Sprinkled Wherever You Go

I just made my eight hour car trip over the river and through the woods to my family Thanksgiving gathering. And wouldn't you know it, the weather was not cooperative. Oh, it never really rained but it never really sunned (Is this a word?) either. You would think that traversing four states would bring some weather change. But, no.  It spat, sputtered, and drizzled the whole way.

In reading 1 Peter 1:1-2, I realize that being sprinkled on wherever I go is not a bad thing. And I'm not talking weather here.

The Christians in 1 Peter were being forced to move all over the place. But God didn’t leave them to wander off alone.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

in the sanctification of the Spirit,

for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

He had sprinkled them with His blood wherever they happened to land in their exile. Now this may sound kind of gruesome but not to their understanding of what this sprinkling meant. They had been used to the whole sacrificial offering sprinkling of blood thing initiated in Old Testament as the covenant promise from God. They had been told about the new covenant. Christ was the last and final all-encompassing sacrifice for their sin. The new covenant meant that they were sprinkled with Christ’s blood (not literally) once to atone for their sin that before had to be repeated over and over again with an animal sacrifice. No matter where circumstances took them they were covered by Christ’s love, grace, peace, and forgiveness.

I thought about this being sprinkled. The windshield wipers were on, off, slow, fast, or however the weather dictated. But there were always the sprinkles of rain wherever I went. I just imagined that this is what my covering for sin from Christ might look like. Always forgiven. Always covered. No matter where I am, always Christ is with me. Given grace and given peace wherever God leads me in this world.

And this sprinkling of grace and peace is multiplied on us. This word multiplied in Greek means maximum capacity. While I’m glad I only got drizzles while I drove, I’m equally glad that I had maximum capacity of grace and peace as I drove. And I have this increase of grace and peace all the time. Good to know and good to live in.

Sprinkled wherever I go

Sprinkled wherever you go

With a maximum capacity of grace and peace

Wherever we go

I think I'll look at sprinkles of rain differently in the future.

Potato Salad Alert

My family celebrated Thanksgiving a little differently. We had ham (not turkey,) Sweet potato pie (not pumpkin,) and potato salad (not mashed potatoes and gravy.) It was in reminiscing about our quirkiness that I remembered that my sweet mom always made three kind of potato salad to appease everyone: with pickles and onions, with pickles no onions, with onions no pickle. Woe to the meal that only had one potato salad option.

It was in this recollection that I realized that I have more expectations of food at the table than people at the table. And if that isn't bad enough in itself I do not even consider who is not at the table.

Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. Proverbs 28:27

I sit at the Thanksgiving table with food all around me looking for my expected food choice and forget really that I have been blessed with FOOD (expected or not, Mom’s recipe or not, what I requested or not.) God has blessed me with food, water, family, and shelter; the fundamental needs for survival.

And across the ocean in the country of the Philippines there are people right now without food, water, family, or shelter. That is only one example of the needs all around me. And I just close my eyes and pretend I don't even know this. I shut out those screams of people struggling to survive the day and complain if the food doesn't meet my dietary anticipations. How petty. How cruel. How unchristian. How have I let myself get to this point?

God doesn't give me a, “Sorry, my bad,” way out on this oversight. He puts me in the line to receive curses. What? Really? So I looked up the Hebrew word we translate as curses.  Do you know what this word really means?  Yep, it literally stands for “curses” And what does that mean?

Curse - a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.

Wow, I think God is serious about this. If I have been given the blessings by God, He wants me to share these blessings with those who need. No hoarding. No grumbling about what I didn't get. But concerned about what I can give.  So this Thanksgiving I'm going to keep my eyes, heart, and hands open.

 I’m going to look for ways to give love to my family, help for the helpless, and hope for the hopeless.

It’s going to cost me money, time, and expectations.

I'm not even going to be alarmed about what kind of potato salad is on the table.

A Psalm for Shouting Thanks

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into His presence with singing! Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with Praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.

I don't know where the exclamation marks came from. They are in this Psalm in my Bible .It is my understanding that the Hebrew language didn’t use punctuation. But since the Hebrew words say to shout the joyful noise I guess the exclamation marks make sense in this song of praise.

We need to be vocal about our thankfulness. We need to joyfully shout it. Thanksgiving is not isolated to the historical time of year in this country. Our thanksgiving is to be shouted over all the earth. I don’t thinks it is to be relegated to a Thursday in November. It is meant to be a heart response all of the time.

