Praying for "...But Not..."

It's been a long time since I've posted anything.  But it certainly hasn't been for lack of "interesting" events in my life!  In the past couple of months I've spent a great deal of time on bedrest, relying on the incredible generosity of my church and help from my family.  I've undergone tons of medical tests, taken lots of medications, received several new diagnoses, struggled with hopes delayed, engaged in wrestlings with God, and seen answers to prayers that I had never even been wise enough to pray.  (Must have been other believers and Jesus who made those requests on my behalf, I'm sure.)

Finally, just over a week ago (on Nov 29, 2011), I had the major surgery I needed.  Thanks be to God, I am already feeling better than I have felt for months, and am on the road to what will probably be better overall health than I've had in more than a decade!  I'm still relying on the generosity of others for help, but I'm now cleared to lift up to 8-10 lbs, so I can do many more things.

In some ways it's been tough, but I wouldn't trade this time for anything.  God has been SO present, and SO sweet!  I have learned so much about rest, about trust, about submission, about gratitude...but mostly about the precious sovereign love of God for me in Christ.  Thank Him along with me, will you?

 A little while ago I read "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller, and it changed the way I pray for myself, my family, my neighborhood, my church, missionaries, and the world.  The book helped me see how to get to the root and pray about the heart of the issues in my life and sphere.  And boy, do I always need to deal with heart issues!

You see, I've always had a powerful avoidance ethic.  "If you can't control it, avoid it" was my unspoken motto for life, unseen and unquestioned as it guided me into disaster after disaster.  My prayer life largely focused on the desire to see pain relieved or prevented, even as I busily pursued the kind of selfishness that ate me up and made me useless.

But several months ago, when I was making up my new prayer card for myself, the Spirit brought one of my Scripture memory passages to mind.  (That's a powerful argument for memorizing Scripture!)  I made that passage part of my daily prayer for myself, and because it aligns with God's wise will, He is honoring it.

May I invite you along as I pray this passage?

"Lord, please free me from the urge to try to control everything, the belief that the avoidance of pain is the greatest good.  At the heart of them, my prayers used to always be, 'Don't let me be afflicted.  Don't let me be perplexed.  Don't let me be persecuted.  Don't let me be struck down.'  But that's not my prayer any more.  Now I ask that You would free me to be what Paul described: 'afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.' 

I say, 'Free me' to be these things, because that would be truly liberating.  I have been a slave to fear, held captive by avoidance, paralyzed by risk.  Please free me to love others in the way that You do...a way which is only possible if I'm willing to be hurt.  I can't triumph on my own, but through You I am 'more than a conqueror' (Rom. 8:37).  And what would this victory look like?  It would look like loving the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength, and loving my neighbor as myself.  It would look like the end of self-centered self-protection, and the beginning of sacrificial love.  It would look like the end of regret over opportunities lost, and the birth of praise and joy over circumstances submitted to Your glory and the good of those I touch.

And then, Oh Lord, I pray that you would help me to understand, by experience, what Paul said next. Teach me what it means to be 'always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.'  How can it be that this, 'carrying of Jesus' death,' and this, 'manifesting of His life' is something that 'we who live' are 'always doing?'  I don't know, but I pray that you would make it true in my life so that I would be able to glorify You and serve my neighbor in that way."

I felt an immense burden lifted off of me the first time I prayed that, and since then the Lord has been faithfully helping me to pry my hands off the controls, to trust Him, to risk loving and being hurt.  I've got a long way to go, of course, but I love the path I'm on now!

How would your prayer life...your whole life...be changed if you regularly prayed for the "...but not..." of 2 Cor. 4:8-11?

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Quotables for 3/5/10

"I have noticed among domestic servants one very common reason of unsettlement. It is that they do not know who is the mistress and have to take orders from half a dozen people. And all of us are servants in God's house, and always in our service we shall be irritable unless there be one voice we must obey and one will which gives us all our orders. That was the meaning of the peace of Job. He saw God always, and he saw Him everywhere. "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away," said Job, "blessed be the name of the Lord." It was not God today and fate tomorrow. It was not heaven in the morning and blind chance at night. Through light and shadow it was God to Job, and that was one secret of his rest. So is it with us all. To have many masters is always to be restless." ~ G.H. Morrison

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"No one can serve two masters." 

(Jesus, Matt 6:24)

Out of His Heart Will Flow Rivers of Living Water

My last post was based on the story of the Woman at the Well (John 4:7-42).  This section of Scripture is usually treated as an evangelistic passage, and of course that's primarily what it is.  So why did I use this passage to talk about how we serve God?

It was simply because, for the first time, I recognized the logical flow of the passage.

It's easy to look at Jesus' interaction with the woman and think that He abruptly changed the subject.  They started out talking about His request that she serve Him, and then switched to talking about eternal life.  But is that the way she would have heard it, without the benefit of the hindsight and Christological knowledge that we bring to the story when we read it?

I don't think she perceived anything about eternal life at first, in her strange conversation with this unusual man.  When the talk left the realm of mundane service and became religious, she still thought of it as religious service. 

Where should we worship?

In hindsight, we know Jesus was talking to her about the gift of His Holy Spirit and eternal life.  But does that negate the element of service that permeated their conversation?  What if salvation and service are not really such different topics?  What if, in fact, they're intimately related? 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

(Eph 2:10) 

Jesus' request of the woman was a simple one, and one that she could provide.  And this was a woman who was accustomed to providing for men (John 4:17-18). Drudgery was very much a woman's lot in those days, and it was far more grating work than I've ever known.  She knew all about waiting on someone hand and foot. 

She didn't think Jesus' request itself was strange.  Drawing water was women's work, after all.  His request was strange only because of who He was, and the fact that their cultural constraints should have kept Him from talking to her at all. 

