Is this all there is?

November 29, 2015

Maria Psalm 62, Rest , , , , , , , , 10 Comments

Meaningless We spent Thanksgiving week with our kids and grandkids and that was a gift!  For the couple hosting the Cochrane Clan, it was their first time cooking a turkey and planning such a large meal.  They carried it off with grace, good humor and amazing calm.  Of course we all pitched in.

Hanging out with these young parents, I’ve been reflecting on how exciting life was when we were in our 20s and 30s.  Each new experience was thrilling, from eating out in a fine restaurant, to moving into our first apartment, to bringing home new babies and even taking on a mortgage for our very own house.

But as I’ve aged, many events no longer exhilarate.  Whether holidays, anniversaries, travel, purchases, new homes or new jobs.

I can understand middle-aged depression. I thought about that even in church today as our pastor announced his family’s good news that they were gaining a daughter-in-law.  When I watched the future groom bring up the offerings to the front, I reflected on all that lay ahead of him.

I WOULD have envied him, had it not been for the FACT that God has given me new life complete with a new perspective, value system and purpose.

Therefore, there is no despair, but a growing sense of anticipation and a sure confidence that any thrill I once tasted here on earth is a slight foretaste of what is to come.

I am über-thankful to God for having called me out of the futile darkness of this world into the light and knowledge of who He is and why He created me.  I live with a just-below-the-surface happy and almost excited anticipation,

  • Knowing that God IS – that He has always existed and will always be around in an unchanging state, that this world is not a product of random chemicals coalescing for no purpose
  • Knowing that God MEANS for us to know Him and share happiness and true ‘face-time’ with Him
  • Knowing that I have a daily purpose – to reveal to others the worth and beauty of God
  • Knowing that I have a sure future inheritance – a new body with categorically different abilities to see and savor God and His kingdom
  • Knowing that every single event that happens now – on earth – in my life is sent by God according to His plan for my well-being and that of others
  • Knowing that God will provide strength and wisdom and any other necessary resource for everything that He has planned for me this day

Resting on those facts and that understanding of life daily frames my life. And since the best is yet to come, I don’t feel compelled to:

  • ‘carpe diem’
  • or create and check off a bucket list

And maybe now, among those my age, I can offer a better way, a more satisfying path to the ‘good life’.  Why try to fill that void God deliberately allows to grow with self-directed projects, i.e. invented purposes and time fillers?

  • remodeling the house or buying a vacation home
  • traveling or cruising to pass the time
  • leaving a legacy so future family generations will remember Grandma & Grandpa

If there be any legacy I want to leave my grandkids it’s that the purpose of life is bigger than satisfying ourselves.  Knowing God and growing into the man or woman He plans will bring true fulfillment of a life well lived.

I read a French reflection each morning.  The verse highlighted today was Psalm 62:5

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.

The French translation felt more meaningful:

  • Toi, mon âme, repose-toi paisiblement sur Dieu; car mon attente est en lui.
  • You, my soul, rest peacefully on God; for my expectation is in him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s good to be a sheep

February 21, 2015

Maria Anxiety, Belief, Dreams, Peace, Psalm 23, Renewing, Rest, Trust , , , 2 Comments

sheep

 

 

Psalm 23:1, 3  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want……He restores my soul. 

What peace and grounding there is to be found in the first psalm I ever remember learning.  Thank you, Cousin Terry, for reminding me of the rest and assurance that is available to all believers!

We were catching up over the phone.  In response to my question of how she was doing financially (she lives on a fixed income), she confidently recited verse 1, that she lacked and desired nothing due to our shepherding Lord.

After we hung up, I savored recalling each truth and promise packed into those six verses of the 23rd psalm.

Here are my take-aways from just one and a half verses:

From verse 1 –

  • I’m a sheep.  As a simple beast, I don’t have the vision or the wisdom to know where to find green fields and clean, refreshing waters.  I need a GOOD shepherd.  Yet most of the time I operate as though I know what is best for me and where I should head.
  • The shepherd knows me well.  After all, He is MY shepherd.  That means I am HIS little sheep.  I belong to him.  And Jesus knows best how to take care of me.  I act like a foolish beast when I don’t trust Him and His provision.
  • If I don’t have the thing I think I need or want, then that something is not what I should have at the moment. In fact, I will NEVER not have what my maker knows I need.

