Religion

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Valley of Transformation

A dear friend of mine recently gave me a book entitled, Hinds Feet on High Places. It is an allegorical novel by English author Hannah Hurnard, which she wrote in 1955. The story is about a young woman named Much-Afraid, and her journey away from her Fearing family and into the High Places of the Shepherd, guided by her two companions Sorrow and Suffering. It is an allegory of a Christian devotional life. The book takes its title from Habakkuk 3:19, "The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

I have only read about half of the book thus far, but it has already enraptured my soul. The main theme that keeps repeating is how the Lord uses suffering to bring us to the mountain top. I have come to realize in my own walk that I spend much more time in the valley than I do on the mountain top, and that is not because the Lord is some type of sadist that enjoys watching us suffer, but because it is only in the valley that He can transform us into the image of His Son.

C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist, once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts to us in our pain.” Perhaps it is just human nature but for whatever reason we seem to listen more intently when we are suffering. Our Savior, of course, is not a stranger to suffering either as the the prophet Isaiah describes Him as, “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) It is also within the realm of suffering that God comes into full view. It seems to be most often His modus operandi for revealing Himself to us. 

When the Apostle Paul was knocked off his horse and blinded on the road to Damascus, the Spirit of the Lord appeared to Ananias and told him that he was to put his hands on Paul to restore his sight. Ananias was confused, of course, given Paul had been persecuting Christians during this time, prompting Ananias to ask the Lord why He would use such a man for His work. Now listen to the Lord’s reply, “Go [go and find Paul], for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16, italics are mine). The great Apostle Paul, who has written one third of our New Testament canon, was commissioned by God to suffer. Why? Because it was through his suffering that the gospel was going to move forward to the outermost parts of the world and in the process, Paul was going to become more like Christ.

So, what effect did this have on Paul? Look at his summation of his sufferings in Philippians 3:7-8, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 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.” Pretty powerful, I know. Paul looks at all the he has lost and suffered and sees it all as rubbish because he has gained Christ.

God’s number one purpose in our lives as Christians is for us to be completely satisfied with Him ... just Him. It is in this realm of complete abandonment that we reach the mountain top for Jesus Christ IS the mountain top. Even when we are deep in the valley, when we are abiding in Him, He “shall renew our strength and mount us up with the wings like an eagle and we will run and not be weary and walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

Friday, August 20, 2010

Psalm 119 Challenge

At a recent women’s ministry meeting it was decided that all of us in the group would spend some time studying Psalm 119. You may be familiar with this Psalm as it is the longest psalm as well as the longest chapter in the Bible. It is referred to in Hebrew by its opening words, "Ashrei temimei derech" ("happy are those whose way is perfect"). It is the prayer of one who delights in and lives by the Torah, the sacred law.

According to Wikipedia, Psalm 119 is one of about a dozen alphabetic acrostic poems in the Bible. Its 176 verses are divided into twenty-two stanzas of eight lines each, and in Hebrew forms an acrostic, with each stanza starting with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet (alef, bet, etc.). Employed in almost every verse of the psalm is a synonym for the Torah, such as dabar ("word, promise") and mishpatim ("rulings").

The acrostic form and the use of the Torah words constitute the framework for an elaborate prayer. The Torah is held up as a source of blessing and right conduct and the psalmist pledges to dedicate himself to the law. What makes Psalm 119 unique is the way that these requests are continually and explicitly grounded in the gift of the Torah and the psalmist's loyalty to it.

As I researched this background and began thinking about all the marvelous truths that are within this beautiful Psalm, I came to the realization that genuine spirituality and Godliness is always marked by a love for and a delight in God's truth. The two are really inseparable, aren’t they?

