When the Body Suffers

The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 12: 24-27 “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Paul was not referring to an actual physical body, but rather to the body of all believers.  We who follow Him in some mysterious way become part of a whole, which he refers to as the “body of Christ”.  We are not all in the same location nor do we have the same function, but we are in the body.  Lately it seems there have been repeated blows to the body.

Romans 14 says it even more directly “7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.  8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

Lately, our hearts are broken for those who have died for the Lord.  Either directly because they carried the name of Christians or indirectly because the calling on their lives has sent them to places where they will be hated or despised simply because they cared enough to want to meet the needs of those in distress.

For years, it seemed we needed to drag out Foxes Book of Martyrs to discuss those who were willing to die rather than renounce their faith. Not so anymore, we only have to turn on the news.  It is not that these instances did not occur in the meantime. It is rather that we did not know or maybe even did not care to know the degree to which the other members of our body were suffering.

I confess to feeling a tremendous amount of empathy for the family of the young aid worker killed recently.  Because she came from my country, she was of my race; she was the age of my children or because I have a family member who travels to that region for nearly the same reason; I can identify.  However, that ancient family of believers, the Coptic Church, now has widows and fatherless children who will have to live with trauma and loss as well as continued threats to their own lives. The young girls kidnapped in Africa who are now slaves or forced to ‘marry’ their terrorist captors. Are they as often in my prayers?

Even, if I may step into dangerous territory here, if I had been as concerned for those innocents killed who are not of my faith, my country.  Whose simple, humble lives have been destroyed by bombs and drones and terrorists for reasons that, lacking internet and access to the outside world, they cannot possibly understand. Death came through no fault of their own. John Donne wrote many years ago.

No man is an island, Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Do I truly feel that any man’s death diminishes me? Could it ever be that the death of innocent school children in Pakistan is as traumatic for me as a school shooting in my home town? When Jesus cried over Jerusalem, he wasn’t just concerned for his own followers.  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

It is Lent and on this Ash Wednesday I feel the need to repent for the callousness of my petty concerns.  Even for the amount of my prayer time that is consumed by myself and my small world.

Lord, what part of your body is hurting, even facing death? Please be close to that one! What innocent child is away from Your body that You long to gather to Yourself? Please have mercy on that one!  

Tangled and Entangled

Having recently returned from a ten-day visit with my wonderful granddaughter Sophia, I am quite sure I could quote verbatim the entire Disney movie Tangled.  You see, Grandma (me) only has a few movies on her iPad, and this is Sophia’s favorite from my selection.  Apart from the magical element of Rapunzel’s long mane of hair, navigating with all that dragging behind her meant she faced challenges the shorter haired princesses would never have experienced.  When was the last time someone stepped on your hair?

The scripture warns us about carrying around something which would lead to our being entangled.  Hebrews 12:1-2 offers this challenge, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

In a sense, if you are living with sin in your life, go get a spiritual haircut! Cut it out! Throw it off!

There are also entanglements that do not qualify as outright sin. Paul mentions this to Timothy in a military analogy. 2 Timothy 2:4, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.”  The problem is not with having civilian pursuits. In our lives, there is nothing wrong with pursuing careers, relationships, goals, etc. unless they take us away from our primary allegiance and keep us from being available to God to be called upon for service at any moment.

Another entanglement is the sort poor Martha experienced in Luke Chapter 10.  In all her care for Jesus, the disciples, the house, the meals she ended up being, “anxious and troubled about many things.” Jesus rebuked her kindly and said that her sister Mary had chosen the better part, which was to sit at His feet and listen.  Oswald Chambers describes it in the following quote:

“The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.”

How easy it is to get entangled in all the “good” stuff we think we NEED to accomplish and to miss our time with Jesus!

The natural spiritual outflow of spending time with Jesus is that His love will begin to flow out from our lives to others.  Thomas a` Kempis describes this love and how it changes our desires to keep us from entanglements.

Love is a great thing, yea, a great and thorough good.
By itself it makes that which is heavy light;
and it bears evenly all that is uneven.
It carries a burden which is no burden;
it will not be kept back by anything low and mean;
It desires to be free from all worldly affections,
and not to be entangled by any outward prosperity,
or by any adversity subdued.
Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble,
attempts what is above its strength,
pleads no excuse of impossibility.
It is therefore able to undertake all things,
and it completes many things and warrants them to take effect,
where he who does not love would faint and lie down.
Though weary, it is not tired;
though pressed it is not straightened;
though alarmed, it is not confounded;
but as a living flame it forces itself upwards and securely passes through all.
Love is active and sincere, courageous, patient, faithful, prudent, and manly.

by Thomas à Kempis.

