Worship Matters: The Collective Identity of the Church, Part 1

I know this is my “Philosophy and Faith” blog, but today I want to write just from a “faith” perspective. I want to share something that has been on my heart and mind for quite some time now and that has become a driving force in my faith life as well as my academic life.

A little over a week ago, I received a letter of acceptance into a PhD program at Fuller Theological Seminary. This fall, I plan to begin pursuing a PhD in Theological Studies, focusing on Christian Ethics. Of course, this fits perfectly within the realm of the courses that I currently teach, with Ethics being its own branch of philosophy and one of the more popular classes that I teach each semester. More importantly, this stream of study will allow me to pursue research concerning areas of justice and social justice that have become near and dear to me over the last several years. Specifically, I plan to explore the gap between God’s calling for His people to care for the widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor and how the Church acts (or fails to act) in those areas on behalf of Christ in today’s American society.

I believe that the Church’s fulfillment of her calling as the Body of Christ begins with a proper understanding of her identity, God’s goodness, and the Gospel of Jesus, and that the living out of her calling begins with worship that flows out of that proper understanding. And the more time I spend worshiping with various evangelical congregations in my area of the country, the more I am convinced that we are missing the mark.

There are many pieces to this conversation, more than I can make space for in one blog post, so bear with me as I build my argument and my theology over the course of several posts.

The first piece: A Collective Identity.

Because the American church is full of American people who were raised to value American ideals, we are really good individualists. We value privacy and independence. We’re a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” kind of people who don’t need to depend on anyone for anything. Asking for help is not just humbling, it is humiliating and considered only as a last resort. We’re also proud of our achievements and believe credit should be given where credit is due. We want our voices to be heard, and we fight for our worth as individuals.

Yes, we are quite proficient individualists.

Unfortunately, as members of the Church, we were not called to be individualists, but rather we were called to lose our individualism for the sake of the Body of Christ.

Please don’t tune me out.

I am not saying that we are meant to become faceless conformists who lose all sense of individual value and worth. I am saying that we are meant to understand our worth and our identity as part of the collective Body of Christ. The Apostle Paul uses the image of the human body to represent the Church multiple times in his letters, but his description in 1 Corinthians 12 is the most descriptive. In this chapter, he discusses the role and value of the distinct aspects of the body, but also reminds his readers that even with those distinctions, the body functions as a whole.

               Paul uses this collective image of the body to represent the Church in order to move believers’ understanding of their own identity away from one of individual autonomy and toward the reality that they are now part of this wonderful and singular identity. Each individual has value and place within the collective body, but that value is intricately connected to their inclusion in the body. Individual identity is secondary to corporate identity.  Paul exhorts believers to recognize that every element of the body is necessary and desired so that no one part is excluded or cut off by another. Wrapped in this message is an exhortation for today’s Church to understand themselves in light of the whole body and to stop acting in ways that inadvertently amputate themselves from it.

               It is so challenging for us to adopt a collective mindset because the individualist mindset is ingrained in us from birth, it is woven into the fabric of our culture. It feels wrong to relinquish individualism and all that it entails. Who among us has not desired personal validation, a sense of self-worth, and acknowledgement of personal achievement? Who among us has not felt the need to be loved simply for who we are and found comfort in the thought that God provides that personal, relational love? It seems extremely counterintuitive to claim this as false and to abandon wholly any sense of individual place within Christ and the Church. Must the individual identity be cast aside in every sense in order to correctly and completely adopt a collective self-understanding?

               We ask this question because we simply don’t know how to think outside an individualist framework. We don’t know how to operate in any other way. But if we could break free from the confines of individualism, we would find that the value of the individual is found in belonging to the whole. Paul used the imagery of the human body, allow me to use the image of a jigsaw puzzle. A puzzle is only complete when every piece is present, which means each piece is vital. Each piece may have beauty and interest of its own, but it is of little value until it is added to the entire puzzle. Value, then, is found when each piece of the puzzle comes together to form the complete picture contained in the puzzle. This is the collective nature of the Church.

               But why does it matter whether we view ourselves as individuals or as a collective? Does our self-understanding really have that much influence on how we live out our calling as the Church?

               Yes, unequivocally. Our self-understanding has a tremendous influence on how we understand God, the Gospel of Christ, and how we fit into God’s story. And the way we understand those three things determines how we worship, and how we worship directs how we respond to the calling and mission of God.

 

               How we see ourselves matters. How we worship matters.

              

               There is still so much more to talk about concerning the Church’s identity as the particular and set-apart people of God. Next time I’ll dive into 1 Peter and do a comparison between the Church and the people of Israel. From there, I’ll move forward into what it looks like to worship as the collective people of God.

 

Until then, grace and peace to you.

 

The Playdough Principle: Five (Short) Lessons On How To Be Playdough

Yesterday I introduced you to "The Playdough Principle," the idea that when we face adversity, we should be moldable (like playdough) and allow God to use those difficult circumstances to shape us into His own image.

But how do we allow ourselves to be clay in the hands of our Father?  How do we make ourselves soft and pliable in His hands?   

