What God Makes New

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

Recently at the grocery store, I ran into someone I had not seen in many years.  I almost missed her, as my distaste for both shopping and crowds often prompts me to zip through the aisles with tunnel vision.  Luckily, I glanced her way, we recognized each other instantly, and we struck up a conversation.  I found myself becoming one of those shoppers that I silently grumble about, taking up time and space in the aisle socializing.  Ah, irony!

 

The lady I met at the grocery was my boss from a drug-store job I held while in college, a job that provided me more of an education about people than my psychology courses ever could.  My boss and I got along wonderfully, which helped us to weather some of the most bizarre and memorable encounters of my life, among them a lonely weekend shift when I unwittingly thwarted an armed robbery.  My boss endured numerous struggles in her life, many of which she shared with me as we stocked shelves.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, she was stealing money from the store in order to address some of those struggles.  Meanwhile, I was a quiet young thing taking classes, saving a little money, and trying to figure out life.  What my boss and I had in common was that God was not a discernable part of our lives.

 

Standing in the cereal aisle at Kroger, I listened patiently as my former boss spoke of the recent death of her husband and other struggles she’d endured.  Through the recounting of the pain of her struggles, I noticed something I had not seen before: a penetrating peace in her eyes and the ease with which she smiled.  After her husband’s death, a young widow’s testimony in church had inspired her to accept Jesus into her life.  Praising God, serving others, and caring for the brokenhearted has become her life’s focus.  With a growing lump in my throat, I longed to tell her how my life had also steered toward God, how God had planted a small seed in me through her all those years earlier, but I didn’t.  The aisle was growing ever more crowded and time was running short.  We hugged and went our separate ways.

 

I have thought about her often since our chance encounter, and what I keep coming back to is this: God works miracles in the lives of those who turn themselves over to Jesus.  She and I both struggled in our own ways, we both fought to be independent, and we both ignored God knocking on our hearts.  How utterly amazing that God made a way for each of us, in our own time, to answer the door to faith in Christ.

 

No matter where we’ve been, what we’ve done, or what we’ve been through; no matter how long we have wallowed in sin and misery, the loving arms of Jesus are always ready to welcome us.  The risen Christ not only saves us from our sins, but He makes each of us a brand new creation.  Thank you, Lord, for loving us that much!

A Light on a Hill

"You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."  (Matthew 5:14-16)

The lists have been written, the commitment is strong, and hopes are high.  New Year's resolutions are wonderful things.  We've identified areas in our lives that need improvement and we resolve to change ourselves for the better.  For some, reading the Bible more, praying more, or attending worship are high on the list of resolutions.  Making God a priority is always good.  After all, scripture tells us to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.  But what happens if we fall short?

A few days after Christmas, an out-of-town friend and her family visited for the afternoon.  These folks are very dear to me, and they are also the only people in my life with whom I'm close who are not Christians.  We've had many open and intriguing discussions about faith over the years.  This year, my friend's husband revealed a probable source of his aversion to the Christian faith.  As a child, he went to a Catholic school for boys.  One of his earliest memories is of a priest showing him a series of three drawings.  The first drawing showed a boy with a pure white circle on his chest and a smile on his face.  The second drawing showed a boy with the same white circle containing a few black spots.  This boy's face had a slightly pained expression.  Finally, the third drawing showed a boy with a white circle covered in black spots.  This boy's face appeared deeply pained.  The circles represented the extent to which each boy's soul was marked by sin.  My friend's husband was told pointedly that the third boy was going to hell, period.  Jesus was never mentioned.  It stands to reason that if a child could be so horribly marked by sin and destined for hell at such a young age, what hope does a grown man have?

We are born sinful creatures and despite our very best intentions, we all fall.  We have all done things that could be illustrated as black spots on the white circles of our souls.  And like the third boy, we should all be destined for an eternity in hell.  Mercifully, God altered that destiny through the grace He offered in His glorious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because of Christ, our circles are wiped clean, our fate sealed on holy ground.  This grace is not a "get out of jail free card," to be played in order to forget or explain away our misdeeds.  On the contrary, the grace of Christ in the heart of a believer is not just a gift freely given, but it is a calling for our lives.  We are compelled by the Holy Spirit to follow Christ in all that we do, to repent when we fail, and to follow Him anew.

