Not A Professional

And yet another teacher of first graders story:

One little girl with her new school tennis shoes was having trouble keeping the laces tied. We, as teachers, try to help them become problem solvers and I encouraged her several times during the day to try it herself or find a friend. At the end of the school day she came to me with shoe laces trailing and said, “Ms. A. will you please tie my shoes?” I asked her if she knew how to tie shoes. To which she replied, “Yes, but I’m not a professional.”

It made me think of Philippians 3:12-14. Even Paul, the great apostle and devout follower of Christ Jesus, had to admit that he wasn’t a professional at this being a Christian.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I strive to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. I do not consider that I have made it my own. (He admitted that he wasn’t a professional yet.) But this one thing I do: forgetting what happened in my past and straining forward to what lies ahead, I pursue earnestly to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

I’m not perfect in this living the Christian life either. You may see me regularly with my spiritual shoelaces dragging. But I’m making a habit of pursuing the life that God wants me to have. If the laces of my life come untied and trip me up a bit I tie them, get back on track with God, and keep at it.

We don’t have to be professional Christians. We just have to be student Christians; always learning, always pursuing, and always reaching for our Jesus. He’s the professional. He will help us in this life to reach the heavenly goal.

I'm not a professional.

But one day I’ll be able to keep these life shoelaces tied!

To All The Nancy Nice Girls

Romans 13:1-7Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, (be nice – I added this interpretation) and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.  For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Yes, I had to remind myself of this passage just the other day. I was at the “Everything and Groceries Too” store at the self-checkout. The button “Finish and Pay” was flashing with a total of $89 and some cents. Since I hadn’t scanned anything, I had to call over the girl who oversaw the self-checkout stands. At first she wanted me to pay the total flashing but she saw I only had 4 things in my basket and it would have hardly totaled $30. So she had to cancel out the total and get to the start button. I questioned her, “So, do you mean someone scan scammed almost a hundred dollars’ worth of groceries and just walked out?” She said, “Yes, Ma’am.” And we both shook our heads. 

It just bothered me all the way home trying to consider how someone could go to that extreme to get around the system and do it with a clear conscience. Wouldn’t it bother them? How could they sleep? How could they eat food they stole? And, Yes, I had just read Romans 13 (in my quest to read through the Bible in a year) that morning.

I tried to picture myself doing the scan scam and couldn’t. Now before I got self-righteous patting myself on the back for being such a Nancy Nice, I had to realize that the Holy Spirit in me was the conscience warning part that made me have a problem with the scan scam artist. I couldn’t steal like that, not because of me but because of the Holy Spirit in me.

Sometimes we read passages in the Bible like Romans 13 and think of our submission to governmental authority only. But it goes to a more personal level. We are always to be Nancy Nice’s wherever we go. We don’t come back with an angry response, we don’t try to find the loop hole, and we do what is the nice and right thing to do. The Bible becomes our truth standard that we follow even when we see a way get around the system.

That day was a reminder of what the unredeemed heart considers acceptable because it wasn’t caught. That day reminded me of my redeemed heart that would have bothered me just considering doing the stealing. That day made me thank the Holy Spirit for making me a Nancy Nice. Now I’m not sinless. Oh no, I can sin with the best of them BUT I can’t walk away without getting smacked by my conscience. I just know I can’t sin guilt free. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

To all the Nancy Nice’s out there;

Thank you.

Let’s be nice for conscious sake together.

Psalm 119:1-2 Blessed are those whose way is blameless (the Nancy Nice's,) who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek the Him with their whole heart.

It’s OK to Ask for Grace

I was reading a Facebook message from Jo Hancock, founder of His Vessel Ministries, which really spoke to my heart. Here is a little of it: “THEN PRAY FOR GRACE. It is the GRACE of God poured out in your heart …” She said more but really the Holy Spirit stopped me at “PRAY FOR GRACE.”

I’m really good at praying for mercy (the compassion and forgiveness toward me from God not to give me the judgment for sin I deserve.) As I said, I’m really good at praying for mercy because I need a lot of daily mercy. I am confident that God forgives through Christ Jesus. This is The Great Compassion shown by God to cover my daily sinful boo boos.

But it seems I either didn’t know I could pray for grace, or forgot I could pray for grace, or didn’t feel worthy to ask for grace. Grace is the free unmerited favor bestowed extravagantly on me in the form of blessings made possible with my salvation through Jesus Christ. I guess I just waited to see if God would bless me. He did but I never asked for more.  Maybe I was missing the outpouring of Gods good things for me. Maybe I was missing the awareness of the little gifts poured on me from God each day and only noticed the big knock me in the head obvious blessings.

My Bible quest in, “Do I pray for grace?” was quite a revelation:

Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.

Palm 142:1 I cry with my voice to Yahweh. With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy. ... My voice is unto Jehovah, I cry, my voice is unto Jehovah, I entreat grace. ... 

1 John 1:16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

It seems not only will my Father God lavish gracious blessings on me but I can entreat, beg, and implore My God for grace.

I like this little quote from Suzanne Eller's book Mended Heart: “He invites us to step into His presence where mercy and grace await to help us in our time of need. (This is a great book I read at the beach. God used this book to overhaul and begin to mend my broken heart.)

I’m so happy to finally find out after all these years of being a Christian that, yes, “little ole me” can confidently ask for grace from my Heavenly Father.

