The Life We Live

A couple months ago, I heard a podcast featuring Brian Geunther, President of San Marcos Baptist Academy and digital creator. (He has a wonderful testimony, and I would encourage you to give the interview on Redemption's Table a listen.) In discussing his study of monarchies, Dr. Geunther made what I thought was a profound observation (with deep implications for believers in Jesus Christ): It's in our DNA as Americans to fight against "kingdom." Isn't that the truth? As Americans, we want autonomy-- at the very least, democracy. How does it appeal to you to surrender all of your rights to someone --even a most magnanimous, omniscient, loving, omnipotent-- Someone? Who, in a culture so married to its rights, would think that a good idea? I'm not simply speaking of a personal distaste for being ruled by and reigned over: we --yes, even believers-- in our flesh, tend to rebel against it! How can believers pray Thy kingdom come --for all the earth, for all of God's chosen-- when we're not really Superfans of "kingdom" ourselves? If we're defending and holding dear our rights day after day, kicking against the goads, building our own kingdoms how are we going to effectively win others to the God who demands they submit to Him, seek His kingdom, and turn from their own ways? If we can't find joy in surrender, how can we convince the rest of the world they will? If we are not thrilled to serve the Living God in the ways He requires, how will others ever want what we have been given? 

All this got me to thinking about all the other things we consider "normal" and to which we believe we are "entitled," things in our culture that can keep us from embracing the truth of God's Word. (And let me just clarify, I think there's a big difference between embracing truth and merely believing truth.)

Living on the East Coast, we have more than a dozen beaches at our disposal; but we all know, if we truly want to relax and enjoy the sun and surf, major summer holidays are not the time to do that. In fact, even weekend retreats to the city for some nightlife or culture or dining are all tempered with an afternoon at the spa or a relaxing carriage ride around the city. Crowds just are not the way to relax. Big cities mean big crime, big trash, big money for very tiny living spaces. Crowds just make things messy. And spreading out is biblical; but Christians are supposed to want everyone on the Jesus train, aren't we?  Christians have been commissioned to preach Christ and make disciples, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, and we are to act and speak in such a way that the world may know. And I ask myself, Won't it get crowded up there? Won't it be noisy and chaotic? And I examine my heart, Do I want that? My human, maybe American (in the sense my ancestors came here looking for freedom and a peaceful life) nature resists the idea of inviting a slew of folks to paradise. Would it still be heavenly, after all?

And there's one more thing. Are you getting anxious? Get to the point! you cry. Well, that's just it: our instant, microwave society. We have 24-hour banking at our fingertips, contact with anyone worldwide in the time it takes them to pick up the phone, delivery before the end of day, fast food that's even faster than it was ten years ago, streaming with no commercials, binge watching --almost everything we could want is available to us in an instant, as we choose. How does this change the way we view our relationships --especially the most important relationship we can have, the relationship with God? How does it change the way we pray: if God doesn't meet His "deadline," do we choose to do things our own way? How does it negate the benefit of Sabbath and rest that God has given us? How does it affect our expectations with regard to those around us: can we continue to love those folks we were kind toward yesterday, despite their unchanged heart? Are we easily discouraged by our own lack of change?

I think it's wise to examine areas in which we have been influenced by our culture instead of embracing God's truth, and repent of that. In Ephesians 5, God through Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus, tells us to imitate Him and walk in love. We must examine our actions, be aware of our motivations, seek to know God's will, and choose to obey it. Culture is important; it's part of our story, and it, too, is a gift. However, our story is ultimately History. How is God reflected in the life we are living?

Photo courtesy: LuAnn Martin

Do You Have a Great Retirement Plan?

In 2021, I retired from UPS with thirty-two years of service. Not a whole lot of thought went into the decision: God told me to do it, some changes were coming with regard to pensions, I had the time and the age-- it was sort of a no-brainer. But if I'm being honest, God had been telling me to do it since 2014. At that time, however, I would have simply had to quit; I couldn't imagine God was telling me that. But the bills! And medical insurance?! I'm walking away from a part-time job that pays more than most full-time jobs, for what? So, I stayed, too long. 

This morning, I was reading Mark 10:29-30:

So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life."

John Piper says this is "radical recompense." He paraphrases:

Jesus says, “No one ever sacrifices anything for me that I do not pay back a hundredfold — yes, in one sense even in this life, not to mention eternal life in the age to come.”

