Tag Archive: sin

Forgiveness & Reconciliation Part 2

Written on December 5, 2012 by in The Family Workshop

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…[and] if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (ROMANS 5:6, 10-11).

We, who have believed on the Name of Jesus Christ, are reconciled to Jehovah God…reconciled…We have resolved the differences between us and Him by acknowledging His authority over us, and by choosing to follow Him rather than our own sinful natures.  We are brought into harmony with Him because we acknowledge our sin and repent.  Restored, we are made to be like Him, so that our lives are consistent with His.  (see the definition of reconcile at Merriam-Webster.com).

All of this is true for us as individuals, but reconciliation also (1) is the larger story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption of mankind and (2) provides a template to helps us maintain healthy relationship with the LORD and with others.  Today we will briefly discuss the first part of this, as we can see it in the Bible, and we will leave the second part for next time.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned — for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam,who was a type of the one who was to come (ROMANS 5:12-14). 

In the Beginning, Man was in harmony with the LORD, today we might say “they were on the same page”; he was reconciled to God.  Adam’s sin brought about the Curse (Genesis 3:8-24) and the Curse changed the way men and women relate to their environment, to each other, and to the LORD.  Sin brought separation and discord, rather than the unity and harmony that reigned in the Garden. Unity and harmony with the LORD were restored by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who atoned for, or made right, what was wrong.  His obedience atoned for Adam’s (and our own) disobedience.  Jesus paid the price for our sin, He reconciled our account with Jehovah God, bringing us out of debt to sin.

The reconciliation of man to God through Jesus was foreshadowed in the relationship between Israel and Yahweh.  The LORD brought the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage to be His people (Exodus 20:2).  They were told, “You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26).  They were given the Law and the system of sacrifices in order to maintain relationship with Yahweh, and to keep them mindful of Him, and of their absolute need for Him (and to show their ultimate need for a Savior).

Throughout their history, Israel would come near to Yahweh, and then, when life was good, they would fall away and seek after other gods.  Israel would then experience separation from, and judgement by God.  Overwhelmed by the consequences of their sin, they would cry out to God, and come near to Him again, and experience restoration of relationship, or reconciliation.  This cycle is distinctly detailed in Judges and is often referred to as the Sin Cycle, but we see it clearly in Kings and Chronicles, and through the warnings of the Prophets, all the way up to the time of Jesus.

Can you relate your own spiritual walk to the history of Israel?  Have you ever found yourself chasing after things that draw you away from the LORD?  Have you felt the need to cry out to Yahweh because of your sin?  Have you experienced the peace that comes from reconciliation with Jehovah God, through Jesus?  If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you have lived the same “Sin Cycle” that we see illustrated in the Scriptures.

The “Sin Cycle” led to a lot of guilt and disappointment in myself, for many years, when I saw myself walking through it again and again.  Like the Israelites, I seemed to fall into the same sin, repeatedly.  As a Christian, I was bitterly discouraged by my lack of progress toward godliness.  I want to give you some hope if you ever feel that way too.

Remember what I said about Israel:  They were given the Law and the system of sacrifices in order to maintain relationship with Yahweh, and to keep them mindful of Him, and of their absolute need for Him (and to show their ultimate need for a Savior).  Next time we will discuss how we can turn the Sin Cycle into the Reconciliation Cycle in our own lives and, very importantly, teach it to our children.  When we focus on maintaining relationship, with God and with others, rather than dwelling on sin, we can experience freedom from the Curse and peace.

justAgirl…just like you

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Over Coming Our Mis-givings by Giving Thanks

Written on November 21, 2012 by in From the Pages of my Journal

Most of what I dread has to do with my expectations and with placing my hope in people instead of the LORD.

I said this earlier this week.  I shared about how expectations are my own undoing.  The holidays.  We think of Christmas decorations beginning in October, bountiful tables and Black Fridays in November and “too much commercialism” throughout December.  We stretch ourselves thin…too thin.  And we hold out our expectations like a measuring stick and we test our friends and families against them.

