Category Archives: Christian Life

I’b gotda hed code

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Translation: I’ve got a head cold.

Which wouldn’t be too big of a deal…

Except that one of the out-of-my -comfort-zone opportunities I alluded to the other day is giving the devotional at a baby shower. Tomorrow night!

So I am going to lay low and rest today in hopes that the worst will be over by then and I won’t be hacking and dripping (and contaminating everyone in the same air pocket) while trying to say something helpful.

I did learn, after TM, that resting seems to be the best way to fight off these things. Right at first, any kind of illness or infection exacerbated the TM symptoms and wiped out my already-low stamina, and about all I could do was rest. But I discovered I got over colds a lot more quickly than when I felt I had to push myself to soldier through as I used to. Sometimes you just have to do that, but I’ve noticed that people who do that routinely seem to have lingering effects for a long time. I can’t take decongestants due to a propensity for SVTs. So, rest it is.

I was hoping to have some rare hours alone today to work out what I was going to say at the shower, but that seems to have fallen through. I’ve had several ideas running through my head, though — I just need to get them down in hopefully coherent fashion. And probably trim them. I tend to be wordy anyway, and after 23 years of being a mom, I could probably run on and on, but I’m sure that wouldn’t be beneficial.

Not that I am an expert on being a mom. One of my first reactions when asked to do this was to become acutely aware of my faults and my children’s. But…if God only used perfect people…nothing would ever get done. So I am trusting this opportunity is from Him and that He will enable it to be a blessing.

My initial reaction when asked to do this was…fear. I am much more comfortable writing, where there is more time to reflect, rewrite, delete — and no one is looking at you. 🙂  When I see that panic-stricken look on ladies’ faces when I ask them to share a testimony or give a devotional or serve on a panel at a ladies’ meeting, I encourage them that it’s a friendly audience, that no one is going to throw tomatoes, that people there want to hear what they have to say. I don’t always say this, but, as I said here, sometimes God wants to lure us out of our comfort zones (just ask Moses) to use us in some way and to demonstrate His power and ability and enabling. So…I figured I had better practice what I preach.

It seems like every effort at serving the Lord, though, is met with obstacles. Whether that’s “just the way life is” or whether it is the enemy’s efforts or further character-building from the Lord, I don’t know. I just know things always tend to come up at those times and usually at some point in the process I tell myself I am never doing this again. I have learned in other venues, like the ladies’ luncheons, to just know that that’s part of it and take it in stride. Or try to.

Meanwhile, I am reposting my “Ode to a Summer Cold” written and posted last June. It’s not summer yet…but it’s close enough.

To the tune of “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”

Oh, my nose, it runs
At most inconvenient times
Leaving overflowing trash cans
Filled with tissues full of slime.
It’s become a drip-o-matic.
My condition still is static!
Oh, my nose, it runs.

Oh, my head is filled
With such pressures in my sinus
And such fogginess of brain.
And my energy is minus.
Who’d have thought a simple head cold
Could cause scheduling to implode?
I’m ready for a nap.

“You can’t say ‘no’ until you pray about it”

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I am “rerunning” this post because…I need it! Yesterday I received an e-mail asking me to do something way beyond my comfort zone, and then in the afternoon I got a phone call along the same lines but a bigger and scarier opportunity. My first inward response was panic and the thought, “Who, me?!” So many other people would do a better job. But the principle in this post had been instilled in me. Plus I have been somewhat dismayed when I’ve asked someone to do something ministry-related and received a panic-stricken “no” as an answer when I had hoped that they would give God a chance to help them and work through them.

This was originally posted Feb. 21, 2007, so some of my newer readers might not have seen it, and it is something I need to remind myself of often.

Any article or book you read or talk you hear about managing time will include this point: you have to be willing to say no to some activities. Especially in this day and age when opportunities to do things or have your kids involved in things abound on every hand, sometimes we just have to put our foot down and say “No” to maintain our sanity and keep some kind of reasonable schedule.

On the other hand……sometimes we say no without really considering what the Lord would have us do. All we know is that we can’t take on another thing.

