Because You Say So

Do everything without compaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
                          Philippians 2:14-16


I have been a parent now for almost five and a half years. I know there are so many more parents out there with much more expereience then myself, so please bear with me. In that five and a half years, the one thing I am most convinced of is that God gave me children so that I could grow. When I'm dealing with my oldest and she is questioning why I am asking her to pick up the toys that she is just going to play with tomorrow and she sees no reason why I should ask her to do work now, all I can hear in my head is myself asking God why He's asking me to "give in" to  be nice to someone I really don't want to be nice to.  See the irony of that? I do. And there are so many other examples that I could tell you about.

In the verses I've quoted above, it talks about doing everything without complaining or arguing. I remember memorizing this verse as a kid with Steve Green and his "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" tapes that had verses set to music. Flashback for some of us, right? Anyway, as a kid I took these verses to mean that I had to bite my tongue and do what was asked of me no matter what. But as I've grown, I see that there is so much more than just doing what I'm told. Paul is encouragng us to live as shining examples in a generation that is lost and crooked. Doesn't that describe the world today?

This week in my study of What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst, she talked about the story in Luke 5:1-11 when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John as disciples. These men were fisherman by trade and were coming to shore after a long night of fruitless fishing on the Lake of Gennesaret. On the shore, Jesus was speaking to a crowd that was pressing in on Him, so He climbed into Peter's boat to continue teaching. He then asked Peter to push the boat out from shore a bit. Verse 4 of chapter 5 says "When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon (Peter), "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Now remember, these men had just come in from fishing all night, but notice how Peter responds to Jesus. "Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.' " And guess what, their nets were filled so full with fish that it began to sink their boats.

Now you're thinking, that's fine for Peter, but what about my life where I think I'm doing what God wants only to be wallowing in more trouble and lack of fulfillment. I wonder what would happen, myself included, if our hearts were more like Peter's and said, without hesitation and question, "Because you say so, Jesus". We get so focused on needing to know the end result or the "why" like my five year-old, that we ignore the fact that God has the ultimate plan.

So many times I am guilty of doing just that. Arguing with God. Complaining that He doesn't understand how hard it is for me to let go of something or someone. How scared I am to speak to someone about Him. But why do I argue then wonder why I feel like I'm missing out on something? Maybe it's because I am. Peter's life was the perfect example of how doing one simple act of obedience that made no sense to him, changed the course of his life.  He didn't complain or argue, and he was a shining example to all those in his generation. Yes, he struggled at times, even denied Christ in the hours before His crucifiction, but God took all Peter's experiences and used them to help him eventually lived boldly for The Lord and helped establish the early Church.

So is there something God is calling you to do, but you're asking why or telling Him that is doesn't make sense? Do everything without complaining or arguing isn't just a good mantra that we tell our kids. Let us lead by example when God is calling us to obey and stay focused on Jesus.

Wholly Committed

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
              1 Peter 3:13-15a


Committment. It's a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many people. I believe that's why there are so many couples living together before marriage, or instead of getting married. Oh they say it's so they can "test drive" the relationship, but deep down, they are scared of being committed to someone.  Comittiment is easy when things in the relationship are going well, but I find it very interesting that so many couples who have "test drove" their relationship for many years, end up divorcing not long after the marriage license is signed.

And me in my self-rightous attitude used to think I was not afraid of committment. But as it says in Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

As the Proverbs 31 online study of What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst looked at Chapter 4 this week, Lysa dug deeper into the concept of radical obedience that I wrote about last week. And true to form, God is pinpointing the areas that I think I don't need to work on.  He is revealing to me how disobeying and falling short in one area of my life points back so closely to my committment level.

Why did I think for so long that I didn't have a committment problem? God is showing me that it's because I wasn't actually committing or obeying in the fulness that He requires.

So why is committing to God such a scary thing? Am I scared of getting physically or emotionally hurt? Scared of what others will think? Fear of the unknown? Peter addresses those reasons in the verses above. But he calls us to set our hearts apart Christ as Lord. And that is exactly what I think holds us back. At least it is for me.

It's the putting Christ and His ways as the only priority of my heart. And what exactly is my heart? In the Hebrew culture of the Bible, the heart was credited with being the center or core of a personality. It was the spiritual center and your life flowed from there. Your heart defines you, determines who you are, how you think, and what you do.  All of your emotions, motives and will come from your heart and it reflects your true identity.  That is why Proverbs 4:23 says to guard your heart above all else.

Our natural tendencies, or our sinful nature, doesn't want to be stifled or controlled by anything other than our wants and desires. And that's what makes being wholly committed to God scary to me, and so many others. And it's also why I believe so many people like to "test drive" their relationship with God. They don't want to be committed to Him in all areas of their heart because it might mean they have to give up something.

But being wholly committed to God is where I want to be. I want to be a woman who doesn't have to think twice about being wholly committed to God in every area of my heart.

What about you? Are you testing driving your relationship with God and holding back your heart from Him instead of setting it apart for Christ?

