Humbly Accept

Surely 

goodness and mercy shall 

f o l l o w  me

 a l l    t h e    d a y s    o f    m y    l i f e 

and I shall 

ll  dwell in the house of the Lord  ll

...forever...

~Psalm 23:6

I'm on the lookout for my promised goodness and mercy.  At times, I see it clearly, although as likely as not, as soon as I've had a clear view, it fades into fog and doubts crop up like the crabgrass I found in my lawn after two weeks away.

And yet, God is good.  How could He not be good, when He humbled Himself to become human and die on a cross in order to rescue our struggling souls?  How could He not be good, when He loved us enough to die for us while we were still sinners, helplessly entangled in our natural sinful state?  And if He loved us enough to give His only begotten Son for the salvation of our eternal souls, how will He not also, along with the gift of Christ, graciously give us all things?  

Indeed, God promises to give us everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4).  The Apostle Paul writes, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4:19).  King David wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want," (Psalm 23:1).  Jesus taught, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him... Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ...your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you," (Matthew 6:8, 31-33).

Last night I was so tired, I struggled to balance as I washed my feet before bed, just my feet, because I was too tired to wash my whole self.  I stumbled on the bathmat and felt angry because every movement was difficult, everything felt too hard.

Too hard to turn the faucet handle and feel for the water to get hot.  Much too hard to avoid splashing as my hand drifted under the flow.  Too hard to reach for the soap.  Too hard to bend, too hard to step over the edge of the tub.  Too hard to fetch myself a glass of ice water, even though I was very thirsty.  So I sat, face cupped in my hands, forcing myself to will the energy to take deep breaths, feeling the anger well up and violently erase any remnant of patience I might have had for this hampered existence.

Lupus is limiting, it cannot be denied.  I am so incredibly fortunate to have a life that is normally very low key, a life I can usually handle.  Ordinary days, I rest and read, garden and maybe go to a store, make the bed, fix a meal, vacuum a rug, brush a toilet, wash some dishes, fold some laundry.  I can forget that I have lupus, until I come upon days when I have to travel far and work breathlessly, hard and fast, doing many tasks in a day instead of only a few.  I get angry when I remember that I have lupus, but that is irrational, because I should be thankful for so many days when I am able to forget.

Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires for us.  That's from James 1:20, right after the part that admonishes us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry (James 1:19).  I've been thinking about these verses lately.  It occurred to me that we usually pull out that part: be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.  We apply it to the way we ought to communicate with other people.  This is certainly a good and helpful application; we all need to be better listeners.  

Yet, I think it may miss the primary intent of the passage.  I think the passage is about listening to God, coming to Him with a humility that is ready to hear what He has to say, putting aside our own arguments about how we think things should be.

I think the passage is about listening to God, and accepting God's truth, God's wisdom.  I say this because of what comes both before and after this statement.

Before this statement, James has been writing about persevering through trials and temptations and coming through victoriously.  He explains that God never tempts us to sin (James 1:13), but that we are tempted to sin when we indulge our own evil desires, when we allow ourselves to be enticed by the devil's lie that there exist good things which God is withholding from us, that God would deny us joy and satisfaction, and so we must grasp for what we desire outside of His will.  We decide that we know better than God what will make us happy.

This is, of course, foolish pride.  Just as a parent knows that too much candy and too late a bedtime will make a child sick and miserable, just as a doctor knows that sunburns and cigarettes result in cancer, God knows that sin, no matter how much people think they enjoy it, results in death.

James writes about the deceitful allure of sin, how we are enticed by our evil desires to follow the pathway to sin and death.

But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after sinful desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.  ~James 1:14-15

James counters the lies of the devil (whose goal is to deceive and draw everyone into his death-trap), by explaining the truth: everything good comes from God.  God loves us and gives us His perfect gifts.  God is good, generous, and full of love, life and light, holding them out to us, offering bountifully and kindly.

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.  ~James 1:16-18

And this is where we come upon the famous verse about being quick to listen, and slow to speak or become angry.

"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers," James has exhorted.  Don't be deceived by the fraudulent allure of sin.  Underneath the frothy whipped cream and glistening cherry, there's deadly poison.  Don't be deceived, because every good and perfect gift comes from God, who has given His children new birth through the word of truth that enables them to unmask their enemy, 

enables us to unmask our enemy.

