He is the vine; we are the branches!

On this day of rest and worship, rejoice in the fact that as a child of God, you are a branch of the vine of Christ. He creates these fruits in your life:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control
Galatians 5:22-23

Take joy in this today, friends!

How to Make a Marriage Last

Throughout Scripture, I see evidence that God really likes marriage. He came up with the idea in the first place when he created Adam and Eve for each other. Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding. And God used marriage to describe the relationship between Jesus and the body of believers.

God designed marriage to be something that takes people and makes them "one flesh." This is a bond that was never designed to be broken. God actually said in Malachi 2:16, "I hate divorce." God designed marriage to be for life!

How do we make a marriage last that long, though? The current mindset of our society suggests that people aren't even interested in a lifelong marriage. More than half of all couples who marry eventually get divorced (source). Obviously we're doing something wrong if the average marriage has such a short lifespan.

Now, I understand that there are some good reasons to get divorced. Actually, I think there are two: abuse and infidelity. When one spouse hurts the other and/or refuses to remain faithful, it's reasonable for the other spouse to divorce them. (Even in such cases, there can be reconciliation and healing, although that's not always possible.)

But I'm not talking about why a marriage could end. How do we keep that from happening? What can we do to make a marriage last?

I think that in order to keep their marriage strong and healthy for a whole lifetime, couples should avoid making two fatal assumptions: One, that love is a feeling, and two, that marriage is something a husband and wife can do on their own.

Never fall into the trap of thinking that love is a feeling. Attraction is a feeling. Lust is a feeling. Affection is a feeling. Love--real, enduring love--is a choice. It is a decision, and it is a commitment.

Sometimes, on those rare occasions when we're really upset with each other, my husband or I will say to the other, "I love you, but I do not like you very much right now." Love lasts through petty arguments, through financial problems, car breakdowns, difficult pregnancies, whining toddlers, and raising teenagers.

Why?
Because love is NOT something we find within ourselves. Love is a gift from God, and it finds its sole source in him. God loves us SO much that his love flows through us to those around us. John wrote in his first epistle, "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19) We are only able to love each other because God loves us!

Furthermore, we are able to continue loving others because God gives us the ability to do so. Not only did he set an example for us of what love is, he gives us the strength to love because that is something that pleases him (Philippians 4:13).

We do not look to ourselves or our spouse for the strength to keep loving them, including during those times when they don't deserve it or aren't acting loving toward us. We look to God, who knows our needs, hears our prayers, and continues to fill us with his love.

This brings me to the second trap: never think that your marriage is something you and your spouse can do well on your own. A marriage should always be a team of three: you, your spouse, and God. Remember, God created marriage and designed it to last, and he wants your marriage to last a lifetime!

He is willing and able to give you and your spouse the tools you need to build a solid, lasting marriage. Those tools, gifts from him, are numerous (patience, wisdom, kindness, a sense of humor, etc.), but besides love, I think the most important is forgiveness.

As God gives us the ability to love, he also enables us to forgive. True forgiveness is only possible when we realize that we have been forgiven. My husband and I are both sinners for whom Jesus died. He has forgiven our sins, and paid the price for the sins of the whole world. Now that we have been forgiven, we can forgive one another. No sin we commit against each other is bigger than the ones Jesus has already forgiven us for!

So how do you make a marriage last? Look to Jesus. Find in him a love that is so incredible it will flow from him, to you, and to your spouse. Realize that he has forgiven you of every wrong thing you ever did or will do, and realize that he gives you the ability to forgive as you have been forgiven. Make him the center of your marriage--let everything in your life find its focus in Christ. It's with his love, forgiveness, strength, and grace that you can build a marriage that will last a lifetime.


Linking with Messy Marriage, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, To Love, Honor and Vacuum

A sheep in the care of my Shepherd

Sheep have a reputation for being among the least intelligent of animals. Now, perhaps they're not as unintelligent as they seem (check out this article), but they're certainly not bright. They definitely aren't anywhere near as smart as humans.
Sheep stick together in a herd, and what one sheep does, the others generally do. They do have a tendency to wander off alone, and aren't always good at recognizing danger. However, they can remember fellow sheep and a few human faces (see the article linked above). When a sheep has one shepherd for its whole life, it learns to recognize the voice of that shepherd (see this for a bit more on that).

Photo Credit

The Bible often compares God to a shepherd, and his people to sheep. This was a familiar image to people living in both Old and New Testament times. King David himself was a shepherd as a boy (1 Samuel 16:11).
When Jesus was born, some of the first people to see him were shepherds (Luke 2:15-16).

Israel (Jacob) called God his shepherd. In blessing his son Joseph, he said "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm--may he bless these boys." (Genesis 28:15-16)
Moses compared God's people to sheep: "Moses said to the Lord, 'May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd'" (Numbers 27:15-17). (Joshua became that shepherd for God's people.)

The Psalms have many references to God as our shepherd, which makes sense since David wrote many of them.
Psalm 100:3 says, "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."
In Psalm 119:176 the psalmist confesses, "I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands."
And of course, the entirety of Psalm 23 is a metaphor for our life as sheep, being led by God, our shepherd. He provides everything we need, he protects us from harm, he corrects us when we stray, he is by our side through the darkest parts of life, and he will bless us to our life's end and beyond.

Several other passages in the Old Testament reference sheep and shepherds. See, for example, Isaiah 40:11 and 53:6-7 and Jeremiah 50:6.

In the New Testament, the best-known passage about sheep and shepherds is found in John 10. Not only does Jesus call himself the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep, but he is the gate to the sheep pen--the only way into that place of safety and rest. Anyone who tries to get into the pen any way other than the gate "is a thief and a robber." (See verses 1-2, 11, 14-15 especially.)
(For other New Testament references to God as our shepherd and us as his sheep, see Matthew 2:6, 9:36, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 2:25, 5:2-4, Revelation 7:17.)