From  verse 3 –

  • Restoration is a big deal.  The Hebrew word shuwb (#7725 Strongs) refers to life-giving actions that my Shepherd performs, namely….RETURNS, REFRESHES, STRENGTHENS, REPAIRS, CONVERTS.  So often I’m scattered, distracted, worried, headed off on an unhealthy tangent or plan.  I NEED a wise and good shepherd who knows best and doesn’t hesitate to perform holy restoration/restauration.

feeding 4000

 

 

 

  • What Jesus, my Shepherd, repairs and restores is what the Old Testament calls the soul, or nephesh (#5315 Strongs). For the Hebrews, nephesh represents the entire YOU.   Your immaterial feelings, thoughts, pleasures, desires and dreams as well as your material or physical self.

Does that include my disappointments?  what about my ‘yet-to-be-realized dreams’? And my shame?  YES!

Does that include my energy and desires, my ‘get-up-and-go’ as my Dad used to call it? In a word, YES!

This master shepherd CAN and DOES guide, provide, love, encourage, feed, console, motivate and protect me in just the right amounts and combinations at the most kairos or propitious of times.

So with just 1 verse and a fragment, the Psalmist answers my anxiety.  God is always communicating a message of rest, of peace, of provision.  My life is not as complicated as I make it out to be.  And I bet yours isn’t either.  After all, if we are Christians, we know we are just sheep, senseless and stubborn at times, but well taken care of.  Aren’t you glad our Shepherd is committed to us?

Lies that fuel worry

October 26, 2014

Maria 1 Peter, Psalm 23, Rest, Romans, Thinking, Trust, Worries , , , , , , , 9 Comments

Sleepless in Balsam

Sleepless

That was me – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.  Couldn’t turn off my mind from pursuing one thought after another.

Nothing bad, just the possibility of another job for next year.

And it wasn’t a sense of joyful anticipation that fueled my thoughts, but a chewing on the pros and cons.

Relief finally came via reminders of Truth.

  • When I woke up Saturday morning REALLY tired despite lying in bed for 8 hours, the Holy Spirit gently chided me that I had failed to take advantage of Almighty God’s loving command to cast all my cares on Him.
  • Christian Community provided more light on what was True.

Anne and Wes were here for the weekend.  Listening to Anne describe her thought process on one of her issues (and what turned out to be a lie she had swallowed) helped me see some presuppositions I, myself, had accepted as Truth.  As it happened for Anne, finally admitting to a trusted Christian friend one of her ‘facts’ (aka –  an unsubstantiated belief), she was able to see, in the light of day, what her friend was able gently but rationally to point out.  Her account of thinking incorrectly helped me to look at what I had accepted as fact.

Here are were a few of my irrational thoughts mixed in with half-truths:

  • Those who are good teachers LOVE the field of education and teaching
  • I don’t love teaching but I enjoy some aspects of it
  • Therefore, I must be a fraud
  • Furthermore, I should not, AT MY AGE, attempt to move into a new educational opportunity
  • Something new might involve MORE work and a greater time commitment
  • I’m basically lazy anyway
  • Therefore, I would again be FAKING energy and interest that I don’t have in an interview

Listening to Anne gave me pause.  Maybe not ALL of my assumptions are true!  Maybe it’s irrational to compare myself to the best in my field.  Maybe my ‘good enough’ is sufficient for God’s purposes where I am.  Maybe where I am has less to do with teaching/educational work, than with being present for my ‘neighbors’ in my daily community.

Good Enough

One new thought prompted another as Anne shared from her life.  Maybe Satan is the source of some of these assumptions in order to discourage me from investing energy in my work life.  Hm – that hadn’t occurred to me. I default to believing that my thoughts have their origin in me.

And maybe it’s not about being good enough, or the best or wildly enthusiastic.  Maybe it’s about being faithful today, where I am, with what I’ve been given to do.  And to do IT with His power and wisdom and energy.

A comforting image came to me as I laid down for a nap on Saturday afternoon.  It was of the relief and ordinariness of just being a sheep in the Father’s fold.  Just a good sheep.  Voilà – my new ambition.  “Maria – just be a good little sheep!”

sheep So that is what I aspire to, this day.  Not to invent/create/or pursue my own goals, but to follow my all-sufficient Shepherd.  After all, He promises that as one of His sheep:

  • I will lack nothing
  • I will receive sufficient rest, energy and strength for the day
  • I will be directed, not for my sake, but for the honor of His name and character as the Good Shepherd
  • I will feast on royal food and be anointed with family oil reminding me of whose I am EVEN in the midst of enemies

Finally, to ensure that I clearly understood my Father in this matter yesterday, the Holy Spirit guided my podcast listening to a sermon in which the pastor taught from Romans 8.  The verse that was for me was verse 14:

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”

Working backwards, I reasoned thus: Since I know that I have been adopted into God’s family and am a co-heir with Jesus, my brother, then ipso facto, the Spirit DOES lead me.  The Greek word is ‘ago’ (Strongs # 71) and it can mean COMPEL, DRIVE, BRING.  Much stronger words, then ‘lead’, wouldn’t you say?