Think about it, Rapunzel was never free to love until she lost all that hair which entangled her. Then she discovered that the gift was something which was inside of her. Ok I know, that might be a bit of a theological stretch….

However, loving also requires our risking entanglements as C.S. Lewis states,

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

What are we tangled up in today; sin, our own agenda, or even good works? Instead, may God give us grace to allow our lives to become lovingly entangled in the lives of those He has placed around us.

Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Uhrichville: Barbour Publishing Inc., 1963.

Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves. Harcourt, 1971.

Tangled. Dir. Byron Howard Nathan Greno. Walt Disney. 2010. Film.

If you love me…

We are past Valentine’s Day, and it’s not Mother’s Day, so this is not a pathetic attempt at “guilting” my nearest and dearest to call me…although I wouldn’t mind. It is really just me having one of those, “why haven’t I seen this before” moments with God.

Jesus said,

John 14:5, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

That is not a difficult concept for me to understand. Accepting the great gift of God’s love and forgiveness for me means that I want to live my life according to what the One, who loves me, says is best for me. I do not want to live in a way that would damage our relationship.

There is another passage that presents the question another way. In John 21, Jesus is speaking to Peter as follows:

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

Sooo, if I love God, a sure sign is that I am caring for his sheep? God will know that I love him if I follow His guidelines for living, AND I take care of His sheep.

Oswald Chambers says, “And Jesus has some extraordinarily funny sheep, some bedraggled, dirty sheep, some awkward, butting sheep, some sheep that have gone astray!” [i]

How true! We cannot just care for the “little lamb whose fleece is white as snow.” Most of the Father’s sheep are not fluffy and cute! Jesus even indicated that sometimes we may need to leave the safety and warmth of the fold to head out into the badlands searching for the ones who get lost. This may make us uncomfortable and may even cost us some sleepless nights. Search and rescue missions usually do. It sounds exhausting to take care of the sometimes difficult sheep in the fold while periodically chasing after those who willfully wander. How can one maintain this level of care?

Chambers again, “It is impossible to weary God’s love, and it is impossible to weary that love in me if it springs from the one center. The love of God pays no attention to the distinctions of natural individuality. If I love my Lord I have no business to be guided by natural temperament; I have to feed His sheep.”

In other words, the Spirit of God within me will reach out to love His sheep. I may not personally care for their appearance, temperament, choices, but basically that doesn’t matter. Will I cooperate with God who wants to pour out love? Or will I refuse because maybe I don’t like the look of that crusty old sheep, or of that willful wanderer who looks like he would rather butt you than talk to you?

In the Chinese calendar, this is the year of the sheep. So I wonder if what God is telling me is that this year I need to focus on feeding His sheep. After all, they all belong to Him. They are either found sheep, or lost sheep. “Do you love me?” He says. “Well then you know what to do.”
[i]
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Uhrichville: Barbour Publishing Inc., 1963.t

Back to Nature

Having lived in a huge city of concrete towers and masses of people, I think I appreciate even more the opportunity to live closer to the natural world. Up here on our windy hilltop with the birds at the feeder and the deer walking through the forest, I am so much more at peace with the world. Feeling the earth as I dig and plant, listening to the rain, even petting the cat connects with some deep place in my spirit that was missing amid the materialism of malls and mass transit systems.

I did not attribute any great spiritual significance to my love of nature, I just thought as a child of the 60’s I was a bit of a hippie at heart. Recently I have discovered that there may be more to this.

Why did God when he responded to the angry questions of Job, point him first to the natural created world? It was almost as if God was saying, “Have you looked around? How can you question a God who is capable of speaking into existence all this magnificent, intricate, overpowering living and life-giving planet?” Go back to nature Man! It’s all there in the rhythm of the seasons, the tides, the creatures and in the very soul and mindfulness of man.

Dallas Willard states, “Paul himself explains that all human beings remain responsible, no matter how far they fall, because of the clear way in which God stands forth in natural reality. ‘Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible nature is clearly presented to their understanding through what has been made.’ Romans 1:19-20.

The question is frequently asked regarding the people who have never heard the gospel of Christ. To which Paul answers in Romans 10: 17-18 from the Amplified Bible

17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; [for the Scripture says] Their voice [that of nature bearing God’s message] has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the far bounds of the world.

