"I’ve been so afraid, afraid to close my eyes. So much can slip away before we say goodbye. But if there’s no other way, I’m done asking why. I’m on my knees, begging you to turn to me. I’m on my knees, Father will you turn to me?"
"Hold My Heart"- Tenth Avenue North
These lyrics really speak to me. If you haven’t heard the song you should. Sometimes I struggle so much with wanting to be in control. I’m afraid to close my eyes because if I can’t see what is going on than it might slip away. I’m not ready for that. I’m never ready for God to take away something I think I need. Even if I’m not ready, though, I can still trust Him. That’s where the second part comes in. I love the phrase, “But if there’s no other way, I’m done asking why.” I think it conveys the exact attitude that we should have toward God and His will. God gives us the privilege to ask why, but with the privilege comes the understanding that He might not answer us. We can ask why something happened the way it did, but in the end we need to trust God that He knows best, and ultimately stop asking and accept it. Continuously asking why about the same topic can be a sign of unbelief. Asking why because we don’t understand, but then accepting that we don’t understand (and maybe will never understand) and being at peace about that shows that we trust God. Jesus did that in the garden of Gethsemane. He understood perfectly why it had to be done, but He still prayed for another way. And, after He prayed, He willingly accepted God’s plan and went to the cross. Was it easy? Certainly not, and Jesus knew it wouldn’t be. But God doesn’t design our lives here on earth to be easy. He designs them to bring glory to Himself. Jesus knew that, too. That’s why He prayed, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Mark 14:36b) On the flip side of that, God does love us and care for us. He is not going to make us suffer uselessly. That is why we can have full confidence that when a “Why?” issue comes up, even if we don’t understand it, it’s for our good.
I’ve had a lot of “Why?” questions in my life. Sometimes I couldn’t see any reason at all, and I still can’t. But that doesn’t matter. I’m stronger now because of them. They still hurt, there are still questions, but I’m at peace. I’m not in control, and to be honest, it’s much better this way. “We walk by faith not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
It Should Have Been You
2000 years ago, a man was dying on a cross. He was battered, bruised, and bloody. He had endured every possible way one human being could hurt another, not only by being whipped, beaten, and struck, but also by betrayal and broken promises. His close friends had deserted him. The people he was king over had rejected him. Most of us probably won't have even made it to the cross considering the torture that took place before it. Yet he had, and now he was hanging on a cross and facing death by suffication. Crucifiction was engineered to be the most painful way to die. It took hours. Imagine how bad it was when breaking BOTH of someone's legs was considered merciful. We have no idea what it was like; we can't imagine what it was like. To top it all off, God himself turned His face away. That was by far the worst punishment. Jesus knew what was going to happen, and yet He did it anyway. He did it, because, even though it should have been us on the cross, that wouldn't have changed anything in God's eyes. Sinless had to pay the price of sinful if we were to have any hope. Dying and going to hell satisfies God's justice. That's what we all deserve. Jesus came so there would be another way. Remeber that this Easter.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Words We Don't Say
Words are powerful. I don’t think anyone would deny that. We can all remember a time when someone’s words tore us down, and we can hopefully remember a time when someone’s words built us up. It’s been said that actions speak louder than words and words are cheap, but that being said, words create most of the problems we face with other people. Things can get so messed up so quickly just because someone misunderstood what you were saying. We need to think about what we say when communicating with others, and that includes the words and the tone you use when talking to others. I’m not here to talk about being careful with what you say, though. I want to talk about the words you don’t say.
At first this might seem like a small topic. There can’t be much to say about something that never happened, can there? It’s like talking about a snowstorm that never hit, or the trip to the grocery store when your car didn’t break down. Not much there on the surface, yet I would argue that the words you don’t say are at least as important as the ones you do.
The first aspect of this topic is the words you don’t say because you shouldn’t. Whenever you are in an argument and you “hold your tongue,” that’s good. It takes incredible self-control, but by doing so you don’t inflict the wounds you could. It shows love and respect for the other person, even if you don’t feel that way at the moment. Sometimes we are hurting so much ourselves we just want to make the other person hurt, too, yet when we restrain ourselves that brings glory to God. Ohhh, it’s hard, but it’s what we must do if want to follow God whole-heartedly.
The other aspect is the words you don’t say and you should. Have you ever thought about that? When you could encourage someone but don’t for one reason or the other? You’re too busy, you don’t think about it, etc. The words you don’t say and shouldn’t actually fall into the encouragement category because you don’t harm someone as much as you could. Words you should say and don’t are actually discouraging because you have the chance to build someone up and you don’t. Think a time when you wish someone had said, “Good job! I’m proud of you!” or “Thank you for your effort,” and they didn’t. That hurts almost as much as if they had said something negative. The one nice thing about not hearing it, though, is that we can usually explain it away to make it hurt less. That’s harder to do with actual words.
My conclusion to all of this is to encourage you to think about the words you don’t say. Why don’t you say them? Should you say them? Never underestimate the power of words you say, or the ones you don’t.
At first this might seem like a small topic. There can’t be much to say about something that never happened, can there? It’s like talking about a snowstorm that never hit, or the trip to the grocery store when your car didn’t break down. Not much there on the surface, yet I would argue that the words you don’t say are at least as important as the ones you do.
The first aspect of this topic is the words you don’t say because you shouldn’t. Whenever you are in an argument and you “hold your tongue,” that’s good. It takes incredible self-control, but by doing so you don’t inflict the wounds you could. It shows love and respect for the other person, even if you don’t feel that way at the moment. Sometimes we are hurting so much ourselves we just want to make the other person hurt, too, yet when we restrain ourselves that brings glory to God. Ohhh, it’s hard, but it’s what we must do if want to follow God whole-heartedly.
