Shadow

The Bible I read in my Quiet Time doesn't have cross references.  Sometimes it's annoying because I like knowing where different passages are that relate to a verse I'm reading.  However, most of the time I really enjoy it because I get to make my own cross references in the margins.  It allows me to get to know my Bible in a different way than I ever have before.  Sometimes, like today, I'll read a passage and it reminds me of another passage and I have to flip through my Bible until I find the passage that I was looking for.  As I was flipping through Psalm today, I ran across a very well known Psalm, Psalm 23.  This beautiful Psalm starts off, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want..."  This chapter has been used for many different occasions and in different settings.  I used to not think that much of it actually and thought at times it was over rated, but then my grandfather died.  A little while before his death my grandfather gave my dad his Bible.  They both were pastors and it seemed right to my grandfather that my dad receive his Bible.  As my dad flipped through it after my grandfather's death, he came across a note my grandfather had written in the margin referring to verse 4, which says, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."  In the margin of his Bible, my grandfather wrote something to the affect of, "There must be light to create a shadow."  Light.  If there is light then there is hope.  The light may seem far off, but it is there to guide you and give you hope.  You may not even be in the "shadow of death" like David was, but you may have another shadow or a few.  I know I do.  Currently I'm in the valley of the shadow of school and graduation.  You may be in the valley of the shadow of work, family, school, relationships...BUT there is and will always be light shining as it creates your shadow.  With light comes hope and light will always penetrate the darkness.  Don't be discouraged when you are walking in the valley, because there is always hope for we know the source of the light.

Where Is Your Faith?

I have to be totally honest, sometimes it's hard for me to read the Gospels.  Sometimes when I read in them I knock my tongue at the top of my mouth, which creates a clicking noise, and I kinda move my head back and forth as if to say, "Is there anything new here...I guess not."  Other times when I read it's like, "Oh where did that happen?" and I'll look for it on a map or do a little looking into the place that the story took place.  And though it's bad that I do all of this, you really can't blame me, I have heard and/or read all of the stories in them about a million times.  I know that's no excuse, but I want something new, something exciting.  I want to make that big theological/historical/significant discovery that makes everything make sense to everyone and changes the world.  I have high ambitions, I know, and I guess I'm a bit self-centered or self-absorbed, but I just love diving into the Word.  So when I sat down to do my Quiet Time, I honestly didn't think I would get much out of a couple of the chapters I was going to read, mainly the passages from Leviticus, and Luke (which is why I read from several different books of the Bible in my devotions time).  When I finally got to my Luke passage though, it didn't seem like anything different.  I wasn't clicking or moving my head back and forth, but I wasn't as engaged as I was reading about the ark being taken away by the Philistines or my Proverb of the day, which made me chuckle a little.  Like I've said, I've heard and/or read all of these stories a million times.  Anyways, I was reading Luke 8, which has a lot of stories I've heard before: the women minister to Jesus, the parable of the sower and its purpose, the purpose of parables in general, the parable of the revealed light, Jesus' mother and brothers come, the wind and waves obeying Jesus, the man with the demon Legion in him, and the story of Jairus' daughter and the women with the bleeding healed.  All of which are pretty popular stories, but one in particular spoke to me today.  The funny thing is, it's probably the most popular, or at least in the top three most popular, pericope in this chapter.  I'm talking about the story of Jesus calming the wind and waves.

