Jesus Alone

Not long ago a friend told me that abortion was the most important issue.  I do agree that abortion is an important issue, one that needs to be addressed.  However, I do not agree that it is the most important issue.  The most important issue remains Jesus.  What will you do with Jesus?  The writer to the Hebrews tells us to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” 

Consider Him, for in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, this same Jesus, who is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person.  If you want to know the Father, consider His Son.  If you want to know what the Father has to say, consider His Son.  Consider this One who is “counted worthy of more glory than Moses” for He not only built the house, “whose house we are,” but He also built all things.

Later in Hebrews, we are told to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,” and to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  The most important part of this admonition found in Hebrews 12 is our focus.  We are to look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Look unto Jesus.  He authored our faith and He finished our faith.  Nothing needs to be added.  We are not admonished to look to anything else.  We are admonished to focus on Him.  Consider Him.  What happens when a runner takes his focus off the finish line, when he glances, even for a second, on others in the race?  When we take our eyes off Jesus, we are slowed up and sometimes even driven off course.   

Paul tells us to run in such a way that you may obtain the prize.  Do not run with uncertainty.  Discipline your body and bring it into subjection, lest you become disqualified.  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)  How does one run with certainty?  How does one obtain the prize?  Simply look to Jesus.  “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:6)  Consider Him alone and obtain the prize of an imperishable crown.  He is our reward.  Jesus alone.   

Birds and Prayer

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,

For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,

Being confident of this very thing,

That He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

-Philippians 1:3-6

Birds present a beautiful picture of a parent’s life.  Before the little birds come into the world, the parent birds prepare the nest with diligence, carefully choosing their building materials so that their nest provides an optimal home for the new birds.  When the baby birds hatch from their eggs, the parent birds nurture and provide for them.  Their activity centers on the growth and protection of these helpless birds in their care.  As the baby birds grow, the parents lead them further afield and train them to find their own worms and berries.  They teach them to fly and the babies grow in their knowledge and skill.  The day arrives when the parent birds have done all they can for their charges.  The babies have grown into adult birds ready to experience the world on their own.  They fly away while the parent birds watch from the nest.

In the same way, human parents diligently prepare their homes and lives for the new baby.  They carefully plan the details of the baby’s arrival and provide all that’s needed for an ideal home life.  When the baby is born, the parents wrap him in soft blankets and nurture him with love and protection.  Their lives now center on this helpless baby who needs their constant care.  They teach him about the world and train him to use the gifts that God has given him.  They instruct him in the knowledge that he will need to take his place in society.  Before long he has grown into a young man ready to experience life on his own.  The parents watch as he steps away with strength and vitality.  Their role of gathering him beneath their wings is finished.

However, unlike birds, human parenthood never really stops.  A parent’s role changes but it continues.  The departure of our children presents us with new opportunity and responsibility, the opportunity to counsel and the responsibility to pray.  Both require wisdom and discipline.  Both require daily guidance from the Lord.  Our children are no longer in our direct care.  No longer can we gather and protect them under our wings.  But we can earnestly and intensely lift them in prayer to their Father in heaven.  R.A. Torrey illustrates this type of prayer with a pictorial word, “stretched-out-ed-ly.”  He writes, “The prayer that prevails with God is the prayer into which we put our whole soul, stretching out toward God in intense and agonizing desire.”

That’s the type of prayer I strive to pray for my children, stretched-out-ed-ly.  I yearn to stretch out toward God intensely desiring Him to work in the lives of my children who are far from my wings.  I earnestly cry out for Him to gather them beneath His wings and to love and guide them in His ways.  I pray that their love would abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that they would approve the things that are excellent, and that they would be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ.  (Philippians 1:9-11)  I pray confidently that He would continue His work in their lives.  That is my new parental responsibility and I fulfill it gladly.

