Category Archives: Sacred Mundane

James 2:1-13 A New Way to See

Last week we ended by looking at how true religion, a true relationship with God, expresses itself through purity in our speech, through social concern, and moral purity. I hope all of you had the chance to visit the RL exhibit, and hear Joel’s message this weekend– This week James takes this idea and brings it a little closer to home, in fact he brings it really to our very doorstep.

Becauseh before we can deal with this issue of social concern, we must have God give us a new way to see. Before we can love people, serve people, give to people, share the love of Christ and the truth of the gospel with people, we must have new eyes—we must see them as God sees. Our belief is what fuels our actions, always. To change the way we act we must change the way we see. The reason we don’t take up the cause of the poor? Because we don’t believe they are worth it. If we are to have God light a fire in our hearts for loving people, we must believe that they are worth loving. We must have new eyes to see them as God sees. Let’s jump into the text.

James 2:1-4 Read 1. Straightforward, ok. Partiality comes through Poor perspective. Now James brings it right to the doorstep of our church. Read v. 2-4.

Now, from the perspective of our main character, what is the difference between these two men—what does it say? Exactly what data does he have as his criteria for his judgment. What is the only difference between the two? Clothes and accessories. Clothes. The difference between the two men was the clothes they were wearing.

1. Seeing as God sees means looking past appearances.

The Bible doesn’t talk all that much about clothes. We do. Don’t we? We have subscriptions to entire magazines devoted to clothes. Fashion in a multi-BILLION dollar industry. Meaning we spend millions of millions, billions and billions of dollars every year on pieces of fabric that we hang on our bodies and pieces of metal that hang from our ears, or bags we use to carry our gum. We have closets the size of some people’s homes, just to hold all of our clothes. And most of us store our out-of-season clothes in other closets! Now believe me I like clothes just as much as the next girl, and I too have a walk-in closet. We’re not saying today that you can’t wear nice clothes or take care of your appearance—in fact, we’re going to take a quick look at what the Bible does say about clothes and appearance. But part of being doers of the Word means that we what: Hold up God’s Word like a mirror (remember last week!), and take a good long look at what we’re wearing and why. Because we do everything that we do for a reason. There’s always a reason behind your actions, from what you ate for breakfast to what you wear to what car you drive to why you’re here, right? And if we’re going to be doers of the Word we first have to hold up that mirror of God’s Word and take a look. So let’s do that.

Now, when we get ourselves dressed and we do whatever we do to ourselves (and I’m certainly not advocating that we don’t do anything to ourselves!), we do so to take care of our… appearance. We want to be sure that our appearance is ok. Nothing wrong with that. But, would you agree that our world has become absolutely consumed with appearances. We will spend hundreds of dollars on jeans that make us look 3 ounces thinner. We will spend hundreds of dollars on shoes that are horrid to walk in! Why? Make our legs look longer. We will spend hundreds of dollars on a bag of all things, by a certain designer. Why? I don’t know, I still haven’t figured that one out. I’m really not trying to be snarky I’m just saying we gotta take a step back and say, “What on earth am I doing?!”

Poor perspective. When we live in this fallen world we are so prone to becoming engulfed in its world view, we don’t even realize our minds have been taken caprtive. And we never step back and say, “What on earth am I doing?” Our obsession with appearance is one of the areas where we are gotten so out of control, and history tells us that we will go to ridiculous lengths. And, I hope you will let me try to convince you that this epidemic obsession with appearnces is absolutely related to our topic of partiality today. Let me illustrate.

Chinese feet binding? For a THOUSAND years this was a trend. We talk about “classic” styles lasting a decade. This was a classic style. And, it began with the elite class, the rich, who emulated the beautiful tiny feet of these certain dancers in the Southern Tang dynasty. So women began binding their feet to make them appear smaller. Did they get smaller? No of course not. The result, women were crippled. The very feet that God gave us so we can walk, they ruined by vanity. Vanity knows no bounds. (Show x-ray.) We look at this and say that’s ridiculous. Which proves that fashion is arbitrary. Now again, please hear my heart. I think there is a place for fashion. Beauty is from God. The problem is that we’ve allowed this to take over our world, and next thing you know you’re got feet like that.

The Chinese aren’t the only ones, right? What about neck-rings? Many women from Asia and Africa begin putting neck rings on little girls as young as 2 years old to begin gradually lengthening one’s neck because they have one ideal of beauty—an elongated neck. These rings tilt the collarbone, and they can be very dangerous to remove because the neck muscles atrophy to such an extent that the weight of their heads can collapse their necks. They can’t drink from cups, only straws, cannot look at the sky.

Again, crazy. We’re far more subtle in our tummy tucks and face lifts and control spanx and push-up bras. Or, the fashion industry realizes they can’t actually mame and destroy women’s bodies with crushing feet or stretching necks, so we just do it all digitally, right? We’ll spend billions of dollars in the advertising industry to photoshop everything to sell an image, an appearance, that is false, so nobody gets hurt, right? The only people who get hurt are the millions of pre-teen and teen girls and women who believe that in order for them to be beautiful and accepted and lovely they have to look like that. And now we’re facing a new frightening trend. Eating disorder experts say they seeing a startling increase in cases of young girls as young as 5-6 years old. Instead of destroying girls’ feet and necks we’re destroying their hearts. Our hearts.

And when we continue to invest loads of time and energy and resources into appearances we are perpetuating a culture which is DRIVEN by—partiality. The word partiality, the Greek word prosopolepsia literally means, “receiving the face.” To “receive the face” is to make judgments and distinctions based on external considerations such as physical appearance, social status, or race. We might say that we shouldn’t judge by appearances but then we spend billions of dollars a year making sure that our appearance send the right message because deep down we know that we judge by appearances. And what does Jesus say about that? “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”(John 7:24) Judgment isn’t wrong, judging by appearances is wrong.

But when we invest billions of dollars into our appearance, we perpetuate the problem. (like shopping for old houses…)

The reason that all this appearance is important to us is that often appearance, fashion and appearance are status symbols, right? We live in world where physical beauty + wealth = value. We have designs on our purses, initials on our jeans, signature style of certain designers. In America, our display of status is more subtle, but it’s there. Oh it’s there.

So, Kari what’s this rant and rave about? So what if my jeans are designer and so what if I do like to wear a little status symbol on my back pocket? Look at the indictment of verse 4: have you not then made distinctions among yourselves.