If He had made a different request of her, she would have thought it just as bizarre.  So at first the issue was all about service in her mind.  Not water, as we tend to think, but service.  And it was a service she was confident she could provide, even if she found the circumstances awkward.

How many lost souls are confident (or at least hopeful) that they can provide what God wants?  How many strive to earn His salvation?

That's where Jesus meets us with an offer, just like He met her.  An offer that, to a listening ear, lifts everything to a higher plane.

You see, water may have been the desired outcome of the service…but the woman could only have given Jesus physical water.  What He offered to give her was much more than that.  It was living water.  He was the one who showed that it's the type of water, not the service itself, which makes all the difference…and that He only wants what He Himself can provide.

The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)

If you read yesterday's entry, you know that Jesus gives us what He demands of us, so we can meet His demands by His grace.

When Jesus changed the subject, it was not so that he could make her forget about serving.  It was so that she could see Him as the source of all eternally meaningful service (and of course, as the source of eternal life as well).

Once He gave her His living water, the tenor of her service changed.  While she no doubt continued to perform womanly tasks for his benefit during the two days that He stayed in Samaria, her works no longer came just from her hands.  They flowed from her heart.  And they came not from the dead, dirty heart which she had originally brought to the well, but from the very spring that He Himself had placed within her when He gave her a new heart (John 7:38).

This service is like living water that does not need to be drawn.  It flows, naturally.

Legalism draws by the sweat of its brow, and all it can bring up is the same water that will leave you thirsting once more.  A saved heart overflows because of the limitless Spring at its source, and the water it pours out is alive with God's own power.

Salvation and service are intimately related, but not for the reasons that many people believe.  No amount of sinful drawing can bring up living water.  But no history of sin can stop the Spirit's flow.  (Current sin may provide a temporary bottleneck, but the Holy Spring will soon clear that away and continue its drenching work.)

When Jesus talks about looking at our works as proof of our salvation (Matt 25:34-36), he doesn't look at our bucket-hauling.  Any lost soul can do that.  After all, Jesus was often a guest in people's homes.  Many hands waited on Him.  No one was saved by bringing Him a drink or latching his sandals.

Jesus looks at our Spring-flowing.  He looks at His own work in us, the outpouring of His own Spirit.  The works do not save.  They are legal evidence that we are saved.  Human eyes may or may not be able to see the difference between dead works and Living Outflow, but God knows the ones who are indwelt by His Spirit (John 10:14, John 10:27-28).  He sees the source of our works.

Only the children of God can do works in God (John 3:21).

Eternal life and true service are both the natural results of the Holy Spirit's presence within us.  One is His work within us, and the other is His work through us.  Both are His works.  So if we have the Spirit, we have both salvation and true service.  If we do not have the Spirit, we have neither salvation nor true service, no matter how many good works we try to do.  The difference isn't the labor…it's whether or not the water we dish out is earthly or Spiritual.

That is why the Apostle Paul described his own endless toil for the Gospel as, "striving according to His working which works in me mightily" (Col 1:29, emphasis added). 

And that's why Isaiah said, "LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us (Isa 26:12, emphasis added).

And that's why Jesus could say, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt 11:28-30).”

I have occasionally felt the Spirit clearly working through me, and it has been a joyous thing.  But too often I still labor on in my flesh.  Oh may I learn to stop sinfully bottlenecking the Spirit's flow, so that my burden would be exchanged for His light one, and He would work more freely through me! 

What Jesus Said We Would Do If We Knew

I'm supposed to serve in the mundane.  Scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets, scraping boogers off the walls (autistic kids do strange things), pre-treating stains, sorting laundry, washing-drying-folding washing-drying-folding washing-drying-folding, cooking the meals, washing the dishes, tidying the messes.

Why should I have to do this?  My heart is the heart of a writer, after all.  Why do they all expect this of me, and take it (and me) so much for granted?

If you knew…who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink…" (from John 4:10)

Jesus called for the mundane.  Give me a drink.

He did it two thousand years ago, and He does it today. 

Give them a drink.  Give them a clean house.  Give them My love.  Do it all in My name.  You will not lose your reward. (See Mark 9:41 and Matt 25:40)

My heart just does not get it.  I still can't embrace the drudgery.  There must be something missing…some secret I don't know.

If you knew…who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink…"

Lord of the Universe.  Author of Creation.  Alpha and Omega.  Lion of Judah.  Lamb of God.  The Holy One.  The Lord of Hosts.  The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 

He is the One Who says to me, give them a drink.

Then I guess I'd better snap to it, right?  Shape up!  Know your place, servant girl!  Get the water, do the chores…who cares how you feel about it?  Don't you know Who is telling you to do it?  Get off your lazy backside and do it RIGHT NOW!

Is that what the verse says?  Let's look and see.

If you knew…who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked Him…

I would have what?  How did we jump from "being commanded" to "asking?"

Oh, I get it.  Maybe He says, "Jump," and I ask, "How high?"  Is that it?  Time to look at more of that verse.

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you…

Oh…it's not about asking for clarification, then.  It's asking for an actual thing that He can give me.  But why?  I don't get it.  How can the knowledge of Christ make me want to respond to His commands by asking Him for something, instead of just jumping up to obey?

What is it about knowing Him that changes how I serve?

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Ok, now I'm even more confused.  If I really knew who He was, I would respond to his command to "Give water" by asking Him to give water?

Huh?  Why would I ask Him to give me the very thing He's telling me to give Him?

Ohhhh…

What if the only way I can serve Him…truly serve Him in a way that pleases Him…is if He supplies the very thing that He demands?

