Jesus Archives - Page 35 of 50

I wanted to make some changes here at the house. My husband? Not as much. But once I layed out my vision and assured him it would cost next to nothing, he got on board. Then we got to work. We began by rearranging some furniture and purging and organizing a couple of closets. Well, that just lit my fire. I decided next I needed to clean out my dresser drawers and my computer/work space and our filing cabinet and our linen closet. Three weeks later and we MAY have come to a reasonable stopping point. I say MAY because now I see some spots on walls and baseboards that need touch up paint and so on.

During these three weeks, I walked into several rooms and tried to think completely outside the box about the space. This took some imagination since we have lived in this house for 16 years now and many things sit in much the same place they did then. Over those years we have replaced furniture and freshened bedspreads and curtains, but I can’t honestly say we gave any thought to moving things around. And I have to tell you, some of the things we did 15 years ago, don’t make a whole lot of sense anymore. When our daughter with special needs was small, we made some very necessary decisions to keep some things under lock and key for her safety and our sanity. And while we still have to keep some of those considerations, by simply choosing to look at things differently we definitely streamlined and simplified our space.

In light of the John MacArthur/ Beth Moore kerfuffle that’s been in the media of late, I think it might be time to look at some other things, in addition to my closets, in a new light. I don’t want to go into the whole thing here because it wasn’t glorifying to God (and didn’t make Christ followers look too good either). You have google and can find videos and quotes and comments galore if you choose. My point is, when it comes to matters of our faith, the stakes are too high to just maintain the status quo. We can’t just continue to do things because that’s the way they have always been done. And we can’t continue to believe things just because that’s what we were taught.

We owe it to our own faith and our witness to the Creator to constantly hold up what we are taught and what we believe against the words in God’s Holy Bible. And as beneficial as good books and preaching can be, we can’t simply take the word of others as gold. We have to take the time to study for ourselves. Read the ancient scriptures and then read commentaries (here‘s one I love) and study notes and look up the words in their original language (blueletterbible.org is a great free tool to help with this). The older we grow in our faith, the more we should grow in assurance from study and prayer. Let’s test our faith. We will make it stronger, and maybe find out some things need to be rearranged.

And that lasso? I left it in my linen closet as a sweet reminder of my daughter’s horse themed 5th birthday party. Not EVERYTHING needs to change.

²Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 1 Peter 2:2 NLT

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I think it’s possible that my high school single handedly kept white shoe polish on store shelves in Waco, Texas in the early 90’s. How often the windows of our cars were covered in messages and crudely drawn pics was directly correlated to our level of popularity. One Friday afternoon I got in on the fun by decorating the trucks of the boy I was “dating” (the quotes denote loosely used terminology) and his best friend. The next day I parked my car in the high school parking lot and rode a yellow dog to a track meet. Upon returning to the school late that night, I saw what appeared to be mud all over my car. As I climbed off the bus with my friends, one of them said, “I don’t think that’s mud.”

The boy I was “dating” (yes, still with the quotes) and his best friend recruited a little brother and searched pastures until they found an adequate supply of manure to fill a kitchen trash bag. They brought it up to the school and used I’m-not-sure-what to smear it all over the outside of my car. It was disgusting, it reeked and I couldn’t even see through the windshield to drive it somewhere to wash. A few friends – really good ones, I might add – helped me scrape enough off the windshield to see to drive a few blocks to a house much closer than mine to hose off the mess. The boys’ moms, who both adored me, were horrified to learn what they had done and demanded they apologize to me. I’m not so sure that punishment fit the crime.

I hope you haven’t lost your last meal because I do have a point in reliving this prank: Spiritual blindness. God’s word gives us many reasons we are to be in community with other believers. The older (and hopefully wiser) I get, the more I think we need one another desperately to combat spiritual blindness. What is spiritual blindness? Compellingtruth.org defines it as a condition of being “unable to see God or understand His message.” Although this definitely applies to non-believers, it also applies to believers in certain situations. Paul Tripp in his book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change, says it “is the condition of every sinner…Yet few will realize its impact on the way they view themselves, God, others, and their situations. They are like those described in Romans 1, who think they are wise when really they are fools. They assume they think well when the thinking of their heart is actually foolish and futile.”

Spiritual blindness can be deceptive. When blinded to the inappropriateness of our thoughts or reactions to a situation, we are also usually blinded to our blindness. Was that clear as mud? Or manure? As John wrote to the church in Laodicea, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, BLIND [emphasis mine] and naked” Revelation 3:17 We need to do life with others who are following hard after Jesus. And not “yes men”. Friends who will gently nudge us when we are heading in the wrong direction.

On that long ago evening when I looked at my car after a long and tiring day under the cover of night, I saw mud. But a friend who didn’t have as much to loose warned me of a much darker and smellier situation.

We all need friends who will tell us when we stink!

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I am so grateful for the times when a loved one has spoken a little truth or told me a story from her life that turned on a light bulb for me. My human nature can override the righteousness of God before it even registers with me.

If you don’t have trusted Christ-followers in your life, I would plead with you to find ways to get involved in your local Bible-believing church and meet people. And if the friendships already exist, get real. Openly share your heart with one or two who have proven reliable. Ask them to keep you accountable to “walk in a manner worthy…” Colossians 1:10 NASB It’s risky to be vulnerable, but obedience to God demands it. And it’s worth it. A friend who can spot your poo and then stick around to help clean it up is a priceless treasure.

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