Standing Fast

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 16
     Paul says farewell to the Corinth church in this chapter.  He addresses some individually and the church as a whole.  He gives them a few last words of encouragement and advice.  Some of this encouragement is found in verse 13:  "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."
     Standing fast.  In this verse, that probably means, be firm, don't give up, defend what you believe.  Can I make a parenting analogy?  As a parent, when I think of standing fast with my kids, I always have to stay a step ahead of them.  This means I have to think through each stage in their life, and prepare myself for the challenges they present.  I need to have ready answers and planned reactions.  When Paul says to stand fast, I'm sure he means all the definitions I already mentioned, but what if he also means to be quick?  Shouldn't we, as Christians, be a step ahead of Satan and his attacks?  Shouldn't we be watching for what the world will hurl at us, to knock us off balance? 
     How can I stand fast, when standing indicates not moving, but fast indicates movement?  It seems a little contradictory.  Going back to parenting, I have certain values and principles I want my children to learn.  They will test these and question these things in various phases of their lives.  I never relinquish them, I never abandon them, but I rush ahead and plant my feet again, so they understand that when they needed to obey Mommy and Daddy as a toddler, they still need to heed Mom and Dad as a teenager.  So how do I do that with God's Word?  I think the other phrases in the verse help me to see what I need to do.  First, I need to watch.  I know many people are not keen on current events.  Personally, I only watch the news because my husband is a news hound.  It forces me to pay better attention.  I think it is important that we watch worldly trends, not so we can participate, but so we can defend against them.  When we see something, we ought to gauge it by the Bible, and see what His Word has to say about particular activities.  A few years ago, I kept hearing teenagers talking about a particular celebrity who had burst onto the music scene.  I wondered why the sudden hoopla.  I decided to check it out and oh my!  Did I get an eye and earful!  This particular singer was so ungodly in her lyrics and videos, I was just stunned.  That is what is influencing our teenagers!  I was seriously appalled.  Now, I don't recommend turning on MTV on a regular basis.  But I think sometimes to stay a step ahead, we need to be aware of what is out there.  We need to watch and pay attention to the trends, because those are the snares Satan has set for our kids.

Courtesy of http://breadsite.org

     This verse also says to "quit you like men".  Quitting doesn't seem like it belongs in this verse, since he is talking about standing firm and being watchful.  The definition by Webster I particularly like is "To carry through; to do or perform something to the end, so that nothing remains; to discharge or perform completely."  When I think of doing this like men, I think of the military.  Soldiers follow through with an order given by their commander.  It is what they are trained to do.  Sometimes they have to quit a station to move ahead of the enemy and not allow them to advance further.  Sometimes they are engaged in combat.  As a woman, that does not appeal to me.  At all.  I am generally a peacemaker and do not like to engage in conflict.  There are those occasions when my husband hands me the phone when a political party calls for donations.  He chuckles when I won't back down from my conservative views and advise them that if they want my money they better get on the right track.  He lets me answer the door when religious organizations preaching heresy try to give us their literature.  When it comes to defending God's Word, I can be tenacious.  Now, I don't try to engage in debate, I never find that works.  But I am determined to let them know my resolve will not weaken on these issues.  If I am going to stand fast, I need to be studying God's Word, and praying that God will give me the words to say when I am engaged in battle.
     The last phrase in this verse says to "be strong".  Physically, I am not all that strong.  I know women with more muscle and are stronger.  Emotionally, I am often a weakling.  My heart is easily touched and I get all feminine and woman-like, crying at weddings, at sappy songs, at chick flicks, at people in need.  How strong am I spiritually?  I hope in that area, I have the strength to fight the good fight.  I could do a much better job memorizing Scripture.  I know a lot of parts of verses, but don't ask me where to find them.  I'm horrible at references.  Yet, if I want to stay a step ahead of my attacker, if I want to stand fast, I better be able to point out where I can support my position.  Satan will challenge me on this.  Just as he tempted Jesus in the wilderness by presenting Scripture, he will try to twist and distort God's Words so that I am convinced they say what he wants me to believe.  Its also important to know the context of verses.  Anybody can take a verse out of a passage and make it say what they want it to say.  I try so very carefully here, not to do that.  Sometimes I will do that by way of application, but hopefully never by way of interpretation or doctrine.  How many cults have been founded on a verse taken out of a passage that did not mean anything that they were trying to make it say?  Satan is a master at this.  If I want to stand fast, and stay that step ahead of him, I need to know what all of my Bible says.  Reading the whole passage is a really good way to defend against this.
     As a parent, as a soldier, as a Christian, God wants me to stand fast.  He wants me to watch the signs of the times, He wants me to defend His Word, He wants to give me spiritual strength to fight the Wicked One.  He wants me to stay a step ahead of the devil so I can defend against him properly.  God says His Word is quick and powerful.  Using it can make me the same.

