My husband has an unofficial catchphrase: "Your value does not come from _____________." (Can a catchphrase be modified each time it's used?)
My value does not come from whether I hit my steps goals for the day.
My value does not come from whether I am caught up on housekeeping.
My value does not come from an empty sink.
My value does not come from how successful I am at my job.
Instead my value comes from God.
I am His child.
I am made in His image.
He looked at mankind and declared His creation very good.
If I get my value from an earthly, temporal thing or achievement, there will be days that I fall short and don't measure up. Then I will be devastated because I am not measuring up.
If I get my value from the God of the universe, then I can rest secure in who I am, because God doesn't change.
So say to yourself when you fail at a task, "My value does not come from perfection or constant success." But also say to yourself when you succeed, "My value does not come from this current success or hinge on continued success."
My value comes from who God is and who I am in His eyes.
God sees me completely.
God knows me fully.
God loves me anyway.
Get your value from God.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Biblical Alignment Check-Up
What would the world look like if we Christians found out what God thought about different issues and then we aligned ourselves to His views?
Please hear me all the way out before grabbing your tar and feather kits for implying that your views aren't godly.
So often in my life and the lives of other Christians, we read the Bible for ammunition, to defend our views. We find a verse, or just part of a verse sometimes, that supports "our" view, so we slap a label of "Christian" on our opinion and declare that anyone who thinks differently is ungodly.
Yet, maybe we are going about this the wrong way. Maybe we shouldn't be reading the Bible to gain heavenly support for our arguments, but rather, maybe we should be reading the Bible to find out God's view on a matter and then align our view with His.
If we examine our beliefs, our opinions, our political views, and our national priorities by holding them up to the light of Scripture, we might be surprised to find that God hasn't been on our side in the matter after all, but rather God is waiting for us to join Him on His side.
Occasionally, when I want a big picture view of the Bible, I will do a 90-day blitz through the Bible. It requires reading about 15 chapters a day, but it has the benefit of being able to cover Genesis to Revelations in 3 months. I like to do this kind of blitz when I want to find out God's view on a matter.
It takes more time, but as we read through the whole Bible, we can note in a journal all the references the Bible makes on a certain subject. We can note when God issues a command for or against the subject matter. We can read when history records the subject matter as happening and study what happens when it occurs. We can find advice on the subject as well. Then when we are through our 3 month study, we can have a clearer picture of God's view on the subject matter. It should be a clearer picture than just a few out-of-context verses that support what we already think.
If we turn to the whole Bible for our guidance on how we should live, and then we put it into practice, it will change how we relate to the world and each other.
Instead of asking what we should believe to fit in our political party, shouldn't we be asking what does God believe about our issues in politics?
Need a place to start?
-What is God's view of widows and orphans?
-What's God's view of the poor?
-What's God's view of strangers, aliens, or foreigners?
-What's God's view on violence?
What does He command Israel and Christians to do concerning these people?
Am I doing this?
What else should I be doing to obey God and love my neighbor?
Please hear me all the way out before grabbing your tar and feather kits for implying that your views aren't godly.
So often in my life and the lives of other Christians, we read the Bible for ammunition, to defend our views. We find a verse, or just part of a verse sometimes, that supports "our" view, so we slap a label of "Christian" on our opinion and declare that anyone who thinks differently is ungodly.
Yet, maybe we are going about this the wrong way. Maybe we shouldn't be reading the Bible to gain heavenly support for our arguments, but rather, maybe we should be reading the Bible to find out God's view on a matter and then align our view with His.
If we examine our beliefs, our opinions, our political views, and our national priorities by holding them up to the light of Scripture, we might be surprised to find that God hasn't been on our side in the matter after all, but rather God is waiting for us to join Him on His side.
Occasionally, when I want a big picture view of the Bible, I will do a 90-day blitz through the Bible. It requires reading about 15 chapters a day, but it has the benefit of being able to cover Genesis to Revelations in 3 months. I like to do this kind of blitz when I want to find out God's view on a matter.
