Category: A Life Worthy

My daughter and I are in a local production of The Hiding Place, a play based on the life of Corrie Ten Boom.  Corrie and her family were followers of Christ who hid Jews from the Germans during World War II.  They were discovered, captured, and imprisoned.  Only Corrie survived the camps.  To call it a powerful story is an understatement of the highest order.  This week I am taking a look at some of the lessons we can glean from this story.

…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus  (I Thessalonians 5:18).

How do you give thanks for evil things?

In the camps, Betsy encouraged her sister to give thanks for the overflowing barracks, the overflowing toilets, even the fleas that infested their living quarters.  

I think that might be just a little bit nuts.

I know, they’re spiritual giants, and I’m a spiritual hamster, but I can still disagree, can’t I?

So here’s the deal.  The Ten Boom sisters were suffering because of their service to Jesus.  So, in that sense, they could thank God for the privilege of suffering for Christ’s sake.

But the verse says, “Give thanks in all circumastances,” not, “Give thanks for all circumstances.”

There is a difference.

We’ve all been through various levels of yuck in our lives.  Do we thank God for getting fired, or getting in a car wreck, or getting dumped, or losing a loved one when we’re right in the middle of the mess?

I don’t think we do.  At least, I don’t.

I thank God that he is still there, even though I can’t see him.  I thank him that he will hold me together, even though my world is crumbling.  I thank him that someday, looking back, I might get a glimpse of the way he used the evil, the mess, the yuck, for my good and his glory.

I thank him that, my circumstances and fears and failures to the contrary, he remains God.

Hey, you. Beloved. What are you in the middle of, right now, that requires a dose of thankfulness?  Perhaps you can’t thank him for the pit, but can you thank him from the pit?

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

My daughter and I are in a local production of The Hiding Place, a play based on the life of Corrie Ten Boom.  Corrie and her family were followers of Christ who hid Jews from the Germans during World War II.  They were discovered, captured, and imprisoned. Only Corrie survived the camps.  To call it a powerful story is an understatement of the highest order.  This week I want to take a look at some of the lessons we can take from this story.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you  (Ephesians 4:32).

One of the most painful lines in the show comes from Betsy, Corrie’s sister.  She has just been struck by a guard and is sprawled on the ground in anguish.  As she lies there, she preaches forgiveness to her sister.  “Jesus died for those who beat him,” she says, “and those who beat us.”

Wow.  I really, completely, thoroughly, absolutely don’t like that even a little bit.

It’s much easier for me to identify with Corrie.  When she encounters that same guard, years later, she cries out to the Lord, “Forgive me, but I don’t want to stop hating him!  He deserves it!  He deserves my hate, forever!”

And it’s true.  He does deserve her hate.  But God has called her to forgive.

So, the Lord of the Universe calls us to the same kind of sacrifice He endured, turning aside from wrath and showing mercy and forgiveness to those who spew their evil upon us.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Isn’t that what he said?

This is an intriguing concept in the abstract, a concept worthy of discussion and debate.  Except that the Gospel refuses to stay abstract.  It has a frustrating way of working its way inside you, like ticks, or radiation.

Or…you know…something nice.

And here’s the kicker.  Forgiveness begets freedom.  That hate in your heart is dragging you down; you know it as well as I.  You will never be the person God has called you to be until you let go of your righteous, well-earned hate.

So, Beloved, who is it that you do not want to forgive?  

Yes, I am going there.

And so is He.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

My daughter and I are in a local production of The Hiding Place, a play based on the life of Corrie Ten Boom.  Corrie and her family were followers of Christ who hid Jews from the Germans during World War II.  They were discovered, captured, and imprisoned. Only Corrie survived the camps.  To call it a powerful story is an understatement of the highest order.  This week I want to take a look at some of the lessons we can take from this story.

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance  (Psalm 32:7).

Corrie and her family provided a hiding place for people in trouble. In doing so, they became the hands and feet of God, working in this world to protect his people and bring him glory.  But it is not until the prison camps that the full meaning of this verse becomes clear.  God does not just provide a hiding place, Beloved.  He is our hiding place.  When everything else is stripped away and we are left raw and bleeding beside the road, we are still His.  We are still safe.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

I don’t know what awaits you today.  

