Philippians 2

Shoot, this chapter kicks my butt. So much in it challenges me about my deepest faults. I mean there are even verses that call me to not have any faults. That's rough. But it does start out with some consolation. I do know I have one purpose and I focus intensely on that. So it does bring some comfort and encouragement. But the point of the verse is for the body collectively to share that one purpose. And that's a much bigger issue to wrestle with.

But an even bigger mental wrestling match is verse 12. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For anyone who likes to only think about the wonderful free gift of grace and not follow up their faith in it with good works, this verse probably presents quite a snag. Yes, we were rescued from our sin through the undeserved favor offered for free through Christ, but, as this verse and the next make clear, God is working in us and through us on an ongoing basis to perfect the demonstration of His grace in us.

I welcome the thought that I am a work in progress. And the immense work God has done in and through me in the past few years has made me much more merciful when I think of what God just might be doing in others. Much less judgmental or quick to bring up people's past mistakes. I realize, because of how much I know I've changed, that it's very likely that that guy who was a jerk the last time I talked to him just might be under construction, too.

Verses 6-11 pack the biggest punch though. These rhythmic lines (in Greek anyway) were probably a hymn of the early church. But their beauty doesn't soften their meaning in this context. They just clarify the glaring differences between Jesus and us. I want to grasp. I want to cling to my own self-importance. I want people to notice how special I am. But Jesus Christ, the spoken Word who brought forth light, the living Word who surrendered to death, the written Word who pours into me each day through any chapter I turn to, the Son of the Most High God humbled Himself to my level to make God's grace attainable to me.

So why do I insist on scrambling for recognition? I may get a little better each day at conforming my actions to reflect His love, but that's not all this passage calls me to. Verse 5 demands that even my attitude imitates Christ's. I'm going to work that out with fear and trembling today, but honestly, this is something God will have to continue to work out in me for the rest of my life.

So, if you catch me on a particularly ugly day, be patient, God's not finished with me yet.

Ephesians 6

This chapter is a delightful potpourri of deep important stuff. First you've got some family relation things left over from chapter 5. All good stuff. But then you've got Paul reminding slaves to labor for Christ, not to please their masters. On the one hand, verses like these bother me because I'd rather them just say, "Masters, let your slaves go free. It's wrong of you to treat God's children as property." But on the other hand, it's a terrific reminder that God is so much less concerned with what seems fair and politically correct and cares only for how our lives bring glory to His Name. That's hard. It's easy for our prayers to focus on asking God to change our situation instead of listening to His guidance of how to bring glory to God in our situation "as is."

One of my favorite parts, and the one that drew me to read this chapter again today, is verse 13. After you've put on the whole armor and done everything you possibly can, stand. Stand. Keep standing. Lock your knees and just keep on standing. That's where I find myself today.

So I have something to ask of any of you readers out there. See that little prayer request hidden in verses 19-20? I really need you to pray that for me today. The right words to speak, no more no less. Hopefully, I can let you know how it goes. Thanks, friends.

Psalm 3

This tiny psalm is one of my favorites. I remember learning several verses of it as a song when I was a kid. It's a wonderful detail that God included that it was written when David was fleeing from being overthrown by his own son Absalom. Although he talks about how many enemies he felt like he had, it was really the conflict that had developed with Absalom that was the real focus. He really had one enemy. The miscommunication, bitterness, misunderstanding, avoidance of the underlying issues, and unfair judgements all grew into one big open festering sore. And the heartbreaking part is that it was with someone he loved dearly. Not some outside invaders, but a beloved child. I relate so much right now this situation. Except the part about asking God to slap my enemies in the face or knock their teeth out. That's just vindictive. :) I don't feel that at all. But seriously, I feel sorrow over the collapse of what should have been a close friendship.

Anyway, the one verse that is most dear to me, that I still hear as a part of the song, is verse 3:
But you O Lord are a shield for me; my glory and the lifter of my head. I want to learn to end every sentence with that. Every doubt, every fear, every piece of bad news, every crazy situation.

