Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
For more than forty years I lived near the Pacific Ocean. There is something about its vastness and power that is awesome and humbling. One can feel very small and very in need of guidance and perspective on the shore of so great a body of water.
Looking out where the water meets the sky, stirs the imagination. Because my world was small for most of those years, it was faith in cartographers and books and acquaintances who had traveled that made me believe there were lands beyond that horizon. They seemed inaccessible and exotic and intimidating.
Then we moved to Chicago. One day on the shore of Lake Michigan I gazed at the horizon and saw water touching sky. There were no powerfully rhythmic crashing waves, but there was the same apparent vastness. I realized that without a map I would have no way of discerning that Lake Michigan is tiny by comparison to the Pacific Ocean. Vision is precious, but very limited in what it can reveal.
This is even more true of our spiritual vision. We see such a tiny slice of the expanse of eternity and the plans of God. It is good he gave us a map in the Bible. We are wise not to chart our courses without its guidance.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
No contest
Luke 14:26
If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, your wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. (NLT)
I remember reading this for the first time and considering my own life loves. I loved my husband so deeply and my children so passionately, I could not imagine loving anyone more--not even God. It was a scary, confusing concept for me. I felt so consumed with love for my husband and children, I felt at a bursting point--there was simply no excess space to give to God or anyone else.
Reasoning through the decision I was faced with--wanting to follow Jesus and yet not knowing how to place anyone above my love for my family-- I thought it might mean that I had to reduce the love I had for them in order to set God above them. I was, after all, at full capacity, or so I thought.
My friend explained to me that this verse simply meant there would be no contest for first place in my heart. No contest. If it ever came down to having to make a choice between God and anyone else on earth, it would have to be no contest--God would have to be the winner. Another human being's will--even my own will--or God's will--no contest. God would have to be the winner.
I wrestled with these conditions of discipleship for quite awhile before surrendering my heart to God. It is a stance that has been challenged many times in my Christian life. Our superlative love for God is Satan's first target in our lives.
The amazing thing I discovered was that loving God did not reduce my capacity for loving my family or anyone else. In fact, it expanded my capacity for love in ways I never dreamed. It gave me new reasons to love and new ways of expressing that love. As I began putting the commands of God for relationships into practice, I found that by loving God and his will first, I was able to love everyone else in my life better and more fully than I'd ever have been able to on my own.
It's that funny thing about putting the will of God into practice: you think you're giving something up and yet you get much more in return. The saying is not trite: you can't out-give God.
If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, your wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. (NLT)
I remember reading this for the first time and considering my own life loves. I loved my husband so deeply and my children so passionately, I could not imagine loving anyone more--not even God. It was a scary, confusing concept for me. I felt so consumed with love for my husband and children, I felt at a bursting point--there was simply no excess space to give to God or anyone else.
Reasoning through the decision I was faced with--wanting to follow Jesus and yet not knowing how to place anyone above my love for my family-- I thought it might mean that I had to reduce the love I had for them in order to set God above them. I was, after all, at full capacity, or so I thought.
My friend explained to me that this verse simply meant there would be no contest for first place in my heart. No contest. If it ever came down to having to make a choice between God and anyone else on earth, it would have to be no contest--God would have to be the winner. Another human being's will--even my own will--or God's will--no contest. God would have to be the winner.
I wrestled with these conditions of discipleship for quite awhile before surrendering my heart to God. It is a stance that has been challenged many times in my Christian life. Our superlative love for God is Satan's first target in our lives.
The amazing thing I discovered was that loving God did not reduce my capacity for loving my family or anyone else. In fact, it expanded my capacity for love in ways I never dreamed. It gave me new reasons to love and new ways of expressing that love. As I began putting the commands of God for relationships into practice, I found that by loving God and his will first, I was able to love everyone else in my life better and more fully than I'd ever have been able to on my own.
It's that funny thing about putting the will of God into practice: you think you're giving something up and yet you get much more in return. The saying is not trite: you can't out-give God.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
God Is
Psalm 104:1
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with strength and majesty.
An acquaintance of mine was complaining that she was put off by God desiring our worship. She found this to be egotistical. She reasoned that if God were truly good he would deflect attention and praise away from himself and surely would not have planned for heaven to be a place of eternal adoration.
How little we understand God! How easy it is for us to ascribe human characteristics and motivations to a God whose nature and existence are so far above us, so other-worldly that it is out of our reach. Neither our instincts nor our experience can reveal God to us; he can only be accessed by our faith.
God is not like us. "God is Spirit" (John 4:24); we can barely conceive of what that means. I am flesh and blood. I have a spirit, but I am not spirit alone.
I John 4:16 says that "God is love." In I Corinthians 13 we find the attributes of love broken down and each one of them can be acknowledged as another quality exposing the person of God. God is kind, unable to envy, humble, never rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, eager to forgive, protective, and unfailing.
We find in I Corinthians 1:30 and Ephesians 4:24 that God is righteousness, redemption and holiness. This is different from saying That God is righteous, a redeemer and holy--although, he is all of those things, too. From David we learn that God is a shield around us (Psalm 3:3). Paul tells us that God embodies "secret wisdom" (I Corinthians 2:7). In the human body of Jesus, God explained that he is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). And the apostle John in I John 1:5 announces that in addition to being IN the light, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."
God tried so hard in the pages of the Bible and in the incarnation of Jesus to help us know him. What is it that he wants us to worship and adore? I suggest that it is love, righteousness, redemption, holiness, wisdom, life and light. God alone is the definition and embodiment of these perfect qualities. He IS these things. He wants us to value them, adore them, aspire to them, delight in them now and throughout eternity.
Psalm 148:1-3
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him from the heights above.
