in August of 2020. I chose to re-run it because my pastor was preaching on a passage that twenty-five years ago sent me running hard and fast away from God. At that time the Sermon on the Mount was presented to me as a new and more terrifying law than the one that thundered from Sinai. Divorced from the voice of our “gentle and lowly” Savior, condemnation was all I could hear. In my pastor's <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/10/17/your-mind-is-a-minefield" target="_blank">sermon</a>, however, heard Christ’s words married to the Gospel—the good news that he came to perfectly fulfill God’s Law and to pay the penalty for our sin. He didn’t come to condemn us; we were already condemned. <b><i>He came to save us!</i></b><i><b> He didn’t come to add to our burden of sin but to take it away. </b></i>My prayer for you today is that you will not give up hope, or live in fear, or hide from God as I did, but that you will run hard and fast to him, confess your sin and receive with gladness the forgiveness he paid for with his life but freely and joyfully gives.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-49977323823238351672022-03-19T16:55:00.003-07:002022-03-30T09:24:18.068-07:00The Salt of Christian Contentment<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZefgkhaxXvXnZtMAXr3A3VlEU0kzmpxWZb0FblmO1HYn9iu0J6Owo7O_-33_siRQ90ejBTdmdiHRs4WrFsUVUmO_M6MTva_EMq0C0t16hSBQSb2RvOXfldoVfU9VfwwRsMIas11iKRzWhdQR7heQ1L7T6IY2kifdYIPXZrRi4Rhi3SDGFGTBkxtM1DA=s750" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZefgkhaxXvXnZtMAXr3A3VlEU0kzmpxWZb0FblmO1HYn9iu0J6Owo7O_-33_siRQ90ejBTdmdiHRs4WrFsUVUmO_M6MTva_EMq0C0t16hSBQSb2RvOXfldoVfU9VfwwRsMIas11iKRzWhdQR7heQ1L7T6IY2kifdYIPXZrRi4Rhi3SDGFGTBkxtM1DA=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div>When I was a new Christian, a book called <i>The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment</i>, written by the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs, made a big impression on me. In it Burroughs lists a series of lessons Christ uses to teach his people contentment. He calls the first of these lessons "the lesson of self-denial." Though Burroughs admits "it is a hard lesson," he reminds us that it is the most basic teaching of the faith: “Whoever has not learned the lesson of the cross,” he says, “has not learned his ABC in Christianity.” Self-denial, in other words, is a kindergarten lesson. "[I]f you mean to be Christians at all you must buckle to this or you can never be Christians." <p></p><p>Let that sink in. </p><p>Burroughs is not just saying we can't be content unless we deny ourselves—he's saying we can’t even be Christians unless we do. What gives him the right to make such a harsh statement? Is he accurately representing the heart of the gospel? There's only one way to find out. Let’s turn to the words of Christ:</p><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10: 34-39</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Again:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:21-26</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>And again:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“. . . whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. ‘Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Luke 14:25-34</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>In Matthew 5, we see that Jesus follows his Beatitudes with this same salt metaphor: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet” (Mt. 5:13). In other words, salt that isn’t salty is useless. If we are trying to live the Christian life without self-denial, we will be as effective for seasoning as sand. </p><p>If anything, Christ’s statements are harder than Burroughs’. But there is good reason for that. The Christian life is a matter of life and death. If we value this life more than the life to come, we lose both. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Col. 3:1-6).</p></blockquote></blockquote><p>If Christ is our life, then he is everything to us and he is enough for us. To be satisfied with Him and content with his provision for us in this life is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This article, in a slightly different form, was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/10/11/the-salt-of-christian-contentment" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-52877887143937570142022-03-19T16:41:00.001-07:002022-03-30T09:24:34.001-07:00Making Peace<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBt4OxYRvVkIRlufX2HVlcSBM3YkEf6OgO_2cwe0rWqJR8wiQDuAPq3hVKPMST5hKOkWpqVoZv0KEFJoS6Qn9AB0Va0Rw3jvXmUJkZ9poxLDIbDufI4js3zHwlGR6HQWEahBNxFBJIpNh3mz5ahQZ193FkBs4B0NZxQtlrqrQitb5qHBPPtUFfar4Jsg=s750" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBt4OxYRvVkIRlufX2HVlcSBM3YkEf6OgO_2cwe0rWqJR8wiQDuAPq3hVKPMST5hKOkWpqVoZv0KEFJoS6Qn9AB0Va0Rw3jvXmUJkZ9poxLDIbDufI4js3zHwlGR6HQWEahBNxFBJIpNh3mz5ahQZ193FkBs4B0NZxQtlrqrQitb5qHBPPtUFfar4Jsg=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div>What does the word “peace” mean to you? Is it a feeling of calm—the absence of inner turmoil? Or is it relational—the absence of enmity between people, or between individuals and God? In the Bible, as in our own experience, “peace” can mean either, depending on the context. And, of course, there is overlap. A lack of relational peace can destroy our emotional peace, and vice versa. But if we hope to experience peace, as God intends it, we need to see it is as God does.<p></p><p>The early church was riddled with conflict, both external and internal. They were persecuted by unbelieving Jews and Gentiles alike, and relationships within the church mirrored this tension. Christians were pressured to behave more like Jews to relieve the pressure from the Jews or, conversely, to behave more like Gentiles to relieve a different set of tensions. And it is in this context of relational struggle that Paul gives us some of the Bible’s richest teaching on peace. </p><p>In Ephesians 2, after explaining that all Christians, himself included, were once equally “children of wrath” (2:3) and that they have been saved by God’s grace alone, not by works of their own (2:8-10), Paul addresses his Gentile readers specifically. Calling them “the uncircumcision,” a reminder of the derision they experienced from their Jewish neighbors, he urges them to remember that “at that time” they were “<b>separated </b>from Christ, <b>alienated</b> from the commonwealth of Israel and <b>strangers </b>to the covenants of promise, having no hope and <b>without God</b> in the world” (2:12). In short, before Christ their lives had been characterized by anything but peace. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“But now <b>in Christ Jesus </b>you [Gentiles] who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For <b>he himself is our peace</b>, who has <b>made us both one</b> and has <b>broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility</b> by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so <b>making peace</b>, and might <b>reconcile us both to God</b> <b>in one body</b> through the cross, thereby <b>killing the hostility</b>. And he came and preached <b>peace</b> to you who were far off and <b>peace</b> to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:13-17).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Christ is the ultimate peacemaker. He himself is our peace! He literally embodies it. On the cross Christ bore the penalty of our sin in his own body, and in doing so abolished the dividing wall of hostility that separated us all from God and separated Jew and Gentile from each other. </p><p>So, what kind of peace is Paul talking about? In this context he is not referring to feelings, per se, but to relationships. Christ reconciles us to God, and in the process, knits us so closely together in his own body that we—Jew and Gentile—become “one new man” instead of two, reconciled to each other. </p><p>In his letter to the Colossians, Paul makes a similar point: “For <b>in him</b> all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to <b>reconcile to himself</b> all things, whether on earth or in heaven, <b>making peace </b>by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19-20). And two chapters later Paul again connects our peace with God to our peace with each other: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And <b>let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body</b>. And be thankful” (Col. 3:12-15).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>God is calling us, first and foremost, to relational peace. And we achieve it by allowing the peace of Christ to be the determining factor in how we think and feel about each other. </p><p>But what about that other kind of peace, the peace of mind that can escape us even when our relationships seem to be in order? What about our anxiety? What about our fear? Do the Scriptures ever apply God’s peace to those? Thankfully, the answer is yes! God wants His peace to permeate every aspect of our lives: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. <b>And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus</b>.</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—<b>practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you</b>” (Phil. 4:4-9).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>This is the Christian remedy for anxiety. When we entrust our fears to him, his peace becomes the bodyguard of our hearts. But don’t miss the connection Paul makes here between anxiety and our “reasonableness” in relationships with others. If you’ve ever suffered from anxiety, you’re well aware of the spill-over effect it has on those around you. </p><p>So then, my siblings in Christ, let’s take to heart the words of the apostle and “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding,” (Rom. 14:19) knowing that as we do, we are behaving as sons of God, and we are blessed. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>“Blessed are the peacemakers, <br /></b><b> for they shall be called sons of God.”<br /></b>Mt. 5:9</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">This article was originally published<a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/9/28/making-peace" target="_blank"> here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-57809138567421558712022-03-18T19:39:00.004-07:002022-03-30T09:25:10.695-07:00The Mystery of the Church<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYig15g4WD70hmvPFcMj6xub76kZIF6HMHMM-8vEg4uDhCxguq6p8ZSpt7IF5MSShfezW6xF203t8zNszINXROE2TZzOihR-ZrqdqFL0LSVaKr4bbFFMw9c0yDodR9lCuYrWWqPTTyiJ1nK88Ybzo7v9E9vbA0UT2TCcDeYs_x-QB0YjEwQ7NOrWF0Pg=s750" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYig15g4WD70hmvPFcMj6xub76kZIF6HMHMM-8vEg4uDhCxguq6p8ZSpt7IF5MSShfezW6xF203t8zNszINXROE2TZzOihR-ZrqdqFL0LSVaKr4bbFFMw9c0yDodR9lCuYrWWqPTTyiJ1nK88Ybzo7v9E9vbA0UT2TCcDeYs_x-QB0YjEwQ7NOrWF0Pg=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div>Ten years ago, my former pastor, Matthew Raley, while preaching on Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesians 1:15-19, said something I’d never heard before: God has invested his riches in the church. Later I asked him what his basis was for that statement. He pointed me back to the text, and, sure enough, there it was: “the riches of his [God’s] glorious inheritance in the saints” (1:18). That moment changed my perspective on the church forever.