Reducing

Reducing is not fun. The benefits are though. No, I am not talking about losing weight although the similarities often overlap. I am referring to, as John the Baptist said, "He must increase and I must decrease." (John 3:30)

Not too long ago I was asking a friend questions that correspond with Titus 2 about what older women are to ask younger women. I being the older woman of the group felt like that was a good place to start concerning our being accountable. Titus 2 says, "younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." We had a good conversation. I asked specifically about being busy at home. We talked a little about what that meant. Both of them work outside the home, and I do not, anymore anyway. I have been mulling this around in my heart lately. Thats where the "reducing" comes in.

Almost two years ago I had a ministry, a job that I loved, and a home filled with a myriad of activities. In one day it was taken away. I have been mourning ever since. I have fought, cajoled, begged, been depressed, been angry, been miserable, prayed and prayed and prayed. Every time I think an opportunity comes up God has slammed the door shut. Every time I have felt like, OK I will go there and do that, I will be busy doing this, I will minister or teach or do whatever over there, bang closes the door. I have been forced to as Psalm 137:1 says, "By the waters of Babylon there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion." God took the temple and temple worship away from His children and they were sitting by the banks of the waters of Babylon, wishing for the past. Little did they know that this was ushering the Messiah.

What does this have to do with Titus 2, and about being busy at home? I have missed the forest for the blessings of the trees. I must admit there have been days when I have sat in bed and felt utterly sorry for myself, but God has given me a ministry and it is at home. I don't always get the admiration at home as I did at my teaching job, I don't always hear how smart I am, or organized I am, but God has called me to serve my family whether I get what I think I deserve or not. He is teaching me much on the banks of the river of Babylon. Character issues I could never learn anywhere else; servanthood, selflessness, dying to live, waiting, patience, faith in God Himself not His blessings, dependence, and without prayer nothing is accomplished, without Him nothing is worth doing or living for. In some ways I am waiting and in other ways I am learning that I have everything I need and I don't have to wait to live now!

But waiting is hard. Waiting on what? I don't know what. I don't know where, or I don't know when. I don't even know if ever. So, I need to live for now, with the relationships that God has blessed me with not looking forward, or backward. But at the same time learning from the past and looking for Home. My story is being woven not for my story but for His, and I can trust that the reducing that I am going through is to make me more like Jesus. That is a story I am looking forward to, and at the same time, it makes me long for Home.

Waiting on the Bridegroom.................Lynn

2012 or Bust by Chuck Colson

*I love Chuck Colson, his analysis on culture is phenomenal. Look at all he has to offer at Breakpoint.

In the film The Day After Tomorrow, audiences were told that global warming could produce an instant ice age. Seriously! In 10,000 B.C., they were told that the pyramids were built by aliens using mammoths for the heavy lifting. Well, this same film director will tell us on the History Channel this month that life as we know it will end on December 21, 2012.

Now, to be fair to Roland Emmerich, he is simply trying to entertain people by literally projecting their anxieties onto the big screen.

If you Google “December 21, 2012,” you will get nearly 7 million hits. Do a similar search at Amazon and you find more than 400 books on the subject. There is obviously a lot of interest and more than a little anxiety about that date and both will only grow as we get closer to what’s already being called “12/21.”

December 12, 2012, is the last day listed on what is known as the Maya “long count calendar.” That calendar marks what the Maya—a now non-existent civilization—regarded as the end of the present cycle of creation.

What makes this fact rise above the level of a historical curiosity is, first of all, the Maya’s astronomical prowess. They charted the movements of celestial bodies with an accuracy unmatched until the invention of the telescope and, in some instances, not until the 20th century.

This alone isn’t enough to explain the unease about December 21, 2012, especially since, according to archaeologists, the Maya themselves never said anything about what would happen that day. Their real-world descendants find the hype annoying and are tired of getting letters from fourth-graders saying “they’re too young to die.”

This unwarranted and unwelcome attention to a long-extinct civilization is, like all apocalyptic thinking, a manifestation of cultural anxiety. Events like the 2004 tsunami and concerns about the economy, terrorism, and the environment remind us how vulnerable we really are.

Until relatively recently, we, like the psalmist, knew where are our help came from, and wouldn’t fear even if the mountains fell into the sea.

Then that faith in the biblical God was replaced by a faith in human prowess and, eventually, faith in nothing.

