Seating Arrangements

But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests.
-Luke 14:10

This weekend, our family went to a wedding for my cousin. We arrived half an hour early with three kids in tow, along with three little pants/vest/tie suits for them and dress clothes for my husband and I. Of course, with half an hour, we should have plenty of time to get ready and get seated.

Anyone who has kids just laughed. Seriously? Thirty minutes to get children into Sunday clothes? Not to mention both adults. No matter how spacious the public bathroom, you simply can't accomplish this feat. It's like trying to herd cats to cross a river...nearly impossible.

So, very soon before the service was to start, we had dropped off the two littlest at the nursery and had the grade-schooler in tow. We signed in the guest book. Our eldest was so excited to see a wedding. He'd never been to one before. (Well, not one he was old enough to remember.) And so I was disheartened when one of the ladies near the guest book table asked if we'd head over to a specific side so the crowd would be balanced. And I'm not even sure whether it's the bride or groom's side, but of course we'd be happy to that. But then it hit me...

...we took entirely too long to get ready, arrived too late. And we were not going to be able to see very well. Well, that's how it goes sometimes. I'm just a cousin, and I knew my cousin was sure to have many other immediate family and close friends...ones with enough sense to show up earlier...already seated. And the wheels started turning in my head. Maybe if we sat somewhat toward the back, but near the center aisle, then at least we could put the little boy on the outside of the row and he could see the excitement of everyone walking down the aisle, get a good look at the bride as she entered, and maybe even peek his little head out the side of the pew to watch most of the ceremony, even if it was a long way off. Alright...that sounded like a plan.

When we entered the sanctuary, we were met at the door by an usher...the bride's sister's husband. And I was about to open my mouth to ask if we could sit on the aisle at the back when he offered me his arm and said, "You need to come up here. There's a special place reserved for you." I was so grateful and overjoyed about this. We were walked right down to the third row, past all the friends and more extended family and other acquaintances, seated next to another cousin and her family. We could not have asked for a better seat. We were able to see everything, even the expression on people's faces. Our son watched the entire thing with intense attention, absorbing all the excitement.

That's how it is with God. When we come to God, we're hoping humbly that He'll just give us a seat. Maybe we can get somewhere in the venue or at least in the vicinity of His love. If we can just get into the party, after all our history, we'd be content to just sit as a wallflower and be thankful to be there or maybe just edge a little closer so we can get a little glimpse of the action. But God doesn't work that way. When we approach God, He greets us with open arms. He won't let us sit off over at the fringes of His love. No matter our background, God has prepared a place specifically for us. No matter what we've done, He says to us, "Friend, move up to a better place."

What Should We Pray For?

Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

What should we pray for, then?

The answer is easy...anything we need! Whether it is a big need or a small need or a need someone else has expressed and asked you to pray with them about, God cares about your needs. In fact, the Bible tells us that God knows what we need before we ask. (Matthew 6:8) He wants us to ask...but he already knows what we need.

So we can be confident when we pray, knowing that we are doing something that God has commanded us to do, something he wants us to do, and something that is effective. How do we gain confidence in prayer? How do we go from someone who mutters a hasty, "Thank you for our daily bread," when they're asked to pray before a meal to someone who can pour out their heart in prayer whether in public or private. How does prayer go from being an exercise in awkwardness to something that's as natural as a fish swimming in water?

That answer is also easy...practice. We should be praying every day, talking to God. Maybe the first...or hundreth...time you approach God, you don't have a clue what to say. Maybe you wonder why you have the right to even ask Him for anything or wonder if He cares what you have to say or what your needs are.

You should let your mind be at ease about those things. When you don't have a clue what to say, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26 says "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." If our prayers are halting or timid or we think they are not eloquent...that's okay. God sees your heart, and he hears the groans of the Holy Spirit. You may not think you have the smooth-sounding words of the practiced prayer warrior who spoke in the pulpit last Sunday before the offering plate was passed, but that doesn't matter. You're not being judged based on the way others pray, and in fact if God were judging us on our eloquence, even the most silver-tongued orator would not evenbegin to approach His standard of eloquent, so what difference does it make if you or I are a little less eloquent that that person? I wonder...from God's perspective, would there even be a measurable difference?