Perhaps being compared to sheep isn't the most flattering comparison. But if you think about it from a spiritual standpoint, it makes sense. Without God's direction (especially through the words of Scripture) we wouldn't know where to go and what we should and shouldn't do. Without his voice calling us to follow him, we would easily be led astray by other distractions around us. (We often are distracted as it is!) God provides everything we need, protects us from harm and evil, and loves us as his children. We might not even know when we're in danger because as our shepherd, God keeps those evil things away from us.

He calls us by name, just as shepherds call their sheep. He knows all our faults and still loves us and cares for us. And when faced with the ultimate adversary--Satan--he gladly laid down his life so that we could live.

When I consider all that, being a sheep isn't so bad after all. I'll readily admit that I'm not always very bright. I make some really stupid decisions, and I often get distracted away from my Shepherd's voice. But he's always there to bring me back to the fold, to heal my wounds, and to remind me how much he loves me.

Now, on a rather humorous note... check out this video!

"Aha" moments in Scripture reading

My husband and I use Portals of Prayer for our daily devotions each morning. Each devotion has a Scripture passage, a short message, and a prayer--it's been a great way for us to get into the habit of being in the Word every day. (If you're looking for an easy reminder to be in the Word daily, I also recommend subscribing to Lutheran Hour Ministries' devotions, delivered via email.)

The other day the passage was from Luke 12, verses 13-21: The parable of the "Rich Fool." Summed up, this is a story Jesus told about a young man who had earned a lot of money, had a big crop, and a lot of wealth stored up, so he decided to take life easy and enjoy what he had. The story continues, however, "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

Right after this story is the "Do Not Worry" passage. Verse 22 read, "Then Jesus said to his disciples: 'Therefore...'"
One thing my mom taught me about Bible reading is that when you come across a "Therefore," see what it's "there for" (haha). In other words, look at the context--what came before the "therefore"?

In my personal Bible reading lately I've been working through some Old Testament books, including Nehemiah and Ecclesiastes. There is value in reading a short passage and doing deep study on it, but I've also discovered the benefit of reading large sections of Scripture at once--several chapters or a whole small book in one sitting (I got through Esther in two days). It's much easier to see the "big picture" when you look at a book as a whole, instead of individual verses. I've often read the "Do Not Worry" passage, especially in Matthew, because it's a reminder I need regularly. But I haven't often looked at it in Luke, and I definitely haven't looked at it much in its context.

Here's what I see these passages saying:

Don't put stock in physical possessions or in the amount of money you have saved up. You might be able to enjoy it now, but what's going to happen when you die? All that will be worthless. (See Ecclesiastes for more on this.)
Physical possessions aren't what you should be spending all your time and thought on. You shouldn't be worrying about those things--food and clothes. They're temporal things, and besides, God knows you need them. Look at how he takes care of animals! They're never without food, protection, and shelter. If God takes care of animals that way, you can trust that he'll provide for your needs, too.
No, it's the unbelievers who spend their lives worrying about their physical needs and stocking up possessions, because they don't have any purpose beyond this life. But you know that eternity in heaven is waiting for you--so spend your life focusing on that. Seek spiritual treasures, those things that you can't lose, and God will provide physical blessings to you as well.
He has given you the ultimate gifts--salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life. Don't worry about anything else.

What I find awesome is that this whole section-- twenty-one verses--is all connected and flows together logically. (Duh. It was written by God.) I really hope I'm not the first one to take so long to notice this.

Reading this whole passage together was so encouraging for me. What "aha" moments have you had in your Scripture reading lately?

Linking today with Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, Exceptionalistic, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

I'm not normal.

I'm not normal.

If you're a regular reader around here you probably know that already.
"Normal" is what conforms to our culture. Our culture does not recognize Jesus as Lord; it has warped ideas of marriage, family, and sexuality; it encourages us to spend what we want when we want regardless of our income.
By that standard, I am very abnormal.

• I am a follower of Jesus in a world that hates--and sometimes, what is often worse, ignores--him.
• I am committed to honor, respect and even submit to my husband, Biblically, as the Church submits to Christ (aka, place myself under his loving care and leadership, not become a doormat).
• I am a homemaker and proud of it. I do not seek validation from a conventional career, although I do also work outside the home.
• I and my husband plan to homeschool our children as we were also educated at home, and feel that as future parents it would be best for us to be the primary influence in our future children's lives (radical, huh?).
• I and my husband gladly and frugally live within our means and don't have any credit card debt. We rent an apartment (for now), drive a used car, and don't spend more than we make.
• I believe in Biblical femininity--in embracing my God-given role as a woman.
• I believe that sex is an amazing gift of God, designed to be enjoyed within a marriage by a husband and wife (one man and one woman).
• I strive to avoid eating and cooking with processed foods, and cleaning with natural, inexpensive products.

(See all the links in the text above? Click on those to read more in-depth posts I've written on those topics.)

Paul wrote to the Romans, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:1-2)

Jesus said to his disciples (which includes believers who follow him), "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. " (John 15:18-19)

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Peter wrote, "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." (1 Peter 2:11)

Scripture itself tells me that I'm not "normal" by the world's standards. I am not to conform to the pattern of the world; I do not belong to the word; I do not fight with the weapons of the world; I am, in fact, an alien and stranger in the world.

I am a child of God: heaven is my eternal home, and therefore I live my life with an eternal perspective--this life is not all there is.

So, no, I'm not normal. And that's just how it should be.

Guilty, but Declared Innocent

This post is third in a mini-series based on my jury duty experience.
See part one here
and part two here.

The main job of a juror is to look at the facts as seen in the evidence, and decide if the defendant is guilty or innocent, based on what the facts say.

