Tag Archives: Christianity

Laudable Linkage

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Laudable linkage

Here’s some of the good blogging found this week:

What God Is Doing When He Doesn’t Seem to be Doing Anything. “Sometimes we can’t help but wonder—what is God doing when he doesn’t seem to be doing anything? What is God doing when it isn’t clear that he is working toward the goal I long for? What is he up to when he doesn’t seem to be answering my most heartfelt prayers? The Bible offers a variety of answers, each of which can encourage us to wait with patience, hope, and confidence.”

Has Manifestation Found Its Way Into Your Prayer Life? “It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that in our era of expressive individualism, we have come up with a ‘spiritual practice’ that does away with the middleman (who in this case happens to be the God of the universe) and puts the emphasis on the force of our own will. However, I wonder if even firm believers in the efficacy and necessity of prayer have become susceptible to the practice of manifestation in the way we frame our prayers.”

Learning to Be a “Friendtor,” HT to Challies. I love this! “Essentially, I realised I was a regular, bumbling, work-in-progress Christian. If I had to dole out sage spiritual sound bytes at regular intervals or live without mistakes, I would have a giant F on my mentor report card. But as I stepped into the role with doubts and fears, I began to unlearn a few things.”

Fallen from Grace: The Mysterious Warning of Galatians 5:4. ““You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4). Falling from grace sounds serious. It sounds like something we should avoid at all costs. But how can we avoid it if we are unsure of what it means to fall from grace?”

5 Lies that Steal Your Joy (and How to Replace Them with Truth). “Have you ever experienced something that should bring you joy, but instead leaves you feeling discouraged, anxious, and less than? The biggest culprits that steal my joy are the unbiblical soundtracks playing in my head.”

The Secret to Contentment on the Merry-Go-Round of Life. “Life is like a 1960s merry-go-round. It’s not a gentle carousel that rotates slowly while we sit atop cute animals, bobbing and smiling for pictures. Instead, life in this world flings us around at lightning speed, and when we lose our grip, it casts us into a heap on the hard ground, broken and bloodied. Unless we know the secret. “

When Life Feels Impossible: Lessons from the Book of Ruth. “Some situations feel so hopeless that I struggle to imagine how God could bring good from them. However, God has been showing me that this attitude reveals how little I trust Him to work in these situations—and how distorted my view of Him can become. Recently, He’s been using the book of Ruth to help me see this more clearly. “

Kindness That Blooms in Barren Seasons. “A woman’s willingness to care for others when she herself is hurting is a glimpse of grace at work. Perhaps the reason her example moves us so deeply is because it reflects the character of Christ Himself. His example in the Gospels shows us that when we extend kindness isn’t based on our emotional reserves or dependent on if the weather of our lives feels right. Even in barren seasons, the kindness of God can still bloom.”

Risk Setting Your Soul on Fire: Start Reading Missionary Biographies Today. “Few believers today read missionary biographies. I’m not going to list why not. I don’t understand it myself. Missionary biographies have been a blessing and an inspiration to me throughout my spiritual journey. So here is a whole stack of reasons why you should start reading a missionary biography today.”

Life in the Margins, HT to Challies. “Sometimes in evangelical culture we can be tempted to think that the one shot we have to really connect with the Lord daily is in our ‘quiet time’ (or devotions or whatever you want to call it).⁠ That time is crucial, of course, but what we often fail to realize is that the little moments, the walk-by-the-way moments, add up.”

What Will We Do with What We Know? “I know a lot about the guy. If you’ve been married for long, you probably know a whole lot about your spouse, too. That’s a good thing. But the real question isn’t what do we know about our spouse. It’s what will we do with what we know?”

Time, Routines, and Interruptions That Aren’t. “Whether you are a Christian parent trying to juggle the stay-at-home parenting life, managing a hectic job, holding down commitments to community, church, and family, or a combination of any of those, managing time is a constant struggle. While we want to be good stewards of the time God has given us, we can fall into patterns of unnecessary striving, laziness, avoidance, or idolatry.”

