ApprehendingGrace.com

And I said to these priests, “You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the LORD. This silver and gold is a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of our ancestors. Guard these treasures well until you present them, without an ounce lost, to the leading priests, the Levites, and the leaders of Israel at the storerooms of the LORD’S Temple in Jerusalem.” So the priests and the Levites accepted the task of transporting these treasures to the Temple of our God in Jerusalem.
                Ezra 8:28-30, NLT

As I read this, I was struck by the way that Ezra spoke to the priests – reminding them that they were set apart as holy to the Lord and the treasure they were carrying was holy to the Lord. I couldn’t help but be awed by the honorable responsibility given to them and to be challenged that God has given me this same responsibility. Because I know Him, because I have a relationship with Him, He’s given me His awesome Holy Spirit to live within me. I don’t know how that happens, but I know that everywhere I go, He goes. In a sense, I am transporting or carrying God into every place and every situation I find myself today, tomorrow, the next day and the next day, until He calls me to be with Him. He is the treasure in the earthly vessel of my body. Let me paraphrase Ezra – this is how I heard it in my spirit as I read the passage:

“You have been set apart as holy to the Lord. He has given you a free will offering - His Son for your salvation and the Holy Spirit within You to help you become more like Him. These gifts are more precious than silver and gold offerings. Guard them well as you walk through life, until one day you present yourself to God and hear Him say ‘well done.’”

Am I taking liberty with Ezra 8:28-30? Absolutely! But I am also being true to Scripture. Christ has come to live within each of us who follow His leadership – who give Him lordship of our lives.

This is my “Thursday” Christmas blog this week – I’m delivering it on Tuesday – so that you can begin to pray about and see the awesome task you have before you this week – to carry Christ into every situation you find yourself. For many of you, that will mean those difficult Christmas gatherings where Aunt Betty will do nothing but criticize you and Uncle Bart will be obnoxious and boorish.

Enjoy yourself! Christ lives in you and wants to bring joy in the midst of criticism and boorishness. He wants to bring it to you and those who seem unlikely candidates for it!

Have a wonderful, Christ-centered (at least in your heart) Christmas!

 All this happened so they would follow His principles and obey His laws. Praise the LORD!  
          Psalm 105:45 (NLT)

Prior to this verse (i.e., the “all this” that the verse is referring to), is a recitation of the entire history of the Israelites. In other words, God is saying that all that had happened occurred so that they would follow God’s principles and obey His laws.

Do we operate from this mindset, thinking - knowing - that everything that happens to us is for the same purpose - to help us follow God’s principles and obey His laws? Or do we kick against things that are happening in our lives, resisting God’s constant nudging toward Christ-likeness? Perhaps we simply blame Satan for all the bad things that happen to us. Scripture clearly teaching that Satan seeks to defeat us, but it also clearly teaches that God is sovereign and that He allows difficulty into our lives to form and shape us into the image of Christ. That constant kneading, pushing and pulling is the very Hand of God shaping us into the piece of pottery He has designed us for. And sometimes (often times?) that kneading, pushing and pulling hurts.

Many years ago I shattered my elbow. My orthopedic surgeon said it looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it! It wasn’t a sledge hammer, it was a gymnasium floor. I had fallen while playing volleyball at a denominational retreat/conference. I had gone to be refreshed and strengthened in the Lord. Instead I got an extremely painful injury that took months of recovery time and yielded a lifetime of some disability. Satan? No, it was clearly God!

After sitting with my husband during my elbow surgery, a friend received a vision. As he drove home, he saw a picture of me in my hospital bed with a very large angel by my bedside stroking my injured arm. Wow. Wow!

For weeks I had tremendous pain in my arm, often shooting pains from just wiggling a little finger. But I frequently went back to that vision and imagined that the pains were caused by the angel massaging my arm so that I would some day be able to use it again. I knew the Lord was bringing healing. Three different doctors had told me I’d be lucky if I ever got 70% of the use of my arm back. After much prayer and therapy, not to mention an excellent surgeon, I have 95% use of my arm. For all intents and purposes I am able to use my arm to do all the things I need to do. I can’t move heavy tables and I have to make adjustments when I pull heavy luggage. Small prices to pay for the many lessons that came from the experience!

A couple of weeks ago I pulled my white car out of the garage , being very careful not to hit the side-view mirror against the door of the garage…and slammed it quite solidly into the rear side panel and bumper of our gray car. Again, I was in the process of doing a good thing - I was driving to church where I was bringing the morning message  – a message that I was absolutely certain was of God and for that very day. As I type this, our car is in the body shop having a large dent hammered out, a new bumper put on, and a new coat of paint slathered on to cover any evidence of damage. Were the car able to “feel” these things, I imagine it would be pretty painful. (As it is, it will only be painful to my wallet and the insurance company.)