In the case for which I was a juror, the facts didn't make that job easy. It was hard to trust the validity of the witnesses' testimonies, or the accuracy of computer data. We had no way of knowing whether something was dependable or not. Therefore, we had to decide that there was not enough proof to declare the defendant guilty of the main crime of which he had been accused. So, of that crime, we decided he was innocent.

As a sinful human being who answers to a far greater Judge than the one sitting in the courtroom I was in, I am not so lucky. There is very solid evidence against me. There's no jury debating my guilt or innocence.
I am, beyond all possible doubt, guilty of sin. I have broken God's laws, and God, who sees and knows everything, has no doubt of that.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Romans 3:23

Satan has accused me. My own sinful nature has convicted me.

But I will not receive the punishment due a guilty verdict.

"...and are justified freely by His grace." Romans 3:24

You see, when the Law pronounced guilty every person who's ever lived, God's Son stepped in to take the punishment we all deserve.
As a lawbreaker, I deserve death. Eternal separation from God.

"For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23a

I'm not getting what I deserve.

"...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23b

Jesus Christ took my guilt upon himself. He had never sinned, and he was perfect--holy, pure and righteousness. He told his Father, "Look at them and see my sinlessness. Look at me and see their sin." And God said, "Yes. For your sake, I forgive them wholly."

"God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

He took the punishment that was rightfully mine--all of ours. He died. He experienced total separation from God, besides a physically excruciating death. He was mocked, humiliated, and tortured--so that I would not be.

But Jesus didn't stay dead. He paid the price, all right. But he is God, and God cannot die.

He faced my accuser--Satan. He announced that he had paid the price for my sin. And he declared to Satan that I can no longer be accused of guilt. Past, present, and future sins were all covered by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Nothing I do will earn me eternal condemnation. God looks at me as one holy and perfect, covered by the righteousness of his Son.

Now, I'll still have to face consequences for the poor choices I make. But I will never have to endure the punishment that those wrongs deserve.

There's no question: I committed the crime. But there's also no question that the guilt is no longer mine. The holy Son of the righteous Judge has taken my punishment. I am free and redeemed because of his love and grace.

unexpected blessings

The title of this post has two meanings.

1. blessings that were unexpected because they were things that didn't originally look like blessings
2. blessings that are good things but that I didn't expect to be given to me

Our God is one who takes joy in seeing his children joyful. He delights in us (see Psalm 147:11, Isaiah 65:19, Zephaniah 3:17).

I think he likes giving us blessings that we don't see coming (unlike clothes and daily food, which most people in the US can expect every day), because just think how excited you are when you get a gift you didn't ask for, for no particular reason except that the person wanted to make you happy. For example:

Last night our best friends (Ruth and Joe) called; they're going to be in town this weekend and asked if they could stay with us Friday night! What an amazing surprise. We're so excited to see them.!

Today I came home for lunch to see my husband doing dishes for me, plus he'd brought home milk and bread without being asked. what a man I've got.

This jury duty, as long and tiring as it's been, has been a blessing as well--I've gotten to meet and interact with people I probably never would have otherwise, I've learned more about our judicial system than I ever thought I would, and I'm fulfilling my civic responsibility in a way not everyone gets to do. Plus I'm getting paid just as much as if I were working at the library part-time!

Oh, and another unexpected blessing from jury duty was that one of my fellow jurors has chickens and brought me three dozen eggs for just $1.50 each. I ended up with over five dozen eggs in my fridge at once because they were on sale at the store at the same time!

In two days I had two people ask me to look after their gardens while they're on vacation in exchange for whatever produce ripened while they are gone. I spend a little time watering for free produce--definitely a win, and an unexpected blessing, in my book!

What blessings has God given you lately that you didn't see coming at all??

living IN this world, created for eternity

I started reading Ecclesiastes yesterday. It's not a common book read in Bible studies, but I figure, it's part of Scripture, so it must be worth reading!

My favorite passage so far is this one from chapter three (right after the "a time for everything" section):

"What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him." -Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

This is just a beautiful passage, and there's so much in it!
God has made us people with eternal souls--"has set eternity in the hearts of men." So we aren't fully content in this world governed by time, but at the same time our finite bodies "cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." We're not made for this world, obviously. But what does life in this world consist of? Eating, drinking, and working.
That could be a pretty meaningless existence--in fact, that's what the writer of Ecclesiastes ponders throughout the book. What's the purpose in life? What's the purpose to eating, drinking, and working? They're meaningless.

But this passage gives hope:
"That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in his toil--this is the gift of God."

Bingo.
We're not made for this world, but we were made to live in it for a time. And in order that our life here may not be without purpose, God created us for eternity--our lives in this world have an ultimate purpose, that is, to direct others toward eternity. We were all created as eternal beings, but not everyone knows that, and not everyone knows how much God wants them to live with him in paradise for eternity. So that's our purpose here, and we are constantly reminded of it because we can't be completely content living in this finite world.

And while we are living in this world, going about our lives--eating, drinking, and working--God gives us pleasure and satisfaction in that. He doesn't condemn us to a life of bore, a meaningless life. While we are at work pointing people to him, he blesses us and enables us to live a happy life, with the pleasures of food and drink, and the satisfaction that comes from work well done.

What a gift. What a life. What a God we have.

Land of the free?

My family often visits "America's Fourth of July City" for Independence Day and we did this year as well. This place goes all-out for the Fourth.  There are dozens of craft booths, a food alley, carnival rides, historical presentations, concerts, and of course, fireworks--at least two major displays during the week of the Fourth, plus fireworks, firecrackers, and all other manner of explosives going off all over town.

This town knows how to celebrate.

But I wonder--what are we really celebrating?  Are we celebrating our freedom to purchase and light off firecrackers?  Our freedom to overeat and drink too much?