Posting Hoaxes: Part 1: The Facebook Hoax Is Back: Why Writers Must Verify Before They Share and Part2: Before You Share That Post: A Writer’s Guide to Verifying Information and Building Trust Online. Though these posts are written to authors, most of the information is applicable to anyone. When we post what turns out to be a hoax, we lose credibility, among other things.

Adrian Rogers quote

The fear of the Lord is love on its knees. –Adrian Rogers

God Uses the Ordinary

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God uses the ordinary.

I often hear people put the words “just” or “only” in front of their descriptions.

I’m just a student.

I’m just a housewife.

I’m just a mom.

I’m just a secretary.

I’m just a bus driver.

Saying “I’m just . . . ” in that context implies the speaker feels somehow subpar, that others have a bigger role in life.

It’s true that God sometimes takes a person from relative obscurity, gives them a big job, and puts them out in front. Moses, Joseph, Gideon, David, Daniel, Peter, and so many others come to mind.

But most of the people preached to in the Bible, the people who made up the churches the New Testament letters were written to, were just ordinary people learning what it meant to live for Christ in their worlds.

Some of the people we see in the Bible were in the spotlight for a while, but went back to ordinary life: Ruth, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Anna, Simeon, and others. There are some of Jesus’ disciples about whom we know nothing but their names. Mary, the mother of Jesus, experienced some spectacular episodes around Jesus’ birth. But most of the rest of her life was involved with the everyday happenings of a Jewish mother in Nazareth.

Then there were people like the little girl who served Naaman’s wife and told about the prophet in Israel who could heal her master, or the boy who gave his small lunch to the disciples, which was broken and multiplied to feed thousands.

Ordinary life is where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it? That’s where we tend to let our guard down. But that’s also where the bulk of our ministry is, among our own family, neighborhood, and church.

Some of the ordinary people who have ministered to me:

A couple in our church who often invited me over for a meal, followed by their family devotional time, and unwittingly modeled for me what a godly marriage and family looked like.

A woman just ahead of me in life seasons who talked about her teenage daughter while we put up a missionary bulletin board at church and shaped my view of parenting teenagers.

A couple at church who anonymously paid for my tuition to a Christian school for my last two years of high school. This not only helped me become grounded spiritually, but led to the college I attended, where I met my husband. To this day I don’t know who they are, but I think I might have an idea.

The woman who served with a smile almost every time the church had a function involving food.

People who may never have taught a class or preached a message, but who prayed or shared a quiet word of encouragement.

People who do their jobs with excellence and a good attitude, who are a balm after dealing with people who don’t.

My grandfather used to say, “God must love common folks, He made so many of us.”

Most of us are “common folks.” But God loves us and can use us in our everyday ordinary ways to minister to others and glorify Him.

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Laudable Linkage

Some of the good blogging found this week:

God’s Faithful Sovereignty When Things Don’t Go As Planned. “My husband and I have two failed adoptions, chronic illness, and an unexpected mission field exodus to our names. Things not going as planned? I may be an unwilling expert on the subject. But it turns out, being an expert on disappointment can mean possessing a deep appreciation for the goodness of God’s sovereignty.”

God’s Desires:How to Know God’s Will in Difficult Decisions. “How do I know whether to marry this person or choose this or that career? Does God have desires about these decisions? Of course He does. We use the phrase “God’s will” to refer to these desires. God is not AI that coldly calculates a direction based on probability and past outcomes of similar situations. He has desires. He grieves, loves, weeps and wills. As Christians, we want to know what God wants in every decision we make. But how?”

Weak at Work: How God Supplies Our Strength. “While ministry often provides opportunities to enter personal lives of those under your care, all jobs require things of us that we may not feel able or willing to give. We lie awake at night worried about finances, projects, or relationships with clients because working as unto the Lord is HARD work.”

