And The Truth Will Set You Free

Two weeks ago I attended the Women of Faith Amazing Freedom conference. It was the best one I've been to yet. One of the key concepts brought up at the conference was the idea that freedom comes when you trust what you know to be true about God even when the circumstances of your life make it appear not to be true.

The quintessential example of this being the age old "problem of evil." How can God be both loving and powerful when evil, awful, absolutely horrid circumstances occur to people around the world every day? Innocent children are abused, abandoned, neglected. Does God love them but lack the power to help them? Circumstances, say that must be true or that He has the power to help them but chooses not to because He doesn't love them. Evil circumstances tempt us to say that God must be EITHER loving or powerful. He can't be both or He would intervene and end the evil circumstances. The Bible says circumstances are deceptive. The Bible tells us unequivocally who God is...

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:16

To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. - Isaiah 40:25-26

The Bible tells us what is true - God is both loving and powerful. We are called to know that is true even when circumstances tempt us to believe something else is true.

It occurs to me that the original sin in the Garden of Eden was exactly this choice. Adam and Eve walked in the Garden with God. They knew God face to face. Then they were faced with a circumstance in which they had to choose what they knew to be true about God over what appeared to be true at that particular moment.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. - Genesis 3:4-6

Eve looked at the circumstances - seeing that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, etc. and made a decision based on the circumstances - rather, than on what she knew to be true about God.

Contrast that with Jesus's response when faced with circumstances:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'." - Matthew 4:1-4

Knowing God, memorizing Scripture, Bible study, praying etc. are vital to our lives because they allow us to rise above circumstances and choose to follow what we KNOW to be true about God rather than what circumstances make appear to be true.

When we know God so well that we automatically respond with what we know to be true regardless of circumstances, we begin to find true freedom.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. - John 8:32

Effort and Rest

I have been wrestling for some time with the implications of my last post about walking in the light always requiring effort and why it is so difficult to do. It occured to me that part of the difficulty arises from Jesus' promises of rest...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." -- Matthew 11:28-29

I think we long for rest. So much of what we do that is ultimately destructive is because we are trying to numb out, veg out, just be and not do. The idea that we have to make an effort to enter into rest rather than just let it come upon us and over take us like sleep is rather disconcerting to us. And yet, that is what we are called to.

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. " --Hebrews 1:9-11

This all came together for me this week when I reread a devotional that is originally from "Won by One" by Ron Rand:

In 1857 a tightrope walker named Blondin stretched a two-inch cable across the gorge of the Niagara Falls, attracting a large crowd. He said to the onlookers, "How many of you believe that I can carry the weight of a man on my shoulders across this gorge?" The crowd shouted and cheered their belief that he could do it. Sure enough, Blondin picked up a sack of sand weighing about 180 pounds and carried it across the falls.

Then Blondin said, "How many of you believe that I can actually carry a person across the gorge?" Many people in the crowd indicated that they thought he could do it. Then Blondin called out, "Which one of you will climb on my shoulders and let me carry you across the falls?" Suddenly there was silence. Everyone wanted to see Blondin person across the gorge and many believed he could. But nobody wanted to put his life in Blondin's hands.

Some time later, Blondin did carry a man across Niagara Falls. The man was Blondin's manager, who had known the tightrope walker personally for many years. "You must not trust your own feelings, but mine," Blondin told his manager as they prepared for the crossing. "You will feel like turning when we don't need to turn. And if you trust your feelings, we will both fall. You must become part of me." (emphasis added)

That's when it all started coming together for me. We want to be carried but we don't want to do the work of TRUSTING the one who carries us. We don't want to feel like turning when we don't need to turn. We just want to be part of him, to be one and not question, to know his ways and do them because we understand what He is doing.

But that is not the deal. We know he is 100% able to do what he is offering. We KNOW it. We've seen him do it in other's lives, maybe at times even in our own. (Just imagine how many people would have taken Blondin up on the offer to go across the tightrope if there were a hungry lion prowling around.) No the deal is to trust him and move with him when we don't understand what He is doing or why. We put our trust in His ability and who He is not in our understanding of what He is doing. This has given fresh perspective for me to the well known verse:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." -- Proverbs 3:5-6

I am now starting to look at challenges in my life to do what I know I should...but resist because well, frankly, I just don't want to (eat right, exercise, consider other's needs ahead of my own, walk in the light)...from the perspective of is this me wanting to turn when we don't need to? Am I resting in His ability, acknowledging Him and allowing Him to make the way for us? His peace comes when we understand that we don't need to understand WHAT, we just need to understand WHO and that comes from coming to Him, fellowshipping with Him, knowing Him, becoming part of Him.

