Y’all are the body {PODCAST}
Scripture tells us that we (plural!) are the body of Christ (singular). What does this mean? Well, because God created the world, the entire world serves as an illustration of theological truth. So as we look through the Word AT the world we see a beautiful picture of what oneness is like. Join me for Episode 33 as we dive into what ONENESS really is and how we can learn from His created world to be more of what HE intended us to be. Read More
Still Here! The GOOD News {PODCAST}
I recently received an email from a dear sister in Christ walking through a difficult situation in her local church. Her pastor resigned, so worn down from the strife and conflict. Many people have left. She’s feeling tired and alone and it got me thinking it’d be good to talk a bit about the Second Mile as it relates to church unity and navigating difficulties together as the body of Christ. So here we go! Join me for Episode 32 as we dive into God’s heart for His church, and how the Second Mile enables us to be ONE heart, one mind, united in our one glorious purpose.Read More
Wistfully
I remember my freshman year of college, when I first started really following Jesus — I remember missing my old boyfriend, and keenly feeling that aching torn-between-two worlds feeling. I wanted Jesus more than anything. But there were days I looked wistfully at my old life.
Now, 23 years later, I can see how silly it was to long for what was gone because God had so much more in store for me. There’s no comparison. Life has had pain, for sure, but also blessings beyond what I could have then imagined.
A couple years ago I wrote a song. I have written exactly one song in my life, and this is it. 😉 I wrote it before any of our latest global adventures began. It’s called The Narrow Road. The verses go like this:
Lord, here’s my heart. Divided and Torn. Part wanting my way, part wanting yours. Make it undivided. Make it whole again. Lead me down the narrow road.
There is a wide way that seems right to man, but it leads straight to death, again and again. It’s your kindness, I know, that turns me around, to go down the narrow road.
My flesh hates restrictions, hates feeling bound, but I know your commands, Lord, are where freedom’s found. I submit to your plan, I relinquish my rights, I’ll go down the narrow road.
Put my hand to the plow, and I’ll look straight ahead; Remember Lot’s wife, let dead bury dead. ‘Cause your promise is sure, and nothing compares, I’ll go down the narrow road.
All this world offers, I’ll count it as loss. Deny’s self’s demands, and take up my cross. ‘Cause your way leads to life, abundant and true, I’ll go down the narrow road.
Then on that day, when I reach journey’s end, I’ll meet with my Maker, my Savior, my Friend. He’s the way, truth, the life, He’s the only Door, to joy in its fullness, pleasure evermore.
The chorus goes:
I look wistfully at the road that is wide, then I remember why my Savior died. And the life I now live, is Christ crucified, I’ll go down the narrow road.
I had forgotten all about this song, until today when I was reading John Piper’s words today:
One of the great temptations to keep us from fulfilling what Jesus calls us to to do is that we grow weary in the battle and look back on how easy life was before we started to follow him. Strive to enter through the narrow door means, fight for perseverence. … In other words, one of the factors that makes the door to the Kingdom of God narrow is that striving to enter must last to the end. Therefore, Jesus warns us against nostalgia for the former days of worldliness. He says that the stress of the last days of this age will tempt people to look back. So with stark simplicity he warns, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32) … Striving to enter through the narrow door means taking heed to the warning of Jesus: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
What Jesus Demands From the World, P. 177
This pandemic has left many of us wondering, “What does it mean to ‘go back’?” I don’t think we can go back. Because the world is different. We are different. And God is doing His thing, as always, and invites us in, but there is always this temptation to look wistfully at “the old days.”
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Luke 9:51
This week we remember Jesus’ movement toward the cross. As the days drew near, he “set his face” in the right direction. No reminiscing about wine at weddings. No wistful remembrance of the “good ol’ days.” No bitterness that his once-friend Judas was about to betray him.
He set his face.
Lord, set ours.
