Tensions

Day Six: Tension
My life is filled with tensions. Oh, how I love the solitude and the silence of The Acres! The stillness and serenity even as I labor enriches my soul. Oh, how I love interacting on a daily basis with a room filled with teenagers! Not exactly a place of solitude, silence, stillness, and serenity. But yes, they never fail to enrich my soul.
The Future. Each year I plant new things at The Acres. Each year I see more things I would love to do to make The Acres even more beautiful. Yet, i know it is just a fantasy to think that I can make this place a new Paradise--a new Eden. The weeds and the destructive creatures and the cold snaps are not ever going away. But hope and vision--two of the joyous wonders of the life God gives us--radiate from thoughts of the future. Every time I plant a new flower I think, "I must stay here at least one more year to see if it blooms." Every time I imagine a project, I think, "next summer I'll start on it. Lord, don't take me Home in the winter."
Home. Oh, how I long for Home--to see His face. And yet, time and again those I love here on earth have situations where I can help, where I can invest myself--inadequately--but lovingly to meet real needs. My son! Friends. Past students at times. If I were Home, "far better for me," as Paul declares, I could not be used by Him to touch the lives of those I have been commissioned to love in His place. I love, too, to see their faces.
.The gift of receiving I do not have. Oh, I love to give to others--"my" resources when I can, my time, the words of encouragement and exhortation the Spirit has given me, pictures of the beauty found in The Acres He has so graciously given me. Great joy comes from giving. Yet, in my pride I struggle with the gift of receiving--with embracing the giving that others do for me in His name. He has been patiently working on me these years to make me truly generous--generously embracing the joy He gives to those who give to me. I may one day be humble enough to have the gift of receiving in all its joyous splendor.
Tensions: Solitude. Ministry. Eden. The Curse. Home. Here. Giving. Receiving. Each year I more deeply understand Paul's truth that contentment is learned--a life-long process. Ah, such a slow learner. Daily my Savior in patient love uses my circumstances--the tensions in my life--to teach me to be content. I must learn to trust Him so that I can develop the strength to each new day rest totally dependent on Him so that I can do all the things He calls me to do until He takes me Home.

Diversity

One of the things I love about The Acres is its diversity. There are areas of full shade, dappled shade, half shade-half sun, full sun. And there are dry areas, sandy areas, and boggy-swampy areas. The reason why I love that diversity? God has created different plants for each environment--all of them gorgeous. Some plants thrive in the full shade, but can't stand full sun. Some are the exact opposite. Some can stand a little sun; some a little shade. Some love wet feet; some love sandy, dry soil. The key for this old gardener is finding what each plant wants. At times, that requires some transplanting. Once I find the right home, blooms away. Their loveliness shines.
The same, of course, is true of God's people. God has made each of us different--actually, He has made each of us special. And He knows where our beauty will shine the brightest for Him and the kingdom. So He plants us where He needs us--where He designed for us to be. All He asks of us is that we radiate the beauty--the Treasure--He has placed within us. "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And that we are content where He has planted us and don't try to transplant ourselves. (He will move us when He finds another place where we are needed.) And that we don't envy those He has given a beauty different from our own. None of His "flowers" in His garden are more beautiful or necessary for the beautification of His Kingdom. He is the Master Gardener, the Master of the Beautiful. One day we will see the mosaic--the beautiful pattern of His "rooting" us where He needed us into the soil of the garden. Remember, everyone of His flowers is rooted in love. Be content. Be Beautiful. Radiate His love. Sow the seed of His Word right where He has planted you. All the world needs to see--and know--that He is the Altogether Lovely One. He has you where you are necessary to display that loveliness for all to see. So, bloom away!

Struggling

Some truths that I think maybe the church is struggling with today:

1. Suffering is a gift that God gives to every believer.
2. God's definition of sin doesn't change to suit the culture.
3. To teach biblical application without first teaching the sound doctrine that is the "motivation" for obedience is to undermine faithfulness.
4. To not tell someone the truth is one of the most unloving things a person can do. "Speak the truth in love"--yes. But speak it.
5.Too often what we excuse as insignificant acts of disobedience are rooted in the attitude "I'll do as I please." That is self-worship. Idolatry. Sin at its ugly worst.
6. Worship is not how you feel; it's a life of obedience.
7. The denial that sends a culture plummeting into depravity is the denial that God is the Creator.
8. Church attendance is essential to Christian growth and maturity.
9. Hypocrisy is doing the right things for the wrong reason--spiritual pride in disguise. Carnality.
10. When God's people are living a life of ease while the poor suffer need, they are following in the steps of Sodom and Gomorrah.
11. Political power will never, ever, be a catalyst for revival.
12. God does not have a problem with self-esteem.
13. The eschatology that matters is if He returns today will He find you faithful? Do you love the doctrine of the Second Coming? "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
14. The most critical time in my Christian walk is between the storms.
15. There is only one true definition of wealth: "Godliness with contentment is great gain."