Radical Obedience

Prepare your mind for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you in holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
                1 Peter 1:13-16


What do you think of when I say the word radical? Do images of political rallies, planes crashing into buildings and riots pop into your head? Those are my first thoughts too. But today, I want to change your view of radical.

Do you know what the definition of radical is? It is favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions. And yes, in many instances it is a way to describe the examples in the above paragraph. But what if radical was a way to define your odedience to God?

This week in my study of What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst, I was challenged to live in radical obedience. At first I thought, "You've got to be kidding. Radical doesn't fit into my life. I've got kids to think about. And laundry. And dishes. And..." It was definelty a time when I said "Say what?"

But the more I thought about it and gleaned from other ladies taking this online bible study from Proverbs 31, the more I was convicted to turn towards radical obedience. You see, radical obedience is something that should define every Christian. We should be radically different from the world around us. Like the verses above from 1 Peter, we should be self-controlled, put our hope in Christ, not give in to evil desires and be holy. None of those remind me of the way the world lives.

But where am I on the obedience spectrum? Do I sway back and forth when it suits me?

My everyday life, as I described above, doesn't seem radical. And most would say that being radical as a mom isn't the best way to raise a family. But I think it's the best way to be a wife and mom. My family, above all others, should see that I live in radical obedience to God. They need to see that my life as a living example of the work of Christ. They need to see that living in radical obedience is not some hocus pocus, fruity-tooty way of living, but that its simply a way of turning everything I do into an opportunity for God to work in my life and the lives of those around me.

I have to be honest. I've had a really rough week. Between kids not listening, me having insomnia, back problems and housework that I can never seem to finish, I've felt very overwhelmed at times. And as I've written about before, my need to have everything appear perfect and in control gets out of control sometimes. But I know that Satan was trying to knock me to the ground because he doesn't like that I am doing this bible study and experience life changing biblical teaching. And it worked. He knocked me to my knees. But that is where I could best cry out to God and lift my open hands in surrender of my life. My home, my family, my need for approval, all that was surrendered to God. For me, it's radical surrender. It's not something that is a one time surrender, but a surrender I need to do every day in radical obedience to God.

So what is God calling you to surrender to Him in radical obedience? No, it won't be easy, but it will be freeing. As Lysa says in her book, "One thing you can be assured of is that God has already worked out all the details of what your obedience will accomplish--and it is good. We need not fear what our obedience will cause to happen in our life. We should only fear what our disobedience will cause us to miss."

Who's Driving?

Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, The Lord alone. And you must love The Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
           Deuteronomy 6:4&5  NLT

Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! Love God, your God, with your whole heart; love Him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!
          Deuteronomy 6:4&5  MSG



Have you ever been a passenger in a vehicle with someone who is a really bad driver? If your riding in a taxi, you just hang on for dear life and pray you make it to your destination alive. But if it's a friend or family member, you might offer to take over for them, and cringe when they say "I'm an excellent driver! What's your problem?"

As I started digging into the verse of the week from my latest Proverbs 31 online bible study, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" by Lysa Terkeurst, a fellow study girlfriend used the analogy of God in the driver seat of our lives. I thought it was a fantastic and here's why.

In the verses in Deuteronomy that I have quoted above, Moses is calling for a commitment to The Lord from the children of Israel and telling them how to do this. He's telling them that nothing else can have their heart, give passion to their soul and fuel their strength. Later on in Deuteronomy, he details to them what will happen if the follow The Lord and what will happen if they don't.

I often get frustrated when reading passages like this in the Old Testament because I know that the nation of Israel strays from following The Lord.  They allow the gods of other nations to take the place of the one true God in their lives. Even after they experienced miracles, signs and the fulfillment of prophecy.

But yet as I get frustrated with God's people, He reminds me that I have not always let Him be in the driver's seat of my own life. I have allowed other gods a turn at the wheel. And by gods I mean selfishness, materialism, jealousy and so many more that I could list. I've let other things and people become my heart, passion and drive. I've worked off my own strength and not depended on Him.

So this is my question to myself, and you.

What do I need to get rid of in order for God to be the only driver in my life? And what's keeping me from doing that?

If I'm honest with myself, I'm afraid of what will happen. I'm afraid of what others will think. Will they make fun of me? Will I being thought of as being prideful? Arrogant? I'm afraid of where God will take me. But if Jesus did what God asked Him to do, and His obedience saved me, then I need to put God back in the drivers seat of my life.

Who is in your drivers seat?

Christian Criteria

So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God instead of trying to be right on his own."
If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it--you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked--well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift
                  Romans 4:1-5 (The Message)



When I was in high school, I remember enjoying writing reports and doing projects. Maybe that's why history and english were my favorite subjects. I would get excited when the teacher would hand out the criteria for an assignment. Yes, I'm a geek and know it. But, if the teacher said we could write on whatever we wanted and that there was no specific criteria, I always panicked a little bit. Why, because I liked knowing exactly what I had to do to get an "A" on my paper.