If God is sovereign, then I can trust Him to drive me or keep me where He wants me.  And concerning this other job possibility I WILL turn over the next card and do what is at hand, this day, but I will pray to remember NOT to pre-occupy myself with the future.

Can anyone relate?

What’s the rush? You’re not going to miss your ultimate appointment!

July 27, 2014

Maria Impatience, Patience, Rest, Trials, Trust, Uncategorized, Walking with God , , , , , , , 1 Comment

“There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.” – Martin Luther

Martin Luther

 

 

 

 

 

I like Martin Luther’s earthiness for he was not afraid to enjoy life boldly and speak the truth with fresh vigor.

But what arrested me recently was his peculiar time-management system, at least as far as I can surmise from how he kept his calendar!

What about you and me?  For all the tech devices we employ, meant to make life easier, we seem to be burdened and tied down to what was designed to free us.

I’ve pondered schedules and the existence of RUSHING as a lifestyle this summer.  With 6 of my 9 weeks off as a teacher now a pleasant memory, I’ve been thinking a lot about TIME as I have crossed off summer chores and tackled ‘meaty’ books.  Can you believe that a couple of days I even ‘stressed’ at all I had to/wanted to do?

But is that the way a Christian who trusts God is supposed to live his life?  Does the Bible counsel rushing? By no means!  God WANTS us to develop patience, that is the qualities of endurance and steadfastness (Greek 5281 – hypomone). To prove my point, I’ve pulled out a few snippets of God’s will for us:

  • ..run with patience/endurance -Hebr 12:1  (‘feels’ like a contradiction, but not according to God)
  • …Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him – Gen 5:24 (God’s schedule, not ours) 
  • ….those who wait upon the Lord will ….run – Is 40:31 (have to keep our eyes on Him to catch His signal that NOW is the time to run using His holy petrol) 
  • …But if we hope for what we do not see, with patience/ perseverance we wait eagerly for it – Rom 8:25
  • Now may the God who gives patience/ perseverance and encouragement …. Rom 15:5 (a gift) 
  • And let patience/endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing – James 1:4  (patience aka learning to wait is God’s goal and desire for us!) 
  • For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10 (If God has these divine appointments and purposes planned, let us not fret about our time which is ALSO purposed and planned)

But how are we to gain this patience? Do you know ANYONE who is naturally patient? I don’t!

Here’s the truth: Patience is a gift from God.  But He doesn’t just imbue us with this attribute; He cultivates it IN us by means of the trials, struggles and problems He walks us through.  Do you get that? Suffering has a purpose when we consecrate it to God, when we trust our good Father in the midst of our hardships.  And knowing that there are reasons, even if we can’t see them, is far better than thinking that this painful stuff is just randomly occurring to us!  Chalking problems up to bad luck or fate produces NO endurance or patience – for what’s the point of bearing up well, if there’s NO POINT at all!

*

So what about those days when we don’t get done what we had planned?  The good news is – it doesn’t matter! God IS sovereign over our time because it’s not OUR time, but His!  He can chop it short or stretch it out.  And if the only day that really counts is when we meet Him face to face, then why stress?

Here’s a fact, both for the pagan unbeliever who is hostile to God AND for the child of the King who loves God. There IS a day appointed and fixed for each of us.  That is Martin Luther’s red-letter day.  You can be sure that you won’t miss that rendez-vous when each of us will meet Jesus face to face.  You can’t rush that meeting nor delay it.

Jesus holding girl

Fraud and Freedom

February 23, 2014

Maria Anxiety, Fear, Grace, John, Judgment, Peace, Rest, Sanctification , , , , , , 2 Comments

What if we could take off the mask and let the world see us for who we really are?

Fraud - 23 Feb 2014

None of us is truly transparent.  We present our best foot forward and then go on the defensive when called on our less than accurate self- projection.