Twice today I saw veterans recognized for their service.  They know what we're celebrating.  They served this country, fought in wars, and know people who gave their lives so that the freedoms our forefathers won could be enjoyed by us today.

We have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion.

But in the name of "tolerance," we've lost the freedom to tell anyone they're wrong.  The citizens of our country are losing jobs to people who aren't citizens, but are given almost all the benefits that a citizen deserves.  It's okay for our country to give weapons to rebels in other countries, but it's frowned upon for an ordinary citizen on our shores to carry a weapon to protect himself and his family.  Anyone can believe in whatever religion/god they want, but try to tell them there's only one God and they've got the wrong one and you'll be shushed.  We have to tolerate everyone, but our beliefs aren't tolerated by anyone.  By calling it a "choice" we've legalized the murder of hundreds of thousands of unborn children who didn't deserve to die.

Are these the "freedoms" that thousands of men and women gave their lives to protect?

Is this really freedom at all?

I love this country, but it makes me sad to see some things that are happening in it.  I'm thankful that I live here, but this isn't the America that it was when Thomas Jefferson did most of the writing of the Declaration of Independence.

So today, I'm thanking God for the freedoms I have, and praying that he blesses this country despite its faults and failures (just as he blesses me despite my sinfulness).

I'm most thankful for the freedom I have in Christ: freedom from sin, freedom from the power of Satan, and freedom from death itself.

I'm free from guilt.  Jesus has destroyed that on the cross.

I'm free from fear.  Satan is vanquished: I have nothing to fear.

I'm free from condemnation.  Jesus took the punishment I deserve and gave me his perfect holiness.

That is freedom that no government, no country, no person can take away.

"Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and the glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20-21

Living like Esther

[My Scripture-reading habits are sporadic at best, but this summer I've been more consistent, thanks to some free time every morning and "Portals of Prayer" devotions with my husband every day.  Today I just started reading the book of Esther.]

I've read Esther's story before, but like any good book, I get more out of every re-reading of Scripture.  I have a few things in common with Esther, too, and as a result I can relate with her in a way.

There are also a lot of things I do not have in common with Esther: I'm not an orphan, I'm not being trained to be part of a king's harem, I'm not Jewish, and most relieving, the lives of my family and distant relatives are not being threatened by an evil political leader.  (So glad there's no Haman in my life!)

However, there are some important commonalities between Esther's life and mine.  I'm a young woman without much knowledge of what the future holds for me and my family.  In a way, I'm a foreigner in a strange world: as a child of God living in a world darkened by sin, I can imagine how Esther felt living in the king's palace.

Most importantly, even though I don't know exactly what the future holds, God does and he has a plan for me.  I know that he has a job for me to do in his kingdom, and even though I might not know just what that is, I know that God will lead me to serve his purposes.  I can trust that each day I strive to live obediently to God, I am carrying out his purposes for me, even if I never see the results of those purposes.

In Esther's story, she was faced with a terrifying choice: Approach the king uninvited and plead with him to spare the lives of her people, and risk being killed herself as a result, or keep quiet and fail to prevent the deaths of her fellow Jews.  Her uncle Mordecai told her this:

"Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  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 the royal position for such a time as this?"  (Esther 4: 12-14)

Esther bravely went before the king uninvited, and thereby saved the lives of all the Jews who had been threatened by the king's edict.  As a result of her ending up in a place where she probably didn't even want to be, God used her to rescue his people-- the people from whom Jesus himself was descended.

Did Esther know at the time what the amazing results of her actions would be?  Probably not.

But she trusted God nonetheless, and did what she knew was right even in the face of possible death.

I might never be faced with such a frightening decision.  But each day I can choose to obey God, or not.  Thanks to his grace and love, I have the ability to choose obedience.  His Spirit in my heart gives me the will and strength to do so.  Just think what things might happen, living a life as a child of God!

What Bible character can you relate with?  How have you seen Scripture coming alive in your own life?

Linking with:  Raising Homemakers, Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

To have a gentle and quiet spirit

Do you ever have those realizations that there's something you've been missing?  Not doing?  Not understanding?  I had one of those "aha" moments yesterday.  And it was humbling.

I want this kind of spirit as a wife: a gentle and quiet one.  This is the kind of spirit that Peter says creates true, unfading beauty:

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.  For this is the way the women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.  They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master.  You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."  (1 Peter 3: 3-6)

There's a lot in this passage.  I want to point out a few things that have stuck out to me in many readings of these words.

First, look at this phrase from verse 5: "the women of the past who put their hope in God..."  A gentle and quiet spirit comes when our hope is not in ourselves or our own abilities, but in God and his Spirit at work within us.

And this: "Sarah...obeyed Abraham and called him her master."  This passage isn't talking about being our husband's slave, but it is descriptive of a wife who highly respects her husband.  This respect isn't shown just in our actions, but in our words and thoughts.  Do we show our husbands by how we speak to them that we respect them?  Do we make the effort to let them know that they are priceless treasures to us?  Do we pay attention when they talk?  Do we make it clear that we're interested in all parts of their lives?

These are things I've been struggling with.  This, and distrust (my constant battle).  Thus, look at the last part of this passage:

"...do not give way to fear."

Fear, my mother often reminds me, is of the Enemy.  Fear is what comes naturally to our sinful selves.  The opposite of fear is faith, which is a gift from God.  Faith in God and his promises...hope in him...this is what enables us to be wives after God's own heart.  Wives who love, respect and trust their husbands.  Wives who are beautiful not because of their outer looks but because of the quiet and gentle spirit within them, that comes from God.

This is the kind of wife I want to be: 

"A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.  Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."  (Proverbs 31:10-12)

I want to be the kind of wife in whom my husband can have complete confidence, and who he can trust fully.  I want him to be able to trust me to bring him good, not harm, every single day.

