Statutes of Liberty

Today's passage:  Romans 15:1-6
     "For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."
     Paul starts this chapter, reminding mature Christians to be careful with their Christian liberty.  The whole chapter before this dealt mostly with this subject, about not being a stumbling block, about abstaining from certain things (in this case meat offered to idols) if it would be a problem for a fellow Christian, particularly a Christian younger in the Lord.  Now, it would be easy to grumble and complain about this. I know many Christians grumble and complain about it, myself included, and I have a pretty sure guess that the Christians in the early church grumbled and complained as well.  If they hadn't, there would have been little need to address it.   Then Paul drops the anvil.  It is pretty hard to complain about giving up certain liberties until I realize that Christ gave everything up for me.

Picture is courtesy of http://breadsite.org

      If Jesus could have done it another way, I'm guessing He probably would have brought His riches from Heaven with Him. He would have been excellent help in Joseph's carpenter shop when He could speak a piece of furniture into existence rather than using the hammer, nails and wood.  Using his supernatural powers, He could have silenced the Pharisees by making them dumb.  He could transport from town to town to preach rather than walking those great distances and he would never have to borrow another man's home for a night's sleep.  If Jesus could have done it another way, He would probably never have come to earth at all.  He gave up His comforts, His powers, His life.  Anything I might have to give up seems awfully petty by comparison, doesn't it?  Now, I don't know why God chose to have Jesus come the way He did, but something tells me, that He had to live like us, to be an example for us.  None of us will have all the power of the universe, but I might have to change my way of doing things to reach someone else or help them grow.  I never had to give up golden streets or ivory palaces, but I might have to hold my tongue if someone says something unpleasant to me.  I never had to give up my life (prayerfully, never will) but I might have to steer away from certain topics of conversation if it might be offensive to a younger Christian.  Do I have the freedom to watch, go, listen to, say, whatever I want?  Of course I do.  Are there people who will take advantage of the Christian liberty issue, claiming they are offended by this thing or that thing?  Yes.  We will encounter that too, and then we have to decide if it is a matter of causing a Christian to genuinely stumble or whether they just have a critical spirit (which even if that is the case, doesn't necessarily mean I still shouldn't be accomodating).  Jesus could have barred the Pharisees from ever coming to listen to Him.  They were always critical, trying to entrap rather than enjoy.   They never came because they wanted to believe (although Nicodemus eventually did).  Jesus was not too concerned about offending them, because they never intended to receive Him.  But He is all-knowing, and He could make that judgement.  I am not.  So when my Christian liberty is in question, I would be better to let the thing go rather than examine all angles of the case to see if it is something I should continue to pursue.  Is my comfort or right to something really worth offending a fellow brother or sister in Christ, or worse yet, causing an  unsaved person to stay unsaved?  Every person has to decide that for herself, but as for me, I don't feel at liberty to risk it.

Tall Tale Two

Today's passage:  II Samuel 21:15-22
     David is not a young man anymore.  I have to respect that he still goes out to battle with his men.  Maybe after the incident with Bathsheba, he determined that he would never stay home for a battle again.  Only nowadays, David's age is starting to show.  His sword feels heavier, difficult to wield.  His steps more uncertain, wobbly even.  He is not agile as he was in his youth.  He has to sit down to rest more.  But when do you have a chance to rest during a battle?  As much as his men probably appreciate having their king willing to lay down his own life in these attempts, he's slowing them down.  He has become more of a hindrance than an asset.
     In this passage, the Philistines continue to harass the Israelites.  They will never believe that Israel has a right to all that land.  They will never believe that Israel has a more powerful God.  He may have been more powerful on the day Goliath was killed, but that was only one day.  Goliath's brother and I assume a few of his sons (they are referred to as the sons of the giant) have a personal vendetta against David.  Goliath's brother would not forget that day.  I don't know how old Goliath's sons may have been at the time, but if they were not old enough to see their father fall, they had heard their uncle's version numerous times.  Here, they had the opportunity to personally see their dreams of destroying David realized.  And Ishbi-benob, the one son, nearly accomplishes it.  It says he was "girded with a new sword" and I'm not sure if that means this is his first arena of battle or if he had his weapon freshened for this occasion. Venom is flowing from this man.  He blames David for the years without his father.  He had no more learned the lesson than Goliath had.  The problems the Philistines had were not Israel's fault (See A Truly Tall Tale).  Now it would have made a great movie reel if David destroyed all these enemies.  But I think his fighting days are over.  He has mighty men to do that job for him.  And they do an excellent job.