"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers..." and then James continues, tenderly, winsomely (1:19), "My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry."  We should be quick to listen to God, to the word of truth, to the merciful warnings God gives us to stay away from sin, to flee from immorality, to guard our hearts and minds from the tactics of the evil one.

You can see how this meaning, that we ought to be quick and eager to listen to the Lord, derives from what comes before this famous verse.  

The same interpretation is supported by the verses that come after it:

For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.  ~James 1:20

While this has some bearing on the peace and righteousness which result when people communicate well and listen sensitively to one another, the clearer meaning, in context, is that anger against God's truth does not help a person avoid temptation or gain victory over sin, which is James' main point here.  The next verse makes it even more obvious:

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you which can save you.  ~James 1:21

When a person believes in Jesus, it means that the person has accepted the truth about God.  The truth about God is the word of truth (James 1:18).  It is the word planted in us which saves us (1:21).

Jesus is the Word of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning...The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  ~John 1:1-2, 14

Jesus Himself said,

I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  ~John 14:6

When we are born into the kingdom of God, God implants us with the Word of Truth, the very Spirit of Christ, to transform us from the inside out, in a way that no external behavior modification program ever could.  

When we repent and agree with God that He is--indeed--God, and we are not, 

When we understand that we are fallen, broken creatures in a fallen, broken world,  

When we see that we have nothing to offer Him, but He offers us everything,

When we perceive the destructive nature of sin, and long with all our hearts to be set free from its control,

When we comprehend the all-surpassing love and beauty of Christ and run to Him with outstretched arms, ready to be washed of our sins and clothed with His righteousness and life,

Then, right then, immediately, He gives us His own Holy Spirit to abide in us and help us from that day forward.  There is a sudden and immediate change which may or may not be visible.  And there is a progressive and long-acting (some may say "slow release") change that will become increasingly more apparent over time.

But because of His great love for us, 

God, who is rich in mercy, 

made us alive with Christ 

even when we were dead in transgressions--

it is by grace you have been saved.  

And God raised us up with Christ, 

and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

in order that in the coming ages

He might show the incomparable riches of His grace,

expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

~Ephesians 2:4-7

And we all, with unveiled face,

beholding the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image,

from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord

who is the Spirit.

~2 Corinthians 3:18

Now we have received not the spirit of the world,

but the Spirit who is from God,

that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom

but taught by the Spirit,

interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual...

For who has understood the mind of the Lord 

so as to instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

~1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 16

This is why I believe that James meant we should be quick to listen to God, slow to insist that God should consider our point of view (as though He did not already know all our thoughts anyway), and very slow to become angry with God (why do we forget that He is never wrong?).

We need to learn humility, to humbly accept the truth of God for what it is: Truth.  When our ideas, our perspectives, even our experiences do not line up with the truth of God, these are opportunities to grow our faith muscles. Like any other discipline, it is hard, but it is good.  And unlike other disciplines, this one comes with special divine help for success.  God implants His Spirit in us to help us.  We can't do any of it without Him.

We need Him desperately, and it will be okay, because He delights to meet our needs.

In the hot house

                                                      Pink Gaura--Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay
                                                                            (Mine does not look anything like this)

North Carolina is hot in July.  It's been a challenge to keep the garden watered.  I go out shortly after I awaken, dressed in grubby gardening duds, and I pour with sweat.

Eventually, I come back inside, strip the dripping clothing from my radiating flesh, and soak in a cool bath until I feel better.

This is the rhythm of my days.

I don't think about getting sick.  I don't think about anything.  I prune, deadhead, weed, water and fertilize.  I try to figure out how much sun hits where, when.  I google lots and lots of plants online.  I wear a mask when I go out to buy food, or garden supplies, or toiletries.  Otherwise, I stay home.

Currently, I am trying to figure out which plants will survive in a very hot, southwest exposure that gets only about 4 hours of harsh afternoon sun.  It's simply too harsh and hot for any shade loving plants, and too shady for the sun loving ones.

Perhaps I can plant a screen of something high, that loves the sun, that will get enough sun because of its height, while providing full shade for the remaining area, so I can put in a few astilbes.  I adore pink astilbes.

I'll need to puzzle on this for awhile.

Gardening gets me thinking again and again about life.