The problem lies in that often the root of fashion, and the root of our obsession with appearance is to, what was it in verse 4? Make distinctions. We have sought to distinguish ourselves by the clothes that we wear. Distinguish simply means to mark as different of distinct. We’d like to set ourselves apart, or more specifically set ourselves into a certain group of people who wear these same exclusive items. Why do we flock after the styles of the celebrities? We want to distinguish ourselves into the same sphere of status, beauty that they are. We use appearances to make distinctions. Another intresting tidbit is that the Greek verb for make distinctions is DIAKRINO, and it is the same Greek word used in James 1:6 where it said the man who DOUBTS (DIAKRINO) is double-minded, unstable, tossed to and fro. Same word. Remember we said that to doubt there was to have a division of loyalties, same word as to make distinctions, or quite literally—to discriminate. Now it’s good when we are discriminating or discerning based on Godly judgment, right? But when we make distinctions or discriminate based on appearance, we are unstable, tossed to and fro, double-minded (Don’t be dipsychos!) In short, we make distinctions based on appearances so much because we value appearances so much. We have become foolish in our judgments. Instead of judging rightly, we have become consumed with making judgments based on appearance, based—like the man we read about in James 2—on clothing.

So briefly, how does God want us to be clothed? Let’s look briefly:

• 1 Peter 5:5 “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.” Now here’s another topic all to itself. Do we dress humbly? Do we put on humility or do we put on pride?
• Col. 3:14 “Above all these things put on love.”
• Specifically, we learned last year in 1 Peter 3:3-4 that we are to adorn ourselves not externally, with costly designer clothes, fancy jewelry, obsessing over our hair, but to adorn ourselves internally. And all the scriptures we just read are saying juts that, if you’re wondering how to beautify yourself, here it is. If you’re wondering what to wear, here you go. Using the language of our passage, we’re not to spend all of our time judging ourselves externally, we need to spend some time judging internally. Not judging appearances, but as Jesus said, judging rightly. When we become women who judge ourselves internally rather than externally, we will become godly women who just others rightly rather than externally.
• Fascinatingly, the last passage which talks about adorning externally also ties in the major theme that we covered last week, that we’ll cover next week, and that is the thrust of the enter book of James—good works. 1 timothy 2:9 says that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with fancy hair and gold and pearls or costly designer clothing, but what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. There it is. Since we do have to get dressed—dress modestly. But adornment? Let your good works adorn you. That’s what makes someone truly beautiful.
• Proverbs 31 woman of course is our beautiful example and we see these remarks: v.17: She dresses herself with strength, v.20 she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hand to the needy, v. 22 her clothing is fine linen and purple, v.25 strength and dignity are her clothing. We are to dress with dignity because we are created in the image of God and our value and worth and beauty comes from him. We are not to dress in pride. (Another whole study there)

Looking back at our passage. The person’s sin was two fold. 1) made a judgment based on appearances. 2) He showed partiality, gave preferential treatment to the one whom he has judged (by appearances!) to be of higher status.

1. Seeing as God sees means refusing preferential treatment.

He made the poor man sit on the floor and gave the rich man the seat of honor. So the outward sin was that he gave preferential treatment to one man and disrespected the other man. But that was merely the result of an inward sin that had already occurred. It all started with judging by appearances.

Christ modeled in that He was not a respecter of persons (Matthew 22:16) as the King James says, which literally means “He does not look at people’s faces.” In my version it reads that Jesus is did not care about anyone’s opinion, for he was not “swayed by appearances.” This echoes what we know of God the Father who, in the OT, we read in 1 Samuel 16:7 “The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Those of you familiar with the stories of King Saul and King David know that Saul was all about appearances, David was a man after God’s own heart. We looked up these verses in our homework:

• • Romans 2:11: God shows no partiality.
  • Ephesians 6:9: he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
  • Colossians 3:25: 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

And in those we learned that God doesn’t show partiality. And this theme of partiality, and especially toward the poor, is intimately related to what we studied last week—our social concern for the orphan, the widow, the poor, the needy. Deuteronomy 10:17-18 connects these as well. We read “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome god, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” If we are people given to partiality, we will never learn to love those who give us nothing in return. If we think a person’s value comes from their appearance, wealth, status, good personality—we will never be able to truly love people and see them as God sees. A person is valuable because he or she is made in the image of God. A person has dignity, worth, value, because they are image-bearers of our great and glorious God. If we don’t get that, we will never have our hearts broken for the poor, we will never be moved with compassion to truly help them, because the bottom line is we just do not think they are worth it. Instead, we have been perverted by the belief that the beautiful and successful are who really matter. We will never make any progress showing the world the love of Christ until we see people as God sees them.

[We will never be able to love, serve, give, take up the cause of the poor, until we learn to see them as God sees them, to quit making judgments based on appearances, to quit showing partiality to the rich and famous. A culture that is obsessed with success, fame, beauty, riches, wealth WILL NEVER REACH THE WORLD THAT GOD LOVES. If we are so star-struck we will never look down to see the poor, the needy, the broken. We’re too busy trying to make sure we set ourselves apart into the distinguished group of the world.

Again, back to our scenario in James. What’s happening is partiality. Now, this happens in the world, doesn’t it? I mean, in some ways it’s the basis of our airline seating, our season tickets to the Blazers! Those who are affluent get the best seats. Now that’s fine in the world of commerce, but what if that creeps into our churches? Church is general admission. But do think this can still happen, subtly, even in church?

And I would venture to say that if one of the Blazers walked into church, and right behind him came a frumpy short and squatty mom with unwashed hair, I would dare to say that they would be treated differently. We all are vulnerable to being star-struck or name-dropping or simply, as the King James puts it, being a “respecter of persons.” We behold the face, the clothes—we behold the name and the fame. And James is saying, it’s sin.

3. Seeing as God sees means we value people as image-bearers, not idols.

James 2:5-7 Let’s finish the paragraph. Read vv.5-7. In this context the rich were the very ones who were exploiting them, and yet they still showed them partiality! More specifically, verse 7—they were the ones who blasphemed the honorable name by which you were called. Ok, we have to say this: There is nothing wrong with admiring or respecting certain people—if we respect them for their respectable qualities. However, if we are adoring fans—showing respect and partiality—for those famous celebrities who do not honor the name of Christ, we are, according to James—doing wrong. This means we must be very careful who we are venerating. Lady Gaga is not who we are to be emulating! Now my purpose here is not to stomp on toes, but when we support, praise, venerate, emulate celebrities who blaspheme the name of our God, James says we are in sin. Celebrity worship is sin. MOST celebrities do not honor the name of Christ. (Like talking to a friend and purposefully praising someone else who I know slanders my friend) There is one God, and if we are lauding and praising and spending GOD”S MONEY to go see and support and applaud celebrities who blaspheme the name of our God, or who oppose all that is pure and godly, we are wrong ladies. We must repent of this. We must refuse to just slide along in the slime of pop culture. “Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?” GOD’s NAME should be what we sing and shout and seek to make famous. Isaiah 26:8 says Yes, Lord … YOUR name and your renown are the desire of our hearts.