<p></p><p>We are an individualistic culture. But God is not individualistic. To the core of his being, he is triune. We like to fly solo and chart our own paths. But God does nothing alone. Everything he does, he does in fellowship. The three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—have always and will always live and work together as one.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This is why, when God created the world, he declared everything in it good, except for one thing. After fashioning the man, the only being he made in his own image, he declared: “It is not good . . . .” Why? Because Adam was alone (Gen. 2:18). Since God is not alone, his image-bearer could not be either. So, God fashioned a woman from the rib of the man—bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (Gen 2:23)—and ordained that through this one-flesh union mankind's mission to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion” would be fulfilled (Gen.1:28).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Paul’s letter to the Ephesians contains some of the Bible’s loftiest teaching about God’s eternal plan, his sovereignty and power, and the riches of his grace. But from our individualistic perspective, it is easy to overlook the focus of all this divine attention. The outpouring of “the immeasurable greatness of his power” is “toward us who believe” (1:19). But this “us” does not refer to isolated individuals. Rather, when God “raised [Christ] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places . . . And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things” it was “to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:19-20, 22-23).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Though bodies are made up of many members, they are one. Body parts don't survive on their own. So, though God saves us each individually, he does not leave us alone. He places us in his body, the church. In Ephesians Paul piles up metaphors to convince us to give up our independence: We are, he tells us, citizens of the same city, members of the same household, individual bricks who together form a holy temple (see 2:19-22). And, Paul informs us, this task of bringing us together is the particular work of the Holy Spirit: “In [Christ] you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (2:22).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This is where Paul's mind is when, in the middle of his instructions to Christian households, he reaches all the way back to Genesis and lifts the veil:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her . . . In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. . . For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:25-32).</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The “profound mystery” is that from the beginning God intended the institution of marriage to point to something far bigger and far better: Some day, God's beloved Son would sacrifice his own flesh to create his bride. Joined in one-flesh union with Christ, the church would become “the fullness of him who fills all in all” perfectly fulfilling the mission of Genesis.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This is God's eternal plan, and, in case you've missed it, there is nothing individualistic about any of it. The triune God's eternal plan is for the church. The Father's riches are invested in the church; the Son's love and affection are poured out on the church; the Spirit's ongoing work is to build together the church. This was the realization that changed my life:<i> I</i> am not the church. <i>You</i> are not the church. <b><i>We</i></b> are the church. If I am going to experience God's riches and grace and the power of the Spirit in my life it is going to be first and foremost in the context of the church. And if I want to experience the fullness of Christ, I'm going to have to commit to growing together with you.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/8/30/the-mystery-of-the-church" target="_blank">here</a>.</div></div>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-15426233865548674332021-08-24T19:53:00.002-07:002022-03-30T09:25:41.906-07:00Testing the Soil <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-lQB0tu2YsrTR5VAsTG4uY8UWQ7WQYtq8N5MgmKK4bL95-y_RLS0zcqwQmoWiuBMqE6IMDrqzbAcUbwjcmcup6fqvUefP6JngQF5Ork5xvzEIYMXHCR3cejYM9i1cWpod1nlClfd4IrC/s1080/Testing+the+Soil+square.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-lQB0tu2YsrTR5VAsTG4uY8UWQ7WQYtq8N5MgmKK4bL95-y_RLS0zcqwQmoWiuBMqE6IMDrqzbAcUbwjcmcup6fqvUefP6JngQF5Ork5xvzEIYMXHCR3cejYM9i1cWpod1nlClfd4IrC/w200-h200/Testing+the+Soil+square.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>As a gardener I know firsthand how important soil is. Everything else can be just right, but if the soil is wrong my plants won’t survive, or if they do, they will never thrive. This is the fact of nature that Jesus appeals to in his Parable of the Sower:<p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." Luke 8.5-8a</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>It’s easy to confuse who we are in this parable. I’m always tempted to think of myself as the seed that grows or doesn’t grow. But in this parable the people are not the seed. Rather, "The seed is the word of God” (Lk. 8.11b). It is the word of God that the sower plants, and it is the word of God that is meant to grow and prosper. We are "those who hear" the word. Our hearts are the soil where it is expected to take root and grow (8:14-15). But, according to Jesus, there are four kinds of soil, and not all of them are suited to the word of God. </p><p><b>"The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved"</b> (8:12). These souls are packed hard, so self-satisfied that they are impenetrable. Oblivious to their sin and untroubled by it, God’s word can fall on them all day long and never penetrate the surface. </p><p>It’s tempting to identify the “path” as the unbelieving hearts of those folks who never set foot in church. But in Jesus’s day, those well-trod paths were the hearts of the religious leaders—the “church people” who spent their lives giving lip-service to their devotion to Scripture while refusing to allow it access to the sin in their own hearts. These hearts are experts in missing the point or in applying it to everyone but themselves. Thus every single word is snatched up before sinking a single root.</p><p><b> "[T]he ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away"</b> (8:13). The rocky soil is hard, but in a different way than the path. The word falls easily into its cracks and it quickly begins to grow. But when following Christ gets hard—which it inevitably does—the roots of the word find nowhere to go. It shrivels and dies.</p><p><b>"And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature" </b>(8:14). When the word of God lands in this soil, it finds lots of competition. This heart readily yields its energies to every worry and every pleasure this world has to offer. Any hand that seeks to clear the weeds is pricked by thorns. So the word is left to choke to death.</p><p><b>"As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience" </b>(8:15). The good soil is the heart that lets God’s word in and yields to it. It is a heart that responds to conviction with repentance and a heart that continues to make more and more room for the word of God to grow. </p><p>Thus, Jesus tells us, the word of God exposes the state of our hearts. This is why, "as he said these things, he called out, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'" And this is why he tells us to "Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away." (8:18).</p><p>My friends, let’s all be careful how we hear.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>(This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/8/23/testing-the-soil" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-87814444196024652532021-08-24T19:44:00.005-07:002022-03-30T09:26:29.731-07:00Doctrine that Weeps<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCsvtlB-gUyQCz-ADfZvBdr5H6cZm_zQMt7dD3a8lxbQeV9M5F0PKTdBlsX0UBLbVXTZFH8WCyy8Djln8xMvziNFtXzEzJ4y9VLNqEy2ctldAc74bOvSHyhQ1EILQzcSBf6FVERLrRcLn/s1080/Doctrine+that+Weeps+square.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqCsvtlB-gUyQCz-ADfZvBdr5H6cZm_zQMt7dD3a8lxbQeV9M5F0PKTdBlsX0UBLbVXTZFH8WCyy8Djln8xMvziNFtXzEzJ4y9VLNqEy2ctldAc74bOvSHyhQ1EILQzcSBf6FVERLrRcLn/w200-h200/Doctrine+that+Weeps+square.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>In spite of her lengthy decline, I was nowhere near as prepared for my mother’s death as I thought. Only afterward did I learn that grief was not the straightforward thing I'd expected. And even though I had every reason to believe that my mother was with the Lord, I found myself grappling with the cold reality of death, not just for my mother but for everyone.<p></p><p>When she died it was like a veil was lifted. I saw clearly for the first time the horror of what I’d only given lip-service to before: everywhere and every day some deeply beloved person is dying. Every day, everywhere someone is aching and weeping for their loss. And if the Bible is true, then not all of those people will spend their eternity with Christ in heaven. As my mother’s death brought home this tragedy, my heart began to break.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>"Some of us have absorbed a form of theology with all the answers. We can offer standard answers to every problem that comes along, especially if the problem is afflicting some other person. Our certainty and dogmatism give us such assurance, our systematic theology is so well articulated, that we leave precious little scope for mystery, awe, unknowns. Then, when we ourselves face devastating catastrophe, and we find that the certainties we have propounded with such confidence offer us little relief, our despair is the bleaker: we begin to question the most basic elements of our faith. Had we recognized that in addition to great certainties there are great gaps in our comprehension, perhaps we would have been less torn up to find that the mere certainties proved inadequate in our own hour of need.” —D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?