Christlike Work in a Burnout Society, HT to the Story Warren. “In our desperation to maximize productivity, he argues, we’ve become a society defined by voluntary self-exploitation. Achievement addiction has led to emotional exhaustion. Today, many are ashamed of their failure to advance in their careers, frustrated over being underpaid, or bored from long hours of menial tasks. Maybe you’re afraid because of your industry’s direction, or perhaps you wonder if your work is valuable. In the malaise of modern work, God offers us a hopeful alternative.”

You Can Always Come Back to Church, HT to Challies. Glenna talks about the awkwardness she felt returning to the gym after a long absence and compares that to coming back to church.

Roots and Wings. “Rather than feeding them, these stories threatened to poison their imaginations and turn them inward instead of upward. Yet what to do? What could keep them from being caught in our collective cultural drift, circling that drain that threatens to spiral ever-inward? How could I resist its insidious strength? I wanted better for them.”

The Passage in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Tolkien Couldn’t Read Without Weeping, HT to the Story Warren. “Kreeft reflects on the nature of hope, contrasting ordinary hope with what he calls deep hope. Ordinary hope is often rooted in calculation. A bet on good odds. It’s the hope that arises when success is still a possibility, no matter how unlikely. But deep hope is different. It’s the kind of hope that arises after ordinary hope dies. Hope against hope.”

Janette Oke Wrote Her First Novel at 42. Then She Wrote 70 More, HT to Linda. Janette Oke launched me on my journey of reading Christian fiction. I enjoyed reading about her not only for that reason, but for encouragement as an aspiring writer starting later in life.

Note: I read from a wide variety of sources and may not endorse everything from any particular site.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. C. S. Lewis

Spiritual Maturity Is Dependent

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Whether we have our own children, or nieces and nephews, or friends’ children, or little ones at church, we expect to see them grow. Even though we marvel at how quickly they seem to grow, we would be concerned if they didn’t.

We also assume that children will grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Moms might miss the cute antics of their little ones, but they’d be alarmed if their teenagers acted like toddlers.

Though there is an aspect of grief when children become adults and leave home, there is anticipation, too. We look forward to seeing what God will do in their lives.

As much as we miss our kids when they move away from home, we know something is wrong if they’re forty and still living in their parents’ basement, playing video games most of the day.

Maturity in the children we’re close to seems to be measured by their ability to stand on their own two feet–to function successfully as adults on their own. Though we welcome their coming to us for advice, and we love to help them in any way we can, we know we won’t be around forever.

Spiritually, though, we don’t grow independent from God. We don’t become spiritual adults as we move away from Him to live our own lives.

Instead, we grow spiritually when we realize how little we actually have control over, when we’re aware we need God every moment of every day. We grow more dependent on God as we mature.

How do we mature spiritually?

We take in His Word. 1 Peter 2:2, NKJV: “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” Acts 20:32: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.“

We grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. 2 Peter 3:16-18: “There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

We pray. Colossians 1:9-10: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

We learn from the leaders God gave the church. Ephesians 4:11-13: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

We develop discernment by learning to distinguish between good and evil. Hebrews 5:12-14: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Renew our minds. Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.“

Behold Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

What does spiritual maturity look like?

Stability. Ephesians 4:14: “That we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Awareness of our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Endurance and hope. Romans 5:3-4: “Endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Fruit of the Holy Spirit evident in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Jesus. Ephesians 4:13: “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

Maturity doesn’t always accompany age. Some older people aren’t very mature at all, and some young people can display remarkable maturity. But the good news is, whatever stage we are in now, we can grow spiritually and become more and more like Christ.

Ephesians 4:13

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Laudable Linkage

I haven’t had as much time online as usual this week, but I did find these thought-provoking reads:

It’s Your Destiny: Don’t Make This Mistake. Salvation isn’t a matter of just saying the right words. The author gives some sad examples of those who thought it did.