I had a bad day at work, but you O Lord are a shield for me...

My husband's got a raging cold, but you O Lord are a shield for me...

My annual review is coming up, but you O Lord are a shield for me...

My kids are fighting like roosters, but you O Lord are a shield for me...

You get the picture. Whatever is going on, the reality is that God is in control. He's watching over me. He's shielding me with His love. He's going to bring glory to Himself through my situation. And He's going to hold my head high in the midst of it all. I'm going to be humming it all day. Wish you could hum along too, but since you probably don't know the tune, just meditate on this verse right along with me.

Oh, and by the way, we all only have one enemy. But it's not the person decorating your dartboard. When I keep this in mind, I am totally down with some satan face slapping and teeth breaking.

Psalm 91

This chapter is so perfectly awesome, I really can't add much to it. So instead, I'll just tell you one memory of it from my childhood. In the burgundy KJV leather-bound Bible I sported as a kid, I wrote a note in the margin on this page. It says, "toothbrushing chapter" in pink marker. A preacher I once heard said he prayed this prayer every day while he brushed his teeth.

Now I imagine the prayer must have been in his head or that would probably be messy. But, I think I'm in a place where I need to add to my oral hygiene routine. I'm going to try to pick up this habit myself. And if it speaks to you like it does to me, then I challenge you to do it, too. I still don't plan on starting something with any lions or cobras, but I would love to sense this level of protection throughout my day.

Plus, I'm not exactly what you would call a morning person. If this only helped me be nicer to my family, that would be a big win. :)

Lamentations 3

So many things have drawn me towards Lamentations today. The immense angst that he faced comes and goes in my psyche, too. Of course my life isn't facing the horrible gruesome war Jeremiah faced when he wrote this. But sometimes siege feels like just the right word. Sometimes chewing on gravel sounds pretty familiar. Read the whole thing if you haven't already. Pretty dark at first glance, huh?

A neat fact is that the entire book of Lamentations is a collection of alphabetic acrostics meaning that each verse starts with each letter of the alphabet in sequence. Each chapter goes through the alphabet twice. The cool thing about that to me is even in the worst kind of personal persecution, the beauty of methodical poetry came from Jeremiah's writing. Sometimes I can feel my own creativity wilt under the stress of my world. But it reminds me that when I allow God's words to flow through me, like Jeremiah promised to allow when he was first called, glorious ideas can still flow from the most perilous times.

But enough about the lamenting stuff. Let's look at the silver lining verses.

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline: Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies. For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.

Can you dare to put your hope in Christ when you feel surrounded by misunderstanding, mistrust, miscommunication, misfortune, and any other bad mis-es? (I struggle to.)

Can you wake up each morning with a fresh faith in His unending mercies? (It's not daily for me yet.)

Can you wait patiently for Him like for a promised future inheritance? (Barely.)

Can you wait quietly on His timing for His plan to rescue you? (Put me down as a "no.")

Can you carry His yoke of discipline and learn through the pain to depend on Him even more? (It's such a relief when I do.)

Can you turn the other cheek knowing His compassion will not leave you abandoned in shame? (I know I must.)

If you don't relate to this chapter, stop right now and praise God for His goodness. You are in a wonderful place. But, here's the tough part. If you do relate to this chapter, stop right now and praise God for His goodness. God is good. All the time. It's not just a catchy phrase.

James 4

It's Thursday so time for another dose of James. My LifeGroup is studying this little gem of a book on Wednesday nights so that's why I keep coming back to it.

So James busts right out and calls us all adulterers. Glad he's not pulling any punches here. What is he talking about? We have already given our hearts to God. We are the bride of Christ. And yet, the first section lays out how when we chase after stuff, the things of this world, that we are cheating on God. Now think about how seriously we would take it if one of us were cheating on our spouse. That's really no joking around. That's a full-scale relational emergency requiring radical intervention, counseling, and some serious talks.