When you wonder why you have the right to ask God for anything, it is because He told us to...repeatedly. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you." (Matthew 7:7) The book of James tells us, "ye have not, because ye ask not." (James 4:2)  John tells us "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask , we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (I John 5:14-15) We can and should ask of God because we're told to.

So next time you need something...whether it's a material need, wisdom to deal with a situation, a change of heart in someone you have to deal with...whatever the need, bring it to God and approach Him with your request with confidence.

When Should We Pray?

I Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.

Once we've established that we ought to be praying, then that leads to other questions. One of those is when should we pray?

Do we pray only at church? Do we pray at a set time every day? Maybe just at mealtimes? Maybe at bedtime? Is any specific time required...or are they all just suggestions? Psalm 55:17 says "Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray..." Does that mean we're required to pray three times a day? (Conversely, does three times a day get us "off the hook" and that's all we need to pray?)

The answer is that Christianity doesn't have any set times or amounts that we need to pray. Many families do give thanks before each meal, and that's a good practice because it gives a specific time to be in particular thankful. But there's no requirement to be prayerful at that exact time. Like many things in Christianity, when to formally pray is a matter of conscience.

However, though Christianity doesn't have set times to pray, there is a very high standard for Christians about prayer. Like many things in the New Testament, the requirement under grace gives more freedom and no strict law...while at the same time holding an even higher standard than any law could. In this case, the standard is "Pray without ceasing."

So what does that mean? It seems impossible on the surface, but God would not give us a command that is impossible. Obviously, we're not to be bowing our heads and praying in a spirit of deep communion twenty-four hours a day. For one thing, many hours are spent asleep, which is certainly not time spent in prayer. And if we try to pray with closed eyes and head bowed while we're driving down the road, we'll end up with our front bumper communing with the rear bumper of the next car.

I shied away from writing about this verse at first becasue, honestly, it's a spiritual discipline that I'm not very strong in. But I believe what this verse means is that we should always be in a spirit of prayer. When something bad happens, instead of trying to figure out how to solve a problem ourselves, our first response should be prayer, asking God for wisdom to address the situation or for provision. When something good happens, our first response should be, "Thank you, God!" And when we have a pause in life's routine, instead of letting our minds wander aimlessly, we should turn our thoughts to God.

What a difference it would make in our lives if we spent our days always ready to pray at the first opportunity!

Who Should Pray?

James 5:19b
"The effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

For the next several days, I'd like to talk about prayer. Prayer is something we need more of. Collectively, we need more of it, as the world around us needs help that is more than just something that can be accomplished by natural power and human ingenuity. Individually we need more prayer, as it is the way to commune with God, make our requests known to Him, and have a deeper relationship with Him. I know I need to pray more, and I don't do so nearly as often or as thoughtfully as I should. I think probably nine out of ten people reading this would say they either pray "seldom" or "not enough" or "not regularly". That needs to change if we are going to be effective followers of Christ.

The first thing I'd like to address is the question, "Who should pray?" Well...all of us who are Christians. We see in the verse today that the prayer of a RIGHTEOUS man is effective.

Wait a minute, you may say. That's not me. I mess up all the time, and I certainly am not "righteous". So, will God listen to our prayers if we are not righteous? As Christians, unconfessed, unrepented sin in our life certainly CAN block our prayers from being answered. Or the distance put between us and God by such unconfessed sin may just leave us not feeling much like praying at all. (Think about it, in your earthly relationships, do you REALLY jump at the chance to talk to a friend you know you've wronged in some way? Not particularly, and it's the same way with God. The first thing we need to do if we can't find ourselves in the mood to pray is search our lives and see if there's some sin that we need to confess.)

However, simply messing up now and again doesn't preclude us from being righteous and having effective prayers. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." When we accept Christ and turn our lives over to Him, God doesn't just see us when he looks at us...He sees His son, Jesus. He doesn't see our sins and failings. He sees Christ's righteousness!

So the answer to, "Who should pray?" is "Anyone who has the spirit of Christ in them."

For those of us who have accepted Christ...pray on!