Just Around the Corner

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 15:51-58
     My son's favorite game on the Wii is Mario Karts.  I have to admit, I really enjoy it too.  The first couple times I played, I was a very bad driver.  The graphics of the game are so incredible, but because the game is only 2D, it was sometimes hard for my undiscerning eyes to separate the background from the actual course.  I drove off every bridge, crashed into every wall, fell into every body of water.  And then there are those blind curves.  You know, those curves that you can't see what is around the corner and smack into whatever ends up being around the bend.  Yeah, did that numerous times.  It would be easy to get frustrated and give up on the game.  Fortunately, I do have a bit of a competitive side, and it rises up and won't allow me to do that.  So although, I rarely ever finish in first place in these races, I don't always finish in last either.
    "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."  We often quote this verse to emphasize the importance of being faithful to a task.  But it is really important to read the verses beforehand.  There is a reason we can be steadfast, unmoving, and abounding.  It is because Christ will return.  Christ may come within the next few seconds, as I'm typing these words, and I want Him to find me hard at work, going about the Father's business.  He's coming very soon.  That is why every Bible verse I review with my kids, every prayer I offer for a loved one's salvation, every tract I give to the grocery store cashier, is urgent.  It is not in vain.  It may be the last time I get to do those things.  Christ's coming is like the blind curves.  I can't see around the corner, so I don't know when it will be, but everyday is a little closer to the time Jesus will come back for us.  It would be easy to get frustrated and give up.  I mean, really, there is a lot in the Christian life that is discouraging.  There are days, when I wonder, what's the point?  This morning I was feeling a bit like this.  I have felt like giving up this blog, on more than one occasion.  But I am not a quitter.  I'm amazed sometimes to see that someone in a different country has read something here.  I mean, that is astounding.  Now how much was read, I don't know.  How often they read I don't know.  For me, I have always benefitted from reading the Bible and then writing about what I've read.  I just get more from my devotions that way.  In the past, I have written them in a notebook, now in the electronic age, when I learned about blogging, I decided this might be the outlet for me.  I could give it up.  I could go back to spiral-bound pages.  But Christ's coming is just around the corner, and who knows if someone might happen upon these pages and find the Lord?  I'm not saying that has or ever will happen, but shouldn't we use every avenue possible to see people saved?  I think so.  It may be that someone puts a word in a search engine, and somehow this blog shows up.  So maybe someone just takes a peek.  Maybe they will peek at a page explaining how they can know Christ.  Isn't that why God leaves us here?  To be that witness?  I need to stay faithful to the things Christ has given me. Like a Mario Kart driver, I need to follow the course to the best of my capabilities, even though I may drive into a wall, fall off a bridge, submerge my vehicle in the CG lake.  Satan will put many pitfalls in our path.  We must do our best to avoid them, because Christ's coming may be just over the hill, and if I stop my work a little early, I may neglect to point someone to Him.  If today is my last day on this earth, this minute, this hour, what words can I leave behind to direct others to Him?  That is my whole life's purpose, and I want to be faithful to it until the trumpet sounds.

Star Light, Star Bright

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 15:30-50
     Red giants.  Blue dwarfs.  Black holes.  Supernovas.  I learned about these in my ninth grade earth science class.  With the naked eye, they would be hard to detect, but with a telescope, I might be able to make out the different types of stars.  When I was younger, summers at my grandparents meant my uncle and I using a star guidebook to identify the constellations in the sky.  I can still pick out the dippers, Orion and the summer triangle. 