A Part To Play

It occurs to me that the chief enemy of doing good in this imperfect world, of loving others, of walking in the light is that it requires effort. We actually have to do something, choose something and not just once for all but over and over again. While choosing Christ brings us salvation once for all, we are called to live out that choice moment by moment and that requires effort. It requires attention and intention so that we are stayed on Jesus and aligning ourselves with His will in every choice, every time. There really is no coasting. It is the taking up of your cross daily (Luke 9:23), putting on the full armor of God and standing your ground (Ephesians 6:13), and running the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1). It even requires effort to "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). We are called to be involved and engaged in what God is doing. We are not placeholders. He has a plan and a purpose for each one of us (Jeremiah 29:11) and we are to play our part.

There is a huge fear factor in that knowledge because of our fear of failure and our insecurity about our own value. We'd rather not be responsible for showing up and doing our part in case we mess it up, disappointing and perhaps even harming those who are counting on us. We'd rather just be part of the audience, part of the experience, a face in the crowd. I think this because we tend to think we are responsible for the results. But the enabling power to bear the fruit comes from God. The end of the play is not dependent on us. We are responsible for the part we are called to do so that we can share in what God has done. God doesn't need us in order to produce fruit. He wants us to share in the benefits of producing fruit.

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last... John 15:16

It takes effort to remain in God, to stay focused on Him, to follow him. But the victory has already been won, the outcome known. That knowledge should release us from the fear of ultimate failure and make the effort sustainable.

Doing Good

"Use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times." -- Ephesians 5:16

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people..." -- Galatians 6:9

I stumbled upon these two verses in the same day and it struck me again that we are called by God to focus on the positive in this life, fully aware that it is difficult to do so because the times are evil and we do not see the harvest immediately.

We are instructed to look past circumstances and find a chance, an opportunity to do good and then to do it. I think we too often look past the opportunities to do good that we find because we don't see how they are going to "pan out" for good. We don't see how what we plant in that opportunity could ever be harvested into anything that amounts to much.

But as a speaker at my church recently said "We do the planting and the watering and God does the growing." In a way that's much easier. I'm off the hook for producing the fruit. I just have to look for places that seem to need some water or a seed or a little weeding and then do that, trusting God to produce the harvest at the right time.

The Happiest Place On Earth

My husband and I recently returned from a week-long vacation with our children to Disneyland - known to all as The Happiest Place on Earth. Like countless other parents we spent months planning and preparing for this visit. We bought guidebooks, subscribed to podcasts, visited websites, etc. in order to make the best use of our time and make a "magical" memory for our children.

My husand and I also have a small group from our church meeting in our home. Currently, we are studying the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn. In that book, he talks about how after Christ returns Heaven will come down to Earth and God will dwell with his resurrected people on Earth forever. Heaven will be on Earth. As his people, we will live in the happiest place on earth for eternity.

"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21: 2-4

Alcorn makes the point that few people prepare for their eternal destination with anything approaching the same intensity or anticipation that we do for a week-long vacation. I would have to agree. Even though we are studying Heaven, I am certain that I thought about Disneyland far more in the six months leading up to the trip than I did about Heaven. Perhaps it is because I don't know when I will be going to Heaven. I fall into the trap of believing I have time to think about, plan for, etc. for eternity - the Scarlett O'Hara syndrome (I will think about it tomorrow) . It occurs to me that my life would be very different if I could keep before me that I am going to Heaven and what waits for me there. If I thought of it and attended to it even only as much as I did our trip to Disneyland, I suspect that I would find an incredible amount of joy and peace in dealing with the "troubles" of this world.

I love Disneyland. I can't wait to return. There is so much I want to experience again and things I've still never gotten around to (Mr. Lincoln). And yet, it is time that I begin to develop the same attitude about Heaven. There are fewer (reliable anyway) guidebooks (okay, only one) to explore. Still, I believe what I learn will color what I do in the meantime, until I get there, with the same grace found there.

Amazing Freedom

(The above is from the movie Amazing Grace, well worth seeing.)

Whether the chains are on your body or in your thoughts, slavery marks you with a lie - that you belong not to God but to what enslaves you - be it another person, an addiction, your past, whatever. It seeks to make you believe that you have no choices and therefore no power and ultimately no worth - that you are not redeemable for who would redeem what is of no value.