Old Advice for a New Year, HT to The Story Warren. “In the typical flurry of secular articles about the new year, two messages seem loudest. Half the articles triumphantly declare that this can be the year you become the best version of yourself and achieve your dreams. The other half reject the hustle; they tell you that you’re enough as you are and that you should enjoy life instead of striving. These messages seem like opposites, but they share an important thread: self-focus. As Christians, we ought to consider every turning of the season in light of God’s wisdom, not our own.”

New Season, New Surrender. Though this is written in the context of missions, it’s true for all of us that surrendering to the Lord is not a “one and done thing.” Courtney shares truths that helped her with new areas to surrender as well as old ones that needed to be given to the Lord continually.

Are You Ready? This was linked in the article above, but I wanted to share it separately. J. C. Ryle asks if hearers are ready for whatever a new year might bring, good or bad, and shares how to get ready.

How God Met Me the Night my Kindergartner Went Missing. Debbie shares how God’s Word helped her in a scary situation.

The Songs I Once Found Dreary, HT to Challies. “There is something deeply comforting when someone enters our context and realizes the weight with us. Lament calls on the Lord to do just that. Isn’t this how God desires us to come? Not with tidy understanding or facades of strength but with full disclosure. Lament, then, is not weakness but actually the evidence of trust and our union with Christ.“

Living as a Woman Loved by God. “The difference between those two women is not personality or temperament. It’s not confidence, charm, or social instinct. The difference is whether they are living as women who know they are loved by God. To live this way is to live from fullness rather than from lack. It’s to move through rooms—and relationships—without grasping, because you’ve already been given in Him what your heart is tempted to seek elsewhere.”

This is as good a time as any for my occasional reminder that linking to or from someone doesn’t always indicate total endorsement.

Quote about love

True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal. — Harriet Beecher Stowe

Laudable Linkage

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Laudable Linkage

Some of the blog posts that stood out to me this week:

Who Christ Says I Am: Embracing My Identity. “I don’t know about you, but one of the biggest things that makes me feel loved is how I’m spoken to. What a person calls me has great power to make me feel cherished and to affect the perception of my identity. That’s why it’s so important to look for identity in the right places. I should say the right place because the One who made and redeemed me is the only One who can give me identity.”

Teach Your Kids What to Think, HT to Challies. “You say, ‘But I don’t want to teach my kids what to think, I just want to teach them how to think.’ Yes! You should teach them how to think. But not teaching them what to think communicates something to them. It communicates something about truth. If I’m not willing to teach them what to think, then I am most certainly teaching them that truth is something that can be decided on.”

Scheduling Hospitality: Making Space for Others In Our Calendars. “Most of us acknowledge that hospitality is a wonderful thing. We desire to do it. But if we wait until it’s convenient or feel like doing it, we probably never will. That’s why there was a time when my husband and I decided to invite people over every other Sunday. If we put it on the calendar and invited people, we couldn’t back out.”

Is the Cultural and Historical Context of Scripture Necessary, Helpful, or Distracting? “Yes, depending on the text being studied and the background information being used, historical and cultural context can be necessary, helpful, or distracting. On the whole, I think that it is normally helpful. Sometimes, in the rarest of circumstances, it is necessary. When theologians and academics are careless or ideologically driven, it can be distracting or worse.” The author shares some examples of each.

Softly, Softly, Break a Bone, HT to Challies. A couple of sweet stories about how “a soft tongue will break a bone.” (Proverbs 25:15).

It’s OK to be Obsessed with Something. “Parents of young children can often scold themselves for getting distracted over things like these: little side trips into things that interest them for one reason or another. But I want to encourage you: it’s good for you to be curious. It’s good for you to be interested. Maybe it’s good for you to be a little bit obsessed with something or other.”

Peace

Peace is as infectious as panic. If my soul is quietly at rest in God, then others will share my peace, because I share His. — Elisabeth Elliot

Bearing With Small Trials

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Bearing with small trials

I’ve never chosen a word for the year–I’ve often said that God has much more to say to me than one word. 🙂

But a phrase that has come to mind often these last weeks is “bear up.” I can get down and whiny over not feeling well or first world problems or barren winter landscapes or several overcast days in a row or a number of other relatively minor things. I often have a harder time with these smaller trials than with the big ones. It’s almost instinctive to turn to the Lord in a major crisis and ask His grace and help. But I stumble over everyday troubles.