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

Yes, this world received the curse of the fall; as a result natural disasters are a part of our existence. However, the scripture indicates the burden of this on the earth with almost sentient descriptions.

Romans 8:19-22

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Jesus Himself pointed people to creation,

Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!…27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

The purpose of this blog is not to gloat over those of my friends who still live in the steamy, smoggy overcrowded cities of the world. It is rather to say, take a break! Stop and watch the birds. Smell the flowers. Sit and listen to the waves. There is within the chaos that man creates to drown out the call of his creator, a still small voice and sometimes it is in the fragile face of a flower or the call of a bird.

If the very act of petting a cat has been shown to lower blood pressure, God must be saying something through the natural world. Maybe He is saying there is peace and praise when we pause long enough to appreciate the world He gave us.

Canticle of the creatures by Saint Francis of Assisi

Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,

all praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.

To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through all you have made,

and first my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day;

and through whom you give us light.

How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendor;

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

All Praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon

and the stars; in the heavens you have made them,

bright, and precious, and fair.

All praise be yours, my Lord,

through Brothers wind and air, and fair and stormy,

all the weather’s moods,

by which you cherish all that you have made.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,

so useful, humble, precious and pure.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

through whom you brighten up the night.

How beautiful is he, how cheerful!

Full of power and strength.

All praise be yours, my Lord, through our Sister

Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us,

and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Let’s Talk

For many people, hearing the phrase “we need to talk” is somewhat terrifying. It equates in their minds to being in trouble, an invasion of privacy, and a need to disclose uncomfortable feelings and emotions that they would rather not air. Still, communication is absolutely vital to maintaining healthy relationships.
When it comes to talking with God, it becomes even more complicated. Recently I had posted the following quote by Timothy Keller to my Facebook page regarding Job’s often rather “in-your-face” challenges to God: Job 42:7-9
“Why would God be so affirming of Job? Job cursed the day he was born, challenged God’s wisdom, cried out and complained bitterly, expressed deep doubts…Through it all, Job never stopped praying. Yes, he complained, but he complained to God. He doubted, but he doubted to God. He screamed and yelled, but he did it in God’s presence. No matter how much in agony he was, he continued to address God. He kept seeking Him. And in the end, God said Job triumphed.”(1)
The story does not really end there though, because God knew that Job’s perceptions about Him were incorrect so after affirming that Job was still in right relationship with Him, He sat him down and gave him a lesson. Job 40:1-2, 1 The Lord said to Job, 2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”
After God had revealed Himself to Job in all the glory of His creation, Job had a more correct perspective on Himself and the God of the universe.
Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted…Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6 ESV)
That cosmic “attitude adjustment” is not really the point of this blog. Rather it is that this same overwhelmingly powerful God Job finally “saw” wants to communicate with us. It is there in the scriptures repeatedly!
Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
In other words, God was saying, “let’s talk about the things that separate you and me. I can take them away so that we can be in a free, open, unhindered relationship.”
He even went beyond through the Holy Spirit to promise to be with us available 24/7. Unlike what we experience within our frail and flawed human relationships, He will never be stand-offish or cold; whether or not we can perceive or feel Him, He is there!
Amplified John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor. Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever-
Then He says, talk to me!
Call, Isaiah 65:24,
Ask, Matthew 7:7-11
Pray, Ephesians 6:18
So, my goal for this New Year is to come when He calls, to sit at His feet like Mary, and to talk to Him!
Brother Lawrence, a monk who lived in the 1600’s, described it this way, “a habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God.”
He goes on to describe coming before God in confession as if before a king.
“This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastening me, embraces me with love, invites me to feast at His table, serves me with His own hands, and gives me the keys to His treasures. He converses with me, and takes delight in me, and treats me as if I were His favorite.” (2)
I do not think I have ever felt like I was truly someone’s favorite…
Maybe the Father and I should talk about that.

(1) Keller, Timothy. Walking with God Through Pain & Suffering. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2013.

