Eternally covered! ............. Parables 752
May 21, 2002
Last summer two young men were caught in a sudden thunderstorm while driving east on the Whitemud Freeway in a yellow convertible—with the top down. They pulled to a stop under an overpass, and sat laughing as the storm rained on everything else. Most people would have stopped and put the top up, but they left it down and stayed dry anyway. Seeing them enjoy their own cleverness brought smiles to more than one passerby.
This made an impression on me. Later I reminisced about the way being covered feels. When I was a child, I sometimes stayed overnight at my grandmother’s house. In the dead of winter, she didn’t have enough blankets to keep out the bone-chilling cold that crept in when the furnace died down. So she covered me with Grampa’s huge wool overcoat. It was rough and smelled like him. I felt so protected.
Now we have lots of blankets but have fallen in love with our quilt. I made it especially for our bed. It has a thin cotton batt inside, and a patchwork front and cotton back, yet that quilt is just right no matter what the temperature is in our house. I washed it today. It isn’t quite dry, so we will miss our covering for one night.
However, another covering comforts me all the time; God covers my sin. But His covering is not quite like an overpass (Passover is a better word), and nothing like an overcoat or a quilt. In fact, it seems somewhat gross, but is precious nonetheless; it is the blood of His Son.
The Bible describes the first sin and tells how Adam and Eve made excuses for what they did. God didn’t believe their reasoning. Instead, He killed an animal and used its skin to cover their nakedness. God’s law about sin was: “The soul that sins must die,” but He mercifully killed an animal in their place.
As He used this covering, His actions foreshadowed the Old Testament sacrificial system based on: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no atonement (or reconciliation) for sin.”
This covering was again illustrated during the exodus when God’s people left Egypt. God told them the angel of death would take the firstborn in each family, but if they followed His instructions, their firstborn would be spared. He said to kill an unblemished lamb and put the blood on the door posts and over the door. When the angel of death saw the blood, he would “passover” those houses and they would be spared.
The psalmist repeated the idea. He said, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him . . . .”
These “coverings” pointed to a final and triumphant atonement. That is, one day God would send the Lamb of God (Jesus), and He would die in our place. God Himself put His blood over the doorposts of those who believe in Him. Then, when death (eternal separation from God) comes, it will not claim those whose lives are “covered by the blood.”
When I was younger, I tried to cover my own sin, just as Adam and Eve did. I also used excuses and rationalization. I thought my efforts worked, but God showed me that my covering was futile. He could see right through it. Surely, if He could see through it, my cover-ups would offer no protection against the scrutiny of death and judgment.
In mercy, the Lord offered me a covering that eternal death cannot touch, and judgment cannot see. The blood of Christ covers me. This is a perfect protection from all thunder and wrath against my sin, and from the cold darkness I deserve in an eternity separated from God.
Father God, I miss my cotton quilt tonight, but you so graciously offered a covering that I will never be without. Thanks to You, I can climb under the love of Christ and be warm and protected for ever and ever. Amen!
Showing posts with label grace of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace of God. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2018
Monday, August 21, 2017
Cheapskate Christians? .......... Parables 630
February 16, 1999
A Florida journalist wanted to find out if it was possible for a person to live on minimum wages in America. She did something unusual. She moved out of her home, put her career on hold and began looking for another job.
She soon realized that finding low-wage work is not as easy as she supposed. After searching the want ads, calling at appropriate businesses and filling out application forms, she was finally hired as a waitress in a diner. Her story is long, informative and eye-opening.
One paragraph applies to people who believe in Christ. She says the most dreaded restaurant patrons are “Visible Christians” and goes on to describe them as “. . . the ten-person table, all jolly and sanctified after Sunday day-night service, who run me mercilessly and then leave me $1 on a $92 bill. Or the guy with the crucifixion T-shirt (SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO) who complains that his baked potato is too hard and his iced tea too icy (I cheerfully fix both) and leaves no tip . . . .”
Does this mean us? Or is it shocking news? Many professing Christians are noted for continually looking for, if not expecting, bargain prices. While there is nothing wrong with being careful how we spend our money, being reputed as ‘cheap’ or stingy, calls for a change.
Of all the people in the world, we have the least excuse for being tight-fisted. God promises to supply all our needs. Certainly that means we do not have to worry that a generous tip will bankrupt His supply. But how did we get this reputation, this attitude of ingratitude?
It could be that we are stingy and greedy but it could also be a twisted spin-off of how we interpret the grace of God. Grace is God’s unconditional blessing, His free forgiveness of our sins. Grace is His lavish provision for all that we need in this life and in the next. However, grace does not mean everything else is free.
Some define grace as an acronym: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. The Bible says, “Though He was rich, He became poor for our sakes, that we might be made rich.” He not only became poor, He became dead, for our sakes . . . that we might live. Grace is free for us but it was costly for God.
Another definition of grace appeals to me. It is this: Grace is a revelation from God about Himself that somehow changes your life. The emphasis is on ‘changes your life’.
Discovering the generosity of God and living in His grace is fantastic; however, we are supposed to be “imitators of God” in every way. Since He intends a transformation from the inside out, this includes being like Him in character as well as doing the things He does.
In other words, we receive — but never hold or keep what is given for ourselves. We must share the gifts God gives, passing them along to others. We share His love, His mercy, His righteousness. We also share from the abundance of material blessings He bestows on us.