My prayer for 2013 is that the way I live my life will inspire my friend's husband, and others like him, to get to know the Jesus who has saved and enriched my life.  Instead of being a conduit of fear and disdain, like the priest was, I long to be a light on a hill.  That's a resolution worth keeping.

Such a Time as This

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"  (Esther 4:14)

My Bible study group has delved into Beth Moore's study of the book of Esther.  It is a brief but fascinating book of the Old Testament that lacks any mention of God, yet the work of God is clearly discerned within its verses.  The above verse refers to the moment of truth that Esther faced as both a "closet Jew" and the queen of Persia - conflicting characteristics.  An edict had just been decreed that all the Jews were to be put to death.  Would Esther expose herself as a Jew, risking her own death, in the hopes that her connection to the king would save her people?

Have you faced a moment of truth in your life?  Have you faced a decision that was incredibly difficult?  Were the consequences of that decision monumental?  Perhaps you didn't realize the significance of the decision until it was already made?  When you look back on that time, can you discern a glimpse of God's plan for your life and for His kingdom?

The above verse was delivered to Queen Esther by her cousin Mordecai, who had raised her.  Like so many of the most influential figures in the history of God's great plan, Esther was a most unlikely person to save the Jews from slaughter.  She was a woman, an orphan, and a Jew living in a godless society, wedded to king who had banished his previous wife for refusing to be paraded in front of his drunken friends.  Of all people, how could someone like Esther possibly change the course of history?  And yet, at that moment, who else was better positioned to do just that?

Mordecai reminds us that God has a plan that will be realized whether or not we choose to participate.  Sometimes, God places us in the position to directly carry out a part of His plan.  If we are reluctant to follow, He will see that it is accomplished without us.  But if we choose to follow, we will realize with stunning clarity the power, wisdom and benevolence of the living God.  Even if the decision to accept our calling in such a moment costs us something, the reward is far greater than what we may have lost in the process.

God placed you where you are, as you are, right here and now on His created earth for a reason.  Whatever decisions we face, no matter how large or small, are not by accident.  We were created for "such a time as this," like an orphaned queen in ancient Persia, or an ordinary young virgin who would bear the Son of God.  The question is...will we choose to follow God's lead?

What did Esther choose?  Check it out for yourself.  God's riches are far better articulated in His Word than in a blog post!

More on Crutches...

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  (Psalm 23:6)

This morning in worship, Pastor Norm asked us to write on a little index card what "crutch" we are leaning on in life.  We all have one (if not more than one), myself included.  I don't know about anyone else in the pews around me, but I had no trouble thinking of my crutch: fear.  For most of my life, I have allowed fear to keep me from living an abundant, joyful life in Christ.  Thankfully, God is persistent and He continually finds a way to penetrate my fear.  But still, your humble blogger admits to reaching for her crutch far too often.

Fear, like all our crutches, is a lie that if we allow it to set up shop in our hearts and minds, it will flourish and crowd out the hope and peace that God has promised each of us.  The final verse of the Twenty-Third Psalm emphasizes the importance of replacing fear with hope in the promise of God.  David's choice of words in this verse is telling.  He said "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  Notice he did not say, "I hope goodness and mercy can manage to follow me at least most of the time, and maybe I'll end up spending time with God in heaven."  With God, there is no maybe.  There is confidence, there is trust, and there is truth.  The only obstacle is in giving up our crutches in order to walk in that truth.

In his book, "God's Psychiatry," Charles Allen concludes his narrative about the Twenty-Third Psalm by reminding us that we have an advantage over David:  "David did not have the insights that we have.  He never heard the words, 'I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet will he live; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.'"