Let’s finish. Read. 8-9. Over all of this is love.

4. Seeing as God sees leads to loving as God loves.

When we love our neighbor as ourself we look past mere physical appearance or wealth, status. The world’s love says, I will love you as long as you are lovely, successful, as long as you make me feel good and you meet my standards. It’s a self-seeking love. True love, God’s love, seeks not its own (1 Cor. 13). True love, as we looked at last year, is desiring the greatest good for another person. True love shows no partiality.

Read 10-11. I believe James emphasizes the whole law because he is make a point that this little issue of partiality is not a little issue. It’s easy for us to think, “Oh I don’t steal or murder or gossip.” But yeah I reach out to the people who look successful, attractive, like they have their act together. But if we show partiality, we transgress the whole law. This places us all smack dab in the classification of “sinner.” DL Moody said it’s as if we are holding onto a 10-link chain, dangling over a precipice of doom below. It doesn’t matter if we break one link or 9 links, we fall to our destruction no matter what. And the purpose of this reminder is not to make us feel condemned, but to help us understand 1) the seriousness of the sin of partiality, and 2) the JOY of knowing that we are saved through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This passage reminds us that we’ve broken a link in the chain. We should be falling, plummeting to our eternal destruction. BUT GOD. Ephesians 2, but God, by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There’s no room for boasting at the end of this message is there?

James’ final exhortation: vv.12-13 Speak and act as those who are judged under the law of liberty. God’s law is a law which frees us to obey Him. It is an inner law which constrains us to follow Him, 2 Cor. 5:14. And while we will not be judged as unbelievers are judged, and while our eternal destination is secure—our works will be judged, when God gives rewards for what we have done here on earth. And Christians who’ve lived selfishly, showing no mercy to the needy but idolizing the rich and famous, will not receive mercy when rewards are given. Jesus said that with the “judgment you pronounce you will be judged, with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). In other words, quite simply, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

See the way God sees, love the way God loves.

James 1:19-27 Doers of the Word.

Last week we talked about our Personal Faith Challenge? What was it? (Review) and what was our reminder? Don’t be Dipsychos!

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We should all memorize v. 19. My 3-year-old son has it memorized, it’s so cute. If we just had this one thing down pat, wouldn’t be see such a huge change in the world? We’ve all heard we have 2 ears and one mouth so we should listen twice as much as we speak. Lehman Strauss said, “A wise man will listen to others and answer only if he is certain he has something worthwhile to say.” Now we will be dealing at length in chapter 3 about the use of our tongues, but here is addressing not so much even what we are saying, but just that we are saying too much! And why? Because as Proverbs 10:19 says, ¹⁹ When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.” James knows that the bottom line is we’ll never be able to control what we say until we’ve learned to control whether we say anything in the first place. Proverbs 17:27-28 says, “²⁷ A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”

A man of knowledge uses words with restraint. That means that it’s not only about whether you are naturally a talker or a non-talker. We are to actually exercise restraint with our words. The same way that we might see a big piece of chocolate cake but exercise restraint, we might see an opportunity to blab or speak our mind or make a sharp remark or fill the silence, but we are to exercise restraint unless our words are absolutely necessary.

The purpose of talking less is that we can listen more. We as a people are terrible listeners. Have you noticed this? Do you have friends (hopefully I am not one of them), who just do not listen? I find it interesting that our shelves are full of books that help us learn how to more effectively communicate, how to use words to our advantage, how to preach and teach and write and influence with words. And I can’t remember the last book that was written on how to be a better listener. How to sit quietly and listen. How to really learn from people. And yet God’s Word says we are called to be listeners.

Interestingly, speaking and listening are connected with anger. Look back at the Proverbs 17:27-28 passage. Right in the middle of the subject of restraining words is the subject of being even-tempered. When we restrain our words we restrain our anger as well.

The connection is fairly obvious in that more times than not our anger is unleashed through words. Proverbs 15:1 says “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” If we cannot control our tongues, we cannot control our anger. And anger is a fruit of the flesh, it is sin. To just level with you, I never struggled with anger until I had children. I know that’s sad, but true. I never really get angry with Jeff, but I find myself often having to hold my tongue with my preschooler. And probably the single biggest mistake we can make as parents is disciplining or responding to our children in anger. Anger breeds anger. There’s an excellent parenting book called Heart of Anger, which takes a look at the way that our behavior can actually breed anger in our children. Sobering reality. We must be SO careful how we speak to our children. We must take anger seriously. Galatians 3:20 lists “fits of anger” as one of the works of the flesh, along with sexual immorality and sorcery! But the fruit of the spirit is self-control, both in our words and in our anger.

Some of us are more fiery by nature, so this exhortation is especially important to us. Why? Verse. 20 tells us “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.” Unrighteous anger never helps the cause of Christ. There is, of course righteous anger, such as Christ exhibited when he overturned the money-changing tables and cleared out those who were buying and selling sacrifices in the temple. Unfortunately, we don’t get angry about the things we should and we do get angry about what we shouldn’t. As Lehman Strauss said, “If I am angry at nothing but sin, I can be angry so as not to sin.” You know what we should get angry about? Our own sin.

When was the last time you met up with a friend and the conversation went like this: She says, “Man I’m just ticked off. I’m mad. I just cannot believe she has the audacity to do something like that. I mean, who does she think she is? Walking around like she owns the place, insisting on her own way all the time. I’ve just HAD IT. I can’t take it anymore. I’ve got to do something about it.” And you’re running along and you say, “Sorry girl but who are you talking about?” And she responds, “Myself! I’m so sick of my sin I can’t take it anymore. I gotta get serious about making some changes. I was rude to my husband and my kids and didn’t speak kindly to them this morning. Something’s gotta change!”

We need to get angry about our own sin, about social justice, about taking up the cause of the poor, the exploited, the trafficked, the weak. Get fiery about that! (I’m getting all fired up!)  And it’s of paramount importance that if we’re worked up about the sin we see in others, we first and foremost deal with the plank of sin we have in our own life first.

Therefore, because of all this, v. 21, “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Put away filthiness. Now remember James is speaking to believers. Nowhere in scripture does God call unbelievers to clean up their act before they come to Him. He’s speaking to us. Now here’s the deal with filthiness. If we see a little bit of dirt on the outside, that usually reveals an alarming amount of filth on the inside. (Coffee mug example. Show) If we find that impure speech comes out of our mouths, or just slightly filthy talk, chances are there is serious filth on the inside. Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and so we need God to change us from the inside. How do we have God change us from the inside “receive with meekness the word”.