To understand that, I want to turn to a story in the Old Testament about a trio of men named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  We find their story in Daniel 3.  Now, these men were Jews living in exile in Babylon.  God has blessed them and their fellow Israelite, Daniel, so that they have been appointed to high positions under King Nebuchadnezzar.  The King is so highly impressed with himself that he has erected a ninety foot tall statue of himself, and he has ordered that everyone in the kingdom must bow down and worship it.  But these God-fearing men refused to bow down to anyone other than God, even under threat of execution.  When questioned by the king, this was their reply (found in verses 16-18): “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.  He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

So, lesson number one from these men: We must be steadfast in our dedication to the Lord.  Hebrews 12:2 says “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…”  When hard times come your way, you may be tempted to do a couple of things:  You may want to blame God, or you may start thinking that perhaps He is not as all-powerful as you once believed.  Those two are very deep issues that take a lot of digging to deal with.  But trust me in this, we are shown over and over in Scripture that God has power above all and over all, and He is a compassionate God whose desire is not to harm you, but to help you grow into the likeness of His Son.   James 1:13-15 reminds us that God does NOT tempt us, so don’t allow yourself to be swayed into that sort of thinking, either.  Instead, keep your eyes, your heart and your mind focused on Jesus.  Immerse yourself in God’s Word and plant it in your heart so that when the enemy tries to pull you away from Christ, you will remain steadfast in your faith.  Do not let the enemy bully you or frighten you into turning away from God.

Lesson number two: We must be intentional in our obedience to God.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were not nonchalant in any way as they refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, nor did they hope to just “fly under the radar.”  They were prominent men in Babylon, so they lived their lives in the public eye and were intentional in their obedience to God’s command not to worship any god but Himself.  We, too, must be purposeful in searching out and obeying God’s directions for us.  When you’re in the middle of adversity, ask yourself, “What does God want me to learn from this?  How does He want me to react?”  And then do your very best to be obedient to what He reveals to you.  Sometimes – many times – that means choosing to act in direct opposition to our instinct or to what our flesh cries out for.  Perhaps you have been hurt deeply by a friend or a loved one, maybe even your spouse.  Everything in you tells you to lash out at them and hurt them in retaliation, but the Spirit is guiding you to forgive.  Maybe you’re struggling in your relationship with the Lord, doubting His presence in your life and you really just want to walk away.  Instead, you continue to pick up your Bible and read His Word simply out of obedience.  Maybe there’s a temptation in your life that you really, really want to cave in to, and you have to make a choice – to yield to the Spirit or give in to the flesh.  We must be intentional in our obedience to God.

Lesson number three: TRUST.  Boy, this can be a hard one.  We have been taught not to trust anyone other than ourselves, because eventually, in one way or another, everyone else will let us down.  But we serve a God who will NEVER let us down.  Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you.  He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Romans 8:31-39 says, “…If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.  Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.  Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We can TRUST God, the same way that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego trusted God.  They boldly stated their faith in Him when they told Nebuchadnezzar that even if he should throw them in the fiery furnace, God would rescue them.  And they were steadfast enough in that faith that they knew He was still the One, True God even if He chose NOT to rescue them.  (Dan 3:17-18) 

Lesson number four: Recognize that God is with us in the midst of our trials.  When our three friends in Babylon refused to bow down to the king’s statue, Ole Nebby flew into a rage.  He ordered the heat of the furnace to be intensified seven times hotter than normal.  It was so hot that the soldiers who threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the furnace were killed themselves, just standing next to the entrance.  But when King Nebby looked into the furnace, he was quite surprised to see the three men standing unharmed and accompanied by a fourth!  It is believed by many scholars that this fourth man was Jesus, Himself!  God is with us, even amidst our troubles! I want you to notice that God didn’t come to rescue Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego BEFORE they were thrown into the fire.  He didn’t come to keep them out of the fire, but to go through the fire with them.  God doesn’t promise to keep us out of the fire, but He has given us His Spirit, who lives in us and is our constant companion, to walk with us through the fire.  In John 14:16-17, Jesus tells His followers this: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate who will never leave you.  He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.”  

Take a minute and picture God's hand wrapped tightly around you.  Not just holding your hand, but all of you.  You are safe there.  No matter what happens, God will never let go of you, neither on purpose nor by accident.  You can never "slip" from His grasp, and He will never intentionally let you fall.  Nor can any circumstance pull you from His grip.  You are completely safe.

Now, picture yourself holding on to a rope that is fraying and about to break, torn to shreds by the trials in your life.  In fact, it is holding on only by a thread, and you are desperately trying to cling to the rope, hoping against hope that it will hold up under your weight.  Now, look down and see that you are resting securely in the palm of God's hand.  Sometimes we are so desperately afraid of falling and we are trying so hard to hold ourselves up that we don't realize we just need to let go and trust God to hold on to us.  Sure, the trials will come and they will be bitter.  But God's hand will always be there.  And He's a BIG God; He cannot be tumbled by the trials of this world.  Of that you can be sure.