The other aspect is the words you don’t say and you should. Have you ever thought about that? When you could encourage someone but don’t for one reason or the other? You’re too busy, you don’t think about it, etc. The words you don’t say and shouldn’t actually fall into the encouragement category because you don’t harm someone as much as you could. Words you should say and don’t are actually discouraging because you have the chance to build someone up and you don’t. Think a time when you wish someone had said, “Good job! I’m proud of you!” or “Thank you for your effort,” and they didn’t. That hurts almost as much as if they had said something negative. The one nice thing about not hearing it, though, is that we can usually explain it away to make it hurt less. That’s harder to do with actual words.
My conclusion to all of this is to encourage you to think about the words you don’t say. Why don’t you say them? Should you say them? Never underestimate the power of words you say, or the ones you don’t.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Little Graces
"God’s grace is like manna…There’s manna for the moment. And there will be manna for tomorrow’s moments, too”
"Living Whole Without a Better Half" -Wendy Widder
Manna for the moment. I also call them “little graces.” They are the events, conversations, and people that God places in our lives at the exact moment we need them. Not necessarily when we think we need them, but when God knows we need them. Grace with a capital G is what carried me away from the old self and into a new life in Christ, and graces with a little g are what carry me now.
I think there are actually two categories of “little graces.” The first category contains the graces that help you make it through the tough times in life. It’s when a friend calls when you really need to talk to somebody. It’s the Bible verse that comes alive for the first time because it’s exactly what you need to hear. It’s the strength God provides to go on when you can’t see how you can. It’s the endurance given to keep running the race of faith. It is the grace talked about in 2 Corinthians 12:9a: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” God’s grace is there when we need it. We couldn’t survive this life without it.
There is another category, I believe, of “little graces” which I like to call “bonus” graces. This is kind of my pet theory, so bear with me. Bonus graces are things that God does for you that you don’t necessarily need, but which makes you smile or makes your day better. Bonus graces are things God does for us because He loves us. The funny thing about bonus graces are that they are everywhere, yet you can totally miss them if you aren’t looking for them. Once I started looking I was amazed. Let me give you a few examples so you understand what I’m talking about. This week I had to leave early one morning and had to scrape the frost off of my car before I left. That didn’t exactly make me extremely thankful right then, but it did later when I realized that by scraping the frost off I had actually scraped off the dirt underneath as well, so I could actually see out of my windshield better than before. That might seem obscure to you, but that’s what I’m talking about. Look for bonus graces and be thankful for them. I’m not talking about the raise you got or the good health God’s given you-you should already be thanking Him for that. Look for the things that aren’t obvious, especially things that are an annoyance at first but later turn out to be a blessing. Give thanks to God when a light turns green so you don’t have to down-shift (that only applies if you drive a manual). Give thanks when He gives you a sunset. Give thanks when your sunglasses don’t break when you step on them. Give thanks when your sunglasses do break but you find a spare set in your glove compartment you didn’t realize you had. These are bonus graces. I can’t support my theory of bonus graces from Scripture, but I do know that God loves us and He controls all things. Some of you might disagree with my theory and that’s okay. If you do let me know and we can talk about it. One of the purposes of this blog is to be able to discuss ideas while giving glory to God for what He’s done. As usual, thanks for reading!
"Living Whole Without a Better Half" -Wendy Widder
Manna for the moment. I also call them “little graces.” They are the events, conversations, and people that God places in our lives at the exact moment we need them. Not necessarily when we think we need them, but when God knows we need them. Grace with a capital G is what carried me away from the old self and into a new life in Christ, and graces with a little g are what carry me now.
I think there are actually two categories of “little graces.” The first category contains the graces that help you make it through the tough times in life. It’s when a friend calls when you really need to talk to somebody. It’s the Bible verse that comes alive for the first time because it’s exactly what you need to hear. It’s the strength God provides to go on when you can’t see how you can. It’s the endurance given to keep running the race of faith. It is the grace talked about in 2 Corinthians 12:9a: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” God’s grace is there when we need it. We couldn’t survive this life without it.
There is another category, I believe, of “little graces” which I like to call “bonus” graces. This is kind of my pet theory, so bear with me. Bonus graces are things that God does for you that you don’t necessarily need, but which makes you smile or makes your day better. Bonus graces are things God does for us because He loves us. The funny thing about bonus graces are that they are everywhere, yet you can totally miss them if you aren’t looking for them. Once I started looking I was amazed. Let me give you a few examples so you understand what I’m talking about. This week I had to leave early one morning and had to scrape the frost off of my car before I left. That didn’t exactly make me extremely thankful right then, but it did later when I realized that by scraping the frost off I had actually scraped off the dirt underneath as well, so I could actually see out of my windshield better than before. That might seem obscure to you, but that’s what I’m talking about. Look for bonus graces and be thankful for them. I’m not talking about the raise you got or the good health God’s given you-you should already be thanking Him for that. Look for the things that aren’t obvious, especially things that are an annoyance at first but later turn out to be a blessing. Give thanks to God when a light turns green so you don’t have to down-shift (that only applies if you drive a manual). Give thanks when He gives you a sunset. Give thanks when your sunglasses don’t break when you step on them. Give thanks when your sunglasses do break but you find a spare set in your glove compartment you didn’t realize you had. These are bonus graces. I can’t support my theory of bonus graces from Scripture, but I do know that God loves us and He controls all things. Some of you might disagree with my theory and that’s okay. If you do let me know and we can talk about it. One of the purposes of this blog is to be able to discuss ideas while giving glory to God for what He’s done. As usual, thanks for reading!
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