Victor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor said that "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." We choose how to respond to the circumstances of our life. We do not have to be bound (enslaved) by what our body says or our head says. We can choose to respond from the spirit part of us, the part that was made in God's image, that will stand before His throne washed clean through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, redeemed and embraced. When we respond from that part of our nature, we can do all things through Christ because we are responding from the part that is Christ in us. The body and head will surely object because God's ways are not the ways of the world but they will follow when we give the lead to the new nature, the new identity that is placed in us at salvation. The choice of who gets to lead is ours at every moment in every circumstance.

At the women's conference I just returned from the speaker said, "Whoever gets the I is in charge." I am a new a new creation in Christ. My body may be aging and far too "fluffy" for it's own good. My head may have a mile long list of things I must do and things I must not do (for they are too dangerous, time-consuming, expensive, silly, etc.). But I (the real me, the spirit) can still choose to align myself with the God of the universe, allow him to work in me and through me to demonstrate his character and his love. My head says I am not a patient person. Yet, God is patient and He is in me. Therefore, I am patient. As long as I keep the I with the spirit part of me, my head can object all it likes but it doesn't get to choose how I respond to the stimulus and I can then choose to respond patiently.

Freedom is the proclamation that you belong to God - first, foremost, always and forever. Respond from that truth and miracles will follow you.

May you have a joyous, amazing Easter

Bought

When you adopt, particularly internationally, the cost is always on someone's mind and often that gets expressed very poorly. Recently a woman on my adoption e-mail group, who has been waiting almost a year for her referral , got the "Why is it taking so long, you're buying the baby aren't you" comment. She was asking the group how they dealt with such comments.

Typically, I've responded to comments about the costs of adoption by saying that doctors and nurses don't help you bring your baby into the world out of the goodness of their hearts. It's just for most people the true costs are hidden by insurance coverage. With adoption, however, the costs of getting your child home are not hidden.

Later, as I was driving home listening to a new scripture set to music CD, the song for 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 came on.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

It then occured to me that the truest response to such comments is "We were all bought...Christ paid the highest price to bring each one of us home. The money I paid people to help me bring my child home from China doesn't compare to the price that was paid for me and for you."

I know that right before I accepted Christ as my savior one of the most difficult concepts for me to grasp was that this price had already been paid and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was in the past. I desperately didn't want Christ to have had to die for me (me not being worthy of such a sacrifice and all). I eventually realized that it was a done deal and the only thing that was within my control was to accept that the price had been paid or to reject it. Rejecting it wouldn't take away one bit of the sacrifice or the suffering anymore than my being a "good" person would lessen what He did or make what He did unnecessary. It was already done. Nothing I could do now more than 2000 years after the fact would change what had been done or why it had been done. The only question was - would I benefit from it? Would I accept that the price for me was paid and the way home was now open?

Now that I've had my daughter home for nearly two years, the cost seems inconsequential. I am beginning to realize that perhaps God takes such delight in me, and each of his children, that he truly doesn't count the cost to bring us home.

Whatever

As a mother of a two-year-old, I am subject to much conversation that is well, unintelligible, no matter how many times I ask her to repeat herself. To avoid consenting to anything I didn't mean to or triggering the meltdown for saying no, I often find myself giving the noncommittal "Whatever" reply.

Recently, I saw that on a mug in a Christian catalog and thought, well that's not exactly the positive, inspiring wares you're used to seeing there. Then I read the description and realized that inside the word on the mug was Philipians 4:8 -

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

That really caught my attention and made me realize that so much of life really is how you look at it. You can choose to view something negatively or you can choose to think about "such things" through the lens of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy.

Walking In The Light

My husband proposed to me at Cape Meares Lighthouse so I found a wedding invitation that had a lighthouse on it. It also featured a couple walking on the beach. I wanted a Bible verse on it as well and Isaiah 2:5 fit perfectly with the image on the invitation.

In the nearly seven years now since our wedding, I have reflected on that verse and whether or not it has turned out to have any special meaning in our family's life. Over the course of the last year, I believe that it does. I have come to realize that it is very easy to allow the circumstances of the world to overwhelm you and to be beaten down by the darkness of the world and the sin - intentional or accidental - that pervades it. I am beginning to realize that walking in the light of the LORD means focusing on Him, who He is and what He has done for us. It is intentionally looking to the light and not focusing on the darkness of the world. We are in the world but we are called to walk in it in the light of the Lord, with His power available to us to respond rather than react to the circumstances we encounter. It truly is a choice. We don't really know how God intends to use the circumstances He puts us in but "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28).

How would our lives be different if we really believed that, trusted that? I think we would walk in the light. And it is my goal to begin to do that, to walk in the light.