I want you to see one other thing.  Notice that the hand that holds you bears the scar of a deep wound.  The hand that holds you belongs to a God who loves you so completely that He would stop at nothing, even death on a cross, to rescue you.  The hand that holds you is that of a God who has suffered just as we have -- physically, emotionally, relationally -- and understands what it means to stare death in the face.  The hand that holds you is steady and strong, yet compassionate and caring.  In it you can place your whole trust and find the solace that your soul longs for.  Friend, when you belong to Jesus, you are safe.  Always.  Even when the world around you is a fiery furnace of trials.

Lesson number five: Rest assured that God will use our trials for His glory.  When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stepped out of the furnace unharmed, the king was absolutely amazed to see that not even a hair on their head was singed.  As a result, he began to praise God throughout his kingdom, and he even promoted the three men to higher positions of authority.  When you allow God to bring you through a fiery situation and you hold steadfastly to your faith in Him, other people WILL notice.  Not only will you be changed, but your witness may bring salvation into the life of others.  How awesome is that! 

So…we want to be Playdough, not elastic.  We want our trials to stretch us, but not just leave us unchanged.  We want to be stretched and molded into the image of God’s Son.  In order to be Playdough, we need to work to attain these characteristics: We must be steadfast in our faith; we must be intentional in our obedience to God’s instructions for us; we must allow ourselves to trust God, knowing that He will never fail us; we must recognize that God is with us even in the middle of our hard times; and we can rest on the fact that God will use our trials for His glory.  Be Playdough, my friends, and let God use the adversity in your life to make you into the perfect image of His Son.

I.HATE.MONDAYS

"I.HATE.MONDAYS."

My ten-year-old son grumbled those words to me a couple of weeks back when I shook him and told him it was time to get out of bed.  I've gotta say...I agree.

I.HATE.MONDAYS, TOO.

Have you ever had a day like the one I did today?

It was a Monday in every stereotypical fashion, full of disappointments and frustrations, stresses and challenges.  Nothing earth-shattering or life-changing.  Just an accumulation of small things that made me want to come home, crawl in my bed and pull the covers up over my face. 

And then stay there until Friday.

I'm tempted to wallow in my failures, to walk away from the challenges instead of finding a way to conquer them, to complain to God about how hard my day has been, to villainize the people who added to my stress.

Or maybe just hide from them and hope they all go away.

Life doesn't work that way, though.  At least not the kind of life that I am called to in Christ.

When I wallow in my struggles, when I roll around in them and let them cover up all that is good in myself or in my life, I give them far too much control over my emotions and my self-esteem.  I give these negative experiences authority that they don't deserve; I give my shortcomings the power to define who I am.  I have to be purposeful in reminding myself that I am not defined by my failures, but by the grace that God has poured out on me through His Son, Jesus.  1 John 3:1 says, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

I am more than my mess-ups.  I am a child of the God of the Universe, and I am loved mightily by Him.

When I walk away from the challenges that life throws at me, I walk away from opportunities to allow God's power to reign in and through me.  I deny the Holy Spirit the chance to guide me and stretch me, to mold me into a woman that more closely resembles Himself.  I also confess with my actions that I have little faith in the power of my Savior.  In Philippians 4:13 - an often quoted verse - Paul claims that through Christ he can endure any situation, no matter how challenging.  When I give up because circumstances get a little uncomfortable or intimidating, it's as if I perceive the situation to be bigger than my God.

When I complain to God about the stress of my day, do I take into consideration all the blessings that have been wedged in between the irritations? (James 1:2 even describes trials as a blessing because they create in us maturity of faith and character!)  Do I look around at the people in my little world who are truly suffering in BIG ways, just to put my own troubles into perspective?  Am I honestly following Paul's instructions in Philippians 4:8 that teach us how to focus our thoughts on good and lovely things?  Or those in 1 Thessalonians 5 that tell us to give thanks in every circumstance? 

I think not.

And when I tell my husband about all the awful people that I encountered through the day, when I recount all the many offenses I've endured... 
 
Well, now I've set myself up as the judge, the one worthy of defining the worth and position of someone else.  James 4:11-12 says, "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"

Yes, who am I to judge?  Instead, Jesus Himself instructs me to do this: "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." (Matthew 5:44)

Sigh.

Can't I just stay under the covers and hide?  

In John 10:10 Jesus declares that He has come to bring us life "to the full."  Somehow I don't think hiding beneath my pillow is the kind of full life that He was speaking of.

A full life has many ups and downs, even when we're walking with Jesus the entire way.  The difference He creates isn't an absence of frustrations or failures, but a different way of handling them.  We can be confident - even in the face of our own shortcomings - that we are valuable and loved members of God's family.  We can depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us thrive in any challenging situation, and even see it as a blessing along the way.  And those awful people who we just want to cut to shreds with our words...they become instead the object of our prayers.

Life does look a little different from that perspective, doesn't it?  Maybe Mondays don't have to be so rotten after all.

I'm still hoping for a better day tomorrow...