Some years ago I was on a committee of ladies at church who took turns putting up bulletin boards to highlight 2-3 of our missionaries at a time each month. This committee was a part of the Ladies Missionary Prayer Group at that church. At that point in time they elected officers every year, and at one fall meeting, the president told us that that nominations had been made for the following year and the officers would be contacting those ladies who had been nominated to let them know and find out if they were willing and able to accept. She then said with a smile, “You can’t say no until you pray about it.”

Well, Debbie, the officer over that committee, told me I had been nominated for that office. My first response was, “But….I’ve been waiting all year to get off this committee!” That was not very encouraging to Debbie, I’m sure. ) But I just didn’t feel the liberty to say no, so I said yes. A week or two or so later Debbie came to me and told me that the other nominees had not accepted, and therefore I was “it.” She remarked that that must have been the Lord’s will. I responded, “No…the other ladies are out of the Lord’s will for not accepting the nomination.” I was so spiritually-minded, wasn’t I? I think she thought I was teasing, or else she would have rethought my nomination.

I did fulfill that year, and even though bulletin boards are not my forte, I really saw the Lord give some great ideas and some great people to help on the committee. I learned something about leadership. I learned to seek Him when frustrated because I couldn’t find help. I learned about the ups and downs of working with people. I don’t know if I can say I “enjoyed” that year, but I did learn a lot and I grew spiritually and as a person.

A few years later when an opportunity came along that was more scary and involved more work, I was able to face it with the confidence that if the Lord wanted me to do it, He would enable me. And He did, marvelously.

For a while I went too far the other way, thinking that anything that anyone in the church asked me to do must be from the Lord. ) We can get in over our heads really quickly that way.

Since then there have been times I have felt completely free to say no and have seen the Lord bring in someone else for that opportunity who did a wonderful job, much better than I would have done if I had taken it out of a sense of duty.

But the important thing is to pray over it first, before you decide it’s out of your comfort zone or that you don’t have the time or the skills. Sometimes the Lord delights in pulling out of our comfort zone and into dependence on Him for the abilities and the time. Sometimes He wants us to lay something else aside to do what He wants us to. Look in Scripture at people who were happily minding their own business when God came to them with something He wanted them to do (Moses, Noah, Peter, Paul) and think not only what history would be like, but what their lives would have been if they had said no.

Mentoring women

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As Christian women, we get our instructions for mentoring from Titus 2:3-5:

3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Other versions use the word “older” rather than “aged,” which sounds a little kinder to our 21st century ears. 🙂 One problem with mentoring, though, is that many older women hesitate to obey this command for a couple of reasons. For one, many don’t want to consider themselves in the “older” or “aged” category. And many don’t feel qualified because they feel they are not perfect in any of these areas and feel the need of instruction themselves: that was the common response recently when I was trying to find ladies to serve on a panel discussion about loving our husbands.

As I see it, we’re all older than someone. And if we have walked with the Lord for any length of time at all, we should be able to share something of what He has taught us along the way. No, we won’t be perfect in any area, but in a sense that helps with our mentoring. People need instruction and examples for how to deal with their faults and failures, and a person who admits to them has a little more credibility than someone who comes across as having “arrived.”

However, the character of the one mentoring does need to be the kind that “becomes holiness.” While we’re not sinless, and we need to confess often our faults to the Lord, on the other hand, as a general character and lifestyle, if we haven’t walked with the Lord and learned ourselves in these areas, we don’t have anything to teach anyone else anyway and wouldn’t be heeded if we tried. The rest of verse 4 indicates that a mentor must have a certain amount of self-control both in lifestyle and in speech. The NASB renders “false accusers” as “malicious gossips.” The NKJV says “slanderers.” No lady would want to pour out her heart and ask advice from someone who might then share what she has said with others.

How is mentoring best done? This is something I’ve asked many people through the years. There are several ways:

1. Formal instruction

When we hear the word “teach” we immediately think of classroom-type instruction. I don’t think that was specifically what Paul had in mind: I don’t know that they had classes for women in those days. But we do have classes, seminars, retreats and such in our day and culture that are beneficial. One former church we were members of had two-day conferences for women once every few years and once a year or so would disband their regular adult Sunday School classes to have separate classes for the men and women, and different ladies in the church would teach on these kinds of topics. It was something I looked forward to every year.

