Distraction, Discontent and Discouragement

"There's a man down on earth who needs our help."
"Splendid! Is he sick?"
"No, worse... He's discouraged."

This is one of my absolute favorite parts from "It's a Wonderful Life." So much truth rings through in those three simple lines.

Distraction. Discontent. Discouragement. Three things I struggle with on a daily basis. Three things that keep me from experiencing true joy and contentment in Christ.

Three things that keep my eyes on self...and take my eyes off Jesus.

I have said before that these are three of satan's easiest, most oft used tools to keep us from focusing on Christ and His work for us here on earth. But the truth is, I don't need much help from satan's lies to bury myself in a pit of self-pity and discontent. It takes very little to make me feel overwhelmed and distracted. Both of which quickly place me in a cycle of discouragement.

So I read...and I try to figure out what is wrong with "me". I try to figure out why God isn't following my plan for my life. (That is laughable right there!) I get mad at others for not playing by my rules. I get mad at circumstances for making life harder for me.

Thankfully, God doesn't let me stay there. He gently lifts me up from the heap of pity I've allowed myself to become and points my eyes in another direction. He rips a few of the jaded scales off my eyes and allows me to see the love I am surrounded by. He puts someone in my path who shows me what it means to live for Christ in a relentless pursuit of furthering His kingdom work. He shows me how much I have and how little others have. And He shows me how much happier those with little are because they do something I don't do.

They keep their eyes on Jesus.

They don't fret about what they don't have for next week. They thank God for what He's provided today. They don't whine about their lack of "me" time. They praise God that there is always another task they can complete for Him. They don't search for the next thing that will make them happy. They search for the next opportunity to make someone else happy.

Because their eyes are on Jesus.

They are not distracted. Their focus is Him.

They are not discontent. They know that as they work for Him, He will provide all of their needs.

They don't stay discouraged as they look at the mess of this world because they know that there is at least one concrete thing they can do today to make it a little brighter.

To look at this world through eyes other than my own - that is my plea, Father. To see others through your eyes. To love others like you would. My personal preferences and my personal comfort no longer my first concern. Mold me into this kind of person. A person who will give...not because it will make me feel good but because I want to be your hands and feet here on earth. A person who will sit in any mess and see your beauty through the ashes.

And I will not be so easily distracted. I will be content, no matter my circumstances. And I won't be discouraged... for every little piece of love I can give out, you will give back to me one-hundredfold.

Help me to empty myself of ME and fill myself with YOU - only to give You away piece by piece to a hurting, discontent world around me. For in that truth I will find focus, contentment and encouragement.

A Loving God?

I started this day by reading an email about Rob Bell and his controversial book "Love Wins". I have not read this book so I will not claim to know all that is contained in its covers. But the gist of it seems to be that he is telling Christians everywhere that there is not really a hell per se...more of a second chance for us to choose Christ. A purgatory, if you will. And really when it comes down to it, he can't believe that a loving God would send anyone to hell, whether Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever. So if this is where you would like to read in my blog that I am applauding Bell and his "new version of Christianity", then you should stop reading. If you want to read that I am tolerant and believe all roads lead to heaven, then definitely stop reading.

Rob Bell is quoted as saying "I have long wondered if there is a massive shift coming in what it means to be a Christian... something new is in the air."

Would you explain to me why that would be comforting to anyone other than a society who is out to be the most comfortable with the least effort? A faith that is over 2,000 years old is being redefined and we should be excited about this? My answer is a resounding NO.

The Bible is truth. The Bible is God's inspired Word to us. THAT is a loving God to me. He didn't leave us floundering here trying to figure out what to do, He gave us a guidebook. Of course, Bell also, in one of his popular Nooma vidoes (I watched many several years ago in an adult Sunday school class), repeatedly made statements concerning the "creation myth". Okay, this is another warning for you to check out of this blog now if you want me to be all tolerant and "we can read the Bible any way we see fit." The creation ACCOUNT is not a myth. It is truth. Just like every page in Scripture. So many people tell me the Bible is not relevant to their lives, that it doesn't make sense. If you don't read the Bible in its entirety and seek Bible study and teaching that will open it up for you, it might not make sense but it isn't because the answers aren't there. It's because our priorities put the Bible on a shelf and a remote in our hand or a computer monitor on our lap while we recline. (Hey, I'm not judging, I'm doing it right now!)

