July 2021 – Pressing On In His Footsteps

On Hope

Romans 8 is a chapter about letting go of our past,

patiently embracing all the being “in Christ” provides for us, and
patiently putting our hope and faith in the future God has planned for us all (“in our moments of impatience let us remember that hope always means waiting for something that we haven’t yet got”).

Paul encourages us to understand that our “state of painful tension” is created by our impatience, anguish and urgency to see results/progress in ourselves and others, to see the fulfillment in us all of our full sonship in Christ. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is working God’s love, grace and truth in us and the world around us 24/7/365 (albeit most of the time imperceptibly to us) in powerful ways, changing hearts even in places inaccessible to us.

Paul asks us to trust in God’s original and only plan – even when we don’t understand how “everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.” This is all fine and good when life is going smoothly, but becomes so difficult when we face urgent and heartbreaking circumstances that shake us to our foundations – prodigal children, chronic or terminal illness, death, divorce and so on. How could God turn such events to bring about good, to accomplish His original and only plan? How can God give us beauty for ashes and joy for mourning? Only God – only God!

While Paul experienced many physical persecutions, as I look back on my life, I can only claim spiritual and emotional imprisonment, shipwreck and beatings. I suspect you have, too. The imprisonment of mental/physical illnesses (whether your own or as a parent/caregiver), the shipwreck of broken relationships (abuse, abandonment, divorce, death, church splits), the spiritual/emotional beatings of prodigal/rebellious/violent family members – to name a few – all create wounds that make us sensitive and condition our reaction to the world, situations and circumstances around us.

Paul is asking us to let Jesus heal the wounds of the past so we can respond according to hope and faith rather than react according to the wounds of our past. He is asking us to be defined by God’s future for us rather than our past or what this world can offer.

In Christ my past can no longer hurt or limit me – if I allow myself to release the guilt, shame and sensitivities of it.
In Christ I can freely forgive because I am freely forgiven.
In Christ I am His beloved regardless of how the world judges my worth.
In Christ I can rejoice and trust always even when the world calls me foolish.

It is my choice to live in Christ or as a subject of the world.

“In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my life, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled and strivings cease. My Comforter, my all-in-all; here in the love of Christ I’ll stand.” https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/in-christ-alone/

On Giving the Apple Back

Genesis 3:1-7 NIV Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Observation

Traditionally in Sunday School, the fruit is represented as an apple. Perhaps this is because the apple is such a familiar fruit to younger children. The Bible point is not what kind of fruit it was but rather that Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to decide good and evil for themselves rather than trust God to determine what is good or evil for them. This is the original sin (“The Fall”), the root of all the pride, selfishness, murder, greed, arrogance, abuse, war and every other way of breaking the relationship God intended to share with us from the beginning. Adam, “who was with her,” only had to say, “Eve, don’t take the apple from the tree. We will trust God.”

Realistically, the serpent, Satan, is a master at deception. It would have found someone in following generations to deceive and, if The Fall had not happened with Adam and Eve, it would have happened with one of their descendents eventually. The most remarkable aspect of this whole story is that God knew it would happen and had a plan to restore shalom to His creation even before The Fall. He created a redemption plan before the first betrayal and remained faithful to it through all the subsequent ones. What kind of love is this?

Impact on Me

This question brings to mind when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. He washed the feet of them all, even Judas whose heart was set to betray Him. Could I humble myself before an enemy like that? To me, this is the same astounding grace God showed to Adam and Eve and all their descendants by sticking to His plan for redemption despite all the betrayals throughout Israel’s history.

When Jesus died on the Cross, He provided for me and every other individual a way to choose to “give the apple back” by surrendering our control and submitting to His Word on what is good and evil. This requires that I allow the Holy Spirit freedom over all of me including my shameful places, my fallen places, my secret places. It is my choice. The serpent will tell me that I cannot trust God’s grace and mercy in these places, that God will be repulsed and angry at my betrayal.

Then, the sweet Holy Spirit will remind me of the meek and humble Jesus washing the feet of Judas on that night. Ultimately, I am the one who will choose whom I trust and obey. Will I choose to trust God on what is good and what is evil, even when He asks me to humble myself before my enemies? Can I give the apple back and not pick another?

Prayer

Lord, You have proven throughout Your Word that your love, grace and mercy will cover all our sin, every betrayal, when we surrender, confess, repent and submit to Your lordship. This is giving the apple back. In doing so, I may need to make painful sacrifices that humble me, that are a focused attack on my pride, my control, my dreams. This will require the same courage, the same strength, the same trust in You that allowed Jesus to kneel at Judas’ feet to wash them, that sustained Him to suffer and die on that Cross. He allowed You to determine that the cost to Him was worth the benefit to us all. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I may become more like Jesus allowing You to judge whether the cost to me of obedience is worth the benefit to Your kingdom. Make it so. Amen.

