Both Hands

Romans 5:17 The Message

"...can you imagine the breath-taking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?"

In reading through Romans (which is one massive undertaking I might add) there are so many truths, revelations, and challenges crammed into those 16 chapters that one can feel a little overwhelmed. Like with the rest of this book, there are a lot of things going on in this passage of verse but I want to cover just this little part that stood out to me today during my quiet time.

While reading through this section of verses I stopped on the words ‘both hands’. We have to grasp this life-gift with both hands. When you use both hands for something that means we have no other way to grasp something else. I feel like too often we grasp the things of God with one hand and continue to hold on to earthly things with the other.

Having a little baby I found this analogy extremely relatable. When I’m holding my little son, who is just now getting to where he can sometimes hold his own head up for any period of time, I can often get by holding him with only one arm/hand. I can prop him up on my shoulder and use one arm to support him and use my other hand to do something else, like say text or cook or whatever else I need to be getting done. And while I can do that for a little while, it really only works in certain positions and doesn't allow me to take care of all of his needs. If I truly want to support him and care for him properly, I have to hold onto him with both hands. One hand just doesn’t work, it isn’t enough. So while we hold on to Christ-like things with one hand, grasping what we want with our other hand, we aren’t truly holding on like we should. And if a ‘wildly extravagant life-gift’ was placed before you, wouldn’t you want to reach out and grab it properly and hold on tight in a way that you can only do if you give it your all and use both hands?

Due Next Month

My little Lincoln as he was at 19 weeks.

This thought has been floating around in my head for the last several months and I felt the need to jot it down. My little man is almost here! 

I don’t know how people can have the miracle of a baby and not believe in God. I know me, I know my body, and I know that I am not capable of making something out of nothing, of creating human life within my very belly with little or no direct effort on my part. And yet there is something that is growing inside of me, developing a brain, heart, lungs, and a personality, which was not there only months ago. Therefore to deny that there is a Creator that made our bodies gifted to do the impossible is both ignorant and senseless. It is one thing to dismiss that animals and other creatures are capable of such things, as it is distant and disconnected from our lives, but once you have a baby inside of you, once you experience the miracle of a child, another human being, being knit together in your womb, I see no possible way to dismiss this as anything but an absolute miracle accomplished only by Someone as accomplished as my God. 

"Oh yes, You shaped me first inside, then out;
You formed me in my mother's womb.
I think You, High God - You're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

    I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

    You know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth;

    all the stages of my life were spread out before You,

The days of my life all prepared

    before I’d even lived one day."
-Psalms 139:13-16, The Message

Our One Treasure

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I recently started reading The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer and at the conclusion of chapter one I have already had many truths revealed to me in very applicable ways. I am very excited to continue to see what God can show me through a book written over 60 years ago as I let Tozer shepherd me into a closer relationship with our Creator.


"The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever." - A. W. Tozer


This quote is phenomenal to me. To truly grasp this would be the beginning of such understanding. To understand and live this would be to let go of all stress, pain, greed, selfishness, and so many things our flesh tries to cling to. How wonderful would it be to see God as our One satisfaction, our One delight? To need nothing else to be happy? Just last night my husband and I were talking about giving and trusting God with our finances and he mentioned a truth that I haven't heard in some time. He talked about how we get greedy with our stuff when we need to remember that everything we have is God's to begin with, we are merely stewards. He blessed us with such things but they are never truly ours. How quickly we forget such things. Our society, our flesh, and our enemy are quick to convince us to take credit for our things, we are quick to lay claim on everything in our life, saying we worked hard for those items and earned them. But ALL good things come from God. Your home, your job, your spouse, your money... it is not yours. Learning to pull the blindfold of greed off of our eyes and accepting such truths, which are far easier to push aside, and live our lives within such understanding can only lead to freedom. Freedom to allow God to be our treasure, our happiness, and our delight. What earthly objects could possible be worth more?

Thorns & Jars of Clay

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

-II Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)

In reading II Corinthians you hear Paul talk about how we are jars of clay and will remain so until we go to be with Christ. I have read this a million times and have begun to skim over it, quoting the verse in my head as I read it. But take a second to think about what a jar of clay looks like and how fragile it is. Then begin to compare that to our lives - we are breakable and blemished, not adorned like beautiful China. While this seems less than exciting, Paul was resigned to this, even rejoicing in it. "<This is> to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 

When I read that line I stopped. Something kind of clicked. How could we honor and love God if we weren't fragile and riddled with sin? We wouldn't feel a need for God at all if we were unblemished and perfect. We already depend on Him too little, even with such severe handicaps, imagine how independent we would be without them! This is all God's Will and we just have to accept it, learn to rejoice in our weaknesses, the "thorn" as Paul puts it. I'd always pictured the thorn concept Paul uses as something specific - either a physical limitation or a sin one struggles with - and I think it can be taken and used that way in some circumstances, but I also think it can be used to describe humanity. Our flaws, the curse of sin, our constant struggle between flesh and the eternal. It will always be the "thorn" and never be completely conquered in this life. But we can learn to look past that and see the perfectness of God through our weakness, our sinfulness, and see Him and His glory more fully. And thereby grow to understand our need for Him more perfectly, grasp that we can't do this alone and must learn to look to Him in all things. I love how The Message translates this verse: 

"If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at."