In the area of generosity, grace means being generous towards those we serve. It also means generosity towards those who serve us. We should not take God’s gifts for granted, nor should we take for granted the people He uses to bless us.
Some Christians do not have much money to spare but if we can afford a meal in a restaurant, we cannot afford to waste the grace of God associated with that meal. He allows us the privilege of being served. (Was not Christ a servant?) Do we pay it back by being rude, stingy or unthoughtful to the waiters and waitresses He brings to our table?
If this is true, shame on us. We need to re-examine our theology and our behavior.
A Florida journalist wanted to find out if it was possible for a person to live on minimum wages in America. She did something unusual. She moved out of her home, put her career on hold and began looking for another job.
She soon realized that finding low-wage work is not as easy as she supposed. After searching the want ads, calling at appropriate businesses and filling out application forms, she was finally hired as a waitress in a diner. Her story is long, informative and eye-opening.
One paragraph applies to people who believe in Christ. She says the most dreaded restaurant patrons are “Visible Christians” and goes on to describe them as “. . . the ten-person table, all jolly and sanctified after Sunday day-night service, who run me mercilessly and then leave me $1 on a $92 bill. Or the guy with the crucifixion T-shirt (SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO) who complains that his baked potato is too hard and his iced tea too icy (I cheerfully fix both) and leaves no tip . . . .”
Does this mean us? Or is it shocking news? Many professing Christians are noted for continually looking for, if not expecting, bargain prices. While there is nothing wrong with being careful how we spend our money, being reputed as ‘cheap’ or stingy, calls for a change.
Of all the people in the world, we have the least excuse for being tight-fisted. God promises to supply all our needs. Certainly that means we do not have to worry that a generous tip will bankrupt His supply. But how did we get this reputation, this attitude of ingratitude?
It could be that we are stingy and greedy but it could also be a twisted spin-off of how we interpret the grace of God. Grace is God’s unconditional blessing, His free forgiveness of our sins. Grace is His lavish provision for all that we need in this life and in the next. However, grace does not mean everything else is free.
Some define grace as an acronym: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. The Bible says, “Though He was rich, He became poor for our sakes, that we might be made rich.” He not only became poor, He became dead, for our sakes . . . that we might live. Grace is free for us but it was costly for God.
Another definition of grace appeals to me. It is this: Grace is a revelation from God about Himself that somehow changes your life. The emphasis is on ‘changes your life’.
Discovering the generosity of God and living in His grace is fantastic; however, we are supposed to be “imitators of God” in every way. Since He intends a transformation from the inside out, this includes being like Him in character as well as doing the things He does.
In other words, we receive — but never hold or keep what is given for ourselves. We must share the gifts God gives, passing them along to others. We share His love, His mercy, His righteousness. We also share from the abundance of material blessings He bestows on us.
In the area of generosity, grace means being generous towards those we serve. It also means generosity towards those who serve us. We should not take God’s gifts for granted, nor should we take for granted the people He uses to bless us.
Some Christians do not have much money to spare but if we can afford a meal in a restaurant, we cannot afford to waste the grace of God associated with that meal. He allows us the privilege of being served. (Was not Christ a servant?) Do we pay it back by being rude, stingy or unthoughtful to the waiters and waitresses He brings to our table?
If this is true, shame on us. We need to re-examine our theology and our behavior.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Sin is like soil erosion ................ Parables 317
May 12, 1992
My mom’s favorite rhetorical question is: “How could anyone do such a thing?”
The recent riots in Los Angeles and other major cities have no doubt brought the same question to many minds. How could anyone beat an uninvolved bystander to death? Or shoot a child? Or break into a business and walk away with whatever they want?
About a week before the riots began, I heard someone talk about erosion, not in reference to the topsoil blowing around Saskatchewan but regarding the erosion of the human will. This concept answers the question: How can people be so illogically sinful?
Basically, the average person thinks twice about violating social and moral norms. Most of us are not interested in committing any kind of gross offense or act of violence, either in mob conditions or more private situations. We are constrained by moral or religious convictions, fear of consequences, love of others, any number of things.
However, the temptation to evil seldom comes at us in the beginning with something gross. It usually starts with something small, a tiny temptation, something that seems fairly harmless. We know it is not right but since there seems to be no immediate reason why not to do it, or it seems no one is looking or caring, we tend to compromise our convictions.
The first one, because it is so easy to slide into, is probably the most difficult to resist. The next temptation, the next opportunity to compromise, is easier to give in to, not because it seems even more appealing but because once we have yielded our wills, an erosion process has begun.
Our will is like the humus in prairie top soil. It serves as a protection. But when it is gone, it doesn’t take much wind to further deplete the land. Improved agricultural practices offered hope that the dust bowls of the Thirties would never be repeated, yet confidence this would not happen again tends to relax diligence.
It is the same with our will. When the surface resolve to say no to temptation is relaxed, the winds of compromise begin to deplete the soul. One capitulation after another soon leaves nothing to resist the final furious blast — and the person whose will has been eroded finds himself doing something that prior to his gradual slide he would never have consented to do.
But topsoil is not without hope. Once it is totally depleted it is in a stage called old age, but “such processes as erosion, flooding, dust storms, and volcanic eruptions expose or provide new, unweathered parent material to begin a new soil life cycle” (Grollier Electronic Publishing, Inc.)