Together Again, Naturally

I am struck by an essay entitled Alone Again, Naturally.  Dennis Prager read and discussed it on his show yesterday afternoon.  The author of the piece sings the praises of being alone.  “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” she quotes with conviction.  As I listened to and later read her thoughts, I felt that I couldn’t disagree more.  I do need my man and I like having him around.  Yes, there are times when I want my own space, my independence.  I want to “spend my own money on a 10^th pair of black boots or a painting or a wood stove” without asking for permission.  I don’t want to worry about cooking if I don’t want to.  And yet, when I think of the loneliness that misguided freedom means, I shrink from the thought.

Single women “love doing whatever we want to do, when we want to do it.”  I suppose we all think that we would love to do whatever, whenever.  In fact the society around us gives us the feeling that we have a right to feel that way.  We are told to “have it your way” and “if it feels good, do it.”  Yet even a life of singleness presents its responsibilities.  I was single until I was twenty-six and there were few times when I ate breakfast at 11 and lunch at 3.  I usually had a class to attend or a job to do.  Being single and alone does not take away the responsibilities of life.  It only adds to the loneliness one feels when she comes home from work to an empty place where no one waits for her arrival.

As a single person we come to realize “that there is no reason to curl up on ‘our’ side of the bed while we sleep.  We no longer have to take sides.  We can sprawl across the expansive middle.”  Ten years ago I was given the lonely privilege of sprawling across the expansive middle of ‘our’ bed.  My husband had just been diagnosed with cancer and he was in the hospital awaiting treatment.  I found this ‘privilege’ bleak and cold.  The long night seemed to drag on forever.  I missed a companion to keep me warm both physically and emotionally.

She ends her essay by stating, “We love our nests.”  I love my nest as well.  I love those that are a part of my nest, my husband and my children.  They are the ones that make my nest worth tending and they are the ones that make my nest snug, warm, serene, and safe.  I don’t understand the feeling that a woman doesn’t need anyone, especially a man who makes life “a lot of work.”  Having a companion to share the load and to pick one up when she is down, makes life worth the struggle.  It makes life safe and serene.  It makes life warm and friendly.

God reminds us in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 that “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.  For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.”  I do not see it as a weakness to have someone there to lift me when I have fallen.  I see it as a reward.  “But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.  Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.”  Those of us who are blessed with a special bed-warmer will not dispute this.  A warm bed is much more inviting than a cold one.  “But how can one be warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.  And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.”  I am thankful for my husband and I am thankful for the Lord God who offers the third strand to our cord.  Together we can withstand the struggles this world offers.  Together we can enjoy the warmth and help of a constant companion.  I choose to be together.

Operation Christmas Child

For many years now our children have been filling boxes for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child.  So when I was asked to represent my church out the local information meeting, I readily agreed.  I thought I was there to pick up empty boxes; I did not realize that I would come away encouraged by the impact of the Christmas Child program.  As I waited for the meeting to begin, I thought of how I might challenge others to fill a shoebox.  I thought of the wealth of our material goods and of the many underprivileged children who are blessed when we give from our own abundance.  I thought that the focus of the meeting would be the joy we bring to those who are less fortunate when we fill a shoebox.  However, I took home a different message of encouragement.  The gift of a shoebox is the message of God’s love touching the hearts of children, families, villages, and countries.

The speaker, a fourth generation missionary to the country of Uruguay, shared with us the impact of Operation Christmas Child in his country.  One of the first pictures he shared was that of a family of five children.  These children chose not to attend the Christmas celebration where the boxes were being distributed.  They did not own shoes or proper clothing.  They would feel embarrassed coming.  A group of volunteers decided to pay a special visit to this family.  They brought shoeboxes for each of the children.  Miraculously, inside each of the five shoeboxes were a pair of shoes and some clothing.  This was not planned by the volunteers, but rather by our loving Father who wanted these children and their family to experience His love in a personal way.  Those of us at the meeting were impressed with the fact that God leads every shoebox to just the right person.

