God’s Word

The Proof of the Cross

Christ our Passover.....
As I type this I hear the roar of the fire engine as it comes down my street. The lights were flashing today, that means there is still hope they are alive, though the siren wasn’t on. In a retirement community this happens a lot. Living here there are more than the usual reminders of the thin line of mortality. That can be a good thing. The residents here keep a healthy attitude about it, we all call it the meat wagon. Yes, it is kind of sick but a healthy sense of humor goes a long way, and behind the humor there is caring. It’s a close-knit community.

This morning, after I lit the heater in the shop where I pray I went out briefly as I always do to gaze at the stars. I felt the Presence of God there with me and I was thankful once again for the gift of seeing Him, feeling Him. I grabbed my coffee and settled in my chair, the heater sputtering warmth on my feet. I opened to the story where Abraham goes to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac and for the second time in two days I run into another speed bump in the Word.

As I read, I felt my faith shrink and shrivel away to almost nothing.

Who on earth could measure up to that? And what kind of kid would go along with it and how much faith did he have to have, and wouldn’t he have argued? Wouldn’t have he refused to get up on that pile of firewood? And how could God even ask such a thing, even knowing He wasn’t going to make Abraham go along with it.

I wrestled and I wrestled, as I always have with this passage. And there in the flickering light, I asked God how it is that He can love me, knowing I will never do anything as big as that. Knowing how small my faith is?  And then the answer came and nestled softly in my heart. “I love you because my heart is big enough for everyone, even those whose faith is small.” Then I remembered the mustard seed and I smiled through my tears.

The God who loves Abraham loves me too. And suddenly the story all fit together, it all made sense. It was all meant to be and I have my own small part in eternity just like Abraham had his.

God loves me, the proof is in the cross.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

Bible verses that make you go……Hmmm.

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Have you ever been sailing along, happily reading through Scripture, when you get snagged on a verse? You read it over and over, and yeah, by golly it still says the same thing. I was in my prayer room this morning happily flipping through different passages when this happened to me. Here is what I read:

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. Hebrews 10:32-35

Do you see it? The line jumped out at me, in fact it was like one of those speed bumps in the parking lot you sail over when you’re not really paying attention. “Joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property.” I don’t know about you, but if anyone came to confiscate my property I would not be joyful about it. I would be shrieking, “Mine, mine, mine!” like a three-year old fighting over a toy. Well, maybe not out loud, but in my heart, that’s what I would be saying.

Basically, I want to keep what’s mine unless I have some control about who gets it. And I think I have a pretty healthy perspective on things and their value. I believe in being a good steward of what God has given me and I work hard to not live above my means.

I, or I should say we, since I am a co-owner, made a decision about 8 years ago to downsize drastically and get out of debt. I think it was one of the best decisions we ever made. We went from a nice home on a corner lot, to a manufactured home in a 55 plus community. No, I wasn’t 55 when I moved in, but if you are 45 or so they will make concessions, especially if you have cash in hand and one of you is 55 or close to it.  And right after our home sold? The real estate market crashed. We got the most money for our home that anyone will ever get. It was God’s timing.

And I love this place, it’s home. A little oasis in the desert. A place of peace carved out in the here and now.

Having said all that, I still struggle with that line in the verse.

I know I still clutch too tightly to things. I want to keep my iPhone and my iPad, thank you. I can do some good with those.  I am American and I have lived 53 years with the idea of the American Dream. When an ideology has shaped how you think and live, it is not an easy thing to turn loose of. The early church didn’t live with that dream, however. They had a living breathing Messiah that they would have followed to the ends of the earth. And so do we.

One thing I do know, that if I had everything taken away today? If my world, everyone and everything in it picked clean like Job’s was? I would hate it, but I would still be okay somehow because God would bring me through it.

Because the hope the early church had is mine too.

Because I have learned that Jesus is my everything and nothing this world has to offer could ever compare with Him.

Because the true treasures of this life are people and not things, and I know that if they were all gone today, it would be only a little while before I would see them again in Heaven.

That’s what the early church had.

That’s what you and I have too.

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The Word that opens the door

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This morning as usual, I was distracted during prayer time. This time of year, there are so many things vying for our attention, and yet this one thing I cannot let go. This being with God in the morning. I had gone out earlier and lit my little heater and my candle. The shop was toasty by the time I got back in. I settled with my steaming mug….and then I was thinking about all the things on my list.

The cooky dough that was thawing on the counter.

My blog, and the changes I want to make around the first of the year.

The cookies in the freezer I still need to frost.

The things I need to ship……the uncoming trip……yada yada yada.

So I did the thing I always do when I am trying to turn my attention back to the Lord who really really deserves it. I opened the Word. That is always the doorway that leads to Him. His words spill over the page, and they are not just words some men wrote, but words the Holy Spirit wrote through those men.

I thought how He uses us as conduit, to reach a world that is desperately in need of Him. And I thought of the journey I have been on thus far and how much the Lord has brought me through. And it always makes me cry, because His faithfulness to me is endless.

My eyes fell on Psalm 18 where I had left my marker:

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me. 16-19

I thought of all the times the Lord has rescued me from myself…….again and again.

And and I love verses 27-29:

You save the humble
    but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
    my God turns my darkness into light.
With your help I can advance against a troop;
    with my God I can scale a wall.

I thought of all the situations in my life where there was most certainly a wall. And there was no going around it. I had to get through it. And it was and is prayer that has got me through……every single time.

Selah. God has marked the start of my day, He has taken note of it, this time together we share.