Life & Death

Proverbs 31:8
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute." ESV
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; defend the rights of all those who have nothing." NCV
"Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute." NRSV
"Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die." NKJV

I've avoided my Facebook newsfeed over the last week or so. With a new baby staring up at me and postnatal hormones washing over me, it's too heart-wrenching to read over and over the implications of New York's new abortion law. Then, yesterday, I read Proverbs 31, although I really only got as far as verse 8.

How do we speak out for the unborn half a continent away? Even in a democratic republic like ours, it's hard to know what to do.

Do we rant on Facebook? Sign petitions? Write blog posts? Get out to vote in the next election?

Do Facebook posts change anyone's mind? Can a list of names really sway a politician over such an agenda-driven piece of legislation? What can another piece of cyber writing do that all the ones before it haven't? What good will my future vote here do for the babies who are dying today over there?

Maybe there's another way to open our mouths.

We can mourn.
We can be broken over the wickedness in our land.
We can grieve, privately and corporately.
We can, like Nehemiah, confess our people's sin.
We can ask God's intervention for the lives of the babies, yes, but also for the women and even the men who will be destroyed by one decision.
We can pray against the deceit of the enemy in the halls of capitol buildings as well as in the consultation rooms of abortion providers.
We can gather with other believers to pray for our children and for the children of our nation. (Any takers?)

We can live lives that value life.
We can reach out to the poor and homeless.
We can support the single mom or dad near us.
We can foster and adopt.
We can be patient with the mom ahead of us in the checkout line whose toddler begins to melt down.
We can teach our children of the intrinsic value of every single human being.
We can love the special needs individual.
We can adopt a zero-tolerance policy for bullying behavior or belittling words, spoken or typed.
We can make it our business to encourage the people we come into contact with each day.
We can be courteous to the fast food worker behind the counter and to the customer service rep on the phone.
We can care for the elderly neighbor.
We can take time for family dinner.

Because this isn't just about life in the womb. This is about life in all its forms. This is about fighting tooth and nail against the devil who "comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10 ESV). (Heaven help us if this is what it takes for the American Church to realize that... Heaven help us if the American Church doesn't realize it after this.)

This is about the kind of life that only Christ gives and only Christians can offer to a dying world - abundant life.

Go Do Your Job

This post could be part 2 to the one I wrote last Saturday. Not in that this comes after it, but in the sense that this is the bigger picture, the other side of the topical coin, the driving force, or whatever other similar cliché you'd like to insert here.

Our pastor challenged us a while back with a thought which I'll paraphrase, since I didn't note his exact phrasing. The idea was this: If your church suddenly disappeared, would the surrounding, secular community notice? Would they care? Would your church be missed?

Now, I can't control everything my church does or doesn't do, but I certainly have a significant role in determining my own actions and pursuits. After all, as the people go, so goes the church, right? A church of inert believers isn't going to do much moving and shaking outside its own walls.

So, my question for you today is this: What sort of skin does your faith have?

Does it have bones and muscles?

Is it the type of faith that scrubs toilets, waits tables, and washes feet?

Is it practical?

Does it change those around you?

Does it change you?

Wait a minute, you might say to me, my faith is a private matter! It's an inward relationship. This isn't your business and I certainly don't have to prove myself to you to be a valid Christian!

You're right; I'm not the judge of authentic faith for believers. But you do have to reckon with a couple very persuasive, first-century teachers. One, for example, says that a faith that does not show itself by outward works is useless. Another seems to think that we've all received special abilities to serve, and so we should use them, and he even includes a list of ways to do just that! They're persuasive, and they're right, because they were divinely inspired to write those sections of Scripture.

So, stop and think.

On Monday morning, when your alarm rings, do you check your faith into "daycare" and make a mental note to pick it up again in time for church next week?

Is church just something you do because it's what you've always done?

Is it a place to be seen, like a club?

If your pew neighbor had never come to your church but ran into you on the street or met you at work, would they still assume that you're a Christ-follower?

Do you look like, sound like, act like Jesus, and more and more as the years tick by?

We're good at the head part of the Gospel, but let's not lose the heart. It's the heart that moves us with pity; it's the heart that cares for our neighbor; it's the heart that reaches out to the lost.

But - 

Maybe you're more on the social justice side of the Gospel. You advocate for the trafficked. You donate to the shelters. You volunteer. You give to the Christian radio station. You have people into your home for meals and conversation. You might even pray out loud in church.

Where's your head?

Remember, faith is not simply actions, it is conviction, attitude, a grasp of a belief. Don't think that you can busywork yourself into God's good graces. Matthew 7 records Jesus' own thoughts on the matter, and they're frightening.

Ephesians 2:8-10 may be one of the most famous Scriptural explanations of salvation. It reads,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." ESV

Do you notice that faith comes first? We have salvation through faith [by grace], with no merit through or from or by our doing.

But - 

Because of that salvation, we have good works to do, works God made us to do, which we can now do because of what Jesus did.

So, in other words, I could have just quoted those three verses and left out the rest of the blog post.

As you celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior this weekend, remember that we celebrate the finished work of Jesus Christ. You can't add to it or take from it by what you do or do not do.

But - 

If it is truly a part of your life, shouldn't that flow out in gratitude through your good works? "Walk in them." Get off your duff and go do what God made you to do.

Settling for My Dream

Four years ago, I was a junior in college, signing up to take the GRE, starting to think about grad schools for my master's, enjoying life. Looked forward four years from then, I saw myself finishing my master's this spring, looking for jobs, ready to go out and pay off student debt, find a place of my own - maybe Boston or San Diego, travel (eventually) to Italy and Greece.