A New Name

Photo Credit: http://eq5.net/narnia/fourchildren.html

Last week was Spring Break for our family, so the kiddos got to stay up a little later at night and sleep a little later in the morning.  Since we had a few extra minutes in the evenings that weren't filled with choosing clothes for the next morning or finishing up homework, I decided to spend extra time reading to my three youngest kids each night.  (My thirteen year-old seems to think he's outgrown this kind of thing...)  We started the book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

It's one of my favorites and I've read it to all four of my kids now.

But no matter how many times I read that wonderful story, when I come to the chapter when the White Witch kills Aslan, I can barely continue reading out loud because my throat tightens and my eyes fill to the brim with tears.

And I have a rule: No matter what time of evening it is, we absolutely CANNOT stop with that chapter.  We simply must read on to hear how Aslan defeats the evil and comes back to life, stronger than ever.

Such a beautiful retelling of how our Savior, Jesus, defeated our enemy and rose from the grave.

But that's not the only part that gets me.

Every time I read the chapter that describes how Aslan crowns the four children as Kings and Queens of Narnia, and then a few pages over where Lewis tells of the new names the Narnians have given their royal family, the tears just can't be held back.

Peter the Magnificent.  Susan the Gentle.  Edmund the Just.  And Lucy the Valiant.

New names describing their character as Kings and Queens of Narnia.  Character that was developed only after their very close and very personal encounter with the one High King, Aslan.

Names are important, you know.  Names in the Bible were often chosen for their meaning, sometimes because of a specific promise regarding the child, sometimes because of how the parents felt regarding the birth of said child.  Several times God bestowed new names on His children because He had a new purpose for their life.

The story of Jacob lately has captivated my mind because of what God did when He changed his name to Israel.  I mentioned in my last post, Wrestling With God, how the Lord changed Jacob's name -- which meant "deceiver" -- to Israel, which meant "one who persevered with God."  From that point on this man was no longer called or known by his weakness -- the sin of deception; now he would be known for his strength -- holding on to God.

We once had a name that bespoke our character: Sinner.  Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned.  But the day we entered into a covenant relationship with Jesus, He gave us a new name: Beloved.  And He shared even His own name with us: CHRISTian.

We were once known for our weakness: our sin.

Now we are known for our strength: Christ.

When Satan tries to call you by your old name, remind him that you no longer answer to it.  Remind him of what we are told in Ephesians 1:13 -- that God has identified us as HIS by placing His own Spirit within us.

The name "Sinner" no longer applies.

My friend, you have been given a beautiful new name by the King of Kings.  No, you are probably not a King or Queen in this world, but you are the child of the King.  He has crowned you as His royal prince (or princess!) and has named you according to the purpose He has for you.  No longer shall you bow your head in defeat, but you shall raise your head in triumph as you carry His Son, the Christ, into the world.

Go, and wear your name well Christian!

The Truth About Yourself

photo credit: www.plumdoodles.com

Hello, friends!  Today I posted over on theMarathonMom.com an article entitled Detoxing Our Thoughts.  The entire month of January has been focused on detox over at Marathon Mom, and I thought it was important to focus on ridding ourselves of critical thought patterns.

Specifically, I think it is so very important for us to break the bad habit of thinking toxic thoughts about ourselves and about others, and to replace those thoughts with the Truth of who we are in Christ.

Here are a just few of those Truth statements revealed to us through the Scriptures:

I am not unlovable, but very loved... 1 John 3:1.
I am not a failure, but I have victory through Christ... Romans 8:37.
I am not ugly, but a beautiful temple where the Lord has chosen to dwell... 1 Corinthians 6:19.
I am not unwanted, but specially chosen by God and adopted into His family... Galatians 4:5-7.
I am not without purpose, but have been blessed by the Lord... Psalm 139:5.

These thoughts are true about each one of us, and there are so many more than what I listed! In fact, I have long been drawn to studying and writing about the truth of who we are and who God created us to be.  I have filed those articles under the Girl Talk tab, and in those articles you will find many more Scriptures to hold close to your heart as you begin replacing your negative thoughts with the powerful Truth of God's Word.

Please, take a few minutes to read my steps on Detoxing Your Thoughts over at MarathonMom, and then spend some time letting God's truth about who you are sink in to your mind and heart.

You are loved, my friend.  Don't ever believe anyone who tells you otherwise, even if that someone is yourself. 

"This is real love -- not that we loved God, but that He loved us 

and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." ~ 1 John 4:10

Harmony

I was driving my oldest son to school last week when he said something that prompted me to burst into song.  He just shook his head at me and said, "Mom, you have a song for everything...and if you don't, you just make one up!"

I smiled at him and said, "Yep.  God made me with a song in my heart...I can't help it!"

I do love to sing; I've loved it since I was a little girl.  And I do always have a song of some sorts in my heart and in my head.  It's like a constant soundtrack for my life!

Several months out of the year my husband and I lead worship at our home church.  (It's one of my favorite things to do with him!)  Most often, he sings the melody and I sing harmony.  We really make a good team!