It takes more time, but as we read through the whole Bible, we can note in a journal all the references the Bible makes on a certain subject. We can note when God issues a command for or against the subject matter. We can read when history records the subject matter as happening and study what happens when it occurs. We can find advice on the subject as well. Then when we are through our 3 month study, we can have a clearer picture of God's view on the subject matter. It should be a clearer picture than just a few out-of-context verses that support what we already think.
If we turn to the whole Bible for our guidance on how we should live, and then we put it into practice, it will change how we relate to the world and each other.
Instead of asking what we should believe to fit in our political party, shouldn't we be asking what does God believe about our issues in politics?
Need a place to start?
-What is God's view of widows and orphans?
-What's God's view of the poor?
-What's God's view of strangers, aliens, or foreigners?
-What's God's view on violence?
What does He command Israel and Christians to do concerning these people?
Am I doing this?
What else should I be doing to obey God and love my neighbor?
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
We Need to Stop Dismembering God
Are you wondering where I am going with this post after reading the title? Me too. I hold to the belief that everything good, true, and pure comes from God. Yet we fixate on parts of God's character & worship it instead of Him. Worshiping anything, even a part of God Himself, instead of all of God, is idolatry.
Our minds don't like paradoxes, so we pick and choose which traits to focus on. We downplay or ignore traits that our cultures don't value, that make us uncomfortable, or that seem to contradict other parts of God.
So we are essentially dismembering God. We take His love, cut it out, place it on a pedestal, worship it, and condemn others for not doing the same thing we are.
God is loving, but He is also wrathful.
He is jealous, but God is also compassionate.
God shows mercy, but He also exacts judgment.
He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but He is also the Lamb of God.
God offers grace, but He also demands holiness.
He is the leader of a heavenly army, but He is also the Prince of Peace.
God is to be feared, but He is also our hiding place.
He is the Eternal King, but He is also the Suffering Servant.
He told us to put away our swords, but He also told us He would bring divisions.
Some of these are easy to accept, but others are a challenge. We cannot only choose the traits, characteristic, and aspects of God that we like best, but rather we are to study all of Him, even the difficult bits. To worship God, we need to worship all of Him.
But we need to go further than simply recognizing and worshiping all of who God is. We need to be able to see Him in His creation as well. We like things to be clear-cut, tidy, and black & white, so we paint things and people with very broad strokes. We are all good. They are completely evil. Our political party is godly, but theirs is practically demonic. We don't see the good in "others" (whether we're talking about a political party, religion, nationality, or any other division of us vs. them), because we don't look for the good in them.
I say again, anything good, true, or pure comes from God. Anything that causes us to think about or remember God and worship Him is both sacred and godly.
This doesn't just apply to our group, but to every group in the world. Anything good comes from God. Anything that rings of divine Truth comes from God. Anything so beautiful that you breath a prayer of thanksgiving to God, comes from God.
There are snippets & fragments of God's Truth all throughout the world, because all good, pure, lovely, true things & values are God's. Even in other cultures or religions, we can find Truth that points us to God.
Parts of God's heart, but not ALL of God's heart, can be found in political party platforms.
Some of God's Truth, but not ALL of God's Truth, can be found in good art, books, and even other religions. This is not to say that all religions are equally good or all religions lead to heaven, but rather that anything good in any religion comes from God because He is the true source of all good.
So look for the godly, the Truth, glimpses of the divine everywhere and you will not be disappointed. Most of the time, we look for the good in our group and the bad in the groups of others...and we find it. Then we puff ourselves up while criticizing the faults of other groups. If they dare to suggest that our group has flaws...well, we deny, cast blame, or point fingers. This is a wrong focus.
If we look for the bad in our group and the good in others' groups, we will find it. We criticize ourselves for the past sins of our group, mourning the mistakes made by Christians long ago. We polish the best traits of other groups and put them on a pedestal, and lament that we are not better. This too is a wrong focus.
