Are you watching the news?
Do you realize that a match has been lit in the Middle East and north Africa, and the smoldering embers of age-old anger, along with the feud-driven kindling from coming-of-agers, all directed toward the United States, have blazed into a fury that may or may not result in something much larger?
Our country gets to worship--or ransack--God at will because that freedom is written into our soil. Not so where other gods are worshiped. This religious zeal is something far beyond what our country understands and so we watch, baffled, but perhaps not alarmed.
Be alarmed.
It might be time to decide that God is...God, and we need His wisdom, His protection, His maneuvering.
Isn't it possible that all this hate seemingly directed toward America is really directed at our country's heritage of worshiping the God of the Bible?
If so, it is a spiritual fury.
In that case, it needs spiritual combat.
Fight for us and with us, God. We know that You are...God.
15 September 2012
14 September 2012
Anxiety Arrows
Let's imagine for a moment that anxiety is not on the inside of our being but rather outside of us.
We feel it, miserably, day after day, even though we pray and cry out to God. We are doing all we know to do.
Unless...
If it exists outside of us, do we have different tools of fighting it at our disposal? Would that be something God might be teaching us?
What if something or someone has a quiver of arrows of sorts, ready to aim at our hearts when circumstances look like they could embrace anxiety?
Our checkbook, our health, our loved ones--events happen (or don't happen) that bring rise to anxiety.
Let's say we are unable to pay a bill on time. The holder of the quiver of arrows fires one right at us. We take it in--after all, shouldn't we be anxious about that situation?
What if we tried this instead:
The war against us is real. The good news? So are our weapons.
We feel it, miserably, day after day, even though we pray and cry out to God. We are doing all we know to do.
Unless...
If it exists outside of us, do we have different tools of fighting it at our disposal? Would that be something God might be teaching us?
What if something or someone has a quiver of arrows of sorts, ready to aim at our hearts when circumstances look like they could embrace anxiety?
Our checkbook, our health, our loved ones--events happen (or don't happen) that bring rise to anxiety.
Let's say we are unable to pay a bill on time. The holder of the quiver of arrows fires one right at us. We take it in--after all, shouldn't we be anxious about that situation?
What if we tried this instead:
Lord, I don't have the solution to pay the bill...yet. I am asking you to lead me to that solution. For now, I want to be strategic about fending off the arrows of anxiety. I can do that now. As a believer, I am aligned with the power of Christ, so together we say no to the arrows. Help me say this and believe this over and over as my heart and mind are strengthened against Anxiety.Strategic. Soundness of mind. Aligned with Christ. Understanding the power of Christ at our disposal.
The war against us is real. The good news? So are our weapons.
13 September 2012
Why are the Good Things Hidden?
I read through the Bible every year and this morning was no different--it was time to read the next entry on my YouVersion app.
I noticed my reluctance.
So instead of pretending I didn't feel that, I decided to look it dead in the eye.
The Bible, at least parts of it, do not read like a John Grisham novel.
But years of experience tell me the whole of reading the Bible, once I push through it, gives me a depth of feeling and understanding that lasts far beyond the thrill of a single book by any other author.
Why it that?
Or let's take conflict. Recently I sat down with a group of people among whom thorns of resentment had grown. It was hard to pin ourselves down for that event. However, within minutes, we had uncovered the love that had sustained them over years, and all was on its way to being well again.
Eating well. Exercise. Not killing your teenager. Loving your cranky neighbor (or spouse).
All of the good things are hidden...under effort.
Why is that?
Perhaps because God wired us for productivity and growth. No plant grows without breaking through the seed coat and ground and reaching for the sun, sending roots down in search of water. That's a lot of work.
So grow we will. With effort. Rewarded with productivity.
Now where is my app?
I noticed my reluctance.
So instead of pretending I didn't feel that, I decided to look it dead in the eye.
The Bible, at least parts of it, do not read like a John Grisham novel.
But years of experience tell me the whole of reading the Bible, once I push through it, gives me a depth of feeling and understanding that lasts far beyond the thrill of a single book by any other author.