He then spoke of a young boy who was growing up in an area of profound racism.  This boy’s mother had forbidden him even to speak to a child with darker skin.  This was the accepted way of life in his village.  He came to the Christmas celebration and received his shoebox.  He sat on the floor playing with the marvellous toys, wonderful toys he had never been able to own before.  As he reached into the bottom of the shoebox, he found an envelope that contained a picture and letter from the boy who had prepared and sent the box.  The giver’s skin color was black.  The boy was amazed and, as he listened to the translator read the letter, tears came to his eyes.  The giver wrote that he prayed that this young boy would understand what Christ had done and that he would accept the love of Jesus.  This young boy and his mother, who also heard the translation, did receive Christ that day.  The boy went on to share the picture of the giver with all in his village.  Today the village no longer lives with racism.  Through the gift of a shoebox God was able to work bringing love where hatred once ruled.

Filled shoeboxes are the first step in reaching a nation with the love of God and His message of salvation.   Before the shoeboxes are distributed, every participating church attends four sessions where the leaders learn new tools for evangelism, follow-up, and spiritual support.  They are also given access to Bible teaching materials.  When the shoeboxes are distributed, the children are given the opportunity to participate in The Greatest Journey, a series of twelve lessons that share the gospel and love of God.  On graduating from The Greatest Journey, the children receive a certificate and a New Testament.  In 1998 when Samaritan’s Purse first came with shoeboxes to the country of Uruguay, the country had only 850 churches and only two percent of the population confessed to be Christians.  After thirteen years in the country, the number of churches has risen to 2,000.  Now, in 2011, six percent of the nation confesses to be Christian.  Operation Christmas Child has founded 668 Bible Schools and many of these schools have become new churches.  God is working in the country of Uruguay through the simple gift of shoeboxes.

Every shoebox filled is not just a gift of love for an underprivileged child, but it is also an opportunity to share the gospel, to share God’s love.  When we fill a shoebox, we take part in the transformation of a child, a family, a village, a country.  God works in mysterious ways and one of those ways is a shoebox packed with love and sent by prayer to a child who needs to know the Good News of Jesus Christ.  If you have children, I encourage you to pick up a shoebox for each one to fill.  Your child can decide what to pack in the box and then he can write a letter to the recipient and enclose a picture of himself.  Through this simple and meaningful act, your child can have a part in transforming the life of a child with the love of God.

 

Wearied and Troubled

You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

Trust in the Lord forever,

For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

-Isaiah 26:3-4

Considering burdens F.B. Myer wrote, “Before we are thoroughly awake in the morning we sometimes become conscious of a feeling of depression, as if all were not right; and a voice seems to tell a long tale of burdens to be carried and difficulties to be met as the hours pass by. . .  And too often we have yielded to the suggestion and have dragged ourselves wearily through the hours, doing our daily tasks with hands engaged and strength spent by the burdens that we have assumed.”  The key words here are “the burdens that we have assumed.”  Sometimes we carry burdens that God never intended us to carry.  We become wearied and troubled by many things.

I am reminded of Martha who became distracted with much serving.   In her distraction her attention was drawn to Mary who, of all things, was sitting at the feet of Jesus.  What was Mary thinking when there was so much to accomplish?  What was Jesus thinking by allowing her to sit while Martha grew weary with the burden of serving?   Martha was dragging herself wearily through her tasks and her strength and patience were spent.  Jesus calmly answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

When I pause in the tumult of daily activity to complain of my burdens, I sometimes hear the quiet voice of Jesus admonishing me in the same way He admonished Martha.  “One thing is needed.”  C.H. Spurgeon wrote, “I am convinced that many believers suffer in a dungeon when they could walk on a palace roof, viewing the lush landscape and Lebanon.  Wake up, believers, from your lowly condition!”  Our self-inflicted burdens and man-made dungeons keep us from the green pastures and still waters that the Father has provided for us to enjoy.

What a blessing it is to hand over our burdens to the Lord Jesus and to let Him handle them and lay them aside as He will.  How peaceful it is to follow Him as He leads us beside still waters and makes us to lie down in green pastures.  How restful to allow Him to restore our souls.  May we rest in His presence and feast at His table with cups that run over knowing that He has all things in His control.  Knowing also that He only wants our faithful performance in the daily tasks He lovingly gives us and not our frenzied activity in demands of our own choice that fill us with stress and pressure.