</blockquote></blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>It is through pain and confusion that our beliefs are tried, and my "mere certainties proved inadequate in [my] own hour of need." I found myself trapped by questions for which I’d once had pat answers. I could no longer stomach the doctrine that real people, deeply loved people, end up in hell. But I knew that if I could not accept that teaching, I could no longer claim to trust or believe the God of the Bible at all. </p><p>So I struggled for months with that unthinkable doctrine, hoping I could disprove it or interpret it away. But I couldn’t. And though I couldn’t—through it all— the only real comfort I found was between the covers of the very same Book that also taught the thing I feared. My dread was in Scripture, but so was my hope. I returned again and again to the words of Abraham: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen. 18:25. I began to accept that I am not God; I am not holy; I am not righteous; and I do not see what He does. There are “great gaps in [my] comprehension.” So I put my trust in the Righteous Judge, trusting that when I see Him face to face, He will close those gaps. </p><p>In the end, what my grief revealed was not that my doctrine was false, but that I had been far too glib. I had forgotten that my Savior is a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Is. 53:3) and that when His dear friend, Lazarus, died “Jesus wept” (Jn 11:35). He wept even though He chose not to prevent it (Jn 11:6), and he grieved even though in mere minutes He would raise him from the dead. The tragedy of death and the mourning of those around Him broke His heart. And it was with a broken heart that our Lord called Lazarus forth from the tomb. </p><p>It took my own grief to show me first-hand what a cold and heartless thing it is to speak hard truth from anything but a broken heart. And it took my own grief to learn that the most Christlike thing we can do when we encounter someone’s sorrow is to “. . . weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>(This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/8/20/doctrine-that-weeps" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-43177937949951360482021-08-24T19:30:00.006-07:002022-03-30T09:28:16.893-07:00When Jesus Calls<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fLxqz4sZAUXjkZJmXDNeRrMn4tPR-f0ZCu0NcWOEKE_flAsGNDgiKRRW4aSykkphaFIrVPW3FSvJ455BcpaypkS46OoSanvphyK3AMp6i242UNMDt-rCysvDCM-bIz2MVlg93tCE7y7t/s1080/Copy+of+When+Jesus+Calls.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fLxqz4sZAUXjkZJmXDNeRrMn4tPR-f0ZCu0NcWOEKE_flAsGNDgiKRRW4aSykkphaFIrVPW3FSvJ455BcpaypkS46OoSanvphyK3AMp6i242UNMDt-rCysvDCM-bIz2MVlg93tCE7y7t/w200-h200/Copy+of+When+Jesus+Calls.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I’m individualistic by nature. (Aren’t we all?) Even now, after years of being a Christian, the word “submission” can make me squirm just a little. I don’t especially enjoy being under authority. I still want to do what I want to do. <p></p><p>In part, I’m a product of my culture. Let’s face it, submission is not what made America a nation. Though we have “authorities,” we don’t feel particularly beholden to obey them. After all, we elected them, right? They answer to us, which we take to mean that <i>we</i> are the authorities. Don’t tread on us.</p><p>This mindset permeates every corner of our lives, even as Christians. We like to think we choose God, when in fact it is He who chooses us (Jn 15:16, Eph. 1:4). We are very good at deluding ourselves into thinking we are submitting to Christ by re-imagining Him as someone who supports our interests, a God who backs our agenda. Or maybe that’s just me.</p><p>But perhaps it’s not a distinctly American trait, and perhaps it’s not just me. Peter had big plans for Jesus, big political plans. He expected Jesus to overthrow the rule of the heathen Romans and make Israel great again. So when Jesus told His disciples that He planned to suffer, be rejected, and die, Peter rebuked Him. Jesus’ reply to Peter’s rebuke should come as a shock to us all:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">“Get behind me, <b>Satan</b>! For <b>you</b> are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mk. 8:33).</blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p></blockquote><p>Jesus called Peter “Satan.” Let that sink in.</p><p>Peter’s mind was on “the things of man.” He wanted what we all want: influence, strength, prosperity, comfort, and freedom from the rule of an oppressive government. But Jesus called those priorities satanic.</p><p>Christ is calling us to recognize our worldly dreams for what they are and to set our minds on “the things of God.” He is calling us to submit our desires to His, and respond to His gospel call: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mk. 8:34-37)</p></blockquote></blockquote><p>Jesus makes it clear, our response is a matter or life or death. And yet, I’ll admit it, even today I still want to do what I want. I still love my stuff a little too much. I’m not eager to kiss any of it goodbye. </p><p>So the question remains, what do I want more? My Savior? Am I willing to give up the life I’ve loved in exchange for the kind of life He lived? Will I leave it behind at His call? Will I take up my cross and follow Him? </p><p>Will you?</p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/8/9/when-jesus-calls" target="_blank">here</a>. </p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-69399906097349193192021-08-24T19:03:00.005-07:002022-03-30T09:28:31.062-07:00Taming the Shrew<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKXlJxNdFNKxVyrQs95MbXdM244PIuDAvih0D_j2Q-H08MO4x7PGxsTcJ_qJhtTdg_HeLE3rZlP3mRwoYkGKTfgtVSsyip-Uu5fxqlNKMXV5Q4IrHAOhyjVzz97fhoX-Ms8QACVszwHGT/s1080/taming+the+shrew+square.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKXlJxNdFNKxVyrQs95MbXdM244PIuDAvih0D_j2Q-H08MO4x7PGxsTcJ_qJhtTdg_HeLE3rZlP3mRwoYkGKTfgtVSsyip-Uu5fxqlNKMXV5Q4IrHAOhyjVzz97fhoX-Ms8QACVszwHGT/w200-h200/taming+the+shrew+square.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> “He that knows better how to tame a shrew,<br /> Now let him speak: ‘tis charity to shew.”<p></p><p>Shakespeare never set out to preach the gospel, but in The Taming of the Shrew, he did exactly that—to me anyway. I’m told the message of this play is well-hated these days. I can see why, with it’s old-fashioned views of women. But I’m not talking about women’s issues, per se, I’m talking about the Church—the Bride of Christ—the Shrew.</p><p>Any person well acquainted with church history, and any Christian well acquainted with his or her own heart knows, Christ took a shrew for his bride. And like Petruchio in the play, he was under no illusions. He knew what he was getting into, but he would not be deterred. He undertook His task with wholehearted zeal and with perfect confidence in a successful outcome.</p><p style="text-align: center;">“Why came I hither but to that intent?<br /> Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?<br /> Have I not in my time heard lions roar?<br /> Have in not heard the sea, puft up with winds,<br /> Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat . . .<br /> And do you tell me of a woman’s tongue,<br /> That gives not half so great a blow to th’ear<br /> As will a chestnut in a farmer’s fire?"</p><p>Katharina, the shrew, was hostile by nature, and when she heard of Petruchio’s interest she focused her ire on him. He became her particular enemy when he determined to make her his wife. </p><p>I was once God’s enemy. He knew how I distrusted him. He knew I did not want him as Lord over my life. Yet he determined to save me. It took years of loving care and severe kindness, of hardships that left me helpless with no one but himself left to cry to. And then, like Katharina, I succumbed.</p><p></p><blockquote><p>“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7).</p><p></p></blockquote><p>Christ committed himself to the church, his bride, and paid for her with his blood. She is brash and filthy, so he cleanses her and covers her with His own righteousness, “ . . . so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5: 21). When God sees us draped in the perfect righteousness of Christ, he no longer sees the shrew, but the lovely and spotless bride.</p><p>After hearing the reports, and seeing her wretched nature with his own eyes, Petruchio imagined her as beautiful as she would be, and said to Katharina:</p><p style="text-align: center;">“Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen,<br /> And now I find report a very liar;<br /> For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous;<br /> But slow in speech, yet sweet as spring-time flowers:<br /> Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,<br /> Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will;<br /> Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk . . .”</p><p>And under his nurture she became in truth every beautiful thing he had hoped for.</p><p></p><blockquote>“. . . Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” Ephesians 5:25-27).</blockquote><p></p><p>It’s true that while Christ’s bride remains in this world, she is not entirely tamed. Hints of her shrewishness remain. But as she looks “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,” she finds herself “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). And her heart overflows like Katharina’s: </p><p style="text-align: center;">“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,<br /> Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,<br /> And for thy maintenance commits his body . . .<br /> And craves no other tribute at thy hands<br /> But love, fair looks, and true obedience, <br /> Too little payment for so great a debt. . . </p><p>And Christ, the perfect and ultimate bridegroom, the fulfillment of the biblical type of the husband, will not relent until that great day when He sees his bride pure, entirely lovely, without spot or blemish, perfect in every way. “This mystery [marriage] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” Eph 5:33.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>(This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/7/19/taming-the-shrew" target="_blank">here</a>.) </p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-43461178174933682852021-08-24T18:53:00.006-07:002022-03-30T09:28:39.683-07:00Lord, Lord<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozVBxWgsVNpeZqHy-Y9IXDyS8qjscRiD66agqcHAZGy1KsMJGIK1qeQZEi32OEFnnNbC5ZDBCO2zofzfJ_gDCUF-UogNTdwbih_ResB9lAOea_BqPi7DOkf6A27N5aTmo6VnUgmpyUJKg/s1080/Lord%252C+Lord+square.