If I really knew who He was, I would understand that no offering made by my sin-killed flesh could ever please Him.  And if I really knew who He was and knew the Gift of God, I would know that He is graciously pleased to give us the very things that He demands from us. 

Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22:8

King David understood this concept clearly.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. (1Ch 29:14 NKJV, emphasis added)

David knew that he could only give because God had supplied what he gave.

Many of you, like me, have felt the difference between our soul-wearying hauling and the refreshing outflow of His Spirit.  But so often we stay in lugging mode, laboring to give Jesus water instead of letting Him give it to and through us.

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked…

We know that we often don't have what we want or need because we don't ask (Jas 4:2).  But why don't we ask?  Could it be that we don't know the gift of God well enough?  Are we not intimately enough acquainted with the Savior to recognize that He is the only possible Source to whom we should turn?

Lord, please help us to know You better, to know You so well that it will seem only natural to turn to You for the resources we need to serve You and others.  Don't let us settle for the intellectual knowledge that we "need your help," but rather let us feel the glorious, joyous outpouring of Your Spirit through us, so we'll never misunderstand what it means to serve You again…even when serving You means cleaning toilets and doing laundry.  Amen!

Enough?

I hate feeling inadequate. 

Unfortunately, I get to  feel that way pretty often.  Life is hard, you know.  Some of us regularly find that we’re not up to its challenges.

I can’t be enough!

I read verses like 2 Co. 9:8, and I find myself wondering when those superlatives are going to show up at my door. 

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Where is that sufficiency when I need it?

Tonight I read a wonderful devotional by Karen Hossink at the Internet Cafe.   The words that touched me most were these (based on the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand in Mark 6:30-44):

Jesus takes me into His hands, breaks me, and makes me enough.
Enough of a mother.
Enough of a wife.
Enough of a friend.
Enough of a sister.
Enough of a daughter.
Enough.

I didn’t feel even close to “enough” today.  I felt pretty overwhelmed, to be honest.  Soul-fatigue drained me, robbed me of my smile, made my heart feel like lead.

I had been able to feel Jesus “knocking” sometimes, but my responses had been lackluster at best.  And yet, now that the kids are in bed, and all is finally quiet, and the laundry is done at last, and I’ve worked so hard to accomplish so little, and I’ve stopped beating my head against the wall because I’ve decided that 10pm is too late to try to tackle any more of the items on my largely undone “To-do” list…

Now that I’ve got a few moments when I can actually focus, I’m so glad to feel my heart turning more towards my Lord again. 

Better late than never.

Oh Father, help me!  Where is that promised “enough?”

And His answer comes back quietly, “Enough for whom?”

I feel the meaning behind the words, and it stops me in my tracks.

Who do you want to be enough for?

Suddenly I’m in one of those moments when the Lord puts a mirror in front of my soul, and I’m allowed to see something I never saw before.

I want to be enough for myself!  I want to feel adequate, and strong, and competent.  I admire such traits, and I want to see them in the mirror.

But that’s not what my Father wants for me.

He doesn’t want me to be enough, He wants me to have enough!

Enough of what?  And for whom?

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2Co 9:8

He does not give me “enough” in myself so that I can admire myself and be admired by others.  He gives me enough of Himself so that I can give to others.

Do I want to be enough for myself, or do I want to have enough for my family?  The focus is so incredibly different, isn’t it?

When each new demand came, did I seek to love the one who demanded, or did I focus on my own scanty resources?  When each new conflict arose, did I seek to draw the combatants to Christ out of love for them, or did I seek to shut them up so that I could feel like I’d “handled” one more thing and eliminated some more ugliness from my world?

If I had taken my eyes off of myself more, and had loved my family more by His Spirit, I might still have exhausted myself physically, but my soul would have been refreshed by the giving.

What’s more, my family might have seen less of me and more of Christ.  As it was, I’m sure they saw me…my fatigue, my overwhelmedness, my frustration at my own inadequacy.  But what if I had been less interested in what I had, and more in what I had to give?

Jesus would have given through me.  And perhaps, if Grace opened their eyes, my family would have seen Him in the giving.

I want that.  Because no one will benefit eternally by admiring me, or loving or trusting me.  People can perish forever while thinking very highly of me.

I want them to admire Jesus, to love Him, to trust Him.

Dear Father, take my eyes off of myself!  Remove my prideful desire to be enough, and grant me the humility to want to have enough from You so that I can serve others for Your glory.  Help me to love others unselfishly!

And dear Lord, please do not give me any sufficiency that I could call my own.  Instead, please be my sufficiency, and give me Yourself!

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Who’s in Charge Here?

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I’m still actively working through this process with the Lord, in which I asked Him to help me hate my sin, and He has been answering in His own unique ways.

One fact struck me recently, and I’m sure it came from His Spirit.

I want to have God for my own, more than I want to be owned by Him. I want to hold the reins and steer towards God, instead of giving the reins to Him.

Ouch!

My thoughts on this subject reminded me of a devotional that I wrote years ago, on a different website. I want to reproduce it for you here.

I think the Lord must have been giving me today's topic, because I just about woke up with it. All morning I've been singing, "Jesus, You are My King." And I've been thinking about what it means to have Jesus as King.

There's a stubborn side of me, and I suspect that you may have a stubborn side too, if you're human like me. It's the side that says, "I don't want a king. I don't like the idea of being subject to anyone. I do my own thing, I'm my own person, I'm an adult, and no one can tell me what to do."

I think it is especially hard for us as Americans to swallow the idea of a king over us. When we think of it, we think of everything that can go wrong when a human being is given too much power. We live in a democracy, and if we don't like our leaders, we boot them out! Who needs a king with absolute authority? We kicked free from that sort of tyranny hundreds of years ago. We're proud of our independence as Americans, and rightly so. But that kind of thinking is so ingrained in my heart that it is hard for me to believe that Someone really has the right to tell me how to live every part of my life. It's oppressive to think about...if I'm thinking about it in my flesh.