Even just a cursory reading of the Bible will quickly showcase this relationship of a believer and his/her love for God’s Word. I Peter 2:1-3 says, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." Jesus said in John 8, "He who is of God hears God's word," and in John chapter 14 he said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” Paul expressed a believer’s love for God's Word in Romans 7:22 "I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man." And Job said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

So, it is no wonder that the longest chapter in the Bible deals with the believer and his relationship to God’s Word. It is the obedience to God’s Word that brings true happiness. This seems like a simple truth on the surface but I am always amazed at how quickly I fill my own life with things, often good things, which keep me from spending time in the Word.

The Bible is full of verses that speak of God’s faithfulness to us if we seek Him, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9). In Revelation we read, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (3:20). Clearly, God is keeping His half of the equation but sadly, we do not keep our end all too often.

Of course, we need to realize that it is a spiritual battle to be in the Word and second, we need to commit ourselves to the study of God’s Word. This requires much prayer and discipline as we need to strip away things that may be taking our time from the Lord.

For the next several weeks, I am committing to studying Psalm 119 and hope to blog about my findings. If you read this blog regularly, will you also commit to studying this great Psalm with me?

If you do not know where to begin, start by just reading the Psalm repetitively each day and then begin making a list of key words or themes that you see repeating. Kay Arthur has a wonderful method of studying the Bible called the inductive study method. We have used it in our women’s bible study and I highly recommend it. While her approach is quite intense, the tools she provides helps you to customize her method to your liking. You do not have to do everything she says, but doing even one thing, will help you with your study and keep you immersed in the Word.

If you decide to study Psalm 119 along with me, please comment and let me know what God is teaching you.

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Abundant Life on Display

My last couple of blogs have dealt with the subject of serving others and how this principle is the key to the abundant that Jesus promised would be ours if our lives were lost in Him. But what does such a life look like?

In his book, The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn details the life of William Borden, an American missionary who lived in the late 1800’s. Borden was a Yale graduate and heir to great wealth but he rejected a life of ease in order to bring the gospel to Muslims. Alcorn goes to say that Borden refused to even buy himself a car as he gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to missions. After only four months of ministry in Egypt, he contracted spinal meningitis and died at the tender age of 25. Alcorn recounts his visit to Borden’s grave site, “I dusted off the epitaph…after describing his love and sacrifices for the kingdom of God and for Muslim people , the inscription ended with a phrase I have never forgotten: ‘Apart from faith in Christ, there is explanation for such a life.’”

Alcorn then describes his subsequent visit to King Tut’s tomb, the boy king who died at age 17. Tut was buried with gold chariots and thousands of gold artifacts as the Egyptians believed erroneously that one could take his possessions with him to the afterlife. Alcorn remembers, “I was struck by the contrast of these two graves. Borden’s was obscure, dusty, and hidden off the back alley of a street littered with garbage. Tut’s tomb glittered with unimaginable wealth. Yet, where are these two young men now? One, who lived in opulence and called himself king, is in the misery of a Christless eternity. The other, who lived a modest life on earth in service of the one true King, is enjoying his everlasting reward in the presence of his Lord.”

William Borden is one who possessed the abundant life. I do not mean to suggest that one needs to give away or sell all his/her possessions to attain the abundant life but a life that is truly lost in Christ only views his station in life as a means by which to serve others by giving them the one thing they truly need – Jesus Christ. I really believe that when Christians stand before Jesus, all of us will wish we had given everything while we were here on earth as everything we possess is given from above for the purpose of the kingdom. It is here in this realm of servitude that we find true fulfillment and purpose.

This principle of service is underscored throughout the Bible. Jesus Himself tells us what our life will look like when we abide in Him, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

As I have stated previously, the American culture is the very antithesis of self-sacrifice. The land of opportunity has morphed over the past few decades into the land of me, myself, and I. We champion those who scratch and claw their way to the top no matter who they trample over to get there.

As long as the Dow Jones remains our barometer for judging success, we will never see the life Jesus is offering to those who love and serve Him. And really, when you boil it all down, we are all searching for the same thing, but outside of Christ our efforts are futile and leave us empty. William Borden understood this which is why when he was presented with the chance to have a life of luxury in this life, he traded it in for a life with the Lord in the next.