And do you know what? He’ll give it.

“I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence.” Christopher Columbus  

Only Christians Understand

Pastor Wade's message on Sunday really caused me to pause and think. I know. I'm just as surprised at myself as you are.

He posed two questions- What if someone asked you, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” or “What does it mean to be ‘saved’?” I started thinking that there are things that we, Christians, say and live by that someone who is not a Christ follower would have a hard time understanding. Such as…

1. I have surrendered my life to Christ.

We don’t like to surrender to live under anyone’s authority. Winston Churchill’s famous WW2 speech is sometimes our battle cry, “We shall never surrender." Yet Christ asks us to surrender this “never” to Him to do with us as He wishes. Only Christians understand that when we surrender our lives to Christ, we win

Ephesians 1:21-23 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

2. Not my will but Your will, God (we say as we pray.)

We live in a “me, me, mine, mine” culture. We feel we are given certain rights that provide what we want without question. Only Christians understand that everything belongs to God our Creator. He has a brilliant plan for the world set up since the beginning of time that will not be changed or be compromised. We are given the privilege to ask our Father for anything and know that God will give us and our world what is better than we can ask or even think to ask.  

Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus said, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, Holy is Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”

3. Salvation is not a religion, it’s a life covenant.

We like to put people in groups: ethnicity, sexual orientation, grade levels, ages, geo/political areas, and, yes, religions. Only Christians understand that following Christ is a covenant or promise we make with Christ to surrender our corrupt nature and follow Him and His teachings in the Holy Bible for our lifetime.

Colossians 2:6  So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.

It’s not a special closed club that is hard to get into.

Just believe that only Jesus atoned for your sinful self.

Trust and surrender to His Lordship of your life.

Be faithful in your pursuit of a constant fellowship relationship with God.

When you are a Christ follower, you understand.

Just Like Your Daddy

As I was walking on the beach I heard little snippets of conversations. Kids are just funny. One boy (probably about 7 year old) ran up to his mom and said he was tired of the beach and wanted to leave. His mom said, “Well, just go up to the room. Dad’s there. You are just like your Daddy!” I took that to mean that dad wasn’t a real beach lover either.

But it made me think of me with my Heavenly Father. I hope someone says that I’m just like my Heavenly Daddy.

1 John 4:13-17 This is how we know we abide in Him and He in us: He has given us His Spirit. We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and He abides in God. We have come to know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. This is how love has been perfected among us: we have confidence on the Day of Judgment because; during our time in this world we are just like Him.

It’s all about abiding in God.

And this abiding means:

1. To stay with Him,

2. Continue to stay with Him,

3. To linger in His presence spiritually,

4. To remain always with Him,

5. And to have a constant relationship with Him.

We have to believe in Him and  “go up to the room. Dad’s there.”

And then we have to stay with our God.

Then we will be just like Him.

The Difference Between Happiness and Joy

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

I’ve been thinking about that hymn lately and am not quite sure about that little ditty of a chorus. The other words to the hymn are great though. OK, I trust in God. I obey His Word. I’m enfolded in Jesus’ love. But “happy” in Jesus? Not always.

There are 658,000 responses on Google about the Biblical difference between happiness and joy. I didn’t read all of them but the answer seems to be … Happiness is instigated by an external source and Joy is instigated by an internal source. Happy/ about 30 times in the Bible. Joy/ over 300 times in the Bible. It seems that God would rather us seek joy than depend on happiness to just show up.

 A testimony at a Dwight L. Moody evangelistic meeting was the impetus for the song. The story goes that a young man who had just been converted stood and said, “I’m not quite sure. But I’m going to trust and I’m going to obey.” John Sammis took those words as an inspiration for the song.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we'll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

It seems to me that this song is more about Joyful in Jesus than Happy in Jesus. But I wasn’t around in 1887 to give my input so I’ll just sing it as it is and whisper to myself “joyful”.

Galatians 5:22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

The main thing is to Trust and Obey joyfully, even when we are not quite sure.

Listen to “Stir Me” (If You Dare)

I guess I had a nostalgic moment last week but I started remembering sermons that left a lasting impression on my life. Now I have heard sermons since I was able to realize that the guy standing up on the stage behind the podium was preaching. And I have not remembered the hundreds of messages I have heard. My apologies to all the pastors living or with Jesus. There are, however, sermons that changed my life. Those I remember.

One of the remembered sermons was called “Stir Me” delivered by a petite missionary lady named Helen Roseveare. I heard her as a college student sitting in a required chapel. I was not ready for this little lady to make a difference in me but the words she said burned my heart.

I bought the cassette of her talk. (I know, cassette, which I can’t even play on any machine I now own.)

I have found a website that has the recording of the message and I happily listened to it again. I wondered if it would still have the impact it did so long ago. It did. Find this at sermonindex.net and search “stir me” by Helen Roseveare. Let her get through her unassuming and dated intro before you turn it off, or skip ahead a bit.

Don’t! And I repeat, don’t listen to this if you are a half-way Christian. She doesn’t have time for you and her sermon doesn’t include you.

I’m not even sure if I can put myself in the complete surrender position she placed herself in God’s hands.  But I surely want too. And Hope I will if God calls me to it.

Stir me, God, really stir me.

Stir me to go.

Stir me to give.

Stir me to pray.

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=17462

P.S. BTW she's still alive the last I heard. An amazing life story.