So when we are distracted and drawn away by our fondness for sports, or our kids, or our jobs, or our house, or whatever, do we launch a full-scale attack? Nope. I can't recall the last time I've seen someone take our adultery against God as seriously as adultery in marriage. The next section says how to address it.

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

This sounds much more in line with what you'd expect from a repentant cheater. So, I'm going to take some time to examine myself. I'd love it if you took some time to examine yourself too. I may not have listed your vice, but you know what it is. And if you don't, God will point it out. We already learned a month ago about what he did to humble Nebuchadnezzar so I'd rather humble myself. Let's come clean and get our relationship with God right again.

Philippians 1

Man, Paul can sure put a rosy glow lining on anything, can't he? He's in jail and yet the opening of this letter stays focused on the most important things. There's a lot to dissect in this chapter, but the overall impression it gives me is the importance of sticking with the priorities and not sweating the small stuff. Verses 9-11 kind of sums up what we need to do.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

I could quit listening to new teaching right now and spend the rest of my life just living out this prayer. It's really quite a bit to chew on.
Increasing love.
Growing knowledge.
Deepening insight.
Discerning God's best.
Staying pure.
Bearing fruit.
Giving glory to God.

That's a tall order. So for today, just re-read the chapter if you need more to think about. For me, I'm going to start with increasing love.

John 21

I love Peter. I know I'm not his only fan, but he's got a big fan club for a reason. There are so many stories about him in the gospels that you really get a good picture of who he was. His hang-ups, his big foot in his big mouth, his braggadocio, and later in his letters, his broken humility, gentle teaching, and unswerving boldness. The transformation we see in his life, the before and after photos, makes the most beautiful personal portrait redemption in the New Testament.

But I think it's all because of John 21. I know the last verse of John straight out reminds us that there was a lot that went on with Jesus that isn't written down. I bet there were hundreds of little ways Jesus lovingly changed Peter from selfish Simon to the Rock. But this chapter highlights the moment of change from old to new.

First of all, Peter is the one to speak up and say, "You know what, forget this! I'm going fishing!" He, the last of the old Peter, was ready to throw in the towel after all he'd witnessed in three years and just go back to being a fisherman. But, because Jesus is so cool like that, He came right in and performed the very miracle that first drew Peter in at the beginning. And Peter instantly recognized it. Once again, he dropped his nets. Once again, he climbed out of the boat. Such a fitting summary of their lives together so far.

Then, in a way that always brings tears to my eyes because of its sweetness and tenderness, Jesus gives Peter the greatest gift He could possibly give him. Mercy. Forgiveness. Restoration. Grace. After the hot-headed Peter swore publicly that he would never deny Christ, he had in fact done just that three times. And so, three times, Jesus lovingly offers him a chance to make things new. Simon, do you love me? Do you love me, Simon? Do you really love me?

Giving Peter the opportunity to know, beyond a shadow of doubt, where his personal relationship with Jesus stood was the catalyst for the change from the gospels Peter to the Acts Peter. The next time we see him, we see the powerhouse preacher that he became. The miracle-working minister that the first church in Jerusalem was built upon.

I would love to see that kind of radical transformation in my life and in the lives of all of my friends. But many of us have lingering doubts as to where our personal relationship with Jesus stands. All we can see are the ways we've denied Him. But all He can see is the grace He's given. Like Peter noted, Jesus already knew that Peter loved Him. It was Peter who needed to hear it out loud. If you need to hear it out loud, then say it:

Lord, you know everything I've ever done and said. You know all of my failings and sins. You know the thoughts and intents of my heart, and yet you know, above all of that, that I truly, deeply love you and will give everything I am to show you. I will follow you to death. And I will serve you faithfully in life.

Judges 6

Happy Groundhog Day, Swerve readers! Glad you clicked through and found me today. (Metacognician followers, you can check out Swerve to see my guest post over there!) On my blog, I read a chapter of the Bible each day and share how it speaks to us today, or to me anyway. Today I picked one in honor of six more weeks of winter. (Or is spring coming early? Haven't heard yet for sure.) I'd love you to stop and read the chapter and then let's dig in.