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozVBxWgsVNpeZqHy-Y9IXDyS8qjscRiD66agqcHAZGy1KsMJGIK1qeQZEi32OEFnnNbC5ZDBCO2zofzfJ_gDCUF-UogNTdwbih_ResB9lAOea_BqPi7DOkf6A27N5aTmo6VnUgmpyUJKg/w200-h200/Lord%252C+Lord+square.png" width="200" /></a></div>One Saturday morning. I relaxed on my pillow and sank into my prayers with a leisurely attitude. "I should ask the Lord what to do with this rare, unstructured day," I thought. And so I began, "Lord, how would you have me use this day?" But the first word of my prayer echoed in my head "Lord . . .” <p></p><p>“Lord," what an odd word. Here in “the land of the free" we don’t have lords. We have employers (hopefully), but no masters. We have rights on which no one has the right to tread. Our lives are rich with options, opportunities, and the freedom to pursue them. Besides taxes, we have few mandates (and we resent even those). Do we, who doff our hats to no man, even know what it means when we address Christ as "Lord"? </p><p>I am an American and I love this country. But seventeen years ago I was re-born a Christian, a citizen of a foreign country. That kingdom is not a democracy; it’s a monarchy. Christ is its king and his word is a constant reminder that I am not my own, I was bought with a price. I was freed from my slavery to sin to serve a new master (see Rom 6:22).</p><p>So when Jesus asks, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?" (Lk 6:46) his meaning is clear: if I call him “Lord” but do not obey him, I am fooling myself, and his most terrifying words are aimed right at me: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Jesus illustrates his point with a famous parable: </p><p></p><blockquote>"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it" (Mt 7:24-27).</blockquote><p></p><p>I sang it in Sunday school, "The wise man builds his house upon the rock!" But I didn’t know what it meant. The wise man honors Christ’s authority with obedience. Too often, I fear, we read the words of Christ as suggestions or jumping-off points for our own ideas. We accept the words that suit us, that appear to validate our own desires and lifestyles, but we skip over the rest. Too often we use the scriptures to condemn others rather than face what it reveals about ourselves. </p><p>This is how we deceive ourselves. This is how we can read our Bibles, close them, and walk away unchanged, confidently declaring that we are saved by faith in Christ alone and not by works. Yet, as James tells us, “Faith without works is dead” (2:26). Yes, Christ is the rock of our salvation, the firm foundation of our faith. But a faith that is alive builds its house by careful obedience to His word. </p><p></p><blockquote>"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked" (1 Jn 2: 3-6).</blockquote><p></p><p>If we are not doing the word, if we are not obeying the words of our King, it doesn’t matter how loudly we proclaim our faith, how much we know about the Bible, or how accurate our doctrinal statements are. I've heard it said that the devil doesn't mind what we do so long as He can keep us from the scriptures. I’d take it a step farther: the devil doesn't mind us hearing the word of God so long as we don’t obey. So today as America celebrates her foundation, let’s make it a day for us who call Christ “Lord” to examine our own foundations.</p><p><br /></p><p>(This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/7/4/lord-lord" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-31460427328699253612021-08-24T18:50:00.002-07:002022-03-30T09:28:49.881-07:00Big Screen Jesus<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl7gTjEkqiJXhAde9WIK2JNFbmYAQE5RnQCp3hWRcm4TJHoGV69Jqr6oZcqRNkpMaW0V38SJ6qAZ0NUMlTXecFhK25ovBSy3bFj-UYVZhpjgY-L-ou-u-PJ0bOuIMCTU9-3jvAz0BIVO8M/s1080/Big+Screen+Jesus+square.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl7gTjEkqiJXhAde9WIK2JNFbmYAQE5RnQCp3hWRcm4TJHoGV69Jqr6oZcqRNkpMaW0V38SJ6qAZ0NUMlTXecFhK25ovBSy3bFj-UYVZhpjgY-L-ou-u-PJ0bOuIMCTU9-3jvAz0BIVO8M/w200-h200/Big+Screen+Jesus+square.png" width="200" /></a><p>I think movies, in many ways, have done us a disservice. Seeing life on the big screen, larger than life, we lose sight of both the majesty and the miniscule-ness of life as it really is.</p><p>We (or is it just me?) see Jesus as a giant figure, a massive close-up, a star on a screen, forgetting that He was a man. He was as invisible as we are from the distance of a mile. He was the same size as we are, more or less, from the distance of a hug. He was a man who could easily fit through the nearest doorway.</p><p>On the other side of the world thousands of years ago, invisible to us both in space and time, tiny and barely noticeable, almighty God, vaster than all the universes, took on flesh. There and then He lived. There and then He loved, and taught, and served. And there and then He died, a being so small history should have forgotten Him.</p><p>So why have we not forgotten? And why would the Infinite God create a finite planet, a pale blue dot (to quote Carl Sagan), for tiny men to live as tiny images of Himself, knowing all along that He too must become that small to make His little creation everything He ultimately intended it to be?</p><p>Movies make men seem giant and make us forget our true size, and we lose the greatest wonder of all, that God would choose to be small to show he is truly great.</p><p>This is one reason the gospel is so hard for sinful humans to believe. It really is unimaginable that a Being so great would bother with something so small, let alone become small Himself. (We certainly wouldn’t do it, even if we could.) Even more impossible is that He fully intended to die in the process. And today, Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead, remains a man, a glorified man, yes, but still a man, united for all eternity with His own tiny creation.</p><p>He is the great wonder of the gospel – not a super-size, big-screen Jesus, but the perfectly ordinary, perfectly physical, eternally divine man who now sits enthroned in heaven and intercedes for us at the right hand of the impossible vastness of God the Father.</p><p>And He is our great hope, because only this God-become-man “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).</p><p style="text-align: center;">Psalm 8</p><p style="text-align: center;">O Lord, our Lord,<br /> how majestic is your name in all the earth!<br /> You have set your glory above the heavens.<br /> Out of the mouth of babies and infants,<br /> you have established strength because of your foes,<br /> to still the enemy and the avenger.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,<br /> the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,<br /> what is man that you are mindful of him,<br /> and the son of man that you care for him?</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br />Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings<br /> and crowned him with glory and honor.<br /> You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;<br /> you have put all things under his feet,<br /> all sheep and oxen,<br /> and also the beasts of the field,<br /> the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,<br /> whatever passes along the paths of the seas.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br />O Lord, our Lord,<br /> how majestic is your name in all the earth!</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p> </p><p>(This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/6/28/big-screen-jesus" target="_blank">here</a> and is an edited republication of an article from December of 2019.)</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-70507699542523059502021-06-14T15:53:00.002-07:002022-03-30T09:29:03.166-07:00The Portrait of Christ<p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Day Roman;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Day Roman;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKaro84ZhEbP8ryFWs-b_zxqwJ-kGezGKlMI_CMhlHG9rFNug13zx5cXGGCD1Z8WOCYZi3mZKRqera7uRD8gmCZEu7DVF7dRI8Kssz_u6agIsfdOyUWJOxExZRqGQqjIa2l2qE5K2__vG1/s1080/portrait+of+Christ+square.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKaro84ZhEbP8ryFWs-b_zxqwJ-kGezGKlMI_CMhlHG9rFNug13zx5cXGGCD1Z8WOCYZi3mZKRqera7uRD8gmCZEu7DVF7dRI8Kssz_u6agIsfdOyUWJOxExZRqGQqjIa2l2qE5K2__vG1/w200-h200/portrait+of+Christ+square.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Day Roman;">On the day Jesus rose from the dead, two of his disciples took a walk to Emmaus. On the way, while they discussed the events of the prior three days, “Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Lk 24:15b-16). When this “stranger” asked what they were talking about, they related their grief and confusion. They thought Jesus would be the promised Messiah, but he had been crucified. And now some women were spreading a rumor that he had risen from the dead. At this, Jesus replied, </span><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><b>“‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!</b> Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with <b>Moses and all the Prophets</b>, he interpreted to them<b> in all the Scriptures</b> the things concerning himself” (Lk 24:25-27).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about you? Do you have a hard time seeing Jesus in the Old Testament? Do the New Testament’s references to the Old seem obscure? If so, the first thing the road to Emmaus should show you is that you’re not alone. Even those who knew him in the flesh had trouble seeing it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">We want the completed picture, perfectly detailed, right now. But that is not how God has chosen to reveal himself to us. Like the artist he is, God delights in his process, and he wants his people to share in it as well. Rather than presenting us with the finished portrait of the glorified Christ and his church, he begins with a simple sketch, the bare but recognizable outline of a people made in God’s image dwelling with him in a perfect world of his own creation. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our role as his people is to know and love him, to study his words and his deeds carefully, to learn to recognize his hand in the themes and patterns he has painted for us in Scripture, and to trust in the steadfast love that he reveals to us there as he adds layer upon layer of color, generation after generation, bringing greater texture and detail to his portrait of Christ. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter tells us that the Old Testament prophets themselves yearned for a clearer picture of the salvation their sketches were pointing to:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time <b>the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories</b>. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look” 1 Pt 1:10-12. </blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, the prophets, even while they spoke to the events of their own times, understood that their words <i>pointed to something more</i>. It was clear to them that the finished work was generations away, but with each repeated theme, like another stroke from the artist’s brush, they saw the shape of what was to come more clearly. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the language of theology, these repeatedly layered sketches are called <b><i>types</i></b>. Perhaps you’ve heard the term. David Murray gives the simplest definition I’ve heard: </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">A type is a real person, event, or thing that God has ordained as a predictive <b>pattern</b> or <b>resemblance</b> of Jesus’ person and work.” </blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">Much of the New Testament interpretation of the Old comes from the recognition of types. And the recognition of types develops not simply from knowing a few verses, but from deep familiarity, from long, careful, prayerful, and repeated observation and meditation on the whole of God’s word. It comes from a deep desire like that of the prophets to know our God, to recognize his Christ, and, as each type is brought to its full clarity, to see more and more of his glory. And as we do, we will find ourselves saying, as did the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Lk 24:32).</span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "Day Roman"; white-space: pre-wrap;">This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/6/14/the-portrait-of-christ" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-25589500801285598672021-06-01T14:05:00.001-07:002022-03-30T09:29:18.390-07:00The Father's Love<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEituIBfZLAvzmistbF3q9c9pnmdhANRlZ6nev8psfbx_0cO9N63AewUhsaJHu982_m1CmI9CtLRfXKB-WzSMuo1hTaHpQcSyG36KgRz-mZeB6tNtLe-fONjftJnE7dpPFSg1G9fKIgIP0K-/s1080/The+Father%2527s+Love+square+.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEituIBfZLAvzmistbF3q9c9pnmdhANRlZ6nev8psfbx_0cO9N63AewUhsaJHu982_m1CmI9CtLRfXKB-WzSMuo1hTaHpQcSyG36KgRz-mZeB6tNtLe-fONjftJnE7dpPFSg1G9fKIgIP0K-/w200-h200/The+Father%2527s+Love+square+.png" width="200" /></a></div>When I first became a single mom, I was terrified. I had drifted from church years prior, so I decided it was time to go back and start trying to live like a Christian. During that time I was given a book on how to train children the “Bible” way. In it were the secrets to raising children so well-trained and obedient that they would assuredly obey God and accept the gospel. <p></p><p>This book taught me to read all the worst motives into my children's hearts, to see all their undesirable behavior as rebellion—not incomprehension or exhaustion, not immaturity or hunger, not frustration or confusion, not inability or fear—only rebellion. Their salvation or damnation hung on my ability, by force of will and use of the rod, to train them to be perfectly obedient. </p><p>If I had actually read the Bible for myself and understood God’s character and his grace, I would have thrown that book away. Instead I let it destroy me. Though I couldn’t bring myself to implement its harsh methods, my heart was tainted by its adversarial view of the parent-child relationship—poisoned by the idea that this is God’s heart toward his children and that Christianity is just a fretful striving for perfection under the constant threat of punishment. </p><p>In those days I picked up another book. This book laid out the New Testament like the next Law of Moses, a new and more impossible set of demands. By Chapter 3 I knew it: I could never please God. I gave up hope, put my Bible (along with the book) on a shelf and hid from this terrifying deity, until the day, a decade later, when he led me to trust in the gospel of grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. </p><p>How we see God colors our world either with hope and love or with despair. This is why, time and again, when I’m drawn back to the terror of those dark, hopeless days, I turn to Psalm 103 for comfort:</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>Bless the Lord, O my soul,<br /> and all that is within me,<br /> bless his holy name!</blockquote><p></p><p>The condition of our own souls is the most important characteristic in our relationship with God and each other. And so, like David, we need to teach them to bless the Lord:</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>Bless the Lord, O my soul,<br /> and forget not all his benefits,<br /> who forgives all your iniquity,<br /> who heals all your diseases,<br /> who redeems your life from the pit,<br /> who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,<br /> who satisfies you with good<br /> so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.</blockquote><p></p><p>Whether it be hope or trust, grace or forgiveness, confidence or love – you cannot give what you have not received. You can’t teach what you don’t understand. You can’t spread God’s grace and love if you’ve never known it yourself. David urges us to begin by recounting God’s many kindnesses: forgiveness for our every sin, life and strength, release from the cruel captivity of sin and death, and citizenship in the Kingdom of his dear Son, where love and mercy are the jewels that crown our heads.</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>The Lord works righteousness<br /> and justice for all who are oppressed.<br /> He made known his ways to Moses,<br /> his acts to the people of Israel.</blockquote><p></p><p>God’s eye is on the weak and oppressed, ready to work justice for those whose leaders lord it over them. When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, he heard their cries and rescued them. Tending to their every need, even when they sinned, he revealed his patience and lovingkindness:</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>The Lord is merciful and gracious,<br /> slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.<br /> He will not always chide,<br /> nor will he keep his anger forever.</blockquote><p></p><p>To chide means to express disapproval, scold, or reproach. How many times a day do you think, or say, or do something sinful? Imagine how dreadful it would be if God actually chided or punished you each and every time! This is why the apostle Paul tells fathers, “do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Eph. 6:4).</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>He does not deal with us according to our sins,<br /> nor repay us according to our iniquities.<br /> For as high as the heavens are above the earth,<br /> so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;<br /> as far as the east is from the west,<br /> so far does he remove our transgressions from us.</blockquote><p></p><p>These last verses have comforted me more times than I can count. God is not a tit-for-tat father eager to chastise our every wrong. His love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8), and it’s this kindness that enables us to run to him rather than away from him when we sin (Rom. 2:4). </p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><blockquote>As a father shows compassion to his children,<br /> so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.<br /> For he knows our frame;<br /> he remembers that we are dust.</blockquote><p></p><p>God knows our frame. When he teaches and corrects us, our weakness and limitations are always on his mind. His wrath would crush us, so, because he loves us, Christ suffered that wrath on our behalf on the cross. This is God’s tender heart for us, his children. I pray we will receive his grace and lovingkindness and let them color our world and form our relationships into the shape of our Father’s steadfast love. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/5/25/the-fathers-love" target="_blank">here</a> and is an edited version of my 2013 <a href="http://lauriemo.blogspot.com/2013/07/reflecting-on-parenting-of-god.html" target="_blank">article</a> on this blog.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-75804398684046531392021-06-01T13:55:00.007-07:002022-03-30T09:29:33.516-07:00The Love of God<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQh2YzN7E-w22lKsHUDDtWmLeetOSH7dX4G5qi6gah11iR37-6XeTLlv6KPsG8oKlNp27kDuRG5sEYB0DYimivr_Y8jlI_vEjpP_yTGTCfZbLJ1fglSZaL7gZxjausFAGQ72SRAxp0TVY/s1080/The+Love+of+God+square.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQh2YzN7E-w22lKsHUDDtWmLeetOSH7dX4G5qi6gah11iR37-6XeTLlv6KPsG8oKlNp27kDuRG5sEYB0DYimivr_Y8jlI_vEjpP_yTGTCfZbLJ1fglSZaL7gZxjausFAGQ72SRAxp0TVY/w200-h200/The+Love+of+God+square.png" width="200" /></a></b></div><p></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><b> “For God so loved the world, <br />that he gave his only Son, <br /></b><b> that whoever believes in him should not perish </b><b>but have eternal life.” </b> <br />John 3:16</p><p>Time for true confessions. When you recognized the familiar verse above, did you slow down to treasure it, or did you breeze through it to get to the article? I hope you slowed down. But if you didn’t, you’re not alone. I memorized John 3:16 when I was a little girl in Sunday school, and I’ve breezed through it ever since.</p><p>Even so, it was this Sunday school doctrine of God’s love that kept the door to repentance propped open until the day I got saved at age forty. If I’d never heard that God loved the world, I would never have had the courage to run to Him with my truckload of sin and shame. Once I did, I was so overjoyed by his love and acceptance that I wanted to share it with the world. I told anyone who would listen.</p><p>I made my way back to church and drank up whatever I could about the God I now loved. I learned about his many attributes and about many biblical doctrines. But the focus of what I was taught seemed most often to be on the hard teachings of the Bible, the unpopular doctrines. Those are important things to focus on. Everything God has revealed about himself is essential to knowing him.</p><p>However, in breezing past the love of God, I lost the basis for my salvation. Without love, his holiness, sovereignty, omnipotence, judgment, and wrath spell nothing but damnation for sinful humans like you and me. Without love, the hard teachings chipped away at my confidence in God’s tender care for me, chipped away at the assurance of my salvation, chipped away at my love for God’s people and for the lost people he came to save. I no longer talked about him to anyone who would listen.</p><p>At church one Sunday morning, not long after the death of my mother, I heard two men mocking the kind of people who like to hear about God’s love, implying that they are stupid people who don’t care about the meat of God’s word or about serious doctrine. What these men failed to notice was that there was a grieving woman standing nearby listening to their scoffing, a woman steeped in “meaty doctrine” but who desperately needed to hear about that love herself.</p><p>God’s love is not just a doctrine for children, and it does much more than hold open the door to repentance. We will never outgrow it; it’s the eternal source of our eternal life. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“[H]e chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:4-6).