What Does Lack Look Like? (Part 2)

1 Corinthians 6:16-17 KJV
"What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."

So this is where the idea of unity is explained most clearly. It reminds me of the verse that states "man cannot serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or love the one and despise the other." I believe that thought is here. How can you honestly claim to be in spiritual communion with Christ when you are in sexual union with a prostitute? How can you be quarreling bitterly and publicly with your brother in Christ and yet be in fellowship with God and living in His word? How can you serve Christ and serve your sinful self? The answer is you can't.

So what does lack of unity with God look like? It looks like lack of unity with our brothers and sisters. It looks like inconsistency between what we say about God and what we do in response to God's Word. It looks like selfishness, foolishness, and defeat.

When we are united with the Lord Jesus, we are united on every level--emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. He wants everything; our heart and its affections, our spirit and our attitudes, our intelligence and our intellect, and our bodies and desires. We are in essence relinquishing all selfish control of our existence and handing it to Him. And when we turn back on that choice and again feel a pull toward the flesh that used to reign, our communion with God will be hindered. We will find that our emotions, our minds, our souls, and our flesh will be at war with each other...FAR from united. And the farther we distance from the Savior who longs to be one with us, the more it shows in the way we live before others.

God help us to stay close to Him and consequently, close to the people who walk through life beside us...that He may be glorified by our unity and others may be won to Him.

What Does Lack Look Like?

Musings on 1 Corinthians 6

After thinking so much about unity over the past few days, I appreciated hearing a discussion regarding it tonight during weekly Bible study with my local church. We are currently studying 1 Corinthians 6. Paul discusses here several glaring instances of discord, or lack of unity, in the Corinthian church.

First, the issue of Christian brothers and sisters taking each other to court is discussed. A few things seemed relatively clear to me: the two are in a quarrel based on at least one wronging the other, they are not handling it between themselves with repentance and/or forgiveness, and the church appears incapable of providing the wisdom needed to resolve it.

Next, the lack of unity with Christ is handled by defining the characteristics of an ungodly, Christ-forsaking world and how those things are creeping into the lives of the Christians in the church. This description moves on into the dangers of licentiousness--particularly gluttony and fornication. Both of these sins are a display of a lack of unity between ourselves and God. Gluttony is seeking satisfaction in food and not in God and fornication is union with another body who does not belong to us--seeking satisfaction in sexual union with another person instead of in spiritual communion with our heavenly Bridegroom. When we were made One with Christ, He became the One for whom we are to forsake all others, for richer or poorer, and as long as we should live.

( Will be continued)

Only a Thought for Now..

Musings on Unity

Sometimes I find that all I can say is what is nagging my heart. This week, much has been on my mind. But, my thoughts keep returning to this one word: unity.

What does it mean when the Lord Jesus prays in the garden that all who follow Him will be one, as He and the Father are one? What does it mean to be of one mind? What is true unity as I find in God's Word?

As I begin looking into the meaning and significance of Christian unity, I am finding four representations that require much more study and meditation than that of one day.

First, unity in the family of God (brotherhood and sisterhood). Second, unity in covenant marriage. Third, unity in service and suffering. Fourth, unity in the Godhead.

I hope that as I keep learning about what the Scripture means to be one with others in these God-honoring ways, I will also learn what it means to unite body, mind, soul, and spirit for the purpose of glorifying Him.

As the week goes on, I pray God will teach us all what we need most to hear and learn.

Prayers That Exalt Him...and Change Me

Musings on Psalm 119

Ok, I know what you are probably thinking. "Girl, you really want to tackle the longest chapter in our Bible? Do you think you are some kind of scholar or something?" Definitely.not.

This chapter is full of things I can't even scratch the surface of. But, today a pattern of prayer in Psalm 119 caught my eye and as I looked closer, I couldn't help but get excited about belonging to the God who answers prayer. The God who is worthy of our worship and delights in our praise.
As I read through this extensive chapter this morning, I decided to take the time to write out every direct address and request to God: from the first, "Do not forsake me utterly" to the last "Seek Your servant". What I found as I did this amazed me. So many of the psalmist's pleas to God are repeated over and over again...and each of the three requests that are repeated most often call on God for sincere change.

"Teach me" is the most frequent request (spoken 9 times). "Teach me Your statutes"...He wants to know the law and truth of the God he thirsts for. This man is first a student of God and His Word.