It is surprising to me how often we do not receive God’s Word with meekness, or humility. Humility is the only proper response to God’s Word. But often we sit in church and instead of accepting, we analyze. Instead of conviction there’s critique. Some of us believe that we go to church to evaluate the message. “Is it a good one?!” I find that sort of talk creeping in to the way I speak. I’ll say, Ooh that was a good message today. So am I saying that sometimes they are not good messages? All messages from God’s Word are good. So what I really mean is, Ooh that message really challenged me in a specific way today. Our words reveal our hearts, so if we set ourselves up as the judges, we will judge God’s Word instead of letting God’s word judge us.

*just a note of clarification, when it says the word that saves your souls. This good Word of God has saved our souls from eternal punishment, and continues to save our souls from damage, by sanctification. We are not continually being saved in the eternal sense, but we are being continually saved in the sense that we are being more and more made into the image of Christ.

Now, if we are receiving God’s Word with meekness and humility, what is the natural outcome? That we would obey. That we would be doers of the Word. Read vv. 22-25. James has a great illustration here. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but a friend was telling of a fun day when she let her 3—year-old daughter play beauty parlor on her face. Of course the lipstick went all over and eyeshadow up over her eyebrows and I think she drew freckles with some eyeliner—you get the idea. And she looked and laughed and then the phone rang and she answered and got engrossed in a conversation and then it was snacktime and then naptime and finally she got her daughter down for her nap and the doorbell rang and she had to sign for the package and the UPS man just had this huge smile on his face the whole time, and she just thought hm, what a happy guy. Of course, she’d forgotten what she looked like. It wasn’t until later when she used the restroom that she realized she still had her daughter’s special makeup on.

So reading through this illustration, and perhaps listening to that story, it might be easy to think, “How could you forget what you look like?! I mean, if you noticed something that funny, how could you forget?” Similarly, if you look at the mirror of God’s Word, and He points out something that needs changing in your life, how could you turn around and forget about it? In the story what happened? She got a phone call. All it takes is a tiny bit of distraction. I cannot tell you how many times God will show me something significant in His word, in during the sermon at church, and I’ll be cut to the heart and writing down all that God’s showing me, and then we’re dismissed and I see so-and-so or I run up and grab my kids and find out that Dutch his Bode or that Heidi fell and hit her head or whatever, and then I’m on to the next thing and outside and buckling in kids and getting snacks and reading books and doing naps, and next thing you know I’ve completely forgotten about what God so clearly spoke to me in that quiet moment at church. Ladies, it’s so easy to forget, because it’s so easy to get distracted. We live in a world that is FULL of distraction. And when we hear God’s Word and receive that conviction, but then go off and get distracted by other things without putting it into practice then we are not doers of the Word, we are hearers only. Then we are the one who looks into the law of liberty (the truth sets us free!), and perseveres, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, then a promise: Then we will be blessed in our doing.

God call us to DO his Word. Jesus told us in John 13, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you DO THEM.” (v.17). The blessing comes through obedience. Through doing. He said the same thing in Luke 11:28, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” James will take us even further in this idea in chapter 4 when he tells us, “Whoever knows the right things to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” V. 17. That is the sin of omission. Sin isn’t just when we do bad stuff, it’s when we don’t do the right thing we know to do. It’s when we look at the truth of God’s Word, and He shines light on the area that needs to change, then we run off and forget all about it.

Paul says the same thing in Romans 2:13, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Again, in two weeks Joy will address more of faith and works, and no we are not justified by works, but our true faith is proven when it demonstrates itself through works. Just hearing God’s Word is not enough to save us, we believe by faith, and that faith is a faith that works. That is why James is warning us in v. 22 not to be deceiving ourselves. There are likely many professing Christians who have heard the gospel message but have not responded in obedience. Douglas Moo says, “If the true gospel, by nature, contains both saving power and summons to obedience, those who relate to only one have not truly embraced the gospel. That is why James is saying those who only hear the word are deceiving themselves. They think they have a relationship with God because they regularly attend church, go to Bible Studies, or read the Bible. But if their listening is not accompanied by obedience, their true situation before God is far different.”

That is the sad state of many who are “religious”. And speaking of religious… James speaks to that right now. vv.26-27

Here James uses the word religion/religious twice actually, which is very unusual. That word never occurs in the OT and only occurs three other times in the NT (twice in Acts and once in 1 timothy). It generally speaks of an outward religious service. Here James is saying, to those of you who have outward religion, but you do not bridle your tongue, you are deceived. This is the third time in the last 10 verses, (v.16, 22, 26). He’s exhorting over and over, Do not be deceived! And if he sees the need to reiterate this three times, there’s obviously a danger that we WILL be deceived! How?

We are deceived if we think we are religious yet do not do the things God’s asks of us. And here he outlines some of what that is. This is not an all-inclusive list of what God asks of us. This is not prescriptive but rather descriptive. James is simply describing to us what it looks like when one has faith that works—a trust in God that is demonstrated through the way He lives. And he highlights three areas:

1. Again, the tongue. Godly speech is a description of one whose religion is true. We will not get into this now because Joy will cover it at length in chapter 3. But ladies, if we call ourselves Christians yet we engage in gossip, slander, filthy talk, let us not be deceived. “I warn you, as I warned you before, that whose who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). We must take this seriously. Jesus said by our words we will be justified and by our words we will be condemned. (Matthew 12:37). The context of that is simply Jesus saying that a tree is known by its fruit. We are not justified by our fruit, but our fruit simply proves what we really are inside. If we are a new creation, we will reflect that new nature by the fruit of the Spirit. If we are not a new creation, we will reflect the fruit of the flesh.
2. Secondly, Social Concern is a description of one whose religion is true. Throughout the entirety of Scripture, cover to cover, you will see a heavy theme which is God’s concern for the orphan and the widow. The poor. Psalm 68:5 tells us that God is the Father to the fatherless and Protector of the widows. In Isaiah 1:17 God speaks through the prophet Isaiah and says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” If we EVER divorce true faith, belief, and right doctrine from pursuing social justice, from comforting the poor, the sick, the broken, the lonely. If we cease pursuing this part of the gospel, we are deceived. This is the hole in our gospel. The nation of Israel was guilty of the same thing. They did all their religious deeds, and this is what God says of their fasting: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen; to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58:6-7) True Christianity always has social implications. (Matthew 25)
3. And the third description of one who’s religion is real is interesting in light of the last one. There are many secular humanitarian organizations who do great things for social justice. However, God calls us to social justice and moral purity. There is a world system out there that is absolutely opposed to God. Christians should be the most humble, godly, pure, and socially active people on the planet. That’s what happens when the truth of God’s Word gets hold of our hearts. When we look in the mirror of God’s Word don’t turn away and get distracted, but instead do what He says. That’s when our faith really works.