Okay, there is a point to my rant on reading the Bible. We say we want to "live like Jesus". We want to do good and obey God's commands. But we want to do that while not opening the pages of God's Word. How does that make sense? Don't get me wrong, I've had great Bible teaching, listened to amazing sermons and messages and rocked out to Christian music. And those are all great ways to stay connected and fellowship with believers. But we have this amazing gift to us - God's guide book...and we ignore it.

The danger in that?? More and more churches are popping up, preaching attractive doctrine that simply is not biblically sound. That is dangerous. Call me a fanatic. Call me intolerant. But really? I'm simply in awe of the God I read about and would not willingly choose to offend Him at any cost. I feel there is little more offensive than putting words in His mouth that He didn't say.

Okay, so I've been pondering this all day, extremely irritated at this extremely popular pastor who is spouting untruths that are being eaten up like candy by a spoiled, indulged society. His phrase that really ticks me off? "A loving God wouldn't condemn anyone to hell." Let me share how I ended my night.

Snuggled up with the kids, we read the Easter story and talked about why Good Friday is such a solemn day. I shared with my older two the graphic details of the beating and events leading to the crucifixion along with what a crucifixion actually would have looked like. (Condemn me here if you will but my children will understand truth.) We talked about (because of the wise questions of my 8 and 5 year old who know what a privilege it is to have a Bible in their very own hands) how Jesus didn't HAVE to live life as a human; He CHOSE to come to earth to live the same troubled human life we all endure. He walked the same roads, endured the same problems. All knowing that eventually He would die a gruesome death (don't let a Sunday school version of Jesus's death numb you to the reality). He endured a beating so severe, it ripped the skin from His body. He endured mocking and taunting as He walked death row...carrying His own cross. And He laid there as they pounded nails through His wrists and His ankles.

All the while, crying out that His Father would forgive the ones doing these deeds.

Forgive them, Father.

He was fully God but fully human. He hurt. He felt alone. And at that moment, He was...as He lay on that cross (look up crucifixion if you have ANY doubts as to the pain He would have endured), He WAS truly alone. His Father, so holy that He cannot be near sin, had to turn away as all sins that had been committed up to that time and would ever be committed were heaped upon His Son as He breathed His last. Your sins. My own. They are what held Him there.

God created us with a free-will. He didn't want more angels to do His bidding. He wanted humans, men and woman who would choose to love Him...but whom He would not force to do so. And when...in our independence, we chose over and over to reject Him (which an account of this is in...you guessed it...the Bible), He came to Earth Himself to take the punishment so we would not have to be divided from Him forever.

So Mr. Bell and any of you who would like to argue with me that if God would dare to condemn any to hell, He couldn't possibly be a Loving God...I would like to say shame on you. Because the love of my God was so very apparent by my Lord who lay dying on a cross, carrying my every sin, and saying "Father, forgive them."

And this is why today, I solemnly remember that sad day...but look forward to Easter morn...when the tomb was empty. Jesus has risen indeed, conquering the very gates of hell. And He will conquer any teaching that makes a mockery or untruth of His word. Woe be to those who choose the easy, attractive teaching, rather than sound truth. He wasn't taken lightly at His first coming - what will He find here on Earth at His second coming?

The Emotion of It All

If you haven't noticed, I talk a great deal about things being a balance...if you go off too far on one end of the spectrum or the other, then your world is off-kilter. Yep, you guessed it, I think about this and ponder it so much because I am completely UN-balanced! But...I'm a work in progress...

I was thinking about emotion the other day. At the exact same time I was ruefully asking God why He made me with so MUCH emotion, a friend was sending me an email with a beautiful line about celebrating emotion. Ironic, huh? I quickly quipped back to her in a short email that I wasn't exactly celebrating my emotion when I was rocking a baby to sleep, sobbing as I watched The Waltons because Daddy just didn't understand why Jason didn't want to go into the family business - he wanted to be a country music star! Even more ironically, when a gospel music show came on next, I didn't hesitate to roll my eyes at the elaborate show of emotion displayed.