How deceptive Satan is! He too is a ruler...not as powerful as our Lord, of course, but a ruler nonetheless. He rules the lives of all those who have not made Christ their king. (I don't mean to imply a limit to God's sovereignty, which of course extends to the lives of those who don't know Him. But God has, for a time, given Satan a realm of authority.) Those who do not obey God have not become independent as they think. They have simply become enslaved to other masters. This is even true of those of us who belong to Christ, but who have chosen for a time to wander. Even though we are God's children, like the prodigal son we choose to live just like the slaves of this world. And we find that what we thought would be a wonderful freedom turns out to be nothing of the kind. Satan lures us with delicious temptations, but "their end is death."

Some deceive themselves that they truly are independent, slaves neither to God nor Satan. Perhaps they deny the existence of both. But they do not understand that their own flesh is also a merciless slave driver which is never satisfied. The flesh hungers after power and pleasure, and never gets enough of either. In its relentless pursuit of its desires, it runs roughshod over everyone around us, and eventually ruins our lives as well. It reminds me of the rebellious youth, who declares his independence from his parents by enslaving himself to drugs, or alcohol, or nicotine. Soon he will do anything to satisfy the very cravings which will destroy him.

But we have to come to the point where we truly see and believe that Satan and our flesh are cruel taskmasters. Until we truly see that, we will continue to serve them willingly. And at the same time we will look at Christ and say, "We want no-one to rule over us!" How blind and foolish!

But what kind of tyrant is our Lord? What kind of slave driver is He? The King who came to serve, who died for us, who intercedes for us, who waits patiently for us to come to our senses, who lovingly disciplines us for our own good, who frees us from the law of sin and death...need I say more?

Yes, His authority is absolute. He is sovereign. And I'm so glad! Imagine a universe in which Satan, or even our own flesh, were sovereign. Such a monstrosity would self-destruct, and it would be a good thing for it to do so.

I must have a king, for I am only human. Who then is my king? Satan? My flesh? Lord help me to truly understand how awful such enslavement is. Then I will have such joy in my heart when I sing, "Jesus, You are my King!"

Blessings in our King,

Betsy

That devotional touches something in my heart. I want to remember that I always have a master. It’s not a question of Christ versus my Autonomous Self ruling. It’s a question of Christ versus Satan/my sin-enslaved flesh ruling.

I don’t want to think in terms of "deciding to have a master." That still has negative connotations in my rebellious, non-trusting mind sometimes. Instead, I want to think of myself (realistically) as someone who has always had a master, but has had a change of ownership. I want to get to know this new Master better, because the news about Him is unspeakably good, and serving Him is true freedom!

Like Pilate, I find no fault in Him. But oh, let me not be like Pilate by refusing Him as my King anyway, even in some small degree!

Oh Lord, help me to truly surrender to You!

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The Wonder of Our Daily Bread

In these uncertain times, in which matters great and small fill our hearts and minds with very real concerns, I find comfort in the simply profound truths written below.  They help us appreciate the greatness of God’s “simple gifts,” and also give us hope that our own small lives matter more than we may realize.  I hope these words are a help to you as well.

 

Every Harvest Is Prophecy

G.H. Morrison on Matt. 6:11 (Edited for length)

The Tiniest Petitions

“When you read it unimaginatively, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ seems an almost trifling petition. It almost looks like an intruder here. On the one side of it (Matt. 6:10) there is the will of God, reaching out into the height of heaven. On the other side of it (Matt. 6:12) there are our sins, reaching down into unfathomed depths. And then, between these two infinities, spanning the distance from cherubim to Satan, there is ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Our sin runs back to an uncharted past, but in this petition there is no thought of yesterday. The will of God shall be for evermore, but in this petition there is no tomorrow.  As if some hill that a child could climb should be set down between two mighty Alps, so seems this prayer for our daily bread between the will of the eternal God, and the cry for pardon for our sins whose roots go down into the depths of hell.

But now suppose you take this prayer and set it in the light of harvest. Give us this day our daily bread—can you tell me what is involved when it is answered? Why, if you but realized it, and caught the infinite range of its relationships, never again would it be insignificant. For all the ministry of spring is in it, and all the warmth and glory of the summer. And night and day, and heat and cold, and frost, and all the falling of the rain. And light that has come from distances unthinkable, and breezes that have blown from far away, and powers of nourishment that for years have been preparing in the mother earth.  Is it a little thing to get a piece of bread? Is it so little that it is out of place here where we are moving in the heights and depths? Not if you set it in the light of harvest.

I think then there is a lesson here about the greatness of the things we pray for. Our tiniest petitions might seem large, if we only knew what the answer would involve. There are things which you ask for which seem little things. Yet could you follow out that prayer of yours, you might find it calling for the power of heaven as mightily as the conversion of the nations.  You are lonely, and you pray to God that He would send a friend into your life. And then some day to you there comes that friend, perhaps in the most casual of meetings. Yet who shall tell the countless prearrangements, before there was that footfall on the threshold which has made all the difference in the world to you?

Give us this day our daily bread, and the sunshine and the storm are in the answer. Give us a friend, and perhaps there was no answer saving for omniscience and omnipotence. Now we know in part and see in part, but when we know even as we are known we shall discover all that was involved in the answer to our humblest prayers.

The Toil It Cost

In the second place, in the light of harvest think of the toil that lies behind the gift.