David faces Goliath with his sling--Taken from Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Three
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1926 

     But it makes me wonder.  How must David have felt?  There he is, back against the rocks, unable to really defend himself anymore.  He braces himself for the blow of the sword when the giant topples over.  One of David's mighty men has rescued him.  In his younger days, David would have been the rescuer.  He had been Israel's hero.  Being king seemed infinitely more significant, but people did not always love kings.  They always loved heroes.  Perhaps knowing Goliath's kin would be in this fight is all the more reason David decided to show up.  Maybe he thought he could recapture the glory days when he had first become a national figure.  When the country was singing about his killing Saul's ten thousands.  Now somebody was killing David's ten thousands.  Did it make him sympathize with Saul a little bit?  Did he understand Saul's jealousy of a younger warrior?
     David was beginning to understand that God had already used his past, he would not get that back.  His present was a little messed up.  Failures had caused complications for him.  But there was still his future.  Could an old man do anything for God?  Any man (or woman) no matter the age can do something for God, if they are yielded to Him.  I started to realize I was getting older as a counselor in the youth group when I was grumpy after overnight lock-ins.  I used to love that kind of thing (when I was younger).  I know I'm getting older when make-up doesn't hide the laugh lines anymore, when plucking gray hairs now takes longer than if I would just cover them up, when amusement park rides give me more vertigo than butterflies.
     David's future is a question mark.  It doesn't mean he is finished.  It doesn't mean his best years are behind him, it just means his youngest years are.  Realizing youth is past is not a pleasant discovery.  I'm still reconciling myself to the fact that I'm middle-aged.  I feel younger than I look.  But I wouldn't trade the maturity and wisdom I have gained as I have gotten older.  And though David has had a lot of regret, I'm guessing he has learned a lot and wouldn't trade those experiences either.

Hamstrung

Today's passage:II Samuel 8
     "And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen:  and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots."
      I had no idea what it meant to hough a horse.  Fortunately, my study Bible provided a definition, and then using the handy-dandy internet, I was able to look up some more information.  Houghing meant to cut the hamstrings.  In a horse, this would hamper its ability to run at full speed. Most articles I read claimed that houghing would cripple the horse, but obviously that wasn't so since David used them to drive chariots.  I also read that you never want to approach a horse from behind.  Instinctually, a horse will kick anyone who comes at him from behind.  This is because animals who would prey on a horse will get him by the neck and by the hamstring to disable him.

      David used some of these horses for battle.  Some of them he used for his own personal pleasure.  I'm not sure how he determined which horse would do what, but I know that it was necessary to "hamstring" them (as we call it today) to be certain they could properly perform their duties.  How does that apply in my life?  Lately, I've felt a little hamstrung.  This is because God has been teaching me a new way to think.  I've already written about how God has been dealing with me on family issues.  I had been putting everyone else first, thinking I was serving God, and putting my family and particularly my husband last.  My housework was never getting done, my husband (who never complains or gripes at me) was silently bearing my gripes and complaints because of my frustrations at never getting everything done. My children were used to walking on crummy floors, waiting for wet underwear to finish in the dryer because Mommy was behind on laundry, searching for any school supplies buried under bills and papers.  This has been my life.  And I've hated it.  It is not that I'm not organized.  It is just that I had neglected my duties at home for so long that everything kept piling up.  I wasn't trying to neglect them, I just was running around doing everything else that I left little time to do things here.  I just kept thinking, well, the housework will always be there.  And will always be there.  And will always be there.  And it still is here.  But the problem is now I am playing catch up.  Now I'm having to train my children to do better.  Now they are bewildered by my orders to put the shoes away or hang up their coats or clear the table.  They just left all that before and Mommy didn't seem to mind.  Actually, Mommy always minded but when there was so much to be done, it didn't seem like those little things would make much difference.  I'm making new habits.  But it has meant not running around doing everything for everyone else.  It doesn't mean that I will not help out with other things.  But it means that I must make time to keep my family in order.  It has been difficult for me.  Whenever I see a need, I want to fill it.  But my family needs me too.
     This is why I say I have felt that God has cut my hamstrings.  But this isn't a bad thing.  I mean, He really could have slowed me down in a physical way if He had wanted to.  He has shown me the error of my ways, and I am learning to slow down myself instead of God putting some kind of physical impairment in my path to force me.  He could hamstring me, or He could let an enemy do that.  Since an enemy would only do this to harm or destroy me, I think I would prefer to let God do it.  Also, David used some of those houghed horses to drive his own chariots.  If they were still running wild, hamstrings intact, it would have been difficult for them to serve him.  This is how I have to view my limited mobility in serving others.  It is not that I can't still do that, but I need to stop being the wild stallion who gallops off in every direction, unwilling to be tamed.  I have had to be domesticated.  It is the tamed horses that David chose to drive his chariot.  Instead of bemoaning this process, I am trying to embrace it, realizing that God is still working with and in me.  He may have me going at a slower pace, but I am still moving in the right direction.  Some of those hamstrung horses were warriors.  Some of them were David's escorts.  Right now, I feel like the escort horse instead of the warrior horse.  But when I'm ready, when my family is ready, I can go out onto the battlefield again.  For now, I'm content to stay bridled to God's chariot and let Him take the reins.