My point is that God is at work in our lives all the time, and sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it hurts a lot. But He is still at work, so that we learn to follow Him more closely and have a greater impact on others. It’s time for us to imagine…no, it’s time for us to know that it is God working in us, hammering out the dents, massaging the broken areas. Let’s not resist God’s efforts to make us more like Christ. And let’s remember to look back at all that He has done in our lives - they happened so that we would follow His principles and obey His laws.

Praise the Lord!

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions…especially when I don’t get around to blogging about them until January 24. Oops!

New Year’s resolutions just seem like things that are destined to make me feel bad about myself because I can pretty much assure you that whatever I resolve to do or not do, I’m going to weaken at some point. And then I’m going to feel like a failure. So why set myself up for that?
That doesn’t mean I don’t pursue growing and improving. It’s just that I don’t consider them to be resolutions. Resolutions always seem to be something I’m going to “try” to do. I prefer to approach growing and improving through training not trying.

Here’s what I mean: I could try to run a marathon tomorrow. There is a 100% probability that I’d fail! A better approach would be to begin training tomorrow for a marathon that is sometime this summer. If I train consistently and well, I reduce my probability of failure considerably…perhaps down to zero! Resolutions feel a lot like trying.

Instead there are two areas in which I hope to train myself this coming year. Both involve my language, but I know the words I use also impact on how I think and how I influence others.

1) I frequently say “I’m so stupid.” That’s not a true statement. I am not stupid. Sometimes I do something stupid, but not nearly as often as I accuse myself of it. I usually use the phrase when I’ve made a bad play in a game, forgotten how to accomplish something on the computer, or done something equally as inoccuous. That’s not stupid, it’s just not being perfect. And guess what!? I’m not perfect! I’m not even close. I know that…so why do I beat myself up for it?

2) I frequently say that “I have to” do something when referring to something that I am privileged to do. When I use the phrase, it often sounds like I’m complaining about it. That’s wrong. For example, I’ll often say “I have to prepare for a Bible study” or “Saturday I have to prepare for the nursing home service on Sunday.” Instead, I’m going to say “I’ve set aside Saturday to prepare for our church service on Sunday.” or “I’m studying tonight to prepare for our Bible study on Wednesday.” It’s the difference between conveying that I’m upholding my end of an obligation and conveying that I am preparing for something I’m blessed to be a part of.

Words mean things and they impact how we think about what’s happening around (and inside) us. I know that my “have to’s” sometimes impacted my attitude toward things that I am really blessed to participate in. I want my words to have a positive impact on me and those around me.
So I’ve put myself in training to no longer use either phrase. I’ve asked the people around me to correct me and when I do slip up I’m correcting myself by reiterating that I’m not stupid, I’m actually quite intelligent or reminding myself how blessed I am to have opportunities to participate in the things I’m involved in. If you catch me mumbling that I’m stupid or talking about things I “have to” do, please correct me.

How’s your language? Are there phrases you use that subtly (or not so subtly) change how you view yourself, others or activities in your life? If so, I invite you to join me “in training!”

Want to read more about training vs. trying? Authors John Ortberg, Laurie Pederson and Judson Poling give a great discussion of it in their book aptly titled Growth: Training vs. Trying (Pursuing Spiritual Transformation) (copyright 2000 by The Willow Creek Association, published by Zondervan).

Philippians 1:9-11 records Paul’s prayer for the Philippians. Out of all the things he could have prayed for them, he prays this “that your love may abound more and more.” Notice that he didn’t pray that their holiness would abound more and more, or that their sanctification would abound more and more, or even that they would abound more and more in Christ-likeness. He prayed that their love would abound more and more.

Now granted, abounding in love is incredibly Christ-like…actually, I’d say it pretty much defines Christ-likeness. Yet what we tend to focus on in prayer and in holiness/sanctification doctrine and teaching is behaviors, not love. Yes, love involves our behavior. Paul goes on to pray that their love would abound more and more “in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best” — in other words, that our abounding love would lead us to making right choices that would make us “pure and blameless…filled with the fruit of righeousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” But I wonder if we often put the cart before the horse by trying to teach and monitor and reward behavior instead of love.

Of course, that begs the question — how do you teach, monitor and reward love? I really don’t know. I suppose for a start we ought to recognize selfless, loving acts more than Bible knowledge, preaching, teaching or worship leading. In our culture, we clearly “applaud” great knowledge, preaching, teaching and worship leading more than we “applaud” demonstrating love.

Any thots?