Most of the time I read this story and think "Oh disciples, how stupid are you really?  Jesus, the Messiah, God Incarnate was in the boat with you!  He's done all of these other things for you and in front of you for others and He's always provided and you think now you're going to die.  You really think this was the plan God had for Jesus and would let you die like this?"  And as I was going along, starting to have these thoughts cross into my head once again, I get to verse 25 when Jesus says, "Where is your faith?"  And things changed a little.  I didn't read it as "Where, Oh ye disciples, is you your faith?"  Instead I read, "Where, Lisa, is your faith?  Where is your faith when the storm's around you?  Because I'm still with you.  I haven't left the boat of your life.  Yeah, I know it's rough and the waves are dragging you under, but where is your faith?"  This story looks completely different when I realize I am the disciples in this story.  I often cry out, "Lord, I'm perishing...  Look how frail I am.  I haven't gotten much sleep lately, I haven't eaten well lately either, I have a test coming up and projects all over the place, and if I do one more thing, Lord, I'm going to die.  Please don't let me drown."  Now, I hear Him saying to me, "Lisa, where is your faith?"  And I should have faith; I know how the story ends, I've heard this story a million times, His disciples, they didn't know how the story would end.  So now, I'll turn this around and ask you: Where is your faith when life gets rough?  I hope it's in Christ.

Sin, Grace, Freedom, Integrity

Tuesday I went to a conference in which the speaker talked about four different markers of a Christian.  Since going to that conference I have been doing a lot of thinking about this topic.  I have come to the conclusion that I don't think there are just 4 markers of being a Christian.  Yes, love, being good, having wisdom, and being free are all things that mark the life of a Christian, but what about everything else that encompasses being a Christian?  What about standing up for truth?  What about the fact that any marker of being a Christian means nothing without the truth?  I didn't agree with the speakers perception of freedom, or goodness for that matter, but I would like to concentrate on Christian Freedom for now. I felt the speaker either ran out of time or was himself confused .  Either way, I feel that talking to a group of college aged kids and not being explicit about the nature of Christian Freedom is unwise.   In talking with my classmates the following day, I mentioned the fact that he left freedom so open ended.  One explanation from a classmate was that he thought it was the speaker's way of making us think.  I'm all about thinking, that's part of the reason I started this blog, but I don't think you should leave a topic such as freedom open ended for college age students, or any age for that matter, to interpret any way they want because most of the time college students want excuses to do what they want. Plus if Truth is (as it should be) the goal, you shouldn't leave something as broad as freedom open for people to possibly use to make excuses.  With that being said, I'm going to get started on what I think are the fundamentals of Christianity.  These aren't markers that show the character of being a Christian, but it's my understanding of what it means to be a Christian.  And it's my belief that if you accept this then your life will directly reflect it because your heart cannot help but be changed.  These will be manifested in your actions and interactions with others as you strive to follow Christ.  This may seem to be an "obvious" post.  That's because it is, but it's something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.

