Comparison Trap

I think it’s most women. I hope it’s not just me. We fall into the comparison trap. We know the verses, “Judge not, that you be not judged (Matthew 7:1),” and, “Judge nothing before the time when all things will be revealed (1 Corinthians 4:5, my paraphrase).” But alas before we can remember those verses we make the snap comparison. Usually it is, “she is so much better at…” or, “at least I am not…” “I wish I could be as devoted as her” or “I am more devoted than her.” And if you are where I am in this process you chide yourself, repeat the verses, and pray to see others as Christ sees them. Now, are you thinking, “At least I don’t think like her,” “I wish I could think like her,” or “She is not making any sense… again.” I won’t make you answer.

This has been a journey for me. I wish I could see through the eyes of Jesus always. I wish I did not make rash judgments that moments (or days or months or years) later I need to repent of. One Sunday the Lord made something real to me and I pray He will make it real to you. I was looking across the congregation and He whispered, “You are all covered in the same righteousness, My righteousness.” I looked at people who I thought were holier than me and felt on equal ground. I looked at people that I questioned their behavior and we were all together. No one had bragging rights because we all had the same covering. Our only goodness came from Him. Do you know what? It made me love all of them and it stopped me from comparing.

I have a new necklace… it says, “The only thing good in me is Jesus Christ.” That is true about any believer in Christ. So whether they are shining on the stage or sliding into the backseat the only good in either of them is Jesus Christ for which they can take no credit. So, if you are comparing still… the holy sister in the Lord is a wreck without Christ. And if your eyes slide to a sister in struggles know that “it could be me,” and pray for her.

There’s a key to all of this because both in doing well and in struggling we can deny Christ’s right to our life. We can be “do wellers” who are phony. We can struggle because we are not submitting to God and ending our rebellion. When we are caught up in ourselves or others we cannot be caught up with Christ. If we make it our purpose to follow and love Jesus, our infatuation with Him will not allow for phoniness, rebellion, or even comparing.

If you want to get caught up with Him, read your bible, read a gospel and learn all about Jesus to see what kind of person He is. I read recently (Jon Courson) that any other person you will become disillusioned with over time, but Jesus is the one that will never happen with. You will grow to love Him more and more as you get to know Him.

Where is the Promise of His Coming?

In Revelation 5 there is a heartbreaking moment followed by a moment that invoked consummate worship. God is on the throne (blessed be His name!) and He holds in His right hand a sealed scroll. But no one is found who is worthy to open it. John then “wept much” because no one was found worthy to open it. Whatever the scroll contained (click here for some ideas) it must be very important and critical that someone open it if John wept so much. But do not fear; there is someone worthy! “Behold the Lion, the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals (verse 5).” The opening of the seals unleashes judgment on the earth. Think of of the power and grace of God. He has the right and power to allow Jesus to open the seals, to start the judgment of the earth, but He hasn’t.

There is a time in the Bible when it was time for judgment. Ezekiel 12:5 says, "For I am the LORD. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it," says the Lord GOD.'" And even though the people did not believe it would happen - it did. They had been warned for 200 years, and it did come.

Fast forward to today. It has been two thousand years since Christ has come to earth. In 2 Peter it says, “Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’” Just like those in Judah, they think that since the words have been delayed that they will not come.

How are we to see it? When I thought about Revelation 5 I was in awe of the power of God. At any moment He could rapture the church, and allow the tribulation to wreak havoc on the whole earth. But He hasn’t. Do you know why? 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” It is not that God is incapable; it is not that He will not fulfill those promises of judgment. It is that He is gracious and patient. He wants everyone to repent and believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins so they do not have to go through the judgment and then to hell. In Ezekiel God brought down judgment that He had warned them of for 200 years. For almost 2000 years the church has had the book of Revelation that tells of coming judgment. God loves people. He wants people with Him. He does not want them in hell.

If judgment makes you squirm or makes you wonder about God's love think on this. God has the perfect balance of time in His hands. Just as He is patient and wants more to come to repentance, He also knows when the time has come when people will not repent anymore. He knows then it is time to bring judgment so more people are not born only to reject Him and enter eternity without Him. God's coming judgment should not make us question God's love, it should make us share it with others in this time of grace. It hasn't happened yet, so we need to tell others of the saving power of Jesus Christ!

Mudslinging

Last year I read a story to Caleb for school titled Mudslinging (from Kingdom Tales by David and Karen Mains). In it two sides were slinging mud at each other, and claiming to know the "Kings Ways" best. In the middle was a street cleaner who no matter what hit him kept cleaning up the mud while more mud flew. When he looked at anyone in the face they were ashamed and stopped throwing mud. One person, Little Child, recognized the street sweeper for who he was, the King himself. Then Little Child went to help the King clean up the mud. I don't know why but it broke my heart and it was hard to read. Whether in thought, word or deed we have all been guilty of flinging mud at other Christians. The part that hurt was picturing Jesus in the middle as the street sweeper; that our mudslinging hurts him, because in the story sometimes there were rocks in the mud.