Yet every day can’t be sunshine and roses. We live in a fallen world. As Longfellow said in “The Rainy Day,” “Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.”

God has said all through Scripture to expect suffering, and He tells us He uses it for our spiritual growth.

Overcast days and long winters aren’t really suffering. Sure, they can affect one’s outlook. There is such a thing as Seasonal Affective Disorder. But my “winter blues” aren’t to that extreme and can’t really compare to cancer and chemo or persecution.

Proverbs 24:10 comes to mind: “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”

Yes, it is. And if it’s so small in these minor issues, what’s it going to be when a major crisis comes my way?

The second stanza in Amy Carmichael’s poem, “Make Me Thy Fuel,” says:

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified;
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Softening things? Easy choices? That’s my jam. I am not soldiery. I am a wimp.

So I feel the need to learn to “bear up” under the everyday trials of life–both to be a better testimony and to become more resilient when bigger hardships happen.

I like the NKJV translation of 2 Timothy 2:3: “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

I don’t think enduring hardship means being stoic. David was a soldier, but he poured out his heart in the psalms.

Nor do we need to deny our pain or frustration or sadness, large or small. A broken toe may not hurt as much as a crushed leg, but it does hurt. However, we need God’s perspective on our trials.

Enduring hardship doesn’t mean we can’t pray or that we deal with the small stuff and only go to God with the big things. We’re told to “[cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7, emphasis mine).

But we can “[look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

We can pray to be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Colossians 1:11).

Both of those last two verses mentioned joy. What joy? The joy that someday, all trials and pain and suffering of any size will be over (Revelation 21:4). The joy that no matter what we go through, God is with His children (Isaiah 43:2). The joy that He provides help, strength, and grace (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). The joy that He uses trials to test our faith and perfect us (James 1:2-4).

In an older book titled Formula for Family Unity, Walter and Trudy Fremont shared an example of a mother trying to help her son as he gets ready to go out in the cold to do his paper route. She had an overly sympathetic attitude, saying, “Oh, honey, it’s so cold out there; I’m afraid you’ll freeze on your paper route.” The son then felt sorry for himself for having to go out in the cold. They suggest it would be better for the mother to say, “When you finish your paper route, I’ll have a cup of hot chocolate waiting and a good breakfast” (pp. 103-104). She acknowledges that his job is cold and hard, but in a way that braces him to face it.

We, too, can reframe how we think about the things that get us down. Cold, grey winter days? God is still working even through dormancy. Hard freezes reduce the number of bugs that show up in summer. I can work on inside projects or curl up with a book and a blanket.

Minor illnesses that reduce my energy for a few days? How often have I wished I could stop the normal routine and rest or read or engage in quiet activities. Here’s the perfect opportunity.

Several overcast days in a row? They make me appreciate sunshine even more. I can keep busy with pleasant or useful occupations or play uplifting music rather than focus on the grey skies.

One reason God allows trials in our lives is to draw our attention and foster our dependence on Him. I can all too easily feel sorry for myself and then feed my self-pity. Instead, I need to preach God’s truth to myself and rely on His grace and strength.

May “God . . . who comforts the downcast,” “who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word” (2 Corinthians 7:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).

(Just to be clear: I am not trying to make light of anything anyone is going through, or to say “Just grin and bear it.” I’m sharing my thought process about my own tendency to maximize smaller trials.)

2 Timothy 2:3

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

Laudable Linkage

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Laudable Linkage

This had been a great week for blogging. I found more than the usual number of good links to share

Where Is God’s Love When Life Goes Wrong? HT to Challies. “Measuring our Lord’s love for us by our circumstances leads to a pile of wilted petals on the floor, an empty stem in hand, and a discontented heart within. So, how might we measure his love?”

