Just Around the Riverbend

                When I was a little girl, I used to love the Disney movie Pocahontas. The songs were amazing and Pocahontas had the impossible decision to make between marrying a man her father approved of or pursing a man she was in love with. The wise Grandmother Willow then gave her the life altering advice to “listen to your heart” and the decision to follow this advice shaped the rest of her future. I have often seen this theme repeated in movies, shows, and literature that in order to clarify one’s future he must ask himself “What do I want?” I think this has become another lie sold to us in our culture witch gains its strength by being founded in truth.

                Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” Most people consider this to be a notion in support of the “follow your heart” motto; however, Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?” By this we are left to understand that Psalm 37:4 could not be telling us to follow our own deceitful hearts, but must mean something else. The more I come to know the Lord, the more He fills my heart with His desires. I am no longer interested in getting enough money to secure my future, because I trust the Lord for my security. Now I have the freedom to use what money I do have to bless those around me. Similarly, I no longer try to make the most of my life by experiencing as much pleasure for myself as possible, but with knowledge of eternity and the vast amount of pleasures to come, I make the most of my life by sharing with others about Christ while I have the chance. When we continue to follow God, he gives our heart desire for love and then completes our joy by giving us the love we crave. He puts in us a desire to accomplish the purpose for which He created us and then gives us the pleasure of being able to fill that purpose.

                Have I bought in to this lie that to be happy I must ask myself what I want? Do I believe that God has made me for His purpose? Do I believe that I will not be truly happy doing anything other than what He has made me for? How can I change my attitude to accept the desires that God wants to place in my heart?

                Lord, thank You for giving my life purpose and meaning. Please put Your desires in my heart and help me to pursue those desires with all of my life. Thank You for never placing joy and fulfillment out of my reach. Amen.

The Eternal Moment

                A lie is much more easily accepted if it contains some portion of the truth. When Listerine was invented, it was initially used for medical purposes such as sanitizing cuts and scrapes or preparing for surgery. The creators of Listerine wanted to be able to sell their product to wider variety of clients since their product only appealed to those in the medical profession. To accomplish this goal, those involved first coined the phrase “halitosis” and began to spread information about this disorder that was affection almost all of humanity. They then suggested that this condition, more commonly known as “bad breath” could then be cured with the product Listerine and millions of dollars were spent to prevent the disorder. While it is true that Listerine does cure bad breath, this was not considered a problem until the creators of Listerine suggested it was one.  Also, another cure for this condition is the frequent consumption of water.

This Listerine ad is from the 1920's reading: "Don't fool yourself. Since halitosis never announces itself, to the victim, you simply cannot know when you have it. Are you unpopular with your own children? Make sure that you don't have halitosis. It is inexcusable. And unnecessary.

                One of the most frequently pieces of propaganda I currently hear being advertized to our society is the suggestion that we should “live in the moment.” I recently heard a song about a man who could not pay his rent so he spent all the money he had to “have a good time until my time is up.” Ephesians 5:16 seems to support this idea saying, “making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” This is the grain of truth that is presented to us in a lie. The verse in its context says this, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is” (vs. 15-17). Scripture suggest to us that we do need to live in the moment and make the most of the time that we have and in doing this we should be even more careful to submit every moment to the Lord and follow Him even more closely in wisdom and understanding. The propagated version of this truth suggest to us the lie that to live in the moment means to ignore consequences, but the truth is that living in the moment means to be even more wise and cautious to follow the Lord’s will. As Christ Followers, we must live with eternity in mind—live in the eternal moment.

                Am I living with a since of urgency to follow God’s will? Do I accept the lie that I will be able to submit to God tomorrow and miss my opportunity today? Have I bought into the lie that it is acceptable to ignore consequences of tomorrow for today’s pleasures? How can I change my attitude to keep eternity in mind? Am I considering how eternity affects right now?

                Lord, please help me to be wise and make every effort to understand Your will so that I do not hesitate to follow You in every moment. Help me to be even more careful knowing that the days are evil and remember to live in the eternal moment. Amen.

Flood of Problmes

                It has always been instinctual for me to ignore and hide problems that I am unable to handle on my own; however, this approach often leads to bigger problems that are harder to handle. One morning when I was young, I woke up before anyone else in the house and decided to take a shower. I had not realized at the time that the pipes were frozen after the low morning temperatures and soon ran out of water completely. I turned the knobs on the shower all the way to one side and then all the way to the other and still no water came out. I did not know whether or not the water was now turned on or off, but I did not want to bother anyone else by asking, so I left the tub and decided I would return to the problem later. The morning when on as usual until, sometime nearer to the afternoon, my mom reported a strange noise coming from the part of the house that held my bathroom. When we investigated the noise, we found that the bathtub had filled with water and overflowed into the bathroom and most of my bedroom. The rest of that day was spent taking up the carpet in my bedroom and salvaging what we could from the flood.