(2) Foster, Richard J. and James Bryan Smith, Devotional Classics. New York: HarperCollins, 1993

Hope for the Almonds

I realize that this is a strange title for a blog post. No, it is not a campaign to raise awareness regarding the imminent loss of nut trees. It is not a new organic diet to cure cancer. It is rather a concept that has spiritual significance to me. Try not to laugh…smirking is allowed.
As an introverted teenager, ages ago in boarding school, I was blessed by the words God spoke to Jeremiah: 1:6 ESV 6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”
For many years, these words were tremendously helpful; however I am no longer a youth. One day in my later years, I was reading this chapter in the Amplified Bible and found the following verses: “11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch or shoot of an almond tree [the emblem of alertness and activity, blossoming in late winter].
12 Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.”
Alertness, activity, and the ability to blossom even late in the winter of life, that sounds great to me! It is necessary to observe that God is the one who is alert and active in the performing of His word. This fact is important, since that means the activity is generated in His power and not in mine.
Recently, I encountered reference to the humble almond again in Numbers chapter 17, where even after his tremendous sin in enabling the people to worship the idol of the calf, Aaron’s tribe is chosen to be priests by the selection of his staff.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi…5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout…8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
What a sign of restoration! Sometimes we might wish we had a similar test to give to our Christian leaders who have fallen to see whose repentance was real. Even more important for me is that God knows my heart. He can cause me to blossom and bear fruit again even when others have written me off as a spiritual failure. Grace can do that!
For years, that rod of Aaron was just a dried up piece of stick found dead in the desert. Until it was touched by God. Francis Schaeffer describes what it is like to be a “Rod of God”.
“The people who receive praise from the Lord Jesus will not in every case be the people who held leadership in this life. There will be persons who were sticks of wood that stayed close to God and were quiet before him, and were used in power by him in a place that looks small to men. Each Christian is to be a rod of God in the place of God for him. We must remember throughout our lives that in God’s sight there are not little people and no little places. Only one thing is important: to be consecrated person’s in God’s place for us, at each moment.”[i]
This stick of almond wood intends to stay close to the alert and active God, who is going to fulfill His word in my life. I may blossom in the late winter of my life and, who knows, quite possibly become even nuttier than I am now!
[i]
Schaeffer, Francis A. No Little People. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1974.

Waiting for Rain

James 5:7 “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”
Coming back to an environment with seasons has been refreshing in many ways. I confess that most of the time I am chilled to the bone now, but even living in layers of clothing has a certain comfort. There is a sense of expectation that comes with watching the trees turn colors and the seasonal decorations anticipating the coming holidays.
However, this verse from James touched me profoundly this week for another reason. You see, I know so many friends right now who desperately need the sustaining patience only God can provide to get them through their season that is in between the rains. The spring rains come; the farmer plants, but sometimes the wait until the latter rains can seem interminable.
That project that is halfway through and seems hopelessly stalled…
That child who has turned away from the family or God, and all you can do is beg the Father for mercy…That relationship that has been neglected for so long that it seems easier to walk away from, than to do the monumental task to rebuild…That final semester of all the classes when it seems you have been in school forever…My precious friends around the world who are fighting for their lives against the horror that is cancer, chemo, radiation, and fear-filled words like malignancy…

To all of us who do not feel we are currently living under the “showers of blessing”, this verse reminded me that the rains will come. As the writer of Hebrews says, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” Heb. 10:36
How can you endure when the suffering seems too long? This is not a post advocating singing in prison, rejoicing in trials, etc. Yes, those verses are in scripture and are truth and will help you to be an overcomer. If you have the strength- by all means sing!
This post is an acknowledgement that there are times when our strength and hope are gone, and the best that we can do is endure. The same Paul who “brought the house down” singing in the jail with Silas, also wrote 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.”
There is also scriptural support for the following methods of coping:
Honestly tell God specifically what you need at this moment!
In the model prayer (Lord’s Prayer) Jesus said we could pray for enough bread to get through today. He also said worrying about what is ahead only leads to anxiety. (Matthew 6:34)

Dallas Willard explains it as follows:
“(Give us today our daily bread) this request embodies that confidence in our Father that relieves us from all anxiety. The emphasis is on provision today of what we need for today. His reign is the Eternal Now. So we do not ask him to provide today what we will need for tomorrow. To have it in hand today does not guarantee that we will have it tomorrow when we need it. Today I have God, and he has the provisions. Tomorrow it will be the same. So I simply ask today for what I need for today or ask now for what I need now.”(1)
James refers us to Job as the ultimate example of perseverance. James 5:11 “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” What is most remarkable about Job is how blatantly honest he was with God. He did get what he ask for, which was a chance to present his case directly to God. Granted he found the experience a bit overwhelming, but God did not condemn Job for his questions and even commended him. Job 42:7 and 8. Present your case before God.
Ask for help from others!
It is so much easier to complain to others about how hard it is, than to ask them specifically for help. It is interesting that following the verse about patiently enduring the time between the rains, James says not to grumble against one another. When no one seems to be aware that we are hurting, it is easy to become bitter and resentful. James solution is to verbalize: pray, sing, call, confess, and again to pray. James 5:13-16
In the Corinthians scripture where Paul said they had despaired even of life, he gives the lesson he learned through that experience. “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
There are times we cannot rely on ourselves. We simply have to hold on to the God of resurrection and lean on the prayers of others! My friends, please be honest with your needs, and don’t apologize for asking. Let us help one another to hope as we listen for the rain.