I heard the story told of an older pastor who had given a talk at a PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) conference.  A young serious pastor approached him after his delivery and said that he had been much ‘grieved’ by both his attitude and his talk.  The mature man nonchalantly acknowledged his comment but didn’t say anything else.  The earnest young man continued with something like: ‘You shouldn’t be teaching those things in that way!’   Again….the bait wasn’t swallowed.

Finally the exasperated mininster sputtered, “Well, don’t you want to know what I think of you!?”

“Not really,” came the response, ” but if you really feel you have to tell me, I’ll listen…for about 15 seconds!”

At that invitation, our young man spit out, ” You’re ARROGANT, SMUG and WRONG!”

The calm older man looked at him in the eye and said one word – “Bingo!”  Then he continued, “You’re right, but you should have seen me 5 years ago!  I’m a lot better now, thanks be to God!”

Bingo - 23 Feb

**

Can you imagine how free you would feel not to have to pretend, project or protect?  No reputation to be maintained….no persona to nourish…no posturing to keep up?  Just safe and secure knowing that you’re chosen by God, loved by God and being sanctified by God.  And since God knows everything and it’s HIS opinion that counts, you wouldn’t have to care what others would think.

I can SEE that and TASTE that…but I am not there yet.  But, boy, do I sure want to swim in THAT ocean of freedom and grace.

Dear Lord, translate this vision into something I can grasp and live in!

Grace upon Grace - 23 Feb 2014

Greek Grammar – insight and rest

November 4, 2012

Maria Galatians, Isaiah, Rest, Uncategorized , , , 1 Comment

Grammar is often bypassed these days, whereas in the past, it was presented much more explicitly.  I teach French using a methodology that focuses on helping students naturally acquire a second language through lots of meaningful and comprehensible input. We converse (in French that they can understand) about what is going on in the world and in THEIR lives, just as I do with my friends.  We also create oral stories together and we read, savoring and teasing out information we glean from the content.  Language flows into their brains and out of their mouths almost effortlessly.

I view grammar in my classroom as a condiment, to be used sparingly.  Meaning is what drives the communication.  Grammar is used to clarify and clear up confusion (“the –ent on the end of the word means more than one person is doing the action”)

Yet in my personal life, I LOVE grammar.  My daily Bible study recently got a boost, thanks to some grammar observations.

My Bible is the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (NASB translation, published by AMG, edited by Spiros Zodhiates).  I supplement that with The English-Greek Reverse Interlinear NT, ESV version.

Here is one recent observation:

Galatians 2:20 – in the NIV reads:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

But the KJV translates the underlined part as by the faith of the Son of God…

There’s a huge difference between IN and OF.  So I looked at the Greek.  Sure enough – it’s ‘of’ – and the case of the Greek word is annotated ‘GENETIVE’.  That indicates possession.  It’s not MY faith that I have to ramp up and put in the Son of God.  It’s HIS faith given to me by the virtue of my new nature.

{When someone is regenerated, she/he gets a new nature. For example, I am no longer Maria – I am Christ-in-Maria.  Here is a poor analogy, but you can catch the drift: As a human born into sin, I was dying as just Maria…think carbon-monoxide…and then Christ infused His super-natural life into me (added another oxygen atom to make carbon-DI-oxide) and now I am completely different – alive.}

Back to looking at WHOSE faith it is. Since the faith in me is not MINE, but HIS, I don’t have to worry about FEELING strong.  It’s no longer a matter of strong or weak, but possession.

Here’s another place where we are led to think the effort and responsibility for sanctification depend on us, despite consistently translating the preposition ‘of’ to indicate possession.

Consider the famous ‘fruit of the spirit’ passage further on in Galatians 5:22-23a:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control…

Implications?

1)    The fruit does not come from my labor – I don’t have to ‘woman or man up’.  I RECEIVE God’s love and 8 blessed outcomes of that AGAPE when my eye is on Jesus, when I’m not out earning and working for the fruit.

2)    I used to think I had to work at those 9 qualities, with God’s help of course, because I’m a Christian.

3)    Trees and bushes and branches don’t work, they just stay connected.  I know that branches don’t have a mind of their own, but we human kind of branches do! And our thought life can cut off the life-giving, fruit-providing HOLY SAP.  Eyes on us, focused on our work and our plans, we cut off the conduit to the Holy Spirit flow.  And we wonder why we get so tired, lose our peace and energy and gentleness with others!   The Good News is that we can lift our eyes back to Jesus and rest in His provision.