But you know what?  I cannot be that kind of wife on my own willpower.  I don't have the ability to do it alone.

That's why I take comfort in the fact that God's strength more than makes up for my weakness.  In fact, as God promised Paul, so he promises me, and I can say this with Paul:

"But he [God] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."  (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

If you've been struggling with this at all, take comfort: you are not alone.  And for whatever trials you are experiencing, know that God's grace is more than enough.  His love covers you completely.  His forgiveness is unfailing and never-ending, and encompasses even those things for which we feel most guilty.  Jesus has taken away that guilt, paid the price for our sins, and enables us to live as his children.

I'm taking comfort in this: today and every day!


Linking with: To Love, Honor, and Vacuum; Exceptionalistic, Messy Marriage

Unseen

Sometimes the best things in life are those we can't see.

Love, for example.  We can see the results and expression of it, but it's not tangible...not something we can actually see or touch.

Jesus said in Matthew 6,

"When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:6)

Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

"Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

God is unseen.  Faith is invisible.  In the letter to the Hebrews it says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  (Hebrews 11:1)

This faith in the invisible is not something God expects us to conjure of our own accord.  He gives us faith as a free, unearned gift. God knows that sometimes we struggle with believing in something we can't see.  So he helps us.

It's like the wind.  One of the few poems I've ever memorized is this, The Wind, by Christina Rosetti:

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

So it is with God.  And so it is with faith.  We cannot see or touch them, but we can feel them.  We can be sure of their presence in our lives, and especially in our hearts.  And we can see the expressions of them.

We can see the results of our faith when life seems most confusing and distressing, and yet we're able to give our worries and cares to God and lean on him.

We can see the expression of God when he answers our prayers in ways we would never expect...or when he shows us his love in something as simple as a sunset, or a baby's laugh, or a hug from a loved one.

So today, look for the unseen.  Look for how those things which are most precious, but which are invisible to our eyes, reveal themselves in your life.

The best things in life... are those we can't see at all.


Linking with: Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, We are THAT Family, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Theology: What I believe about God

The subject of God fills books.  There are way too many different false gods in this world, but I believe in the only true God: the God of the Christian Bible.  The Bible is all about God: who he is, what he has done, and how much he loves us.  What are the most important things about God?  That's what I'd like to cover in this post.

I believe in God not because of anything I can do, but because he has given me faith to believe in him.

He created the universe and everything in it, including all people, which gives every person inherent worth as a creation of God.

He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere at the same time.

He is three Persons in one God.  I can't explain how this is, but I know it by faith.  God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  God the Son is Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate--man and God, both at the same time, neither more or less of the other.  As man, he was able to die on the cross; as God, he lived a sinless life, and therefore his death counted for the sins of all people-- and he didn't stay dead!  He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will return someday to bring all those who believe in him to live with him in heaven for eternity.

God the Holy Spirit came into my heart at my baptism, and it is he who gives me faith.  The Holy Spirit gives me the ability to live a life that is obedient to God; without the gift of faith no good works I do are good at all.  But no works do anything to help me earn salvation.  In fact, I cannot do anything at all to "earn" salvation.  It is a gift.

Because he loves me, God has saved me from sin, death, and the power of Satan.  He has given this gift freely, without expecting anything from me.  He gives me faith to believe in him, and as a result of believing in God and what Jesus has done for me, I am forgiven of all the bad things I do, and I am reconciled to God, and can look forward to eternity with him in heaven--all because of his grace to me.

Now, it is possible to reject the gifts of faith, salvation and eternal life.  Many people have chosen to do so, and they will have to endure the consequences of that choice.  But God freely offers the gift of faith to all people.

It's important to remember that we can't fully understand everything about God.  If we could understand him completely, he wouldn't be God!  Our minds are finite, and as humans we simply don't have the mental capacity to understand the enormity that is God.  We can understand aspects of who he is and what he does, but it is not for us to understand him fully.  That's okay.  That's why he gives us faith, because he knows we don't have the capacity for complete understanding.  We just accept the things we can't understand by faith.

The fact that I believe in and trust in God doesn't mean I don't have questions.  I struggle with why God allows so many horrible things to happen in the world.  I don't know why he does.  But I do know this:  God has a plan for all of humanity that is WAY bigger than I can comprehend.  I know that I fit into that plan, and I know what the outcome will be for me and all believers: HEAVEN. :)  What happens between now and then is not for me to know.  That's God's business.  I know that he's completely good, and that he has a good and perfect plan.  I trust that by faith, and leave the rest up to him.


I could write so much more about who God is to me personally, and what he's done in just my life.  It's amazing that such a big God would pay so much attention to, and heap so much love on, just me.  But he does.  And he's amazing. :)

I guess the most important thing about this awesome God of mine is that he loves you.  He loves me.  He loves all of humanity, far more than we could ever imagine.  In fact, the Bible says that God IS love.

Just trust that.


Linking with: Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, We are THAT Family, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Marriage :: Defined

Well, now I know how to get all my Facebook friends excited: ask them to share their opinions on the topic the Supreme Court is currently debating.  (If you would like some background information, you can read it here, here, and here.)

I realize that there are a lot of issues involved in this.

-How do we define marriage?
-WHO defines marriage?
-Is homosexual marriage a right?
-Should the government have a role in marriage at all?
-Who decides who can get married and who can't?

Disclaimer:  I'm going to state some of my beliefs here.  I understand many of you may disagree with me, and that's OK.  I'd love a discussion in the comments.  I just ask that we all respect each other as people created by God.

For me, the bottom line is GOD.  God supersedes the government in authority.  God's Word contains the directives for daily life.  Obedience to God is the best way to live.  So I stand by God's definition of marriage.