Why it that?
Or let's take conflict. Recently I sat down with a group of people among whom thorns of resentment had grown. It was hard to pin ourselves down for that event. However, within minutes, we had uncovered the love that had sustained them over years, and all was on its way to being well again.
Eating well. Exercise. Not killing your teenager. Loving your cranky neighbor (or spouse).
All of the good things are hidden...under effort.
Why is that?
Perhaps because God wired us for productivity and growth. No plant grows without breaking through the seed coat and ground and reaching for the sun, sending roots down in search of water. That's a lot of work.
So grow we will. With effort. Rewarded with productivity.
Now where is my app?
12 September 2012
Self-loathing is an Idol
Surely not.
An idol?
That is the thing God hates most: an idol that draws our worship away from Him.
Self-loathing is the barrage of emotion we bring against ourselves, tallying up all the ways we perceive that we fall short--short of some artificial measure influenced by media from the outside and envy and/or shame from the inside.
It takes a lot of energy and time to keep up self-loathing day after day.
But most importantly, we are loathing the thing that God loves most: us--as His creation.
If your child created the most amazing picture, would you trash him for it, or watch idly by while he trashed it himself?
Yet we persist in obligating ourselves to the trashing of ourselves, when in fact, we learn in the Bible that we are to love others as we love ourselves.
That puts us in a pickle, doesn't it?
In Matthew 22, the two most important commands from Jesus are to love God with all of our heart, and love others as we love ourselves.
If self-loathing takes us away from one of the top two commands in Jesus Land, it sounds like an idol to me.
In the land of all of our American idols, self-loathing may be the most elusive to release.
God's help to turn our self-loathing into self-love is there for the asking. Don't delay.
An idol?
That is the thing God hates most: an idol that draws our worship away from Him.
Self-loathing is the barrage of emotion we bring against ourselves, tallying up all the ways we perceive that we fall short--short of some artificial measure influenced by media from the outside and envy and/or shame from the inside.
It takes a lot of energy and time to keep up self-loathing day after day.
But most importantly, we are loathing the thing that God loves most: us--as His creation.
If your child created the most amazing picture, would you trash him for it, or watch idly by while he trashed it himself?
Yet we persist in obligating ourselves to the trashing of ourselves, when in fact, we learn in the Bible that we are to love others as we love ourselves.
That puts us in a pickle, doesn't it?
In Matthew 22, the two most important commands from Jesus are to love God with all of our heart, and love others as we love ourselves.
If self-loathing takes us away from one of the top two commands in Jesus Land, it sounds like an idol to me.
In the land of all of our American idols, self-loathing may be the most elusive to release.
God's help to turn our self-loathing into self-love is there for the asking. Don't delay.
11 September 2012
The Harm of Protecting
Wait, you thought the phrase was "protect him (or her) from harm?"
Well, like many endeavors on this earth that we manage to muck up, we have translated "protecting" into harm.
A husband "protects" his wife from harmful comments or events--the truth is he short-circuits her chance to interact with God and grow stronger.
A mom "protects" her child from events in which he might fail or be made fun of--the reality is she prevents the child from becoming sturdy through the handling of failure and rejection.
Protecting is harmful to your health--and the health of the one you are trying to protect.
The protector hides behind the energy required to protect and gets to avoid growth of his (or her) own.
Test it in your own life. Who are you protecting? What are you protecting him or her from?
If you withdrew that protection, what would the person learn?
Self-reliance? Healthy pride of accomplishment?
What would that person, now unprotected by you, become?
Sturdy? Independent? Whole?
And you, the protector--what might you do with the energy you now have to focus on yourself?
Live? Grow? Learn?
Don't be a shade tree that blocks the trees surrounding you from receiving the sun.
Well, like many endeavors on this earth that we manage to muck up, we have translated "protecting" into harm.
A husband "protects" his wife from harmful comments or events--the truth is he short-circuits her chance to interact with God and grow stronger.