Now and then a gift is given us which touches us in a peculiar way, because we recognize the toil it cost. It may be given us by a child perhaps, or it may be given us by some poor woman. And it is not beautiful, nor is it costly, nor would it fetch a shilling in the market. And yet to us who know the story of it, and how the hands were busied in the making, it may be beautiful as any diadem. 

I want you then to take that thought and to apply it to your daily bread. It is a gift, and yet behind that gift do you remember all the toil there is?  Daily bread is more divine than manna for, like manna, it is the gift of heaven, and yet we get it not till arms are weary and sweat has broken on the human brow. I think of the ploughman with his steaming horses driving his furrow in the heavy field. I think of the sower going forth to sow. I think of the stir and movement of the harvest. I think of the clanking of the threshing mill, and of the dusty grinding of the corn, and of all those who in our bakeries are toiling in the night when we are sleeping.

And is it not generally in such ways that our most precious gifts are given us? Every good and perfect gift is from above, yet is there something of heart-blood on them all. A noble painting is a precious gift. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.  So is it with every noble poem; so with our civil and religious liberty. They are all gifts to us; they come from God; they are ours to cherish and enjoy. Yet every one of them is wet with tears, and charactered with human toil and pain, and oftentimes, like the Messiah's garment, dipped in the final ministry of blood. Into that fellowship of lofty gifts I want you, then, to put your daily bread. It is not little, nor is it insignificant when you remember all that lies behind it.

By Lowly Hands

Lastly, in the light of harvest think of the hands through which the gift is given. ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ we pray, and then through certain hands it is bestowed. Whose hands? Are they the hands of the illustrious, or of those whose names are famous in the world? All of you know as well as I do that it is not thus our bread is ministered; it reaches us by the hands of lowly men. Out of his cottage does the reaper come, and back to his cottage does he go at evening. And we halt a moment, and we watch him toiling under the autumn sunshine in the field. But what his name is, or where he had his birth, or what are his hopes and what his tragedies, of that we know absolutely nothing. So was it with the sower in the spring, and the harvester in autumn. They have no chronicle, nor any luster, nor any greatness in the eyes of man. And what I want you to realize is this, that when God answers this universal prayer, it is such hands as these that he employs.  Are there not tens of thousands who are nameless, toiling, sorrowing, rejoicing, dying, and never raising a ripple on the sea? Give us this day our daily bread—it is by such hands that the prayer is answered. It is by these that the Almighty Father shows that He is hearkening to His children. It is His recognition of obscurity.

Perhaps we shall never know how life is beautified and raised and glorified by those who toil in undistinguished fashion. Such men may never write great poems, but it is they who make great poems possible. Such may never do heroic things, but they are the soil in which the seed is sown. Such men will not redeem the world. It takes the incarnate Son of God for that. But they—the peasants and the fishermen—will carry forth the music to humanity. Give us this day our daily bread. Are there not multitudes who are praying so?

And you, you have no genius, no gifts? You are an obscure and ordinary person ? But if there is any meaning in our text, set in the light of sowing and of harvest, it is that the answer to that daily prayer will be vouchsafed through lowly folk like you.”

G.H. Morrison (1866-1928)

Trifles and Triumphs

Image by CaptPiper via Flickr

I read something from my beloved G. H. Morrison devotional today that seemed to dovetail perfectly with my previous two posts.  I already had a different devotional scheduled to post today, but it will have to wait.  I want to share this with you.

Morrison was opening up the grandeur of Matt. 10:42, showing the great importance which Christ placed on simple, lowly acts of service.  I read it all with pleasure, but was stopped in my tracks by this particular sentence (emphasis added):

“Great hours reveal our possibilities;

Common hours reveal our consecration.”

Oh, how I dream of great hours!  I long to do heroic deeds, or at least fill my heart with heroic feelings.  And how I heap disdain on common moments and common tasks!  How easily I convince myself that they don’t matter at all, and that it’s perfectly fine to neglect and waste them altogether.

I want to believe in my possibilities.

God wants my consecration.

Do you want to know how consecrated you are?  How devoted?  How set apart and committed?  Do I want to know this about myself? 

Then you and I need to look at how we approach the commonplace.  As Morrison points out:

"Life is not a little bundle of big things, but a big bundle of little things…And for our Lord the ‘usual’ was the big thing, because the ‘usual’ is nine-tenths of life.”

We love the special “Holy Places” in our lives, the places where God touched us in a special way.  We treasure memories of the times when He met with us almost tangibly.  And it’s right that we should love them.  But if those are the only places and times which we devote to God, then we neglect the great majority of our existence.  We may have consecrated times and places, but we do not have consecrated lives.

Isn’t He with us every moment, even when we don’t know it?

If we can’t feel that He’s there, does His presence matter?

What does King Solomon tell us?

He has made everything beautiful in its time (Ec. 3:11).

How does He do that?

I believe He does it sometimes, to a small degree, during our physical lives.  But mostly this is a promise for that eternal Day in which every moment will unfold itself to reveal new beauties we had not seen before.  And each new beauty will really be an old one, because it will be but another facet of our glorious Lord revealed more fully to us.  Jesus will show us His beautifying touches on every moment of our earthly lives.  When we see His good purpose for our every experience, His faithfulness through our every trial, His presence in our every activity, we will see each moment robed in splendor.  Even a cup of cold water given in His name will shine forever.

Morrison says:

“To neglect the trifle is to miss the triumph.  A tiny snowflake is as exquisitely beautiful as all the splendid pageantry of sunrise.”

Every moment touched by God, no matter how trivial it may seem on this earth, will reveal itself to be as rare and beautiful a masterpiece as the tiny snowflakes He lavishes on us so extravagantly.

Every moment lived for God can be enjoyed, even if it’s also painful, if we truly understand this mystery.  Each second is a gift which flutters past us like snow’s airy crystals, and because we don’t look closely enough, we can’t see the astonishing detail and depth and loveliness of it.