Appointed Tasks

Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

One of my favorite movies, probably because it's based on one of my favorite books, is The Lord of the Rings. The movies are based on the trilogy of books by J.R.R. Tolkien, who vehemently denied that they were written as allegory. In spite of the fact that they are not allegory, the reader can see the influences of Tolkien's Christian faith sewn throughout the books (and to a much more limited extent throughout the movies).

One of the most memorable quotes from the movies is when one character tells another, "This task was appointed to you, and if you do not find a way, no one will." For one thing, it's just a memorable quote, and for another, it was played repeatedly on the trailer for the movie, so that even people who have not seen the movies probably can hear it in the actress's voice. In the movie, the recipient of this sage advice is tasked with a quest so weighty that the existence of the whole world as the characters know it depends on the success or failure of his quest.

As Christians, we all have tasks that we are appointed to do. They are tasks that are personally laid out for us. The NIV translation says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God "prepared in advance" certain good works for us, for each of us who are his creations in Christ Jesus. Notice that it didn't say that the good works were prepared for SOMEONE to do. Each of us has some good works that are ours, and there's not really an indication that if we fail to do those works that there is a "Plan B" on God's list for getting that exact work done. So we need to be attentive and looking for the good works that are ours to do.

Now, your good works and my good works may not be the kind of good works that save the world or bring about huge changes that reverbate through this life in a way that everyone can see them. Of course, they might be. When you allow God to lead you and you truly seek His will, great things happen.

Think about David. He was a shepherd, a "nobody" by the standards of his day...and he saved the Israelite army from defeat by slaying Goliath and went on to be one of the greatest kings in the nation's history.

Or think about Moses. When he saw the burning bush, he was also out tending flocks, a virtual nobody. On top of that he was a wanted man, fleeing from the punishment for murder, which was likely to mean execution for him. He went on to lead an entire nation out of slavery.

Or think about Noah. He was a...wait a minute, the Bible doesn't even say WHAT his profession was. What does it say about Noah to tell us who and what he was? "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God." (Genesis 6:8-9) The Bible doesn't tell us what his profession was before God called him to build an ark. His position and status didn't matter...what mattered was that he walked with God. And he went on to save the human race and all the animal life on earth from extinction.

So, maybe the good works God has prepared for you might be such that they are noticed right now and are world-changing. Maybe they are not, though. And if they are not, you can be sure that they are no less important or meaningful. They may go unnoticed by most people in this life but end up changing someone's life or eternity. For example, maybe you go and talk to someone who looks depressed, and your attention and caring keep them from taking drastic action like turning to drugs or suicide? Maybe the food you donate to a food pantry is the only meal that keeps a child going when they're living in want? Or maybe the tutoring you offer at the local school helps a teen get to college and start a career? Maybe someone in the Sunday School class you decide to teach needs to hear what God calls you to say and they give their life to Christ as a result?

Be sure that any good work that God has laid out for you will bear fruit, and it will bear it in big ways. So look for the task that's appointed to you...and go accomplish it when you find it.

Good Medicine

James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

I apologize that I didn't post anything yesterday. I spent the afternoon, evening, and into the early part of this morning in the emergency room with our son, who had tummy bug for two days prior and was getting dehydrated. Most of that time was spent waiting to actually get in to see a doctor...a six-hour wait in this season with flu everywhere. So I had plenty of time to think.

When we arrived, we sat as far back in the corner, out of the traffic and away from the other sick people as we could. I didn't want to leave with any germs other than the ones we came in with. There were dispensers of hand sanitizer that might as well have been bucket-sized, and enough people wearing masks that it looked like a surgeon's convention. We take such good care of our physical bodies. We're so careful not to get infected with anything, and rightly so since our bodies are gifts from God.

But are we that careful with our spiritual health? For example, when we go to a hospital, we keep as far away from those germs as possible, avoiding infection and anything that can do us harm. But when we're watching TV or on the internet, are we careful to keep away from things that are just as surely a source of infection...but of a spiritual kind...and have the potential to do great harm?

We as Christians can't be effective Christians if we're not out in the world. You can't reach lost people with the Good News...if you don't ever associate with any lost people! So when we go out in the world, where there are all sorts of influences trying to entice, corrupt, or lead us astray, how do we keep from giving in to that?