First of all sin is a factor in everyone's life, "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3: 23).  Sin is not something even the "best" Christian can escape.  It's the reason that Christ had to come to earth and die.  It's what keeps us from having a perfect relationship with God.  Before sin came into the world God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  After sin came into the world we, both God and Humanity, began the struggle to restore that relationship.  We do what we can, which is the best we can, but it's still not perfect.  But God's plan is.  Even though sin plagues us it doesn't mean there isn't hope.  Hope came with Christ through grace, according to God's plan of Salvation.  For we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:18).  Grace is a gift.  You can never be good enough, wise enough, or love others enough for it to be earned.  Grace merely takes believing in the Truth and relying on your faith.  With grace comes ultimate forgiveness.  While this is simple, that is relatively uncomplicated as God has explained it to us, it is not easy.  Given that we are human, believing in the Truth and relying on Faith takes work.  The comfort comes from knowing that there is nothing we can do to separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39).  And since we all have sinned we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24).  No matter what we do or what we've done, God will always love us and forgive us.  Through grace we are forgiven and become free; sin no longer has a hold on us.  However, we should not let ourselves get the wrong idea about the nature of this interaction between God and His creation.  It may seem logical given the fact that 1. we all sin and fall short of the glory of God and we will continue to sin in our imperfect state we are in 2. because of grace we are forgiven no matter what we've done or do and 3. because of this grace we are free, then we should also be free to do whatever we want because God will forgive us because of His grace.  But as Paul writes, "What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound [be given freely] Certainly not!" (Romans 6:1-2a).  This leads me to my last point, integrity.  This invited the question "how are we living out our freedom?"  Paul also writes in Galatians "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty [freedom]; only do not use liberty [freedom] as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (5:13).  This means that we should not use our freedom to "take advantage" of Gods grace that He has bestowed on us.  Integrity says that if we truly LOVE God then we wouldn't want to take advantage of His grace.  Integrity wants to live a life that says yes I know I am a sinner, but my sin is the reason for Christ's pain and suffering.  From that suffering I have been given Victory over sin, not the freedom to keep on sinning.  Would I torture and continue torturing a person I love?  NO! So then why would I want to continue to do this to the God I love?  Is it because I can't see Him?  If He's not right in front of me, then can I do whatever I want and forget about it because I'm free?  NO!  Integrity doesn't allow me to do this.  Integrity says, yes I can't see Him, but I have faith that He is real and I believe in the sacrifice of His Son, so I wont seek out pleasures of the flesh that I know to be sins.  This doesn't mean I can't have fun, rather I'm not going to seek out something that will make my God suffer.  Integrity must be an essential part of freedom.  We must also remember that grace and freedom did not come without a price.  Christ had to die so that I can live.  And now what do I do to show my gratitude?  Do I continue to take advantage of God's grace, ignore my sin as sin and turn away from God, or fall on my face like David did in Psalm 51 genuinely asking for  forgiveness.  Ultimately when I stand in front of God I want Him to say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."  I don't want to hear "Depart from Me, I never knew you."  In examining these things during the past few weeks, I've realized the importance of living a life of integrity in Christ's freedom through grace.  After all, that is my part in God's perfect plan.

Ash Wednesday

Obviously it is no longer Ash Wednesday, but since I did not get a chance to write yesterday, I thought I would now.  Ash Wednesday is a day to remember our sins and remind us how much we need a Savior.  It marks the beginning of the season of Lent (40 days excluding Sundays).  With that little bit of background I thought it was fitting that my verse of the night, which was actually Wednesday morning (12:08 am) was from Lamentations.  However, it was hopeful verses.  It said:

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  'The Lord is my portion' says my soul, 'therefore I hope in Him.'" (3:22-24)

These verses remind me that though this is a time for me to remember my sins that caused Jesus to die, there is still hope.  Though I do not deserve His compassion, because He is merciful I will not get the punishment I deserve.  And as I observe this season of remorse and guilt, remembering my sins and shame, and giving up things that I value too much, I will be mindful of the fact that this is not the end of the story.  Jesus rose from the dead three days after being crucified for MY sins.  But even that is not the end, because there is no ending to this story.  And I remember that "His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning."  And my soul shall say, in this time of the year designated to repentance, "The Lord is my portion...therefore I hope in Him."

What CAN I Give?

With Ash Wednesday being tomorrow, I asked myself: what should I give up this year?  Two years ago I had given up sugar with only exception of natural sugar like in fruits.  I did the same thing last year, but cheated when I drove home for spring break because I needed soda.  Then it all went down hill from there.  This year I wanted to be different.  I have had a lot of distractions and so I do want to "Give up" to make more time for God.  So, now more than ever, I will give up sugar again and I am having Jordan change the password to my facebook account not so that I don't get on it for 40 days, but so that I don't get on it excessively for 40 days.  But as I was thinking about what all I could give up I started to think of what I can give.  This is the time that we remember that God gave us His Son to die for us.  And in saying this I'd love to be able to put aside money every day or with every thought, but right now I am completely broke in every sense of the word.  So I kept thinking about what I have a lot of.  One thing that came to mind is that I have a lot of is opinions.  This blog then is the root of all of that.  It will be a mixture of a lot of things, but most importantly it will be about what God is doing in my life.  Have fun reading, ask questions and post what God is doing in your life.