Probably not Nazis.

Whatever it is, God is already there and in full control.  He is waiting to surround you with songs of deliverance.  Let the singing begin.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise  (Galatians 3:29).

An inheritance is an interesting thing.

You are legally, socially, and morally entitled to it, though you did nothing to earn it.

Except be born.

Or, in this case, born again.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

E Pluribus Unum

Out of Many, One

It’s one of the mottos of the United States.  The words point out that, though we have come from many countries and cultures and creeds, we are one as American citizens.

Based on my news feed, America doesn’t feel very E Pluribus Unummy these days.  We fight and march and protest to defend, even glorify, our differences, rather than celebrate what makes us one.

Oy.

God sees it differently, Beloved.  When he looks at you, he doesn’t see color or gender or nationality or socioeconomic status.  He sees his Son shining out through your eyes.

And he likes it.

Maybe today, just for a while, we can try to see this tired, angry world as he sees it?

Care to give it a try?

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ  (Galatians 3:26-27).

You show up to the wedding dressed in cutoff jeans and a pair of flip flops.  

There is no way you’re getting in wearing that nonsense.

But hold on, someone is coming.  It’s the bridegroom.  He smiles at you as though he were really glad to see you, as if you weren’t a total embarrassment in your grubbiosity.  He takes off his tuxedo jacket and drapes it around your boney  shoulders and your grimy T-shirt.  Then he turns to the attendant and says, “It’s OK…this one’s with me.

And just like that, you’re in.

And you, who have never really belonged anywhere, belong here.

Welcome home.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law (Galatians 3:25).

Remember having a babysitter?  When you were a kid, your parents brought in the babysitter to keep you safe.  The sitter had limited authority over you but, as you often pointed out to her, she was not your mom.  At some point, your parents decided that you no longer needed a sitter; you were big enough to be on your own.

Or, you know, that they were sick of shelling out bucks to the babysitter.

The law worked in kind of the same way.  It kept God’s people safe, gave them boundaries and rules and direction until…well, until it was time to be a grownup.

Abstract concepts like faith and redemption and eternity are hard for children to grasp, so God gave his children concrete examples like the lamb and the scapegoat and the incense and the oil.  When he knew the time was right, he gave them Christ.

We often say we want to remain kids forever, but frankly it’s the grownups who get all the really cool stuff.

Be a grownup, Beloved.

Happy Tuesday

So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).

I once worked for a ministry that connected churches in the US with sister churches overseas.  My job was to facilitate communications and streamline the process for the churches to visit one another.  I worked hard, and after a few months I had created a system that was basically automatic.  The churches no longer needed me as a go-between.

I had worked myself out of a job.

Oops

The law kind of worked that way.  It was designed to lead people to Jesus, after which it was no longer needed.  Those who continued to follow the law after the Resurrection were engaging in empty ritual.  Kinda like continuing to read the road map after you’ve arrived. At some point you’ve gotta put the map down and get out of the car.

I wonder how much of our current worship is like that.  How often do we focus on the song instead of the One the song was designed to lead us to?  How many times have we paid more attention to the performers than to the true Audience?  In how many of our churches–and hearts–do we value form over function?  

I stayed with that job for a few months after I had redundificated myself.  I pretended to my bosses and myself that my job still had value, but frankly it had none.  That was some of the least fulfilling time I have ever spent.

Hmm…something to chew on.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.  (Galatians 3:23).

The Jews were bound by the do’s and don’t’s

by the jot and the tiddle

by the special day and the right month

by the rules and the restrictions

eat this but not that

go here but not there

now but not then

with him but not her

and for God’s sake wash your hands

until faith was revealed.

Beloved, what’s your excuse?

Happy Friday, Beloved.

But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Christ Jesus, might be given to those who believe (Galatians 3:22).

It’s a trap you cannot escape.

You can fight

you can dig

you  can beg

you can strain

you can weep

you can press

you can shout

you can lift

you can scream defiance to the cosmos

you  can employ all the awesome mightyness

of your pathetic punyness

against the trap.

But you cannot escape.

You must be set free by another.

Lucky for you, Beloved,

I know a guy.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.