(Well, in my opinion, at least.)

The problem with always singing the harmony is that I often end up never learning the melody, so when a song gets stuck in my head I only hear the harmony! 

In fact, I was trying to sing part of a song to my son once, hoping he could help me remember the title, and he looked at me and said, "Mom, you're singing the harmony again."

And so I was.

I realized that unless I really stop and think about it, nearly every song that plays through my head focuses on the harmony line.  I really have to try to hear the melody.  Which is just a little bit backwards!  After all, the MELODY is the important part;  the harmony is just there to make the melody sound sweeter.

The melody can stand alone; the harmony sounds out of place all by itself.

The melody is essential to the song; the harmony is merely there for decoration.

It reminds me of a verse in Romans..."Don't think you are better than you really are." (Romans 12:3)

You see, sometimes I start to think of myself as pretty important.  Essential, even.  God needs me, the church needs me.  I am the melody, listen to me!

Well, guess what...I am NOT the melody.

CHRIST and HIS GOSPEL are the melody.

I am a simple harmony line, created to be beautiful and sweet, but only for the glory of the One who is most important.

The really cool thing about harmony...you can have more than one line.  And as you add layers to your song, the harmonies can weave together a deep, rich, gorgeous accompaniment for the melody line.

We, as God's Church, are that accompaniment!

We each bring our own voice to the song, and as we work together IN HARMONY with one another, we elevate the melody -- The Gospel of Jesus -- to new heights.  People take notice and they stop to listen.


The Melody is essential.  God is essential.

But the harmony -- that's you and me -- makes the melody more beautiful.

Let's be diligent at living our lives so that God is glorified among us and in the eyes and ears of those who are listening.

What's Your Style?

It's time for some

I went shopping a few days ago, looking for some inexpensive shirts that I could wear to work.  I wait tables at a small restaurant, so I didn't want to spend too much money knowing that there's a good chance my tops will eventually wind up with food stains on them.

As I flipped through the clearance racks, I picked up a shirt or two and went, "Blech.  NOT my style."

But as I continued digging through this summer's leftovers, I wondered, "What IS my style?"

I have a friend who always looks absolutely put together.  Even when she dons a t-shirt and jeans, she still has a polished, accessorized look that I admire.  She is quite the fashionista!  (And her kids, too!  They always seem to look picture perfect.  Someday I've got to ask her HOW she does it!)

But hers is not a style that would look quite at home on me.

I've got another friend who is the exact opposite.  She is more comfortable in athletic shorts and a t-shirt.  She assures me that she does dress up once in a while, but rarely have I seen it in person.

T-shirts and shorts aren't quite my style, either.

I've landed somewhere in-between.

But you know, I'm thinking that my "style" really isn't that important.

Because no matter what clothes I put on of a morning, the only thing that really matters is whether I put on CHRIST. 

Romans 13:14 says, "...clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh."

When people look at me, I hope they're noticing Christ shining through me more than what clothes I'm wearing.  I hope they see my smile, the joy in my eyes that comes from my walk with Him.  I pray they will see kindness in how I talk and act.  I pray that they see Jesus, not me.

What are you wearing today?  Have you been more concerned with what clothes and shoes and accessories you're going to wear today than you have with "putting on" Jesus?  Did you spend more time perfecting your appearance than you did preparing your heart?  If so, take some time now to refocus your priorities.

Put on Jesus, let Him be more than just an accessory, let him be your entire wardrobe.   

Trust me, He never goes out of style.

Cheap Imitations

Join me today for a little

I have never been a "name brand" kind of shopper.  Even as a kid, I remember not wanting to wear name brand clothing.  It seemed ridiculous to me that stores would charge such outrageous prices just because their name was stitched into the fabric or printed on a label.

As an adult, I more often than not opt for a generic brand rather than the name brand products.  Feeding four kids, three of which are boys, is not an inexpensive thing, so I have to cut costs where I can.

But sometimes, the generic brand just won't do.

Sometimes the imitation product is simply that: a cheap imitation. It promises to be just as good as the more expensive version, but in reality it just falls short.  It claims to be something that it simply is not.

Take artificial sweetener, for instance... it claims to taste just like sugar, only we know that it doesn't really.  It leaves a bitter aftertaste that lingers like a bad cold.

Yuck.

I'm wondering how many times the "me" I present to people is really just a poor imitation of the "me" I want to be, or the one that I really am.   It's scary to let people see the "real me."  What if they don't like her?  What if she's a disappointment?  What if they like someone else better?  It's just easier to imitate someone else, someone I admire...no, someone I know that others admire... than to find out the answers to these questions.

The problem is that I'm NOT someone else.  And no matter how hard I try to be like them, I will never BE them!

I will never look like them, write like them, think like them.  And when I try to copy them, I will come off as a cheap imitation, leaving a bitter aftertaste of insincerity.

Blech.

Girls, we are called to imitate one person and one only, and that is the Son of God.  Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."

Not to say we aren't to learn from others; Paul instructed his readers several times to imitate himself and other believers, but he was telling them to imitate their faith, not their personalities.  