See How Lofty the Stars
Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book One
By Lillie A. Faris
Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1925

     "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars:  for one star differeth from another star in glory."  It amazes me how God placed each star in the sky.  He arranged them.  How many millions of them are there in the universe?  Scientists would try to tell us, but I know only God knows that answer.  If He took such care to order these celestial bodies, how much more thought did He put into mine?  How much more did He decide to whom I would be born and how my life's path would go?  Has anything in my life been a mistake?  Some of my own making, but none of God's.  Just as God uniquely designed and arranged each star, He has done the same with me.

 I've done art projects taking black paper and either a hole punch or a sewing needle to repeat holes in the paper to replicate the night sky.  The only problem with that is that a hole punch or needle will achieve a uniform look to the stars, and God designed each of them differently.  God gave me a story He has given to nobody else.  He has given me a way to use my talents for Him, in a way nobody else can.  Not that nobody else has my gifts, but He has put me in a situation that make them unique to me, and a viewpoint that is my own.  We can all say this.  When we view our lives as a series of "happy accidents", we neglect to see the special value we have to our Creator.  Maybe I wasn't the first person to be born, and maybe I wasn't the seven billionth (a milestone birth approaching our earth sometime soon) but being the four billionth six hundredth forty third person (like I really know) was just as important to Him.  And He made me to glorify Him.  I pray I can do that.  I pray that my star, whether shooting, sparking or fading will point light towards Him.  I pray that my glory will be His glory.  I pray that even though I can't see when a star has become a black hole, because there are millions of stars up there, and I can't keep track, God knows when I have done something for Him.  To others I may blend in with the crowd, my place unnoticeable, but He put me exactly where I need to be, and He would notice if I am missing. 
     Thank you, Lord, for loving me in a special way.  You love all of us uniquely as only You can, because You created us uniquely.  Thank you for reminding me today, how special I am to You.  I can never understand that, but I know how special my children are to me, and You love me as Your child.  Help me to shine my light for You.

Centered on Praying

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 15:1-11
     For the past two years, our pastor has challenged our church to pray for the countries of the world.  At the front of the church, during missions conference week, flags of every country are displayed.  This year he asked us to close our eyes and pick one.  That flag is a reminder to pray every day for the souls of that nation.  Even our young children have gotten involved, and listening to them pray for the people of other countries is stirring.  My prayer is that this exercise will burden their hearts about missions and maybe they will feel a calling to do a work in one of the countries for which they grew up praying.
     I have prayed for the countries of Bahrain and Qatar.  This year I am praying for the Central African Republic, a country I didn't know.  Sure, I knew what continent it was on, since the name of the country kind of helped me with that.  I looked up some information on it.  It is located almost directly in the center of Africa (thus the appropriate name).  The landlocked country is located between Cameroon to the west, Chad to the north, the Congos to the South and the Sudans to the northeast/southeast.



African continent with Central African Republic highlighted in green.

      What most troubled me was that the average life expectancy is 50 years old.  With over fifty percent of the population between the age bracket of 15-65, that means about half of the population has reached old age.  With only 25% considering themselves Protestant (and that is a mixed kettle) and a 48% literacy rate, that's three quarters of a country who are unfamiliar with the gospel, and half of a country that would not be able to read a Bible if given one. Those statistics are given by the CIA World Factbook.  Operation World listed the top religion for this country as being Christian, with 32% out of 76% considering themselves evangelical.  With Muslim nations surrounding them, if this is true, that is encouraging news.  Still the need for growth, and a lot of that comes from being able to read the Bible, would be considerable.
      They rank 7 among countries for infant mortality rate, with almost 100 infant deaths out of 1000.  AIDS is still a serious problem here.  As in most African countries, sanitation conditions and disease are prevalent.  It is also considered a Tier 3 country for human trafficking, which means that it has not complied with UN standards for eliminating it and may suffer sanctions as a result.
     Paul says at the beginning of this chapter, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;"  It is my desire that every person in the Central African Republic will receive Christ, and stand on the truth they have been given.  Maybe in Heaven, I will find out there were some souls saved because of my prayers.  Maybe I will meet Christian brothers and sisters from Bahrain and Qatar as well.  Wouldn't it be something if God let me have some small part in a country thousands of miles away?  God will let you do the same.  Pick a country, any country, and make it your goal to pray for it for an entire year.  We pray for our countries at every meal time, and then again during devotion time.  That is four times a day (most days) that prayers are being offered up for a country of the world.  If you decide to participate, would you comment below, and tell me for which country you will be praying?  I'd love to hear how God has burdened your heart. 
    