There are two things that doctors tell us help to prevent disease during seasons when it is common: vaccination and good hygiene. Both of these help to keep you spiritually healthy, too.

First of all, vaccination. The world and Satan's most effective way to steer us in the wrong direction is to use lies and confusion. So, how do you combat both of those? It's simple: Truth. The vaccine against lies is truth. Truth and lies can't exist in the same place. Jesus said he is The Truth (John 14:6). If you have Jesus, you've got your vaccination against the devil's lies, as long as you listen to the Spirit of God who is inside you. Along with vaccinations, though, doctors give booster shots. You need your booster shot of truth, and you need it every single day. If you're not reading and studying God's word, you will be hard pressed to recognize His voice and be able to pick it out from all the other voices shouting advice, temptation, and confusion at you.

Second, good hygiene. Doctors tell us to wash our hands after...well, after you do anything. If you washed your hands as often and as long as the doctors in the media tell you, I don't know how you'd have time to do anything else! The same is true for your spiritual health. You have to keep clean. Every day, we have to get out in the world and get our hands dirty. We have to dig through the muck that's out there, but sometimes that's just what has to be done to get to the people that are mired in it and give them some help. If we want to wash up after that, we need to pray! A prayer like David's in Psalm 5, when he says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God." We need to pray that and ask God to search out anything in our lives that is not right and reveal it to us, even small things...before they take root and turn into big things.

Study of God's word to discern His truth, along with sincere, obedient prayer are essential to living a healthy Christian life. If you are not engaged in doing those two things every day, I encourage you to start. You need to keep your spiritual life healthy, and that doesn't just happen by itself. You can't just neglect it and hope for the best...you wouldn't do that physically, and you shouldn't do it spiritually.

New Creations

One of my friends shared today that her son came home this weekend and told her, "I'm saved!" He'd been religious before and a moral young man, and now instead of being corporately religious, he's personally saved. Hallelujah!

I hope today's post helps everyone remember how precious it is, how completely un-ordinary, to be saved!

 

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

 

When we accept the forgiveness that Christ offers, He exchanges our old, dead selves for His new life. Praise God that we are new creatures!

 

Before, we were creatures of wrath, but God now says to us that as much as it's up to us, live at peace with all men. And He gives us the peace to do it.

 

Before, we were creatures of hatred, but now God says to us that we should love not just our friends and those lovable people in our life, but even our enemies. And He gives us the love to do it.

 

Before, we were creatures of selfishness. But God tells us to regard others in preference above ourselves. And He gives us the supernatural ability to do that, regardless of every other creature's need for self-preservation first.

 

Before, we were creatures of pride. But God tells us to be humble and that the one who is servant is the greatest of all. And He gives us a heart for service.

 

Nothing in the Christian life is easy...and the standard that Christ laid out for how a Christian should behave isn't just difficult - it's impossible, by natural standards. Praise God that He creates us new and gives us supernatural gifts to be used to live in the manner that He commanded.

 

Accepting Jesus as your Savior brings about immediate and noticeable change. If your old life before Christ and your new life after being saved look remarkably similar...if your behavior, speech, and desires haven't changed...then you need to take a good look at whether you really accepted Him. Examine whether you left your sin behind, let him forgive it, and gave Him control of your life or whether you just walked down an aisle, recited a prayer, or did something else because it was the thing you "ought to" do. If you're trying to live the "Christian life"...without the change of actually having CHRIST in your LIFE, you're fighting a losing battle. You need to accept Him personally and let Him fight that battle for you.

 

Praise God that we don't have to stumble through this life alone!

 

Forgiven Much?

Luke 7:47
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

 Why do we find it so hard to love as Jesus loved? Each of us, after all, have the Holy Spirit of God inside us, showing us those who need love...directing us in ways to show love to them. But sometimes we find it hard to love, not only strangers and our enemies...sometimes we find our patience tried just trying to show love to our own family and friends.

 

I would like to suggest to you that the reason we find it so hard to love...and to love much...is that we forget how much God loves us and how much we have been forgiven. This is especially a problem for those of us who grew up in the church and have always been around a fairly sheltered life. Surely, we've had our own troubles or temptations, but sometimes we're tempted to think that we're not actually all "that bad". You know, not like drug dealers or embezzlers or drunks. We're church people. How does God view us "church people", though...the really (self-)righteous?