The challenge, then, is to figure out who we are and who God wants us to be, and then be her!  With confidence!  I cling to Ephesians 2:10 that says "We are God's masterpiece," and that "He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."  

Me.  I am God's masterpiece, part of His greatest work which is the church, and He has a plan for me to be part of some pretty wonderful things that He's had in the works for two thousand years.  Not me, the copy of someone else He created; ME, the way He created ME to be.

Psalm 139:13 reminds me that God used great care to make me who I am before He even introduced me to the world.  "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb."  Which means He made me exactly the way He intended to.  

Why would I want to cast that aside to be a cheap imitation of someone else?

Most likely I've bought into the lie that I'm not good enough or pleasing enough the way I am, at least by the world's standards.  Which is another article for another day.

For now I just want to stop trying to be something I'm not.  I just want to be me, Angie: Unashamedly imperfect, hopelessly sentimental, and head-over-heels in love with Jesus.

Who are you, my friend?  Will you take off your costume and stop pretending to be anyone other than yourself?  Because YOU are wonderful and beautiful and beloved.  There is no imitation that could ever compare to the masterpiece that God made YOU to be. 

Self Perceptions

I have always been good with directions. It used to amaze my husband that no matter where we were, I could almost always find "north" pretty quickly.  (I think his amazement stemmed from the fact that his internal compass is constantly spinning in circles.)  But there is one stretch of road that runs between the town where I live now and a little town about 60 miles south-west of here that has always thrown off my sense of direction.  I traveled that road as a kid with my parents, and as an adult I have spent many hours driving back and forth between the two towns.  And I always, always thought that road ran straight north and south.  It sure felt like I was going straight north!  In actuality, it runs more east/west than it does north/south!  The past few times I have driven that road, I have tried to picture myself on a map, traveling east, but I still can't shake that feeling that I'm headed north.  It is so very hard to adjust my perception!

Our perception of many different aspects of life drives the way we think and act, and those perceptions are very often rooted deep in our childhood.  Our understanding of our value and our self-image are established very early in life, often before our seventh birthday (When Your Best Is Not Good Enough, by Dr. Kevin Leman).  If we were raised in church, our doctrinal views and our opinion of God are very much shaped by those of our parents and by the church that we were a part of.  Our concepts of what marriage should look like and of how to parent are formed by the examples of the people around us when we were children.  And when we have such well-established perceptions, they are extremely difficult to change.

Today, I specifically want to talk about our life-long perceptions of our self worth and identity, because this is one area that I struggle with on a daily basis.  I have sometimes felt myself to be forgotten by God, and I believe that this is a perception that is grounded not in truth, but in a lie that the Enemy planted in my heart and mind years ago.  Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."  If this Scripture is true (as I believe all Scripture to be), then God has had good things planned for me long before I could perceive them.  Knowing that the Enemy seeks to "steal and kill and destroy" God's followers (John 10:10), it is not unreasonable to think that he would start in my childhood trying to prevent the work that God has set out for me to do.  But even while I know that my perception of myself is built on non-truths, it is still so very hard to change the way I think of myself.

So what is a girl (or guy!) to do?  How do we truly realign our thinking so that it is grounded in truth?

I think our first step is to recognize that our way of thinking about our self is wrong, and to ask God to change the way we think in this area.  Romans 12:2 says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

Then we need to arm ourselves with the "Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." (Ephesians 6:17).  This means filling our hearts and minds with the Scriptures that affirm our worth in Christ.   Verses like:

Romans 5:8 -- "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."  

1 Corinthians 6:19-20a -- "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?  You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price." 

Colossians 3:12 -- "Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves..."  

1 Thessalonians 1:4 "We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be His own people."  

Genesis 1:27 --  "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;"

Ephesians 1:5 -- "God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure."

All of these verses and so many more throughout the Bible tell of how important and precious we are to God and of the depth of His love for us.  When we meditate on them, they become part of our pattern of thinking and they re-shape our self-image.  They also become a powerful weapon against our enemy and his lies.

Third, we need to learn to recognize Satan's lies for what they are.  Whether they come through our own thoughts or through the words of other people, we need to realize that the idea that we have no value or purpose is an out-and-out LIE.  We've just explored a wealth of Scriptures that teach us that we ARE of great value, and when we hear things -- or maybe just start to think things -- that contradict these Scriptures, we need to call them out as the lies that they are.  Ephesians 6:16 tells us to "hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil."  Our faith in God and in the Truth of His Word is the very best defense we've got against Satan's lies, and the Word itself is a great weapon to use to chop down those lies before they ever have a chance to hit their mark.