Whether you are expecting the best of someone, who cannot deliver it, or you are expecting the worst of someone, who fulfills that expectation and then some, people will let you down.  Everyone you love, everyone you know, shares this with you: we are fallen people in need of Grace.  We are bound to wreck it, step on it, step in it, and in a like manner, it will be done unto us…

Our own failures are a gift really.  The failures of others too.  All of it demonstrates our need for Someone Who is does more than exceed our expectations – He meets our need.  Opening our eyes to our own sin allows us to appreciate God’s gift of freedom, rescue, release, absolution, peace…He has provided our remedy.

The only person who will never let us down is the Triune God – in that way we have Three to count on – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And how can we ever put our hope in anyone else?  Loved ones break our hearts: they transgress, their expectations collide with ours, they leave us in this life and they leave us when they die… In the end, and even at our own End, we are alone with the One who was with us before we were born.

For You formed my inward parts;
 You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them  Psalm 139:13-16

And HE is always with you (1 Chronicles 22:18).  And HE is for you and not against you (Romans 8:28-31).  And HE guards you and provides good for you (Isaiah 58:11).  HE is the One for which we can always be thankful:

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
 on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners;
He upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked He brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,
 your God, O Zion, to all generations.   Psalm 146

Here is a beautiful rendition of a favorite hymn of mine.  Maybe you will find peace in it too?  Click here for the backstory, which, even if you have heard before, bears hearing again.  Happy Thanksgiving!

justAgirl…just like you!

P.S. See you Monday – when we will continue to “build” our House in the Family Workshop!

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The Beautiful and the Ugly

Written on October 4, 2012 by in From the Pages of my Journal

Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with His wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6)

I read this passage last week and then heard it twice (from two different sources).  That’s when you know that God is trying to tell you something!  It is one of my favorite images of Christ; it captures His character: that He could, and would, bear OUR burdens, and that He would choose this hard, hard road for Himself.  It is unimaginable to me – to embrace this much pain and grief, intentionally.  The thought of it – that He would choose the Cross…for our good and out of His goodness…this is the picture of Jesus that is very precious to me.

The wonderful Word surprises me sometimes.  How can something new come out of something centuries old?  The something new occurred to me while savoring the Word, above, last week.  I will try to explain it, but I might fail miserably, so bear with me.

Think now of the picture of Christ from Isaiah 53.  I remember the scenes from The Passion of the Christ (amazon.com link): battered, bruised, bloodied, branded a heretic when nothing could have been further from the Truth.  He endured the injustice, the mocking, the beatings, and the walk to Calvary this way:

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
    yet He opened not His mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so He opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).

The whole idea of this is both beautiful and ugly.  It is difficult to look at suffering like that but it is the triumph of Holiness, and so it is wonderful to behold.  Still, it is hard to see the picture in your mind’s eye of someone so right being treated so wrongly.

Remember this visual: the blood, the gashes, the marks from the whip, the utter exhaustion, the sadness in His eyes. All at once I saw this to be a picture of our own dark hearts.  On the outside, we all look pretty good most of the time.  But looks can be deceiving.  How many are suffering from a heart condition?  We are all heart-sick at some point, though the causes may vary:

  • The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
  • For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight (Psalm 51:3-4)
  • Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none (Psalm 69:20).
  • From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered Your terrors and am in despair.
    Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me. You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend (Psalm 88:15-18).

Our hearts are sinful and despairing without Jesus.  We deserve judgement.  We might deserve the public humiliation.  We have earned our pain.  Yet, He took what would be our secret sorrows, our secret shames and He bore them publicly.  He wore our shame.  He wore our sorrow.  He wore our separation from God.  He took the undisclosed ugliness, the fact that our hearts were so battered and bruised by sin, and He created a beautiful possibility.  He made it so we could escape the condition of the Pharisees:  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matthew 23:27-28).

Jesus rescued us from ourselves.  His act of heroism is the redemption of mankind. Because He bore our sins, we can comfort ourselves with this prayer and know that the work has already been done; it is finished: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).  It is finished and it is beautiful.

justAgirl…just like you!