On Seeing Clearly

John 9:39 MSG. Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”

Observations

Jesus clashed violently with His culture and the religious practices of His time. Jesus, the Light, confronted the darkness promulgated by the religious leaders of His time, such as:

the “necessary compromises” with Roman conquerors to keep the peace and avoid upsetting the status quo of their power over the people of Israel (John 11:45-53 NIV),
the ugliness of greed beneath the surface of rituals in the Temple, which had become more a lucrative business for the Sadducees than a place of worship, prayer and adoration of God (Mt. 21:12-13 NIV),
the increasing burden of religious laws created by the Pharisees that obscured the heart of God toward His people (Mt. 23:23-24 NIV)

The Jewish religious leaders maintained a level of profit, power and control over the people by preaching “peace at any cost” to placate and minimize the intervention of the Roman conquerors who wanted nice, peaceful, obedient subjects across their far-flung empire. Jesus’ preaching and teaching both drew large crowds and exposed the ugliness hidden behind the pretense of the religious practices (impersonal, judgmental, weighted down with ritual, attempting to earn holiness through impossible works).

While the large crowds worried the Romans (concerned about sedition), the largest concern for the religious leaders had to be another sort of sedition – losing influence over the people who came out of the darkness of religion to embrace relationship with Promised Messiah, people who were considered blind spiritually but now could clearly see and know their God, His character, His heart. This new insight resulted from the violent clash of Jesus with the existing culture through preaching true holiness, true worship, true love, true religion.

Impact on me

As I consider the chaos of our times, I am reminded that Jesus did not come to bring peace (lack of conflict and chaos) at any cost; He came to bring truth, grace, wholeness and redemption (shalom regardless of circumstances swirling around us) at any cost. Events of the last few years have exposed to Believer and non-believer alike how little control we really have over the circumstances of our lives. However, believers in Christ know that He is with us in it all.

If I truly desire to be Christlike, I must consider that I, too, am called to be a radical, one who dares, like Jesus, to unite with the Body of Christ in love, grace and mercy to overcome any cultural or religious blindness at the cost of my status quo for the sake of revealing true peace and the heart of our God toward all people. Jesus was one man who seeded the truth into 12 and then 70 and then thousands who embraced His light shining into their darkness so they could embrace the true nature of God and become sighted so that others might also see clearly. Am I willing to trust that He can use me to continue to bring His light into the darkness today?

From this small beginning, Jesus by His Holy Spirit reached out over the ages to find and redeem me, to draw me out of my personal darkness into His marvelous light because He gave His life for His radical beliefs,

no necessary compromises to preserve the temporary peace or even His own life,
being willing to sacrifice Himself to fulfill the Father’s price for us when we were lost in sin,
dying to redeem even the man who drove the nails in His hands or held the whip, those in the crowd who yelled “crucify” or the religious leaders who plotted His death.

Am I willing to do the same? Am I blind or do I really see clearly? What am I willing to sacrifice for my enemies? I have to ask the questions because, if I say I want to be like Jesus, don’t I also have to be willing to submit myself to the Father’s will and purpose for me regardless of the cost? Do I really trust Him enough to go the distance, to step out into the unknown, be willing to be considered a radical, trusting that the light of Christ in me will dispel the darkness – to have the courage to clash with my culture regardless of what I might lose?

My prayer

Lord, I stand before You and ask for any blindness in me to be healed that I might walk in Your light, seeing clearly Your will and purpose for me. I do want to be like Christ, but my heart worries over what the cost might be. Work in me to grow my trust in You so I might have the courage to willingly obey what You ask of me, leaving You to weigh the benefit to Your kingdom of whatever it costs me. Help me to give You the keys to the places within me where I restrict Your access – places of shame, fear, selfishness, sin. Let me see and know You more clearly every moment of every day. I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” when I stand before You on that day. Make it so in the name of Jesus.

Who Am I?

My name is Liz. I have been walking with, beside, around, away from and toward Jesus for 40 years. I have learned much along the way about love, grace, mercy, repentance, sacrifice, restoration and all the other expressions of allowing Christ in me to be Lord of my life choices regardless of the circumstances surrounding me.

Follower of Jesus for 40 years
Wife for 52 years
Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma
Bible School degree; ordained in the Foursquare Church
Served as Disaster Relief Chaplain, on pastoral staff, in children’s ministry, as adult Bible teacher, on worship teams and in many other capacities over the years
20 years in a transactional legal department
20 years as business owner with my husband

Why am I sharing my personal journaling online for all to see? I have been contributing my personal reflections on my church intranet for many years. Several people who I respect for the way Jesus expresses Himself in and through their lives have encouraged me to publish my reflections more widely so that others can also be encouraged by what the Holy Spirit is saying to me. So, if any of my posts encourage you in the Lord, I am blessed. I don’t guarantee that what He is saying to me is applicable to your life or walk, so please pray about anything that touches you to get confirmation from the Holy Spirit before acting on it.

I am not online to engage in wranglings over different interpretations of Scripture. If you don’t agree with me, I bless you in following your convictions and obeying God as He has revealed His will and purpose for you to you. Please remember that we are called to do all things in love to all people because love is what never fails.

My posts will reflect my wrestling with obeying what Jesus has asked me to be and do. I am praying for gracious unity in Christ for us all as a body with many different parts and functions so we can encourage and support each other. In this way we can ultimately fulfill God’s will and purpose for each of us and the Body of Christ. I want each follower of Jesus to be the best body part that he/she can be.

Father God, I pray that You will speak by your Holy Spirit in these posts to reveal Jesus and how we may become more like Him as we follow Him, pressing on in His footsteps set before us, to follow well, love well, serve well and finish well. Make it so in me. Amen.