Neither are souls without hope. Those who participated in the violence in Los Angeles, and others who have slid into gross sin, can acknowledge their depleted lives, ask God for forgiveness and begin anew — with His transforming help.
Better yet, both for soil and souls, is to avoid such erosion in the first place. A farmer needs to daily check the condition of his land. Leaders of major cities need to daily check the condition of their citizens. Each of us need to daily check the condition of our souls. Are we taking care of the little things? Or compromising here and there?
God promises, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The best way out is not at the end when so much damage has been done, or even in the middle when we are often too weak in our resolve to say no, but right at the beginning — while we can still stand against the winds of temptation.
My mom’s favorite rhetorical question is: “How could anyone do such a thing?”
The recent riots in Los Angeles and other major cities have no doubt brought the same question to many minds. How could anyone beat an uninvolved bystander to death? Or shoot a child? Or break into a business and walk away with whatever they want?
About a week before the riots began, I heard someone talk about erosion, not in reference to the topsoil blowing around Saskatchewan but regarding the erosion of the human will. This concept answers the question: How can people be so illogically sinful?
Basically, the average person thinks twice about violating social and moral norms. Most of us are not interested in committing any kind of gross offense or act of violence, either in mob conditions or more private situations. We are constrained by moral or religious convictions, fear of consequences, love of others, any number of things.
However, the temptation to evil seldom comes at us in the beginning with something gross. It usually starts with something small, a tiny temptation, something that seems fairly harmless. We know it is not right but since there seems to be no immediate reason why not to do it, or it seems no one is looking or caring, we tend to compromise our convictions.
The first one, because it is so easy to slide into, is probably the most difficult to resist. The next temptation, the next opportunity to compromise, is easier to give in to, not because it seems even more appealing but because once we have yielded our wills, an erosion process has begun.
Our will is like the humus in prairie top soil. It serves as a protection. But when it is gone, it doesn’t take much wind to further deplete the land. Improved agricultural practices offered hope that the dust bowls of the Thirties would never be repeated, yet confidence this would not happen again tends to relax diligence.
It is the same with our will. When the surface resolve to say no to temptation is relaxed, the winds of compromise begin to deplete the soul. One capitulation after another soon leaves nothing to resist the final furious blast — and the person whose will has been eroded finds himself doing something that prior to his gradual slide he would never have consented to do.
But topsoil is not without hope. Once it is totally depleted it is in a stage called old age, but “such processes as erosion, flooding, dust storms, and volcanic eruptions expose or provide new, unweathered parent material to begin a new soil life cycle” (Grollier Electronic Publishing, Inc.)
Neither are souls without hope. Those who participated in the violence in Los Angeles, and others who have slid into gross sin, can acknowledge their depleted lives, ask God for forgiveness and begin anew — with His transforming help.
Better yet, both for soil and souls, is to avoid such erosion in the first place. A farmer needs to daily check the condition of his land. Leaders of major cities need to daily check the condition of their citizens. Each of us need to daily check the condition of our souls. Are we taking care of the little things? Or compromising here and there?
God promises, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The best way out is not at the end when so much damage has been done, or even in the middle when we are often too weak in our resolve to say no, but right at the beginning — while we can still stand against the winds of temptation.
Monday, July 20, 2015
God’s amazing healing power ................ Parables 302
January 28, 1992
A year or more ago, I wrote about a bomb being dropped in my life and about God whispering in my ear assurance that in this I would be a winner.
For those who know me and the nature of that bomb, your prayers have gone heavenward and been answered more abundantly than imaginable. For those who do not know anything about it but may have wondered, I just want to affirm how God can not only overthrow evil but even make it work for His purposes.
What seemed in the beginning the worst that could happen has resulted in indescribable blessing. Several lives have been radically altered. Relationships have been given a vitality that none could have expected. Family members have been drastically affected: two of them so much so that I can only feel awe about my God who has done such great things.
He has worked in my own heart too, revealing needs and then meeting them, bringing to my consciousness wrong attitudes I was not aware of and (as I confessed them as sin) transforming my thinking.
As a result, I have an understanding of the saving and healing power of God that is beyond anything previously imagined and have been able to share more deeply in the lives of others, ministering to their hurts with far greater compassion.
Romans 8:28, my life-stay for many years, promises, “God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Again, God proves Himself faithful beyond any doubt. He uses even evil for good, that is, the good of transforming His children into the image of His Son.
We live in a sin-sick world full of selfish people whose only desire is to get what they want, regardless of who they hurt. However, sin and selfishness result in twisted, broken lives, ruined relationships, demolished and impoverished spirits. The schemes of foolish people do not produce the peace, security and true joy they seek. Only God’s way can result in such enjoyment; selfish, sinful living will never do it.
The desire of God is to bless His people but it takes us a long time to learn that His way is the way of the Cross. That is, it is by dying to our selfish desires that He gives beyond our wildest dreams.
You see, even Jesus Himself went through a “bomb” experience. Who would have thought that God could work good out of a frame-up and a crucifixion — but it was by these very evils that the Lord worked the very highest good. With death’s violent explosion, He secured eternal life for all who believe.
Along with the Apostle Paul, I too say, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32). For me, the “all things” have included a blasting away of the power of evil — replaced with His life, His renewal, His peace, and His incredible healing.