Genesis 2:23-24: The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Genesis 1:27-28: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."

God created marriage to be between one man and one woman.  (Side note: his directive to "be fruitful and increase in number" would be impossible to fulfill if marriage had been designed to also include same-sex couples!)

Now, should the government have the right to define what marriage is?
I acknowledge that our government isn't perfect.  It may even be described as corrupt.  And I realize that governments have been used in the past for great ill.
That doesn't negate the fact that government was originally instituted by God for the order and benefit of society.  (In 1 Samuel, God chose the first king, Saul, for the people of Israel.)  In the United States, our government has outlawed such sins as murder and theft, and sexual sins such as incest, rape, and child pornography.  I believe that therefore homosexuality can be decreed by our government as illegal.

This brings me to the next point... is homosexuality a sin?
I believe it is.  I believe that anything outside God's design for marriage is sinful.  And the Bible does speak to this.  Genesis 19:1-11 make it clear that homosexual behavior is punishable.  Leviticus 20:10-17 condemns homosexuality, incest, adultery, and bestiality.  1 Corinthians 6:9 clearly condemns homosexuality, along with other sins.

Romans 1:24-28 states, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts for the degrading of their bodies with one another...Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."  It is helpful to read this passage in its full context: Romans 1:20-32.  Also see this article for a helpful discussion of the topic.

Now, I must make the most important point.
Do I condemn homosexuals?

NO!

I cannot condemn any sinner.  Why?  Because I, too, am a sinner.  It is up to God to condemn sin.  I saw an excellent quote on Facebook, that has been attributed to Rick Warren (although I can't verify that):

Our culture has accepted two huge lies.  The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them.  The second is that to love someone means to agree with everything they do.  Both are nonsense.  You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.

Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you."  Jesus loves everyone equally.  That's the kind of equality I'm all about!  He does not love any person more or less for the choices they've made.  However, Jesus did tell the prostitute caught in her sin, "Neither do I condemn you.  Now go and sin no more."  (John 8:10-11)

Jesus died a horrific death on the cross so that the sins of all people, of all time, would be paid for.  He wants all people to be in heaven with him someday.  All people have been created by God, and God loves them all, so very much!  Whether your sin is drunkenness, gluttony, sloth, greed, murder, lust, theft, homosexuality, or any other sin, Jesus has died to eliminate that sin.  He has died for you (and me!) because he loves us.  And he doesn't want us to be separated from God for eternity.

So am I going to say homosexuality is wrong?  Yup.  Am I going to say it's something no one should do?  Yes.  Am I going to back the government if it makes a law that homosexuality is illegal?  Well, I'm not going to complain... but the government hasn't outlawed my sinful habits of rudeness, laziness, and meanness.  The government isn't required to make such a decision.

Will I continue to strive to love everyone around me equally, with the love of Jesus?  You bet.  Because that's how God does it.


Linking with: Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, We are THAT Family, To Love, Honor and Vacuum, Messy Marriage

Embracing This Present Season of Life

I have this habit of looking forward toward the future, and keeping the past firmly in my sights as well.  This leaves too little time for focusing on the present.

Image credit: Stock photo via Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net

In keeping with my theme of {FOCUS} for this year, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to really embrace the present--the present day, and the present time in life.  Right now my season of life includes the vocations of wife, homemaker, and college student, among others.  One vocation I do not have right now is motherhood.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to being a mama.  The excitement of preparing for the birth of a child, wondering if it will be a boy or girl, whose features our child will have, what their personality will be like.  The changes in our life that a child will bring--new jobs and responsibilities, a new person to love and care for.  Seeing this living miracle that God made, in my body, a personification of his love for us in a tiny baby.  Sure, there are things to be less excited about... the discomfort and pain of pregnancy and childbirth, learning how to nurture our marriage with the added challenge of having a baby.

But right now, none of these things is in our near future.  We still have a couple years left before we're both done with school, and therefore, we'll need to wait to become parents.

As much as I'm looking forward to the future, it won't do to focus only on that right now.  God has me in this place, in this season of life, for very good reason.  He has a purpose for my life right now.  He has work for me to do right where I am.  Therefore, instead of spending all my time planning for and thinking about having a baby sometime in the future, I'm going to look for ways to serve God right here, right now.

Practically speaking, what does it mean to embrace each season of life as it comes?

-I embrace the roles God has given me.  Right now, those are wife, homemaker, and college student.  The roles of wife and homemaker will be mine for the rest of my life.  Now is the time to work on those, gaining wisdom and experience, and nurturing my marriage as much as I can, so that it can stand strong through the changes and challenges that will inevitably come.  After all, even after our future children grow up and leave home, I'll still be a wife--that's my first calling, and the most important.

-I look for ways to serve.  I don't have to wait till my husband is officially a teacher and "in the ministry."  We can start doing ministry right now!  I have hopes and plans that I'm looking to implement this fall...I'll let you know when those plans are more concrete.  At home, I can serve my husband, by taking care of our home and striving to be the best helper to him that I can.  I can open my home to others, and share the love of Jesus by practicing hospitality.  What gifts have I been given?  I can share those and thus serve the Lord.

-I leave the future in God's hands.  It does no good to worry about the future.  I have very little control over the days to come--but God does.  He already knows what will happen in my future, because he is eternal--not bound by time.
God made a promise to his people Israel that applies to his people today, too:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you," declares the Lord... (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)

Jesus taught this to his disciples in Matthew (6:31-34):

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  (Emphasis added)

Finally, we can be certain that nothing in the past, present or future will ever change the way God loves us, and he will let nothing separate us from him.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39, emphasis added)

What does this mean for us?  It means we can embrace our life, wherever we are in it, without fear and with joy, because God has our future in his hands.  He has a plan for us.  And his love for us is unchanging, and will stay the same forever, no matter what the future holds.