Hold Your Tongues

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 14

The Apostles Baptized with the Holy Spirit
Taken from the Treasures of the Bible
By Henry Davenport Northrop, D.D.
International Publishing Company, 1894

     Let me get this out up front.  I honestly have no clue how many people read this, and I surely don't know from what denominations readers herald.  But I'm guessing that there may be some who affiliate with a particular denomination who are about to become highly offended by this post.  I don't apologize for this, because I have to write what God shows me from His Word.  Here it is.  I don't see any need for the gift of tongues in our current dispensation.  It looks to me as if this particular spiritual gift was solely a sign for the early church.  As the gospels had not yet been written, how else was God supposed to get out the Good News?  He could have elected to send all of the disciples to language school.  But that might have taken too much time.  It was important to get out the word about Christ's death, burial and resurrection, especially while so many people from different nations of the Roman Empire were in Jerusalem.  So on the day of Pentecost, God chose to do something supernaturally.  He allowed the disciples to speak in a language that was not native to them, that they had not learned.  This was not just to be impressive.  In the audience were people who actually understood them.  Many of these people from these language groups were saved, and were able to return to their countries proclaiming God's salvation plan through His Son Jesus Christ.

     I can't say I know a lot about the modern-day tongues movement.  I have never been to a service or in a church where this takes place.  I've heard stories.  I've met people who claimed they have this gift.  I've never seen or heard it happen.  That being said, what is the point?  Now in inner-city Chicago, you might be able to make a case for it, since it is very possible you could actually have a person who spoke that language in a church service. But a church that does not have the diversity of people we have here, a church in a more rural area would not seem to need access to a plurality of languages.
     Even if I am completely wrong, and tongues are a gift for today, I still don't see how the churches that claim they have this gift use it properly.  Paul is very plain that if this gift is used, an interpreter should be present.  I never hear of that in these churches.  Paul says that those that have this gift, if there is nobody to interpret for them, than they ought to keep it in.  Why?  Verse 23 explains.  "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?"  I don't know how the charismatic groups explain away this chapter, but it seems to me that there must be a lot of misinterpretation going on.  Here is my question also.  Maybe the claim is that they don't know what language they are speaking, but someone in their service might understand.  Okay.  Let's take that scenario for a second.  Perhaps I speak German.  If I heard my language in a service, wouldn't I go to the speaker and tell them I understood everything they said?  If nobody ever comes to a person with the gift of tongues and says, "Hey, I understood that!"  What is the point?  Furthermore, if those with this gift is unable to identify the tongue they are speaking, doesn't that seem a little convenient?  I mean, if you discovered you could speak Swahili, wouldn't your gift be better used in Africa, rather than an American city where the likelihood you will meet someone who speaks that language is slim?  I'm not trying to sound snarky or belittling.  Really, I am not.  I know that those who still believe this gift for today, also believe in the same plan of salvation I do, and are my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I know that we will worship in Heaven together.  And maybe then, we will actually sing and speak in different tongues.