Bread-Making Day

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 5
     When I was a little girl, I have a clear memory of my Mom making fresh-baked bread.  I don't remember ever watching her assemble the dough, punching it and kneading it to get it bake-ready, but I remember the smell of that home-made bread.  The aroma filled the house.  I also remember having to be very careful shutting doors.  As I am not much of a baker, I don't know if that still applies today.  Anything that would send a jolt through the house, might cause the bread to fall, instead of rise.  You always want the bread to rise.  I never remember my grandmother baking bread.  Maybe that is because she lived down the road from the quarry, whose blasts we could hear nearly every day.  Baking in her house might have been highly unsuccessful.  In any case, there were occasions when Mom would pull the bread from the oven and it looked like a sinkhole had pulled the dough into itself.  When this occurred, we never celebrated.  We never cheered that the bread had deflated.  It was sad.  As the bread smell wafts through the house, you salivate and impatiently wait for the sound of the oven timer.  You have knife and plate ready to spread a pad of melting butter and crunch into the crispy crust. How disappointing when Mom would pull it from the oven and it was inedible, trying to whoa the taste buds until the next bread-making day.
     "Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?"  Paul is chastening the church in Corinth for allowing someone who is openly practicing his sin to remain in the church.  Allowing it signals approval.  I am not even going to attempt to get into church discipline, I will leave that to a pastor, but I think there are some obvious teachings from the Scriptures that make it very clear that some situations have no business remaining in the church.  The Scriptures are very candid about unrepentant believers being admitted fellowship in the local congregation.  We live in a world of tolerance.  But we cannot be tolerant at any price.  The price being, that if a believer participating in a particular sin, and unwilling to relinquish it remains, it may start to grow in other areas of the church.  Why?  Because if he is allowed to remain, it seems as if it is okay.  If it is okay, then it will spread.  This is what Paul fears.  He admonishes the Corinthians to put this man out, since he appears to be unrepentant. 
     I don't ever remember eating a collapsed loaf of bread.  It is yeasty, doughy and not tasty.  It completely contrasts with the loaf we were expecting to get.  We usually threw it out.  A Christian who openly practices and participates in sin, without remorse, is like the bread that has not risen.  Everyone expects something quite different than what comes out of the oven.  A person who calls himself a Christian but practices the ways of the world, delivers a wrong concept about Christianity.  Whether we like it or not, the world holds us to a higher standard.  If we live less than the expectations, it is like delivering an unrisen loaf of bread.  The world expects to see that knife-ready golden crust.  They smell the home-made bread aroma throughout the house and have a good idea what a loaf should look and taste like.  It doesn't mean they will partake, but our lives should be enticing to them.  It should be pleasant to the eyes and nose.  None of us is perfect, but even the world knows activities a Christian should not be involved.  Just as we should not be proud when the bread does not rise, neither should we be happy about a Christian who falls away and refuses to repent.  We should not encourage them by keeping them in the church, but we should not whoop and holler because he has to be thrown out.  Neither response is desirable.  Wouldn't it be better if the Christian would just admit his sin, repent and be allowed to remain in fellowship?  This is obviously the most desirable outcome.  We want every Christian to thrive.  We want every Christian to walk with the Lord, but if he refuses to see the error of his ways, we do no favors to ourselves and to our churches by keeping inedible bread.  Maybe one day, he will scrap the old dough and be allowed to rise again.  That is the sincere hope.  Bread that rises is always something to anticipate.