Praise him all his angels,
praise him , all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the sky
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with strength and majesty.
An acquaintance of mine was complaining that she was put off by God desiring our worship. She found this to be egotistical. She reasoned that if God were truly good he would deflect attention and praise away from himself and surely would not have planned for heaven to be a place of eternal adoration.
How little we understand God! How easy it is for us to ascribe human characteristics and motivations to a God whose nature and existence are so far above us, so other-worldly that it is out of our reach. Neither our instincts nor our experience can reveal God to us; he can only be accessed by our faith.
God is not like us. "God is Spirit" (John 4:24); we can barely conceive of what that means. I am flesh and blood. I have a spirit, but I am not spirit alone.
I John 4:16 says that "God is love." In I Corinthians 13 we find the attributes of love broken down and each one of them can be acknowledged as another quality exposing the person of God. God is kind, unable to envy, humble, never rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, eager to forgive, protective, and unfailing.
We find in I Corinthians 1:30 and Ephesians 4:24 that God is righteousness, redemption and holiness. This is different from saying That God is righteous, a redeemer and holy--although, he is all of those things, too. From David we learn that God is a shield around us (Psalm 3:3). Paul tells us that God embodies "secret wisdom" (I Corinthians 2:7). In the human body of Jesus, God explained that he is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). And the apostle John in I John 1:5 announces that in addition to being IN the light, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."
God tried so hard in the pages of the Bible and in the incarnation of Jesus to help us know him. What is it that he wants us to worship and adore? I suggest that it is love, righteousness, redemption, holiness, wisdom, life and light. God alone is the definition and embodiment of these perfect qualities. He IS these things. He wants us to value them, adore them, aspire to them, delight in them now and throughout eternity.
Psalm 148:1-3
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him from the heights above.
Praise him all his angels,
praise him , all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the sky
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Leaving Camp and Cupcakes
This summer was the best summer of my life. Even Ron gets that and is not offended by that assessment on my part. I wish I could adequately describe the atmosphere at CampHOPEforkids.
It is not just the magical beauty of the wooded 90 acres with a broad creek running through it. It is not just the energy and the laughter of the children who spend a week of their summer as campers there. It is not even the assemblies, the singing, the zip line, the gaga courts, the petting zoo, the sweet relationships, the creative Bible study....
Part of it is watching the young staff, the twenty-somethings, shoulder levels of responsibility that would be daunting even to experienced professionals. It has to do with a spirit that permeates the whole camp.
Every staffer and every volunteer exudes joyful, spiritual sacrifice. You can almost breathe the encouragement. Everywhere you turn you hear young people saying: "Is there anything else I can do to help?" Anything else....after they have already gone the second mile to serve--it's amazing!
It is rare to see anyone without a smile on their face, even though they are hot, sticky, sleep-deprived and bug-bitten. Those smiles aren't just about personal joy, they are proffered gifts to anyone in their path. Encouragement is purposeful and generous.
Everyday at the end of the morning assembly, Logan Krieder, poured all his abundant energy into leading the campers in a rousing, exuberant dance to Reel Big Fish's song, "Good Thing." I bounced along with the crowd happily feeling the appropriateness of the lyrics until my last day at camp. Previously, the words that had impacted me were: "You know we've got a good thing goin'...."
Oh, it was such a good thing goin' there! It was just one good thing after another! But on that last day, the words that resonated deeply were: "I don't wanna see it end!" It was hard to stop the tears.
I didn't want my time there this summer to end and I don't want to see the camp itself end. The lease is up in December with an option to buy and we have until then to raise 1 million dollars so that we won't have to see CampHOPEforkids end. Our campaign to raise all that money is the sales of Cupcakes for Camp. This is an unapologetic plea for donations. If you find someone at your church selling cupcakes for camp, please dig deep. Buy a cupcake, write a check, dream big and give generously. We don't wanna see it end!
It is not just the magical beauty of the wooded 90 acres with a broad creek running through it. It is not just the energy and the laughter of the children who spend a week of their summer as campers there. It is not even the assemblies, the singing, the zip line, the gaga courts, the petting zoo, the sweet relationships, the creative Bible study....
Part of it is watching the young staff, the twenty-somethings, shoulder levels of responsibility that would be daunting even to experienced professionals. It has to do with a spirit that permeates the whole camp.
Every staffer and every volunteer exudes joyful, spiritual sacrifice. You can almost breathe the encouragement. Everywhere you turn you hear young people saying: "Is there anything else I can do to help?" Anything else....after they have already gone the second mile to serve--it's amazing!
It is rare to see anyone without a smile on their face, even though they are hot, sticky, sleep-deprived and bug-bitten. Those smiles aren't just about personal joy, they are proffered gifts to anyone in their path. Encouragement is purposeful and generous.
Everyday at the end of the morning assembly, Logan Krieder, poured all his abundant energy into leading the campers in a rousing, exuberant dance to Reel Big Fish's song, "Good Thing." I bounced along with the crowd happily feeling the appropriateness of the lyrics until my last day at camp. Previously, the words that had impacted me were: "You know we've got a good thing goin'...."
Oh, it was such a good thing goin' there! It was just one good thing after another! But on that last day, the words that resonated deeply were: "I don't wanna see it end!" It was hard to stop the tears.
I didn't want my time there this summer to end and I don't want to see the camp itself end. The lease is up in December with an option to buy and we have until then to raise 1 million dollars so that we won't have to see CampHOPEforkids end. Our campaign to raise all that money is the sales of Cupcakes for Camp. This is an unapologetic plea for donations. If you find someone at your church selling cupcakes for camp, please dig deep. Buy a cupcake, write a check, dream big and give generously. We don't wanna see it end!
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