(1) Willard, D. (1998). The Divine Conspiracy. New York: HarperCollins

Mud Men

It is no secret to those who know him that my husband has always had a fascination and love for Asia. Inferences to the “other woman” in my life come to mind. Years ago we started collecting “mud men” figures from wherever we could find them. Mud men are small clay figures that were originally used to decorate bonsai or miniature landscapes. The practice was known as Pen’Jing.

“To capture the realism of a favorite countryside or mountain scenic view, the artists added rocks and planted small trees in a large ceramic tray to simulate the panorama on a smaller scale. These were intended to invoke a harmonious feeling to the viewers.

In an effort to capture the illusion, the Chinese artisans used figurines of people, animals, huts, and temples, which gave an appearance of great age and size to the miniature forests. Figurines have had a place in bonsai as a visual contribution. Pen’Jing, nearly a lost art form, is experiencing a revival in modern-day China and is once again popular with Chinese bonsai enthusiasts.”[i]

As these things happen in my life when God wants to get a point across, my daughter Brenna and I have just returned from visiting the River arts district in Asheville North Carolina. This area is well-known for producing some of the finest artistic pottery and sculpture in the US. My daughter is also an accomplished pottery sculptor herself.

In church, for the past several weeks, the messages have referenced the scripture in 2 Timothy 2:20. “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”

Then just in case I still wasn’t getting the message loud and clear, the speaker yesterday morning told the story of God’s command to Jeremiah to go and observe the potters at work. (Jeremiah 18) It was almost a deja vu experience since we had just returned from watching so many potters at work. How incredible that the process of pot-making has changed so little since the time of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 18:3, “So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”

The first thing you notice is how messy it is. Mud, buckets, utensils everywhere. Potters may be neat and fastidious, but their medium is not. Next they knead, roll, mash, the clay until it is soft and pliable. Even when it is on the wheel, as Jeremiah’s story states, the sensitive hands of the potter may still find a hard lump, an imperfection that creates a flaw and means the project will have to be started all over again. My daughter tells me that sometimes the clay just will not cooperate. Even finished pots that get broken can be ground back down to make “grog”. Grog can be worked into new posts to make them strong and flexible.

In the very beginning, God, the master potter made a little mud man named Adam.

Genesis 2:7 “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Even now, as Solomon said, that is really all we still are. Ecclesiastes 3:20, “All are from the dust, and to dust all return.”

I think God has been trying to tell me that is all that I am, a lump of clay in the hands of the potter. The process of formation is sometimes painful, but the imperfections must be removed. Otherwise, as Jeremiah says, I will end up marred. It is frustrating that God seems to have to remake me over and over, “as it seems good to the potter to do”. That’s the thing that it is hard to remember. God is doing a good thing. Yet how often I become difficult, as Isaiah describes.

Isaiah 45:9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, (NIV says, ‘those who quarrel with their Maker’), a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’”

What is God doing? He is making that “vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

That’s the key; I need to remember that at best I am a little mud woman with a treasure inside. The power to be useful, honorable, and above all holy; certainly must come from God.

When I was reading about the Chinese mud men, I found this statement.

“For smaller ones, the artist just picked a small piece of mud and in no time made a figurine out of it by using their two fingers…Then the entire collection was fired in a kiln to cure the clay. Fingerprints can often still be seen, immortalized in the fired clay.”

When I come out of the fire Lord, let the world see Your fingerprints all over me!

[i] “Mystery of the Shekwan Ceramic Mud Woman & Mud Man.” n.d. EdenSong community. 10 November 2015. <http://www.edensong.com/mud_men_figures.htm>.

Repent!