Hi, friends!  God is so good and has so much going on!  I feel like in my heart I have four big pots on the burner simmering but none are quite ready to serve. 🙂  So, for now I’ll say that the Food Stamp Challenge is amazing me–I actually think it is cheaper to eat that way (whole, local, organic, seasonal).  It’s changing the way I see a lot of things.  I’ll also say simplicity seems to be a huge theme in my life right now, and the idea that less is more.

So, I think the pots are almost done, but I’ll let them simmer a tad longer. 🙂 What’s simmering in your life? What are you talking to God about, learning about, challenged about? What’s breaking your heart lately?  I’d love to hear.  Thanks, friends.  Talk to you soon.

Kari

I don’t even know where to start; God is SO amazing.  Of course this story doesn’t start with me, it starts with God, but how fun is it when He decides to write us into His story in just a tiny little way!  As you know, God has been rocking my world through several things–mostly through reading The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns the president of World Vision (now available on paperback here). And also, in a related way, through a couple documentaries which revolutionized the way I see food production, genetic engineering, and its impact on developing countries. It’s amazing how everything is related. Now, I certainly do not claim to be an expert on poverty, food production, or on anything for that matter other than my own selfishness–I’m pretty much the expert on that.  But I feel like God has opened my eyes to a world of hurt and need and pain and sorrow that, I am ashamed to admit, I simply did not see.

Tonight at church we watched a video, and in the background Brooke Fraser’s song about Rwanda, “Now that I have seen, I am responsible.”  And here is the cool thing about God–He only reveals to us what we can handle, and He only calls us to what we’re capable of doing.  He doesn’t ask us to give what we don’t have, just what we have. He doesn’t call us to change the world, He just calls us to obey when we hear His voice.  Just to obey when we hear His voice.

So we heard His voice.

All week, for whatever reason, Jeff and I just felt discouraged.  The kids were both sick, Jeff was swamped with work to do, I had a 3-day migraine that just wouldn’t leave me alone–it was just one of those weeks. Friday came and it rained, so Jeff and Dutch spent the afternoon playing trains, and I ignored the dirty house and curled up with The Hole in our Gospel. Well, thankfully I have a wonderful husband who took the initiative to bathe our children and put them to bed, because I didn’t put it down until 8pm that night when I read the final page.  Jeff came into our room. “Have you been crying?” He asked.  “Of course I have,” I responded.  I held up the book, closed my eyes and shook my head.  Of course I had been crying.  How can we read the horrors of poverty, disease, exploitation, and not weep? I know you all have been there. When the reality of the sorrow in this world is revealed, for what it really is, all we can do sometimes is grieve.

“What are we doing?”

I took some time to pray and think and Jeff went ahead (he wasn’t quite finished with the book), and read some more.  Then we met back up to talk about what we would do. Now that we have seen we are responsible.

Here’s what shook me. Really shook me.   I’ve always thought of myself as a faithful giver.  I mean, I’ve been tithing since I was old enough to hold a quarter in my hand (thanks to my parents who put the quarter there!).  We do sponsor children, we do support missionaries, we do make special gifts for different causes.  But what Richard Stearns points out from Scripture, from David’s example and the widow’s two mites, is that it doesn’t matter how much we give, what matters is what it costs.  What matters is our faith.

Our current giving costs us nothing.  The bottom line is our current giving does not require us to live by faith. Now, please hear me that God calls all of us to different things.  This is why we CANNOT COMPARE our giving with someone else’s. All we can do is look at ourselves and ask, Does my current giving cost me anything? Does my current giving require me to life by faith? And, it’s worth noting, that this is true of all giving–our time, our talents, and our treasure.  It’s so much bigger than money, but where our treasure is there our heart will be too.

So here I am, sitting in bed, praying, thinking of our budget and our life and I just don’t know what to do.  I’ve laid everything out before the Lord and basically said, “Take it, whatever you want, show us what needs to go. We’ll move to Zambia, we’ll sell our house, we’ll sell a car.  Just show us your will.”  And very clearly I know that we are right where God wants us to be.  We know He’s called us to West Linn.    We know He’s called us to Willamette Christian Church.  We know He’s called us even to our specific house in our specific neighborhood, in the middle of this specific community.  We clearly felt that to leave any portion of that was outside His will. We even clearly sensed to keep our cars and the belongings that we have–as all of it is used for the work that God wants us to do here.  Ok, so, we’re talking and I just keep saying how hard it is to live within this specific culture that God has called us to, without it costing so much that there’s nothing left to give!  We can’t just not have utilities and not buy car insurance–that’s just life in the United States!  And I kept thinking what’s the biggest expense/priority in our life.  By a landslide it’s our house.  In comparison to the rest of our spending, we spend a large portion on our house. More than any other single item.  In fact, it’s 41% of our take home pay (30% of our gross income).  So we’re sitting there and in a moment of silence Jeff says, “What if we determined to give away the same amount we spend on our home? You know, if giving was, even by a penny, the single largest portion of our income.” For a moment I felt like everything stood still.  Then I laughed, “Yeah, that would cost us! That would require faith.  We’d basically be living on less than 18% of a single income.” I calculated the number and laughed some more. It was impossible.  Then shrugged my shoulders, “Well we can work toward it. That really would be cool.”   Jeff rolled over and went to sleep.

Of course I could not sleep. Of course I couldn’t get Jeff’s words out of my head.  Of course I could not get Scripture out of my head, images of children out of my head, stories of people who had given up everything they owned to help people in the name of Christ–of course none of that would get out of my head! I flipped on the light and started writing numbers.  To my amazement I realized that if we only spent on life’s absolute essentials–food, gas (significantly limited amount), insurance, utilities (with some conservation), prescriptions and co-pays, and Jeff’s monthly haircut (please do not laugh, this is a necessity if you know how hard it is to cut his hair), then, to my astonishment, it actually was possible.  It would require some cost, and some faith, but I got that unmistakable feeling when you know God is up to something that will change your life.  Then, I crunched a few numbers to see what we could actually do with that money. If we continued to give the exact same amount to our church, without taking a dime away from the work God’s doing there, we’d be able to (are you ready?), sponsor THIRTY-FIVE children. THIRTY FIVE!!!  Through some programs, that’s two whole orphanages!  I about fell out of bed.  Now I don’t know for sure if that’s how God’s leading us, but that helped me to understand the amazing potential!  That is so exciting to me!  Seeing faces–real individual lives made in the image of God, helped me get this all in perspective.