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Embracing Your Strengths: Week 8

Written on March 7, 2012 by in Embracing Your Strengths

Water…we just can’t live without it.  We usually don’t drink enough of it (did you get your 8 glasses yesterday?).  In dreadful places around the earth, desperate people are crying out for it right now.

“Behold, God is my salvation, 
I will trust and not be afraid; 
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, 
And He has become my salvation.” 
Therefore you will joyously draw water 
From the springs of salvation. 
And in that day you will say, 
“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name. 
Make known His deeds among the peoples; 
Make them remember that His name is exalted.” 
Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; 
Let this be known throughout the earth. Isaiah 12:2-5

Water is a running theme in the Bible.  It cleansed the Earth in Noah’s time.  It cleansed the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper.  John baptized with it; Jesus walked on it.  But to live we must take it in, fill ourselves up with it; and it will nourish and strengthen us.

When we read the story of Aaron in our last Book Club assignment, I noticed that the Israelites seemed to live in constant thirst and distress. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”  But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (Ex 17:2-3).  God did provide for them.  He gave them water to drink and food to eat whenever they needed it, but it was never enough for them.  They did not learn to trust in Him.  Every time they thirsted but could not see the water, they doubted God and complained against Him.

Jesus told the Woman at the Well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,  but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14).  Later He attended the Feast of Booths, also called the the Feast of Tabernacles, which was a Jewish celebration commemorating the time when the nation of Israel had wandered in the Wilderness living in tents and worshipping in the Tabernacle, which was actually a large tent.  This feast was to serve as a reminder about the way the God provided for them during their time in the desert (bible-truth.org).  Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ (John 7:37-38).  There is never a coincidence in the Word of God or in the the ministry of Jesus.  He said these words, at this festival, to send a message.  Jesus promised to provide the answer to Israel’s thirst in the same way God provided for them in the Wilderness, only these springs of living water would never run dry and would always be available wherever they wandered.   And what He spoke that day, to them, is still true today, for us.

The image of the Israelites being rescued from slavery in Egypt, experiencing difficulties along the journey, complaining against God, and refusing to follow His chosen leader is an amazing metaphor for man’s relationship with God.  In the end, only those who trusted in the Lord, Joshua and Caleb, were allowed to enter the Promised Land (Num 14:6-9).  Jesus provides for us freedom from the slavery of sin and comfort in the desert times as we travel life’s journey.  He gives us the Water that will not run out.  He places His Holy Spirit within us.  This is the Divine Strength that we studied in this week’s bible study lesson.  The relief of our own rescue, the ability to keep on going in difficult times, the nourishment for our souls as they start to feel weary, and the hope of the Promised Land…Jesus is the remedy for what ails us.

Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; let this be known throughout the earth. Isaiah 12:5

JustAgirl…just like you!

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To Give God What We Hold Dear: What is Precious to You?

Written on January 27, 2012 by in Acceptable Offering

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops (Prov 3:9, NIV).  I wrote the first post in this category some time ago, discussing that, though it is true we should give God our very best (i.e. the firstfruits), the process of our sanctification also demands that we give Him our very worst.  These are things we cling to, sins we want to avoid dealing with, ungodly feelings and actions we justify, and secrets we keep from the rest of the world.  Like the character Gollum, from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the things that we hold closest to our hearts can corrupt us.  What is so “precious” to you that you cannot lay it down?  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt 6:21, KJV).   Are there things that you hold dear, so dear, that you withhold them from God, even attempting to hide them from Him and others: “small” resentments…”little” bad habits…”slight” grudges, or more?  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrew 4:13, NIV).  LORD, You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence (Ps 90:8, NIV).  God wants us to divest ourselves of everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).  He wants freedom for us and He knows that holding on to the ways of the flesh enslaves us to sin.  We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For one who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:6-11).  Yet, we struggle to let go.  Our old “comfortable” ways result in spiritual and emotional dis-comfort.  And still…while we are willing to offer our thanks, our praise, our money, our time and our service to the Lord, we often stop short of giving Him the ugliest parts of us – out of fear, shame or the desire to maintain the status quo.  Yet, offering our “worst” to God would honor Him just as much, or more, than giving our best.