So why can I display such emotion over some things and then hold others in disdain when they display similar emotion? I think one reason is my emotion scares me. I hate the roller coaster up and down feeling. I can certainly be ruled by my emotions and that is upsetting to a control freak like myself. I fear and am angered by the fact that in my humanness, I can be fine, positively giddy in fact, one moment and then feel like my life is topsy-turvy because of one insecurity. Because one person doesn't understand me. Because one situation in my life is not right. It could take one comment or look and I have dived from the mountain to the valley. This range of emotion scares me. God and I are working on this - He is teaching me a great deal about the reality of things and the fact that the only thing unchanging is...well, Him.

So maybe I fear that I will come across as someone who is keeling over in a faint, proclaiming the day of the Lord...yet, I realize that I cannot, as I try so often to do, contain the unfathomable mysteries and grandness of what makes our Christian faith. I cannot get it down to bare-bone facts.

You can't take the emotion out of the thing.

I don't want a faith that is based solely on emotional thrills. I have to be grounded in Scripture and know truth. Not just get carried away by the emotion of beautiful music or touching testimonies.

Yet, I cannot reduce Jesus and His truths to plain facts either. I must be well-versed in Scripture. I must study His Word faithfully and know the facts. But to become ritualistic or legalistic, or luke-warm in my faith, would be a great loss.

We serve a mighty God. An amazing God. And as He reveals more and more of Himself to us, as we learn more about Him and His Spirit, we will be filled with awe. Wonder. Spontaneous worship. A need to sing His praises. To write an emotion-filled blog. To share His love with an unbelieving world, tears in our eyes, gesturing wildly for others to understand.

So get the facts. Don't just let others tell you about Him or their philosophies, sell you on their brand of 'religion'. Pick up the Bible and find out yourself. Memorize Scripture. Get serious about Him. Be a scholar right there in your easy chair.

But don't be afraid to spontaneously lift your arms in praise, emotions overflowing and unashamedly praise Him. Because you can't put God in a box. You don't take Him out on Sundays or when things are really bad. Day in and day out, you will be amazed by this God who created us. And that is worth getting emotional about.

The Edge of His Cloak

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

 ⁴⁰ Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. ⁴¹ Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house ⁴² because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
   As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[a] but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
   ⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
   When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
 ⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
 ⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”  Luke 8: 40-48

We studied this passage in Scripture this Sunday at church; it has always been one of my favorites. In my head I see this woman and  cannot describe her without a lump coming to my throat and tears blurring my vision.

She feels bruised and discarded. She walks alone, cast off by a world who cannot fix her, a world who deems her unclean. Rejected. Frightened. Tired. The bleeding her body endures has taken every last bit of energy and strength. Looks of pity, or of disgust, come from those who know her, from a people who does not see her, but instead her ailment. She walks a lonely, hard road; hope has long since fled. She lives a life, daily, of utter hopelessness. Devastating helplessness.
Until one day, she hears about a man, a remarkable man. A man traveling through their region. Curing the sick. Healing the crippled. Fighting hypocrisy and injustice. And a small flame of hope is rekindled in her heart. She holds fast to that hope as she plans to see this man. She plays his name over her lips. Jesus. Could this man help her?

She fights the jostling crowds who have Jesus covered. She can see glimpses of his face through the crowd as she edges closer. She feels panicked, unsure, but knows she must see him. But he is moving with a purpose; she has heard Jairus's request and knows he is on his way to heal another. Yet surely, surely he could heal her too! She desperately, uncharacteristically pushes forward toward the man she knows can help her. No doubt is left in her heart as she nears him. The flame of hope in her heart has fanned into a fire and she reachs out for the tassel on the corner of his garment, knowing that one touch can save her.

Her fingers brush against the fabric and grab hold before she quickly releases his garment and falls back, shock and joy radiant on her face. She feels healing sweep through her body and her bleeding cease. The man named Jesus stops. He searches the crowd, questioning the people, and his gaze falls on her. Love shines from his eyes and he looks at her and hears her story, though he already knows every word. And then he says the one word that heals the wounds that are far deeper than her physical ailment...

"Daughter."

Pure joy rushes through her as he smiles and commends her faith. She is healed. But most of all, she is His.

Friend, whatever situation has you desperate, He knows. No matter how many people tell you that you are beyond hope, He disagrees. He is waiting, beckoning. Asking you to take hold of so much more that the edge of His cloak. To take hold of the life He offers. To be a son or daughter. To be His.