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Today I am more convinced than ever that we can never get too much of God’s love or understand it too fully. The apostle Paul was even more convinced, which is why he prayed so fervently that the Ephesian church, “being rooted and grounded in love” would “have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:17b-19). Have you ever considered this, that we need God’s strength to grasp the love of Christ and that we need to grasp that love if we want to be filled with the fullness of God? </p><p>God’s love is the foundation of our salvation. It’s the source of our confident hope and it’s the only motivation that leads to a truly holy life. From it flows our love for him as well as our love for each other. It’s the love of God that makes us want to talk about him to anyone who will listen; and his love will lead them to trust him too.</p><p><br /></p><p> This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/5/17/the-love-of-god" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-73173851283087877622021-06-01T13:51:00.004-07:002022-03-30T09:31:47.130-07:00The Armor of God<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2R4ZJrBMnsvPjJZGJPmi_opTZrgpFhn2rg70uGsreVmGYfJRuqIZIGqlSFmH4BfZ9vp8-0Xb0v3Jg3fAtFrc1bpLjf9yyYQ3On_lq66MuBrozfkR3Zq8WySuDlhfeX_LnniF29YGW4WVh/s1080/Armor+of+God+square.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2R4ZJrBMnsvPjJZGJPmi_opTZrgpFhn2rg70uGsreVmGYfJRuqIZIGqlSFmH4BfZ9vp8-0Xb0v3Jg3fAtFrc1bpLjf9yyYQ3On_lq66MuBrozfkR3Zq8WySuDlhfeX_LnniF29YGW4WVh/w200-h200/Armor+of+God+square.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">The words “spiritual warfare” mean many things to many people. But what does the Bible actually teach about it? Much of our confusion and misinformation comes from our habit of trying to understand scriptures apart from their context. </p><p>Ephesians 6 is a perfect example. If you are not carefully tracking with Paul’s train of thought throughout the letter, his call to spiritual arms at the end seems like an afterthought, disconnected from the rest of the letter. When you see it this way, you are left trying to fill in the meaning on your own. But Paul’s teaching on spiritual warfare is not an afterthought. It does not begin in chapter 6, it’s a culmination of the entire letter:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (6:10-12).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>We know what “strength of his might” Paul is talking about, and that it is strong enough to defeat these spiritual forces of evil because of what he already told us in 1:19-21:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"> “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. . . ” </blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>We know what “authorities” and “present darkness” Paul is referring to because he reminded us in 2:2 and 5:8 that those were once our authorities and our darkness when we were “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience . . .at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”</p><p>In 6:13-18, Paul describes the “whole armor” in detail:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;">Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.“</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>But what does all this mean? How can we “wear” salvation or strap it on our feet? Clearly Paul is not speaking literally. He’s not asking us to pretend to put on armor every morning when we get dressed. Rather, he is asking us to apply what he has already taught.</p><p>“The word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (1:13) is our belt. We fasten it tightly to keep us from getting tripped up as we fight. As our breastplate we “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:24) and we “walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right[eous] and true)” (5:9). We strap to our feet “the readiness given by the gospel of peace” to remind ourselves that “he himself is our peace,” that we “who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” and that he has broken down every wall of hostility (2:12-19). Essential to our warfare is an eagerness to spread this peace. </p><p>Faith is our full-body shield. We are protected as we remember that it is Christ who saves us, through no works of our own (2:8-10). We protect our heads by remembering that our great salvation was planned from eternity, accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, (1:7,13; 2:4-10). This knowledge is as critical to our survival as a helmet is to a soldier. And then we have our sword, which is the Word of the Lord, which is all of Scripture, all of which points us right back to the gospel.</p><p>In Ephesians Paul has laid out the gospel. It is the gospel that saved us, and it is the gospel that will continue to save us. In it we find every truth we need to combat the lies of the evil one, everything we need to survive. Our spiritual warfare is to put it on, to take our stand, not alone, but together as a church, and to fight. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/10/the-armor-of-god" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-7378243438634250032021-06-01T13:46:00.006-07:002021-06-01T14:11:24.485-07:00The Spirit-Filled Church<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06g2jWyjmiZtScxtADdvUQ1VTT_JbzuWsph-4sqgmndAD8dI-HQYvDU1sASjKpceUMKQLVDSpQX20DCNfohW3TqFoNMb5oKPwpdwYavV7JFCsNMhNl9qLAlZcoBS_p4n8lyn4gCi4Z2b9/s1080/the+Spirit-filled+Church+square.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06g2jWyjmiZtScxtADdvUQ1VTT_JbzuWsph-4sqgmndAD8dI-HQYvDU1sASjKpceUMKQLVDSpQX20DCNfohW3TqFoNMb5oKPwpdwYavV7JFCsNMhNl9qLAlZcoBS_p4n8lyn4gCi4Z2b9/s320/the+Spirit-filled+Church+square.png" /></a></div>What do you think of when you hear the words “Spirit-filled”? What does a Spirit-filled church look like? Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be “filled with the Spirit,” but how do we do it, and what does it look like when we do? <p></p><p>In Ephesians, the apostle Paul gives us one of the Bible’s loftiest expositions of God’s purpose for the church, a plan forged before the beginning when God “chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” and “predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will . . . a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth . . .This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1:4-5,10; 3:11). It is in this context of God’s eternal plan that we can best understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. </p><p>The Holy Spirit permeates Ephesians, just as he permeates every aspect of the church and the Christian life. Like a down payment, the Spirit proves God’s intentions for us: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (1:13-14).</p><p>It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to understand the hope we have in Christ and who teaches us to treasure what Christ does—his glorious inheritance—the church “which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:23). Hence Paul’s prayer: “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (1:17-18). </p><p>The Spirit’s mission is to gather Jew and Gentile together into one family, one temple, a single dwelling place for God: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">“For through him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (2:18-22).</p></blockquote><p>Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way, but we are too weak for Christ to dwell in our hearts. We cannot contain His great love without the work of the Spirit to strengthen us. This is why Paul prayed:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"> “according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:16-19).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>When we understand the heart of the Holy Spirit, we understand why Paul urges us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3) and why he warns us, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (4:30-32). How do we grieve God’s Spirit? By tearing apart his work.</p><p>So now we return to our question: how can we be filled with the Spirit? Paul tells us plainly: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:18-21). This is the Bible’s picture of the Spirit-filled church. This is what it looks like to be a person with whom the Triune God dwells.</p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/5/3/the-spirit-filled-church" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-72611247421434600972021-06-01T13:43:00.002-07:002022-03-30T09:31:57.230-07:00Would You Want to Be Alice?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8W7fhNTamzajjT4foIVlRp1NADOBJaiVNMoMdjvIJuVhxBNbwrBx-9l_AThGDBVnXZZaZSQ7fSNaIGSkeOtQoQJf44v1UMUiB0uUn2SHQ3_i73T1tcK01Cy5D4RMsoWU8AeUuB04BMxF/s1080/Alice.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8W7fhNTamzajjT4foIVlRp1NADOBJaiVNMoMdjvIJuVhxBNbwrBx-9l_AThGDBVnXZZaZSQ7fSNaIGSkeOtQoQJf44v1UMUiB0uUn2SHQ3_i73T1tcK01Cy5D4RMsoWU8AeUuB04BMxF/w200-h200/Alice.png" width="200" /></a></div>Like just about every other girl of my generation, I loved the Brady Bunch. I wanted to be Marsha, the oh-so-cool and beautiful older sister, or at the very least to be as cute as little Cindy, who everyone adored. Even to be Jan, the middle daughter, would be an improvement over my bony, four-eyed, gap-toothed self. The only child in my household, I envied those sibling relationships. I wanted brothers to fight with who secretly really loved me. And, of course, I wished for such parents: kind, respectful, fair, caring, young, hip, and wealthy. Ah, the Brady's! They had it all. They even had a live-in maid. No wonder they were all smiles!<p></p><p>But there was one smile in the Brady household that puzzled me. Alice was neither young nor beautiful. She had no husband, no child, no car, and no home of her own. Sure, she had the occasional date with Sam, that non-committal butcher, but she spent every other waking moment in her maid’s uniform serving this family and smiling as if she were cleaning her own amazing house, as if the people she served were her own flesh and blood. As far as I was concerned, Alice had no life. Why on earth was she so happy?</p><p>Don't get me wrong, I knew this was TV and that these were actors. But even as a child, I was aware that somewhere in the world, past and present, there were and had been real servants, even real slaves. I knew that somehow these people had to find their happiness within that structure. Instinctively I knew that those who managed to do so were finer humans than I could ever hope to be. I also knew that if servanthood was required, I did not want to be that fine of a human. I'd rather be numbered among the shallow, happy elite than the joyfully humble. I loved Alice, but I didn’t want to be her.