I'm still someone who likes to know the criteria for a project. When it comes to my Christian walk, I admit that I can very easily get focused on the "criteria". And we all have Christian criteria in our heads. That list that we go through each time we are faced with the question, "What does God want from me?", and then we jump to find out who needs a meal or what organization needs money.

Now let me be clear, making meals and giving money are not bad things. In fact, most of the things on our Christian criteria lists are extremely good things and wonderful ways of serving. But who are we really serving? God? Others? Or self.

We can get so caught up in doing the next right thing or checking off our list of Christian criteria that we forget to listen to God. And I mean really listen to what He wants from us. Serving Him by taking meals, serving on committees, or giving money are all wonderful things, if that is truly what He is telling you to do. But what if all God wants from you today is your attention. Picture Him sitting in your living room, waiting for you to come sit with Him, while you run around checking off your list of Christian criteria.

I have been guilty of doing just that, far too often. Would I do that to my husband? No way! But why do I do it to the God of the universe, when all He wants it for me to spend time with Him, trusting Him and putting my faith in Him. Because let's be honest, when I scurry around fulfilling my list of Christian criteria, I'm putting my faith in my own abilities and focusing more on making myself feel like I've accomplished something that makes me look better in God's eyes. But in that, I'm forgetting what Paul wrote about in  Romans 4:1-5.  Too often I get caught up in doing things for God, when I need to just spend time with God and find out what He really wants from me.

I will never be able to complete my own list of Christian criteria, and neither will you. Today, spend some time with God and ask Him what He wants from you.  Maybe, just maybe, it's your attention.

Getting Away From Going Through The Motions

And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts!"
                Isaiah 6:5 ESV



Have you ever felt like you are going through the motions of life?  More specifically, the Christian life?  I think a lot of us, if we're honest, would say yes.  Oh, we go through the motions of loving others, loving God, serving Him and living with all the "right" morals.  In other words, from the outside, life looks good.  All sunshine and roses.

But what is going on inside isn't so nice.  We have inner turmoil that most of the time we can ignore, but those questions keep plaguing us.  Do I really know God?  Do I really know how to love God and others? How is a Christian supposed to feel?  Why is my heart numb and calloused? How am I different than every other moral person?

Isaiah had a similar life before encountering God in Isaiah chapter 6. I don't know if he ever asked himself these questions, but he had a concept of who God was, as any good Jew should.  He also knew that he was supposed to serve God, which is probably why he was in the temple, going through the motions of his duties as one of the aristocracy of Jerusalem.  (Doesn't that sound like a lot of us, going about our duties in the church or charities?)

But on this particular day, God chose to reveal Himself and take Isaiah's nice, cushy life in a whole new direction.  Isaiah came face to face with the harsh reality of his own sinfulness and pride.  But even more importantly, God in all His glory and majesty, became a reality. (I encourage you to read all of Isaiah chapter 6.) From this day forward, Isaiah followed the call of God, prophesying God's word to the people of Judah, and lived a life that was not cushy.

Ultimately, I think living a life of "motions" does boil down to the first question: do I really know God?  So if that's the problem, what is the solution?  

Like Isaiah, we need an encounter with God, where He goes from being a concept to a reality.  Our encounter won't look like Isaiah's, but will be exactly what we need to change our beliefs and priorities; taking us from living for ourselves to living for Him.

Are you still confused about how to have an encounter with God?  I believe that if you take the time to spend in God's Word, pray to Him to become real to you, you will encounter Him.  He wants us to seek Him.  So why would He ignore your request?  But be prepared that your life will no longer be the same. 

More Than A Consultant

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
                      John 10:10 ESV



I was talking the other day to someone who is contemplating a career change.  This person isn't sure what to do, but knows he needs a change.  I made the joke that if he could figure out what a consultant does, he could do that.  I thought it was a pretty good joke.

But this morning I was listening to a sermon by Timothy Keller and he used the illustration of how some people use Jesus as a consultant.  I thought this was a fantastic analogy.  But then a voice whispered to me, "Do you treat Jesus that way?"

I had been stopped in my tracks, and it got me thinking about what do people go to a consultant to gain.  Wisdom?  Direction?  Expertise?  So I went searching for the definition of a consultant; "a person who gives expert or professional advice".  That doesn't sound like a definition fit for The King of Kings, does it?

Unfortunately, though, I often approach Jesus that way.  I seek His advice on my ideas rather than seeking His Truths, His Will and His Answers.  I take what I think and "run it past him" as I would do a consultant.

Instead, I need to approach Jesus, My King, My Savior, My Redeemer with reverence, humbleness and a moldable heart.  Because if I don't, I'm falling short of living the life He wants for me.  And what kind of life does He want for me?  As John 10:10 states above, He wants to give me abundant life.  Some versions say rich and satisfying.

So if I am truly wanting to receive and life this rich, satisfying, abundant life that Jesus has for me, I need to approach Him as He truly is and not just a consultant in my life.