Since returning to the U.S., I have been saddened by the constant stream of media fear and alarm that only ever seems to escalate with no real solutions offered. It seems that it is time to bring out the placards “Repent the end is near!”
I do not doubt that the trouble in the world is escalating, but I do object linking the concept of repentance to the idea of final judgment. One of the most liberating steps in spiritual understanding comes when you realize that repentance is not a punishment! It is the gift of God that restores relationship.
To repent is to turn. You have been going in the wrong direction! When you repent, you adjust your course to go the right way. In fact, the word translated “repent” is often translated “turn” as in Matthew 18:3-4, in the ESV when Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
When Christ who is the “way” arrived, He announced repeatedly, as in Matthew 4:17 “From that time on Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The point is that HE was at hand, right there beside them offering relationship with himself if they would only “turn” to Him.
That was then, and yes, it is different now. We cannot see a physical person that we can follow physically down through the streets and businesses of our city. It is difficult to grasp that His physical presence could have been a hindrance for them. With the limitations He placed upon Himself when He accepted a physical body, Jesus could only be in one location at a time; although He did, through the Spirit, heal people who were not in his exact location at times.
Paul explains it as follows: Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “In him we live and move and have our being.”
Paul, who spoke after the death and resurrection of Jesus, says that if we want to turn to God, He is not actually far from any of us! If we are living, moving, and are self-aware we are doing it ‘in Him’. Should He suddenly decide to remove Himself completely from us, we would cease to exist. He veils Himself from us simply in order to give us the opportunity to make choices of our own free will. But the fact remains He is there. All we have to do is turn toward Him, and we will find Him. The God who sustains our very existence has promised, Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)
29 you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him,
Instead of “Repent! The end is near!”, Let’s adopt the better approach and “Repent! For HE is near!”

What is “faith”?

Recently, while studying both the books of Hebrews and James in the Bible, I have been taking a new look at an old topic: faith. Examining faith is like holding a jewel to the sunlight and admiring the multifaceted way it reveals the light.

The New International Version gives in Hebrews 11:1 the following definition, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The Amplified version expands it somewhat, “faith is perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses” In Hebrews, the list of heroes given were all people who were looking forward and believing in the arrival and salvation of Christ the Messiah to come. They had to look forward and believe, while we have to look backward and believe. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” As the Amplified Bible says, we have to accept as real fact a God who provides a way for us to know Him even though He is not perceived through our physical senses.

This faith is not a merely an intellectual assent. I really like the way the Amplified describes “faith” in the writings of Paul, “the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness”. This aspect of faith goes beyond the concept of belief to encompass the next level of trust. It is one thing to believe that a person exists, but quite another matter to trust yourself to their care.

Faith is revealed in yet another facet by the writing of James. James will not let faith rest as belief in God and salvation, or even as total commitment of ourselves into a relationship of trust with God. James says faith requires action. My husband has often used the following definition of faith, “Faith is taking the knowledge of God you have and putting it into action!” James says it in the strongest terms in James 2:17, “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” NIV

Our faith is meant to show the world who God is, by the process of our becoming more like Christ. Our life of faith should demonstrate the love of God! This is so often where we feel so pathetically inadequate that our faith stalls. We got belief and we know we need to trust Him, but how do we work this out in our daily lives? James says we just need to do it! In other words, how do we learn to do anything? We practice! We learn by doing it. Truth be told, we make mistakes, just like you make mistakes learning any new skill. However the beautiful thing is that “doing it/obeying God leads to a greater revelation of Himself. Growth comes by acting in obedience. “Obedience rises out of the soil of faith to bear its fruit of obedience.” Louis H. Evans Jr.

In Hebrews 11, the writer drives home the point that it was in their obedient actions that the heroes expressed their faith. They couldn’t just believe; they needed to act. What are the actions that James says we need to be involved in practicing?

Chapter 1

Being joyful under trial – Asking for wisdom – Not trusting in wealth – Dealing with deep inner desires that make us susceptible to temptation – Being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry – Keeping a tight rein on our tongues – Caring for the orphans and widows – Not being lured into accepting culture’s values (That is just chapter one! If you need more to work on…)

Chapter 2 and beyond

Not showing favoritism regardless of social, economic position – Not offering empty religious pat phrases rather than real material support to the needy – Taming our tongues (Again! He seems to think this is important…) – Seeking wisdom from above – Submitting to God while resisting the Devil and the self-centered pull of our culture – Not trusting in our own plans instead trusting God’s will – Being patient in suffering and praying in faith.

I want to be known as a person of faith! The creator God who gives us faith is also a faithful God. We cannot do any of this in our own strength and wisdom. I get stuck at the “slow to become angry” part. That is why Philippians 1:6 from the Amplified Bible is such an encouragement to me. “6 And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.” He is working it in, so I can work it out! Thank you Jesus!