Romans 8 also says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword... not even bombs! In fact, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
The love of God makes bombs into balms — healing right on the heels of hurt, and restoration right in the midst of destruction. So my thanks to the Lord for you who prayed. Our God is an awesome God.
A year or more ago, I wrote about a bomb being dropped in my life and about God whispering in my ear assurance that in this I would be a winner.
For those who know me and the nature of that bomb, your prayers have gone heavenward and been answered more abundantly than imaginable. For those who do not know anything about it but may have wondered, I just want to affirm how God can not only overthrow evil but even make it work for His purposes.
What seemed in the beginning the worst that could happen has resulted in indescribable blessing. Several lives have been radically altered. Relationships have been given a vitality that none could have expected. Family members have been drastically affected: two of them so much so that I can only feel awe about my God who has done such great things.
He has worked in my own heart too, revealing needs and then meeting them, bringing to my consciousness wrong attitudes I was not aware of and (as I confessed them as sin) transforming my thinking.
As a result, I have an understanding of the saving and healing power of God that is beyond anything previously imagined and have been able to share more deeply in the lives of others, ministering to their hurts with far greater compassion.
Romans 8:28, my life-stay for many years, promises, “God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Again, God proves Himself faithful beyond any doubt. He uses even evil for good, that is, the good of transforming His children into the image of His Son.
We live in a sin-sick world full of selfish people whose only desire is to get what they want, regardless of who they hurt. However, sin and selfishness result in twisted, broken lives, ruined relationships, demolished and impoverished spirits. The schemes of foolish people do not produce the peace, security and true joy they seek. Only God’s way can result in such enjoyment; selfish, sinful living will never do it.
The desire of God is to bless His people but it takes us a long time to learn that His way is the way of the Cross. That is, it is by dying to our selfish desires that He gives beyond our wildest dreams.
You see, even Jesus Himself went through a “bomb” experience. Who would have thought that God could work good out of a frame-up and a crucifixion — but it was by these very evils that the Lord worked the very highest good. With death’s violent explosion, He secured eternal life for all who believe.
Along with the Apostle Paul, I too say, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32). For me, the “all things” have included a blasting away of the power of evil — replaced with His life, His renewal, His peace, and His incredible healing.
Romans 8 also says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword... not even bombs! In fact, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
The love of God makes bombs into balms — healing right on the heels of hurt, and restoration right in the midst of destruction. So my thanks to the Lord for you who prayed. Our God is an awesome God.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Golfing and Grace .............. Parables 297
December 17, 1991
The fourteenth hole at Hillside Golf Club has a creek meandering through, first in front of an elevated tee box, then along the right side and back across the fairway just before the green. For some reason, my golf balls always think they are ducks when we play the fourteenth hole.
That fourteenth hole confirms the golf pros who tell me that this is a game of concentration. Obviously one has to ignore the water and concentrate on where the golf ball should go, but after a few direct hits into the drink, it is tough to put that hazard out of your mind, even while taking aim at something a little less liquid. Personally, the harder I try to not think about the water, the more my ball is apt to head straight for it.
The first time we played that hole, my husband laughed with me as my ball sailed into the creek. Then he hit two in a row — both splashing in the same spot — right in front of a mallard duck. After a few more rounds on the back nine, it didn’t take a calculator to figure that our golf ball budget would last longer if we just skipped the fourteenth.
However, avoiding the tough holes will not improve my aim. Nor will wishful thinking do anything for my back swing. Concentrated effort and continual practice are necessary. Even at that, I’ll never be a golf pro.
Sometimes I feel the same about the flaws in my character as I do about my performance at the fourteenth hole. If certain situations could be avoided, maybe no one would notice those shortcomings, but life is not like that. Even on the golf course, you wind up running over other people to get around the parts you don’t like. So I must find another solution.
In golf, the best answer is hours at the driving range, yet for players like me, there is no guarantee that the next time I swing my driver, the ball will go where I want it to. Thank God, His remedy is a little different for character flaws.
Instead of trying to change myself, God promises to get me to my goal if I will only just LOOK and keep on LOOKING at the target. Since flawless character is the goal, of course that target is Jesus Christ. He is the “bull’s eye,” the perfect mark, the total hope and aspiration of anyone trying to live to please God.
Obviously, we must rely on God’s power to become like Him. Our part includes complete commitment, refusing to be like we once were yet allowing Him to renew our minds and change our lives (Romans 12:1,2). Key to change is total honesty before Him, not hiding our sin or pretending to be what we are not. (That would be like trying to hide a hook or slice — what a joke!)
And here is where the lesson of the fourteenth hole comes in: we must concentrate on the target... because He promises that when we do, we will be “transformed into the same image from glory to glory... by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
That does not mean it is easy. Just try thinking about God for 60 seconds without losing concentration. Distractions easily draw away our attention and our aim, and we find ourselves hitting something far less than the perfect target of Christlikeness. If it were not for His grace, I’m sure none would ever come even remotely close.
Someone once told me it was better to aim at the stars and hit the woodpile, than to aim at the woodpile and hit your foot. It doesn’t work in golf. Aiming at the pin and hitting the water is not any better than aiming at the water and hitting the water. But aim is important in ironing out those flaws. When Jesus is the target, whatever I hit is an improvement over how I would live without Him.
The fourteenth hole at Hillside Golf Club has a creek meandering through, first in front of an elevated tee box, then along the right side and back across the fairway just before the green. For some reason, my golf balls always think they are ducks when we play the fourteenth hole.