Indisputable

The cross is indisputable evidence that He is love.
The resurrection is indisputable evidence of His omnipotent power.
The creation is indisputable evidence of His wisdom.

The All-Powerful, All-,Wise, God who is Love promises:

Believe on Me and you will be saved.
You cannot escape My love.
I am with you every moment of every day.
I have overcome the world.
My grace is sufficient.
You can do all things through my strength.
You are joint-heirs with Me.
All things will work together for your good.
No one can take you out of my hands.
I Am coming again so that where I Am you will be also for all of eternity.

"Jesus, the very thought of Thee, with sweetest fills my breast; but sweeter far Thy face to see and in Thy presence rest."

Pursuit

There are people in this world who pursue a god who has no desire to have a personal relationship with them.
We serve a God who desires above all else to daily deepen His relationship with us.
There are people in this world who pursue a god that tells them that one "guaranteed" way to reach heaven is to die for him.
We serve a God who died for us to assure us that as we place our faith in His atoning death He has eternally secured a place for us in heaven.
How can we not praise Him every day of our lives? How can we not pursue those who are separated from His love?

Church Reminders

As I was reminded yesterday in church. The obvious reason we get irritated, miffed, uncomfortable when the pastor starts preaching about giving: we want God to keep His hands off "our" money. Almost all to Jesus I surrender.

__________

Desperate for encouragement? Joy? Seeking the motivation to serve Him faithfully? Need love? I know where God says you can find it. Church. And if you can't find it there, take it there. Be a catalyst, not a murmurer. You'll find murmers wandering in the wilderness. You'll find catalysts walking around the walls of Jericho anticipating the victory. Ready to shout for joy--in chorus.

__________

Your pastor, boss, principal, teacher, parents should wake up every morning, think of you, and be filled with a joyful heart of gratitude for what God has called him or her to do. How's that going?

Forgiven

Forgiven

Redeemed. Price paid in full. Every debt nailed to the cross.

Reconciled. Once an enemy of God. Opposed to His purpose. Destined for wrath. Servant--slave--of the Prince of Darkness.  Blind--believing that the darkness was light. Now a friend of God Almighty--a child of His Kingdom. A soldier of the cross--on assignment for the King of Love.

Justified:  Clothed in His righteousness--forever.

Regenerated: Dead in trespasses and sin. Each day earning my wages. Then, made alive in Christ. Regenerated, quickened, by the Spirit of God--whose power each day energizes and sustains me. Earning wages no more--instead I have been given the gift of God--eternal life through Jesus Christ my Lord. Living for Jesus. Christ, in you, the hope of glory.

Grace:
Saved by grace alone.
Living daily a life enriched by His grace.
Growing continually in His grace as each of life's circumstances reaffirm the faithfulness of His promises and His presence.
Secure by grace, resting in the clasped hands of the Father and the Son and sealed with the indwelling Spirit's presence.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."
"Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Mercy:   There is, therefore, now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

Sanctification:  Set apart as His holy ones--His saints. Perfect and being perfected. One day, we will be like Him when we see Him as He is.

"I need no other argument, I need no other plea.  It is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me."

May

May gentleness be your strength.
May intercession be the cry of your heart.
May grace be your spontaneous response to all who disappoint you, including yourself.
May mercy suppress any and every thought of payback.
May faithfulness guide your every step.
May your love be without hypocrisy--without any hint of selfish desire.
May His truth be the meditation of your heart--even in--especially in--the crowded room.
May your sorrow be lavished with His joy.
May your confidence rest in and on the promise of the Spirit's indwelling presence.
May your kindness be as deep as His kindness toward you.
May you hear His voice in every stillness--and know.
May your day be filled with rejoicing.

A Garden

How many flowers does it take to make a garden? Yes, one. Even the single rose with all its thorns makes a beautiful garden. You, adorned in the beauty of Christ, are His garden--even with your thorns. (Maybe because of them) Are you radiating His beauty today in the place He has chosen to plant you? Be His garden today.