In his sermon on this passage, Piper explains that those who give up family, say, to go into faraway mission fields, may be compensated by the "family" that surrounds them in that place, those with whom they develop close relationships or those who constantly support them in prayer and compassion. So, Jesus is able, is willing to pay back what is given in sacrifice. Not a bad deal, right? But see, here's the thing: the "reimbursement thing" only applies to that which is given in sacrifice. Check out the word in Mark 10:29-30, the one that comes after the laundry list of things received "a hundredfold." The word is "with", and it means accompanying, next to. Those things we give up are "repaid" to us with persecution. Well, that sounds incredibly unappealing!

Think about it in these terms: Many have left their homes to serve on the mission field. It has come with feelings of unimaginable loneliness and frustration. Some have had to move several times due to warring factions or famine. It was not what they anticipated. However, they came to know Jesus as their "home," the greatest home they could ever desire. Is it making sense now? The bottom line is, following God is going to mean sacrifice-- whether the Holy Spirit nudges you to put a little more in the offering plate, or give that person who has never been pleasant toward you a ride to the grocery store, or leave a really good job for...? But Jesus Himself gave us His word that we would be compensated 10,000%-- and not simply for doing it, but for wanting to do it and doing it, no matter how bad it gets.

How many of us are sacrificing with regard to our finances today, taking additional deductions from our bottom line each week for stocks and 401Ks, just hoping for future security? How many of us are giving up Saturdays to get in some overtime, just hoping for a comfortable future? How many of us are foregoing those memberships or vacations today, hoping instead to enjoy them in the future? What are we willing to sacrifice for a future guaranteed to come, a future guaranteed to be better than anything we can imagine, a future planned and prepared by the Alpha and Omega? I wish I'd trusted Jesus enough in 2014, to find out. I wish I'd been willing to suffer then, for His sake, that I might have known sooner what He would do. But I'm trusting Him today. I'm willing to do what He says. And I'm trusting His promise, I will be compensated in ways I never could expect. Does your retirement plan measure up?

(Photo courtesy LuAnn Martin)

Fruitful and Forgetful

My husband and I met at work. He was brash and crude. I didn't like him. A few years later, we began talking, then dating, and the rest is history. But I gotta tell you, the thing that sold me on the guy was, there is so much more than meets the eye. Our first date was sweet, romantic. I later saw a Dad who loved his kids and wanted the best for them-- such a contrast from the guy at work who griped and wanted things his way and had some difficulty playing well with others. And his condo? Well, that was like stepping into the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. He had houseplants, y'all!! Living, green, beautiful houseplants! I was still on the horticultural society's watchlist. Since then, we have grown our own garden from seeds, and planting our flower garden has become something we look forward to and do together each year. Who would have thought?

In Genesis 41:50-52, Joseph, a Hebrew son of Jacob (Israel), has become second only to Pharaoh in Egypt. He has been given Pharaoh's daughter as his wife and together they have two sons. His second is named Ephraim, meaning twofold increase, or doubly fruitful. Joseph explains, For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. Fruitful. What did Joseph mean by "fruitful"? As second only to Pharaoh, Joseph had royal garments and a gold chain about his neck, the Pharaoh's signet ring which gave him authority over all the kingdom, Pharaoh's daughter as his wife, and all of Egypt bowing before him as he rode in the second finest chariot in the land. Is this the "fruitful" Joseph was talking about? Not at all. The fruit Joseph was pointing to was from God. Do you see that? God has caused me to be fruitful. But there's more. Joseph was fruitful where? In Egypt; the land of his affliction is how he describes it. God had blessed him; Egypt had afflicted him. Egypt was not his home. It was not the kingdom he was born to serve. Egypt could never offer him the kind of fruit Joseph was born to bear, the fruit of the God he served: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is in fact, this fruit that allowed him to name his first son Manasseh: forgetting, evaporating. For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house, Joseph explains. Only God, only the fruit of His Spirit can cause us to forget the things that will keep us from fruitfulness. Just so we're clear, Joseph didn't deny his affliction. He calls it out! Allow me to paraphrase: I forgot the things I suffered at the hands of my family because God has made me fruitful! Now that's some good fruit! 