That fourteenth hole confirms the golf pros who tell me that this is a game of concentration. Obviously one has to ignore the water and concentrate on where the golf ball should go, but after a few direct hits into the drink, it is tough to put that hazard out of your mind, even while taking aim at something a little less liquid. Personally, the harder I try to not think about the water, the more my ball is apt to head straight for it.
The first time we played that hole, my husband laughed with me as my ball sailed into the creek. Then he hit two in a row — both splashing in the same spot — right in front of a mallard duck. After a few more rounds on the back nine, it didn’t take a calculator to figure that our golf ball budget would last longer if we just skipped the fourteenth.
However, avoiding the tough holes will not improve my aim. Nor will wishful thinking do anything for my back swing. Concentrated effort and continual practice are necessary. Even at that, I’ll never be a golf pro.
Sometimes I feel the same about the flaws in my character as I do about my performance at the fourteenth hole. If certain situations could be avoided, maybe no one would notice those shortcomings, but life is not like that. Even on the golf course, you wind up running over other people to get around the parts you don’t like. So I must find another solution.
In golf, the best answer is hours at the driving range, yet for players like me, there is no guarantee that the next time I swing my driver, the ball will go where I want it to. Thank God, His remedy is a little different for character flaws.
Instead of trying to change myself, God promises to get me to my goal if I will only just LOOK and keep on LOOKING at the target. Since flawless character is the goal, of course that target is Jesus Christ. He is the “bull’s eye,” the perfect mark, the total hope and aspiration of anyone trying to live to please God.
Obviously, we must rely on God’s power to become like Him. Our part includes complete commitment, refusing to be like we once were yet allowing Him to renew our minds and change our lives (Romans 12:1,2). Key to change is total honesty before Him, not hiding our sin or pretending to be what we are not. (That would be like trying to hide a hook or slice — what a joke!)
And here is where the lesson of the fourteenth hole comes in: we must concentrate on the target... because He promises that when we do, we will be “transformed into the same image from glory to glory... by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
That does not mean it is easy. Just try thinking about God for 60 seconds without losing concentration. Distractions easily draw away our attention and our aim, and we find ourselves hitting something far less than the perfect target of Christlikeness. If it were not for His grace, I’m sure none would ever come even remotely close.
Someone once told me it was better to aim at the stars and hit the woodpile, than to aim at the woodpile and hit your foot. It doesn’t work in golf. Aiming at the pin and hitting the water is not any better than aiming at the water and hitting the water. But aim is important in ironing out those flaws. When Jesus is the target, whatever I hit is an improvement over how I would live without Him.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
A ‘G’ Summer .............. Parables 285
September 18, 1991
Like an episode of Sesame Street, this past summer was hosted by the letter “G”. My husband and I set Goals for our lives and marriage, even reaching many of them because we experienced God’s Grace at work in our hearts. We became Grandparents again (naturally, it was a Girl). And I took on the challenges of learning Greek and Golf!
Those who know me well won’t be surprised about the Greek; academics are my bag. (G is “gamma” and it looks like a “y”). But seeing me packing a bag of a different sort, with irons, woods and tees in it, is a wonder. My children waver between disbelief and bewilderment. My husband, who always wanted to golf more and now has an excuse, is simply delighted, but he shakes his head and can’t figure this out. Why would his bookworm wife take up golf?
Maybe it was the notion that “multiple goals are fulfilling.” I read that somewhere and have always found it to be true, so I usually have several “irons in my fire” (only in this case, irons in my bag).
Maybe it was my mother’s example. All her life, she has had at least one “new” venture on the go, everything from photography to oil painting, raising quarter horses, quilting and invisible mending. Right now, at 75 years, she is taking organ lessons.
Maybe it is Psalm 37:4, which says: “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” My delight in the Lord has been growing. More and more I realize the wonders of what He has done for me, not only for eternity but bountiful blessings in my life right now. Consequently, as those blessings add more fuel to my delight, according to this psalm, He puts more desires in my heart. Could it be that one of them was to play golf?
What possible godly purpose could be served playing golf? Well, the first time out, Bob told me the biggest frustration about the game was that you could hit the ball well for a while, then, without any apparent reason, your whole game just falls apart. I responded, “Just like life, eh?” So, learning to respond to erratic results on the golf course could be good practice for the larger game.
Another reason is togetherness. We did many things with our children when they were small yet our own time-out was limited. Now the kids are adults and the two of us share few hobbies. This game is an opportunity to help each other develop a good swing and cheer for each other after making a long drive off the tee. Such mutual support carries over into the larger game too.
Thirdly, we are a twosome and golf clubs prefer foursomes. This can be an occasion to take our friends for a fun outing or meet new people. Chatting from one hole to the next or looking together for a ball lost in the rough is a wonderful way to get to know other folks.
Last but not least, golfing is a celebration of life. At least it can be when I lay aside my frustration and any consuming desire to get rid of that persistent hook or slice. God’s gifts of creation, one another’s company, physical exercise, fresh air and sunshine are all ours to enjoy. So seldom do most of us stop and take the time to do just that.