Instead, we should look for God in everyone and everything. Then give thanks to God for everything good that reminds you of Him. We should look for godly traits not only in our friends, but also in our enemies. God cares for the poor, the marginalized, the prisoners. He also cares for the rich, the powerful, and the oppressors. He wants to see everyone come to repentance. Remember that every good (godly) value comes from God. Just because someone else values something else does not automatically mean that they are valuing something evil. First look at what they are valuing and ask yourself if it is godly. We serve a complex God. Anything that rings of truth or focuses your eyes heavenward or causes you to think of the Creator, comes from God because apart from God, there is no other source of truth or goodness.
Our minds don't like paradoxes, so we pick and choose which traits to focus on. We downplay or ignore traits that our cultures don't value, that make us uncomfortable, or that seem to contradict other parts of God.
So we are essentially dismembering God. We take His love, cut it out, place it on a pedestal, worship it, and condemn others for not doing the same thing we are.
God is loving, but He is also wrathful.
He is jealous, but God is also compassionate.
God shows mercy, but He also exacts judgment.
He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but He is also the Lamb of God.
God offers grace, but He also demands holiness.
He is the leader of a heavenly army, but He is also the Prince of Peace.
God is to be feared, but He is also our hiding place.
He is the Eternal King, but He is also the Suffering Servant.
He told us to put away our swords, but He also told us He would bring divisions.
Some of these are easy to accept, but others are a challenge. We cannot only choose the traits, characteristic, and aspects of God that we like best, but rather we are to study all of Him, even the difficult bits. To worship God, we need to worship all of Him.
But we need to go further than simply recognizing and worshiping all of who God is. We need to be able to see Him in His creation as well. We like things to be clear-cut, tidy, and black & white, so we paint things and people with very broad strokes. We are all good. They are completely evil. Our political party is godly, but theirs is practically demonic. We don't see the good in "others" (whether we're talking about a political party, religion, nationality, or any other division of us vs. them), because we don't look for the good in them.
I say again, anything good, true, or pure comes from God. Anything that causes us to think about or remember God and worship Him is both sacred and godly.
This doesn't just apply to our group, but to every group in the world. Anything good comes from God. Anything that rings of divine Truth comes from God. Anything so beautiful that you breath a prayer of thanksgiving to God, comes from God.
There are snippets & fragments of God's Truth all throughout the world, because all good, pure, lovely, true things & values are God's. Even in other cultures or religions, we can find Truth that points us to God.
Parts of God's heart, but not ALL of God's heart, can be found in political party platforms.
Some of God's Truth, but not ALL of God's Truth, can be found in good art, books, and even other religions. This is not to say that all religions are equally good or all religions lead to heaven, but rather that anything good in any religion comes from God because He is the true source of all good.
So look for the godly, the Truth, glimpses of the divine everywhere and you will not be disappointed. Most of the time, we look for the good in our group and the bad in the groups of others...and we find it. Then we puff ourselves up while criticizing the faults of other groups. If they dare to suggest that our group has flaws...well, we deny, cast blame, or point fingers. This is a wrong focus.
If we look for the bad in our group and the good in others' groups, we will find it. We criticize ourselves for the past sins of our group, mourning the mistakes made by Christians long ago. We polish the best traits of other groups and put them on a pedestal, and lament that we are not better. This too is a wrong focus.
Instead, we should look for God in everyone and everything. Then give thanks to God for everything good that reminds you of Him. We should look for godly traits not only in our friends, but also in our enemies. God cares for the poor, the marginalized, the prisoners. He also cares for the rich, the powerful, and the oppressors. He wants to see everyone come to repentance. Remember that every good (godly) value comes from God. Just because someone else values something else does not automatically mean that they are valuing something evil. First look at what they are valuing and ask yourself if it is godly. We serve a complex God. Anything that rings of truth or focuses your eyes heavenward or causes you to think of the Creator, comes from God because apart from God, there is no other source of truth or goodness.
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