2. One-on-one arranged relationships

I have know some churches that had women who were interested in a one-on-one mentoring relationship sign up, and then someone paired up an older woman with a younger woman. The advantages of this kind of set-up would be in greater personal instruction and having someone to ask questions of. The disadvantages I can see would be the awkwardness of asking personal questions of someone you don’t have a personal relationship with and the danger of not really meshing with the person you’re assigned to, but I suppose those thing could be worked out over time.

I have heard of a younger woman who asked an older woman to be her “mentor” — I think they met together to talk and pray, and the younger woman asked the older questions about how she had devotions and such. One friend of mine was advised to choose one lady she was comfortable with and to ask advice of just that one lady. One advantage to that is that you wouldn’t get conflicting advice. That was a hard thing for me particularly as a young mother, when two older ladies who I loved and respected would give the exact opposite advice. I eventually learned to “glean” — to listen kindly and then pick through the advice to find what would most seem to “fit” my family, and leave the rest. But I would have had trouble picking just one woman, though that might have been beneficial to some. I know that often when I was struggling in some area or frustrated and wanting to know what to do, the Lord would put me in contact with some lady who sometimes even by a seemingly chance remark would give me just the bit of wisdom I needed at the moment.

3. Hospitality

When I was a saved teen in an unsaved home, another family in church invited me over often. Though they never formally instructed me (aside from including me in family devotions), I learned much from being around them and seeing how a Christian family interacted. The wife and mother was a great example to me in every way — in her submission to her husband, in her example as a mom, in her homemaking and meal-preparation skills, yet I don’t think she consciously had me over for the specific purpose of being an example to me.

4) Interaction

Times like bridal and baby showers, working in the nursery, setting up or cleaning up for a function, going to ladies’ meetings, fellowships, etc., were great times to mix and talk with other women as I was “growing up” as a lady. Sometimes if a question or problem cropped up, I’d ask some of them, but mostly it was still kind of an observing and absorbing of their spirit and example. Especially when I was approaching marriage, looking forward to having children, and then having them, I watched and “gleaned.” In more recent years my observing has been more along the lines of noticing godly behavior, being convicted, and asking the Lord to change me in those areas.

5) Writing

I have been ministered to, instructed, rebuked, and encouraged many times over the years by reading books written by godly women and, in more recent times, blogs.

I didn’t list family relationships, but that would be the most obvious avenue of an older lady teaching a younger one. Of course. not all ladies have mothers who are alive or who are Christians, and many live away from their parents after they marry. Even with a godly, accessible mother nearby, most of us could still use example and instruction from other godly women.

In Elisabeth’s Elliot’s book Keep a Quiet Heart, one very helpful chapter is titled “A Call to Older Women.” Here is one paragraph from it:

I think of the vast number of older women today. The Statistical Abstract of the United States for 1980 says that 19.5 percent of the population was between ages 45-65, but by 2000 it will be 22.9 percent. Assuming that half of those people are women, what a pool of energy and power for God they might be. We live longer now than we did forty years ago (the same volume says that the over-sixty-fives will increase from 11.3 percent to 13 percent). There is more mobility, more money around, more leisure, more health and strength–resources which, if put at God’s disposal, might bless younger women. But there are also many more ways to spend those resources, so we find it very easy to occupy ourselves selfishly. Where are the women, single or married, willing to hear God’s call to spiritual motherhood, taking spiritual daughters under their wings to school them as Mom Cunningham did me? She had no training the world would recognize. She had no thought of such. She simply loved God and was willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for His sake. Retirement never crossed her mind.

So how does one going about being a mentor or “spiritual mother” to other ladies? Pray first and seek how the Lord would have you go about it. After that, the biggest thing is just to be sensitive and available. Perhaps a new mom could use some help around the house or a few hours to herself while someone capable watches the children; perhaps you could write notes of encouragement to others or have a couple of ladies over for lunch. Even just going and talking to a younger lady at a fellowship or meeting instead of finding a friend is a start. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a formal arrangement with one particular lady, though some prefer that. As I mentioned earlier, often through the years just in the course of ordinary church life, the Lord would send someone with a “word in due season” that was just what I needed at the time.