But under the microscope of eternity, what wonders will we see?

Oh Father, help us have eyes to see and ears to hear!  Help us to forget the idea of the “mundane” and the “trivial.”  May we see each moment as an unopened treasure, one which we barely glimpse as it goes by, which is then stored up in Heaven for us to enjoy in its full grandeur for all eternity.  May we offer each moment, even the painful ones, back to You with joyful appreciation for the wonders that they are.  For you are the One who makes everything…even every common hour…beautiful in its time.

Who Can Be Sent?

Monday Manna

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
"Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?"
Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
(Isa 6:8)

What a glorious chapter Isaiah 6 is! Can you imagine Isaiah's frustration with trying to boil Image via Wikipediadown that awesome experience into a few words? Moved by the Spirit, he said exactly what he was supposed to say, but he was limited by the finiteness of language. I'm sure he wished there were some way to explain the glory, the awe, the terror, the majesty. But the Spirit led him to write what he wrote, and so we do well to examine what God felt was important enough to tell us.

He tells us many things in this chapter, but one of the most important is the answer to our title question.

Who can be sent?

I didn't ask, "Who can go?" "Going" is simply a matter of deciding on a direction and heading that way. Anyone can do that.

Not just anyone can be sent.

So who can be sent by Almighty God?

First and foremost, it must be someone who has had a genuine, miraculous encounter with the Holy One. Isaiah certainly did (Isa. 6:1-5). So did Moses (Ex. 3:2-4), and so did Paul (Acts 9:3-6). Before God sent them, He showed them Himself.

"But wait," you may protest. "Are you saying I can't be sent by God without a miraculous encounter like that?"

Well yes, and no. You can't be sent without a miraculous encounter. But it doesn't have to be "like that."

It can't be said often enough. Salvation is a miraculous encounter with God. It is more than just a miraculous encounter (for example, Balaam had miraculous encounters without ever being saved), but it cannot be less than that.

You probably didn't see God face-to-face when you were first saved, but the eyes of your heart were miraculously opened to see Him as never before. You probably didn't feel the pillars of the temple shake, but something in your soul trembled at His presence. You probably were not struck with physical blindness, but you must have been struck with how spiritually blind you had been before He gave you sight. You who were spiritually dead felt life coursing into the veins of your soul when you first met Him and were saved by Him. You were made new. That's nothing short of a miracle. Without such a miraculous rebirth, there is no salvation.

Christendom is full of false prophets who come in His Name, who make the best-seller lists, get their own TV shows, and rub elbows with the world's political elite...but whom He never sent (Jer. 14:14).

Who can be sent? Those who have had a miraculous encounter with God, and who have been devastated by an awareness of their own sin (Isa. 6:5). Dear discouraged brother or sister, do you feel that your sin disqualifies you from service? If you are one who is growing to hate your sin, growing to love God, growing in holiness, then you most certainly can be sent. There are only three kinds of awareness of sin, you know.

• Minimizing how evil it is and cherishing it
• Relishing how evil it is and cherishing it
• Understanding how evil it is and hating it.

Only a miraculous, saving encounter with God can produce the third option. Those who see their sin for what it is and repent of it can be sent...even though they still are imperfect. They just keep hating their sin, and keep repenting of it as they go. But there's more to this "sending" than that.

Who can be sent? Those who have a miraculous encounter with God, who are devastated by their sinfulness, and who are cleansed by Him (Isa. 6:6-7).

We aren't cleansed by "forgiving ourselves for our own mistakes." When I find a dirty cup, and my child needs a drink, I cleanse that cup thoroughly before sending it on its drink-giving errand. I don't trust it to clean itself.

God, through Christ, does the same with His chosen vessels. No, he doesn't generally use burning coals. Such symbolism has its place, but it's nothing more than a metaphor for what has to happen within. Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29), and He refines us as in a furnace, purifying us for His glory (Isa. 48:10-11).

Lastly, those who can be sent are those who present themselves with no strings attached. To be sent is to go because of the command or bidding of someone else. It is not self-directed. It's not based on mood or personal desire (though mood and desire may agree wholeheartedly in many cases). Isaiah offered himself in Isa. 6:8, but didn't learn the difficult and painful nature of his mission until Isa. 6:9-10, or how long his service would last until Isa. 6:11.

Those who only want to "go"
will come to God with their own agendas
and expect His blessing.

Those who want to be sent
leave their agendas behind
and actually receive His blessing.

Have you experienced His miraculous saving work? Do you know what it is to be devastated by your sinfulness and overwhelmed by His forgiving grace? Do you hate sin and repent of it with loathing? Has He cleansed you so that you're new (though still not perfected)? Are you committed to serving Him on His agenda rather than your own?

Then, with Isaiah you may say, "Here am I, send me."

• Not because of any self-confidence, or your ability to make yourself popular with the masses. The false prophets have plenty of that (Luke 6:26).
  
• Not because of your qualifications. God chooses foolish, despicable nothings to do His work (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
  
• Not because of your achievements, but because of His purpose and His grace which He has given to us (2 Tim. 1:9).
  
• Not because of your plans for being used. Remember Moses' plan for serving God and freeing His people? He thought he'd do it by murdering Egyptians who mistreated Jews. God had much more supernatural plans for him than that.

It is purely God's work in you which makes you usable.

You may object, "I'm saved, but I've never been sent anywhere."

Haven't you? Whom did God send to your workplace this morning in your shoes?

It isn't only the flashy, history-making assignments which come from God. If you walk by the Spirit of God, does He not send you? Whether you "feel sent" or not, every task that your hand finds to do is one that He sent you to do. Living in the light of that truth is how we obey the commands in Col. 3:17 and Col. 3:23-24.