Today I chopped down my shrub roses.  I'd been planning to do this in February or March, to ready them for next spring, but I just couldn't stand them, all lanky and jutting in odd directions.  This morning, I went right after them, as fast as I could before the morning shade was gone on the southwestern tip of the garden, which gets more like 8-10 hours of sun once it's off and running (so I often simply miss a chance to work there, because Shawn is always tracking my sun time and warning me to get into the shade).  I cut them down to an organized collection of canes, removing dead wood, wild branching ends, and canes that crossed.  I may have killed them, but I have quite a bit of confidence that I couldn't kill them if I wanted to, which I may (they aren't the most beautiful roses, by any means).  After I thoroughly cleaned them up, I fertilized them with systemic rose fertilizer, the kind that feeds and provides systemic control against insects and diseases.  Strong stuff.  I've been pouring about a gallon of water on each bush (there are three) every couple hours throughout this stiflingly hot day.  They are not waterlogged.  I wonder what will happen, and how long it will be before I can tell.

As I plundered these plants, reaching into crevices with my pruning shears, snipping and snapping and tossing aside, I wondered about God, our heavenly vinedresser, who prunes His people for our growth and His glory.  A tender green cane rises from the center of the plant, sprouting some cute little leaves and buds, fresh and hopeful but headed nowhere helpful, twining around other, better canes.  I snip it at its base, thinking, "I hope I am a whole bush, and not just a cane.  I hope God snips out the undesirable parts of who I am, to make room for the good person He is transforming me into.  I hope He would not snip someone--me--out in entirety."  I don't think He would.  Nevertheless, pruning is painful.

I think of plants that find themselves in spots where they cannot thrive.  This home came with some gaura.  I finally figured out what it is.  The previous homeowner had stuck it into the center of a bed, and it never did thrive.  Not enough sun.  When some professionals came to prune our Japanese maple this spring, one of them stepped on the best gaura and killed it, but there were two others, which I think had been self-sown by the martyr.  Silly plants, they are growing in shade.  I moved one, before I even knew what it was, gaura with its finicky taproot that hates being moved.  It had been struggling right at the base of the Japanese maple, so any other location had to be more hospitable.  After the transplant, it actually got more sun than the one next to it, which had chosen its own location, but both of them have performed miserably.  Still, the one I moved survived, and that is a very encouraging fact.  I will try to move them again, in the fall or next spring, because there is 100% certainty that they look terrible where they are, and only a very high chance that they will die in another move.  If they make it, they will flower in pink, my favorite.

With God, there is perfect skill and wisdom, perfect technique.  If He transplants us, for His purpose, we will eventually take to our given spot (Acts 17:26-27).  This is important to me, given the fact that I recently moved, and shortly thereafter world events turned to chaos and insanity.  I do not feel the least bit rooted in my new location.  I've been trying to root some salvia cuttings in glasses of water on my screen porch.  Working with cuttings is a new thing for me.  It is amazing to me that you can cut a hunk off a plant, stick it into some water and wait.  Sometimes, it will actually grow roots out its bottom and new little sprouts out its top, and you can transfer it to a  container of potting soil and baby it until it becomes big enough to add to the garden.  Who knew?

God can cut us off the plant we were attached to, but He doesn't necessarily cast us away.  He might re-pot us, keep us in a nursery for awhile, even coddle us a bit, and then put us out again to flower.

God's coddling may come in the form of a precious tiny grandson to love.  What a blessing, to be the grammy, and have the energy to help when the momma is spent.  What a blessing to hold a tiny baby and remember one's own, but this time there is all the familiarity and all the precious newness, with none of the post-partum recovery, none of the fear, none of the overwhelmed feelings that accompanied the first round.  Pure joy.  A little person who trusts me, looks into my eyes and tells me that he knows me.  I am his grammy, and he is my comfort from the Lord.

Summer solstice

I always look forward to the summer solstice.

This year, it was extra special, because smack-dab on the summer solstice,
in the middle of the day --11:59 a.m. to be exact,
just in time to experience high noon on the longest day of the year--
my second grandson was born.

I am now the incredibly blessed grandma of a winter solstice grandson with platinum blond hair,

(James Michael, 12/23/2018, held by his mother, my daughter)

and a summer solstice grandson with surprisingly black hair.