So with Greek and Golf and a new Grandchild, summer 1991 in Moose Jaw has had lots of “G’s. God even added a few more: Green Grass (from abundant rain here too!), Gales (those Saskatchewan winds kept the mosquitoes away) and Get-aways (to Germany and other places). I could go on but bear with me for just a few more.... God has also blessed us with Generous Grace, which makes us feel Great, Glad, even Giggly, and certainly Grateful!
Like an episode of Sesame Street, this past summer was hosted by the letter “G”. My husband and I set Goals for our lives and marriage, even reaching many of them because we experienced God’s Grace at work in our hearts. We became Grandparents again (naturally, it was a Girl). And I took on the challenges of learning Greek and Golf!
Those who know me well won’t be surprised about the Greek; academics are my bag. (G is “gamma” and it looks like a “y”). But seeing me packing a bag of a different sort, with irons, woods and tees in it, is a wonder. My children waver between disbelief and bewilderment. My husband, who always wanted to golf more and now has an excuse, is simply delighted, but he shakes his head and can’t figure this out. Why would his bookworm wife take up golf?
Maybe it was the notion that “multiple goals are fulfilling.” I read that somewhere and have always found it to be true, so I usually have several “irons in my fire” (only in this case, irons in my bag).
Maybe it was my mother’s example. All her life, she has had at least one “new” venture on the go, everything from photography to oil painting, raising quarter horses, quilting and invisible mending. Right now, at 75 years, she is taking organ lessons.
Maybe it is Psalm 37:4, which says: “Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” My delight in the Lord has been growing. More and more I realize the wonders of what He has done for me, not only for eternity but bountiful blessings in my life right now. Consequently, as those blessings add more fuel to my delight, according to this psalm, He puts more desires in my heart. Could it be that one of them was to play golf?
What possible godly purpose could be served playing golf? Well, the first time out, Bob told me the biggest frustration about the game was that you could hit the ball well for a while, then, without any apparent reason, your whole game just falls apart. I responded, “Just like life, eh?” So, learning to respond to erratic results on the golf course could be good practice for the larger game.
Another reason is togetherness. We did many things with our children when they were small yet our own time-out was limited. Now the kids are adults and the two of us share few hobbies. This game is an opportunity to help each other develop a good swing and cheer for each other after making a long drive off the tee. Such mutual support carries over into the larger game too.
Thirdly, we are a twosome and golf clubs prefer foursomes. This can be an occasion to take our friends for a fun outing or meet new people. Chatting from one hole to the next or looking together for a ball lost in the rough is a wonderful way to get to know other folks.
Last but not least, golfing is a celebration of life. At least it can be when I lay aside my frustration and any consuming desire to get rid of that persistent hook or slice. God’s gifts of creation, one another’s company, physical exercise, fresh air and sunshine are all ours to enjoy. So seldom do most of us stop and take the time to do just that.
So with Greek and Golf and a new Grandchild, summer 1991 in Moose Jaw has had lots of “G’s. God even added a few more: Green Grass (from abundant rain here too!), Gales (those Saskatchewan winds kept the mosquitoes away) and Get-aways (to Germany and other places). I could go on but bear with me for just a few more.... God has also blessed us with Generous Grace, which makes us feel Great, Glad, even Giggly, and certainly Grateful!
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Heart Cleaning .............. Parables 255
(February 20, 1991)
It won’t be long until spring cleaning. Out come mops for dirt and garbage cans for disposables. It feels good to sort out and clean up, even if it takes courage to tackle a long-neglected attic or basement storage room.
One time I volunteered to help a girl clean up her dirty room — without first seeing the room. Never again. It was an hour before the two of us uncovered the floor. The whole project took three days and yielded a truckload of dirty clothes and an enormous pile of trash. Any sense of accomplishment was nearly lost in our exhaustion. Even though the job was necessary, it would have been a lot easier if she had done a little each day, or even once a week, and not allowed the mess to get so out of hand.
For Christians, spiritual cleaning is necessary too. While it is best to keep our hearts continually clean, that is, confess sins daily, sometimes that doesn’t happen. We don’t hear God telling us about the dirty places, or we hear but don’t listen. The dirt begins to pile up in the corners.
But, whatever the sin, and whatever the reasons we refuse to deal with it, even if WE allow a backlog, GOD will not. Because He loves us and determines to deliver us from it, He will expose the covered, unconfessed sin, sometimes quite dramatically, and force us to do something about it.
In other words, sometimes God opens up some closets, spiritually speaking. When He does, the about-to-be-purged Christian discovers some skeletons and maybe even a few rotting corpses. Not a pleasant discovery. In fact, most of us would just as soon close the doors on the putrid mess and “move out” rather than allow Him to clean it up. However, when such a thing happens His grace prevails and there is nothing to do but give the mess to Him and see what He is will do to clean it up.
One note, this may never have happened to you (yet) but watch out for a smug, “I never did anything so bad as that person did” attitude. None of us can boast. I have clutched and concealed collections that didn’t please God and know rot is rot in His sight, whatever the degree of stench it discharges. Even if someone's cluttered closets offend me more than my “less” odious messes, both are equally offensive to the nostrils of God.