Where are you storing your treasures?

"What is it to me to bear the title well-born when I am born again to Christ? What is it to me to have the title Lord, when I desire to be the servant of Christ? What is it to be called Your Grace when I have need of God's grace? All these vanities I will do away with and all else I will lay at the feet of my dear Lord Jesus." - Baron von Weltz (son of Austrian nobility who renounced his title, his estates and his revenues in order to serve as a missionary to British Guyana)

"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." - Jesus Christ (John 10:9-10)

Friday, August 6, 2010

Adjusting Perspective

August marks 18 months since I left the workforce. Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about all the Lord has taught me during this time about priorities and purpose. Up until I left the field of Public Relations, I would categorize my life as one that was intensely focused on money. While I certainly was never one to dream about being a millionaire, thoughts of money pretty much dominated my life. I justified these thoughts by clouding them in a sense of fiscal responsibility toward my family. After all, in this economy a family needs two incomes just to survive, right?

As I felt the Lord prodding me to stay home for more than a year before I was laid off from my job, my first thought was how everything would get paid based solely on my husband’s salary, even though his income was more than enough once we subtracted out the weekly daycare payment. But, even more frightening than the money, was wondering if I would be truly satisfied with just being home with my two daughters. I had erroneously told myself for years that I was a better mother by working part-time. My logic was based on the premise that my work was something for me and the days I did not work were for my husband and daughters. Of course, I worked in a profession that was deadline oriented, which meant my laptop was always on even on my days off.

When I stopped working, the change in my daughters, who were two and four at the time was dramatic. While they have always been happy children, they sensed that I made a choice to be with them and that feeling of security turned their world around. Within a few weeks, my husband commented on how much happier and content the girls appeared to be, and how he was feeling more peace at work knowing that I was home with the girls every day, and would not be waiting for him to come through the door so I could login to check emails. I have come to realize that we really do not need the Lord to convince us of the benefit of staying home. We only need to observe our own children.

As the weeks turned into months, I began praying for the Lord to help me not begin submitting resumes because of a sense of diminishing self worth. For so long I had tied so much of who I was to what I did, and how much I got paid, that I was almost unable to see myself in any other terms. Then, something wonderful happened. The Lord provided opportunities for me to serve others. And this, I believe, is really the whole key to the abundant life that Jesus promised would be ours if our lives were lost in Him. All of our talents, abilities, and desires are God-given for the explicit purpose of serving Him and others. I often joke with former colleagues that the trick to performing meaningful work is to not get paid.

There is a great book by Max Lucado entitled, The Cure for the Common Life that addresses the issue of people’s discontentment in the work place. Lucado explains that most people from an early age realize they have an innate talent or ability, but many never pursue it because either they do not see a way they can make money from it, or they get promoted out of their sweet spot in life. The Bible is clear that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and that the Lord even knows how many hairs are on our head (Matthew 10:30). His desire is to have each of us use the abilities He gave us in service to Him and others (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

I know what you’re thinking. What about making enough money to support our families? We have to pay the mortgage, buy food, make tuition payments, etc. The two ideas are really not as divorced from each other as you might think. The Lord promises in Matthew 6:33 that if “we seek His kingdom and righteousness first, all these things will be added unto us.” These “things” in this verse are in reference to the basics of life – shelter, food, clothes. And this really is the key. If the Lord is our focus, then we stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, don’t we? Having the biggest house or newest sports car takes a back seat to serving the Lord and ministering to others.

Randy Alcorn has written a brilliant book on this subject of serving and sacrificial giving called The Treasure Principle. Alcorn speaks about storing up eternal treasure in your life as opposed to earthly treasures that will fade away. But more than just storing up treasures for eternity, your life today - right now - can be changed if you choose to seek the Lord. If you have never come to know the Savior or the abundant life which He offers, it can be yours  this very moment. Romans 10:9-10 tells you how - “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”