The second most common phrase is one that I have often failed to notice and is now the one that speaks most to my heart: "Revive me." The writer consistently asks the Lord for revival (8 times this phrase is used). True intimacy with God is not about head knowledge clearly, it is about heart knowledge. Only if my heart is truly alive in His grace--revived by His word, revived by lovingkindness, revived by obedience--will I experience satisfying closeness with God. When I am dry and distant and all-but-dead, what I need to ask God for most is revival in my own heart. A thirst for Him and the everlasting, satisfying, abundant life He offers.

And third, I was impressed by the ever-present longing for understanding in this psalm. "Make me understand" or "Give me understanding" is repeated 5 times...to me, that's a lot. If you were ever to ask the people in this world who know me best, you would soon find that I am not a good listener. I try, but it is not something that comes easily to me at all. I was that girl who struggled to pass reading comprehension and listening sections of standardized tests simply because I paid little attention to what mattered even when I tried to. In all honesty, I like knowing things. It somehow appeals to my foolish self to have facts and knowledge that I can hold over people's heads. But, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have truly sought to understand someone or something at a deep, core level. All that talk of shallow and deep processing in Psych 101? I'd pretty much end up in the shallows every time. I know it, but I never truly seek to know it in the fullest sense. But, this is how I want to know God and His word: and if I ask in prayer, "Give me understanding" He promises to provide.

There are a multitude of amazing prayers found in this chapter dedicated to expressing the beauty and joy of God's word. "Open my eyes...Strengthen me...Turn my eyes away from worthless things...Let Your mercies come to me...Remember the word You spoke to me...Let my heart be blameless...Save me...Help me!...Uphold me...Hear me...Deliver me...Redeem me." If these were only my prayers when I seek God's face in my day!

It is so easy for my prayers to be self-focused and even self-exalting as I beg the Lord to accomplish my own will. It is so easy to ask Him to change my circumstances, alter others' behavior, and fix my problems. But, so rarely do I find myself asking what this psalm asks. Father, Teach me that I may learn. Revive me that I may live only for You. Give me understanding so I may believe and obey all that I find as I spend time in Your presence.  I so rarely ask the Lord to change me.

Only by changing my heart into a heart more like His will God be exalted or his will be accomplished in me. I pray that God will help us everyday to exalt His name in our actions and conversation and to depend on Him consistently to change our hearts into hearts more like the loving, serving, and gracious heart of Jesus.

Clinging to Him

Musings on John 20:1-18

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a close friend of mine that changed my whole perception of this resurrection story. He shared with me that he was reading about Mary Magdalene at the tomb in John 20 and said "You know what's incredible? Jesus loved Mary. Mary loved Jesus. And when He said "Don't touch me", like we've always heard, it really means "Stop clinging to me". Wouldn't it be amazing to hold onto Jesus so tightly that He'd have to tell us let go a little?"

Wow.
That wounded me like a knife in the gut. I had never thought of that scene in that way...and I can admit that rarely have I drawn so close to the Savior that He would ever wonder about restraining me from coming closer.

I am humbled when I think of the story of Mary Magdalene. She had been possessed by seven demons before she met Jesus and He graciously healed her. Undoubtedly, her former life was one of immeasurable darkness and torture and bondage. It is interesting that in the Scriptures, the number seven is a number of completeness...what a cruel and seemingly inescapable prison to have seven demons living your soul! But, here beside the tomb of Jesus, she is a free woman...overwhelmed by grief that the Man who saved her life has been stolen from His grave. Completely dumbfounded that the Man she believed to be the Messiah is dead. Lonely for that prized closeness with Love and Light himself.

Notice the first verse: "On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb." She came early...the earliest time of the week at the earliest time of day. She came in the dark. She sought the One she loved before everything else. And who was the first to see the empty tomb of Jesus? Mary.

As she ran to tell the other disciples that He was not there, the news must have been beyond confusing to her finite mind. How could this be? Where is He? In verses 10 and 11, there is a contrast I hadn't noticed until I examined it again. "The disciples went away again to their own homes...but Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb." Jesus' own chosen men left the tomb to go home. In effect, they decided to close up shop because nothing wonderful could happen here at the empty tomb of their Master. But what did Mary do? Overcome with grief and covered in tears, she stood by the tomb and looked for something more. In verse 15, who is the first to see the angels and to be asked that searching question "Why are you weeping?" Mary. This woman who had watched the Light of the Lord Jesus banish her darkness was the first to be introduced to the stunning truth that the Light of the World had conquered even the blackness of death itself. 

Best of all, who was the first to see the Lord Jesus alive again? Mary. She turns to Him, "supposing Him to be the gardener" and asks where he has been laid. And yet, the risen Christ stands right in front of her and, in response, speaks only her name. "Mary." Instantly, everything is clear! Can we even imagine the joy in Mary's heart as she held Him and said "Rabboni!"? Her heart must have been leaping.

