What Do You Leave Behind?

…I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. – Phil. 1:25-26

Sometimes, Paul makes statements that can be taken as being pretty arrogant.  But let’s just step outside of that for a minute and look at the heart of what he is saying.  Regardless of where you are in your faith, if you’re a leader or a beginner or possibly both, what effect does your presence have on other people?  When you walk into a room, what is people’s first reaction?  If you go to visit somewhere you haven’t been in awhile, what is the response of the folks you see?  Here, Paul says that his presence among the people will cause the people’s “joy in Christ Jesus to overflow” because he is there with them.

What a challenge this is to me.  We are not called to be people pleasers but we are called to be people lovers.  Do people find joy in Christ when you talk to them?  Do they walk away thanking God for your presence in their lives?  I know what I want the answers to those questions to be and I know who those people are in my own life, but I’m not exactly sure where I fall in this striving.

I encourage you to take stock of the impression that you leave with people.  If you are honest with yourself and genuinely believe that you are an encouraging presence, praise God!  But if you find that you may be a little overbearing or a little rude or a little self-centered, then step back and ask God for the wisdom to recognize when you’re slipping into those habits.  When you leave a room, leave a taste of love behind.

What To Do About Sarcasm

Oct 29 – Just Kidding?

Ephesians 4:29 is one of those verses that always gets me.  “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  What?!  Do not let ANY unwholesome talk come out of your mouths?  Or what about a few verses later when it says, “Nor should there be oscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking…”  Holy cow!  If you combine all of those things, that makes speech one very difficult thing to control.

I heard a quote once that said, “In every word of sarcasm, there’s a bit of truth.”  That’s the danger in it.  While we may intend for some of the disrespectful or mean words we say to be taken jokingly, oftentimes, the person we speak to will walk away hurt, not because they think we’re completely serious but because maybe we hit on some slkice of truth that really does hurt them.  For me, sarcasm is a weapon.  I use it when I feel backed into a corner or when I’m upset with someone but don’t want to confront the person about it.  In high school, one of my friends used sarcasm so much that I just didn’t want to be around him.  It was impossible to be in a conversation with him without him making you feel bad about yourself for something you did or just feel stupid for something you said.  That was his way of getting attention and making people laugh.  It worked, but it hurt, and it definitely affected our friendship.

Now I am the first to tell you that I am rather senstive to words.  I was raised to value them highly and to be careful when using them, so I admittedly respond more strongly to them than many people do.  That being said though, words really do have power.  I think we tend to forget that, especially in this age of computers and cell phones where we can so easily hide behind a screen when we talk to people.  As you talk to people this week, whether in person, online, or in a text message, focus on that second part of the first verse from today -  use words that are”helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  It may encourage someone you didn’t even know needed encouraging!

Redemption on Both Sides of the Social Ladder – Share Your Stories!

This poem rings so true for me.  I struggled through those years too, wanting nothing more than to feel accepted.  As I got pushed aside, I dreamed the same things Heather did – of “walking up to them suddenly beautiful and unafraid” – and I still do.  I still feel like I have something to prove to those girls in the “cool group.”  The 13-year-old inside of me still fights to keep my eyes from dropping to the ground when certain people pass by.  The 13-year-old inside of me still craves their acceptance…

But mine is not the first of these stories you have heard.  There are plenty of people who share about their middle or high school years when they were teased, pushed aside, or just wanted to be popular.  They happily share with their audience just how far they have come…

But what about the people on the other side of the fence?  What about the ones who spent those years a little higher up on the perceived social ladder?  I wish I could share a story with you here and tell you what it was like, but I can’t.

Here’s what I do know – There is healing for the hurting, as well as the one who brings the hurt.  There is healing for the broken, as well as the one who does the breaking.  Paul, the author of nearly half of the New Testament, was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians right after Jesus left the earth.  He worked to find the Christians and either jail them or kill them.  And yet God redeemed even his hatred for the gospel and made him one of the founders of the Christian church.

No matter where you are in the social world, I invite you to share your stories.  It can be either where you are or where you have been in the past.  It can be the ways you have been hurt or the ways God has healed you.  Whatever it is, please share with us! 

End Poverty? Really?

Oct 18 – $2 A Day

Deuteronomy 15:4-8, 10

     There should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.  For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
     If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs…Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

Verses like this are so easily pushed aside.  It is easier to ignore the possibility that poverty could be taken care of rather than admit the consequences of the lifestyles so many of us have adopted and change the way we live.  Today, we are fond of saying that these verses are idealistic and impossible.  Maybe we group them in with other Old Testament verses and say that they don’t apply to us in the world today.  But then, after Jesus comes and brings God’s kingdom to earth, we see the newly born church living just this way: 

Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-35

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need…All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Move toward making this a reality, even if it’s just with baby steps at first.  Half the world lives on $2 a day or less.  Join with some friends and live on $2 a day for a week to really see what that’s like.  Or reconsider your spending with the knowledge that $1 can give clean water to a person in Africa for a year.  Become aware of other people around you, both locally and globally, and do some research to find out where the money you spend is going.  Imagine what it could be like….