-II Corinthians 4:7 (Message) 

Heaven is not our only reward; we can learn to live this life with purpose, knowing that God is our treasure now - inside of us, as flawed and unadorned as we may be. This is His Will and purpose for us in the here and now, and these moments of affliction and failure are merely stepping stones to eternal glory. Don't allow your sin and shortcomings make you fail to see the treasure that is available to you in your life, in this very day. 

Moses' Shining Face

Continuing Forty Days on the Mountain  Meditations on Knowing God by Stephen E. Smallman, today's devotion was titled "Moses' Shining Face". Just seeing the title conjured up thoughts of learning to more effectively show God's love in my life and my being. I've heard many sermons, lessons, and devotions on this topic and while they are all rather similar I always enjoy hearing a fresh perspective and having a nice reminder. Today's study, covering Exodus 34, was no exception.

Firstly, I liked that Smallman pointed out the fact that the Bible says Moses came down with "the two tablets of the Testimony". Being a word lover, I looked up the definition of testimony to make sure I grasped the word and the meaning behind it properly.

Testimony: Evidence in support of a fact or statement. Proof. 

It wasn't just a few words written out, it was evidence, proof. The devotion says "God bears witness to His person and Will through the written Word."

Secondly I liked the comment Smallman made regarding Moses... "Without consciously trying to do so, he was reflecting to the people something of 'all of the goodness' of God". I like that he says 'without consciously trying' - which is how we, as Christians, should live. We should reflect God in ways that don't even make it to our conscious thoughts. Sure, we consciously make the right decisions, avoid sin, love others, etc... But God's Word should be so instilled into us, into who we are, that we reflect God in ways that don't have to go through our cognition. I want people to SEE God in me, on my face, in my smile, in my actions, hear Him in my words, and know that He is with me even when I'm not thinking about it. Even when displaying the attributes of God aren't necessarily in the forefront of my mind...

Lastly, Smallman points out that verses 33-35 show that Moses "regularly returned to the presence of God so that his radiance was constantly being renewed."

It's so easy to read that and say 'well, if I had that kind of experience with God I would certainly want to go back for more.' Who can blame Moses after such a life changing experience? But we fail to do that ourselves. Through the Holy Spirit and Jesus' sacrifice, we have such an opportunity to speak with Him and pursue Him and yet we fail to do so. We allow earthly things to fill us instead of God and fail to pursue Him and His presence. We need to find way to regularly renew ourselves in Christ so our actions, our words, and our lives and shine as Moses' face did.

Separate Unto Him

I am currently reading through Forty Days on the Mountain: Meditations on Knowing God by Stephen E. Smallman in my devotions. This book is a collection of little meditations showing how God revealed himself to Moses and helping us to understand God's ultimate Holiness.

During today's particular devotion Smallman covered Exodus 34:12-16 in which God warns His people not to intermarry or worship the gods of the land they were to inhabit.

Smallman narrates by saying "There was a clear call for Israel to separate from those things that would pull them away from the Lord. They were also to build discipline into their daily lives that would continually renew their faith... The Lord was careful to show that separation from the world was not an end in itself. But it would allow His people to be separated unto Him so that they could enjoy the delights of being God's own treasured possession."

I found this to be very important because I feel like I am very 'separate' from the world - I grew up in a Christian family and know nothing else. I do not participate in the 'worldly' acts that are so common among people my age. However, living a moral and clean lifestyle is not 'an end in itself'. It is a good reminder to hear that not only am I called to be away from the world and it's sinful ways, but I am supposed to be separate unto God - for God. That is a completely different story.

In an effort to do this, we have the chance to understand what it means to be God's own treasured possessions (see Deuteronomy 7:6). Can you imagine how wonderful it must be to feel like a treasure possession especially to the creator of the universe?!

I John 2:6 says "Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked."

Wow. No matter how hard we try, we will always fall short of this. However, the purpose of being separated unto Him means that we strive to do just that.

Intentional

The beautiful view of Beaver Lake from our cabin.

Our last couple of hours here at Winterwood before heading home to face the real world again. A three day getaway is almost just a tease. It's just long enough to get unwound and back in tune with yourself and then it's over. There simply isn't enough time to truly appreciate your unwound self.

More than anything I want to go home and remember to BE in the moments. Luke and I talked a lot about being intentional - about living in the moment and not flying through life. About intentionally making time for God, each other, and other people as well. About appreciating each moment while you are in it. That night we happened to read Ephesians 5, where it talks of paying attention to your walk, being wise and not unwise, and making the most of every opportunity. I don't want to zip through life (or even zip through my day) without even having done one truly intentional thing. Sure, I may have gotten the laundry done, or cooked dinner, but was I intentional about my approach to anything? Did I give anyone my full undivided attention despite always having my own agenda and to do list? Did I notice someone else's needs and purposely help them? Did I intentionally make the time to sit and read God's Word, with open eyes and an open heart, to allow Him to show me what HE had planned for my day?

Mike Mains and the Branches will soon be releasing a song on their album "Calm Down, Everything is Fine", which speaks of just that - slowing down. When I heard that song I felt like it struck a chord with me. "Slow down, slow down. Grab a coffee here with me and take a second to breathe." Let's just relax, and enjoy each other, life, God, nature... All the things that God made and that are good.

Without intention there is very little purpose to life. I want to be "careful, then, how <I> live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity..."