My mother had this philosophy down pat. She had osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and was in constant pain. But when anyone looked at her deformed hands and feet and asked with sympathy, “How are you doing?” She would smile and say, “I’m thankful.” Some days were harder than others but that did not stop that precious little stooped shouldered lady. She was thankful. She was thankful all the time.

We use this Psalm a lot in churches during the Thanksgiving season. We think over the past year and how God has been faithful with His blessings to us.  Wouldn't it shock all of us if someone stood up while we were saying this Psalm and said, “Excuse me, aren't we supposed to be shouting this?”

 No, no, don’t worry. I don’t have plans to do this. 

But I’ll be thinking of it.

Psalm 100

A Psalm for Shouting Thanks!

Forgiveness, A Hard Pill To Swallow

I thought I was a pretty forgiving person. I mean, I taught first grade at a Christian school and forgiving was the mantra I taught, and taught, and taught. I know what it means and I know how to do it. I know Bible verses to pull out at a moment’s notice to reinforce this character quality:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them,
so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins ... Mark 11:25

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ... Matthew 6:14

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. ... Matthew 6:15

Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. ... Luke 11:4

But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you ... Mark 11:26

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are
doing."  ... Luke 23:434

Oh yeah, I can deliver the forgiveness speech. And I know that a teacher is accountable to lead by life not just by instruction.

I found out, though, that I'm not as forgiving as I thought I was. I found out that when my expectations of promises given fail I tend to be pretty unforgiving, especially if it was promised to me.

Some of the promises given to the American public by our president in regard to our health insurance have failed utterly. I’m not president bashing because he went on national TV and apologized for the parts of the promise he couldn't deliver. And, of course, it was the parts of the plan that detrimentally affected me and my future health care.

 My first thought was, “Oh yeah, you can apologize all you want too but it doesn't fix my problem.” And then the Holy Spirit’s conviction bashed me. What makes this man asking forgiveness any different than any other person asking me to forgive them? Nothing. Just because it is done through the air waves and directed to the general population doesn't mean I should treat his apology differently. It doesn't matter his motives or agenda or genuineness, he apologized and now God is looking at my response.

Through gritted teeth I muttered, “OK, I forgive him.” But the Holy Spirit bashed me again. I reviewed the above verses in my mind and realized that muttering through gritted teeth is not the way I want God to forgive me.

I’m eating a lot of American apple humble pie right now.

And all of this health care reform has become a great spiritual lesson for me.

Hey, that is a beneficial by-product I hadn't counted on.

Forgiveness is a hard pill to swallow but it is fully covered by my heavenly insurance.

Just Do It, You Win

I hate to exercise. There, I admit it. My name is Jan and I am anti-exercise addicted. But my doctor encourages me to do it anyway. So I do, maybe, sometimes.

I was very surprised to see that a company that encourages exercise uses a Greek word as its logo. And the word is “nike.” I found this word in 1 John 5:4

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

The word for victory here is “nike.” A form of this word is used in 1 Corinthians 15:57.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This victory is over the Christian’s adversary. Our enemy is inherited because we follow by faith the One that Satan, sin, and the world opposes. We follow Jesus Christ. And in our following we are challenged by Satan and his influence over our world. It shouldn't surprise us that the Christian walk is not always easy. It is not always popular. It is not always “going with the flow.”

But we have overcome. We have not just been assured of victory by our God. We have been given victory even before the battle. I like the odds of being on the winning side.

My Pastor Wade is taking us through Revelation. And this not a direct quote (I can’t write as fast as he talks) but he said something like this last Sunday. “Satan can only impose delay tactics when it comes to our victory… God is in charge of all events in heaven and earth… The power of evil and sin is not and never will be equal with the power of God… We are supposed to be so immersed in our worship of Christ that when we are in an obvious spiritual battle we completely trust Christ and His ultimate victory.”

I wanted to stand up and cheer. I wanted to shout, “We won! We won! We have victory over battles we haven’t even fought yet! Isn’t this great? We are the champions!” I didn't do this, however, because I think someone would have gently escorted me out of the building. But I did want too.

Our faith is challenged but we have defeated the challenger. Our love for God is confronted by those who love the world but we have overcome. Our joy is temporarily muted but we have the ultimate joy in our victory through Christ.  We live in victory.

When it comes to the Christian life we “just do it.”

 And we just win.

We don’t have to fight for victory, we fight from victory.

Thank you, Nike, for your reminder. You make me want to exercise.