A mom "protects" her child from events in which he might fail or be made fun of--the reality is she prevents the child from becoming sturdy through the handling of failure and rejection.
Protecting is harmful to your health--and the health of the one you are trying to protect.
The protector hides behind the energy required to protect and gets to avoid growth of his (or her) own.
Test it in your own life. Who are you protecting? What are you protecting him or her from?
If you withdrew that protection, what would the person learn?
Self-reliance? Healthy pride of accomplishment?
What would that person, now unprotected by you, become?
Sturdy? Independent? Whole?
And you, the protector--what might you do with the energy you now have to focus on yourself?
Live? Grow? Learn?
Don't be a shade tree that blocks the trees surrounding you from receiving the sun.
10 September 2012
The Refrigerator Authority
Are you trying to change a pattern in yourself or another?
Are you trying to accomplish something that seemingly keeps slipping through your fingers of achievement?
Employ the Refrigerator Authority.
That is simply a chart attached to your refrigerator that becomes a checklist of accomplishment.
You want your child to complete his chores?
You want your eating to fall within certain bounds?
You want to save money, eat dinner together, have family meetings?
Whatever you want to measure and thus accomplish, it may need the help of an outside party.
There is something about a chart designed to allow each day's progress to be checked off--or notably not.
God mercifully ends each day and begins another--if we can't check off our chart with success today, there is a chance to do better tomorrow.
Laugh at the ridiculous thought of the Refrigerator Authority but put it to work in your own household.
Most of us are motivated by success. Let your refrigerator be your helper.
Are you trying to accomplish something that seemingly keeps slipping through your fingers of achievement?
Employ the Refrigerator Authority.
That is simply a chart attached to your refrigerator that becomes a checklist of accomplishment.
You want your child to complete his chores?
You want your eating to fall within certain bounds?
You want to save money, eat dinner together, have family meetings?
Whatever you want to measure and thus accomplish, it may need the help of an outside party.
There is something about a chart designed to allow each day's progress to be checked off--or notably not.
God mercifully ends each day and begins another--if we can't check off our chart with success today, there is a chance to do better tomorrow.
Laugh at the ridiculous thought of the Refrigerator Authority but put it to work in your own household.
Most of us are motivated by success. Let your refrigerator be your helper.
09 September 2012
Is Your Opinion "Data-fied"?
Most of us have opinions, many of us strong ones.
About anything and everything, things we know a lot about...and things we know virtually nothing about.
That's the danger, isn't it?
Truth is not always what we want it to be, because we are pretty comfortable holed up in our opinion that we came by either adopting that of another or defying data that begs to differ.
Doctors, more than any of us, understand the incomprehensible complexity of the human body, yet still buy into evolution that somehow got married into science. The data begs to differ.
Most of us, in one way or another, alter the reality of God because we have learned it from another or simply want our alternate universe to be true.
We want to shape reality to suit our already ingrained thinking.
Changing our opinion to match data is somewhat like trying to pry out an object embedded in hardened concrete.
The challenge? Consider one arena of life toward which you have a deeply embedded, serious opinion.
Ask yourself: could I be mistaken? If so, where would I look for accurate data?
A "data-fied" opinion leads well in every circumstance. Don't leave home without it.
About anything and everything, things we know a lot about...and things we know virtually nothing about.
That's the danger, isn't it?
Truth is not always what we want it to be, because we are pretty comfortable holed up in our opinion that we came by either adopting that of another or defying data that begs to differ.
Doctors, more than any of us, understand the incomprehensible complexity of the human body, yet still buy into evolution that somehow got married into science. The data begs to differ.
Most of us, in one way or another, alter the reality of God because we have learned it from another or simply want our alternate universe to be true.
We want to shape reality to suit our already ingrained thinking.
Changing our opinion to match data is somewhat like trying to pry out an object embedded in hardened concrete.
The challenge? Consider one arena of life toward which you have a deeply embedded, serious opinion.
Ask yourself: could I be mistaken? If so, where would I look for accurate data?
A "data-fied" opinion leads well in every circumstance. Don't leave home without it.
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