So, then I wrote out a list of the things that didn’t make the cut–savings, house repairs, vacations, retirement, car repairs.  Obviously these things are truly wise and we would consider necessary expenditures.  However, this is so cool.  IF we gave in this way, and because of tax laws for clergy’s housing expenses, we would literally, at the end of the year have ZERO taxable income.  That means that, Lord willing, we would get a sizable tax refund. We could simply commit to tucking that  away for retirement and use for the year’s house repairs, car repairs, emergencies, etc.  Thankfully we already have a Dave Ramsey-inspired emergency savings account, so it’s not as if we were being foolish, failing to have a back-up plan in case of emergency. I don’t believe that’s faith as much as poor planning.

But here is where the story gets fun because it gets personal. We have such a personal God!  Three items I wrote down with question marks were–kids clothes (I certainly don’t need clothes but my kids actually grow out of theirs), toys (yes, I still want my children to have fun things to play with!), and learning/homeschooling materials/books for the kids.  Bottom line? God loves our children more than we do, right?  Well…

So today we talk about this plan, and though we’re 99% sure we want to do it, we commit to pray about it.  We’d start on the 15th, so we have a few weeks to really pray and find out for sure God’s will in this.  So today there’s a clean-up day scheduled and church so Jeff goes to that.  Just as he’s leaving, some people pull in from church and say, “Hey! We have something for you.” They hand him a big bin FULL of kids toy Geotrax (train set), and another FULL of hot wheels cars, trucks, race ramps.  Jeff and I are just laughing, “Um…there’s Christmas!”  Guess I don’t have to worry about toys for my kids.  God knows their favorite kind. Then, I got to church tonight, and as I’m leaving a friend says, “Hey, can you wait? I have something for you.” So I follow her out to the car and she hands me 2 HUGE boxes full of hand-me-down girl clothes from her daughter who is a year older than Heidi.  We’re talking a ton of clothes. So much that I had to call a friend and ask if she wanted to take half because there’s more than I can use.  Guess I don’t have to worry about clothes for my kids. 🙂  Then, this girl hands me a brand new set of books, shrink wrapped, and she says that they are the reading curriculum that her son uses at his Montessori school.  She knew I was “homeschooling” for preschool and bought me a set for Dutch.  WHAT?!!  Um, I guess I don’t have to worry about books and educational materials for my kids. God knows the best kind out there.

So that was tonight.  I am now sitting in bed, overwhelmed at God’s goodness.  Tonight at church Joel preached the good news of the Gospel:

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Phil 2:1-10)

God. Has. Been. So. Good.  God’s grace is astounding. We who were dead in our transgressions He has made alive. He has saved us by grace, and that not of ourselves.  We have done nothing to do deserve His kindness, but He lavishes it on us be His kindness.  And He we are His, created for good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. That is the good news! We are loved beyond comprehension. And God has marvelous things in store for us.

I do not know all that God has in store, and I don’t share this story to claim to have the answers on giving or to say that anyone else needs to do the same, etc. etc. I am simply sharing one God story, of a gracious God and how He’s leading us right now.  I know that your lives are full of the adventures of following a missional God who is out to share the world His power and glory.  And, if this is all new to you, I invite you to embrace the truth of God’s grace, His finished work on the cross. We can add nothing to it. It is done. Now we simply can slip our hand in His and ask Him what He wants us to do.  I don’t know exactly what that will be, but we’ll do our best, by grace, to obey.

(From WCC Women’s Fall Bible Study)

—

James 1:1-18: Personal Faith Challenge (PFC)

Trials:  James 1:1-4. We know we’re in for a challenging epistle when the very first sentence of the letter is this: Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.

I’ll tell you, no matter how many times I’ve read these words I still find that this is never my automatic response to trials.  I know this verse, I can quote this verse, but the minute I’m slighted, or I hear bad news or all my plans are frustrated, I do not automatically think, Oh! God’s special favor is upon me!

And we’re going to camp here for a bit because I actually believe that getting this is the key to everything else.  How we respond to the difficulties in life is what divides our world into two.  People either get bitter or better, right? That’s why you can have two people who are abused as children—one goes on to become an advocate or counselor or social worker and changes lives for good. One sinks into themselves and ends up perpetuating a life of abuse or violence.  The difference? One’s response to trials. Have you ever know two people who go through virtually the same trial? One becomes stronger, reaches out to others more.  The other wallows in self-pity, is bitter, and becomes rendered useless for God’s kingdom.  So, please tell me how do we rejoice in trials?

First, to clear up the misconception that we are religious masochists, remember: Our response to trials.

1. 1. P: We rejoice in the process and the product, not the pain.

We do not rejoice in the pain.  When I go running, it is painful to some extent.  My legs burn.  But I keep running, and gladly and voluntarily running, because I know the process and the product.  The process is the tearing down of muscle tissue, and the rebuilding of new, stronger muscle tissue, so I rejoice in this process even though it involves pain.  I especially rejoice in the product, or results. The results are a healthy body, better endurance, more energy, and being able to eat dessert.  Now when we practice this process enough, we can actually find ourselves in some sense enjoying the pain of a long run because we’ve trained our minds to so connect the pain with the process and the product, that we no longer even think of the pain in a negative light.  I can’t say that I’m completely there yet, but I’m much closer than I once was!  But professional, Olympic, real athletes know this, don’t they? And I would say that they likely do not associate the pain of a good workout with negative feelings or suffering.

We looked at 1 Peter 4:12 in our homework… “Do not be surprised when you face trials…”

Now, can you imagine this. I go for a run, and I get home to Jeff and burst into tears and say, “I’m so depressed. You wouldn’t believe what happened to me out there!  I was running up this long hill and, I couldn’t believe it, my quads started burning.  Like, the hurt!  And my heart was racing and I felt short of breath and my face was flushed!  And it lasted all the way up the hill, and it was  long hill. And I can’t believe it.   I’m never doing that again.”  Of course that’s ridiculous, right? We expect those types of symptoms because we’re running up a hill. We’re training.

BUT, if I were sitting on the couch, resting, and i had those same symptoms–pain in legs, shortness of breath, racing heart. Then I’d have cause for concern, right?!  Of course! The reason that we are often so surprised by trials, by pain, is that we forget that we are running a race. We forget we’re running up a hill by faith. We forget that we are training. When we say yes to Jesus, we are put in a race whether we like it or not. As long as we are on this earth we are training. We must remember that. We’re not sitting on the couch.