It's easy for me to raise my hand and say, "Send me!" when He asks for someone to write for Him. I'm grateful to have a tiny corner of the blogosphere in which I can be used for His glory. But it's not so easy to walk into a piled-high laundry room with a "send me" attitude. It's not so easy to approach the kitchen saying, "Here am I, Lord. Your servant."

I guess I need more of that awesome reverence for God, more hatred for sin, more cleansing from Him, more abandonment of my own agendas in favor of His. I'm guessing maybe some of you do, too.

Oh Father, grant us the fear of the Lord as You promised in Jer. 32:40. Grant us repentance (2 Tim. 2:25) and a holy hatred for sin. Cleanse us and make us fit for Your use, enabling us to gratefully accept whatever roles you give us. Then, no matter how unqualified we are in our flesh, we will still be able to say, "Here am I, send me!"

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This week's Monday Manna is being hosted by Joanne Sher at "An Open Book." Please drop by there to see more insights on this passage

Sent As He Was Sent

How did God send Jesus?

I don't mean, "In what form?" or "What were the circumstances?" Those details get plenty of press this time of year.

I mean, "What was the nature of His assignment?"

It's important for us to know this, because of one often-overlooked statement of our Lord.

"As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
(John 20:21)

How did the Father send Him? How does the Son send us?

It would be hard to say it any better than it was said in this wonderful hymn by E. Margaret Clarkson (1954). (On an interesting note, the first three verses don't appear in some hymn books.)

So Send I You

So send I you to labor unrewarded,
To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing-
So send I you to toil for Me alone.

So send I you to leave your life's ambition,
To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labor long, and love where men revile you-
So send I you to lose your life in Mine.

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,
To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, though it be blood, to spend and spare not-
So send I you to taste of Calvary.

So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph
O'er hosts of hell, o'er darkness, death and sin
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer,
So send I you, my victory to win.

So send I you, to take to souls in bondage
The word of truth that sets the captive free
To break the bonds of sin, to loose death's fetters
So send I you, to bring the lost to Me.

So send I you, my strength to know in weakness
My joy in grief, my perfect peace in pain
To prove my pow'r, my grace, my promised presence
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.

So send I you, to bear my cross with patience
And then one day with joy to lay it down
To hear my voice, "Well done, my faithful servant
Come share my throne, my kingdom and my crown!"

As the Father hath sent me, so send I you.

When you and I look at the manger scene today, when we contemplate the miracles, the angelic singing, the wonder, the joy...
Image via Wikipedia

May we also remember the rest of the "how" of His coming...the purpose which He has graciously allowed us to make our own.

Image via Wikipedia

Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (Heb 13:13)

Image by Remara Photography via Flickr

...we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Rom 8:17)

This is a faithful saying:
For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
(2Ti 2:11)

As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you...
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Garden Tomb photo taken by Betsy Markman at "The Holy Land Experience," Orlando, FL

Reasonable Sacrifice - Monday Manna

Today I am interrupting our current series so I can participate in

Monday Manna

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:1 (NKJV)

Does being a "living sacrifice" sound reasonable to you?

The fact is, everyone is a living sacrifice. Athletes sacrifice years of hard work and pain to earn ribbons and medals. Businessmen sacrifice a lifetime to gain financial security. Children sacrifice years to learn in school, countless hours to get higher scores on electronic games, and nearly anything to establish their place in the world. Even the most selfish, lazy people on earth make endless sacrifices, because they are draining the lifeblood out of irretrievable years and opportunities on the altar of self-indulgence.

Parents sacrifice. Friends sacrifice. Soldiers sacrifice.

Why is being a living sacrifice to God, "reasonable service?" What makes Him worth it?

I have a sister who absolutely loves dogs. All dogs, but French Bulldogs most of all. It amazes me the sacrifices that she makes for those animals, whether they're her own, or whether they're foster dogs she's taken in for a rescue organization. She deals with a lot of paralyzed dogs, and thinks nothing of changing their diapers day in and day out for years on end, expressing their bladders if need be, going to great lengths to provide a custom homemade diet and the best medical care. She spends hours in online French Bulldog forums, drives long distances to rescue dogs from bad situations, and works in fundraising events. Honestly, there's no way I'd do it. It seems like "unreasonable sacrifice," because it wouldn't be worth it to me.

It's worth it to her, because the dogs themselves are worth it to her.

It's a love thing.

We sacrifice for what we love. And the more we love something or someone, the more reasonable that sacrifice seems.

So who decides what is reasonable service? We do, when we decide how much something is worth, and how much we love it. The problem is, we're not always very good judges of worth, nor are we always aware of just how much we sacrifice. Time slips away in front of televisions and computer screens, or is traded for any number of unimportant things, and we barely even notice. The hours turn into days, and weeks, and years, and before we know it, a lifetime.

Sacrificed.

In my 44 years on this earth, how many hours have I truly lived? How many hours have I spent in ways that matter? In the end, what will I have to show for the life that I've spent? How much of what I've accomplished will survive the fires of judgment? (2 Pe. 3:10-11 , 1 Co. 3:11-15)

Who decides what is "reasonable" sacrifice? Ultimately, God does. He tells us He's worth it. In fact, He's more than worth it (Rom. 8:18).

We're wise if we listen to Him. In fact, our souls may depend on it. Because saving faith has to be far more than simply assenting to facts about God, or about Christ. The demons know all about God. Far more than we will ever know on this earth. They believe all of these facts. They saw Jesus on the cross. They saw Him buried, and they saw His resurrection. If believing these things about Jesus is your definition of "saving faith," then you have to believe the demons are saved.