One thing older women have to watch out for, however, is crossing over the line into being busybodies. I knew of one older lady who told one young mother of seven that she was having too many children and another young wife who was planning to wait to have children til her husband was through seminary that she needed to get started on her family. It is no wonder that she caused hurt feelings rather than helping or ministering to anyone.

Though older women need to be aware of this Scriptural admonition and to seek God’s wisdom in going about obeying it, the other side of the coin is that younger women need to be willing to be taught, and part of that involves just spending time with each other. A lot of times we tend to gravitate to our own age groups, which is natural, but it’s good to get out of our comfort zone and get to know ladies of all ages. I have learned a lot from other ladies just by being around them and watching and listening to them, but sometimes I’ve felt led to ask specific questions. If you’re a younger lady who would like some “spiritual mothering,” ask the Lord to guide someone to you and take time to get to know some of the older ladies in your church. I feel sure that you’ll find someone whom you can look up to and learn from, but if not (and even if you do and would like to supplement your learning), reading good books is another way to gain from the wisdom of those who have gone before.

So just what does “judge not” mean anyway?

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I’ve been thinking lately of the differences and similarities between judgment, discernment, and criticism. I hope one day to get those “stray thoughts” out in black and white so as to examine them a little better. But over the past several years I have been distressed to see Christians regarding judgment in a way that I don’t think is entirely biblical. “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) seems to be some people’s best known Bible verse. But what does it mean exactly? I can’t say I know 100%, but I do know a few things it doesn’t mean.

1. “Judge not” doesn’t mean we never say anything to someone about their sin.

How do I know that? Well, the rest of that passage in Matthew and the parallel in Luke 6:37 talk about taking the beam, or big log (or big obvious sin or fault) out of your own eye before taking the mote (or little speck or smaller fault or sin) out of your brother’s eye. But notice it doesn’t say to ignore the speck in your brother’s eye – it says to exercise judgment on yourself first. Then, it says in Luke 6:42 and Matthew 7:5, you can see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 25:12 says, “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.” Galatians 6:1 says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” There are numerous other verses about confronting others with their sin. If someone comes to us about a problem they see in our lives, our first response should not be, “You’re not supposed to judge me!” We should take what they say before the Lord and examine ourselves in light of Scripture to see if what has been said has merit.

2. It doesn’t mean we never talk about anyone else’s sin.

How do I know that? In the inspired Scripture, the apostle Paul speaks of others’ sins and even calls those people by name. “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (II Timothy 4:10a). “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme” (I Timothy 1:19-20). “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works: Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words” (II Timothy 4:14-15). He speaks of rebuking Peter in Galatians 2. Other biblical writers speak of other people’s sin as well: see the Old Testament prophets, Jude, II Peter 2, II John 2:18-19, III John 1:9-10 (“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.”)

The Bible does warn against backbiting and gossip. So what is the difference between this kind of public pointing out of sin and gossiping? The main difference seems to be motive. Scriptural discussion of other people’s sin seems to be primarily for the purpose of warning others.

So then what does “judge not” mean? In context the passage seems to be saying to be careful because however you judge other people is how you will be judged.

Discernment is a must in the Christian life. Hebrews 5:14 speaks of “those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” We need to be able to use our senses to look at doctrines and actions to determine whether they are biblically right or wrong. I hear “judge not” most commonly misapplied in the area of discussing movements or trends or popular preaching or teaching in Christendom, but I think that is an area where Paul and other New Testament writers may exercise the most discernment.

Some of the principles of exercising judgment that we can glean from the passages mentioned so far are: examine yourself and take care of your own sins before dealing with anyone else’s (Matt. 7:1, Luke 6:37); approach another person about their sin with a spirit of meekness and a desire to restore them to a right walk (Gal. 6:1); examine your motives: personal satisfaction in tearing down someone else, the perverted thrill of being “in the know” and wanting to share the knowledge of someone’s else’s sin, pride and self-righteousness are all wrong motives and are probably the wrong kind of judging that is being discussed or the dividing line between discernment and judgment. Other biblical principles are: don’t judge where there is room for differences of opinion (Romans 14); don’t judge someone else’s motives when you don’t know their heart (John 7:1-24, especially verse 24); don’t be a ” busybody in other men’s matters” (I Peter 4:15; see also II Thessalonians 3:11 and I Timothy 5:13); if someone has sinned against you personally, go to them privately before saying anything to anyone else about it (Matthew 18:15-20); don’t be hasty in your judgment (Proverbs 29:20, James 1:19-20).

