Jesus

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Book Review: The Torn Veil

Christian church bombed in Nigeria. Muslim convert disowned by family.

We read the headlines, and try to imagine, but it’s very difficult to understand what it’s like to be in their shoes. We love to complain about the demise of Christianity’s cultural acceptance here in the U.S., but we really have no idea what it’s like to lose our home, our family, or our life for our faith.

One way to overcome this barrier is to read Christian biographies. The dialogue may be fictionalized, but the stories are true. As we immerse ourselves in the book, we begin to identify with the main character. What happens to them? How do they react? How would we react in the same circumstances?

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My Gift

The story of Israel and Judah is mostly a sad one. King after king rejected God, with disastrous consequences. David’s example of passionate obedience became the “gold standard” against which all the future kings were measured—and most were found wanting.

Solomon, with all his wisdom, still married foreign wives, who brought their pagan idols into their marriage and into the popular culture. It’s therefore no surprise that his son Rehoboam became an idolator. Consider 2 Chronicles 12:

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Let There Be Light

Reading the news this morning, it would be easy to be depressed. Evil seems to be winning. I know the media tend to focus on bad news, but this latest set of headlines seemed worse than usual. As I prayed over some of the various issues, the word that kept coming to mind was “darkness.” We live in a world filled with deep darkness.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

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Little Sins

I was reading yet another article on the travails of Mark Driscoll (a whole separate topic) when I came across this statement:

It seems that these are the three areas where Christians most likely to fall into sin—pride, sex, and love of money.” … First John 2:15-17 calls them, “All that is in the world—the lust of the flesh [sex], the lust of the eyes [love of money], and the pride of life.” In other words—passions, possessions, pride.

It’s true that we tend to consider these the “Big Ones.” Most sins can be placed into one of these three categories. For example, we’re told not to covet our neighbors’ goodies. That would fall under “lust of the eyes.” We’re not to covet his wife either, lest we succumb to “lust of the flesh.”

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Celebrating Freedom

fireworks_theme_350Today is Independence Day, the day we celebrate the birth of a nation dedicated to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I’ve been mulling over just what that means, particularly in an age where our liberties seem to be diminished more and more. We read that we’re under surveillance by our own government, we trade our rights for an illusion of safety, and our elected politicians don’t obey the laws they’re sworn to uphold.

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Temptation

Temptations come in many guises. There are the obvious ones—alcohol to an alcoholic, internet porn, illicit drugs. There are the ones we can rationalize—overeating (I obviously struggle with that one!), irresponsibility, such as watching TV or playing games when you should be doing something else, selfishness, preferring our comfort over the needs of others.

Life is full of temptations to ignore God, disobey His word, put ourselves first. We all are faced with an ongoing stream of ways to get life wrong, but recently I came across an incident in Luke 22 that’s helping me do better.

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Praying for (someone else’s) Faith

The argument is as old as the Bible. Do we really choose to believe in God, in Jesus? Or does God choose us, extending mercy to some, and hardening the hearts of others?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. (Romans 9:18)

I prefer to avoid thinking about confusing and contradictory concepts—they make my head hurt!  However, the tension between predestination and free will concerns me a great deal. In fact, it’s a matter of life and death.

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Romancing Jesus

“Jesus loves me, this I know…”

But do I really?

In my most recent post, I urged you to pick up a copy of Skye Jethani’s latest book, Futureville: Discover Your Purpose for Today by Reimagining Tomorrow. This book is worth reading for many reasons, but there’s one major point I didn’t mention in my review.

In a small, seeming innocuous chapter near the end of the book, Jethani asks, “What is your treasure?” Of course, just as in Sunday school, the answer is supposed to be “Jesus!” But is He truly my treasure?

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Jairus’ Daughter

As I write this, I’ve been battling the Worst Cold Ever for over a week. I won’t go into the gory details, but this truly is the worst head cold I’ve ever had—and it just won’t go away. The doctors assure me it isn’t strep, so there’s really nothing much I can do except buy Kleenex in bulk, slurp chicken soup, juggle the decongestants with the antihistamines with the expectorants with the cough suppressants, and pray that I get better sooner, while my husband still likes me. (Am I whining? Oops, sorry.) Praying for healing is always a good idea.

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“No, no, no!”

Everett-WA_LAH_2624Imagine singing the ABC song. You know how it goes: “No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! … A, B, B, C, no, no, No!” It was early morning and our granddaughter was awake, happily singing in her room. So she changed the words a bit. Can you tell that she’s almost two?

In spite of her choice of lyrics, our sweetie really isn’t that big on the “N” word. Most kids that age are just discovering the power of “NO!” and they use it liberally. If we start singing “Yes, yes, yes” to her, she’ll sing along just as cheerfully.

She does have her moments, however. “Do you want the pink shirt or the purple shirt?” “NO!” “You must be hungry—do you want a banana?” “NO!” (while eagerly making the sign for “banana” and grabbing her bib). And of course, there’s the biggie, “It’s time for your nap, Sweetie.” “NO!!!!”

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