Unfailing Love

Today's passage:  I Corinthians 13:8
     "Charity never faileth..."  I've seen a lot of movies recently about older people losing their spouses.  We have had a few members of our church who have been going through this stage in life.  I remember when my Grandma had reached a point where dementia forced her sons to make a decision about her care.  We knew Grandpa couldn't care for her on his own anymore.  He protested and insisted he could do it.  Convincing him was not easy.  Had we lived closer, we could have helped more, but an hour and a half is even a great distance when someone's health is failing.  If it had only been her mind, Grandpa would probably never allowed it, but she was having other health issues too which required around-the-clock care.  He went to the nursing home every day.  He sat with her, played cards with her, talked to her.  She was not the woman he had married.  This Grandma I visited in the nursing home was not the sharp-eyed pragmatist I had known all my life.  She barely knew me.  Her memory was dull, and my Grandma's memory had never been dull.  In her younger years, she had worked for the Civil Service, and if you know anything about that occupation, not just anybody tests well enough to obtain that line of work.  I don't know how difficult the exam may be today, but when she took it, you had to have some smarts about you and she had them.  Yet, this woman who did not laugh as often as Grandpa's jokes, who didn't seem to know her own grandchildren had her husband at her side every day.  He went early in the morning and stayed until visiting hours were over.  I know it was hard for him to go home to that empty house.  His life was a few miles away.  I think of their love, and I think of God's.  It never fails.
     Grandma didn't live long after she was put in the nursing home.  I don't know what else we could have done, and I'm not saying that being put there ended her life early.  I know that she had been a busy, active person all her life, and hours sitting would have been foreign to her, even if it was sitting with Grandpa.   After her three boys had grown, she kept busy.  She turned their basement into a ceramics shop.  She made beautiful ceramics.  She gardened, canning green beans and jellies.  I've yet to taste anything like her raspberry jelly.  She crocheted.  I still have one of her afghans. 

Snuggle by the Fire

Artist: Mary Stewart Cutting (1858-1932)

Image Appears In: The Wayfarers

Date Image Published: 1908

Courtesy of www.reusableart.com

     I don't remember whether she went into the home in the spring or the summer, but I remember that around Christmas time that same year, we were attending her funeral.  The hardest thing was knowing how alone Grandpa would be.  At least he could be by her side when she was in the nursing home.  At least he could bring her treats, or play dominoes with her.  He could hear her voice, he could hold her hand.  Now, he had to find other ways to occupy his time.  He did that for about two more years, and then he went to Glory to be with his wife.  His passing was sudden.  We didn't know he had any health problems and God took him unexpectedly.  Some couples say they love each other, but other couples show it.  My grandparents loved each other.  My Grandpa told my Grandma that if she married him, he would do the dishes every night.  And he did.  It wasn't just a promise he made to get her to wear his ring, he followed through with his commitment.  I got the feeling he enjoyed doing the dishes, because he always sang while washing.  Maybe in his Navy days he had a lot of KP duty and knew the most efficient way to get the job done.  In any case, after every meal, Grandpa filled the sink with suds and washed all the dishes, even when Grandma had a house full of company.  He let us help of course, on occasion.

     As loving and strong as any human relationship we see on this earth, none of them exceed God's love for us.  None of them last longer than God's love.  His love never fails us.  There is nothing I can do, no way I can act, no thing I can say that will cause God to withdraw His love from me.  If like my Grandma, I became a person completely different than who I am, God would not suddenly stop caring for me. While any of us still have life, He will never take back His plan of salvation.  He will never say, "No, I didn't plan for that person to be saved."  When Jesus died on the cross, it was for all eternity.  The love He showed for me on Calvary is a lasting work.  It was and is enough.  As our Advocate, Jesus never goes to the Father and says, "I didn't die for that one."  His love is everlasting, it will never cease.  What about the Holy Spirit?  How is His love unfailing?  He never gives up on seeing people come to Christ.  It is true that He will eventually stop knocking on an individual's heart's door.  If that individual continues to push Him away, He will eventually stop knocking.  But not because He no longer loves that person.  And when one person rejects Him, it doesn't cause Him to give up on the whole human race.  There are other hearts still inviting Him in. 
     As sweet and endearing it is to see older couples still in love with each other, still wanting to be together, their love is not as powerful as my God's love.  Although, watching these dear older saints is potent, magnify that enduring love by the greatest strength, and then you will have my God's love.  My love may fail Him.  My love may fail my husband and children.  But I can never say that about Him.  I will still be praising Him for His love when I arrive in Heaven.  I wish He could praise me about my love for Him.