I thought of this story lately when I heard about backlash two Christian artists got for posting on Facebook pictures of themselves in costumes around Halloween time. There are people that now refuse to listen to their music because of this. It made me so sad to hear it. I think this hurts Jesus, because we’re missing the point. The point is to bring people to Jesus. Mudslinging does not bring people to Jesus, it turns people from Him.

I am one of those hardcore individuals who does not celebrate Halloween and I do not tell my kids about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny. I could make adhering to these convictions become more important than actually loving people. But what the Lord has been teaching me is that there is something more important than convictions. Here’s what Oswald Chambers said…

“Beware of making fetish consistency to your convictions instead of being devoted to God… There never was a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent to His Father… It is easier to be a fanatic than a faithful soul, because there is something amazingly humbling, particularly to our religious conceit, in being loyal to God.”

These are important words. With all my heart I want to be Little Child who went to where Jesus was. Being faithful to my word, to my convictions is important to me. I try to set a consistent example to those around me and especially my children. But imagine if God ever so gently prodded me to follow Him in a way that was against my conviction. Not against His word, He would never do that. But would my conviction be more important than God’s leading? God forbid if that were the case.

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 1 Corinthians 1:10

I plead with you too, for the sake of winning souls to Jesus, to follow Him faithfully. To stop the mudslinging, whether you’re holding a conviction or not holding one. Look at Jesus’ face and be the Little Child who goes to the middle with Jesus.

Entwined

I wanted very much to keep up with doing this blog twice a week. I see that I am very far behind. The reason is threefold: not being sure what to post, being oh so busy, and being in a funk. I am sure you all get in funks. I am not sure I am out of my funk... but I thought you should know I have funks, and that God is still gracious and kind in my funks. I am so glad He is.

A small part of two songs have struck me lately. The first is from "Center," by Charlie Hall.

We wrap our lives around Your life.

The second is from "The Eleventh Hour," by Jars of Clay.

Take the place of my heart, till I become a stranger to my life.

I was trying to think of a verse that went with this theme, and one of my favorites came to mind. In Exodus 33 Moses was talking to God, face to face, as a friend. God promised to go with them and give them rest. Right after that Moses said, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." I paraphrase that as, "If you aren't with me God, I am not going." In the same way I want to say, "If you are going, I am coming with you." I want to be under the cloud and go when it goes and stop when it stops (Exodus 40:36-38).

I want my life to be so wrapped up in Jesus that I do only what He wants me to do. I want our wills to be intertwined. Even as I write that I think, "NOOO!" in my head. To only do what Jesus wants must mean certain death to some things I want to do. I mistakenly assume that those will be the things I most enjoy. But that is not true. God is gracious and all His ways are good. I promise that going with Jesus will guarantee the most peace for your heart. Your relationships will thrive, you will be a fountain that doesn't run dry. You will make mistakes, but you will be held up by the promise that, "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6)."

I love that Jars of Clay verse. That is what I feel, a stranger to my life. I never would have picked how my life is now. I did not chose adoption (although I love it and advocate for it), God chose it for me. I did not chose to adopt a quadriplegic son (who is one of the three coolest kids ever), God chose that for me. I did not chose to live where I live or my husband's job. What I did chose was to go with God. It became, if that is where You are taking me God, I am going, because I cannot live without You. And because He is with me I do not regret that I chose Him and the life He has chosen me for, it has been and is an abundantly blessed life.

And lest you think I am the picture of perfection lately I have felt like I am on top of a pile of unfulfilled promises and threads of visions that have not happened. I have been confused about many things and tired of certain things; but I am sure of Him. I may feel like an epic failure in some ways, but isn't that where He agrees to meet us? When we come to Him tired of our own ways and not having a clue of where to go He must be so happy. So, bring it all to Him, lay down the thoughts of the day, and ask Him to entwine His life in yours.

Rebellion*Repentance*Kindness

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as the sin of iniquity and idolatry. 1 Samuel 15:23

Sometimes we keep "pet" habits, and justify them. Rebellion is seen as cool. Some things that are typically seen as rebellious I think don't really matter to God. Tattoos and piercings do not automatically make you rebellious. Going against God's word, that makes you rebellious. Going against the Holy Spirit breathed instinct into your conscience, that is rebellious.

My rebellion was small, or so it appeared to me. I have a preference for my coffee to be ground on the finest espresso grind at the grocery store. The problem was the grinder in the regular coffee section did not have that grind. So I would sneak over to the organic coffee grinder and use it. My coffee was not organic. I justified it because I sometimes wonder if organic foods really are better, or if it is a hoax. But one day I was convicted.