Over the next few months, I will periodically post in this category, Acceptable Offering, about some of those “precious” things that we may need to offer up to God.  We are all in different places on our journey.  We  have had unique experiences (good and bad) that have helped form our ways of dealing with stress, disappointment, success, failure or just…life in general.  Often, what we’ve learned from the World leads us to broken ways of navigating through life; and these are the topics I plan to post about: Pride (Part I), Pride (Part II), Idolatry, Gluttony & Greed, Slothfulness, Malice,  Envy & Jealousy, Anger, Fear, and Rebellion.  Now, this is one of those top ten lists you don’t want to be on, so we must all look closely at ourselves to see if we are entertaining these sorts of thoughts, words and behaviors.  Sin, even in small amounts, interrupts our fellowship with God.  This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:5-9).  So let us demonstrate our love to Him by bringing Him all sorts of Acceptable Offerings…especially a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, [which He] will not despise (Ps 51:17).

JustAgirl…just like you!

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Journey to Joy: Week 8 Day 2

Written on December 20, 2011 by in Journey to Joy

Complaining.  Today we are to look at our grumbling and complaining hearts and repent.  I think complaining is more the American pastime than baseball.  I must confess that I can fall into the habit of complaining from time to time…it is like falling in a ditch – the slope is slippery and before you know it you are down in it.  The Lord really brought me to the realization that complaining is a serious sin not long ago.  I have always known it, I suppose; but I did a word study on it, pouring over all the passages where the Israelites were complaining and grumbling in the desert, and found just what Lorraine Hill reports: 

God views our complaining attitudes quite seriously. Grumbling is not some small sin that he casually condones. He judges it gravely because it is such an affront to his generosity. In dealing with the Israelites, God sends serpents to bite the complainers, plagues to destroy the grumblers, and fire to consume the outskirts of the camp. Take a moment to allow the magnitude of this to set in. God does not just give his people a sweet warning to stop complaining and grumbling; he kills some of them. Do we honestly view our grumbling in such a serious light? (pg. 215).

The verses she gives us to study today were the same scriptures the Lord showed me because they get right to the heart of the matter.  Here are my thoughts about complaining along with the verses from today’s reading and a few more:

  1. Complaining destroys our Christian witness.  God is very explicit in His instructions.  He doesn’t condone complaining if you are just “venting” to a friend or if someone “really gets on your nerves” or you have what you consider to be a “justifiable complaint”.  Rather He says, “do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe” (Phi 2:14-15).  Here God is pretty clear that not complaining  will distinguish us from others as belonging to Him.  When we complain, we are just like anyone else who is consumed by the way of the World.  
  2. Complaining against other people, or a situation, is really complaining against God and His plan and puts us at odds with God.  “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘he has no hands’?” (Isaiah 45:9).
  3. Complaining interferes in our fellowship with God: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ (Hebrews 3:7-10).
  4. Complaining is sin and sinning gives the devil an opportunity, or a foothold, which prevents us from glorifying God  (Eph 4:20-30)
  5. Complaining steals our joy and peace – this is guaranteed by God Himself: For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it notall those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned,whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? (Heb 3:16-18).  Jesus died on the cross to provide us access to the Promised Land in two forms: (1) when this life ends, we will enter Heaven and  (2) in this life He will give us peace and rest, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).  Because of Jesus we are able to rest.  Complaining prevents us from entering His rest because of our disobedience, as God promised.  