 

Isaiah 64:6

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;

 

(The emphasis added is mine.)

 

The best that man can do is nothing but filthy rags when compared to God's righteousness and when measured by His standards. However, those of use who feel like we are "forgiven little" somehow take that as a license to love little, too. If we remember that God saved us from a state where we were completely incapable of saving ourself, and if we consider how very awful even our absolute best looked when compared with His holiness, and when we think about the cost that it took to clean those filthy rags in the blood of His very own Son, then we will be humble enough to love other people the way God wants us to love them. We love them because HE loves them, and He is the one that lives in us.

 

 

Transforming Words

Romans 12: 2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

How many times have you set out to make a change in your life? We've all done it. Maybe we decide to lose weight...or break a bad habit...or learn a new skill? We set out with high aspirations, maybe at some point of significant timing. We probably all did this a few weeks ago, in fact, when we set "New Year's Resolutions". And just over two weeks later...most of those are already broken, and some are even forgotten.

 

Why do we fail to make significant changes in our life? When we set out to change, with all our willpower and stick-to-it-iveness, our efforts fall apart even before the two week mark that some behavior experts say it takes to change a habit? It is because we are trying to do things on our own.

 

The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone, nor are our challenges meant to be faced alone. We have Christ with us always. And often we have brothers and sisters in Christ who can provide encouragement to us. The idea of being master of our own ship or making it on our own steam sounds like a great sentiment...but it has no biblical basis.

 

If there are things in our life that we REALLY want to change, the first thing we need to do is to make sure that those changes line up with God's will. How do we know that the change we want to make is one that God desires for us? The best way is to measure it against the standard of God's written word. If it doesn't line up with the Bible, it is not a change God would want us to make.

 

We have a choice...we can be conformed to this world and listen to all the voices telling us what to do, how to eat, where to live, how to invest, what to spend out time on. That path will lead to confusion and an ever-changing set of goals. Or we can let God's transforming word pierce through all those competing voices and be heard over the mistaken or outright deceptive messages.

 

Do you want transformation in your life? REAL transformation that will be for the better and will last more than a couple of days? If so, the place to start is not your physical figure or your pocketbook. Real transformation starts in your mind, when you let your mind be renewed daily by studying the transforming words of God and putting them into practice in your life.

Why Memorize?

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

If you have spent much time sitting in Sunday School or worship service recently, you’ve probably noticed that when the teacher says to “get our your Bibles and turn to…”

…only a few people reach for an actual book. Many people in the class immediately reach for their smartphone. What a blessing it has been to have the technology to carry the entire Bible, even multiple translations, in a device that fits in the palm of your hand. You can even have commentaries and other Christian literature right alongside it. Not only does it mean that modern worshipers don’t have to haul a large bound copy of The Bible to church with them, but can put at the scripture student’s fingers an entire library that would take a wagon to move if it were made of physical books. And now people who might not have taken a Bible even to church with them can take it to work, school, and everywhere. What an innovation!

However, with that innovation comes a pitfall. I have heard multiple people say, “Well, why do I need to memorize scripture? I always have it with me. It’s right here in my phone. I always have my phone with me.”

There are many reasons to memorize scripture, but the absolute most compelling reason is found in 2 Timothy. Simply stated, study of the scriptures is required…it is commanded in scripture. STUDY.

But wait, you may say…study does not necessarily mean memorizing, does it? No, it doesn’t. To understand the extent of what “study” would entail to someone familiar with the scriptures they were being told to study, you have to look at the Old Testament. A student of the Old Testament would know that study was described in those scriptures in places like this:

Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down , and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

In a culture where many people did not read, and even fewer could afford their own copies of scripture, talking about God’s word constantly and teaching it diligently could not have mean opening their Bible and reading it. To have these words to talk about and teach to their children at all times would have meant memorizing them.

Clearly, God’s word is meant to be memorized and studied on a regular basis, not set on a shelf to open when we have a time of crisis or stored in our iPhone until we need it. With that in mind, we’ll memorize a verse per week on this blog…starting with 2 Timothy 2:15, listed above, as a reminder of why it is we are memorizing.