She was at the cross. She watched Him die. And now she stands at the empty tomb in His open arms!

Then, she hears these tender words in verse 17; "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and my God and your God." I can't wrap my head or my heart around this verse. I don't think I will ever be able to.

The Lord Jesus had completed everything to rescue a fallen world and bring them into close communion with God once again. Because of His sacrifice, His God is now ours. His Father is now ours by blood. And who does He tell first? A weeping woman that hangs onto Him for dear life. A weak woman He had rescued from the devil's strong grip. Tenderly, Jesus gives the news of His resurrection--the greatest triumph in history--not to His disciples, not to kings and queens and generals, not to crowds of admiring spectators..but to Mary Magdalene who hangs on His neck in tears.

Because she sought Him, because she devoted her whole heart to the only One who could provide the pure love she craved, this woman who had lived in the world's darkness for long enough found the risen Jesus first. And as she clung to Him and then obediently released her hold on Him so He could finally return to His throne in heaven, she taught us all a lesson not to be forgotten.

Seek Him sincerely and seek Him first. Seek Him in your darkness. You will find Him and when you do, cling to Him with everything you have. Because His life is the only life worth clinging to.

Waiting is Seeking

Musings on Psalms 62-63

"My soul, wait only upon God; for my expectation is from Him." (62:5)

"O God, You are my God; early will I seek You: my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." (63:1)

One strikingly powerful facet of imperfection is impatience. If anyone knows this all too well, I do. I HATE waiting...I hate it like cows hate the slaughterhouse. But, God has been teaching me recently that waiting is not only an vital discipline but also a way to draw closer to the Savior's heart. When the angst of waiting for God to work overwhelms me, I am forced closer to Him in prayer...and I can rest assured that He understands exactly how I feel.

Waiting makes us thirsty. When we are thirsty, we set out on a search for pure water. And God leads us to the Source of Living Water! Incredible.

Waiting is not sitting by, doing nothing. It is actively, consistently, sincerely seeking the face of God. Waiting is not doubting and dawdling...it is hoping expectantly and working to serve in every way we are able at present.

Seeking God is waiting God's time and revelation.

And waiting? Waiting in itself is seeking the only One worth waiting for.

Leaving It All

Musings on Matthew 16:24

When I love something, I'll most likely leave everything else to attain it. 6:30 am and I leave my warm bed to play the piano that beckons. 1:30 am and I still sit at my desk poring over an old copy of Jane Eyre. I leave my sleep to follow my passions.

And when I love someone, I am called to leave everything else to serve him or her. No matter what I want, I am to leave it to provide for their needs. When my niece needs a shoulder to cry on or applause to cheer her on, I'm to drop what I'm doing and give it. When the one I love is sick or struggling, I'm to care for him as I'd want to be taken care of. When my friend is down on her luck, I'm to provide something she lacks asking nothing in return.

But here's the kicker: I don't always do that. In fact, I often don't.

I say I love God's Word, but do I leave my comfort to read it? I say I love my brothers and sisters, but do I leave the people that stand against them to be on their side? I say I love my best friend, but do I drop what I'm doing to pray for her in her struggles and the stresses and temptations of her day?...I could keep going.

And I am as sincere in my affections as a faltering human can be! I try to love the people I love in every way I can think of...and yet I still fall so short. When Jesus asks us to "take up our cross and follow Him", He means to leave everything for love of Him. "Let the dead bury their dead"(Matt. 8:22) can sound pretty harsh but think of what He's saying for a minute. Here's a paraphrase: Family should not impede your devotion to me, and death itself should not impede your devotion to me. Following me is first.

I am reminded of the institution of marriage. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh."(Gen. 2:24) It's the same thought here. If you love one, you'll leave the other. In leaving, you will be united intimately to the one you have been given.

Are we truly willing to leave all for love of others? More importantly, are we willing to leave all for love of the Lord Jesus? He left everything for love of us...heaven, glory, angels, wealth, power. Can we not follow Him, "forsaking all others"?

I am ashamed when I think of my failing to take up my cross daily..when I think of all I have been given and how little I give. But, I so want to learn to leave everything! To leave the world, to leave my sin, and to leave all that weakens my resolve to serve the Savior who purchased me at such great price.

As we prepare to worship Him tomorrow, let's remember to leave everything that doesn't matter behind. Let's worship the One we love in spirit and in truth...because He first loved us. <3 Enough to take up His cross so we never had to bear God's righteous anger. He left all because He loved us. May I leave all because I love Him..and continue to learn to love the people in my life as He loves me.