Complaining is a habit and complaining is a sin.  It is the cultural norm and seems to be everywhere.  We have less offensive names for it which water it down: “venting”, “getting it off your chest”, “whining”, “bellyaching”, “kvetching”…but sin is separation from God which is no small thing.  So when we begin to complain we must see it as the thing that comes between us and God and will lead us to more sin – anger, grudges, gossip, envy, malice (by giving the devil a foothold).  How many of us would willingly invite the devil into our hearts in the same breath that we un-invite Jesus from that place?  At the first complaint, that is what we are doing.  But just as quickly, we can turn it around (isn’t God wonderful?): Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

JustaGirl…just like you

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Journey to Joy: Week 2 Day 5

Written on November 11, 2011 by in Journey to Joy

Lorraine Hill’s lesson today is about how sin disrupts our fellowship with God and gives us the story of David and Bathsheba for an example (you can read the bible passage here if you like: 2 Sam 11 and 12) – this is a great example of the importance of repentance.  Unrepented sin is very destructive to our relationships with others and with God.  This week, we have also discussed legalism and how so much focus on strict adherence to “the rules” can actually be detrimental to our relationship with God.  Today is an important opportunity for clarification about sin and legalism.  First, if your or your church is adding more rules that you must follow to those in the bible – that is legalism and distracts us from our relationship with God.  It should go without saying that the Church should help us apply what is in the bible to our modern life.  For example, we should obey the speed limit laws because they have been set by our governing authorities: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (Romans 13:1-2).  Second, Jesus “broke the rules” (Ex 20:8-12) himself by healing on the sabbath and allowing his disciples to pick grain from the fields on the sabbath (Mark 3:1-4, Matt 12:1-8). “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17)…Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 4:23-25).

What does this mean?  So what is the relationship between “the rules” and “sin”?  What “rules” guide us now?  Again, here we see Christ helping us to do what we could not do on our own:

  • He kept the rules that we could not keep.  He did it, in our place. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law,weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4)
  • Now He expects us to be obedient to Him, personally. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15), but
    • He simplified “the rules” for us: Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt 22:37-40)
    • He writes His law on our hearts. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke,though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer 31:31-34
    • He gave us His Holy Spirit to help us to learn to hear Him and obey Him “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:25-26
  • He always forgives us when we repent from our sins. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:8-12)

I think God simplified things for me as I drew closer to Him.  I still struggle with sin, but I understand it better now.  It is not so much “my will vs. His will”.  It is more like, how long do I want this thing to come between me and God? 

JustaGirl…just like you

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Journey to Joy: Week 2 Day 3

Written on November 9, 2011 by in Journey to Joy

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Gal 1:6-7  

Being a military wife, and a military daughter, I have worshipped in many different churches – all different sizes, denominations, and theologies (sometimes the choices are slim).  And I have been in churches that put heavy yokes of legalism on their members…but the heaviest yoke of legalism, I put on myself.  Girls, do you struggle with the sin of Pride?  Not the kind of Pride that says, “I want everyone to know all about me and all of the great things I have done”; but the kind of Pride that is injured, the kind of Pride that says,”did anyone else see that mistake I made? Or rather, how could anyone have missed it?”  Perfectionism always starts with the best of intentions but ultimately ends in discouragement.  It was inevitable that I would apply that kind twisted logic to my spiritual walk.  <<sigh>>  I’m not the only one…so many women are “working” on something.  Who doesn’t want to be a better mom, better wife?  And thinner too, with a spotless house and gourmet meals. But, what did me in, was trying to be all of that, while knowing I must always be kind and patient and loving and forgiving and generous…and spend hours in prayer and bible study (early morning, before anyone else is awake) and also volunteer at church (not just for VBS) and the list goes on.  At one time, thinking like that really dominated my thought-life.  Every day was set up for failure rather than the “success”  I was chasing.  When I put godliness on my to-do list I thought I was just being humble, knowing my own faults, acknowledging my sin.  On the face of it, that sounds like good Christianity.  But here are some important things I have learned along this road:

  1. Focusing most of your time on your self-improvement and your unworthiness is not helpful in your Christian walk – it is sin.  God wants us to spend our energy on better things.  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, ”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 22:37-40).
  2. YOU will not fix yourself.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:8-9).
  3. YOU cannot save yourself from Sin – Jesus already did that. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:22-23).  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17).
  4. Yes, we all struggle with our sin nature but an unhealthy fixation on your sin draws your eye to yourself  rather than keeping it on God, the rightful recipient of your worship. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt 6:33).