Years ago, we were sitting in church when the pastor talked about forgiveness. One of our children turned to me and asked, "Did he say, 'Forgotness'?" That has stayed with me. Forgotness. Is it possible to go beyond forgiveness and reach that place of forgotness? I'm not talking about memory lapse. I'm not talking about a complete failure to recall the offense or the robbery or the betrayal. I'm talking about a forgotness that takes the sting from those infractions in much the same way as a mother forgets the intense pain of childbirth the moment she hears her baby's first cry. I'm talking about a forgotness that heals triggers. I'm talking about a forgotness that blesses entire generations because the fruit we bear yielded a harvest, breaking cycles and regenerating families and renewing minds and collecting the torrents of righteousness God has rained down on those He calls His own through His Son, Jesus Christ. We can forget. 

I have forgotten the specifics of disliking Scott when I met him. What, exactly, had he said? What, exactly, had he done? I remember, however, the joy and comfort of discovering wonderful things about him: the doting dad and his eye for things like decorating and gardening. What would happen if Scott ever became unable to supervise our yearly planting? I'd probably wind up tried for crimes against flora again. I am assured, however, that as I walk with Jesus and seek to be fruitful by imitating Him, I will forget the specifics of hardship and pain. You can, too. Who would have thought?

No Different

Last year, my husband and I went on what we affectionately call, The Trip from Hell. That's probably irreverent, and probably not how we should label it, but I'm open to suggestions. We had booked a cruise over a year before. COVID restrictions being what they were at the time of finalization, Hubby and I decided to forego the cruise and do a quiet cabin in the woods instead. Well, we both got sick about a week before, and...it...lingered... We decided nothing was going to stop us, and we set off for our cute little rented cabin. And we drove. And we drove. And we drove. Until, hours later, we were hopelessly lost. Little did we know, the local rental agencies --and there are many-- exchange and rearrange cabin names rather frequently. Google Maps was not our friend. Our cabin was about twenty minutes from the group of cabins we were endlessly circling. It was late and we were tired, hungry, and very frustrated. When we finally found what we dreamed would be our love nest for the next five days, the accommodations were meh and there was no place to eat for miles. The weather had gotten sloppy, wet, and cold, and within twenty-four hours we were completely encased in ice with no food in the fridge and no way to get safely down the mountain. No postcard could possibly capture the excitement we felt. Did we grumble? Did we complain? You betcha!

This morning I was reading in Exodus 16:1-3. Israel is one month out from Egypt. They have seen terrible plagues befall Egypt by "the finger of God." They have seen an entire sea dried up in its midst that they might cross. They have witnessed water made pure by wood and rested in an oasis of springs and palm trees. But, in Exodus 16:2, they are grumbling again. Really?! we exclaim. How quickly they forget! we chastise. But I caution you (as I do myself), how many times have you grumbled in the last thirty days? Or perhaps, there was that moment you were brought to in which you grumbled enough for the entire thirty days. Let us not judge too harshly. How quickly we forget!

Israel was a people that had been raised to worship and to observe, but they had been enslaved in Egypt for generations. Nothing much had changed about their lives from the time a Pharaoh rose up who did not know Joseph, who was threatened by the people of God and appointed taskmasters over them-- nothing much had changed until their redemption. Their lives in Egypt were not at all like their lives here in this wilderness. This was a completely different type of existence, a different type of "test."

And this is where the Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart. All of life is a journey, with ups and downs, bumps and blessings; but they don't always look familiar to us. We long for stability, and when things get dull, we crave a change. We are rarely truly content, as Paul advises in Philippians 4:1-13. But not only are we sinfully fickle, we find ourselves completely undone when led into a trial or test that "appears" new. Folks, there is nothing new under the sun. Whether it's a trial of our hearts or a test of our patience, whether our finances fall short or the problems with our health are multiplying, whether our children have rejected us or our parents have moved in with us-- whatever is our present situation it requires the same course of action as every other situation that has come before: go to God.

When the dinner bell rang, God provided quail, and at breakfast time, manna for the people of Israel to eat. He had heard them. And when it came time for Scott and I to get off that mountain, God heard my prayers-- lots of them! So let us bear in mind that, though the specifics may be different, though the feelings may be different, though the length of time may be different, our God is not different. All any situation requires is that we look to Him.