Nonetheless, like that girl’s room, the first sight of previously concealed filth, can be overwhelming to someone who lets it pile for a long time. Ten or twenty years of trash seems to need a bomb, not a broom. However, God’s cleaning program isn’t quite like ours. We see a big mess and want to either run away or reluctantly roll up our sleeves, but all He wants is us to get down on our knees with a contrite heart. He will do the cleaning. The promise is found in I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
In severe cases, it takes some while for all to be confessed. The offenders who allow the pile to accumulate agonize over each piece of junk, some of which has been hidden for years and years. But with each admission, the grace of God fulfills the promise. The cleansing happens. The closet begins to sparkle. In fact, sometimes the difference is so incredible it seems that there never had been any junk in there in the first place. All that is left are fading memories of the horror of first opening the door.
Not every closet is the same, but God’s promise covers your closets and mine; those that are nearly bare and those that have purposely been closed and accumulating far too long. From us, He wants honesty only, and the closet door (our hearts and lives) thrown open to His light. From there, He takes the blood of Christ and applies it to whatever garbage has been hidden in storage, washing it away and giving us a new start. What a wonder!
Certainly it takes courage to look at a big mess, either one from the present or one from the past. And it takes courage to pull out each rotten item and lay at His feet... but He is a capable Cleanser. His grace is sufficient to purge our hearts and change our lives. Not only that, He can keep them that way.
It won’t be long until spring cleaning. Out come mops for dirt and garbage cans for disposables. It feels good to sort out and clean up, even if it takes courage to tackle a long-neglected attic or basement storage room.
One time I volunteered to help a girl clean up her dirty room — without first seeing the room. Never again. It was an hour before the two of us uncovered the floor. The whole project took three days and yielded a truckload of dirty clothes and an enormous pile of trash. Any sense of accomplishment was nearly lost in our exhaustion. Even though the job was necessary, it would have been a lot easier if she had done a little each day, or even once a week, and not allowed the mess to get so out of hand.
For Christians, spiritual cleaning is necessary too. While it is best to keep our hearts continually clean, that is, confess sins daily, sometimes that doesn’t happen. We don’t hear God telling us about the dirty places, or we hear but don’t listen. The dirt begins to pile up in the corners.
But, whatever the sin, and whatever the reasons we refuse to deal with it, even if WE allow a backlog, GOD will not. Because He loves us and determines to deliver us from it, He will expose the covered, unconfessed sin, sometimes quite dramatically, and force us to do something about it.
In other words, sometimes God opens up some closets, spiritually speaking. When He does, the about-to-be-purged Christian discovers some skeletons and maybe even a few rotting corpses. Not a pleasant discovery. In fact, most of us would just as soon close the doors on the putrid mess and “move out” rather than allow Him to clean it up. However, when such a thing happens His grace prevails and there is nothing to do but give the mess to Him and see what He is will do to clean it up.
One note, this may never have happened to you (yet) but watch out for a smug, “I never did anything so bad as that person did” attitude. None of us can boast. I have clutched and concealed collections that didn’t please God and know rot is rot in His sight, whatever the degree of stench it discharges. Even if someone's cluttered closets offend me more than my “less” odious messes, both are equally offensive to the nostrils of God.
Nonetheless, like that girl’s room, the first sight of previously concealed filth, can be overwhelming to someone who lets it pile for a long time. Ten or twenty years of trash seems to need a bomb, not a broom. However, God’s cleaning program isn’t quite like ours. We see a big mess and want to either run away or reluctantly roll up our sleeves, but all He wants is us to get down on our knees with a contrite heart. He will do the cleaning. The promise is found in I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
In severe cases, it takes some while for all to be confessed. The offenders who allow the pile to accumulate agonize over each piece of junk, some of which has been hidden for years and years. But with each admission, the grace of God fulfills the promise. The cleansing happens. The closet begins to sparkle. In fact, sometimes the difference is so incredible it seems that there never had been any junk in there in the first place. All that is left are fading memories of the horror of first opening the door.
Not every closet is the same, but God’s promise covers your closets and mine; those that are nearly bare and those that have purposely been closed and accumulating far too long. From us, He wants honesty only, and the closet door (our hearts and lives) thrown open to His light. From there, He takes the blood of Christ and applies it to whatever garbage has been hidden in storage, washing it away and giving us a new start. What a wonder!
Certainly it takes courage to look at a big mess, either one from the present or one from the past. And it takes courage to pull out each rotten item and lay at His feet... but He is a capable Cleanser. His grace is sufficient to purge our hearts and change our lives. Not only that, He can keep them that way.
Friday, May 30, 2014
God's country? .......................... Parables 124
Is Alberta really “God’s country?” After driving through parts of Saskatchewan, I can understand why some farmers might think so, at least this year. Saskatchewan crops are either too short to combine or have already been turned under. Dugouts and sloughs are dry. Dust storms are common. But here, at least from Edmonton to Lloydminster, the grain fields look good.
There is a negative side to abundant rain. Washouts and flooding have ruined farm land and took their mucky toll on homes and other buildings. My husband probably isn’t the only one who couldn’t work several days this month because it rained too much.
Before the rains came, we prayed for rain and it came. Others did the same and it didn’t come. Some are praying for it to stop. While many people never think of God’s sovereignty in the weather, others are angry with His decisions. A thoughtful few may wonder how He decides where to send the rain and when to withhold it.
The Bible says that God sends rain on “both the just and the unjust.” In other words, He does not single out those who are anti-God and hit them with adverse weather. We all have adverse circumstances. Good weather, and answers to pleas for good weather, do not necessarily mean that God is smiling on us. Neither do disastrous climatic conditions indicate His wrath, although they could.