It all goes back to Abiding in the Vine (John 15:1-11).  God wants us to work on our relationship with Him and let Him work on our righteousness.

JustaGirl…just like you

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Clean House!

Written on October 25, 2011 by in Bible Study

Since we are postponing our Journey to Joy, temporarily, I wanted to share with you something that happened yesterday that really inspired me.  I was already thinking about Jesus being the Vine and the branches from yesterday’s post and God worked through my children to teach me more about how Abiding in the Vine can help prepare us to bear the fruit of the spirit – to reiterate that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5-11, Gal 5:22-23). So today’s post comes to you courtesy of Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum.  Our memory verse for this week is: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (Rev 3:20).  We (me and my Sweet Girl and Boy) were discussing this and so here is kind of how it went…

Me: Jesus is the one knocking.  Do y’all know where the door is?

My Boy: Heaven? [I have to admit, this is always a good guess when studying the Bible...and I am pretty sure that his dad has NOT been playing him Guns n Roses' (or any other) version of "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Heaven's Door"]

Me: No.  Jesus is knocking on the door to your heart, like if He came to our front door, should we let HIm in?

Both: Yeah!

Me: But what if our house is messy?

Both: Silence [pssst! What is the right answer???]

Me: What if our floor was dirty and we hadn’t done the dishes?  What if our toilet was dirty??  [giggles here]  Would we still let Him in?

Both: Silence [Lady, you are really tricky!]

Me: Remember Niecy Nash on Clean House?  On the show, Niecy helped people who had a lot of junk in their houses.  Some of these people had been collecting all kinds of stuff – some of it was good stuff, but a ton of it was just garbage and it needed to be thrown away.  She helped them to sort through their things to find the good stuff to keep and to see how the garbage was dragging them down.  And then she helped them throw out the junk.  After that, Niecy would come in with an interior designer and  they would rearrange furniture and paint walls and put in new flooring.  At the end of the show, the people had a great, new, clean house and they were amazed because they never knew they could still be happy without the junk they had been holding onto. In the same way, Jesus is willing to accept us as we really are – a big mess.  We don’t have to get everything in our hearts cleaned up for Him before He comes in – if we open the door, He will enter in and show us how to make our hearts a better place, a place where He  can live.  [Programming note: Niecy is no longer the host of the show, but she was on the episodes we watched].

 My Sweet Girl remembered how Mary’s sister, Martha, felt pressured to get everything just right for Jesus when He came to her house.  She was so mad because her sister was not helping her!   Mary was spending time with hanging out with Jesus instead.  He told her,  “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42). 

We decided that we would remind each other, on those days when we struggle (cranky Mommy, pouty brother, or grouchy sister)…we will just tap ever so slightly on the table or the wall.  Because sometimes we forget all that Jesus has done for us and things in our hearts start to get junky again…knock, knock, knock.  After all, we want to continue to make Jesus welcome in our hearts.  

Anyone else have a tendency to get messy sometimes?

JustaGirl…just like you!

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Lord I Want to Know You: Days 23-25

Written on September 2, 2011 by in Lord I Want to Know You

Today’s lesson finishes something we started before our break – chapter 9.  The The name we are studying is Jehovah-rapha, The Lord Who Heals.  In the first part of the chapter Kay Arthur (KA) showed us how God is the Lord Who Heals. We are introduced to Jehovah-rapha in the book of Exodus.  God was already providing for the Israelites through the wilderness as Jehovah-jireh, The Lord Will Provide. He had provided protection from the Egyptians, nourishment in the form of quail and manna to eat and water to drink, and direction as to where they should travel.  As a further extension of provision, God promised to provide protection from the diseases which He had inflicted upon the Egyptians, provided the Israelites would obey Him, introducing the name “I am the LORD who heals you” (Ex 15:26).  Next KA reveals that God heals us from both spiritual and physical pain and that Christ’s death on the Cross was the natural extension of Jehovah-rapha that brings absolute healing from the real problem: sin.

