Jesus, Our Storehouse

As I have been reading through the book Peacemaking Women, there have been many thoughts that have arrested my conscience. And wouldn’t you know, it is a concept I thought I already knew (and practiced) that has been the most challenging. Jesus must be our Storehouse. So simple! Yet how I forget to draw upon my God’s resources moment by moment. All the underlying factors of conflict- suffering, sin, idolatry, fear, hurt- these would be no more if each of us could draw fully and completely on that sweet and abundant storehouse of Jesus.  If Jesus is truly our Source then we can not only weather the conflict in a God honoring way, we can have an abundance of grace to share with others.  If Jesus is the Source He is: the only One we are concerned with pleasing, the only One who we know can love us perfectly in this life, the only One who can pour every bit of Himself into us. Knowing this, we can choose to not be hurt when our friends fail in these areas as they surely will. When I look back on the deepest conflicts I have had in my life, the basis for every hurt was that these human friends of mine cannot love me like Jesus can.

Of course, breeching the great expanse between my understanding and my daily life requires much grace. My flesh wants to hold the people that fail me accountable for their sins while I am all the while hoping they will overlook mine. So I must go back to my storehouse for more of Jesus: more grace, more love, more sacrifice, more forgiveness, more understanding….where He tells me there is an abundance for both myself and those with whom conflicts arise.

“Blessed Are the Peacemakers”

At first glance, I was about to title this “Peacemaking When It’s Hard” but the truth is Peacemaking is ALWAYS hard. It always rubs human nature the wrong way because in peacemaking we must completely lay ourselves aside and truly mimick Jesus. We have to take hits and be more concerned about God’s glory than our own wounded pride. We have to sort through a wretched pile of human emotion looking for that tiny ounce of all-suffcient grace.

And speaking personally now, one would think that knowing my own heart would help me. I love the verses in old hymns that speak of saving wretches like me and that my heart is “prone to wander.” I get comfortable thinking I know who the depths of my sin. But I can’t possibly know it truly, because in the face of reconciliation I am tempted to get offended, exasperated, and indignant with another member of the family of God. Another “wretch like me.”

And maybe this is strong language if you are casually reading this and don’t know me personally. For those of you who think I sound like I need to go on some kind of antidepressant, let me just put a disclaimer out there that understanding the depths of one’s sin can lead to great joy and satisfaction in that we learn how sweet the gift of Salvation actually is. Charles Spurgeon understood this, and I love a quote attributed to him (though I don’t know the actual sermon or writing it came from)…”If your sin is small, then your Savior will be small also; but if your sin is great, your Savior is Greater.”  Knowing ourselves as the sinners we are leads to knowing Jesus as the powerful and merciful God He is. There is nothing more beautiful.

Now that I’ve written my disclaimer (and hopefully all fears on my personal wellbeing are laid aside I feel like I can continue without freaking anyone out. If the Holy Spirit chooses to freak you out about the depths of your personal sin while I’m discussing mine, I will say that I have been where you are. We do live in a culture where there’s alot more emphasis on the forgiveness of God than on the reciprocating repentance that goes along with that forgivenss. So seeing sin on that level might be new and very scary, but you can have complete rest in the fact that nothing about you…though it might surprise and shame you…surprises God. He knows you to a depth you cannot imagine.

To be continued……

If anyone is personally dealing with this issue and would like resources…I highly recommend www.peacemaker.net  and the incredibly transparent folks over at Peacemaker Ministries headed up by Ken Sande.  I am looking forward to a new book I’ve got coming in the mail entitled Peacemaking Women: Biblical Hope for Resolving Conflict.

New Home

New Home from the front

back view with pool and sunroom

 

old bridge that crosses creek bed

another back view with the deck outside our bedroom

another back view with the deck outside our bedroom

window boxes..soon to be filled

red barn and edge of pool

my office…love the built ins

sunroom…still unpacking

kitchen with the worlds tiniest fridge

A Day of Unexpected Blessings

Yesterday was such an amazing day. It was a gift, really. I had a wonderful conversation with a friend that I’d lost touch with, but who still holds a precious place in my heart. It was wonderful to get a chance to catch up and even share the growth God has been doing in both our lives. I had not really expected to get a chance to talk with her again, so as I reflected on it later that night I was just amazed by God’s goodness.

The second thing was that happened (less profound but still exciting) was that Patrick traded in his pretty Taylor guitar for a less expensive guitar (still very nice, though) and a fullsize digital piano. I had been wanting one of those for years, at times badly. Lately I’ve been too busy with my work to think about it or practice very much on my out-of-key half working old piano. But now I’m conviced that since God has provided this, I should start trying again.