I’d be interested in your thoughts about what “judge not” means – based on biblical interpretation rather than just “I think…” or “I feel…” statements.

I need to remind myself of this often.

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You can’t have it all. You are not there to do yourself a favor. You may not have it your way. You opted out of all that when you made up your mind to follow a Master who himself had relinquished all rights, all equality with the Father, and his own will as well. You are called not to be served but to serve, and you can’t serve two masters. You can’t operate in two opposing kingdoms. These kingdoms are the alternatives. Settle it once for all. It is, quite simply, a life and-death choice.

E. Elliot, On Asking God Why

Matthew 16:24: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

No excuses

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We’ve all heard it said many times that some people don’t go to church and some even refuse to become believers because of all the hypocrites. Gandhi is supposed to have said, “I would be a Christian, if it were not for Christians.”

But you know what? When we stand before God some day, we’re not going to be able to point to anyone else as a reason why we did not believe. That does not excuse Christians from their sins — God will deal with them in His own time and way. God has given evidence of Himself in creation: Romans 1:19-20 says, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…” He has also manifested Himself in His Word (John 5:39: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”) Every person has some degree of light: John 1:9 says, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” referring back to Christ as the Light earlier in the chapter. Jesus said in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit will “reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Those who come before His judgment seat as unbelievers will have to answer for what they did with the light they had, not what everyone else did.

Christians are also without excuse for not being and doing what we ought.

It used to be, when I heard that someone had been out of church for 20 years because someone offended them, I would think, “That’s terrible! We need to be more cautious, more loving, more sensitive…” And we do. But whatever offended that person, God tells him to forgive his brethren in love and to forbear with them (Col. 3:12-14). He also tells them that if they will not forgive, they can’t expect to be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15).

As parents, when our children begin to explain their actions by saying, “Well, he…..,” our response is, “I’ll deal with him: right now I am talking about you.” It is much the same way with the Lord: He will deal with others about what they did or didn’t do, but meanwhile He has promised that His grace is sufficient, that He will never leave us or forsake us, that He will supply all our needs (we apply that to physical needs but it certainly applies to spiritual needs as well). He has every right to say, “Yes, that person failed you. This person hurt you. He provoked you; she was a bad example. But I would have helped you overcome. Why didn’t you turn to Me?”

Once when Rosalind Goforth lost her temper with some Chinese unbelievers, her husband confronted her:

“Rose, how could you so forget yourself?” he said. “Do you realize that just one such incident may undo months of self-sacrificing, loving service?”

“But Jonathan” I returned, “you don’t know how she — “

But he interrupted. “Yes, I do; I heard all. You certainly had reason to be annoyed; but were you justified, with all that is hanging in the balance and God’s grace to keep you patient?”

Too often we focus on the human justifications for our actions. But we’re called on to manifest super-human reactions: we’re called to show forth the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23) no matter what anyone else does or doesn’t do.

Of course we can’t do that in ourselves: it’s the fruit of the Spirit. We won’t be perfect at it in this life, and I am so thankful for God’s forgiveness when we confess our sins to Him (I John 1:9). But we need to keep our eyes on Him, what He expects of us, and His grace to do His will, not on ourselves or other people.

II Corinthians 9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.

Hebrews 4:16:Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Overcast

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Gray skies in spring

I don’t always have a cheerful, sunny disposition…

The cellulitis I mentioned earlier has not completely cleared up, and since I am on my last day of antibiotics, I need to see the doctor before it relapses like it did before. This is an already busy week, leading into one of the busiest months of my year, and I was so hoping this issue would be resolved so I could get the things done I needed to without having to keep my foot elevated and go another round of antibiotics with their accompanying side effects.

Some part of my mind has been occupied with decisions relating to the month ahead, and there is always a sense of unsettledness and pressure until some of those decisions are made and the next steps of doing can be taken.

Then a couple of hours into the day I began not feeling well — I’ll spare you the details.