(Preston Daniel, 6/20/2020, held by his father, my son)

I always wonder if the Second Coming of Christ will occur at the summer solstice, that He, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21), will transform the longest day of the year into a day of glory that will never, ever end.

The first time He came, Jesus entered the physical universe as it was descending into darkness, the darkness that had entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve.

"You may surely eat of every tree of the garden," God instructed Adam, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)

In that beautiful garden, where life and light never came to an end, who knows how long Adam and Eve lived in happy obedience?  It could have been weeks, or days, or it could have been only a few hours.  It could have been a millennia.  In that time, there was no death.

Adam and Eve did not even have any knowledge of death.  All they had known was good, plenty, satisfaction, joy and peace.  When they worked, they did so with every skill and every resource.  Every job they did was rewarding, gratifying, fruitful and fulfilling.  No aphids ate their roses, nor did fungi blight their tomatoes.  Drought?  No such thing!  Tornadoes?  Never.  Every aspect of their lives unfolded unhindered, under the benevolent direction of God.  It was always summer, but never oppressively hot, and in the cool of the day, they walked side-by-side with the Lord.

And then the serpent came to tempt them to turn away from this loving Father who provided so generously and bountifully for them.  There were things the Lord was keeping from them, the serpent said, things God did not want them to know.

As with every effective lie, there was a kernel of truth in what the serpent said.  God had created all things, and then pronounced them good, good, good, good, good and very good (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).  Adam and Eve lived in the midst of abundant goodness, experiencing and knowing it every day.  What was God keeping from them?  He was keeping them from evil, warning them to stay away from the knowledge of evil.  Like the good, good Father that He is, He knew that they would not like evil, that it would hurt them and bring them sorrow.

So yes, God knew more than Adam and Eve knew, and He had warned them that evil would bring death.  Yet, how could two innocent beings in paradise, who had never known pain or want of any kind, understand what death was?  They had no framework within which to imagine death.  All they had was God's kind and lavish provision of good.  In hindsight, we can argue that they ought to have trusted in God because of the goodness they had already received from Him.  Yet, we must understand that they had no negative experience to enable them to comprehend the perfection of their situation.

"Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" the serpent asked Eve.

"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden," Eve replied, "but God said, 'You shall not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

And then that humdinger of a lie: the serpent told Eve, "You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

O, dear brothers and sisters of the earth, please see what the enemy wants to do to us.  He knows the grace of God, the love God has for His masterpiece of creation, the man and woman whom He created to reflect the glory of His own likeness.  Satan wants to destroy us, destroy the mirroring of God's image, obscure the glory, darken the lights.   Satan knew that God, who is love, would not temperamentally dash us into oblivion for our disobedience, so he said, "You will not surely die."  And, to many, it looks as though they didn't.  Just as flowers cut from a garden remain beautiful for awhile, so Adam and Eve looked across at one another after eating the fruit, surmising that things seemed mostly okay.  Yet, in that moment of disobedience, that one bad decision which visited misery over all the earth in its wake, the beginning of death came into the world.  Life was cloven from its Source. Two immortal beings lost their immortality and began to fade.  What would have lasted forever suddenly became subject to death; every flower blossom and blade of grass, every bird, fish and rabbit, every elephant and giraffe, suddenly faced a death sentence.  I often wonder if it was at this juncture when God instituted reproduction, a mitigating factor to enable the continuity of life, even in the face of death (this idea helps clear a bit of my confusion over 1 Timothy 2:15).

It occurs to me: The entrance of sin and death into the world coordinates symbolically with the fall equinox.  Winter is not here, but the decay, the deterioration has begun.  There will be no going backward to summer, only a journey through winter with the hope of rebirth.

Darkness increases daily until the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.  But instead of dissolving into eternal death at the point of the winter solstice, we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Jesus came to deliver us from death and offer eternal life to all who will turn from rebellion, accepting His gracious forgiveness through the blood of His cross.  That tiny baby born in a stable, the light of the world, came to turn the tide in a new direction.  The change began small, but it's growing towards infinity even now.  As a reminder, every year by January 1, daylight will have increased by approximately 2.5 minutes, and the increase accelerates as the spring equinox approaches.

We celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus at the spring equinox.  The spring equinox is when the balance of light and dark in a day shifts to more light than dark.  After the fall equinox, each day contains more dark than light, ever increasing in darkness until it culminates in the darkest day on the winter solstice.  The beauty of the winter solstice is that light begins to increase as soon as it passes!  And the beauty of the spring equinox is that light begins to overshadow darkness.  Christ is risen!  The sin debt is settled, paid by the only human who could live a perfect life, God Himself in flesh.  We need only come to Him in faith and receive His Spirit, who lovingly connects us back to our Source of life.

I am sure that God planned these life rhythms purposefully and led us to celebrate His feasts at the most appropriate times of the year.

And this is why I think that it is quite possible that the Return of Christ, the Second Coming, will happen around the summer solstice.  That year, when it comes, the passing of the summer solstice will not mean that days begin once more to shorten.  Instead, our days will lengthen and lengthen, until there is no more night at all, only light, forever and ever, on the beautiful day that knows no end.

And night will be no more.  

They will need no light of lamp or sun, 

for the Lord God will be their light, 

and they will reign forever and ever!

~Revelation 22:5

Dear Lord, may my sweet summer and winter solstice grandsons live to know you and trust you and worship you.  May they love you with all their hearts, souls and minds, and may we all live together in glory for eternity.  Amen.

My secret grammy names for them are Spero, for the blond boy of hope,
and Nico, for the summer boy of victory.
I only think these names in my head,
and pray by them.

Today I did this

Try to write a book.  Draw a picture instead.

Missing out

There's a new acronym around:  FOMO.  It stands for Fear Of Missing Out.  This is a thing.

Perhaps we should revisit a famous old poem:

The Road Less Taken

            by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The point: you are always going to give up something.  You are one person, with one life, and each day when you get out of bed, you make choices to do certain things, and not to do other things.  You will definitely miss out on some things, and that's okay, but it is good to know that this is how it works.  When we understand, we can choose intentionally, rationally, wisely.

Perhaps I am skipping ahead, but we can make the leap from FOMO to a life lived wisely if we understand which things are best missed, and which things we surely want to avoid missing at all costs.

Here I will interject my gratitude for the Lord who made heaven and earth and reigns in sovereign grace over all things.  Ultimately, He is in control, and I do not live in fear, not even fear of missing out, because I trust Him to guide me.  When I obliviously miss His guidance, I trust Him to correct me and use my mistakes as valuable learning experiences that perhaps even prepare me for something wonderful and useful.  Yes, He is that good.  Such inconceivable goodness should not make us careless about making mistakes.  However, it means we do not need to live in dread of making a mistake, because God will ultimately redeem everything.  He works all things for good for His beloved children, and He is for us, so nothing can stand against us, not even our unfortunate choices.  This grants great freedom and confidence to those who follow the Lord.

Yesterday I wrote about how God gives us what we want.  He allows us to choose our path, and although He will orchestrate circumstances to influence us in one direction or another, He will never force or coerce us to follow Him.  Lovingly, He stands by, offering life and salvation to all who will call on His name.  He offers His gifts right up to the very end, as He did for the thief on the cross next to Jesus.  The Lord has no desire to punish or destroy people, but only to save, heal and restore.

In life, we will miss out on whatever we choose not to do during the days we have been given.  Jesus promised that if we will abide in Him and keep His commandments, we will experience fullness of joy.  Implicit in that promise is this: the things God asks us to give up are worthless anyway. Now, it is obvious that people who neither know nor believe in Jesus do not see how living a righteous and godly life would yield fullness of joy.  However, I have noticed that people who purport to be Christians, believers in Jesus, followers of God, often have just as lacking a concept of this fullness of joy.

Jesus is the source of joy.  Knowing Him is the reward.  Carrying the treasure of His precious, powerful, immortal Holy Spirit within us as we navigate the journey of life in this world, this is what we long for, this is what we seek, this is where we rest and rejoice and find refreshment, the very water of life itself.

And yet, Satan has slyly, successfully lied to us, repeatedly, so many times that we never think to question the assumptions that live in our hearts.  Deep down, in wraps so cleverly arranged we have no idea they are there, we take for granted that the path of sin is the path we are loathe to miss out on.  Even people who have been Christians all their lives, who grew up in the safety and security of godly homes full of respect and cleanliness and compassion, look across to the other side of the fence at the wild parties, the promiscuous relationships, the chemically induced mood swings, the piles of material possessions accrued through selfishness, the mind-numbing images of airbrushed false-beauty gyrating under flashing lights on the TV screen, and they might even turn the TV off, but they feel a thwarted hankering.  They feel like they are missing out.