I didn't always want to be a career woman.

Once upon a time, my sole goal in life (other than being a missionary to China like Gladys Aylward or a horse rancher) was to be a wife and mother. The problem with my dream was that high school ended, and no requisite husband showed up.
I took a year off of school to become a licensed piano teacher.
Still no applicant for husband.
Then I took two years of college while dating a young man.
That didn't work, so I got a job for a year.
Still no man.
So I went off to school again. "Plan A didn't pan out," I thought, so I moved on to Plan B.

Then, life blew up (quite literally) three and a half years ago, catapulting me back to Plan A.

Now, here I am, preparing for my hugely anticipated promotion to the position of mother.

From the outside, it might look as if I've settled.

Instead of looking for promising career opportunities, I am looking for new recipes for supper.
Instead of driving to classes or a job every day, I walk a few blocks to a part-time job that doesn't pay much above minimum wage and busily page through books of prenatal and postnatal information in my down time.
Instead of writing research papers and reading peer-reviewed journal articles, I am writing grocery lists and researching the best way to contain dirty diapers until they can be washed.

Yeah, that might look like settling.

But to me, it's living my dream!

"Thank You"

Last year, Ann Voskamp's book swept through Christian women's circles. Her style of writing, together with calling her readers back to an appreciation for all God's good gifts, touched hearts.

Yesterday, I read in my devotions about the discipline of thanksgiving - giving thanks to God even in hard times - and the life-attitude thankfulness (or its lack) can create.

I think this all stands out so much to me right now because, this summer, I saw very plainly what ingratitude looks like.

Ingratitude can disguise itself as perfectionism or as high standards. At its most veiled, it parades as wanting the best for the group. But it misses the individual. It crushes and destroys in the name of cohesion and doing the best for the whole.

It is never satisfied with what is; it only sees what still needs to be.

It tramples brothers and sisters in its quest for more.

Even more, when we stop being thankful, we begin to reason away the conviction of sin. My devotions pointed out that Eve, back in Eden, was tempted when she was no longer thankful for what God had provided (an entire garden of good food and beauty, for Pete's sake!) and only saw the one thing that was forbidden. If thankfulness had filled her, her attitude would have been one that focused on all of God's gifts. Instead, she saw the desirability of what was not hers, coveted it, took it. She did not worry about the godly life because she no longer saw the kind providence of God.

How vital thankfulness must be to a Christian's walk!

The fact of the matter is, we always have something for which we can be thankful. Always.
1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." ESV

Focus on that.
You are cleansed of all sin!
You, a sinner?
Absolutely.
But cleansed.

Feel the depth of the desperation of your sin! Then realize what Christ - His very blood - did for you.

What do you feel? I'm guessing gratitude.

This sets the tone for life! It will affect the direction of your thoughts and expectations. It will change your interaction with others. Defenses will drop as other people start to realize that you are aware of everything they offer, that you are grateful for their contribution, hard work, even their presence. And isn't that what the life of Christ in us is supposed to do? To revolutionize the way we do everything, including our interactions with others?

This is not just a soul issue, folks. This is something that touches your life trajectory.

When we grasp for what is not ours, we see only what we have been denied, only the depth of our deprivation.

BUT.

When we find something - one thing - for which we can sincerely thank God, more follow. It really is amazing how quickly they start to come to mind. Because, you see, they're there. You just need the eyes to see them. The eyes of a thankful person.

Be thankful even when - especially when - it costs you something, when it is difficult. What good is a gift that is worthless?

Make your thankfulness valuable by practicing it in the hard times. Start by thanking God for His valuable gift of salvation, and then let thankfulness be part of a daily dialogue between you and your Creator.

But don't let it stop there. Let it pour over into the rest of your life - your interactions with your spouse and boss and friends, your attitude toward possessions and schedules and stressors, your reaction to plans that are spoiled or hurts that others cause.

"And be thankful."

Don't just take my word for it.

A Chair by the Highway

I was driving home last night when I came across an interesting sight: a white, plastic lawn chair sitting forlornly on the side of the highway. It was properly placed on all four legs, but it must have blown out of someone's pickup bed. Still, it was eery to see it just sitting there, at least a mile from the nearest farm, three feet back on the shoulder facing the highway. Certainly no one would walk way out there just to watch traffic whiz by?

I only had a few seconds to realize what it was when my headlights illuminated it and before I was past it, but I spent most of the rest of the drive pondering it.

If a chair is not being used, it's not fulfilling its purpose.

If it's in a place where no one would wish to sit in it, what is it worth? Its function has been removed; its purpose for being is absent. It still looks like a chair, but can it even be called that if no one can sit in it? I mean, isn't that what we do with chairs? And if no one can sit in it, what is its function? Does it have one?

It reminded me of confusion in my own life.

If I am in a place where my goals are unclear, can I be useful? If I am living in the tension of what was and what will be, how do I cope with what is now?

More frighteningly, if I miss my "calling" and end up on the proverbial side of the highway, far removed from my purpose or mission, what am I worth? Am I still "Me" as I know myself?

Thankfully, I'm not currently in a place where I'm questioning my calling. I can look back on my life and see how those "side of the road" experiences were actually part of the journey to get where I am now.

Recognizing this gives hope for the areas of my life which still feel out of touch with my intrinsic purpose. Then the question becomes: can I wait patiently on the Lord (staying diligent in the things He has given me to do) while expecting Him to act, to bring it all together in His good time, and to let me know if I'm terribly off track?

Off track like a lawn chair on the shoulder of the highway.