The Lord spoke to my heart; you cannot do this anymore. I know that voice and I heeded it. I don't know why He didn't convict me before. But I knew perfectly ground coffee was not worth losing the peace of God in my heart. I repented. To repent is to change one's mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins. Now I think, it was just stupid, really, and certainly not kind to insist on my coffee rebellion.

But, guess who is kinder than we could ever hope to be? I went to the coffee aisle last week and it was all rearranged. I looked and they had replaced the grinder with one that had the espresso fine grind. What a sweet blessing! God is kinder than we deserve. If I had not changed my path to one of non-rebellion I would have never been blessed by the change in grinder. It would have been, "Good, now I don't have to walk halfway across the store to grind my coffee." Instead it was, "Thank you God, You are so kind."

According to the verse up there if we don't heed that conviction of the Lord it leads to stubbornness. I felt when I read it that it was like making an idol of your own rebellion. We make a prize of the ugly rebellion that God has called witchcraft.

Once we prize something we may find it hard to give up. But if you do there is only kindness from the Lord in return. He won't rub it in and you will not miss that rebellion. God will come in and fill that void with Himself, and bless you more than you deserve.

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4

Stream Him

Sometimes I feel that there is a cacophony of thoughts noises and chaos in my head. This phase of my life is so busy that when I am “busy” mode many things are lost to me besides what comes next and what needs to be done after that. This adrenaline keeps me going through our days until maybe at 9 or 10 at night I can maybe think about something else besides accomplishing our day. This is how it has to be sometimes. God gives us an amazing brain to multi-task.

What happens when you can’t calm that brain down or when there is a disruption to the schedule? What about our children, husbands, or other people that depend on us to really be there? Most importantly, what of God? Can He enter our thoughts at any time and be welcomed? How do we silence the cacophony?!

“The Lord your God is in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

This morning as I was driving and really wanting the Lord’s advice on something I thought of this verse. He is above rejoicing over us with gladness and singing. I prayed, “Lord, stream those songs into my mind.” I want to know what He is singing. I want to know what is pleasing Him about my life. I want to know what His thoughts towards me are.

How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18

Those thoughts of love pouring into our brain will quiet us. The enemy wants to distract us to no end with other thoughts. He wants to put wrong thoughts in our heads and false thoughts about God. If he can keep us thinking of other things, even if they are not “bad” things, then we are losing the voice of God in our heads.

The voice of God will rejoice over us with singing. Do you feel the love in that? What girl wouldn’t fall for a guy singing love songs to her? God is singing over us His love, His unconditional love. He knows every last thing we have done and ever will do good and bad and is still totally in love with us. Rejoice is to exult, or display joy. Do you see why we need this stream of God’s thoughts flowing into us? Our great, marvelous, powerful King wants to exultingly display His joy in us.

Unfathomable, when all of our righteousness is from Him, and we can do nothing to earn it! It is only in this way, with God’s love flowing freely into us, that we can give out to others. Lord Jesus, help us to open our hearts and minds to your overflowing and overwhelming love for us.

BONUS - Read C.H. Spurgeon's October 22nd morning devotional to see how God loves us freely. Click here.

Bought 2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

While I promise that Jesus will come along side as we obey Him, we must make that choice to do so. I am sure at some point we have all wanted to avoid Romans 12:1. You have all heard that living sacrifices tend to jump of the altar. Maybe we sneak off or maybe we pretend we don’t see it at all. God still loves us when we do that, but we are the ones to miss out.

God may come to us with an opportunity and we might miss it. We might decide not to obey, even though we are bought, even though we know it is best to obey. How scary to think an opportunity might pass us by because we are unwilling to obey!

“Think of those believers who heard the call of Christ to some specific sphere of service but failed to respond. They have no idea of the present blessings and eternal rewards which they have missed.

It is true that sometimes opportunity knocks only once. Though it is laden with choicest treasures, it may seem at the moment to conflict with personal plans or to involve personal sacrifice. It represents God’s very best for us, but for reasons of our own we let the opportunity pass. We refuse His best and settle for His second best. All the time He is saying, ‘I would, but you would not.’” William McDonald.

If you are following after Jesus and wanting to go after Him strive to reject second best. If you are wondering about a certain course of action pray “God do not let me pass this by if it is You." If it seems crazy and illogical remember, His ways are past finding out (Romans 11:33).

One of my favorite stories is of Jacob wrestling with the Man in Genesis 34. He wrestles all night and finally the Man, really a preincarnate appearance of Jesus, touches Jacob in the hip to injure him. Jacob clings and says, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Do that to God! He loves that tenacious faith. I am not letting you go until you tell me your blessed path; I do not want “the opportunity to pass.”

Jacob’s blessing was a new name, Israel, meaning Prince with God. When you give yourself fully to God to do His will He gives you newness of life. Your life will have eternal purpose.