Linking with: A Proverbs 31 Wife, What Joy is Mine, The Alabaster Jar, Raising Arrows, The Better Mom, the Modest Mom

Trust in God, not in myself

In one of my theology classes this semester we're working on becoming more familiar with biblical commentaries so we know how to use them for reference and teaching in the future.  I have found some useful resources online.  I'd like to share some of those with you so you can use them for your own study and edification, and also to seek some deeper meaning on one of my favorite passages.

(Note: I can't vouch for the theology of all the sources I'm about to cite.  I don't know the doctrinal beliefs of the writers, but I do agree with their commentary on the particular passage I'm studying today.)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

    and do not lean on your own understanding.

⁶ 

In all your ways acknowledge him,

    and he will make straight your paths.

This is Proverbs 3:5-6 in the English Standard Version.

Just looking at the verses themselves, what do they mean?

-God is fully trustworthy.  I can confidently put my trust in him.

-I am not trustworthy and should not rely on my own wisdom and understanding.

-In everything I do I should look to God.

-When I give my life to him he will show me the right way to go.

The commentary in my NIV Concordia Self-Study Bible reads,

"Commit your way to the Lord, like Israel's forefathers, who trusted in God and were rescued...Be ever mindful of God and serve him with a willing and faithful heart...He will remove the obstacles from your pathway and bring you to your appointed goal." * 

I quite like this expansion on the text from the Matthew Henry Concise Commentary:

"We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, believing he is able and wise to do what is best. Those who know themselves, find their own understandings a broken reed, which, if they lean upon, will fail. Do not design any thing but what is lawful, and beg God to direct thee in every case, though it may seem quite plain. In all our ways that prove pleasant, in which we gain our point, we must acknowledge God with thankfulness. In all our ways that prove uncomfortable, and that are hedged up with thorns, we must acknowledge him with submission. It is promised, He shall direct thy paths; so that thy way shall be safe and good, and happy at last. " (Source)

I love how this passage makes clear our own weakness and inability to do life well on our own.  From experience I have found that when I rely on my own wisdom for decision-making, things usually don't turn out very well.  It's only when I seek to make God's will for me my will, that life goes smoothly.  We should not attempt to bend His will to ours.  Rather, when our decisions aren't working the way we want them to, it's a sign that we should bend our will to His.

This note from the Reformation Study Bible sums that idea up well:

"The Lord will guide you to the final goal of life. God gives wisdom and with it the task of making wise decisions; these are the two aspects of guidance in wisdom teaching. There is no hint of guidance that bypasses the duty of making decisions. But human decisions do not overrule the protection of God’s providence (Gen. 50:20, 21; Ps. 103:14)." (Source)

God doesn't lay our life out in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction sheet.  We have been blessed with free will, and therefore we have the abilities to make our own decisions, whether for good or ill.  But when we put our trust in God and seekHis will, then we will be able to discern the paths he has laid out for us.

When we are in communion with God by being in prayer and in the Word, he makes his desires known to us.  That doesn't mean we'll find the literal answer to our every question in the Bible.  But the Bible does contain guidelines for our life: Love God, love those around us, obey God, trust Him, have faith in Jesus Christ.  When we are putting those things first, the rest will fall into place.

I think the greatest comfort I take from this passage is knowing that God is active in my life, leading me to live as He wants me to.  Because the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, we are constantly able to be obedient to God and His will.  He takes interest in our lives because of Jesus--because of what Jesus has done for us, we are children of God, and as a parent cares about every detail of their child's life, so God cares intimately for us.  Therefore, we can trust him, and put our lives securely in his hands.

How has God taught you to trust Him?  What is one way you can give your life over to Him today?  How do you take comfort from this passage, knowing that God loves you and is active in your life?

Linking with: Upward Not Inward, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers, We are THAT Family

*Concordia Self-Study Bible, NIV, Robert G. Hoerber, ed., emphasis added, p 950

Forgiven: Knowing it, believing it, living it.

I'd like to do a little soul-baring with you, my dear readers.  Perhaps one of you has had an experience like mine, so I hope that sharing my own story will bless you, as well.

Image courtesy of David Castillo, www.freedigitalphotos.net

For much of my life I've had what you might call a legalistic mindset.  I've always understood about grace, don't get me wrong.  I know Jesus died for my sins, I know that because of him I'll have eternal life, I know that God has forgiven every sin I've ever committed or will ever commit.  I know I don't have to DO anything at all for my salvation--Jesus has done it all.

But I struggle with applying what I know in my head, to what I truly believe in my heart.  I've never struggled with faith in Christ, but I've struggled with letting go of my sin.  With accepting the fact that God's forgiveness erases that sin from my life.

It's not like I've done anything "majorly wrong."  I've never done drugs, smoked or gotten drunk.  I was a virgin when I got married.  I've avoided swearing and bad language.  I've never broken a federal law.  My parents raised me to be a good, honest, obedient and law-abiding person.

But I'm just as sinful as anyone else, and I also happen to have a bit of a "guilt complex."  Or, as my husband says, an overly active conscience.  I struggle with letting go of my own sins.

I struggle with forgiving myself, and accepting that through Christ, God has forgiven me.

Does this sound like you?  Have you ever had a struggle like this?

Whether you have or not, perhaps what I've learned will be helpful for you.

Since I started dating Joshua, he has been a powerful voice of forgiveness in my life.  He easily and quickly forgives me when I sin against him and ask his forgiveness.  He's reminded me time and again of God's forgiveness.  And I'll remember that, and know it, for a while.  But then that little voice inside me pulls up a wordless doubt, one that darkens the cheerfulness I usually feel, and makes me feel sorry for myself.  "I'm just not good enough.  I'll always have to struggle with this.  The consequences will always be part of my life.  I don't deserve forgiveness."