What's not to love about Gideon? (Forget about that tragic deal later with his gold vest that gets worshipped, that wasn't really his fault.) I admire his humility, his obedience, and his gutsy willingness to take action on things that flat out sound crazy. But in this chapter, we get a peek at a his faults. And I find that refreshing. He was hiding out so he could feed his famaily without getting robbed by the Midianites. (Knowing how completely freaked out the Midianites are later about him makes this such a nice detail for God to put in.)

Suddenly, he's confronted by a heavenly messenger who addresses him the way God sees him. Not as a coward, but as a mighty warrior. In verses 11-16, note what a crazy contrast there is between God's view of Gideon and his situation and Gideon's own view. Isn't it ridiculous how off our self-awareness can get sometimes? How we focus on stuff like where our family came from or our background or our educational failings or our past shortcomings or our weaknesses, and all God can see is the amazing things He wants to do through us? God saw potential in Gideon that he didn't even know was there. And I suspect, that God sees the same thing in each of us. I mean, I probably won't run into battle with 299 guys armed with trumpets, jars, and torches anytime soon, but I wonder what God does see in me that I can't see from the bottom of this wine press. While I'm standing here ankle deep in crushed wheat, what does God see in me from His position outside of time and space hovering above the circle of the earth?

The part that sort of reminds me of Groundhog Day though is the fleece shenanigans. Seriously Gideon, an angel just made his lunch burst into flames! You just drop kicked the town idol and got a tough nickname for it that you'll carry for the rest of your life. And you seriously need not one, but two more signs from God? You're going to count on some soggy wool to determine whether spring is on its way for sure?

We can laugh at Gideon's insecurities pretty comfortably from here in front of our computer. But he was about to lead his people against their oppressors. That is kind of a big deal. But I bet some of us are facing something that feels every bit as scary. I know I am. Even if what I'm most afraid of is if I really have the chops to obey and trust God to do what He already told me He was going to do. That's probably more like what Gideon was afraid of, too. Not death so much as failure. Anyone else out there facing that besides me and Gideon?

Hebrews 10

Go ahead and read this whole chapter. It's awesome straight through and the chapter after it is even better so I'll get to it at some point too. But, because it's so much to chew on, let's focus on just a couple of passages. I've really thought about verses 22-25 in relation to my LifeGroup. The passage calls us to do three important things.

Let's draw near to God. That really has to be our top priority of every day. But I forget to make it that most of the time. God promises that those who seek Him find Him. He says and shows all over His book how much He longs for us to draw near. So that leads to the other two.

Let's hang on tight to hope. In case you haven't met me, part of what comes with the metacognician deal is a general impression of negativity. It's easy to allow my focus to be on thinking through all of the things that need to be better. For good reasons usually. I'm trying to fix things or make good things great. I mean, the whole mission of my job is the most important thing to live for in the history of the world, but that's no excuse. I have learned in the past year to hang on to hope. In the midst of whatever we face, we've got to keep our eyes on Jesus (otherwise, if you're as gutsy as Peter and have jumped out of your boat, you'll start to sink).

Let's compel one another toward compassion. My LifeGroup is getting good at this. Whether it's daring each other to sponsor a CI kid or talking trash about each other's Bible-reading habits or reading Crazy Love or just group emails to give a shout out to someone who has been particularly inspiring, the whole point it seems of living in biblical community is to spur each other on to more of Christ.

The last part I want to point out is a kick back to our talk about Habakkuk 2. The author of Hebrews quotes the verse right after the passage we covered recently.

...but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back,my soul has no pleasure in him.

Later in Hebrews 11:6, he reminds us that we can only please God through faith. So I guess it should go without saying that the opposite is true. But what a graphic little word picture. Shrinks back. Cowers. Cringes. Man, I don't want that to ever be me. This chapter has already painted such a powerful and dynamic portrait of Christ. I don't want to be a wimp by taking my eyes off of Him. Let's step out in faith like never before. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Let's draw near to God.
Let's hang on tight to hope.
Let's compel one another toward compassion.