Do Good {PODCAST}
Doing good: That’s what the Second Mile is all about. Instead of dwelling on the stinging cheek, we move forward and offer the other. Instead of throwing ourselves into defending our rights and our stuff, we let go of the tunic and offer the cloak. Instead of huffing and puffing over that first unfair mile, we lift our eyes to the One we really serve and with a little hop in our step we go not just one, but two.
The joy comes in the doing good.Read More
Entrust your soul to God {PODCAST}
If I’m honest, what I see with my eyes in the world around me looks suuuuuper unfair. Sometimes I can safely distance myself from all that feels wrong, but sooner or later we’re forced to face it and honestly it can seem unbearable. Enter Psalm 73. It’s one of my favorites, and it provides us a blueprint for what this process looks like — giving God our honest agony and reminding our souls of what’s true: It’s good to be near God.Read More
How is this God’s will? {PODCAST}
We know that death and disease are not God’s will, He doesn’t delight in those things, but of course we see God working good through crises of all kinds, every single day. So how do we resist evil but not resist the good God is doing? How do we “go the second mile” but still abhor evil the way God does? I usually figure it’s best to answer Scripture’s questions with Scripture. In this case, 1 Peter 4:19 provides us a powerful 3-point outline of how we are to respond to the inevitable evil, unfairness, and even suffering that we encounter in this world. God’s Word gives us exactly what we need! Read More
ROME {PODCAST}
In this last leg of the Second Mile, we’re talking about GENERAL INJUSTICES. Those things in life that feel maddeningly unfair. The ways that those in authority make demands that feel frustrating. The ways we might feel powerless, enslaved to a certain set of circumstances we don’t have the power to change.Read More
You’re Getting Ripped Off {PODCAST}
Have you ever wished you could just write a check to make someone come to Christ? Maybe that sounds bizarre, but I mean, haven’t you ever wished that you had that kind of power, just through incurring a cost, to actually influence a person’s soul for eternity?
What if we do?Read More
Buying Souls {PODCAST}
Have you ever wished you could just write a check to make someone come to Christ? Maybe that sounds bizarre, but I mean, haven’t you ever wished that you had that kind of power, just through incurring a cost, to actually influence a person’s soul for eternity?
What if we do?Read More
When we strike the rock: leading and parenting from anger
Every time I read about Moses I learn more about leadership. In my most discouraging moments, at times when I’ve wanted to quit or I’ve felt hopelessly unqualified for the task at hand, God has used Moses to correct, encourage, inform, and equip me for whatever was ahead.
Moses was awesome, but also failed. The people he led wavered between loving him and hating him. There were high highs and low lows. There were many crises. He wanted to quit on multiple occasions.
Sounds like leadership. Also sounds like parenting.
Anybody? Parenting is really just an intense 24-7 form of leadership. I have told Jeff multiple times, when bemoaning some seemingly terrible leadership decision from someone in power, “If only we had more MOMS in charge! Anyone who has trained a toddler knows that [this plan] is not going to work!”
This time around studying Moses, a new truth surfaced from the never-changing-but-always-fresh words of Scripture.
The tragic striking of the rock.
As some of you know, early on in the wilderness journey, God tells Moses to strike the rock (Ex. 17:6) in order to provide water for the people to drink. Moses was already desperate at that point as the people were ready to kill him they were so thirsty. The people were quarreling, complaining, grumbling — this is NOT a happy scene. But Moses obeys God, strikes the rock, and they had water to drink.
Much later on, in Numbers 20, Moses is getting worn down. He’s endured the Golden Calf incident, he’s endured the endless complaining of the people to such an extent that he cries out to God,
“I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once.”
Numbers 11:14
In the margin of my Bible my handwriting reads, from years before, “Leadership: I’d rather die than do this. So hard.” That’s what Moses felt like! After this, even his own brother and sister, the very closest people to him, even THEY oppose him. And then the spies that check out the promised land are cowardly and they fill the people with fear, then the people rebel again, Israel is defeated in battle, Korah’s rebellion ensues and 250 chiefs of the people rise up against Moses and the ground opens up and swallows them and their families whole.