Many of these people live with a sort of brittle bitterness.  "If you were not a Christian," Satan whispers to them, "you could enjoy all those fun things, too."  It happens so often, perhaps even constantly, that they don't even hear Satan's words.  The idea simply becomes part of who they are.  Some of them become increasingly bitter, and fall into thoughts such as, "Look at all the things I am giving up for the Lord.  He sure better make heaven good, to make it up to me for all I've gone without."  My heart aches to write about it, but I know this is true.  People think and feel this way towards our loving heavenly Father.  Prideful and blind, we can lose every concept of grace and the overwhelming kindness of God, who welcomes broken people into His kingdom where He invites us to receive complete restoration and renewal, to bask forever in His presence, a pleasure exponentially surpassing in every way the most beautiful, sunny, beach day ever experienced.

[Others--who also self-identify as Christians--decide that "keeping His commandments" (John 15:10) is "legalism," and it is fine to go out and wallow in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (see 1 John 2:15-17).  They do not know their Bibles or their God--indeed, it is impossible to know God without knowing His word, where He reveals Himself.  But they prefer to make up their own rules and claim "freedom in Christ" as license to love the world and the things that are of the world.  They are oblivious to the truth that our poor fallen world is poisonous, and the precepts of God are a generous gift, an antidote to the venom, given only and always for our best good, God's own loving directions to help us find freedom from the crippling bondage of sin that leads to death.]

I am trying to say that we--and when I say "we," I mean myself and others who share my faith in Jesus Christ--can tend towards a warped and irrational fear that we are missing out on the pleasures of the world.  This leads us to a warped and irrational interpretation of stories like the one about the thief on the cross.  We think, "Oh!  Don't tell unbelievers they could get away with a last minute decision like that!  Then they will just party and sin all their lives, and afterwards, they will repent at the last minute and get into heaven and receive all of God's heavenly reward, too. That's not fair.  That's not fair to us, because we are giving up so much."

There's a parable about this, you know. Matthew 20:1-16 tells about a vineyard owner who went out to hire workers for his vineyard.  He went out in the morning, at mid-day, in the afternoon, and in the evening right before the day's work was done, hiring more workers each time, not because they sought the work, but because he found them standing idle and wanted to help them become productive.  He told the first group he would pay them a good day's wages.  In the end, when all the workers lined up to be paid, this vineyard owner paid every single worker a full day's wages, just as he had promised to the first group, who had worked all day long, since early morning.  These fellows were angry and grumbled about their wages, saying, "Those last guys you hired only worked one hour, but you have treated them as though they worked as hard as we did, we who have worked all day in the scorching heat!" (see Matthew 20:12)

In essence, the vineyard owner replied that he would be kind to whom he wanted to be kind, and the workers should have nothing to say about it.  Implicit in his response is a displeasure at their jealousy, and especially at their grumbling about what it was like to work all day on his estate.  The vineyard owner was a compassionate man.  He offered aimless loafers an opportunity to come into his vineyard and be a part of his team.  In every instance, he was the one who went out and invited the workers to come work for him; they did not apply to him for a job.  They were just loitering their day away.  He went out and found them, and offered them a position, productive work, and a paycheck.

This is what it is to be a part of God's kingdom.  Instead of wasting our lives in pursuit of vain, dead-ended, selfish pursuits, we can live for something bigger and better than ourselves.  We can know God and carry His Spirit within us.  We can grow in wisdom, learning more and more about what is eternally important.  We can experience the peace of living with faith that our destiny is going to be an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, so we can bear anything in the temporary, transient present.  All these gifts are ours in Him: purpose, wisdom, peace, hope and joy.  The longer we get to spend with Him, on His team, working for His kingdom, the more blessed we are.

It is an unfathomable privilege to be God's child, to live in fellowship with Him.  This is what we aim for, in heaven.  This is what our final reward will be.  On earth, we get a foretaste of God's amazing promise of eternity, through the lavish gift of His Holy Spirit, whom He literally, lovingly pours into our hearts.  Why would we ever be jealous of someone who had to live all of his life apart from this great gift, adrift and without direction or hope?  Why would we think that a lost sinner had some pleasure we should have had, if he spent his entire life living only for his own selfish, worthless indulgence and just barely had time to choose Jesus on his deathbed?  Would we not, if we were thinking rationally, realize that a life lived apart from the Lord is a tragedy, not a perk?