On top of that I was able to get a full days work in as well as some fellowship time with close friends after dinner. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

 

An Encouraging Quote…

What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. —Martin Luther

living what we say we know

This week has been a struggle to live what I know. I know that God provides; I know that God works all things for good. But in times of struggle it’s so easy to loose focus and look for someone to blame. The eventuality no matter who ends up being the object, we are inadvertently blaming God. It took me years to come to that realization, that epiphany really, but once that thought seeded it took deep root and will not allow itself to be forgotten. Praise God for it, because that thought has enough fear behind it to keep me from sinning and complaining more than I do currently. Along with “I believe, help my unbelief” my prayer this week is “I’m a Christian, help me act like one.”

secret faults

“Cleanse me from Secret Faults”

I am reading Augustine’s Confessions. In it he really gets down to the heart issues of sin, and I that has opened my mind up for some chastening today. God has brought to mind my lack of diligence in many areas. The sin parades itself as so many things: laziness, busynessin the wrong areas, not prioritizing correctly, calling things ministry that aren’t, putting things off that I am too scared I will fail at (lack of faith), being easily distracted. It’s really funny that I’m writing a blog on a day I’m thinking about my failures in diligence:)…however I’ve been meaning to update this blog for months and have been “too busy.” Which brings to mind all the great things I am “too busy” for every day. Dear Lord, order my priorities so that I will be busy with things that are pleasing to You!

pretty flowers

from a recent wedding….

Willful Creativity

I’ll be honest. I don’t feel creative today. I have no inspiration, but I do have work to do. Work that requires creativity.  “Inspiration is for amateurs” a quote I once read said. I agree.  However, I’ve found out that whenever something big goes down either personally or with someone close to me, something that worries me, or depresses me, creativity is harder to find. That is, creativity in the worldly sense of the word. 

Because this creativity, what we would call inspiration, is a feeling.

 It’s an emotional response to some outside stimuli.

It has nothing to do with our actual ability to create, which often requires diligence, study, and plain ol’ work.

There’s nothing wrong with using inspiration to light a fire in us to accomplish something. Inspiration has been the catalyst for millions of projects.  But it is usually something else that sees a project  through. Sometimes it’s ability. When that fails there is curiosity (to see if you can learn something you didn’t know before about the process, even if you never attempt it again),  then gritty determination (you’re going to finish even if it kills you and is the sorriest excuse for a paint-by-number you’ve ever seen).  

Creativity must often be willful.

As a Christian and as a woman, I see two unique areas where “willful creativity” honors God.  First is in worship. Creating as a response to an attribute of God (where the project allows us to meditate on some aspect of our Creator) can be a form of worship. I say “can be” because worship through creative means can be completely nullified by a prideful attitude or a heart that seeks the approval of men.  Second, as a Christian woman, I know that home-keeping is a divinely appointed responsibility. I know of no better example of willful creativity that a woman who keeps her home well.  Nothing will squelch the worldly idea of inspiration quicker than a pile of dirty dishes and a meager grocery budget (or just not enough time for a grocery trip this week).  However, with a hungry husband coming home in less than an hour, it takes God honoring willful creativity to see that a meal gets to the table. 

My desire today is that any creative thing I accomplish both be willful response to all that God is and has done for me, and a willful desire to honor Him in the work He has given me. Suddenly I feel very inspiredJ

The History of Baptism

A few years ago I stumbled upon an interesting piece of history that tells us a little about what Baptism was like in the Early Church dating from 240 AD. This time-frame places it before the Peace of the Church headed by Constantine made Christianity legal in (if my memory is correct) 313 AD. Thus it would have been a time where political tides changed often and brief peace was punctuated by terrible persecution for Christians.

In the image below was  found in what historians call “The Christian House at Dura.”  It was a house church as was commonly found in the New Testament. This is an image of the Baptistery there, which appears to be built like a tub large enough for an adult to fit.  Beside is a vessel for water that must have been found in the vicinity. Now for the record, I’m one of those strange Baptists not dogmatic on immersion Baptism, but I will say that this find indicates that Baptism in the early church was probably more than sprinkling (why build a tub if it was going to be so little water?).  But I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

As was common of the Early Christians (and in stark contrast to the Jews) the Baptistery and entire structure was decorated in various scenes that included worshippers (called Orants) as well as Bible stories.

Specifically, above the Baptistery is an image that depicts Adam and Eve and the Good Shepherd in a single frame. One thing that is so cool about early Christian art is that they would visually tie stories together to teach new converts the connections between them. To tie in the original sin of Adam and Eve to the fulfilled promise of a Redeemer and Shepherd is a poignantly beautiful depiction to place above a Baptistery. Below is the image itself, which is difficult to make out.

 

See the shepherd carrying his lame sheep on his back? This was a very common symbol for Christ in the early church, found most commonly in Christian catacombs where the early church met before persecution allowed them to meet in public. See Adam and Eve as two little figures covering themselves in shame in the lower left corner? They almost look like stick figures, but would have been sufficient to get the point across. Often, figures were purposely left ambiguous for the safety of those in whose house they met. While the Christians knew exactly what these figures meant, especially when paired together like this, a pagan may assume that they are merely depictions of pagan gods and goddesses. In fact, in times of the worst persecution, Christian artists would actually use the visual personas of pagan gods to depict Biblical scenes. This not only protected the Christian worshippers, but allowed the Christian images to proliferate, all the while spreading the news of Christ.

I love to look at Early Christian art and  realize that these were indeed my brothers and sisters in Christ that gathered here to make declarations of their faith, and how little things have changed between us over all these centuries.

This is a subject I love so you’ll be seeing much more to come on Early Christian Art….