2 verses to underscore this glorious truth:

Hebrews 3:1 – Therefore, Holy brothers who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus…..

Isaiah 30:15 – In repenting/ returning to Me and in rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength….

So where have you found a new nugget of understanding through studying the words and how they are structured?  Let us DIG ON for God’s gold.

The Scarlet Letter

March 9, 2011

Maria Hebrews, Rest , , 4 Comments

‘You are/ it is’ precede ‘you should/ it is necessary that…’  A basic understanding of grammar comes in handy.  In the Christian world, God tells us facts before he commands us to obey him.  He tells us what IS (his character, his accomplishments, his power, his plans and goals) before he tells us what to DO.

When we fall into the sin of legalism, it’s because we’ve harnessed the proverbial cart before the horse, i.e., the imperative (do this) before the indicative (what is).

Here’s how using the indicative can help in our own lives. My thesis is that unless we keep telling ourselves Truth, then we fall victim to feelings which can lead us around by the nose.  Imagine you’re in the car, impatient to get home when someone cuts you off.  If you’re like me, you’re likely to criticize that other driver and think the worst about him.  But if you knew an indicative, a fact, your feelings would likely change.  What if you knew that in that car was a young husband desperately speeding to get his very pregnant wife to the hospital.  Imagine her in labor, in pain and him feeling helpless and mindful of only one thing, his precious wife. Would that change how you feel about him cutting you off?  Of course!  You would offer him some slack.  More information changes your assessment, hence the conclusion you draw and feed yourself, hence your feelings.

This example came to mind the other day when I was meditating on Hebrews.  In chapter 10, the author says that if the people knew that one sacrifice would wipe out their sins once and for all, they would no longer feel guilty for those sins. (Hebr 10: 2b ….for the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.) That verse caused me to realize that I am not supposed to feel guilty for sins already forgiven.  The information that a sacrifice not only cleanses me, but takes away the guilt was new information.  And Jesus performed the one and only necessary sacrifice for sins AND for guilt.  When I still feel guilty after having been forgiven, I am forgetting a fact, an indicative.  Reminding myself of the fact that my guilt is taken away MAKES me feel differently.

The current message I’m receiving from the Bible and from sermons by RC Sproul and Tullian Tchividjian is how important the gospel message is to believers.  We need a steady daily diet of Gospel indicatives.  Our minds and hearts need to be saturated by the radical and scarcely-proclaimed message (one that is NOT intuitive, nor picked up by osmosis) of God’s grace and love. Culture daily bombards us with all the stuff we should do.  Guilt comes naturally in our culture.

I was brought to tears the other day listening to Tullian talk about the wonderful news of God’s grace.  He was illustrating it with an example of a student so stressed out by a high school honors class that she can’t perform.  In response the wise teacher guarantees her an A for the semester.   This A is contingent on NOTHING the student does, just on the kindness of the teacher.  From our perspective, this is an outrageous risk.  What if the student takes advantage of the ‘pre-destined A’?  Apparently that is a risk the teacher is willing to take.  In this real-life illustration, the high-school junior ended up relaxing and working hard and probably earning the A.  But she worked with peace of mind.

So too, we, have been given this ‘Scarlet Letter’, this predetermined grade of A, purchased in blood by Jesus.  It is a total gift.  We don’t have to do anything to earn it.  Furthermore, God won’t take it away from those he has given it to.  We can relax and learn from him.  We can trust this yoke, that it is easy.  Yet we chafe.  We would rather FEEL WORTHY.  Why is that?  Pernicious pride!  It offends us to have our opportunity  to earn WORTH taken away from us.  Somehow intrinsic value (totally up to God) doesn’t satisfy us.  This twisted thinking needs to be redeemed.  Only the daily drip method of life-giving Gospel truth can transform our minds.

The next time I start manufacturing pressure for myself, I need to pause and reflect.  Why am I feeling anxious?  What truth, fact, promise, and info about God do I need to remember?  What false conclusion am I drawing?  What am I trying to DO out of guilt or out of the idea that THIS is how ‘good’ Christians should act?  It is great news that I don’t have to DO anything.  I just have to ‘abide’ in Christ.  That means:  stay connected, keep my eyes on him, feed on him, hang out with him, be the Mary at his feet, rather than the Martha trying to get Jesus on her side against the ‘lazy ones’.

I want to wear this Scarlet Letter with pride!

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