Well, Western culture might have lost its faith, but folks have not lost their anxieties. So since we are no longer willing to embrace the ancient faith, many looked for solace or explanation in other ancient faiths, or at least new-age versions of these faiths.

So we’re told that the ancient Maya, the Hopi Indians, and the Chinese text I Ching all predict that 2012 will be a time of “extraordinary shift.”

But they don’t. It’s all hype.

What’s going on here is the idea that we live in a random and unintelligible universe, and that’s more terrifying than the cataclysms predicted for the year 2012. So we grasp at straws or over-interpret obscure texts, or we despair.

But there is a third alternative—real faith. Christians know that God is working out His purposes in history, and that faith removes all anxieties.

Wayward Walking

Walking in the woods today I was going over a very familiar path, but lo, most of the trails were now covered over by a blanket of color. As I continually found myself getting off track, it reminded me of the many similar times in my journey with the Lord that I also take detours. I am not talking about huge scandals or anything like that, I am talking about the daily battle of dying to self, not relying on me or my circumstances, listening to the siren song of the world, or on-going forgetfulness of just how dependent I am on Jesus. I am convinced that it is in these little waywardnesses of life that the larger scandals are then born. Read what James has to say about what gives birth to sin and how it occurs:

^13"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. ¹⁵Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

^16"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

How often in a day am I tempted to think that I am in control, that I can change my families hearts, that I can change my own heart, and that I can get to a place where I slide through life on my own? There is not a day when I am to forget about the battle, and my heart has to continually be steered back on the path when the leaves of pride, self-righteousness, and self sufficiency cover my path. The continual battle for sanctification is and will always be fought in whether the Word of God is supreme in my life. It must be read, studied, applied and obeyed, in order to know just where to trod.

As I was re-walking the paths that I had already gone over at least once, it reminded me of just how much I need to get my map from the only one who knows where I am to go next. That path maybe the path of suffering, where disappointment tries to over take me, and then I am to recognize that all good gifts come from above, and they are often come in wrappings that I would never choose.

Isaiah 30:21 (New International Version)

²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Doodles

I have some friends that have more talent in their "doodles" than I can even imagine. Great blog, Lindsay.

Belinda at Upsidedownbee also "doodles" expertly. Belinda did cards for my birthday, and the cat for a friend in Thomasville. Hey Bee, isn't the Bee that Lindsay drew adorable?

Maybe I will try it.

The Gospel

"The gospel...should be seen as not only a message of good news for lost people to be saved from sin's penalty, but also a message of good news for Christian people to be saved from sin's domineering power. The goal of the gospel is not merely to forgive us, but to change us into true worshippers of God and authentic lovers of people."

Dr. Steve Childers, True Spirituality

Quote from Graced Again

Today in Thomasville, GA

I had a great day today visiting, praying, laughing, eating and walking with my friends. We are here in GA and am here to teach at a women's retreat. We walked at the Thomasville Park, and then we ate at a wonderful restaurant called Jonah's. We just had to buy t-shirts at Jonah's (a tradition) and then we just happened to drop by afterwards to the bookstores in town. Wonderful day, wonderful fellowship.

Cultural musings

As I observe political, social, religious, and cultural trends I see some great divides. There is the divide between Christianity and Atheism, I guess that has always been around. I see the divide between conservatives and liberals, those that have a liberal view of the Bible and those that believe it to be the inerrant, God-breathed document that it is. The divides among us are great. I was perusing different church growth sites and even there you can see divides between those that want to speak to culture and those who want to blend in better. On one political site I read of the ignorance of the populace today about the Constitution, that we do not even take it seriously anymore. My son called tonight and was taken aback when on Wednesday night the campus minister where he goes to college announced to everyone that he didn't believe in inerrancy, and that homosexuality was not a sin. Everywhere there is a divide.

It seems to me that there is a common denominator between these divides. It comes down to those who believe in an absolute standard and those who do not, relativism rules the day. In all these little "wars" it comes down to the question, "do you believe in anything that is timeless, absolute, and a truth to die for?" When a people believe in nothing, they become slaves to anyone who feels better than they do. It all comes down to feelings, opinions, and sentiment.

Martin Luther King said, "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

Our culture is coming apart as we speak. Christians have to giving this dying culture something worth dying for, and then we will truly find a life worth living.