                Sadly I think we as Christ followers often take a similar approach when it comes to the spiritual realm. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” Despite this knowledge, we still choose to see only the physical issues in our daily lives. I was once told that when things are going well and life seems easy, that is the time to be on guard as a follower of Christ because when we are furthering the Kingdom of God, the enemy will do everything in his power to try to discourage us, but when we are being ineffective in the work of God, the enemy tries to make things as comfortable as possible so that we do not change.          

                Have I become lulled into an easy life which does not promote the Kingdom of God? When I am faced with obstacles, do I allow them to discourage me from following Christ or am I encouraged by the thought that I may be making a difference? Do I take the time to see past the physical issue to the deeper spiritual problem or do I ignore the spiritual realm until it becomes a flood that spills over into my life? How can I change my attitude in order to be aware of the work that God is doing around me?

                Lord, please show me the work that You are doing in the people and town around me. Help me to be an effective warrior for Your kingdom and not to settle for an easy life. Please help me to see beyond the physical aspects of my daily life to the spiritual work going on around me. Amen.

Different=Wrong

                “Different equals wrong.” The first time I heard these words, I felt like a mystery in my life had finally been solved. It was always a mystery to me that someone could so quickly dismiss an idea, an opinion, or a person without even realizing the rejection they had just delivered. In the year 2000 I sat in a small town restaurant with my family and was surrounded by a sea of white faces. The whole room suddenly became very quiet and every eye turned to the door. A young black boy about my age at nearly 10 years old had just entered the establishment to ask for directions for his family and anger seemed to fill the eyes of everyone in the room. The owner approached the boy and said in a low but firm voice, “You best be on your way, boy.” When the boy left, everyone returned to their meal and I could not have been more confused at what I had just seen. Sadly, this “different equals wrong” mentality is often praised in Christianity because “we must not allow others to turn us from our faith!” Unfortunately, this mentality allows us to use ourselves as the standard for right and wrong rather than the using God’s standard for right and wrong.

                1 John 4:20 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.” I have been referencing this quite a bit lately, but I think this message is an important one. Many of us have overcome our personal battles against racism, but our churches still represent a segregated society. I think this has a lot to do with our attitude towards differences. Within most churches, it is perfectly acceptable to argue different views on the bible even though we are told specifically in 2 Timothy 2:23 not to get caught up in these things. When someone comes into our church with different beliefs, it often becomes our goal to prove them wrong rather than demonstrate love. “For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love God…” Even in friendship, we often argue things that have no real importance because we want other people to think and act and look just like we do.

                How open am I to people who look different than me? Do I still struggle to accept those of different backgrounds? Am I more interested in proving myself to be right than hearing and understanding someone else’s opinion? How can I change my attitude in order to be more accepting of things that are different?

                God, please help me to be more open to those who are different than me. Help me to love the way that You have taught me to love. Please help me not to miss an opportunity to encourage rather than argue with those in my life. Amen.  

Fear of Love

                It must have been around the first time my son gave me a big hug that I first had the thought that has haunted me ever since. That is no matter how hard I try to maintain this image of perfection that I present to my son, he will one day see many if not all of my shortcomings. There will be a day that I lose my temper and wrongfully take it out on him, and a day when I disappoint him by going back on a promise I should not have made. For now I am grateful to be in the baby years in which he will forget about all of the blunders I make in his presence, but there will come a day when he sees and remembers that I have done something that makes me undeserving of the love children so freely give to their parents and I dread its coming. I can only do my best to be the woman and mother God has made me to be and hope that as my son grows he will forgive me for the mistakes I am bound to make.

                I think we often have a similar fear in our relationship with God. At one time, I felt ashamed and afraid to show God any flaw in my character. I thought if I was not perfect in His eyes then he would not love me the same way. I was afraid to admit even to myself that I sometimes do more wrong than just telling a few “white lies.” In doing this, I missed out on the powerful love of God. When I began to truly believe that God knew even the most evil parts of my heart and He still loved me and chooses by His own desire to call me his child, God’s love and forgiveness was finally real to me and became so much more powerful in my life. 1 John 4:17-19 says, “In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us.”

                When I take a minute to think about a love that is so strong there is nothing I have ever said, done, or thought that has weakened it, I can no longer hold on to my fear and I feel unshakable. This is the type of love we are meant to share with the world. In light of this, do I love in the same way that God loves me? Do I give forgiveness easily or do I expect other’s in my life to be perfect? Have I accepted that I am worthy of the love God has given me because He has chosen to give me that love?

                Lord, please help me to accept Your love which drives out all fear. Help me to love those in my life with a love that overcomes failures and forgives. Amen.