</p><p>Alice was a hold-over from a day whose sun has set. I hear our economy referred to as "service-based," but professionalism and service-with-a-smile like Alice’s are becoming relics of by-gone days. There was a time when only the elite (and men - but that's a discussion for another day) expected to be served. Now we all want to be served, but no one wants to be the servant. One of my high school yearbooks ironically pictures the two seniors voted "most likely to succeed" in the school custodian's closet holding his mop and bucket. (I wonder if the janitor knew that his life’s work was mocked by the children he served.) You see, it wasn't just me. We all wanted to be the Brady's, but we didn’t want to be Alice. </p><p>No one wants to be Alice, but no one wants to live in a world without her. No one wants to experience the poverty of a world without joyful service or the brutality of a world where service is rendered only out of greed, desperation, or fear, a world where a smile is never more than a cloak hiding a cold dark universe of swirling motives. Imagine a world with caregivers who don’t care, with employers and employees with no compassion for the people whom they are responsible to serve. Imagine if the whole world felt like the DMV.</p><p>Of course, I know there has never been a golden age filled with people like Alice. That world is as fictional as The Brady Bunch. But Alice represented an ideal, underneath which lies our hope for a more perfect world. Our affection for Alice is rooted in our deep need to be cared for, to have someone who loves us selflessly and unconditionally. But Alice also represents, should we choose to recognize it, the joy we might have if we would only give our love so selflessly. </p><p>Alice did have a life. She spent it loving freely and being loved. The Brady’s were not her family by blood, but they were by choice. They were hers by love. That is why Alice smiled. She knew how to love. She knew how to give. In this she was richer and more beautiful than them all. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">“. . . whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mt. 20:26-28.</p></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/4/26/would-you-want-to-be-alice" target="_blank">here</a>, and is an edited reissue of my 2010 post <a href="http://lauriemo.blogspot.com/2010/06/go-ask-alice.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-61935990455215057412021-04-06T09:44:00.004-07:002022-03-30T09:32:05.418-07:00Personality or Person?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjnfRHREljBDPXdxxtTQa2nNNh5FV6WSz0ETV74FTivAgJDbacnfHA38YpFUGUzW6_Rk6UKUjSD3spN4HysmQ7ivunGbQhftsWY4awgOurA1umWxVCX8oiBVgkaU-BI2cEUtJgHYJDiRBS/s1080/Personality+or+Person.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjnfRHREljBDPXdxxtTQa2nNNh5FV6WSz0ETV74FTivAgJDbacnfHA38YpFUGUzW6_Rk6UKUjSD3spN4HysmQ7ivunGbQhftsWY4awgOurA1umWxVCX8oiBVgkaU-BI2cEUtJgHYJDiRBS/w200-h200/Personality+or+Person.png" width="200" /></a></div>When I was a new Christian, many moons ago, I was unemployed and looking for work. One of the jobs I applied for during that time was a secretarial position at a church. Before they would interview me, however, I was required to take a personality test. I found the questions difficult. I was not who I once was. I was a new creature in Christ. How do I behave at parties? I had never been to one as a Christian. All I knew was that I wouldn’t behave as I had before. I answered as best I could. But I wondered if any of my answers rightly reflected the person I was becoming—the person Christ was transforming me to be? Did these Christian employers even care? I didn’t know, nor was I asked. I didn’t get the job.<p></p><p>Here in America, personality is king. But have you ever noticed that the Bible says next to nothing about it? Solomon was wise, but was he a sparkling wit? David was a man after God’s own heart, but was he the life of the party? Job suffered intensely, but was he a depressive personality? And what about Jesus? </p><p>Can you describe the “personality” of the one perfect man, God made flesh? When he walked among us, was he an extrovert or an introvert? Did he prefer his quiet time to being the center of attention? Was he a chatterbox or was he reserved? Did he love to laugh and joke, or was he a sobersides? Was he the life of the wedding party at Cana or did he sit quietly and watch the fun? Was he Type A or B? Was he sanguine, choleric, melancholic, or phlegmatic? What was his Myers-Briggs type or his enneagram number? Doesn’t this begin to sound a little silly when we apply it to Jesus?</p><p>If personality (as we think of it) is so central to life and happiness, wouldn’t the Bible have more to say about it? But regardless of how many “personality types” we come up with and no matter how many tests, so far as Scripture is concerned, there are only two types of people: the righteous and the wicked. It is not our “personality” God is concerned with but our character. </p><p>Our natural personalities are the product of many things, all tainted by sin. Our fascination with them is a fascination with ourselves that takes us quickly down the road to self-absorption, self-congratulation, and self-defense, teaching us to glorify our better qualities and to excuse the rest as personality quirks. “Personality” becomes a filter to soften our besetting sins and a distraction from the one true source of godliness.</p><p>We don’t need personality tests to discover who we are; we need our Bibles. Only there do we find everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). Only there can we see the perfection of Christ’s character, and the ugliness of our sin by comparison. And it is there that God tells us not to focus on our natural personalities but to:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>“. . . put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>If you are in Christ, you are finished maximizing your old self. You’ve abandoned polishing your image in the mirror. You are a new person being re-created after the likeness of God. You are called to glory, the glory of Christ himself. It’s his face you want to see. It’s his perfect character you want to reflect.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Remember how silly it seemed to apply personality tests to our Savior? When we stand beholding his glory, doesn’t it begin to sound silly for us, too?</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/3/30/personality-or-person" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-26375671646623050122021-03-09T09:19:00.002-08:002022-03-30T09:32:18.678-07:00Adrift<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3qQLB5t_KcFnWWX8tUOTZH6yPFSw52UaDS_Pwl6OCYf7BMHFzv_FEVVg-e3_LbBiHGie-HqIzvkWmUt5bripFU2f1RhFV3zkGhkznZOY-sWS16AVQ6pZMU1t6m6cLIRUJHrI_0xxvb0o/s1080/Adrift+square.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3qQLB5t_KcFnWWX8tUOTZH6yPFSw52UaDS_Pwl6OCYf7BMHFzv_FEVVg-e3_LbBiHGie-HqIzvkWmUt5bripFU2f1RhFV3zkGhkznZOY-sWS16AVQ6pZMU1t6m6cLIRUJHrI_0xxvb0o/w200-h200/Adrift+square.png" width="200" /></a></div>When I met him I was eighteen years old sitting with my mother in a television studio watching her favorite Christian program being broadcast live. I had just graduated from high school and was not sure what direction my life was going to take.<p></p><p>I was raised Lutheran and went to Lutheran schools. For nine years I not only attended church and Sunday school, but I took all the required religion classes at school and attended chapel weekly. By the tenth grade, however, not long after my confirmation of baptism and my first communion, my mother gave up making me go to church.</p><p>During my senior year, though, I accepted an invitation to a different kind of church. Their passionate worship and preaching moved me to tears. I would later learn that their teachings were false, but their enthusiasm for the Bible got me going to church and reading the Scriptures of my own free will for the first time in my life.</p><p>Weeks later, with her hand pressed against the hand of an evangelist on the TV screen, my mother prayed her own way into this new kind of Christianity. That is how I ended up at the TV station that summer evening.</p><p>The young man was riding a boom when he spotted me. He was busy running the camera, so he sent his brother to ask for my number. Weeks later he picked me up for our first date. We sped off in his red Corvette to meet a group of his friends for dinner.</p><p>He came from a prominent Christian family. He was charismatic. He was funny. And he was cruel. He delighted in mocking the weaknesses of others. One thing I had learned from reading my Bible was that Christians were supposed to be kind (1 Cor. 13.4, Gal. 5.22). That evening I went from attracted to troubled. When I got home I told my mother about my concerns. She arranged a conference call with two of her new church friends, the ones she looked up to as mature believers.</p><p>This relationship, they prophesied, was from God. This young man and I, they declared, would marry and have a national ministry. They told me, in other words, to disregard what the Scripture said and listen to them. I did. I let myself fall in love. </p><p>That phone call would become, for me, the portal to a secret world where I strained to hear the voice of God and where people who could hear voices that I couldn’t charted the course for my life. A year or so later, when that young man had an affair with his best friend’s wife and left me in the wake of his perfidy, that secret world became a world of fear and distrust. God became, to me, a cruel joker.</p><p>Yet deep beneath my terror of that secret world remained the quiet memory that, through the Scriptures, the Spirit of God had warned me that love is kind. God is not a trickster. He had spoken, and, through the Scriptures, He continues to speak.</p><p>I originally shared this story here several years ago. I share it again today because the world is fuller than ever of voices demanding our attention, competing for our time, vying for our loyalty. They batter us and they flatter us. They confuse and entice us. Many, like the ones that deceived me, even claim to be the voice of the Savior himself. </p><p>My prayer is that neither you nor I will waste our days and years as I did, adrift, like “children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4.14), but that together we will devote ourselves to strengthening our grip on God’s Word until “we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4.13).</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/3/adrift" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-13157340464299225322021-02-23T14:07:00.001-08:002021-02-23T14:07:11.647-08:00The Story of Scripture<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvgwaX3IKPMyD0SrWKz2sq4mxnswQo-dIVFW7Gpn5cIABSsbaac-_Sr8X72BMxp35BJ-TSYgqdKYwt7It2_so0xMe0CI59QWDFbXSMQgK3ipmuFLDoJ1SSXzcCy334DvGXuWbGTT8aUg7/s2000/The+Story+of+Scripture+-+timeline%252C+large.