Our brief taste of spring has been replaced with a cold front and gray skies, and as I began to rustle up some breakfast and listen to the weather report on the radio of more coolness, cloudiness, rain, and probable coming thunderstorms, my mood matched the overcast scene out the window.

After the weather report, the announcer of the Christian radio station read Ezekiel 34:26, “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” Instead of cheering me, that verse reminded me of one church we attended where, on on any rainy day, we could count on being asked to sing “Showers of Blessing” or “Heavenly Sunlight” or “Sunshine In My Soul Today” in a manner of seemingly forced cheerfulness which usually had the opposite effect on me.

As I continued on with my breakfast preparations, though, I was reminded that our area has been suffering a drought for months, and a good soaking rain was sorely needed. Rain is often spoken of in the Bible as a blessing: in those days before irrigation was common, crops and livelihoods and health depended on good rains coming at the needed times.

And I began to see the irony of complaining and chafing against something that was essential to growth, health, nutrition and further blessing.

Even though my little irritations of the day can scarcely be compared to some of the serious and awful problems many in my church family and among my Internet friends are going through, I was reminded that trials of all sizes have their purpose, and sometimes they are just the needed thing for the next step of growth and Christlikneness to develop.

Hosea 10:12: “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”

Lord, come and rain Your righteousness on me and forgive me for resenting the means of Your blessings. 

901702_raindrops_in_puddle.jpg

(Bottom photo courtesy of the stock.xchng) 

Strength for our duties

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“Yet the duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks. This is a law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment. But alas, this is a secret we often fail to discover.”

John Owen

A reminder when I want my “own” way

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I think the essence of sin must be wanting my own way instead of God’s.

One of my sons used to object to Ken Collier’s statement, “Just two choices on the shelf: pleasing God or pleasing self” because it is possible to please both God and self if self is perfectly submitted to God. And that’s true. But we still have a constant pull toward wanting things our own way when God or the authorities He has placed over us want something from us other than what we want at the time.

Some time back I looked up verses containing the word “own” in them and sorted through the ones that speak of our own way in some form. It’s a very convicting study! I found some four pages of verses — too many to reproduce here. But I wanted to share some of them. I know sometimes it is hard to just read through a list of verses, but I would encourage you to look through them, note the dangers of our own way, and apply God’s remedy. Even more, though, I would encourage you to do this study on your own. Looking up these verses one by one had a greater impact than reading them.

Judges 17:6b: Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
II Kings 17:33: They feared the LORD, and served their own gods.
Isa. 53:6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Prov. 14:14a: The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways
Prov. 21:2: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
Isa. 65:2: I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa. 66:3: Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Jer 18:12: And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.
Ezek. 13:2: Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Eze 16:15a: But thou didst trust in thine own beauty,
Mark 7:9: And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Rom. 10:3: For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Rom. 16:18: For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly
Php 2:21: For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
II Tim. 3:2b: For men shall be lovers of their own selves
Jude 1:16: These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

Results:
Prov. 25:28: He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
Ps. 22:29: None can keep alive his own soul.
Ps. 81:12: So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
Prov. 1:31: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Ezek. 11:21b: I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezek. 36:31: Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
Rom. 1:24: Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

Remember:
I Cor. 6:19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Ps. 44:3: For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.
Prov. 25:27b: For men to search their own glory is not glory.

Remedy:
I Samuel 15:17: And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
Prov. 3:5: Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Prov. 3:7: Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Prov. 12:15b: He that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
Mt. 7:5a: Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye…
I Cor. 10:33: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
I Cor. 13:5: Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil….
II Cor. 8:5: And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
Php 3:9: And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

Division and multiplication

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I came across a link from Amy’s Humble Musings this morning to this post titled “Multiplication” that has been ministering to my heart ever since I read it. If Amy has linked to it, you probably have already seen it, but just in case, I wanted to share it.

Here is one paragraph from the post. This and the last one especially spoke to me.

I can only divide myself, my time and my effort. And in the dividing, in my own strength, it shrinks away to nothingness. The fruit shrivels before it is ripe. The harvest never comes. I am cold, frustrated, and bitter. But when I give it all to Him, it is multiplied. In His hands my efforts yield an abundance that defies logic.

Why do we so often forget this?