Baby Talk

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 3:1-9
     It has been learned that babies should be talked to in a normal, adult-toned voice.  I am not disputing this in the least.  I believe that is probably right.  But I have to confess that there is something about seeing those baby cheeks, that toothless grin, those wide, innocent eyes that automatically makes my voice sound high-pitched and allows non-sensical words to tumble out.  Sure, I should not talk baby-talk to babies, yet it seems to be a language they understand because I am rewarded with the cutest giggles.  Now my almost two year old is getting a little past the baby-talk stage.  I have had to modify the tone for him.  I talk differently to my adorable 10-month old niece than I do to my two year old.  I talk differently to my 4 year old than I do my 2 year old.  And I reserve even more adult talk for my almost 8 year old than I do the younger two.  Not only the tone of my voice is different, but how I give instructions to them.  I have been told that a little child will only remember the last word you say, especially when asked to do something.  Keeping this in mind, I give my youngest only two or three word commands, he won't remember any more than that.  My four year old gets a complete sentence, although only one command at a time.   My eight year old can handle three or four instructions at once.  For example, to my two year old, I might say:  "Pick up the toys."  For my four year old, I would say, "Pick up the toys and put them in the toybox."  After that is completed, I would say, "Now return the books to the bookshelf."  My eight year old can remember both of these commands at once, without having them repeated.  He can make the list in his head, "Pick up toys, straighten books."  Now if I were to talk to my eight year old the way I talk to my niece or my two year old, he would look at me like I was crazy.  He would be a little offended.  He would tell me, as he has on occasion for other things I thought still suited his age, that that is for babies.  And he would be right.
     God has to talk to us right where we are.  And God doesn't mind adjusting His instructions and tone to fit where we are in our Christian lives, because some of us are farther down the paths than others, and some of us have just started.  But there comes a time that if we have been on the path for a while, we should start to catch up with the Christians that are ahead.  If we look around us and all we see are immature Christians (because they are newly saved, not referring to any character trait) we might want to think to ourselves, "Should I be a little farther along than this?"  If people who were saved around the same time as I was seem to have developed more, maybe I need to take inventory and see why I haven't grown as quickly.  I'm not saying that everyone develops at the same pace, even real babies grow at different rates, but if there is that much of a gap, I certainly should examine it.  Does God have to still give me simple instructions, or can I handle the paragraph yet?  Can I make the list in my head?  How is my growth?  If I want to grow, I need to eat more meat.  There are only a few places to find that, in my Bible and in my church.  If I'm feasting on a regular basis, I should find that I am starting to catch up.  Right now, my two year old runs as fast as he can to try to keep up with his big brothers.  He's not there yet, but one day his legs will grow stronger and faster and he may even pass them.  The Christian life is not a competition, but it is a race, and I ought to want to be one of the fastest and strongest.  I ought to be offended if God still has to use baby talk with me.  It would mean I haven't grown as fast as I should.

Hole in the Wall

Today's passage:  Isaiah 58
     My son loves a show on Nickelodeon called "Hole in the Wall".  It is a children's competition show.  The object is for the team of kids to position themselves in a way that matches the cutouts in a foam wall approaching them.  If they fashion themselves right, they will make it through the hole and win points.  It is harder than it looks and highly entertaining.
     "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places:  thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."  When I read that last part, I think of titles bestowed by royals.  A person who has particularly gained the attention of the king kneels before him and is dubbed, "The Keeper of the Jewels" or "Master of Horse". Israel had a solid beginning.  Along the way, she had allowed influences into her life that began to tear down her walls.  She forgot who had laid her foundation.  She started building with weak materials.  The walls began to crumble.  With time, walls cracked, holes appeared, foundations shifted.  A solid beginning can only go so far, if a person chooses not to build correctly on it. Just like the kid's game show, the holes can be so big, whole people can get through.  In Israel's case, it had been the wrong people.

Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem--Taken from Treasure of the Bible (Captivity and Return)
By Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D.
International Publishing Company, 1894

     I am thankful that I was raised in a solid family.  When I say solid, I mean a mother and father who loved each other and kept our family together through good and bad.  I have a close relationship with all my brothers and sisters, a circumstance I have learned since, that is unusual.  We were raised in church and given good examples at home.  We were taught kindness and respect.  We always had clothes to wear (hand-me-downs count), full tummies, and a place to live.  I had a very good foundation.  It has been a foundation that has helped my kids.  I realize not every one has been as fortunate as I have been. A person or nation who has not had a great beginning does not automatically collapse.  With God's help, he can lay a new foundation.  He can patch walls.  He can repair breaches.  When he does, wrong people will not be able to get through the holes.  Wrong influences will not have an opportunity to bring down the next generation.   He will garner the titles "Repairer of the Breach" and "Restorer of Paths to Dwell in" and most importantly, he will have a beautiful structure that will stand strong and not crumble.