Another parable touches on this idea: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-31).  The prodigal son was like the thief on the cross.  He chose a life of sin and selfishness, rather than a life in his father's house.  Satan allowed the masquerade of hilarity to continue long enough for the prodigal son to be drawn far, far away from his home and his father who loved him dearly.  Then Satan did what Satan does: he pulled out the rug, smashed the 3-D glasses, and left the prodigal son lying prone in an ugly mess.  At this point, the Spirit of God moved in the heart of this unfortunate young man, humbled him, and woke him up to the truth: his father's household actually held everything he had always desired.  So, he traveled the long journey home, and his overjoyed father welcomed him with open arms, new clothes, a celebratory feast.  But do you remember what happened next?  The prodigal son's older brother got angry.  "Why?" the older brother demanded of his father, "why are you squandering all these resources on a party for this punk kid?  He spent his inheritance on prostitutes, and now you are throwing him a feast?"

We often fly past the father's first response. "Look dear son," he said gently, "you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours."  My dear child, you have been with me all this time, and I have been with you, and everything I have is yours.  This is our position as believers in Christ today.  Stop for a minute and think about it.

Another thing: Jesus shares everything with us so that we can share with others.  Everything I have is yours, He says.  He gives us everything, everything that pertains to life and godliness, through His divine power and precious promises, inviting us to be partakers of His divine nature.  The Lord transforms us into the image of Christ, the image of love and compassion.  He does this so we can be effective members of His team, working side by side with Him and with the brotherhood of believers, sharing our spiritual gifts for the incomparable pleasure of seeing God's kingdom unfold, for the glory of His name.  As we become more like Christ, we develop deeper and deeper compassion for those who squander the bulk of their lives on the futility of worldly pursuits, and we watch expectantly for God's redemption in whatever way He applies it.  We should never be jealous of someone who comes late to the kingdom.  If we are, we need to examine the faith we think we rest on, carefully, because true faith recognizes the privilege and joy of being united with God in His all-surpassing glory.

David Livingstone (1813-1873, Scottish missionary to Africa) and Hudson Taylor (1832-1905, British missionary to China) both poured their lives out to bring the gospel to people in far away places, giving up their familiar homes, extended families and financial security (among other things), but they both said with sincere confidence: "I never made a sacrifice."  They found true joy in living their lives for the Lord.

Jim Elliot (1927-1956, American missionary to Ecuador) was killed by the very people he was trying to reach with the good news of Christ.  Before he died, he had written, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

FOMO?  What are you afraid of missing out on?  Are you afraid of missing out on worldly experiences that will stain your soul and leave you with regrets and scars?  Or are you afraid of missing out on time spent at the feet of Jesus, loving and being loved, being strengthened, grown and glorified?  Every day, you make choices that propel you to assuage one fear or the other.





[P.S. Think about that last paragraph the next time you find yourself musing on what it means to have "fear of the Lord."]

God gives us what we want

Ultimately, in the final reckoning, we will realize that God gives every person what he wants.

That which you seek after, you will receive.

God will not coerce, force, or twist your arm.  He will give you your head, and let you go the way you are pulling or pushing to go.

Over the course of your life, our merciful Father will give and give and give, because He is the Giver.  One of our friends in Illinois told us one day, with a beautiful smile on his face, "God is a giver, not a taker.  When I finally figured that out, it changed everything."  He was absolutely right.  God gives.  God does not take.  And this changes everything.

God gives life.  He provides air, water and sunshine.  He provides bees to pollinate, fruit to eat, and fire to cook with.  He gives us family, friends, stories and ideas.  He gives us a sky full of stars at night, and imaginations to ponder what they mean.  He gives us the ability to ask questions, to solve problems, and to hope for happy endings.  He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have everlasting life.  Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, and sometimes miraculously, God gives us everything.

And in the end, God will give us what we want.

If we want to be released from any relationship with Him, set loose to find our own way without Him, He will even give us that.