One thing that weather does do is bring out a response. And it is the responses that tell the tale. The “unjust,” those who live in sin and unbelief, do not generally see God sovereignly reigning or raining. They think weather is just weather and all of life is chance. Sometimes, when things don’t go the desired way, the unjust will blame “God,” getting satisfaction from venting their frustration, and justifying it by making the problem the fault of a God they don’t normally pay any attention to.
As for the “just,” without the mercies of God, there wouldn’t be any. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says that there is not a just person on earth. Romans 3 echos with “There is none that is righteous, no, not one!”
So how then can it “rain on the just?” Because the position of being considered “just” in the eyes of God is an imputed thing, something God gives without anyone earning or deserving it. This action of God is called “justification.” It occurs when God takes our sin from us and puts it on Christ. Then He takes the righteousness of Christ and puts it on us, declaring us just.
Not everyone experiences this. Romans 4 says, “Blessed is the man who is without sin, blessed is the man to whom God has imputed righteousness.”
What does this have to do with rain? Well, it is to these who have been justified through faith that God promises to take care of. He will provide all their needs: food to eat, clothes to wear, and faith to respond to whatever the weather with trust in their loving heavenly Father.
The best kind of rain is the reign of God in the human heart. Then, whether we experience floods or drought, we will not shake our fists in the air but give thinks, knowing that he is in control and that he will take care of all our needs.
There is a negative side to abundant rain. Washouts and flooding have ruined farm land and took their mucky toll on homes and other buildings. My husband probably isn’t the only one who couldn’t work several days this month because it rained too much.
Before the rains came, we prayed for rain and it came. Others did the same and it didn’t come. Some are praying for it to stop. While many people never think of God’s sovereignty in the weather, others are angry with His decisions. A thoughtful few may wonder how He decides where to send the rain and when to withhold it.
The Bible says that God sends rain on “both the just and the unjust.” In other words, He does not single out those who are anti-God and hit them with adverse weather. We all have adverse circumstances. Good weather, and answers to pleas for good weather, do not necessarily mean that God is smiling on us. Neither do disastrous climatic conditions indicate His wrath, although they could.
One thing that weather does do is bring out a response. And it is the responses that tell the tale. The “unjust,” those who live in sin and unbelief, do not generally see God sovereignly reigning or raining. They think weather is just weather and all of life is chance. Sometimes, when things don’t go the desired way, the unjust will blame “God,” getting satisfaction from venting their frustration, and justifying it by making the problem the fault of a God they don’t normally pay any attention to.
As for the “just,” without the mercies of God, there wouldn’t be any. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says that there is not a just person on earth. Romans 3 echos with “There is none that is righteous, no, not one!”
So how then can it “rain on the just?” Because the position of being considered “just” in the eyes of God is an imputed thing, something God gives without anyone earning or deserving it. This action of God is called “justification.” It occurs when God takes our sin from us and puts it on Christ. Then He takes the righteousness of Christ and puts it on us, declaring us just.
Not everyone experiences this. Romans 4 says, “Blessed is the man who is without sin, blessed is the man to whom God has imputed righteousness.”
What does this have to do with rain? Well, it is to these who have been justified through faith that God promises to take care of. He will provide all their needs: food to eat, clothes to wear, and faith to respond to whatever the weather with trust in their loving heavenly Father.
The best kind of rain is the reign of God in the human heart. Then, whether we experience floods or drought, we will not shake our fists in the air but give thinks, knowing that he is in control and that he will take care of all our needs.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Farming Father Rolled with Thunder...............Parables 001
Why is it that farmers can accept the fall rain and the damaging hail storms more readily than some folks can handle a rained-out picnic? After all, doesn’t a farmer stand to lose a great deal more from adverse weather?
My father farmed for 50 years. One time he told me that he and come to grips with his part and God’s part in farming. He was to plant the seeds. God made them grow.
That simple philosophy sums up a lifetime of watching the weather, trying to fit seeding time and harvest into its pattern, and realizing that it is senseless to fight with the tremendous power behind the wind and the rain.
Those of us whose exposure to nature is limited to picnics, ball games, and backyard barbeques do not develop that awareness. We generally see weather changes as inconvenient. If we are honest, we’d like to be in control.
My dad never expressed, “It I had my way it would never rain in August or September.” He worked patiently around the late frosts and early snows, and did his part. To him, God was never unfair. Perhaps he recognized something even more profound - that springtime and harvest are blessings.
The Psalmist says, “God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:10)
Perhaps my father felt grateful for just the privilege of being able to plant the seeds.
My father farmed for 50 years. One time he told me that he and come to grips with his part and God’s part in farming. He was to plant the seeds. God made them grow.
That simple philosophy sums up a lifetime of watching the weather, trying to fit seeding time and harvest into its pattern, and realizing that it is senseless to fight with the tremendous power behind the wind and the rain.
Those of us whose exposure to nature is limited to picnics, ball games, and backyard barbeques do not develop that awareness. We generally see weather changes as inconvenient. If we are honest, we’d like to be in control.
My dad never expressed, “It I had my way it would never rain in August or September.” He worked patiently around the late frosts and early snows, and did his part. To him, God was never unfair. Perhaps he recognized something even more profound - that springtime and harvest are blessings.
The Psalmist says, “God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:10)
Perhaps my father felt grateful for just the privilege of being able to plant the seeds.
First published in Fort Record, December 4, 1985
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