But in the middle of the hill there is pain, right? Remember:

We rejoice in the process and the product, not the pain.

:: What is the process? You studied this in your homework, right?  Romans 5:3-4 spells it out for us, in almost a formulaic manner.  SufferingàEnduranceàCharacteràHope  (Like an oyster making a pearl)

::What is the product? The product, then, would be hope.  1 Peter 1:7 also told us the product is the proving our faith, which results in praise, glory, and honor. That sounds really neat, but those are pretty abstract words.  I don’t know about you but when I’m in the middle of a tangible trial, I often need a real tangible goal.

Glory: 2 Corinthians 4:17 (KJV) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  It works for us. It produces glory.

Good: Romans 8:28  In all things God works for the good of those who love Him. When we are in Christ, all things work for good. Suffering works for good. Pleasures can work for good. All things work for good.  All things are Father-Filtered.  So what is the “good” that is worked? V. 29 tells us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.”  The good that is worked is our patience, our endurance, our perseverance—this leads to godly character, wisdom, steadfastness, integrity, strength.  And this leads to hope.

So how do we endure?  How do we rejoice when the pain is real?  The same way Jesus did. The second key is to

1. 2. F: Focus on the Future.

In Hebrews 12: 1-2 we’re exhorted to run with endurance in this life of faith, verse 2 “Looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  What does Jesus show us here?

:: Jesus didn’t enjoy the cross.  He endured the cross.  He despised the shame. We endure the pain of suffering because we know the end result. We don’t have to enjoy the pain. We can still despise the humiliation, the hurt, the betrayal, the loss, the grieving.  Those are, indeed, bad things.  Things God will someday eradicate. We can endure the pain and despise the loss, but still rejoice because…

:: Jesus looked to the joy before Him. It was the joy that enabled Christ to endure. He knew He would be seated with the Father. He knew He would accomplish our salvation.  He had his eyes fixed on the future.  The good that would be accomplished.  This is what we must understand about Christianity. Our faith is founded on the reality that good is accomplished through suffering.  That is our faith.  We would not be here if were not for One person being willing to suffer for our good.  Without suffering there is no Christianity.  Without this key concept it is pointless for us to be here. If we really believe this, it will change the way we live. If we don’t believe it, then we cannot call ourselves Christians—or literally “little Christs”.  If we are Christians, then we must be little representations of what He did. Thus, if He suffered and died on a cross so that others might benefit, we must choose to, for the joy set before us, endure our little tiny crosses that we are called to endure each and every day of our lives.

Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

:: Trials/Suffering/Discipline is painful. Again, you don’t have to rejoice in the pain. Pain is the result of a fall. The two curses of the fall: To the woman pain in childbearing/rearing, to the man pain in work.  Pain is part of the curse.  Pain itself is not good. So we are not to rejoice in the pain but in the future result of pain, which is the yielding of fruit of righteousness.

:: Training is not a one-time thing. If you’ve ever trained for something, answer this.  Do you do one workout and call it quits? By very nature, to train means to do something over and over and over and over and over.  When we train our children, we don’t just tell them one thing and be done with it. We must be trained by trials.  Just as 1 Peter 4:12 tells us not to be surprised by trials, don’t be surprised when they continue!  It’s not a one-time event. Trials will come again and again and again because we are to produce fruit that comes by means of being trained by trials.

We never know what good God might be working in any given situation.  The story of Paul the apostle in Philippi is also such a clear example to us.  He and Silas were seized (for preaching the gospel and setting people free from evil spirits). Acts 16:22-24 Read.  Then, v. 25-35. Talk about accomplishing something! The salvation of a whole household!

Finally, Hebrews 10:32-36 paints a picture of what this might look like in us: (esp. v. 34)

What if that were us?  We have need of endurance/patience/perseverance. We all have need of it. It’s interesting that while we’re suffering, we need patience, and it is suffering that produces patience. Sort of like when you’re in a scary situation, you need adrenaline in order to overcome the situation and it is the scary situation which produces the adrenalin.  In other words, God uses the suffering to produce the very patience that we need in order to endure the suffering and enjoy what it produces at the end.

If we skip down to verses 12-15 we see a bit more on this topic.  V. 12: Again, we read that we are blessed when we remain steadfast in a trial.  And another reward is promised, a crown of life. That is God’s promise. I don’t know exactly what a crown of life is, but it must be amazing! If everything in this life is simply a shadow of things to come, then the most amazing extravagant luxuries we imagine are nothing compared to what God has in store for those of us who love Him.

But here’s another key in the midst of trials. We are to rejoice not in the pain, but in the process and product, we are to Focus on the Future, and we are to

V. 13-15

1. 3. Concede Culpability. Admit where you are to blame.  We’ve talked before that some suffering is caused by external trials, natural effects of a fallen world, etc. But often, probably more often than we care to admit, our suffering is a direct or indirect results of our own choices.  The concept of culpability is intimately tied up with notions of agency, freedom and free will. We have been given the gift of freedom, which brings with it the freedom to be responsible for our choices.

So, James is saying, don’t blame God. God has no evil in him, so He cannot tempt with evil.  We are tempted through a process which is most clearly illustrated in the garden of Eden.  We don’t have time for a complete study of it today, but I have teaching notes on Genesis 3 online if you are ever interested.  Essentially Eve demonstrates the progression of temptation and sin.  In short, we all follow this progression. DiscontentàDoubtàDesireàDeath.  Beware if you see one of those in your life. The good news is that when God shows us where we are guilty, when we feel that conviction, we simple confess our sins, because He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse of of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  Repent and move forward! Amazing grace!

We’ll close by looking briefly back at verses 5-8.  We’re going to leave verses 9-11 for now, because we’re going to do a more in-depth look at wealth and poverty in a few weeks.  For now, let’s look at 5-8 and we’ll see our first glimpse of one of James’ main themes.  We’ll see it pop up again throughout the entire book, so I’ll just briefly look at it as we close—the Danger of Dipsychos. (Don’t be Dipscycho)

James 1:5-8. When we are in trials, we do need wisdom. Lord, what kind of treatment do you want me to pursue. What steps should I take when I’m out of work? Lord, what on earth do you want me to do about this wayward child?  It is when we are suffering that we need wisdom.  The good news is that God promises to give it, 1)liberally—all that we need! 2)without reproach (he doesn’t say, well you made your bed now lie in it).  Even when we are the ones who got ourselves into the mess, He still gives us wisdom for how to get out!  Amazing grace!!