I read a blog post today where the author talked about forgetting.  She asked God to remove memories of past sins, so that she wouldn't dwell on them anymore.  This, I realized, is what I needed to do-forget about those sins.  Dwelling on my sins, hanging on to that guilt, and refusing to forgive myself, is actually sin in itself.  It's letting the law take over my life, instead of filling my life with the Gospel.  Then I read another blog post with a similar message, and tonight Joshua and I watched the movie October Baby.  It's about a teenage girl who discovers that she's adopted...and that her birth mother had attempted to have her aborted, but the abortion failed.  The girl also had a twin brother, and although they were both born alive, her brother died.  She struggled to forgive herself for living when her brother died, to forgive her birth mother for trying to kill her, and to forgive her adoptive parents because they had kept the truth from her for a long time.
In the movie there is a powerful message of forgiveness--that because God has forgiven us, we have the ability and the power to choose to forgive others.  Including ourselves.

As the movie was ending I dissolved in tears...because for the first time in a long time, I felt truly at peace with myself.  I realized that I was damaging myself by refusing forgiveness.  And so I let go.  I let go of the guilt I've been clinging to.  What a self-centered thing I had been doing.  It's not like it consumed my life...but it would come up at times, and I wouldn't just let it go.  But I believe God spoke to my heart today.  And so I've let go of the past, those sins that no one else would blame me for but for which I've been blaming myself.  The sins that Satan's been using to hurt my heart.

I read a Scripture verse on a blog today, and it applied so well to my blog, but also to God's gentle message to me today.  It's at the top of this page.  Scroll up and read it.

It's especially the last sentence of that verse that really means a lot to me right now.

I also love these other words of God about forgiveness:

"I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of the greatest," declares the Lord.  "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jeremiah 31:33b-34

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.  As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust."  Psalm 103:8-14

God doesn't remember my sins.  Jesus' sacrifice on the cross took care of that.  God has removed my sins from me; they are no longer part of my life.  He is gracious, not "fair"--I don't get what I deserve.  I deserve eternal punishment.

What God's given me is eternal life.  And grace, forgiveness, and everlasting love.

There is no reason for me to hang onto my guilt.  There is no reason to deny myself forgiveness, not when God has forgiven me long ago.  I am a saved, baptized, forgiven child of God.

And just as Jesus died to save me from MY sins, so he died to save you from yours.  Remember that verse at the top of the page?  That's for you, too.  When we repent of our sins--turn away from them--God is quick to forgive, and remind us of how much he loves us.

And he loves us so very much.

I hope you know that.  If you don't, please talk to me, or talk to a pastor or another Christian you know, who is walking with Jesus.  If you don't believe in Jesus in your personal Lord and Savior, he wants you to, so much!  He wants you to know that you are his child.

It's amazing how much Jesus loves us.  I've been reminded of that today, yet again, and I hope you know that in your heart, too.

Linking with: Growing Home, Heavenly Homemakers, Time-Warp Wife, Exceptionalistic 

Saved by Grace. This is what matters.

My friends, it's a blessed but weary morning.  Most days I'm ready to jump out of bed and start my Bible reading, make breakfast, write a post if I haven't already.

Today I'd love to go back to bed, but this house needs my attention, and so do you.  And you and I both need a reminder of the big picture--what life is all about, what the most important thing is.  (And I'll tell you what, it's not the fact that I have a lot of picking up to do around here.)

It's this:

Ephesians:
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b] 4 But^[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Emphases added] [Source]

This is what matters.  We can't expect perfection from ourselves, because we're not perfect.  We needed saving--which means at one point, we were lost.  Specifically, dead (see v. 1).  But in our baptisms, God made us one with Christ--one in his death, and one in his resurrection, so both Jesus' sacrifice and righteousness count for us, too.  God made us alive with Christ.  He has given us the promise of eternal life with Jesus, and because of his grace has given us faith (again, through our baptism and in the Word) which saves us.

Can I add a note here?  Perhaps you don't believe the truth of these things.  You might have heard about them, but not made them a part of your life.  If you don't know who Jesus is, or if you've heard of him but don't believe in him as your Lord and Savior, please, email me (jaimie dot ramsey at cune dot org) and we'll talk.  This message is for you, too, because Jesus also died for and loves YOU!


Our salvation is not contingent upon anything we do or don't do.  That would make even salvation from sin into a law.  But it's not.

Our salvation is entirely about Jesus, and what HE has done for us.

We are children of God and the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts, enabling us to live obedient lives to God.  Because of Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, God no longer looks at us and sees sinners.  He looks at us and sees Jesus.  He knows we're sinful, but he also knows Jesus has already paid the price for that sin.  He has already forgiven us for everything we have done or will ever do that is against his will for us.  There is no more price to be paid, no more punishment to be taken.  Oh, we experience the temporal consequences of bad decisions.  Sometimes those consequences are acutely painful.  But they don't affect our eternal state--our soul has been ransomed by Jesus Christ, and nothing in this world can touch it.

Ah...yes.  This is what's important.  God doesn't love me more if my house is clean.  He doesn't look at my homemaking skills or my good grades and say, "Well done, Jaimie, you've just made your salvation more sure."  That would be ridiculous.  God doesn't depend on us for our own salvation.  He just asks that we don't throw away the faith in his Son that he's graciously given us.  And I'm not about to do that.

Today, you and I can rest in the knowledge that God loves us, no matter what our house looks like, no matter how we do in our job or our studies or whatever vocation we're in.  Remember that you are saved by grace through faith, and this is NOT of your own doing.  It's a gift from God.

Linking today with Upward not Inward, Exceptionalistic, Deep Roots at Home, Raising Homemakers