Throughout our lives, God works to give us the opportunity to choose Him.  He bestows blessings on all people.  He also allows evil to be shown for what it is: a crippling, wasting disease of the spiritual heart.  The deceiver, Satan, now he's a sly one.  When God allows evil to run its course so we will see it for what it is, and want no part of it, Satan whispers to us that this is God's fault, that everything would be so nice, if only God would stay out of it.  This is the dirtiest, rottenest lie there ever has been.  The only reason evil has not completely swallowed us, once and for all, is because God Himself holds it back.

All the beauty and blessings of life, whether you believe in God or not, all that is good comes from Him.  He is a giver.  He gives life, new babies, puppies, goldfinches, mackerels, mountains, sunsets, oceans and rolling prairies.  All the bad things--disease, war, accidents, mildew, decay--come from Satan who is out to destroy God's beautiful creation. Satan wants to destroy us, so he lies to us relentlessly, saying things that are the absolute opposite of the truth:  God doesn't love you.  God wants to spoil your chances at happiness.  God wants to suck all your joy out of you.  All the things he, himself, Satan is trying to do to us, he blames on God.  But people believe him.

In the end, if you have believed Satan, and you think that God is not to be desired above all things, that there are other, better things to be had, and you don't want to throw your lot in with God and miss out, He will quietly let you go.  He will give you the last thing He can give you: the ability to turn your back on Him.

Just know this: if you turn your back on the source of life, you are choosing death.  When you run away from paradise, you are choosing hell.  This is not because God wants to punish and exclude you.  It is because in truth, in reality, God is the source and essence of all that is good, and if you reject Him, you are rejecting everything that goes with Him.  When the final day comes, and God sorts everything out, removing the badness, the corruption, the stain of sin, He will remove it completely.  Nothing corrupt will enter or exist in the New Creation that God is preparing for His children.  Those who refuse to let Him disentangle them from their corruption will be cast away with their corruption.  This gives God no pleasure, so even at the very last moment, He is willing to help.  When one of the thieves crucified next to Christ realized who Jesus was and asked for mercy, Jesus told him, as they both writhed in the pain of death, "Today you shall be with me in paradise."

God does not coerce or force.  God reveals truth to all who are open to receive it, but He does not cram truth down the throats of the rebellious.  God does not coerce or force.

God will give you your way.  God will give you what you want.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today,

that I have set before you:

life and death,

blessing and curse.

therefore choose life,

that you and your offspring may live.

Deuteronomy 30:19

Flowers

Today I went to the garden center, which was lovely.

I bought plants, brought them home, watered them and started laying them out in different arrangements in the bed.  This takes awhile.  The good news is: we have a sunny southern exposure, which opens up the potential to try a lot of plants I haven't been able to grow before.

Moving around outside in the sun, dragging the hose hither and yon, smelling dirt and various types of blossoms and foliage, the unified parts of the experience feel so good.

I guess it was a rogue trip out.  A few weeks ago, the thought of venturing out made me nauseated and short of breath, with a trembling heart.  I seem to be over that, even though the risk of getting sick is now definitely higher rather than lower.  Garden centers are open under the allowance for agricultural business to continue.  Specifically, I think that means we are supposed to be allowed to plant a vegetable garden for food.  Unfortunately, I stopped trying to grow food quite awhile ago, because I simply don't have it in me to battle the wildlife for my harvest.  I hope and pray that grocery stores will continue to provide food; my garden only holds flowers.  Spending money for ornamental plants, on the eve of the greatest recession known to mankind, may not have been the wisest thing to do.  So.  Is it a worse waste of a day to stay home, wondering what to do, and essentially end up doing nothing, or is it worse to go out and buy a shopping cart full of flowers?

I'm sorry.  I simply can't write these days.

Here are a few pictures:

This is a very flattering picture of a the rosebush by our front door (it came with the house; we didn't plant it), and by flattering, yes, I mean the photo makes it look nicer than it is.  These roses are actually tiny flowers with only one layer of petals.  The outsides of the bushes, facing the yard, have been mostly sheared off by grazing deer, but the other side, that faces our walkway, is studded with glowing red polka dots.

Our front yard faces southwest, so it gets a lot of sun.  I haven't had any open space in the sun to plant for years.  We are going to try a delphinium.  Perhaps this is foolish risk.  Delphinium is famously difficult to grow.  I'll let you know.

This is lantana.  I am not familiar with this flower.  I think it is an annual, bred for success in the hot southeast.  Time will tell.