Today’s lesson explains how sin is the root of all of our problems.  On Day 23 KA shares her personal story of salvation, saying that she had lived a depraved and wicked life and was sick at heart until she saw her complete and utter need for salvation by Jesus and turned to Him.  On Day 24 she delves in the problems of sin and sickness more specifically, saying sickness is a direct result of sin.  ”If man had not sinned, there would be no sickness” (p.81).  She explains that this statement can be understood in two ways: (1) if Adam had not sinned, sickness would not have been brought into the world – so all sickness is a result of that first sin; and (2) that sickness is the consequence of sin in our lives.  Now here is where it gets tricky.  The sin in our lives may not be our own.  It may be in our lives in the sense that we are receiving the consequences of someone else’s individual sin (“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments Ex. 20:4-6; David sinned and numbered the children of Israel…so the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead 1 Chron 21:14), or of corporate sin (as prophesied in Ezekiel, “In this way, I will demonstrate my glory to the nations. Everyone will see the punishment I have inflicted on them and the power of my fist when I strike. And from that time on the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. The nations will then know why Israel was sent away to exile—it was punishment for sin, for they were unfaithful to their God. Therefore, I turned away from them and let their enemies destroy them.  I turned my face away and punished them because of their defilement and their sins EZ 39:21-24); and yes, sometimes the sin is our own and the sickness is a consequence of our choices (like when Miriam was struck with leprosy for criticizing Moses, and therefore criticizing God, in Numbers 12).

In addition, God uses sickness to discipline us when we are not living in obedience.  I prefer to think of discipline as training rather than punishment because training is intended for improvement.   So KA does emphasize that, if we encounter difficulties and/or sickness, we must first ask ourselves: Am I living outside of God’s will and purpose for me?  If the answer is “yes”, repentance is required.  If the answer is “no” then we should ask Jehovah-rapha for our healing and patiently wait – maybe God is dealing with someone else through our trial. Lastly, sometimes God uses sickness to reveal Himself to us: “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”  “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him” John 9:2-3.  Again, if sin had not entered the world we would not need to learn about God in these ways because we would walk with Him as Adam and Eve did in the garden.

Either way God is God and has authority over us, “in sickness and in health”. Here is another tricky part: KA reminds us that God is all powerful and He is a God who accomplishes what He sets out to do…nothing that happens to us or in our world happens outside of His will.  But His character is good so we can trust that, in the end, God’s will for us is our good.  He is Jehovah-rapha: the LORD Who Heals.  There is no one else so powerful.  He is our place of refuge and the One we must to go to when we need healing.

JustaGirl…just like you!

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Called to New Life…

Written on April 29, 2011 by in called

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Cor. 5:14-17).

Our God wants us to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). It is in His character to create and continually renew. The fact that He does this for us individually is so humbling. There is a wonderful book by John Eldredge, called Wild at Heart, where he explains 2 Corinthians 5:17 (…therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature…) in a way I had never considered.  This scripture has become one of the cornerstones of my faith now. We get so bogged down in trying to “be better”. We are overwhelmed by our mistakes and we keep trying to “get it right” but never can. But WE don’t have to get it right…Jesus already did that for us. Sin is a constant problem for Christians but we can’t let it be our focus. If we do, we are not focusing on Jesus. What a revelation that was to me! I am a new creature. I can’t conquer sin – Jesus already did that. I am not the same person I once was, but God is not finished with me yet either. He continues to refine me. HE does that, not me, as I abide in Jesus, who said, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also 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 and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart form me you can do nothing (John 15:3-5). 

God is so good to us! He knows how easily we can get discouraged with ourselves so He reminds us of how He will help us. But He also knows how easily we fall into the trap of thinking we can do it without Him; so He reminds us that we are not to take the credit. Paul says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14).  Only because of Jesus, you are “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). Only because of Jesus, you are “born again” by the Spirit (John 3:3).  Only because of Jesus, you are able to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth (Eph. 4:22-24).  We are set aside now for His purposes rather than our own. We are meant to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but you now are the people of God; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.” (1Peter 2:9-10). God calls us to a new life in Him; but He does not stop there; He draws us close and helps us to become the people He created us to be…

Just a girl…just like you

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