This battle for the truth of who we are in Christ is not one that can be won only once and then left alone.  Unfortunately, for those of us who struggle to see ourselves through the eyes of our Father, this is a battle that we will probably have to fight over and over again.  I believe that the more we allow God's Word to reshape our thinking, the easier this battle should get.  However, the moment we believe the battle is won and sit back to rest will be the moment that Satan uses to drive an arrow deep into its mark, and we will find ourselves struggling to recover from its wound.  Keep your shield up, your Sword sharpened and ready.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I encourage you to invite God to change the way you think of yourself.  Ask Him to show you a true picture of yourself in light of His Word.  Choose to believe Him when He tells you how very precious you are, and hold tightly to the Truth of His Word.  It's not easy, but perceptions can change; God's truth of your immense worth will not change.  Ever.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

For more on this subject, see my posts:
Face Value
A Masterpiece
Filling Our Emptiness

Feeling Out of Place

Have you ever gone somewhere, to a meeting or a party, or maybe just walked into a room and realized that you are SO out of place?  I remember when my youngest son was just a couple of years old, I was invited to a "young moms" playgroup.  I showed up at the park with my two-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, who climbed right up on the playground equipment and had a wonderful time.  But as I sat and listened to the other moms talk and share their most recent mothering experiences, I realized that I was completely out of my element.  It's not that the ladies didn't welcome me into their group, but I looked around and realized that most of the women were there with their first child.  If they had more than one child, their oldest was still only two or three years old at the most.  And as for the moms themselves, I think the oldest one there was probably twenty five or so.  And here I was with children numbers three and four, and nearly ten years older than the rest of the women.  Which really wouldn't have been a big deal, except that most of their conversations revolved around feeding and sleeping schedules and diaper changes.  All of which I could quite happily say were no longer part of my daily regimen, nor would they ever be again if I had anything to say about it.  And so I found myself feeling rather conspicuously out of place.

There are some days when I feel this way about life in general, too.  As I'm loading the dishwasher for the third time or folding my fifth load of laundry for the day, or as I'm paying the monthly bills and wondering how we're going to make it to the next paycheck, I can't help but think, "This is not IT.  This is not what life is supposed to be about!"  And do you know what?  I'm right.  This daily grind that we call "living" is not what we were created for.  We were not made for a life that is consumed with the pursuit of financial stability or health or knowledge...or a clean house. Because we were not created to live in a world that was tainted with sin.  When God created humanity, He made a perfect world for us to live in, where everything we would need was right at our fingertips.  Food, water, companionship...they were all there in the Garden. There was no work, no pressing schedule...just freedom and peace.  

God also created us to live in close, daily fellowship with Himself.  The book of Genesis tells us that after Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit that He had forbidden them to eat, they heard Him walking in the Garden, so they hid from Him.  Since the Scripture gives no indication that there was any confusion about what or Who they were hearing, I think it is safe to assume that this was not the first time God had walked with them in the Garden.  Earlier in the book, the Scriptures say that when God created Eve, He brought her to Adam Himself.  Obviously, there was regular interaction between God and His creation!

I think this "in person" interaction with God is the essence of why He created mankind.  It was when sin entered the picture that the veil dropped between us and Him, and since then we've only been allowed to see Him through the eyes of faith.  But the Spirit that He placed in us still craves that daily walk through the Garden with Him.  Sin has disguised that longing as one for wealth or a perfect body or any number of other material things, but the truth underneath is that our soul craves oneness with our Creator, because that's why we were created in the first place. We have fellowship with God through study of the Scriptures and meditation and prayer, but it is only a shadow of the companionship that He intended for us to have with Himself.

And that's why we feel so deeply at times that we just don't belong here on this earth.  The good news is that there is a "new Eden" waiting for us, a place where we do belong.  Hebrews 13:14 tells us, "This world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come," and Philippians 3:20 reminds us that "we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives."  

There are so many things about Heaven that I look forward to.  For sure, I crave the day when I finally feel like I really belong.  Most of all, I cannot wait to see my God in person, to experience walking with Him in the cool of the morning.  "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face." (1 Corinthians 13:12a)  In the meantime, I will join with my fellow "temporary residents and foreigners" of this world (1 Peter 2:11) as we proclaim, "All I know is I'm not home yet, this is not where I belong.  Take this world and give me Jesus.  This is not where I belong!"

Listen to "Where I Belong" by Building 429

The Boundaries of Freedom

My oldest son is twelve years old, and he seems to be stuck a phase in which he is constantly fighting for control of his life.  He obviously wants the freedom to do what he sees fit.  His dad and I realize that at twelve years of age, he possesses neither the wisdom nor the maturity to be able to make all the decisions that he so badly wants to make.  My husband and I are trying to get our son to realize that the more he fights against our boundaries for him, the tighter those boundaries get.  The freedom he so desperately wants is attainable for him, but only as he learns to function within the boundaries that we have given him.

This struggle that my son is having is nothing new.  In fact, the desire to set aside authority in an attempt to govern oneself is as old as time.  It began when God first created mankind, when He created Adam and Eve and gave them the Garden of Eden.  They had complete freedom in the Garden, no limitations whatsoever.  Except for one rule.  One.  Don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge.  If they could obey that one rule, they could live in total freedom. 