Sharing Your Gifts

Oct 10 – Creative Gifts

I want to encourage you to take advantage of today’s journal activity that DevoZine provides.  If you don’t have a DevoZine, here’s the prompt:

Make a list of the things you most enjoy doing; then brainstorm how you can use your gifts to help others.  If you like to paint, make watercolor cards for your friends.  If you enjoy baking, make a batch of choclate chip cookies for your family.  If you like to write, send a letter, which would be a real treat since so few people write them anymore.  With a little creativity and prayer, you can put all of your talents to good use.

It is so easy for us to point out the things in our lives that we’re not good at.  I see people all the time who are able to do things that I can’t do well, and for a long time, it made me doubt myself and the gifts that I have.  Make today a time to really focus on the gifts you’ve been given and to thank God for the things in life that you enjoy.  Pray that God would help you to think of some creative ways to share a part of your life with people to encourage them or bring a smile to their face.

To the Heights and A Loving Response to Your Tormenters

Sept 13 – Shed the Dread

You know, I’m going to be honest with you.  (That’s something I will always do my best to be here.)  I tried really hard to write this blog yesterday.  I sat and wrote and thought and erased and wrote and erased some more.  I was frustrated.  Why can’t I come up with anything to say that feels like the direction God might be headed?  So I wrote the one entry, put the rest aside, and left.

This morning was rough again.  I was really down on myself, struggling to find the confidence that my efforts matter.  And then it came time to write this blog.  This time, the verse from the devotion today spoke to me so much more deeply: 

The Sovereign Lord is my strength…

I haven’t had much strength today.  We don’t always have a lot left of ourselves to give.  So He will sustain me.  He will provide for me.  And He has.

…he will make my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

Do you ever feel like you’re in a valley that you can’t get out of?  You feel stuck.  You’re surrounded by mountains without an escape.  You’re tired…

But what if you could leap up the sides of the mountains?  What if you could bound up and across the steep crags and easily reach the top, easily see the bigger picture of where you had been?  Wouldn’t that be perfect?  I would feel like I was flying!

That’s what God frees us to do.  On our own, we cannot reach the heights of His joy, the deep-hearted places He wants us to live in.  Our feet are gnarled, our baggage is heavy, and our legs are weak.  But He says He will make our feet like the feet of a deer (Habakkuk 3:19).  He says to take His burden because it is light (Matthew 11:30).  He says that His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Trust God to take you to the heights.  Know that He has given you both the ability and the courage to do so.

Sept 14 – Stinky

Have you ever been like the girl in this story?  Have you been the person who people pushed, taunted, made fun of, harassed, whispered about, yelled at, or mocked?  How did you respond?  Or if you haven’t experienced it, how do you think you would respond?

Just before Jesus was killed on the cross, He was mocked too.  Matthew 26:67-68 says that people “spit in his face and struck him with their fists.  Others slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’”  Later, a different group of people ”stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him [symbolizing royalty], and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head.  They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” (Matthew 27:28-30)

What would you have done in that situation?  If it had been me, I don’t know.  I might have been sobbing and begging them to stop.  I might have been angry and tried to lash out.  But Jesus, as He is dying on the cross prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)  Wow.  After being spit on, beaten, mocked, having thorns driven into His forehead, and hung on a cross with spikes driven through His wrists and feet, He asks for their forgiveness…?  If that’s what Jesus means by “love your enemies” (Luke 6:27), then I’m not sure I am up to the task.  It certainly gives us something to work toward.

If you have been the victim of bullying, teasing, or mocking at school or anywhere else, I am so sorry.  Know that you are not alone and that here, we know that your pain is real and justified.  Since we cannot control other people but only the way we respond, I pray that God will give you the strength to love as Jesus did here, to respond with kindness, even when it is not returned to you. 

A Reminder of Kindness

Sept 12 – The New Kid

I want to go to Europe.  If you’ve known me for very long, you probably know that.  But here’s the thing about Europe that blows my mind – how the heck do you find your way around???  Ok, so you can go to England or Scotland and maybe make it all right but what if you went to France or Italy or Spain?  Or smaller countries with lesser known languages like Poland or The Czech Republic?  Then what?  I don’t know!  But I know I would be dependent upon the kindness of the people there to get me where I needed to go, whether to a train station, an airport, or a bathroom.

You know, in the good ol’ U-S-of-A, we forget pretty easily how difficult it is to be a foreigner in a strange country.  But we see ”foreigners” everyday.  They come from a different country or a different state or a different part of town.  And if you’ve ever gone to a camp where you knew no one or switched to a new school, then you have been a foreigner as well.  Do you remember how it felt?

In the verse for today, God tells us that we are to treat the foreigners among us as though they are citizens – after all, we’ve been foreigners before too, haven’t we?  (*Sidenote:  Certain versions of the Bible use the word “aliens” for this verse – anytime you see that in the Bible, it’s talking about someone living in a country that’s not their own.)  Wherever you are a “regular”, whether that’s at school, some activity like dance or theater, or a coffee shop, make sure to reach out in kindness to the people you know are from somewhere else.  You never know when the kindness might need to be returned – and when you might find a new friend!

*Today shall be a one-entry day.  It’s back to 2 tomorrow!