Faith in the Middle of the Mess. “Scripture does not ask us to pretend harm didn’t happen or to spiritualize away real suffering. Scripture shows us how to navigate the hard—how to name the pain, confusion, and dismay while simultaneously holding on to the greater truth that God is good and His plans for us are good, even when life is hard.”

How We Got Our English Bible. “The point isn’t remembering all of the dates and names, but it is getting the flow and seeing the providential hand of God who not only inspired the Scripture to be written in the first place, but has preserved it as it was passed on from generation to generation and one language to another.”

What Exactly Are We Claiming About the Bible? HT to Knowable Word. “When Christians open the Bible and say, ‘This is the Word of God,’ what exactly are we claiming? We need to be precise here, because confusion at this point creates confusion everywhere else. And in a world where the courtroom never seems to adjourn, you need to know what kind of authority you are dealing with when you open the Scriptures.”

3 Reasons to Be Exhilarated–Not Intimidated–By the Bible. “This is the year! Finally, we’re going to fall in love with the Bible—no matter how much it has intimidated us. After all, people do it all the time. We’re determined to become one of those for whom the Bible exhilarates rather than intimidates. The good news is that, as intimidating as the Bible can sometimes feel, the number of ways it exhilarates our souls far exceeds any of its intimidation factors. Here are three ways this is true.”

The Winter of Our Contentment. “I’ve been thinking lately about contentment, about the desire that I have to really live in the moment and enjoy it for what it is.” Melissa goes on to talk about how that’s harder in some days and seasons than others, but possible with God’s help.

Applying the Gospel. “They know the gospel has changed their past and secured their future, but they don’t know how the gospel applies to the present—how it works in the day-to-day realities, challenges, and struggles of life.”

Trading the To-Do List for Rhythms of Grace. “For years, my spiritual life felt like one big to-do list—go to church, complete my Bible reading plan, share my faith, etc. If I didn’t check every box perfectly, I worried God would be disappointed in me. I imagined the Lord sitting on His throne in the heavenly clouds with a clipboard, grading my performance for Him.”

Time Management Tips from the Life of Christ. “I recently finished highlighting my way through the book of Matthew. As I read through this gospel, I took special note of how Jesus managed His time and priorities. Here are three time management lessons from the life of our Lord that I think we would do well to imitate in our own lives.”

Amplify Not a Fool by Responding to His Folly. It’s often hard to know when, how, and how much to engage with online foolishness, even with a desire to shed light. But we need to consider whether that engagement is actually giving foolish words and people a wider audience.

Who Is Rich and Who Is Poor? HT to Challies. “In determining who is rich and who is poor, we subconsciously compare ourselves to those above and below us. We do this whether we are in an American suburb or in a rustic hospital room in East Africa. There is always someone richer and always someone poorer than us. This relative understanding of wealth and poverty can make Scripture’s teaching on the subject confusing. Who then is rich and who is poor—and how do Christ’s commands to generosity apply to each of us?”

Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids? “Let Joshua’s words be a challenge to you: ‘When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them…’ What are you doing to pile stones of remembrance in the path of your grandkids?”

I Want to Finish Well for God’s Glory. “But 50 stopped me in my tracks with the dawning realization that I’m most likely entering the final third of my life. How much longer will I have to live and serve the Lord? 25 years? 20 years? Less? Only God know, but this milestone prompted me to step back and consider a vital question: what does it look like to finish well with whatever years the Lord entrusts to me?”

Doom-Scrolling Mozart, HT to Challies. “I receive more information in a day than many people throughout history received in their entire lives. I may not know most of my neighbors’ names, but I am now a global citizen with the responsibility to be informed about current events. But I’m not meant to bear that load. Neither are you.”

The Christian and Media, Part 4. As the author says, Christians may come out at different places on specifics. But there are some Scriptural principles that can guide us in our media and entertainment choices.