But, there is a condition. It’s possible to ask and not receive because something is amiss.  We are to ask without doubting Him. Without doubting His faithfulness, without doubting His goodness, without doubting His love.  Paying lipservice without any intention of doing what He says to do.

Luke 6:46 says “”Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

We tend to think of doubting more as not sure whether something is a fact or not, but here doubting is not so much intellectual doubt as a basic conflict in loyalties.  In other words, if we ask for wisdom, but are still going to go off and do what the latest secular talk-show host says to do, we are double-minded.  This world in the Greek is literally “double-souled” or dipsychos. When our allegiance is divided between the world and the Lord, we are fractured beings with fragmented lives: we are double-souled.  And, as a result—we are unstable. Anyone ever feel unstable? Am I the only one?

It is the natural result of being double-souled, of having a conflict in loyalties.  When we have not firmly and resolutely decided that Jesus Christ is the One and Only Lord of our lives, that what He says goes, that His plan is the plan, that His will for my life is best, when that is not fixed, we will find ourselves double-minded, and the result will always be that we are unstable. The Psalmist prayed, “Unite my heart to fear your name” Ps. 86:11

When we ask God for wisdom, we’re simply asking Him to tell us what to do.

If we want God to tell us what to do, we must be prepared to do what He says.

If we study God’s Word, we must be prepared to do what it says.  When we are single-souled, we are whole.  We live in wholeness. We are no longer fragmented. We are no longer unstable.  We are complete, at peace, steadfast, able to stand firmly in the winds of adversity.  We are confident in God’s giving of wisdom, we are at rest knowing all things will work for my good and God’s glory.  We rejoice not in the pain but in the process and the product.  We fix our focus on the future, knowing our trials are working for us. We concede culpability where we need to.  We repent if need be and rejoice in knowing that when we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

Lord, show us how to rejoice in the process and the product. Show us how to endure the pain.  Help us to keep our eyes fixed on the future glory you are working for us. Reveal where we are guilty, Father, and help us to repent and turn from our sin.  Make us whole.  We confess Lord we believe, help our unbelief.  Unite our hearts to fear your name.  In Jesus name.

Welcome to Sacred Mundane, a little space to inspire us all to wholeness. As whole beings, created in the image of God, all of life is infused with sacred meaning and purpose. We refuse the divided and defeated life of a sacred/secular duality.  Instead, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Diapers or devotions, laundry or liturgy, weight loss or worship. The details of life are the whispers of a Savior. I invite you to wake up to this sacrament of living, for there’s an epic adventure waiting in the midst of your mundane. Bring your kids and car keys, your wounds and hopes and dreams. A quotidian revolution.  Because everything matters.

Today marks three years of investing time into this peculiar little sphere of space I call my blog.  I remember so vividly, one afternoon in July of 2007 when Jeff suggested starting a blog, so that I’d have the motivation to keep up the discipline of writing.  I was skeptical, to say the least.

“A blog?” I’m sure I said it like a dirty word.  I  hardly even knew what one was (I know, I’m slow in the technology world).   “You mean, like a website? I’d never write on a website.  I want to write real things, things that matter, like Bible studies and devotional thoughts, and stories of what God does in our lives.”  You can see where this is going.  He insisted, and even though I protested that I’d never be able to figure out this process of “posting”, he created the whole thing, walked me through how to click the “publish” button, and voila! this funny little space was birthed.  I had no idea what to do.

Of course I soon realized that this little blog would save my life.  That was a very hard season of life, in seminary full-time, living with my parents, experiencing a time of spiritual pruning by the Lord that was like nothing I’d ever experienced.  I felt as though my entire identity was being ripped from me.  And, it was.  My false identity.  I was, in so many ways, Swallowed Up. Everything I held onto up to that point was stripped way during that 14-month season.  It felt so hard, but, what was so amazing, was that God used this little outlet, this blog, to pour out my heart, to process my thoughts, to vent, to share, to reflect.  I’m really not trying to be dramatic, but I really feel like this blog saved me during that time.  Though it felt like He was taking everything away, He gave me this gift in return.

That is why I hold this blog so dear. Yes, it is just a little sphere of space. A gazillion people have them, so I know I’m not unique.  But it is God’s gift and He knew it would help me grow.  So I just wanted to thank God today and reflect on how blogging has betters me.  Perhaps you can relate.

• It helps me process. The way that I process things is by writing them down. Some people talk things through, some people draw or just sit quietly. Some people run or work or take on some task to think. I have to write. In fact, 9 times out of 10 I don’t know what I think about something (or what on earth the post will be about), until I start writing it all out.  It’s therapeutic.
• It helps me take thoughts captive. I actually prefer blogging to journalling. Why?  Because journaling I can get a bit too raw. It’s appropriate at times, and I do prayer journal to God, because He can take it all. But venting is rarely helpful, and though at times I may get on a rant here, the public nature of it reminds me to word things in a way (hopefully) that is helpful rather than negative or cynical. Left to my own attitude, it could get ugly.  And, when I make the effort to write things in a positive light, I’m always amazed at how my inner thoughts and perspective quickly follow.
• It holds me responsible spiritually. I’ve always joked that the real reason I love always leading or teaching Bible study in some capacity is that it holds me spiritually responsible. For 5 years through college and then after, I taught a small group Bible study to girls at OSU. I simply shared with them, each week, whatever the Lord had been teaching me that week, and turned it into a Bible study.  That was accountability!  I had to stay current with God, listen, study, process, plan.  This blog is like that, in a different way.  Perhaps I’m making too much of this, but I take seriously that there are precious people out there who actually read these words. I want something to share! I want God to work in me in such a way that hopefully others can benefit too.  So, this blog is constant reminder: What’s God doing in your life?
• It forces me to articulate. For those of us who minister and teach, being able to articulate the lessons in our lives is vitally important. How can we share what God’s doing if we can’t sum it up in an interesting way? I so want to grow in this.  I still err on the side of wordiness :), so learning to be succinct and articulate is something I’m praying and striving for. The blog helps.
• It’s introduced me to you. I cannot even begin to express how amazing it has been to meet some of the remarkable people out there, who I’ve had the privilege of meeting through this little avenue.  So many people, in the throws of unbelievable challenges, struggles, trials.  Women and men alike who are walking this walk of faith, who inspire me and encourage me with notes and comments.  Who call me on the carpet when I’m wrong. Who cheer when God’s victorious in a situation.  Together I believe we form a cloud of witnesses, cheering each other, praising God, and hopefully showing a world a tiny glimpse of the glory of God.

So I know it is only a tiny spot of space that is this blog. But I believe that even what is small can matter, when it is authentic. My prayer is, therefore, As AW Tozer wrote,

“If my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.”