God forbid!

The problem is, the demons hate everything that they know about God. They hate His goodness, His power, His sovereignty, His holiness, His authority, His works, His ways, His expectations, His plans...everything. They have the facts right, but they do not have saving faith, because they do not trust in this God that they know. They do not believe He should have the right to rule, nor do they love Him or count Him as their treasure. Their goal is to depose Him, or at least to live as if He were not on the throne, and to lead humans to do the same.

By contrast, saving faith not only believes the facts about God and about Christ, but also rejoices in those facts! It not only assents to the fact that God is on the throne, but it wouldn't want it any other way!

Saving faith makes sacrifices, and counts them "reasonable," because it believes that Christ is worth it all.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Mat 13:44-46)

Worth it all.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Php 3:8)

Reasonable sacrifice.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. (Mat 19:29)

Do I love the Lord enough, trust Him enough, have faith enough to sacrifice everything, and call it "reasonable?"

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Today's "Monday Manna" is being hosted by Joanne over at "An Open Book." Please drop by there for links to other thoughts on this verse, and be sure to leave comments if you were blessed.

Another Misunderstood Passage

I wrote a while back about my former misunderstanding of Heb. 12:1. But of course that's far from being the only verse that has ever caused confusion for me. And up until fairly recently I had a serious problem with Luke 17:7-10.

And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.' "

That was Jesus speaking, by the way.

Ooh, that verse used to make me mad! It felt like Jesus was promising to give me a good solid kick in the teeth the minute I passed through the Pearly Gates. I know there's no way I'll ever be able to stand before God and say, "I did all my duty," so I would be even worse off than the now-toothless servant mentioned above. So much for Heaven being a place to look forward to!

How can God be so patient with people like me? Thank and praise His Name, He is!

Of course such a reaction from God would be the antithesis of what we would expect, based on a biblical understanding of both His character and of Heaven. So then what do we do with this passage?

While I actually came to peace with that passage quite a while ago, a lovely new insight came on Friday by way of a message from a fellow FaithWriter. She had written to tell me of the impact that a certain story had had on her life. Now, when I had written that story, I had had no idea where the plot line had come from. I had felt that God had just given it to me, because it had come so easily and was so different from anything I'd ever thought about before. I had been glad to have something good to enter in the contest.

I thought I knew why I had chosen the character's name, but now I believe that I only knew part of the reason. You see, the main character of that story shared the same first name with the lady who wrote me, and she told me that she felt God had given me that story to write "just for her." She told me a synopsis of her life's story, and it seemed that what I had thought of as "my" story really was her story as well.

So, while I thought I was writing for a contest, and choosing insignificant details like character names out of my own preferences, God was really working behind it all, sculpting the story into a gift for another of His daughters whom I've never met.

As I sat there Friday morning, reading and re-reading that email, I could only feel gratitude washing over me. I hadn't done anything special and yet God had used it, even its seemingly insignificant details, in a wonderful way! And suddenly I was reminded of Luke 17:10 as I found myself thinking, "I'm an unworthy servant. I just did my duty...and look what the Lord made out of it!"

Ohhhh...that's so different, isn't it? There's no kick in the teeth here! And then my mind naturally went back to the Upper Room, where Jesus washed His disciples' feet. Peter protested, because he knew he wasn't worthy of such an honor. Wasn't he feeling the same thing that Jesus told us we would feel in Heaven? Only in Heaven our feelings won't be tainted by sin anymore. There will be no pride muddling anything, no misunderstanding of our Lord. We will behold his stunning, gracious, extravagant grace and will be astonished that it could come to anyone as unworthy as ourselves. And because of the lack of sinful pride, that astonishment will have no sting. It will be pure joy.

Imagine the joy that John the Baptist felt whenever he thought back to the day he baptized the Lord. Yet had he not protested similarly?

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" (Mat 3:13-14)

He felt his unworthiness to baptize the Son of God, and he was right to feel it. But the Lord graciously gave him that wonderful privilege anyway. I'm sure that John is still amazed and overjoyed by that fact today, and will continue to feel its joy throughout the ages to come.

Am I just pulling things out of context here? Is there really any Biblical warrant for connecting the "unprofitable servant" statement in Luke 17:10 to the Upper Room experience of Peter?

I'm glad you asked!

Dive into Luke 12:37 with me, and take a good, long soak in amazing grace. This is what first changed my whole view of that misunderstood passage.

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.

If that doesn't knock your socks off, read it again. If it still doesn't, then check your pulse!

The demanding master of Luke 17 was the typical, expected kind of master. When Jesus presented him to the people for their consideration, they were not surprised to hear a master being portrayed thus. That's why he phrased his questions rhetorically, expecting the people to anticipate the answers for themselves. Of course the master would expect to be waited on first. Everyone knew that.

But what of The Master in Luke 12? Do you see Him there, girding himself with a towel as He did in the Upper Room, and coming to serve us? Do you hear our Lord telling us how outrageously He plans to bless us, far beyond anything we could ever deserve? Think about it...really think about it. If you're a child of God, you will be there, in person, at that Great Feast. And our Lord will come to you personally, look you right in the eye, and with his nail-pierced hands He will wait on you.

Can you imagine any other response than a joyfully astonished, "I am not worthy?"

And the Feast is just the beginning of all that He has planned for us! What a blessed eternity it will be, made all the richer and more beautiful by our souls' perfected humility gazing upon the Risen One and saying, "I am not worthy of all of this wonder, all this joy, all this beauty, all this grace, all this.......!"

Of course the greatest joy will come, not from focusing on our own unworthiness, but from enjoying His limitless worth.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!" (Rev 5:11-13)

I can't wait to join in that song!


(Photo from Stock.xchng by hhsara)