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1136" height="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvgwaX3IKPMyD0SrWKz2sq4mxnswQo-dIVFW7Gpn5cIABSsbaac-_Sr8X72BMxp35BJ-TSYgqdKYwt7It2_so0xMe0CI59QWDFbXSMQgK3ipmuFLDoJ1SSXzcCy334DvGXuWbGTT8aUg7/w342-h599/The+Story+of+Scripture+-+timeline%252C+large.png" width="342" /></a></div>Imagine moving into a house without closets, without cupboards, without shelves, and without furniture. You stack up all your boxes. You sift through piles of clothes to get dressed. You move ten boxes to find the one thing you need. You empty out five more to find something else. In all your sifting the confusion spreads. As the chaos grows, you cry out in exasperation: <i>This is no way to live! </i><p></p><p>This is no way to live at home, and it’s no way to live with God’s Word. The Bible is not disordered, but it is big. We feel overwhelmed by it. We don’t know where to start, and we don’t have the furniture we need to make sense of it all. We know there are some helpful bits here and there, but half the time we can’t find them when we go looking. Much of the rest we don’t understand at all. We don’t know what goes where, so we stick with the few things we know and work around the rest as best we can. </p><p>If you feel this way, you are not alone. This is why the Holy Spirit gives the church teachers, and it is the job of the church's teachers help you furnish your spiritual house, to give you hooks, and shelves so that you can readily access and benefit from the entire word of God. </p><p>One of the most fundamental pieces of furniture they can give you is the big picture—an outline of the Bible’s story of redemption. This outline is like your kitchen cupboards, your bedroom closets, your shelves, your backyard shed. One of the first steps in making the best use of your Bible is recognizing what goes where:</p><p><b>Creation</b></p><p>The story of creation tells us who made us and why. It tells us how we came to be, what we were created to be, and what we are created to do. It orients us as to who we are and our place in the cosmos. </p><p><b>Fall </b></p><p>The fall of mankind into sin is the next pivotal event in the Bible. Man stepped out on his own in rejection of God’s word, and everything changed. Nothing in God’s creation is untouched by mankind’s sin. Nothing in our hearts and lives is untouched by it. Everything we read that occurs after the fall has to be interpreted in light of it. </p><p><b>Redemption</b></p><p>Redemption is not a single event in Scripture. God’s work of redemption, we will find, was planned before creation and begins unfolding from the Bible’s first pages. But it reaches its climax in a single event planned before the foundation of the world, the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. The death and resurrection of Christ is the event that all Old Testament Scripture points forward to and every event afterward points back to. Christ’s work of redemption is complete, but its work in the world is not. It is at work through the gospel creating something entirely new.</p><p><b>New Creation</b></p><p>Christ’s new creation began the moment of his resurrection, and it begins for each of us the moment we put our faith in him. All of us who are in Christ are already new creatures. So far as we are concerned, His kingdom has already come. But one look around (and within our own hearts) makes it clear that the work of transformation is not complete. We eagerly await the promised day when all evil will be swept away and the entire heavens and earth created anew for us—the day when “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).</p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/2/23/sorting-out-the-story" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-11647023279085654222021-02-17T09:16:00.003-08:002022-03-30T09:33:30.833-07:00Conspiring to Love<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0NiRPGh6zjwOjhzkC9HI1OqNIQw2Pk3oJX-RgnmFdVy3Ynnwj9Oc8VbbnDDdDSQNw5BteZv8156ViEaj_ih9-tEADRdOpfRRCddplHg26dXxv66-m2k_7UI6DpRclATYrNNzIPCgwZHV/s1080/Copy+of+Conspiring+to+Love.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0NiRPGh6zjwOjhzkC9HI1OqNIQw2Pk3oJX-RgnmFdVy3Ynnwj9Oc8VbbnDDdDSQNw5BteZv8156ViEaj_ih9-tEADRdOpfRRCddplHg26dXxv66-m2k_7UI6DpRclATYrNNzIPCgwZHV/w200-h200/Copy+of+Conspiring+to+Love.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The conspiracy against Joseph was no theory. His brothers really did hate him. They really did plot to destroy him. With Judah as the ringleader, they really did sell him into slavery and convince their father he had been killed by a wild beast. Their conspiracy was a success. Joseph was as good as dead. He was a slave, bound for Egypt. <p></p><p>We can only guess at his emotions: confusion, disillusionment, rage, grief. Joseph lost a lot more than his freedom; he lost his father, his little brother, everyone and everything else he’d ever known and loved, along with any illusions he might have had about the goodness of humanity. He should have been bitter. He should have been as defeated as his brothers wished him to be. Yet everywhere he went regardless of the misery of his circumstances—even as a slave with no human rights, even as a prisoner falsely accused—the dignity of his conduct inspired confidence and respect. He served his masters faithfully, with all his heart. And he prospered, ultimately and impossibly becoming the right-hand man of Pharaoh himself.</p><p>So how did he do it? How, while the world seemed hell-bent on destroying him, did Joseph side-step bitterness and cynicism to maintain his integrity and faithfulness as a man of God? The Bible says precious little about the world of Joseph’s thoughts until the very end, when he finds that he finally has his own treacherous brothers at his mercy: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">“Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come near to me, please.’ And they came near. And he said, ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom <b>you sold</b> into Egypt. And now<b> do not be distressed or angry with yourselves</b> <b>because you sold me here</b>, for <b>God sent me </b>before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And <b>God sent me</b> before you to preserve<b> for you</b> a remnant on earth, and to keep alive <b>for you</b> many survivors. So <b>it was not you who sent me here, but God</b>’” (Gen. 45:4-8, emphasis added).</p></blockquote></blockquote><p>“<b>It was not you who sent me here, but God.</b>” Joseph was no Pollyanna. He did not deny his brothers’ wickedness, nor did he make excuses for it. As he would later put it, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good . . .” (Gen. 50:20). </p><p>Knowing that even the conspiracies of his enemies served God’s ultimate plan of redemption was all Joseph needed to know. It was what freed him to live and serve with integrity as a slave. It was what enabled him to shine like a light in the darkness of a dungeon. It was what enabled him to reject the desire for vengeance and instead to embrace his treacherous brothers, weeping tears of heart-felt love (Gen. 45: 15). Knowing that God’s plan is to love and to redeem even our enemies will do the same for us.</p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/12/14/conspiring-to-love" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441908040982501903.post-9627815713871310542021-02-02T10:11:00.002-08:002022-03-30T09:33:58.665-07:00The Wrestler<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvevVLe1KanIaCVOsWPDXG5iAePft8QCk2sT-MYHMR08w8cByju4xCFs7vT3cFli6lh789cNyauInMbxqnRqGRpKDHx84GHdwC-FvE59bo-Z82IR9kDY2AKOo3CwKd6DbtyFo2MBtapBlu/s1080/Wrestler+square.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvevVLe1KanIaCVOsWPDXG5iAePft8QCk2sT-MYHMR08w8cByju4xCFs7vT3cFli6lh789cNyauInMbxqnRqGRpKDHx84GHdwC-FvE59bo-Z82IR9kDY2AKOo3CwKd6DbtyFo2MBtapBlu/w200-h200/Wrestler+square.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Jacob was a born wrestler. Literally. Much to the distress of his mother, he spent his time in the womb struggling with his brother. Despite his best efforts, he was born in second place, his hand still grasping his brother’s heel, clinging to a birthright that wasn’t his. Jacob means “takes by the heel,” an idiomatic way of saying, “he cheats” (Gen. 25:22-26). I can imagine his mother, Rebekah, thinking Awww! What a cute little cheater! But what is adorable in a baby, is not so cute in a grown man.<p></p><p>As he grew, it became clear that Jacob was never going to win any physical battles with his swarthy older twin. But there is more than one way to wrestle. The cleverer of the two, Jacob outwitted his brother to gain the birthright and, at the urging of his mother, deceived his blind father to steal his brother’s blessing. Jacob got what he wanted, but his wrestling tore his family apart. Esau, furious over his losses, plotted to kill his brother. No match for the physical threat, Jacob fled hundreds of miles to Mesopotamia to work for his mother’s brother, Laban. He would never lay eyes on his mother again.</p><p>While he was away Jacob got a taste of his own medicine. In, Laban, Jacob had met his match. He found out how it felt to be cheated, and cheated, and cheated. But he also learned that no one could cheat him out of God’s blessing now that it had been given. Jacob arrived at Laban’s house with nothing. Twenty years later, despite Laban’s constant cheating, Jacob had acquired a large family and vast wealth. And when “Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him with favor as before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.’” (Gen 31:2-3).</p><p>Jacob packed up his family and his herds and headed home. And his conscience began to wrestle. He sent word ahead to Esau that he was on his way and concocted a scheme to appease his brother for his stolen blessing (32:1-3). When his messengers returned with the news that Esau was coming with 400 men to meet him, Jacob’s conscience assumed the worst. Terrified (32:6-7), he cried out to God for protection, reminded Him of His promises, and praised Him for His steadfast love (32:9-12). Then he sent his family and a series of lavish gifts on ahead.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>“And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’ And he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him.” (Gen. 32:24-29).</blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p>Israel, means “wrestles with God.” Jacob had spent his life wrestling men, but that night he found himself wrestling with God. And the new day dawned on a new man with a new name and a new outlook on life. For the rest of his life, with every limping step he would be reminded of one thing: the real struggle in life is not with flesh and blood. </p><p>And the same is true for us. We are tempted to wrestle the people around us as if they held the keys to God’s blessings. We waste our energy and run roughshod over our relationships when what we really need is to grab hold of Christ and refuse to let go. </p><p><br /></p><p>This article was originally published <a href="https://livinghopechico.com/resources/2021/2/2/the-wrestler" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Laurie M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15840896949617719814noreply@blogger.com0