The Twenty-Third Psalm is one of the most recognizable, easily-recited passages in all of the Bible.  It's one thing to know the Psalm.  It's another thing to know the Shepherd, but we can only know Him if we choose to free ourselves from that which keeps us from Him.  We must immerse ourselves in His Word, we must share our lives with Him, and then trust Him to direct our paths.

I am guilty of the sin of leaning on my crutch instead of my Shepherd.  "Letting go and letting God" doesn't have to be as hard as we make it.  When I find myself falling into fear, I must resist the temptation to sin and reach instead for the strong hand of Jesus.  He will catch me when I fall, and He will hold firmly to me as I walk in faith.  He'll do the same for you, friends, no matter what crutch you're hanging onto.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  That's a promise.  Now...let's live like we believe it.

Setting the Table

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  (Pslam 23:5)

In his book, "God's Psychiatry," Charles Allen states:  "In the pastures of the Holy Land grew poisonous plants which were fatal to the sheep if eaten.  Also, there were plants whose sharp thorns would penetrate the soft noses of the sheep and cause ugly sores.  Each spring the shepherd would take his mattock and dig out these enemies of the sheep, pile them up, and burn them.  Thus the pastures were safe for the sheep to graze.  The pasture became, as it were, a table prepared.  The enemies were destroyed."

It's difficult for us to recognize the table God has prepared for us in the presence of numerous enemies in this world, but we can begin to understand it by thinking of the role of parenting.  From "baby-proofing" our cabinets, to forbidding the viewing of certain TV programs, to insisting on knowing who our teenagers are with at all times, we who are parents are keenly aware of the enemies that threaten our children.  Nothing terrifies or motivates us more than protecting our kids from all manner of evil-doing and evil-doers in their midst.

As the shepherd demonstrates, "preparing the table" for the flock takes effort and vigilence.  Just as the sheep are clueless as to all the shepherd does to protect them, so too are our children clueless about how and why we parents behave the way we do on their behalf.  But perhaps most striking of all, we as God's children are abudantly clueless as to the protection God affords us daily.

While God prepares a table for us, He also promised that we would experience pain and difficulty in life.  But what He also promised is that He would never abandon us in our pain.  Charles Allen continues:  "Sometimes, as the sheep grazed, its head would be cut by the sharp edge of a stone buried in the grass.  So the shepherd would stand at the door of the fold and examine each sheep as it came in.  If there were hurt places the shepherd would apply soothing and healing oil.  Instead of becoming infected, the hurt would soon heal.  Also, the shepherd had a large, earthen jug of water, the kind of jar which kept the water refreshingly cool through evaporation.  As the sheep came in, the shepherd would dip down into the water with his big cup and bring it up brimful.  The sheep drank deeply."

Among the many emotionally moving scenes in the movie "The Passion of the Christ," perhaps the most emotional for me was the scene in which Jesus' mother, walking alongside her son on the march to His death, flashes back to Jesus as a child.  In the flashback, Jesus the boy falls along a rocky hill, scraping His knee.  Mary rushes to His side to comfort Him, as only a mother can.  Back to the present, Mary realizes in anguish that she cannot soothe her Son through what He is about to face.

Life is hard - exceedingly hard at times.  The Psalmist David reminds us that like the shepherd, God knows each of us by name, He knows all our hurts, and He has the perfect remedy to heal and refresh our weary souls:  the blood of His perfect Son.  With Jesus as our Shepherd, we can rest assured that we will never be abandoned in our hurt. 

The table has been set and the cup of Christ never runs dry.  Praise God.

The Valley

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  (Psalm 23:4)

This is easily one of the most recognizable verses in the entire Bible.  How telling that a verse that deals with the worst experiences of our lives - death, tragedy, loss - is the one many of us can recite from memory.  It is in those darkest times when we seek comfort and reassurance.  And it is in our Shepherd that we find comfort and reassurance.