This is unbelievable opposition, difficulty, resistance, push-back.
This sounds like training a strong-willed toddler!
Anybody? Anytime I think that leadership or parenting is difficult, I can just lay it all out next to Moses situation here and it gives me perspective.
So this sets the stage, sadly, for Moses’ failure. He’s endured incredible opposition, complaining, animosity, even rebellion and betrayal. I’m guessing that at this point he’s HAD IT UP TO HERE with these people.
And so, in one incredibly sad, tragic moment, he allows all the pent-up frustration to get to him, and he makes his fatal mistake:
He lets himself lead out of anger.
The people are thirsty. AGAIN. The people complain. AGAIN. The people assemble themselves against Moses. AGAIN.
So God tells Moses to “tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water.” Got that? He doesn’t tell him to strike the rock this time, but only tell the rock. But what does Moses do?
Again, he’s sick to death of all this complaining. So he says,
“‘Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice.’
(Num 11:10)
Then what happened. Water came out of the rock. The people drank. Perhaps on the outside it seemed fine.
But it wasn’t fine. Moses had disobeyed. He had let the people’s complaining drive him to the point that he responded out of anger and misrepresented God.
Apparently, that is a MONUMENTAL no-no. Because of it, Moses didn’t get to enter the promised land.
I’ve often reflected on the fact that God’s punishment of Moses seems harsh. He did so many things right. And yet, this one mis-step cost him dearly. He would never get to set foot into the promised land and see that fulfillment of all God promised to do.
As parents, we’ve probably all had those moments where we let our children’s misbehavior drive us to the point where we respond out of anger. Hands down, this is my biggest regret of my early parenting years.
(Please note, it wasn’t necessarily that striking the rock was bad. I have heard people say that they refuse to do this or that form of discipline because they associate that form with anger. To be sure, we absolutely SHOULD NOT discipline out of anger, but we have to be careful that we do not assume that one form of discipline is necessarily out of anger and others are not. It’s our hearts. One time, God told Moses to strike the rock. The next time, He told him to do something different. Therefore, it wasn’t necessarily the method that mattered, it was his heart, his obedience to God, and it was that Moses was to represent God accurately.)
But what struck me this time (pun totally intended), was that it was Moses’ responsibility not to let the people’s complaining drive him to a place that He disobeyed God and responded out of anger. Sure, the people complained, but God held MOSES responsible for his own actions. The people died for their own sin. God took care of them. But Moses had no excuse.
Parents, leaders: WE are responsible for our own souls. We are responsible for whether or not we let the push-back or complaining or whatever challenges lead us to a place of anger and disobedience to God.
For me personally, this was a sobering word from God. God is going to do what He will with or without me. He is going to be faithful. He is going to be gracious. He is going to carry out His good will in this world.
Do I want to be part of it or not? Do I want to see the fulfillment or not?
No one else is responsible for my responses. No one else is responsible for making sure that Kari doesn’t lose her temper (or or her mind!). I cannot expect other people to not “push my buttons.”
I don’t get to blame anybody else for my lack of grace.
I know we can’t know things like this, but it does make me wonder, “What if Moses had done a better job shepherding his own soul? What it Moses had taken more time to be alone with God and allow God to heal and encourage and strengthen him?” Of course we can’t know that. But I CAN learn from his life and recognize that I need to build in pressure-valves into my life so that I can get with God and allow Him to take that pressure away, so that I don’t blow up and misrepresent God to my children or to those I lead.
For me, this is a serious word that requires careful consideration of what practical steps need to be taken. If you have ever found yourself responding to your children, or family, or co-workers, or those you lead, out of anger — perhaps this word is for you as well?
God will do His thing with or without us. I don’t want to miss it. I want to see the Promised Land.