Dribs and Drabs, HT to the Story Warren. This is written for writers, but it’s true for everyone that small efforts can add up.

The best way of increasing our knowledge of God’s infinite nature, is by the reverent study of His Word. It is a flimsy religion which discounts doctrine. What the bones are to the body, doctrine is to our moral and spiritual life. F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Walk

The Wonder of God with Us

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The Wonder of God with Us

One of the verses shared most often during the Christmas season is Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

700 years after this was written, an angel quotes it to Joseph when he reassures him that Mary has not been unfaithful; the baby she is carrying is the Son of God (Matthew 1:18-25). Matthew then goes on to explain that “Immanuel” means “God with us.”

We’re so familiar with that passage and that truth, it’s easy for us to just breeze past them. But if we trace God’s interaction with His people through the Bible, we see what a wonder it is that God went to such great lengths to be with people that neglected and rejected Him.

God was with His people in full fellowship and harmony in the garden of Eden. But then they sinned and were sent out of the garden. Sin separates from God. He is always omnipresent, everywhere at all times. But that personal, harmonious fellowship was broken.

When God freed Israel from Egypt, He gave Moses plans for the tabernacle so that God could dwell among His people. But they had to come God’s way, through the sacrifices He commanded. The veil of the tabernacle, and later the temple, separated everyone from the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest could enter there once a year on the day of atonement.

Then, thousands of years later, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among” His people (John 1:14). The Lord of glory came to a poor family in a humble dwelling. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4).

When Jesus died for our sin, the veil of the temple was supernaturally ripped in two. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.”

He made a way for people to be reconciled to Him through Christ. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:1-2). What an amazing gift–that we have access to God directly through Jesus by faith.

He dwells with the humble: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite'” (Isaiah 57:15).

He is with us in life’s challenges: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

He is with us in anxiety: “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5b-7).

He is with us in trouble: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2).

He is with us in joy: “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. . . You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:8,11).

He is with us to provide for us: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

He is with us at the end, if we know Him: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff,  they comfort me”( Psalm 23:4). Then we’ll be “absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” once again in full fellowship unhindered by a sin nature (2 Corinthians 5:8).

An old song said God is watching us from a distance. No, He is very close. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). Because Jesus was God’s Son, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again, we can be forgiven, redeemed, close to Him. In overcoming and need, in anxiety and danger, in everyday life and our walk with God, and finally in death, we can rest and rejoice in the fact that God is with us.

C. H. Spurgeon wrote a wonderful poem titled “Immanuel” at the age of 18:

When once I mourned a load of sin;
When conscience felt a wound within;
When all my works were thrown away;
When on my knees I knelt to pray,
Then, blissful hour, remembered well,
I learned Thy love, Immanuel.

When storms of sorrow toss my soul;
When waves of care around me roll;
When comforts sink, when joys shall flee;
When hopeless griefs shall gape for me,
One word the tempest’s rage shall quell–
That word, Thy name, Immanuel.

When for the truth I suffer shame;
When foes pour scandal on my name;
When cruel taunts and jeers abound;
When “Bulls of Bashan” gird me round,
Secure within Thy tower I’ll dwell–
That tower, Thy grace, Immanuel.

When hell enraged lifts up her roar;
When Satan stops my path before;
When fiends rejoice and wait my end;
When legioned hosts their arrows send,
Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell
Thy battle-cry, Immanuel.

When down the hill of life I go;
When o’er my feet death’s waters flow;
When in the deep’ning flood I sink;
When friends stand weeping on the brink,
I’ll mingle with my last farewell
Thy lovely name, Immanuel.

When tears are banished from mine eye;
When fairer worlds than these are nigh;
When heaven shall fill my ravished sight;
When I shall bathe in sweet delight,
One joy all joys shall far excel,
To see Thy face, Immanuel.

Immanuel–God with us. I pray you know Him today and rejoice that He is not a God far off, but One who dwells right here with us.

Matthew 1:23

(Revised from the archives)

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