In his book "God's Psychiatry," Charles Allen states: "The Basque Sheepherder describes an actual Valley of the Shadow of Death in Palestine.  It leads from Jarusalem to the Dead Sea and is a very narrow and dangerous pathway through the mountain range.  The path is rough, and there is danger that a sheep may fall at any moment to its death.  It is a forbidding journey that one dreads to take.  But the sheep is not afraid.  Why?  Because the shepherd is with it."

As Mr. Allen points out, the Twenty-Third Psalm is the nightengale of the Psalms.  The nightengale sings its sweetest when the night is darkest.  When I have found myself in the valley of the shadow of death, it is daunting, overwhelming and terrifying.  But always I find God to be nearer and clearer in the valley than at any other time in life.  Sometimes I don't fully realize His nearness until the darkest part of the darkness has passed, but always I find Him.  He doesn't "fix" things or erase the tragedy that has occurred, but He holds me as tightly and as long as I need.  I can scream and cry, I can even question His place in it all...but still He holds me tight.

If you're like me, the second part of this verse - "your rod and your staff, they comfort me" - has always been a little confusing.  What rod, what staff, and how could such things be comforting?  Charles Allen explains:  "The sheep is a helpless animal.  It has no weapon with which to fight.  It is easy prey to any wild beast of the field.  It is afraid.  But the shepherd carries a rod, which is a heavy, hard club two to three feet long.  Also, the shepherd carries a staff, which is about eight feet long.  The end of the staff is turned into a crook.  Many paths in Palestine were along the steep sides of mountains.  The sheep would lose its footing and slip down, hanging helplessly on some ledge below.  With his staff, the shepherd could reach down, place the crook over the small chest of the sheep and lift it back onto the pathway.  The sheep is instinctively comforted by the shepherd's rod and staff."

With the state of our world, it seems impossible that God could be near enough to comfort and protect us.  But let's not forget that if the shepherd has the wisdom, compassion and know-how to protect and comfort a simple sheep, how much more does our Shepherd endeavor to do the same for us, His most prized possession?  The valley may be dark and treacherous, but if we grab hold of God's hand, He will guide us back into the light.

The Journey to Somewhere

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.  (Psalm 23:3)

Continuing in his book "God's Psychiatry," Charles Allen states: "...the sheep has no sense of direction.  A dog, a cat, or a horse, if lost, can find its way back.  They seem to have a compass within themselves.  Not so with a sheep.  The sheep has very poor eyes.  It cannot see ten or fifteen yards ahead.  Palestinian fields were covered with narrow paths over which the shepherds led their sheep to pasture.  Some of these paths led to a precipice over which the stupid sheep might fall to its death.  Other paths lead up a blind alley.  But some paths lead to green pastures and still waters.  The sheep followed the shepherd, knowing it was walking in the right path.  Sometimes the shepherd led over steep and difficult places, but the paths he followed always ended up somewhere.  The sheep was willing to trust that 'somewhere' to the shepherd's judgment."

Oh how thankful I am to have a wise Shepherd to lead this blind and stupid sheep!  This part of the 23rd Psalm, as well as the most familiar part yet to be discussed, gets to the heart of what it means to have faith.  All of us face times of great difficulty in life.  Some of those times are the result of our own sinfulness, while other times happen without our input or choosing.  The question "Why is this happening?" or "Why did this have to happen?" is as natural and necessary to our existence as breathing.  Devising a worldly answer to that question is a futile effort, because no such answer can satisfy the longing in our souls that prompted us to ask the question in the first place.  If we trust God to lead us, even through the rough patches, then the "somehwere" He has in mind is the answer.  Life is about both the journey and the destination.  God is with us on the journey in order to ensure we reach the destination He has in mind.  Our faithfulness during the journey and our gratefulness for the destination glorifies God...for His name's sake.

Charles Allen adds: "Notice that the Psalm says, 'He leadeth me.'  God doesn't drive.  He is climbing the same hill that we climb - man is not alone.  As we take life one step at a time, we can walk with Him the right paths."

The only reliable compass we have is that of our Shepherd.  He is our "true north."  Let us confidently follow His lead.