For a time, Adam and Eve willingly submitted to God’s one rule, and life was sweet.  Their food was provided for them, they enjoyed uninhibited fellowship with each other and with God, there was no strife, no struggle.  And then Satan entered the picture, and he convinced them that God’s one rule was not established to protect them, but to limit them. He convinced them that they could set God and His authority aside, and that they had the ability and the right to choose their own course of action.  What they did not understand was that by doing so, they were forfeiting the very freedom they thought they would gain.  Essentially, they traded the safety and perfect freedom of the Garden for a life of slavery in a broken world.

Now jump forward to the 21^st century.   Society today is still in pursuit of what it perceives as freedom.  The freedom to do as we choose, to be our own authority.  Defiantly, much of our world has said, “We don’t need a God to tell us what is good for us.”  Even as Christ-followers, many times we choose to exchange true freedom for our “right” to do as we please.  We reject His boundaries for us and choose instead to be slaves to the very things we thought constituted freedom.  We reject the peace and the security of a life governed by an all-knowing, all-powerful God, and hand ourselves over to an underhanded, uncaring, abusive enemy. 

God sent His Son to break the chains of slavery and to reestablish the freedom of His Kingdom on earth.  The perfection of Eden is long gone, but access to the kind of freedom that God intended for His creation to enjoy is still available to us through His death and resurrection.  We do not have to listen to the voice of our enemy when he whispers to us that we should be our own god.  Oh, he’ll try every lie he can fashion to make us believe that submission to God limits our life in some way.  He’ll paint a pretty picture of life without God, but the moment we listen to him and give in to his temptations, that picture morphs into one of captivity.  Freedom is not the option to make our own choices and to do as we please.  Freedom, as God originally designed it, is the ability to live in perfect harmony with one another and with God, without fear, without condemnation, without hate or death or sorrow… This freedom that humanity forfeited so long ago was bought back by the blood of Christ, and is protected by God Himself.  Yes, continued access to this freedom requires our submission to Him, but hold fast to the truth the boundaries that God established, that He asks us to submit to, are for our good, not for our harm (Jeremiah 29:11) .  Satan will tell you that these boundaries are limitations, but hear instead the voice of the Spirit telling you otherwise, that they are indeed the pathway to true freedom, the way God planned it “in the beginning.”

Making Room for New Life

The final remnants of our last big snow of the year finally melted away this week, and when I stopped to look at the scraggly remains of my mums that are planted by the front sidewalk (I’m afraid they were run over a time or two by my kiddos and their bikes…) I noticed tiny little green sprouts coming up underneath the old, dead stems on one of them.  I looked over at a second plant, one that still had the bulk of last year’s growth hanging on, all dried out and brown, and I couldn’t see any evidence of new growth.  I wondered if perhaps I need to break off all the old, dead stems to make room for the new ones to sprout.  (Keep in mind that I am very new to this whole flower gardening thing…)  And then I started thinking: how much of last year’s junk am I holding on to, and would I be experiencing “new growth” if I let go of all that old stuff?

Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us that when we are in Christ, our old life is gone and a new one has begun.  For someone who has never before experienced redemption through Christ, this is an absolutely magnificent thing; the old, sinful lifestyle is gone and a new, spotless life is put into motion.  Your sins are no longer held against you and you have been given the gift of freedom from sin (Romans 6).  You no longer have any obligation to do anything that your old, sinful nature prods you to do.  And not only that, but you are now no longer responsible for the debt that your sin incurred! If you have ever experienced the suffocating pressure of being in debt that was completely beyond your ability to repay, then you can understand the amazing freedom that God has given us by allowing His Son to pay our spiritual debt.

But this “new life,” this freedom, is not just for new believers.  Leviticus 3:22-23 tells us that God’s mercy, His compassion, is new each and every morning.  Which means that you, being bought with the blood of Christ, your debt paid long ago, can still experience that newness each and every day.  Perhaps it’s not your own sin that is holding you; perhaps it is the beating you have taken from the world, or even from someone really close to you, that is crowding out any signs of new life.  Events that happened last week or last year, or maybe even a decade ago, are still hanging around your heart like last year’s dead foliage.  Perhaps you're living a life of regret for an opportunity missed or a poor choice that you made.  Or maybe you deal with the resentment of choices that were made for you.  You may need to forgive yourself or the person who hurt you, but let’s be honest, sometimes – even after you have forgiven someone – the hurt lingers.  And when you give that pain permission to keep hanging around by thinking about it and reliving the situation time and again, you are keeping yourself from experiencing the life of freedom that Jesus bought for you with His own blood.  Are you willing to let God take those things from you, to prune them from the everyday reality of your life?  Or are you clinging to them, dwelling on them, letting them suffocate the tender shoots of new life that are waiting to sprout?  

I challenge you today to make a conscious decision to surrender whatever it is that is keeping you from experiencing new life in Christ.  Visualize it; picture God’s hand reaching down and breaking away all those dead stems and leaves, and see your new life poking through the soil as all of that dead stuff is swept away.  Whether you need to confess your own sin, or whether you need to hand over the hurt that someone else inflicted on you, pray and surrender those things to God, the Giver of new life.

"...anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)